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(CNN)In late January, Kristiana Coignard, a seventeen-year-old woman with bipolar disorder and depression, walked into the police department in Longwood, Texas, with "I have a gun" written on her hand. She also had a knife in her waistband. Officer Glenn Derr approached her, read her message, and quickly restrained her. He then let her go, restrained her on the floor, then let her go again as two other officers entered the scene. On the surveillance video that the department released, you can see the moment in which Coignard decides to die. She raises her knife and charged at Derr, who shoots, as does one of the other officers. The third officer deploys a TASER, but by then it was too late. She lies on the floor for a few minutes until emergency medical services arrive. The department has released a statement and held a press conference. The officers have been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation by the Texas Rangers. When police misread the circumstances of encounter with an individual with mental health crisis, the possibility for violence rapidly escalates. The only solution is for law enforcement to try to stabilize every encounter, to the extent possible, as if it involved psychiatric disability. As a nation, we are in the midst of an extended conversation about police violence, and this case stands out as unusual. The victim was white and female, for one thing. Moreover, ugly use-of-force incidents usually result from police being too quick to escalate, rather than too slow. In the last few years I've watched many videos, either from cell phones or police cameras, and read even more incident reports describing encounters between law enforcement and people with psychiatric disabilities. I cannot recall seeing a case in which an officer has a potentially violent individual so well subdued, and then just backs away. I wondered if just as being black and male sparks some officers to be overly aggressive, a confrontation with a slender white female might produce the opposite effect. The best known victims of police violence while in mental health crisis are black men. Police arguably are more prone to consider black men dangerous. They demand instant compliance and respond to any hesitation as a threat. For example, in cases such as the death of Kajieme Powell in St. Louis, or Dontre Hamilton in Milwaukee, police officers engaged aggressively, demanding the individual act in a non-disabled manner and comply. In my review of such encounters, I've argued that Powell, Hamilton, and many other individuals in similar circumstances, couldn't follow orders as expected. Therefore, they were shot and killed. These are cases of law enforcement officers failing to recognize the complexity of a mental health situation. In Longview, Texas, on the other hand, the incident shows the other side of the coin -- under aggression. I spoke to Lou Hayes, a police officer and a trainer for use-of-force incidents, he said that in his experience many officers are likely to be less aggressive toward women, especially small women, in ways that put everyone in greater danger. "Generally speaking, male officers are more reluctant to use lawful, justified, and necessary levels of force against women as compared to incidents with men." He also said that use-of-force models for a suspect armed with a knife, but restrained, might differ. Hypothetically, Hayes says that if he could control a suspect's arms, he would not let her free from the restraint hold, but that if he feared he might lose control, backing up and readying his firearm might be a reasonable choice. At this time Officer Derr is not speaking about his decision-making, due to the ongoing investigation, so I don't know why he didn't try to handcuff her. I expect the investigation to determine that he was operating within the norms of his training for use-of-force. There's no question that using a firearm and aiming for center mass is the correct response for someone at close proximity charging you with a butcher knife raised. It's just not the only way to handle these situations. For example, in Milwaukee recently, a man with a butcher knife charged at police officers. They held their fire, remembering the death of Dontre Hamilton, and instead led him in a chase around parked cars, shouting at him to drop his knife, and simply waited until he eventually complied. That's a model of tactical restraint that we need to see applied more broadly. Encounters between people with psychiatric disabilities and law enforcement can be dangerous. Studies estimate that around half the people killed by law enforcement every year have psychiatric disabilities such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. There will always be some situations in which the threat level is so great that there's no way to stabilize it peacefully. But the death of Kristiana Coignard was not one of them. Her death demonstrates that the ongoing crisis of violent police encounters with people with mental health transcends race, class and gender. It requires fundamental rethinking of strategic approaches to these types of incidents on a national level. Until that happens, the unnecessary deaths will continue.

Kristiana Coignard, who had mental illness, was killed after she raised knife and charged at police . David Perry: Encounters between people with psychiatric disabilities and law enforcement can be dangerous .

(CNN) -- Western powers on Thursday were debating using military power against Syria's government to counter a chemical weapons attack in Damascus' suburbs last week. On Wednesday, U.S. President Barack Obama said there's no doubt that Syria launched chemical weapons attacks against its own people. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime has blamed the August 21 attack on rebels. Most recent: . -- The United States may have to take unilateral action against Syria after British lawmakers voted down a proposal for military action, a senior U.S. official said. -- British Prime Minister David Cameron was dealt a blow Thursday in his push for a strong response, including possible military action, against Syria after the House of Commons rejected the measure. -- The vote, 285-to-272, came just minutes after members of Parliament voted down a Labour Party motion calling for additional time for U.N. weapons inspectors to gather evidence over whether al-Assad's forces used chemical weapons in suburban Damascus. -- A closed-door meeting of the U.N. Security Council ended with no agreement on a resolution to address the crisis in Syria, a Western diplomat told CNN's Nick Paton Walsh on condition of anonymity. "It was clear there was no meeting of minds, and no agreement on the text. It is clear that our approaches are very different and we are taking stock (of the next steps)," the diplomat said. -- Members of the Security Council expect U.N. weapons inspectors to brief Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon shortly after they depart Syria on Saturday. Ban, in turn, will swiftly brief the Security Council on the findings, the diplomat said. Previously reported: . -- Cameron opened the emergency session of the House of Commons on Syria Thursday by saying the debate is about "how to respond to one of most abhorrent uses of chemical weapons in a century" -- not about regime change or invasion. -- Cameron told the House of Commons that the UK government would not act without first hearing from U.N. weapons inspectors, giving the United Nations a chance to weigh in and Parliament to have a vote. -- But ultimately, failing to act would give al-Assad a signal that he could use such weapons "with impunity, Cameron said. -- The British government on Thursday published a summary of its intelligence assessment on Syria's alleged chemical weapons use, arguing that at least 350 people died in an attack in the Damascus area on August 21, and that there is no plausible culprit other than the Syrian government. It is "highly likely" that the Syrian government was behind the attack, the report said. -- The British government also published its legal reasoning for a strike on Syria Thursday, saying that it would be justified on humanitarian grounds. -- "The use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime is a serious crime of international concern, as a breach of the customary international law prohibition on use of chemical weapons, and amounts to a war crime and a crime against humanity," the UK government's statement read. "However, the legal basis for military action would be humanitarian intervention; the aim is to relieve humanitarian suffering by deterring or disrupting the further use of chemical weapons." -- British members of parliament received an open letter from the Syrian government Thursday, urging them not to take any military action against Syria, the press office for House of Commons Speaker John Bercow said. -- The Syrian letter to British lawmakers compares the current situation to the march to war against Iraq a decade ago, and riffing on Shakespeare, saying: "If you bomb us, shall we not bleed?" It also says an attack on Syria would be illegal, and "would automatically strengthen our common enemy, al Qaeda and its affiliates." Chemical weapons in Syria: How did we get here? -- Al-Assad vowed Thursday to defend against any Western military attack. "The threats of launching an aggression against Syria will increase its commitments," and "Syria will defend itself against any aggression," he said, according to Syrian state TV. -- U.N. inspectors entered the eastern part of the Ghouta region outside Damascus on Thursday, Syrian activists said. The Ghouta area was hit by the August 21 attack, activists say. -- Al-Assad's claim that rebels were behind the August 21 chemical attack is impossible, Obama said on "PBS NewsHour" Wednesday. "We do not believe that, given the delivery systems, using rockets, that the opposition could have carried out these attacks," Obama said. "We have concluded that the Syrian government in fact carried these out. And if that's so, then there need to be international consequences." -- Former U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who along with President George W. Bush helped send the U.S. military into action in Iraq and Afghanistan, told the Fox Business Network on Wednesday that the White House has yet to justify potential strikes in Syria.

NEW: The United States may have to take unilateral action against Syria, says an official . British lawmakers vote down possible military action against Syria . They also reject a Labour Party motion calling for additional time for U.N. inspectors . A U.N. Security Council meeting ends with no agreement on a resolution on the crisis .

(CNN) -- "No poo" sounds like a swimming pool rule, but to some it also means washing hair with baking soda and vinegar instead of shampoo. Tiffany Burke, 31, says she might try it soon, with a goal of becoming as natural and organic as possible. "I'm, like, 60% there," she says about her use of organic products. "I would say I'm in the middle, because there are still lots of moms who just don't care." Burke is pregnant and due in November. But the twins she is carrying aren't her biological or legal children. As a surrogate mother, she's carrying fetuses formed by her brother's sperm and her sister-in-law's egg. CNN's "Sanjay Gupta, MD" is profiling the legal and emotional issues surrounding Burke's surogate pregnancy. Burke's interest in natural and organic products began when she was expecting her first child and read the best-selling pregnancy book "What To Expect When You're Expecting." Some passages suggest that chemicals and pesticides in our food and cosmetics, although legal, may nonetheless be causing harm. Burke wanted to know more. "I would just Google and hope for the best. I'd just keep going and going until I saw enough evidence that to me said, just avoid it. Just don't put that in your body," she says. Eight years later, how she chooses what to buy is a far cry from how she was raised, Burke says. When sister-in-law Natalie Lucich had to have her uterus removed because a complication with her last pregnancy led to uncontrolled bleeding, Burke offered to carry her next child. Lucich was overjoyed. Surrogate sisters: The ultimate gift . Now, Lucich relies on Burke to make all the right choices for her baby. "She is organic, and she does know everything that's going into her body. She reads labels," says Lucich. "You never know when you're hiring some surrogate to do it, what they're doing to their bodies." The FDA says common chemicals like BPA, phthalates and pesticides are safe, but research shows they pass from mother to child, and may be neurotoxins in the womb. So Burke is like her own regulatory agency, learning as much as possible about the safety of every product on the shelf. She says she doesn't want to take any risks. Artificial food colorings linked to ADHD in children have been banned from Burke's home. She stores food in glass containers, not plastic. Even though she might experiment with making her own shampoo, she's passionate about the natural products already on store shelves. Burke brushes with Tom's of Maine toothpaste, she does laundry with Seventh Generation detergent and she loves "Organic wear" makeup by Physicians Formula. FDA says it will deny request to ban BPA . Ken Cook, president of the Environmental Working Group, says Burke is smart to be proactive. "We've come to understand that if you take some reasonable steps you can dramatically reduce your exposure to a lot of different chemicals," says Cook. "If you're going to wait for the government to take action, you could be in store for a lot of exposure." With the joy of surrogacy comes the burden of responsibility for Burke. If anything goes wrong with her pregnancy, she says she couldn't help asking herself, "What did I do?" Still, even careful shoppers like Burke get caught off guard. She felt good about buying BPA-free sippy cups for her toddler until she came across an article explaining that manufacturers can replace the BPA in plastic with similar chemicals like Bisphenol-S, and still label their product "BPA-free". "I never knew that. I had no clue. So last week I spent two hours online looking for sippy cups that were not plastic," says Burke. When asked whether she avoids canned goods because research shows many cans' interior linings leach BPA into the food inside, Burke says, "I didn't know that. I'm super cranky about that." She immediately sought information online and found the website for Annie's Homegrown, which makes her favorite soups. She found a statement saying, "We continue to work diligently with our vendors and supply partners to find a can lining without BPA. We are also exploring other package solutions." "Boooo," Burke says. "It never crossed my mind. Why would there be BPA in cans?" To Cook, it's a familiar story. "Eating less canned food, which comes as a surprise to a lot of people, is an important first step," he says. "People are beginning to understand that the environment is not something that's just external to us; it's not polar bears and wilderness and ice floes in the Arctic or forests. It's something we metabolize day in and day out."

Tiffany Burke is carrying twins for her brother and sister-in-law . Burke began striving for natural living while pregnant with her first child . She's a careful shopper, but sometimes gets caught off guard .

(CNN) -- Each year, Grammy Week offers up a full calendar of events -- each one boasting a guest list more spectacular than the next. But this year, the most coveted ticket was Friday night's "2013 MusiCares Person of the Year Tribute" honoring Bruce Springsteen. The evening's entertainment featured six Rock and Roll Hall of Famers, a few critically acclaimed young artists -- and The Boss himself. Neil Young and Crazy Horse turned up the volume with a spirited version of "Born in the U.S.A," flanked by a pair of cheerleaders with the letter "S" emblazoned on their sweaters. Colombian superstar Juanes put a bilingual spin on "Hungry Heart," singing verses in both Spanish and English, and John Legend transformed "Dancing in the Dark" into a jazzy piano ballad, which led Springsteen to later remark that "he made me sound like Gershwin. I love that." Other standout performances included Mumford & Sons' banjo-laced cover of "I'm on Fire," Tom Morello and Jim James' mesmerizing take on "The Ghost of Tom Joad," and country superstar Kenny Chesney's quietly effective rendition of "One Step Up." Elton John also opted for simplicity, accompanied only by his piano on "Streets of Philadelphia." But the most curious vocal of the night was on "Lonesome Day," where Sting exhibited a raspy growl that suggested he was looking to honor Springsteen by sounding like him. The evening was part all-star concert, part fundraiser to benefit the MusiCares Foundation, the Recording Academy's philanthropic arm that provides assistance to members of the music industry. "We take care of our own," said Springsteen, invoking the title of a song off his current Grammy-nominated album, "Wrecking Ball." When a live auction featuring a signed guitar wasn't generating enough interest, Springsteen took the microphone and upped the ante, throwing in a free guitar lesson with himself as the teacher, a ride in the side car of his Harley, eight tickets to the E Street concert of their choice, a backstage tour and lasagna made by his 87-year-old mother, Adele. A woman from New Jersey snapped it up for $250,000, then proceeded to kiss Springsteen on his lips. The 63-year-old music icon was honored for his philanthropic work, as well as his musical achievements. "I am here tonight under totally false pretenses," he told the crowd of 3,000 packed into a ballroom at the Los Angeles Convention Center. "Any philanthropy I've done involves me playing the guitar ... and I would have been playing the guitar anyway." He then took the stage, launching into "We Take Care of Our Own," "Death to My Hometown," "Thunder Road" and "Born to Run." For his finale, Springsteen called for every musician in the building to join him onstage for "Glory Days." Neil Young grabbed a couple of drumsticks and banged on a snare, while Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Patti Smith, Sting, Jackson Browne, Emmylou Harris, Mumford & Sons, Ben Harper, Tom Morello and host Jon Stewart joined in the singalong. Also spotted in the audience: Springsteen's daughter, his mother and Sean Penn. 2013 MusiCares set list: . Alabama Shakes, "Adam Raised a Cain" Patti Smith, "Because the Night" Natalie Maines, Ben Harper and Charlie Musselwhite, "Atlantic City" Ken Casey (from Dropkick Murphys), "American Land" Mavis Staples and Zac Brown, "My City of Ruins" Mumford & Sons, "I'm on Fire" Jackson Brown and Tom Morello, "American Skin (41 Shots)" Emmylou Harris, "My Hometown" Kenny Chesney, "One Step Up" Elton John, "Streets of Philadelphia" Juanes, "Hungry Heart" Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, "Tougher Than the Rest" Tom Morello and Jim James, "The Ghost of Tom Joad" John Legend, "Dancing in the Dark" Sting, "Lonesome Day" Neil Young, "Born in the U.S.A." Bruce Springsteen, "We Take Care of Our Own" Bruce Springsteen and Tom Morello, "Death to My Hometown" Bruce Springsteen, "Thunder Road" Bruce Springsteen, "Born to Run" Bruce Springsteen and friends, "Glory Days"

Bruce Springsteen was named MusiCares' Person of the Year . All-star concert and fundraiser benefits the Recording Academy's philanthropic arm . The Boss ups ante, offers guitar lesson, motorcycle ride and his mom's lasagna . Among tribute-makers: Neil Young, Elton John, Sting, Patti Smith, John Legend .

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Alternative treatments are as varied as the regions of the world they come from. And while they attract skepticism from some Western medical practitioners, they are an undeniable part of global health. Shark cartilage is a popular dish in Japan where it is regarded as having health benefits. In parts of Asia and Africa, 80 percent of the population depend on these treatments as their primary form of healthcare. Shark fin has long been used in traditional Asian medicine. Shark fin soup is regarded as a tonic that promotes general well-being, and shark fin has even been claimed to have anti-cancer properties. Shark fins are mainly composed of cartilage, a type of connective tissue found in the skeletal systems of many animals. In Japan, they are sold by herbalists as a powder, in tablet form or as whole fins. While shark fin has been used for centuries in Asia, in recent years it has become more popular in the West. A book called "Sharks Don't Get Cancer," published in 1992, popularized the idea of shark fin as an alternative cancer treatment in the West, and powdered shark fin is now sold as dietary supplement. But scientific evidence doesn't support the idea. A 2000 report by researchers at George Washington University Medical Center in Washington D.C. said more than 40 tumors had been documented in sharks, skates and rays. Clinical studies on cancer patients, including a 1998 study by the Independent Cancer Treatment Research Foundation in Illinois, haven't shown cartilage powders to have any anti-cancer benefits. Cancer Research UK, an independent cancer-research organization, states "We don't recommend alternative therapies such as shark cartilage, as there is no scientific or medical evidence to back up the claims made for these 'treatments'." The use of shark fins has also been criticized by environmentalists who say the practice is threatening shark populations. In addition, environmental groups say that fins are often cut off live sharks at sea, with the bodies thrown back in the sea to drown, a controversial practiced know as "finning." The ancient art of herbal healing also remains highly popular in Africa. In South Africa, the name given to the practice is muti. In Johannesburg's Faraday market muti practitioners sell wares that are popular with locals and tourists alike. Illnesses are diagnosed by "sangomas," who employ techniques including communicating with the spirits of ancestors. "Sangomas" then refer their patients to "inyangas," who supply muti treatments. "Inyangas" make use of South Africa's diverse flora and fauna, selling treatments made from herbs and animal parts. Roots, bark and leaves are all used to prepare infusions that are said to cure ailments ranging from headaches to skin rashes. Other muti medicines deal with psychological conditions, curing nightmares, bringing good luck and warding off evil spells. Acupuncture is one of the most widespread of all traditional treatments. An ancient Chinese healing technique thought to date back at least 2,000 years, acupuncture is now widely practiced alongside modern medicine in the East and West alike. Traditional acupuncture works on the idea that energy, known as "qi," flows along pathways in the body, called meridians. According to acupuncture theory, if these meridians become blocked, "qi" cannot flow freely and illness can result. Diagnosis of ailments is carried out by, among other things, feeling a patient's pulse and inspecting their tongue. Marian Rose of the British Acupuncture Council told CNN that an important part of the diagnosis process involves asking patients a range of questions about their well-being, including their digestion, sleep patterns, and health history. Treatment involves inserting fine acupuncture needles at critical points in the body in order to stimulate the flow of "qi," described by Rose as "the body's motivating energy." Traditionally, acupuncture can be used to treat headaches, chronic pain, asthma, depression, addiction, and problems with the digestive system. Acupuncture has been the subject of extensive research and in the West the practice has been studied in terms of modern medical knowledge. Dr Mike Cummings is the medical director of the British Medical Acupuncture Association, which promotes Western medical acupuncture. He told CNN that research has shown acupuncture to be effective at treating pain in particular. Cummings says that it is believed that when an acupuncture needle is inserted into a muscle, it stimulates nerves. That affects the spinal gate, where sensory input is modulated, reducing activity in pain pathways. Whether backed by medical science or simply by years of use, traditional treatments remain popular and as more research is carried out, some may even come to complement modern medicine.

Even in the era of modern medicine, traditional treatments are still widespread . In Japan, shark fin is sold by herbalists, and is believed to promote well-being . Muti practitioners sell their wares in Johannesburg's Faraday market . Acupuncture has spread all over the world from its roots in ancient China .

Atlanta (CNN) -- On Monday, I signed an online petition standing with President Obama, Warren Buffett and others to urge Congress to pass the Buffett Rule. It was a small gesture to stand for what is fair. The Buffett Rule, simply stated, requires the wealthiest Americans to pay taxes at rates not less than rates paid by middle-income Americans. Current loopholes that allow millionaires and billionaires to have unfairly low tax rates would be closed. It's only fair. So much has happened this year to focus our attention on what is fair: Obama's State of the Union address, the Trayvon Martin case, the rhetoric around the Supreme Court's review of the Affordable Care Act and Paul Ryan's proposed budget, with its cuts to services to middle- and low-income Americans. What has happened to the concept of fairness? I'll tell you: It's been retooled. No longer is it defined as my parents taught me. I hear their voices saying, "Play fair," "Share (my toys) and play fair," "Don't cheat. Play fair." "You'll have your turn at bat, play fair." "Don't fight, play fair." "Win fair." Even in the midst of segregation, with its pervasive lack of fairness on every front, they never wavered in their lessons about fairness. More important, there was clarity of meaning. Fairness was at the heart of being a good person. Fairness was about how I related to others, combined with how others related to me. Fairness was not one-sided. In my early 30s, I worked for someone who said, "Fair is when I win." It was his attempt to clarify inherent complexities in the term "fair." It was then I awakened to a definition of "fair" I had not known, definition in which the individual determined fairness by how the situation affected him and him alone. Fair had been retooled. Its meaning had shifted. In this year's State of the Union message, Obama said, "We can restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot and everyone does their fair share and everyone plays by the same set of rules." I know what those words mean to me. I now know they may mean something very different to others. Some heard the same words and thought, "Fair is when I win." How else can we explain the person who got his job because of personal or family connections, now protesting another person getting a job because of government or corporate initiatives? How else can we explain cuts or freezes in salaries for workers and huge pay raises and bonuses for top executives? How else can we explain board members approving such bonuses, saying "it's only fair"? How else can we explain how those with the most financial resources pay the lowest tax rates? Fair? Over my 60-plus years of living, I have been close to people of varied socioeconomic levels and life experiences. The differences are often striking. Take health care. I was working as a corporate executive during the developmental stages of H.R. 3962, the Affordable Care Act, currently under review by the Supreme Court. There, I was with my peers in our good jobs with comprehensive health insurance. Some were indifferent to health care reform, while others were vehemently against it. For me, it was personal. Affordable, accessible, quality health care for every person was only fair. Was it "only fair" because I had more personal contact with poor people or sick people or people without health insurance? Was it "only fair" because I knew the challenges and outrageous costs faced by my mother, who struggled with multiple sclerosis, or my sister, who has sarcoidosis? Perhaps. But still today, as a retiree, I think it only fair. My peers, for the most part, were good people. Yet there were times I thought their attitudes and actions most unfair. It really scares me that "fair," as I know it, may have gone for good. The bright flames of innovation, hard work, and individual and collective achievement are snuffed out when people feel that they do not have a fair shot. Snuffed out when rules change to fit the whims of those in power. Snuffed out because people stop trying and give up on their dreams. As a teenager, I fell in love with the writings of the brilliant poet Langston Hughes (1902-67). In his "Dream Deferred," he asked: . "What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore -- And then run? Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over -- like a syrupy sweet? Maybe it just sags like a heavy load. Or does it explode?" God grant me strength to fight for what is fair. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Marsha Johnson.

Marsha Sampson Johnson: It's only fair that the wealthiest pay higher tax rates . She says some have redefined "fairness" as "when I win" Johnson: We have been taught that fairness is not one-sided; it's about others, as well . She says the spirit of innovation and achievement is snuffed out when things are not fair .

Washington (CNN) -- The U.S. government announced Friday that it will impose sanctions against the regime of Col. Moammar Gadhafi -- part of a series of measures designed to isolate the Libyan regime and loosen the dictator's grip on power. The American embassy in Libya suspended operations for security reasons, though State Department officials stressed that diplomatic ties were not suspended and channels for discussion remained open. "The flag is still flying. The embassy is not closed. Operations are suspended. Relations are not broken," Under Secretary of State for Management Patrick Kennedy told reporters. State Department Deputy Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs Janet Sanderson reiterated at the same briefing that Libya's Embassy in Washington is still "up and running," and the department has not been informed of any change in the status of Libya's ambassador to the United States. "We still continue to reach out to the Libyans where appropriate, both directly and through third parties," Sanderson said. Kennedy said all American official employees were withdrawn from the embassy Friday, and only Libyan employees are "still on the payroll' and still working there. These remaining employees are not authorized to conduct any U.S. government business, he said. Local and national security guards remain at the embassy, Kennedy said, but he would not discuss what measures if any are being taken to secure documents and the like inside the embassy. "But I can assure you that there is nothing left behind that could be compromised," he said. American operations at the embassy will resume when the security situation permits it, Kennedy said. In addition to pushing both unilateral and multilateral sanctions, Washington will use the "full extent" of its intelligence capabilities to monitor Gadhafi's regime and gather evidence of atrocities committed against the Libyan people, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said. Steps were also taken to ensure that top Gadhafi officials don't steal Libyan financial assets in what may be their final days in power. The Treasury Department advised banks to monitor accounts held by the regime's key political figures and to report financial transactions "that could potentially represent misappropriated or diverted state assets," according to a government statement. Gadhafi's "legitimacy has been reduced to zero in the eyes" of the Libyan people, Carney told reporters. "The status quo is neither tenable nor acceptable." The point of U.S. action -- particularly the sanctions -- is to "make it clear that the regime has to stop its abuses" and end the bloodshed, Carney said. Reports from Libya suggest that possibly hundreds of protesters have been killed. Washington also announced the suspension of all military cooperation with Libya, reversing a course of action taken after Gadhafi's government ended its pursuit of weapons of mass destruction. Obama will meet with United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in Washington on Monday to discuss the full range of diplomatic, legal and other steps that may be taken to bring a halt to the violence, Carney said. The new steps against Gadhafi's government were announced less than an hour after a flight chartered by the U.S. government departed Tripoli for Istanbul. The flight carried personnel from the U.S. embassy and other American citizens. Earlier, a ferry chartered by U.S. authorities carried roughly 300 people to Malta. As U.S. citizens continued to flee the spreading unrest, clashes between Libyan security forces and protesters were reported in Tripoli, which has been a Gadhafi stronghold. Eastern Libya appeared to be largely in the hands of anti-government forces. Obama spoke Thursday with the leaders of France, Italy and the United Kingdom on coordinating an international response to the crisis in the north African nation. In separate phone conversations with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and British Prime Minister David Cameron, Obama "expressed his deep concern with the Libyan government's use of violence which violates international norms and every standard of human decency, and discussed appropriate and effective ways for the international community to immediately respond," a White House statement noted. While some critics say the Obama administration has been slow to react to the deteriorating situation in Libya, the statement said Thursday's discussions were to "coordinate our urgent efforts to respond to developments and ensure that there is appropriate accountability." On Friday, Obama discussed the Libyan crisis with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Earlier in the week, Obama strongly condemned the use of violence against protesters in Libya and said a unified international response was forming. "The suffering and bloodshed is outrageous, and it is unacceptable," he said. "This violence must stop." CNN's Alan Silverleib and Laurie Ure contibuted to this report .

NEW: U.S. will reach out to Libya "where appropriate," State Department official says . The U.S. government is imposing sanctions against Libya and has suspended embassy operations . U.S.-chartered ferry with around 300 people completes trip from Libya to Malta . The U.S. Treasury Department advises banks to report unusual Libyan financial transactions .

(CNN) -- For as long as we've watched television, we've talked about it. And thanks to social media, in the past few years we've moved our living room discussions and chit-chats around office water coolers to the wider digital world. Viewers now take to Facebook to exchange their views with friends, and shows frequently broadcast their suggested Twitter hash-tag over opening credits. Viewers of X Factor can even tweet their vote for contestants, and in the United States characters from Glee have their own Twitter accounts on which they tweet, as the show is broadcast. For producers and broadcasters, who are increasingly aware of the benefits of an online buzz, encouraging this kind of real-time viewer interaction— or "social television"—is increasingly important. And for social media companies, any tie-in with television can only be advantageous. A recent Deloitte survey showed that the British still spend 12 times more time watching BBC1 or ITV1 (the UK's largest television channels) than they do looking at Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. They also consume television in significantly longer sessions. However the two sources are increasingly being consumed simultaneously. Numerous studies have discovered that up to 80% of television viewers of all ages now incorporate a "second screen" -- laptop, smartphone or tablet computer- into their viewing habits. Apps, such as Zeebox, have recently hit the market, designed to facilitate this new merging of multiple sources. Zeebox determines what show is currently being viewed and then provides streams from relevant social media, as well as offering targeted links to spin-off products, and background information about the actors, music or writers drawn from online resources. According to the marketing campaign, the app allows its users to "sit together on a virtual couch... even though you may not be in the same place together." Simultaneously, the broadcasters can hawk their wares and generate additional e-commerce revenue. Social media company Live Talk Back has a similar app named Tellybug, and has also built a social media platform specifically for X Factor. This includes a "tap and clap" facility, through which viewers can virtually boo or clap an act at the touch of a button, without even the need to construct a 140-character response. In the app's first five weeks in operation, there were more than 100 million claps or boos. While X-Factor, remains by far the biggest regular hitter when it comes to TV-related tweets in the UK -- 3.7 million of the 38.7 million made about shows broadcast free-to-air on British television from April 1 to November 1 this year -- it is not just entertainment shows getting in on the act. According to research by Live Talk Back, the list of the top 20 tweeted shows also includes news and current affairs programs, as well as sports coverage including Wimbledon and Formula One. By transforming broadcasts into multi-media events, not only do the programs attract more viewers, but also the necessity grows among the audience to watch the first screening, or else be exposed to spoilers and excluded from the fun. "If you're not playing along at the time the show is being broadcast, you both don't get to see what your friends are doing, and they don't get to see what you're doing," said Matt Millar, founder of Live Talk Back. "You're much, much more out of the loop." This community spirit means that broadcasters can guarantee to advertisers that their shows attract a real-time audience and cannot therefore skip the commercials. Media analysts are coy on the specifics of what is lined up next for social television. Robin Grant, of the social media agency We Are Social, hinted that there are innovations afoot surrounding the broadcasts of major sporting events. Meanwhile Millar said that he is talking with producers of more than 20 shows across all the major UK broadcasters preparing to enhance their interactive output. Millar said that he has encountered proposals for social media interaction with drama series, where an audience vote would determine plot twists and denouements, essentially turning television drama into a "Choose Your Own Adventure"-style experience. This approach has yielded indifferent results in more high-brow pursuits -- recent attempts in collaborative novel-writing have largely failed -- but the advertising world has already embraced similar interactivity. The "Adam and Jane" advertising campaign for telecoms company BT, for example, invited viewers to decide the fate of their eponymous fictional couple. More than 1.6 million Facebook voters decided to bestow a child on the lovers and then also had their say on the minutia of the couple's wedding. "We've moved on from a temporary aberration where, through the invention of the printing press all the way through to the invention of TV, communication became one-way for a few hundred years," Grant said. "That's not the natural human state. Social media has brought us all back around the campfire and allowed us to talk to each other and to take part in the stories people are telling."

Social media and TV are becoming closer entwined . X Factor allows TV audience to vote, boo or cheer contestants via Twitter . Around 80% of TV viewers watch shows with a "second screen"

(CNN) -- On Thursday morning, iLounge released mockups of what it says the next iPhone is going to look like, according to the site's own unnamed sources. The main differences in appearance between the next iPhone and the current iPhone 4S? A metal back, a smaller dock connector, a 20 percent decrease in thickness, and a longer 4-inch display. Concept designs for future iPhones are a dime a dozen and usually look like something Syd Mead might have slapped together after a glue-induced aneurysm. But iLounge's concept looks pretty good. It may not prove to be an accurate prediction in the end, but it's a sensible proposal. The most obvious change in iLounge's mockup is the 4-inch screen. That's a big bump, as the iPhone's display has stayed at 3.5 inches with a 3:2 aspect ratio since 2007. Why in the world would Apple change it now? It all comes down to LTE. LTE radios take up more room in a smartphone than 3G radios and use more power. To put LTE capabilities in the next iPhone, you need to make room not just for the radio, but find enough juice to power it without significantly decreasing battery life. The problem is there's just not a lot of room inside an iPhone for anything more than is already there. An iPhone is a densely packed sandwich of silicon, radios, flash storage, motors and cameras. Over the past five generations, Apple has packed in everything that makes up an iPhone about as densely as possible, and the battery still makes up the bulk of every device. If it's going to fit anything else, Apple needs to make more room. That's one reason why iLounge is saying Apple will be ditching its current dock connector for a micro-sized version: Space saved in this area is space Apple can stuff with a larger battery or make for a bigger LTE chipset. But it's also a reason why Apple would make the display bigger. There's been a lot of talk over the last couple of years that with the iPhone 5, Apple would bump the display up to a larger four inches, but the rumor's always had a lot of problems. Increasing the iPhone's display while maintaining its current 3:2 aspect ratio would make the device wider in the hand and harder to operate one-handed. It would also either decrease the pixel density of the iPhone's Retina display, making it less "retina-ey" and more jaggy to the eyes, or require more pixels per inch to compensate, causing iPhone developers to design their apps for multiple resolutions (the exact same kind of fragmentation problem that's bitten Android on its ass). No good. That's why conventional wisdom (until a couple months ago) was that Apple would keep a 3.5-inch display and eschew LTE until the radios were sufficiently small and power-efficient to fit into the current iPhone's form factor. But with the new iPad's WiFi + 4G release, Apple has made it abundantly clear that it is finally ready to embrace LTE. And the way the company is going to do it is by making the iPhone's display longer, but not wider. This theory was first floated over on The Verge, then gained traction when Daring Fireball's John Gruber hinted that the person who had initially suggested it might just work for Apple, and know what direction the next iPhone would go. It's got a lot to recommend it. By ditching a 3:2 aspect ratio in favor of a 9:5 display, the new iPhone would feel about the same in the hand as the iPhone 4S, retain its current 326ppi resolution, and allow Apple room for an LTE chip and more battery. Apps could either be easily updated to support the new iPhone's 4-inch display without breaking compatibility with 3.5-inch devices, or run in a letterbox without modification at their existing resolution. There are other perks. Lengthening the display allows the iPhone in landscape view to show 16:9 videos without the ugly bars on either side. It gives game developers more room for on-screen controls, like virtual buttons and thumbsticks, without a gamer's fingers obscuring what's on the display. And so on. Only Apple knows for sure what the next iPhone will look like, but iLounge's concept isn't necessarily all wet. Putting the display on a stretching rack might be the key to getting an LTE iPhone this year. And if you think Cupertino would never mess around with an iDevice's aspect ratio like this, might I introduce you to our good schizophrenic friend, the iPod nano? Subscribe to WIRED magazine for less than $1 an issue and get a FREE GIFT! Click here! Copyright 2011 Wired.com.

Apple news site iLounge releases mockups of what it says the next iPhone is going to look like . iLounge says new phone will have a 4-inch screen, up from the current model's 3.5 inches . To put LTE capabilities in the next iPhone, Apple will need to make more room .

Hong Kong, (CNN) -- In the history of power couples who met at work, there's Michelle and Barack Obama, Beyoncé and Jay-Z, and, yes, even Pam and Jim from "The Office." And then there's Melinda and Bill Gates. Jointly helming a multi-billion dollar philanthropic foundation, they are firmly at the top of the power couple pyramid. A married couple who met at work is not a particularly rare thing. Three in ten workers who have dated a colleague said in a recent survey by CareerBuilder.com that their office romance eventually led to marriage. But for Melinda, the situation was different. While at Microsoft, where she rose to General Manager of Information Products, she was dating the big boss. Let me rephrase that. She was dating the extraordinarily wealthy and powerful founder of Microsoft whose software powered the PC revolution. So, was it tough? "Sure," she tells me. "I had very clear boundaries, and my teams knew that -- that I did not go home and discuss work with Bill because he was the CEO." "And I think that allowed me to be effective with them and for them to know that I was leading them as a team." Recently in Kuala Lumpur, we had a wide-ranging and refreshingly frank conversation about her work as the co-founder of one of the world's largest private foundations. We talked about her goals at the foundation, namely her plan to get modern contraceptives to another 120 million women around the world by 2020. But for CNN's Leading Women series, I wanted to get to get something else out of the interview -- a chance to hear straight from one of the world's most powerful women on how to power ahead (without relying on that overused phrase "work-life balance". As co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, her job involves major policy goals from education reform to polio eradication. A typical day at the office may include strategy reviews and one-on-one meetings, but a substantial amount of her work happens out on the field. Gates spends a third of her time on the road. She says carving out quality time for both her work and her family is a struggle that she manages through considerable planning and bringing the kids to work. "Some of my trips I actually plan around their school breaks," she says. "So, all three of our children have been with us to Africa." "Bill and I go over our calendars a lot to make sure as much as we can that one of us is home when we can be and to make sure that the kids know they really are the center of our lives." Both Mr. and Mrs. Gates endeavor to drive the children to school, tuck them into bed at night, and cheer them on from the sidelines. And if Bill is about to shirk family time for other matters, Melinda will call him on it. "There was a science fair recently at at school. Bill had promised he would be there. I signed up for something on the road and he had a pretty important trip come up. I had to say, 'You know, you said you were going to do that.' So, sure enough, he followed through." So yes, Melinda Gates prompts Bill to "lean in" when it comes to parenting duties. Bill in turn honors her career triumphs with the family, including her being named by Forbes the third most powerful woman in the world. "We don't show the kids all the press because they don't need to know everything that Bill and I are doing. But at the dinner table, Bill actually brought it up and the kids said, 'Wow, mom that's really fantastic!'" "Our youngest daughter who's 10 said to me later that night, 'You know mom, you should tell us more about what you do.'" And she does, especially as the Gates prepare for their children to make their own way in the world. Bill Gates has famously said he would leave only a fraction of his fortune to his heirs. Earlier this year on Reddit, he said, "I definitely think leaving kids massive amounts of money is not a favor to them." Melinda couldn't agree more. "We both feel like we benefited enormously from feeling like we had jobs, we had income, we were watching how we were spending our money. I want my kids to have that opportunity. "So that's another reason why it's important for me to be a role model, particularly for my girls to see what it's like to be a woman and do that juggle between work life and family life." So she works to inform and inspire her own children. She works to bring her partner on side to share the responsibilities and joys of raising a family. And she works to extend access to lifesaving medicine, quality education and modern contraceptives to hundreds of millions of people around the world. For the female force that is Melinda Gates, that's all in a day's work.

Gates is co-founder of the multi-billion dollar philanthropic foundation she runs with her husband . She plans to get contraceptives to 120 million women around the world by 2020 . Gates elaborates on her early relationship with Bill while working together at Microsoft .

(CNN) -- Jennifer Kirkland says she caught her 6-year-old son Ethan just staring at a school bus the other day. He was mesmerized, his eyes locked on the yellow vehicle. He didn't say a thing, and she didn't know what to say to him. The last time he was on a bus, he was sitting just behind the driver -- as he always did -- waiting for his stop so he could go home. But the "bad man" got on, and killed the driver, his buddy Mr. Poland. Appearing on the "Dr. Phil" show, Kirkland told Phil McGraw she was worried how her little boy was going to react the next time she tried to put him on the bus to school. After being kidnapped, the recovery ahead . Ethan has been having a hard time sleeping, she told the psychologist turned syndicated daytime talk show host. He thrashes his arms, tosses and turns and sometimes he calls out. It has only been almost 10 days since the FBI sent a rescue team into the bunker in Midland City, Alabama, where Ethan was held hostage for nearly a week by Jimmy Lee Dykes. His mother hasn't asked Ethan what happened when he was there. "I have not talked to Ethan about it," she said in an interview aired Wednesday. "I don't know how to. As a mother I want him to know that I'm there if he needs to talk. I don't know how to respond because I have never been through this." Inside the bunker: From storm shelter to boy's prison . Ethan has seen two people shot to death. Dykes shot bus driver Charles Poland several times before he carried Ethan, who had fainted, off the bus and into an underground bunker Dykes had built on his property. Then the FBI killed Dykes when negotiations broke down and authorities felt they had to rescue the boy before Dykes, who had a handgun, did something rash. "The Army came in and shot the bad man," Kirkland said Ethan told her. Kirkland said she had hoped Dykes wouldn't be harmed. "From the very beginning, I had already forgiven Mr. Dykes even though he had my child," she said. "I could not be angry through this. My job was to be the mother." She thinks Dykes had a soft spot for Ethan because he has disabilities. Dykes took care of her boy as best he could, she said. He even fried chicken for the boy. Still, as the crisis continued, she worried that Dykes might be spooked by something her child did -- or that he had enough supplies to stay down there for months. She worried her boy would think she had abandoned him. She asked authorities to let her speak to Dykes. "That's my baby. He's my world. He's my everything," she said. "Everything I do I do for him. And I was afraid I wasn't going to get him back." When she did get him back, he was in the hospital, putting stickers on everyone in sight. "Hey, bug, I sure have missed you," she recounted. "I missed you, too," he answered. FBI: Bombs found in Alabama kidnapper's bunker . Now she worries that even though he seems like the same playful little boy, there is an emotional storm ahead. McGraw told her to talk to Ethan about his feelings, not what happened to him in the bunker. "Let that decay in his young mind," he said. McGraw asked Ethan a few questions, but as 6-year-olds are apt to do, he answered most with a "Yes" or a "No." But when the doctor asked him how he got to school, Ethan said, "On my bus, but my ..." Then he walked over to his mother and as if telling a secret, whispered in her ear, "But my bus driver is dead." Kirkland told McGraw that it was Poland who helped Ethan conquer his fear of descending the steep school bus steps. Poland would cheer Ethan on and one day when the child hesitated and the mother went to help, the driver said, "Let him do it." Since then, Ethan has had no problem. But now his cheerleader won't be there, and Kirkland is anguished about her boy. "Mr. Poland put him behind him so he could keep a good eye on him," she said. Ethan hasn't been back to school yet. He's been busy opening birthday presents and playing with his favorite toys. On Wednesday, he made a new friend in Gov. Robert Bentley. There's a picture from the event where little Ethan is sitting underneath the governor's desk. The child is beaming. "Ethan is a loving, forgiving child," Kirkland said. "He is easy to go up to a perfect stranger and say, 'Can I have a hug?'" That was the boy who went into that bunker. She is concerned it's not the child who came out.

Phil McGraw speaks with mother of former Alabama child hostage . She tells him she worried about trying to put him back on a school bus . Ethan told her the Army killed the 'bad man' The 6-year-old tells his mom that 'My bus driver is dead'

(CNN) -- Standing on the spot where 50 years earlier the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. made "I have a dream" the clarion call of the civil rights movement, a broader call for equality rang out Saturday. Thousands rallied at the National Mall to mark the 50th anniversary of the historic August 28, 1963, March on Washington. Leaders from civil rights, religious and civic organizations paid tribute to those who fought and continue to fight for racial equality, but the slate of demands today has expanded to other hot-button issues. Income inequality, discrimination based on sexual orientation and mistreatment of immigrants were all themes espoused by the dozens of speakers. "I am a daughter of the civil rights movement, and as a daughter I am a beneficiary of all the good that resulted from the hard work, the sweat and tears, and the blood that was shed by the leaders and doers of that movement," Jennifer Jones Austin of the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies told the crowd. "And as a daughter and a beneficiary, I am now the burden-bearer of this generation's civil rights movement." Bernice King's difficult journey . That burden, she said, includes equal rights for gays and fights against poverty and gun violence. Attorney General Eric Holder credited King's famous words for providing a foundation for the progress of the civil rights movement. "Our focus has broadened to include the cause of women, of Latinos, of Asian-Americans, of lesbians, of gays, of people with disabilities and of countless others across this great country who still yearn for equality, opportunity and fair treatment," he said. Many speakers invoked the killing of Trayvon Martin as an example of where they see a lack of justice for African-Americans. Martin Luther King III, son of the civil rights icon, said his father's vision was a nation without racial discrimination. "But sadly, the tears of Trayvon Martin's mother and father reminds us that far too frequently, the color of one's skin remains a license to profile." In 1963, "we could not have imagined we'd be here 50 years later with a black president and a black attorney general, but that's a measure of how far we have come," civil rights activist Julian Bond said. "But still, we march." Minorities have never wished their way to freedom, he said, but have worked their way up, and must continue to do so. The only class MLK taught . "While I'm elated that we've come today to march on Washington, we must not only march on Washington. We must stand for a genuine living wage and jobs. We must stand to end the 'stand your ground' laws. We must stand against stop-and-frisk, must must stand against voter suppression," Bishop Darin Moore of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church said. Another theme repeated throughout the event was outrage at the Supreme Court decision that threw out a key part of the Voting Rights Act. The court in June invalidated the formula used to determine which states or local jurisdictions -- mostly in the South -- could remain under special federal oversight, requiring approval from Washington before they can change voting procedures. That blunted much of the government's enforcement power in states and localities with a history of discrimination at the polls. "We didn't forget the price they paid," the Rev. Al Sharpton said, referring to those on the front lines of the civil rights movement. "We've fought too hard, our parents shed too much blood, there was too many nights in jail, for you to take our vote from us now." Sharpton said organized protests to demand a reinstatement of the provisions are forthcoming. 5 faces of the March on Washington . Kathleen Johnson and Jean McRae were at the first March on Washington 50 years ago, and as the crowd grew on Saturday, they reflected on the span in between. "It was a wonderful experience (in 1963) because prior to that there were many things going on in the United States that were not right," Johnson said. The injustices that existed in 1963 convinced Johnson and her family and friends to attend the march. "We had to be there. We had to be a part of it," she said. The fight for equality that the original march embodied remains a work in progress, McRae said, which makes Saturday's event so important. "We need this, especially now," she said. Both women wore buttons from the march in 1963. Saturday's event is the first of two rallies to mark the anniversary. President Barack Obama headlines another event Wednesday, the exact anniversary of the March on Washington, where MLK delivered the now-famous speech at the Lincoln Memorial. The Wednesday event will include a longer march through Washington and speeches by Obama and former presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter. At the March on Washington: The anger, fear, love and hope . CNN's Chris Lawrence and journalist David Simpson contributed to this report.

Two of Martin Luther King Jr.'s children will speak at event . Obama, former presidents Clinton, Carter headline a second march Wednesday . March passes King Memorial . Al Sharpton: Marchers want action, not nostalgia .

(CNN) -- Amy Poehler drew a standing ovation when she initiated an impromptu pageant during the outstanding lead actress in a comedy category at the 2011 Emmy Awards. At the 2012 Golden Globes, Tina Fey made viewers do a double take, photo-bombing Poehler as the nominees were announced for best actress in a TV comedy or musical. The "Parks and Recreation" and "30 Rock" stars have been stealing the spotlight at awards shows as presenters and nominees for years. As Suzy Byrne of Yahoo! Entertainment says, "It's almost like they've been practicing for this." "This" being their gig co-hosting the 70th Golden Globes, to air on NBC on January 13. The news, which broke Monday evening, was met with such excitement from fans, celebrities and the media that many were left wondering, "Seth Mac-who?" It was announced this month that "Family Guy" creator MacFarlane would host the 85th Academy Awards. It's still considered a great get for the Oscars, which have been fixated on attracting a younger demographic, but all anybody seems to care about is the Fey/Poehler Globes. Tim Brooks, an author, TV historian and former network executive, told The Hollywood Reporter of MacFarlane's appeal, "Younger viewers probably know the name, but he's not an A star." It should be noted, however, that MacFarlane's "Ted" recently broke a box office record: The flick about a teddy bear that comes to life has surpassed "The Hangover" as the highest-grossing non-sequel R-rated comedy worldwide. Meanwhile, Brooks said of the Globes pick, "Tina Fey is a good choice, particularly. She's appealing to younger and older viewers. She's accessible. She's not too trendy but trendy enough." Poehler has similar range. Before starring on "Parks and Recreation," she appeared alongside Fey on "Saturday Night Live" and in "Mean Girls" and "Baby Mama," in addition to films like "Wet Hot American Summer" and "Blades of Glory." "They're the first people we approached" for the job, said Aida Takla-O'Reilly, president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. "I like their style of comedy because they're not trying to be funny, but they're funny. ... It's natural." Takla-O'Reilly is just one of many dedicated fans. Two women recently bid big bucks at Comedy Central's "Night of Too Many Stars," which benefits autism programs, to hang out with Fey and Poehler for one night. As some media outlets have pointed out, perhaps just to stir the pot, the foreign press association's decision to book Fey and Poehler could be seen as a slap in the face of the Academy for choosing to announce Oscar nominations on January 10, before the Golden Globes. However, Takla-O'Reilly says, that's not the case. "I have the deep belief that we honor the members of the Academy," she said. "In other words, what are the Golden Globes about? What are we honoring? Everyone we're honoring there is a member of the Academy, right? Where's the competition?" The Fey/Poehler pick was made because "they're obviously very pleasant to look at, and ... they play off of each other beautifully," Takla-O'Reilly added, noting that she enjoyed their skit at the 2011 Emmy Awards. Even Ricky Gervais, who hosted the Globes in 2010, 2011 and 2012, had kind words for the ladies: "Good luck to Tina Fey and Amy Poehler at the Golden Globes. After failing three years in a row to make E! Channel's Best Dressed list, I decided to hand over the reins." This is the pair that viewers have been waiting to see, Yahoo! Entertainment's Byrne said. It's not that people are expecting these women to get on stage and reinvent awards shows; it's that they're looking forward to hearing smart jokes. "They won't sit there and insult people like Ricky Gervais did," Byrne said. "It's like in '30 Rock,' when you watch it, people at home feel like they're in on the joke. ... They'll pull the audience in that way." Like "Saturday Night Live's" Seth Meyers tweeted, "Poehler and Fey hosting the Golden Globes is excellent news for those who love good times."

Tina Fey and Amy Poehler will co-host the 70th Golden Globes . Hollywood Foreign Press Association: "They're the first people we approached" Seth MacFarlane will host the Academy Awards . The Globes will air on NBC on January 13 .

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- When then-President-elect Barack Obama first asked Hillary Clinton to be his top diplomat, she turned him down and recommended others for the job, the secretary of state said in an interview broadcast Sunday. Hillary Clinton meets with South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan on Friday to discuss North Korea. Speaking to ABC's "This Week," Clinton also said the president has answered the central question she raised about him when she was his chief rival for the Democratic nomination last year. In her famous "3 a.m." ad, she questioned whether Obama was the right candidate to handle a middle-of-the-night international crisis. "Has the president answered it for you?" host George Stephanopoulos asked. "Absolutely," Clinton replied. "And, you know, the president, in his public actions and demeanor, and certainly in private with me and with the national security team, has been strong, thoughtful, decisive, I think he is doing a terrific job. And it's an honor to serve with him." The former senator from New York and former first lady revealed details of how she came to accept the role. Watch analysts dissect the Clinton-Obama relationship » . "I never had any dream, let alone inkling, that I would end up in President Obama's cabinet," she said. "When I left the presidential race after getting some sleep and taking some deep breaths, I immediately went to work for him in the general election. ... And I was looking forward to going back to the Senate and, frankly, going back to my life and representing New York, which I love. And I had no idea that he had a different plan in mind." When her name was mentioned in the media as a possible member of Obama's cabinet, Clinton said, she found the idea "absurd." "And then when he called and asked me to come see him, and we had our first conversation, I said, 'You know, I really don't think I'm the person to do this, I want to go back to my life. I really feel like I owe it to the people of New York.' And I gave him a bunch of other names of people who I thought would be great secretaries of state." But Obama "was quite persistent and very persuasive," Clinton said. She added, "Ultimately, it came down to my feeling that, number one, when your president asks you to do something for your country, you really need a good reason not to do it. Number two, if I had won and I had asked him to please help me serve our country, I would have hoped he would say yes. And finally, I looked around our world and I thought, you know, we are in just so many deep holes that everybody had better grab a shovel and start digging out." Some analysts have raised questions about how much power Clinton actually has in the administration, given that Obama and Vice President Joe Biden have done a great deal of international outreach themselves. The president has also appointed special envoys to focus on several key regions. But Clinton said she wanted the envoys appointed "because we were inheriting so many hot spot problems that I knew you could never have one person possibly address all of that." One of the biggest is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Clinton and the president have called on Israel to halt construction at settlements in the West Bank. Asked whether there is any room for compromise on that issue, Clinton said the administration would not "prejudge the effort." She said the administration is committed to Israel's security. "We see historical, demographic, political, technological trends that are very troubling as to Israel's future. At the same time, there is a legitimate aspiration of the Palestinian people that needs to be addressed." On the nuclear standoff with Iran, Clinton said a diplomatic process in which U.S. representatives sit down with Iran's authorized representatives would give "us information and insight that we don't have. ... We don't have any really clear sense as to what it is they are seeking." Clinton also addressed the growing tensions surrounding North Korea, and what she called its "very provocative and belligerent behavior" with recent tests of missile and nuclear technology. "One of the positive developments," she said, is that "it has actually brought the [other] members of [the] six-party process -- Japan, South Korea, China, Russia, the United States -- much closer together" in how they view the challenge. She said there may be additional U.N. sanctions against North Korea. Several lawmakers have asked the president to put North Korea back on a list of state sponsors of terrorism. "We're going to look at it," Clinton said. "There's a process for it. Obviously we would want to see recent evidence of their support for international terrorism." She emphasized that North Korea's detention of two U.S. journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, is separate from the political issues. "It is a humanitarian issue and the girls should be let go," Clinton said.

Clinton says she was looking forward to going back to Senate after the election . She suggested to President Obama a list of other people for top diplomat post . Clinton reconsidered when Obama was "quite persistent and very persuasive" Clinton was recently in South Korea for discussions on North Korea .

(CNN) -- Guinea-Bissau has been suspended from the African Union in the wake of last week's military coup. The suspension remains "until the restoration of constitutional order," the union said Tuesday. The union cited the "recurrence of illegal and unacceptable interference of the leadership of Guinea-Bissau's army on the politics of the country, creating instability and culture of impunity, which have hampered the development of the country." The union said it will request the cooperation of international organizations including the United Nations, the European Union and the Economic Community of West African States to apply additional sanctions, including a travel ban on key members of the junta. "The African Union is doing their job, and we are doing our job," said Daba Naualna, a spokesman for the junta that has taken over the country. He argued that history will show that the coup was the right thing to do. Eventually, the African Union will be able to understand the situation, he said. The military command has said the revolt was in response to a "secret deal" between the government and Angola to allow Angolan troops in the country to attack the military. The junta insisted that the African Union, whose rotating presidency is currently held by Angola, supports intervention by Angolan forces. Angola, also a former Portuguese colony, issued a statement last week saying it would unilaterally withdraw its troops. A number of its troops are in Guinea-Bissau to help reform the country's armed forces, Angola said. Meanwhile, Naualna said an interim president and a former prime minister of Guinea-Bissau will be freed from detention as soon as conditions allow. Interim President Raimundo Pereira and former Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Jr. "are being detained for security reasons," Naualna said. The junta "does not anticipate" the return of Pereira and Gomes to power, despite international condemnations of the coup. The developments came after the military command met Monday with the Economic Community of West African States regional bloc, which has denounced the coup and called for the junta "to restore constitutional rule immediately." Naualna said the West African group agreed to send a technical mission to Guinea-Bissau as soon as possible to help find solutions to the crisis, though specific details were not released. Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara will lead the talks within the bloc, Naualna said. After Thursday's coup, military leaders and a group of mostly opposition political parties declared the formation of a transitional national council, spokesman Fernando Vaz said. The composition of the council had yet to be determined, he said, but the president of the council will be the interim president of the country until parliamentary and presidential elections are held. The formation of the council effectively means the constitution will be suspended, a scenario similar to events in 2003, after a coup against President Kumba Iala. Coups and coup attempts are common in Guinea-Bissau since it won independence from Portugal in 1974. Soldiers took Pereira and Gomes into custody Thursday night, sparking international condemnation. Leaders of the nation's armed forces have taken control of the nation to ensure stability, Naualna said. "The (army chief of staff) thinks, for the sake of the country, that power cannot fall into the streets and decided to have (the military) play its part in seeking solutions with the political class to resolve this crisis," he said. On Sunday, the "military command" announced the closure of Guinea-Bissau to all air traffic and maritime circulation from abroad as a matter "of national security and safeguard of the territory of Guinea-Bissau." A chorus of world leaders has denounced last week's coup, which occurred just before the second round of a presidential election set for April 29. The African Union, the United Nations and the United States called for a return to civilian rule and demanded the release of the leaders. Foreign ministers from the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries, of which Guinea-Bissau is a member, have also condemned the coup. Guinea-Bissau's conflicts have ravaged its infrastructure and economy, leaving it among the poorest in the world. The nation's first round of voting in a presidential election was held in March, and campaigning for the second round was about to begin. The election was prompted by the death of the incumbent Malam Bacai Sanha in January after a long illness. Sanha had become president in September 2009 after the assassination of his predecessor. Despite his coming to power in what international observers deemed a fair and peaceful election, his tenure was marked by turmoil among the country's military and political leadership. To date, no democratically elected president of the country has served a full five-year term. CNN's Kim Chakanetsa and David McKenzie contributed to this report.

NEW: The African Union suspends Guinea-Bissau . NEW: History will show we were right, the junta says . Junta: The acting president and former prime minister are "detained for security reasons" Guinea-Bissau has had several coups since it gained independence in 1974 .

(CNN) -- Like everyone else who listened to the arguments at the Supreme Court last week, I have no crystal ball for predicting whether the justices will uphold or strike down the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. But it seemed clear to me, as it did to most observers, that the court's five Republican appointees are leaning toward invalidating the act's minimum coverage provision, the "mandate" provision that requires most Americans to acquire health insurance by January 2014. This was somewhat surprising. Even more surprising, though, was that several of the justices also seemed inclined to strike down the entire law, all 2,700 pages of it. This would be extraordinary. It would mark the first time in almost 80 years that the court invalidated such a significant federal law as exceeding Congress' enumerated powers. It would also be the first time since the 1930s that it used the unconstitutionality of a law's single provision to strike down a hugely important law in its entirety. The justices' apparent willingness to take such steps suggests they may not appreciate the political stakes. A decision to wash away the most important federal statute in a generation, rendered in the heat of a presidential campaign, would likely unleash a political firestorm -- one that could significantly threaten the stature of the Supreme Court. Opinion: After the mandate, a boom in government-run health care . Some justices seem to ignore public opinion. Justices Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia have proclaimed as much. And it would certainly be troubling if the court were take ordinary politics into account in resolving most questions coming before it. But this is no ordinary case, and the court cannot afford to blithely ignore how the nation's reaction might harm its long-term institutional standing. As Alexander Hamilton wrote in the Federalist, the judiciary possesses "neither force nor will, but merely judgment." And the court's ability to serve its assigned role in our constitutional system as a critical check on the political process depends on the justices' capacity to show the nation that it is exercising principled, reasoned judgment. Opinion: Obama should know better on Supreme Court's role . In short, the justices must maintain the nation's faith that their decisions are grounded in legal principle rather than partisan politics. For if Americans see the court as no more than another partisan body, the justices' capacity to persuade persons of diverse ideological hues will be lost. So will, in important respects, our conception of the rule of law. With respect to the health care law, an ideologically predictable 5-4 decision -- especially to invalidate the law in its entirety -- runs the risk of creating precisely such an impression. It would be misguided, but that is beside the point. The impression alone poses serious dangers. Opinion: Obama was too timid on health care . Moreover, the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is only one of several high-profile, highly ideological disputes heading the court's way. In the next few years, the justices will also be confronting Arizona's controversial immigration law (S.B. 1070); the University of Texas's race-based undergraduate admissions program; a sequel to Citizens United v. FEC, which allowed unlimited union and corporation spending in elections; and, most likely, the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act, the Defense of Marriage Act (which defines marriage as a union of one man and one woman) and California's Proposition 8 (which bans same-sex marriage in that state). A steady stream of 5-4 decisions along predictable ideological lines, led by a decision to invalidate the 2010 health law, could prove toxic. This is not just sour grapes from those who substantively disagree with an increasingly conservative court. Chief Justice Roberts has eloquently voiced the same concern. In his numerous paeans to Chief Justice John Marshall, Roberts has recognized that the court must attend to its institutional stature with great care. If the justices are careless with the court's political capital, Roberts has warned, the court will "lose its credibility and legitimacy as an institution. "The justices must not just be principled and nonpartisan; they must also appear that way to the nation." Ultimately, the public's faith in the justices as neutral arbiters of law is essential to the court's legitimacy, the independence of the federal judiciary and even the rule of law. When that faith is diminished, something incredibly precious is lost -- something far more important than the outcome of any one case. I fear that the justices are playing with fire. For the sake of the court, I sure hope they are careful. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Bradley Joondeph.

Bradley Joondeph: No one can predict how Supreme Court will rule on health care law . He says there were indications that some justices would throw out entire law . Joondeph: Throwing out hugely important law, in midst of campaign, would be a big risk . He says a decision widely viewed as political could threaten court's stature .

(CNN) -- As a politically active Millennial invested in this year's election, I was surprised by my own response to the first presidential debate: I was bored. But not for all the reasons the pundits are talking about. To be sure, President Barack Obama's lackluster performance and Mitt Romney's free rein over the moderator led us into the weeds of policy without a compass. But that wasn't the only reason the candidates didn't speak to me. The debate was supposed to be about domestic issues, but focused exclusively on economic policies and health care plans. As a Millennial, or a member of the generation born in the 1980s and 1990s, I care deeply about the economy and health care. My generation faces crushing educational debt of $904 billion in 2012, up from $241 billion a decade ago; many of us don't have health insurance; and we face an unemployment rate that, at 12%, is 50% above the national average. But we also want our leaders to connect the dots. Opinion: A plea to millennials -- get out the vote . Among my own Millennial friends, we don't debate economic reform without addressing the immigrant labor force. We never discuss health care without also grappling with women's rights. And yet, the candidates Wednesday night managed to debate fine points of policy while missing the big picture. We can't build a moral economy or health care system without considering the major social challenges of our time: civil liberties, immigration, women's rights, domestic extremism and climate change. None of these issues was even mentioned in the debate. The failure to speak clearly and consistently to our generation's concerns about the world we will inherit has consequences in this election. In the 2008 election, Millennials made up 17% of the electorate and voted 66% for Obama, compared with 32% for John McCain. We were responsible for Obama's decisive seven-point victory, accounting for 80% of Obama's national popular vote margin over McCain. Our generation now makes up 24% of the electorate and could make up the deciding vote again, but only if we make it to the polls. We are not nearly as engaged this election season as the last time around. We lag behind older voters in interest in the election and intention to vote. Only 18 percent of us under 30 are following this election closely, down from 35% four years ago. Just 63% of those of us registered say we will vote, down from 72% last time around. While these numbers hold for both young Democrats and Republicans, a dip in voter turnout is most consequential for Obama, who leads among our peers. Why are we losing interest? Let's put this election in context. For the majority of us who voted for Barack Obama, electing the president in 2008 felt like changing the course of history. Opinion: Who are millennials? Our generation came of age in the shadow of catastrophe -- the aftermath of 9/11, the genocide in Darfur, Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, the wars in Afghanistan and in Iraq, and a faltering economy. We had hoped that the historic election of our first African-American president, a candidate who embodied our diversity in being and breath, would initiate a new era that broke from Bush-era politics. Instead, the president inherited a punishing economic recession and GOP obstructionism that made even modest reforms challenging. Even worse, his administration continued some Bush-era national security policies he promised to end, from indefinite detention at home to drone warfare abroad. As a result, Millennials I know have become disillusioned about national political change, turned to local politics and community engagement instead and focused on getting through tough times. Still, many, like me, are not giving up. This election year, I've sobered up about the meaning of hope. Hope requires action beyond casting a vote; it requires holding our elected leaders to task. The president repealed Don't Ask Don't Tell, came out for marriage equality and created a program that allows undocumented youth to live and work legally in the U.S. I believe that Millennials can be critical of the political process and still have faith that incremental change is possible if we organize before and after Election Day. Opinion: Why this election is so personal . Of course, it's difficult to organize if our candidates are not even discussing our concerns. No matter who we support, let's ask that our candidates debate all the issues that determine the future of our nation. No one has more at stake than the generation who will inherit it. Imran Siddiqui, a South Florida-based attorney, Muslim American activist and community organizer with Emerge USA, contributed to this essay. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Valarie Kaur.

A politically active Millennial, Valarie Kaur was bored by debate . Kaur: Jobs, health care are very important to her generation, but so are social challenges . Civil rights, immigration, women's issues, climate change were unaddressed, she says .

San Francisco (CNN) -- While Google waits for regulatory approval on its bid to acquire Motorola Mobility, company executives have repeatedly worked to assuage partners' fears that the Android software developer is preparing to compete with them. Partners in Google's mobile-phone venture were understandably skeptical when the Android maker said this summer that it planned to acquire one of their rivals, creating a potential reason to roll out improvements to its popular smartphone operating system on Motorola phones before offering them to others. Google has offered free and open-source versions of Android to anyone ambitious enough to download it and tinker with the code. Dozens of smartphone and tablet makers have taken Google up on this, and have come to rely on it for their businesses. Google, which assured them it is focused on software, not hardware, seemed like a logical partner. Then, when the company's intentions to buy Motorola surfaced, Google execs said they were mainly doing so in order to protect themselves and their partners against patent litigation. (Motorola has about 24,000 patents either approved or pending). The $12.5 billion acquisition still has not cleared federal oversight, and so Google has not been talking publicly much about its plans. A spokesman declined to comment on the matter last week. Since CNN's inquiries, Google Chairman Eric Schmidt has been discussing some plans for Motorola on a three-city tour of Asia this week. He told an audience in South Korea on Tuesday that the acquisition will "not change in any material way the way we operate," and then told a group in Taipei, Taiwan, on Wednesday that Google plans to continue providing legal defenses to Android partners, according to Reuters. Sony Ericsson CTO Jan Uddenfeldt said at a conference last week that Google still maintains it is buying Motorola primarily for the patent portfolio of one of the world's oldest mobile-phone companies. "The last thing they would like to happen is to create a vertical, because that would destroy the market share for Android," he said onstage at the Open Mobile Summit here on Thursday. Google led the market in the most recent quarter, thanks in part to wide adoption by many companies, with 43% of smartphone owners using Android phones, according to research firm Nielsen. Apple and BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion operate vertical businesses in which they maintain and control their own hardware and software. In the nearly three months since announcing a bid for Motorola, the strategy to remain a neutral player "has been clearly communicated to us by Google, and it makes sense," Uddenfeldt said in an interview. "We are an all-Android company now," Uddenfeldt said. "We do not hesitate to be an Android company." Even with Motorola's help, Google could struggle to transition from a software developer to bringing hardware products to market, Uddenfeldt said. "Google is a great software company, but they are not a consumer brand," he said. Google has suggested that it plans to leverage Motorola's hardware expertise in order to understand how to integrate software more closely with hardware, Kevin Packingham, the senior vice president for Samsung Electronics products, said in an interview. Patents are perhaps secondary in terms of how the acquisition will benefit partners, he said. "I wouldn't say that it's black and white about wanting to be vertical," Packingham said. "Google needs the capability to understand how to deeply integrate with the hardware." That could turn Motorola, a storied mobile innovator, into a glorified research-and-development arm. In the meantime, Motorola is laying off 800 of its 19,000 workers, and the company is preparing to launch the Droid Razr, the spiritual successor to one of the most popular phones of the last decade. Not surprisingly, the new version runs on Android. Even more so than Motorola, Samsung has been very close with Google over the last two years. The pair has twice partnered for what's called the "lead device program," in which Google and a hardware maker collaborate on the first product that will run a major new version of Android. Together, they developed the Nexus S and the upcoming Galaxy Nexus. Google has also worked with HTC for the Nexus One and Motorola for the Xoom tablet. Being chosen as the lead-device partner is a competitive advantage, Packingham said, because the company gets direct access to Google engineers and to Android code before rivals. Samsung expects to continue to work with Google on some lead devices in the future, he said. Andy Rubin, Google's head of mobile, said during a Google conference call in August announcing the Motorola acquisition that the new unit will be run as an independent business. As for preferential treatment regarding lead devices, Rubin said Motorola "will be part of that bidding process." According to Packingham, Samsung was chosen for two of the three Nexus phones because of its hardware expertise and access to components, and there is no bidding involved in the lead-device program. The Google spokesman declined to comment on how exactly the process works.

Google's mobile partners say the Android maker won't be like Apple . They say Google has no plans to become a "vertical" phone maker . Google has said it plans to run Motorola as an independent business .

(CNN) -- On a warm evening in Istanbul, a bar called Kooperatif announced its last call. Friends old and new gathered in the art and performance hall, located in the heart of the city's Beyoglu district, for a smoke-filled goodbye accompanied by live music and doses of nostalgia. Kooperatif closed its doors in Rumeli Han, a venerable 19th-century Ottoman shopping arcade that until recently housed an eclectic mix of tenants, including an Indian cultural center, a rock-climbing wall and the district headquarters of the Turkish Communist Party. Safak Velioglu, founder and owner of Kooperatif, called Rumeli Han a "small republic." "The story of the closing of Kooperatif is about gentrification" Velioglu says. "In the last 20 or 30 years, [establishments] like Kooperatif became very interesting places for different interests, art galleries and workshop areas. "After gentrification, nobody could afford to find a place." Velioglu had been paying $2,000 a month to run his pub in the basement of Rumeli Han. After the rent for the place was quadrupled, he'd little choice but to close the bar. Istanbul, Turkey's largest city and business hub, has witnessed a surge in population and a boom in urban construction projects over the past decade. Global tourism destination . It's also emerged as a leading global tourism destination. In 2012, according to the Turkish Ministry of Tourism and Culture, 31.7 million foreigners visited Turkey, compared to 1.3 million in 1980. Istanbul's Beyoglu district is the city's center of nightlife, enchanting visitors and locals with its unique combination of seedy bars, upscale nightclubs, historic churches and 19th-century mansions. That's all changing. A century ago, Beyoglu was the home of Istanbul's non-Muslim bourgeoisie -- religious and ethnic minorities including Armenians, Greeks and Jews. The collapse of the Ottoman Empire during World War I led to "population exchanges" that prompted the departure of many Greeks. Decades later, Turkish authorities imposed crippling minority taxes which accelerated the emigration of the city's indigenous Greek community in the 1950s and '60s. As of 2006, fewer than 3,000 ethnic Greeks are left in the city once known as Constantinople. During subsequent decades, Turkish and Kurdish migrants from the rest of the country moved into abandoned blocks in Beyoglu. The district's winding alleyways and crumbling mansions also became a favorite destination for artists and musicians. Kooperatif carved out a niche in this bohemian melting pot. It thrived as a place where patrons could to speak, drink, perform and display their art. To get to Kooperatif, visitors had to dip down a narrow staircase on a Beyoglu side street and stumble into an old brick basement painted white with remnants of past art installations plastered along the walls. Barefoot backpackers . Its cavernous space offered a stark change of pace from Istiklal Caddesi, the pedestrian thoroughfare that surges with locals and visitors most days and nights of the week. Patrons, who included everyone from barefoot foreign backpackers to independent musicians passing through the city, described it as a refuge. In the last decade, Beyoglu also began attracting international retailers and hoteliers, prompting some to compare its transformation to the gentrification of Manhattan's Time Square in the 1990s. While many mourn the appearance of Western franchises along Istiklal, others welcome the change, not least President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose ruling Justice and Development Party has pushed to overhaul Istanbul and drive Turkey's economic growth. Under Erdogan, the city has been awash with massive construction and urban development projects ranging from gentrifying dilapidated neighborhoods near Beyoglu to building a new bridge and metro tunnel across the Bosphorus. Under this tide of change, 19th- and 20th-century shopping arcades, once cluttered with mom and pop shops and tea houses, have today been replaced by modern shopping malls and luxury hotels. Kooperatif owner Velioglu plans to reopen his bar in a new location, but he's unlikely to find a location as historic and quixotic as the old Rumeli Han, and concedes this might be a problem. "The chemistry of Kooperatif needs this chaos and it has to be in the center," Velioglu said. Ryan Powell is a freelance writer based in Istanbul.

Istanbul's crumbling Beyoglu district has been home to the city's artists but rising rents are pushing some out . Kooperatif, an art and performance hall in the heart of Beyoglu, recently closed shop . Istanbul has been awash with development projects over the past decade . Changes are being driven driven by Turkish economic growth .

(CNN) -- BBC science-fiction series "Doctor Who" originally premiered in 1963, enticing viewers with its depiction of a time traveler known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a spaceship called the TARDIS. The series has since aired 33 seasons and nearly 800 episodes with 11 actors portraying the Doctor over time. Matt Smith, the 11th Doctor, set off a bit of frenzied speculation last month when he announced he'll be leaving the show. The BBC has said it will debut a new doctor in a Christmas special. As fans eagerly await the new appointment of the good Doctor, the network will celebrate "Doctor Who's" 50th anniversary with a biopic film about the show's origins. "An Adventure in Space and Time" will premiere later this year (the air date hasn't been announced) and fictionally recounts the creation of series while exploring the team behind its first episode. "Sherlock" TV series creator and actor Mark Gatiss wrote the script, and "Game of Thrones" actor David Bradley stars as William Hartnell, the actor who played the first Doctor. To boldly go on a nerdy pilgrimage . Gatiss and Bradley appeared at the recent Comic-Con in San Diego to promote the upcoming film and spoke with CNN on the red carpet for a party for "The World's End," which also stars Bradley. The motivation behind the "Doctor Who" film, directed by Terry McDonough, is to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the popular series and to depict what Gatiss says is an interesting story. Gatiss says that he's a lifelong "Doctor Who" fan and that he first tried to make the film on the 40th anniversary but ran into some difficulty as the series had not yet returned to the air. Fans know and love the story of how the show was created, he said, and he wanted to share it with them. "It's a remarkable bunch of people, all of them misfits really," Gatiss said. "They cast as the Doctor William Hartnell, who had been typecast before that, and he got this role that totally changed his life. There's all sort of wonderful incidental details that made the show what it is today. It's a very moving story but broadly very celebrational. It's lovely to turn back and see how something you love took its first steps." Hartnell had appeared in various plays and films before being cast as the first Doctor, the role for which he is largely remembered. The film explores the life of the original "Doctor Who" star as much as it does the series. Take a bite-size tour of Comic-Con . In portraying Hartnell, Bradley said he immersed himself in the early episodes. "I wanted to see as much as I could to play him," Bradley said. "And of course in the film, we recreated a lot of the very first episode. Not only the first episode but the first pilot that was rejected." Bradley said he was fascinated by watching Hartnell develop the character. "He realized he was playing it too grumpy and authoritarian and lacking in humor," Bradley said. "I think as it went on he grew to love the part and felt ownership for it." "An Adventure in Space and Time" is meant to be enjoyed by those who don't regularly follow the lengthy TV series or understand its extensive mythology, he said. "It stands alone," Bradley said. "It's a very complex piece about lots of very interesting people." Gatiss added, "That was my intention from the beginning. A lot of the films I admire the most, in terms of biographical films, succeed because you get involved with the person's story, not because you know all the things." Part of "Doctor Who's" premise is that the Doctor can regenerate his body when he nears death. The concept explains the rotating actors who have portrayed him throughout the years. Actress Jenna-Louise Coleman talks 'Doctor Who' During a Comic-Con panel about the film and the show's 50th anniversary, the creators confirmed the casting of the next doctor has not been solidified. "An Adventure in Space and Time," which is likely to premiere this fall on the BBC, will give fans an opportunity to see new content before the new Doctor is revealed in the Christmas special. "Doctor Who" has been a seminal TV series, particularly in the UK, and Gatiss says he feels it may be because the character and premise are fundamentally unique. "It's a great idea, and there aren't many of those around," Gatiss says. "But I think one thing is very important to say -- the Doctor is a television original. He's not based on a literary character. It's a character created by people in television for television, and it's still going strong 50 years later. That's very, very special."

"Doctor Who" will get a new Doctor soon . A biopic film will also celebrate the series' 50th anniversary . Film's scriptwriter says the series is beloved because it's so unique .

(CNN) -- On an historic autumn day in 2012, online warriors from both sides of the epic Apple-Samsung feud agreed to set aside their powerful smartphones and resolve their tensions, which had grown intolerable. What follows is the HTML version of their agreement, the Cupertino-Seoul Apple-Samsung Fanboy Treaty. Conciliatory Treaty . WHEREAS, the respective Parties, the Apple Fanboys (also known as "Apple Fanbois," "Fanb0yz," "iPhoners" or simply "The Mac Faithful," among many other names) and the Samsung Fanboys (also known as "Apple H4terz," "Galaxians" or "Androiders") seek a lasting peace, both online and off, and... WHEREAS, online forums, queues for new products and technology blogs have become polluted with smack talk, useless feature comparisons and Photoshopped ads meant to deride and belittle each other's device preference, and... WHEREAS both sets of Parties recognize that a competitive market is both critical and necessary for continued technological innovation to benefit all, especially early adopters... NOW, THEREFORE, the Parties agree to abide by the agreements herein, enumerated in the terms of the articles set forth below: . ARTICLE 1 . Apple Fanboys agree not to keep bringing up the August 2012 $1 billion patent verdict against Samsung as a way of trying to squelch any disagreement over who may have copied what, recognizing that the case covered a limited scope of features. Samsung Fanboys will similarly cease efforts to end all arguments by discussing "Open" versus "Closed" platforms, accepting that there are numerous advantages and disadvantages to each. ARTICLE 2 . Apple Fanboys won't list how many apps are available for iOS (more than 700,000, since the treaty brought it up) on every message board about app development while Samsung Fanboys will minimize cross-Party discussion of expandable SD-card memory, replaceable batteries, screen size, NFC technology or how Android's notifications are still way better than Apple's, even after Notification Center was added to iOS and Mac OS X. ARTICLE 3 . Both Parties will agree that Widgets, often touted as a selling point by Samsung Fanboys, are actually kinda dumb, but then so is Apple's "Podcast" app, which is just absolutely the worst. Apple Fanboys acknowledge that Animated Wallpaper would be a nice feature to have while Samsung Fanboys admit that late at night, they sometimes wake up screaming from nightmares about product upgrade fragmentation across the Android platform. ARTICLE 4 . Apple Fanboys vow to stop taking the words of Steve Jobs (RIP) about going thermonuclear on Google over Android as personal marching orders. Samsung Fanboys agree to share some of the 50 Gigabytes of Dropbox storage that came with their Galaxy S3 phone and to let Apple Fanboys play around with the Swype keyboard feature whenever it is requested. ARTICLE 5 . Both Parties agree to a complete and immediate ban on mocking in the following manner: Apple Fanboys will no longer pick up a Samsung Note device and hold it up to their ear, shouting, "HELLO!? I THINK THIS PHONE IS TOO BIG FOR MY FACE!" Samsung Fanboys likewise agree to stop posting images online of people holding up iPads to take photos, superimposed with the word "FAIL" on the image. ARTICLE 6 . Samsung Fanboys agree to immediately boycott and disown television commercials making fun of Apple customers standing in line. Apple Fanboys, in exchange, promise to stop treating iPhone and iPad launch days like a national holiday or, Steve Jobs forbid, like the Woodstock of their generation. ARTICLE 7 . The oath to be taken by both Apple and Samsung Fanboys upon ratification of this peace treaty shall be in the following form: "I ....... do solemnly swear allegiance to all sleek, cutting-edge, full-featured mobile devices, be they made by Apple or by manufacturers of Android-based products. Should I feel the need to criticize, boast by comparison or complain about a product that rivals the one I own and use, such Internet-based venom will be directed at a third-party target [namely Windows mobile or, ha ha, BlackBerry users. LAME.]." IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the respective Parties sign this Treaty by digital signature or QR Code, then Tweet a link for all to see. BY AGREEMENT OF BOTH PARTIES, war between Apple and Samsung Fanboys is declared to have terminated October, 2012.

Writer proposes a peace treaty for "fanboys" of Apple, Samsung products . Under the modest proposal, Apple lovers would cease citing $1 billion lawsuit win . Samsung loyalists, in turn, would stop mocking Apple devotees' habit of lining up for everything . Both parties reserve the right to mock Windows, BlackBerry .

(CNN) -- For Capt. Kamaljit Singh Kalsi, a doctor, and 2nd Lt. Tejdeep Singh Rattan, a dentist, this is a hill worth fighting for. Tejdeep Singh Rattan, left, and Kamaljit Singh Kalsi are set to report for duty in the U.S. Army in July. These two U.S. military recruits of the Sikh faith are challenging an Army order that they remove their turbans and cut their unshorn hair and beards when they report for active duty in July. In Sikhism, which originated in northwestern India, the turban and unshorn hair are articles of faith and can't be removed. But the U.S. military says there are times when the military cannot accommodate certain religious practices, "such as when those religious observations would interfere with the wear of proper military headgear or protective clothing or equipment." "It doesn't make sense to me, especially in these hard times," Kalsi told CNN. "The military is hurting for professionals. They need doctors, they need nurses." Aided by the Sikh Coalition, a national civil rights group, and a law firm, the men have filed requests that their religious needs be accommodated. They have filed appeals with their immediate superiors and complaints with the inspectors general of the Army and the Pentagon. The Sikh Coalition said Kalsi and Rattan had been assured that when they were recruited to join the Army's Health Professions Scholarship that their unshorn hair and turbans "would not be a problem." "Both men were both recruited and commissioned -- with their Sikh articles of faith -- during their respective first years of medical and dental school (2001 and 2006) through the Army's Health Professions Scholarship Program. "Both are concluding their training and are slated to begin active duty in July 2009. However, the U.S. Army is now disputing their ability to serve with their Sikh identity intact," the Sikh Coalition said in an April 14 letter addressed to Defense Secretary Robert Gates. Amardeep Singh, the head of the Sikh Coalition, told CNN that the issue at hand involves observant Sikhs, not those Sikh-Americans who entered the military after removing their turbans and shaving their beards and hair. The issue is all-important for the roughly 500,000-strong American Sikh community, which faced hostility after the September 11, 2001, attacks, when people associated them with al Qaeda terrorists because their turbans and beards resembled the militants' appearance. "The perception is still there," said Singh. "We're sort of still feeling it." He said surveys -- including one done recently in Queens, New York, where children reported being on the receiving end of verbal and physical abuse -- chronicle the problems Sikhs face. "These kids are being harassed in New York. It's Queens, the most diverse county in the United States. If this is happening in Queens, it's happening in other parts of the country." So, he said, the opportunity to serve in the U.S. Army sends the opposite message -- "that we are part and parcel of the fabric of this country." Kalsi, Singh and the Sikh community stress the Sikhs' military heritage. Kalsi, for example, is the fourth generation in his family to serve in the military, and his ancestors served in India's military. The Sikh served in allied forces in the two world wars and they serve in the militaries of Great Britain, Canada, Sweden, Pakistan, as well as India. The coalition notes in its letter to Gates that a Sikh doctor and dentist were serving in the Army, "grandfathered in under the old policy" that ended in the 1980s when observant Sikhs were barred from admission to the armed forces. Lt. Col. Christopher C. Garver, an Army spokesman, told CNN in an e-mail that "the Army places high value on the rights of Soldiers to freely observe the tenets of their respective religions." "Accommodation of a Soldier's religious practices must be examined against military necessity and cannot be guaranteed at all times," he wrote. "There are times when the Army cannot accommodate for religious reasons, such as when those religious observations would interfere with the wear of proper military headgear or protective clothing or equipment. "The Army regulations which establish the standards of wear and appearance of the uniform and accommodating religious practices are in accordance with the Department of Defense Instruction on this subject," he said. But the Sikhs want the Army to rethink and reconsider their situation. "If they can come up with another policy that would allow Sikhs to serve, I guarantee you, they will have many, many people join from the Sikh community," Kalsi said.

Two recruits of Sikh faith set to report for duty in U.S. Army in July . The Army says they must remove their turbans, cut their hair and beards . Sikh group says the Army should accommodate the religious articles of faith . Army says problem arises when religious practices interfere with military gear .

Cairo, Egypt (CNN) -- Lawyers representing Muslim Brotherhood members in a jailbreak case that includes former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy called Saturday for the judges to be changed. As has been the case in previous proceedings, Morsy appeared in the courtroom from inside a soundproof glass box, a requirement he rejected last Sunday as a "farce." He and a number of leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, which continues to back him, were present in the courtroom where they face prison-break charges stemming from the January 2011 uprising. On Saturday, one of the defense lawyers said the glass enclosure should either be removed or the defendants should be given a sign language expert -- and time to learn sign language -- before proceedings continue so they can communicate with their lawyers in private, as the law requires they be allowed to do. The three-judge panel's refusal led to the request that they be changed. Typically, another judge or panel would look into the demand for change, though it was not clear Saturday which judicial district would do so. Judge Shaaban El-Shamy adjourned the case until Monday. "The glass dock is to humiliate the defendants," Mohamed Selim El-Awa, the lead attorney, said Sunday. "This is unprecedented in the world." A glitch in the sound system that had allegedly made it difficult for defendants Sunday to hear what was going on in the courtroom appeared to have been repaired by Saturday. During Saturday's proceeding, defense lawyer Kamal Mandour filed a complaint against what he described as crimes committed by the military leaders of last year's coup, in which the nation's first democratically elected president was deposed. As Mandour ticked off the coup leaders' alleged crimes -- among them obstruction of the constitution and staging the coup -- Morsy added "and for killing over 3,000 people" in sit-ins. Mandour continued, "and for the ongoing killings in the face of peaceful protests." He called for an investigation into the crimes "to stop the ongoing bloodshed." Another defense lawyer, Mohamed El-Damaty, called for the case against Morsy and the others to be dismissed "because it was borne out of the womb of the counterrevolution that happened on July 3." That was a reference to Morsy's removal last year from the presidency and by Gen. Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Most of the leaders of the January 25, 2011, revolution that toppled longtime strongman Hosni Mubarak and led to Morsy's election the following year, especially Islamists, "have been thrown into prison with fictitious evidence," El-Damaty said. He called the continuing legal wrangling an attempt to uproot the Muslim Brotherhood and to "uphold the foundation of the counterrevolution and military dictatorship." But the prosecution objected to the arguments, describing them as political and irrelevant to the case. The defense attorneys' arguments were all about "the country, the political scene and targeted messages," the prosecutor said. "The prosecution has no right to object," responded defense attorney Mohamed Abu Leila, who requested that the judges overseeing the case be changed. It is his right to say things that the prosecutor may not understand, but which could prove useful later in the case, he said. Morsy himself was allowed to speak twice. "Farces take place in your presence," he said in remarks directed to the judge that were referring to a recording leaked to the news media of what he had thought was a private conversation between him and his lawyer. He maintained that he remains the country's legitimate president and called upon the people of Egypt to continue "their peaceful revolution." "People are aware of the truth behind the coup," Morsy said. Morsy repeated his earlier assertion that the court proceeding was unconstitutional, describing it in English as "null and void." Morsy has been charged with inciting the killings of political opponents and organizing a 2011 jailbreak by members of his then-banned Muslim Brotherhood. Morsy, the former head of the Brotherhood's political arm, won office in 2012. Shortly after he was elected, he resigned from the Muslim Brotherhood and its Freedom and Justice party in an effort to show he would represent all Egyptians. But he was ousted in a coup a year later amid widespread protests against his rule, with opponents accusing him of pursuing an Islamist agenda and excluding other factions from the government. Morsy and other Brotherhood leaders were rounded up after the coup. The Brotherhood had long been suppressed during the 29-year rule of Mubarak. But it emerged as the most powerful political force in Egypt after the popular revolt that toppled Mubarak in 2011. Rights groups and other pundits say the military-backed government that replaced Morsy has returned to the authoritarian practices of Mubarak, if not worse.

Glass enclosure should be removed or defendants allowed to learn sign language, lawyers say . The judges' refusal of that request led to the lawyers' demand that they be removed . "People are aware of the truth behind the coup," Morsy says .

Hong Kong (CNN) -- Two years ago, the sight of pristine-looking peas that had arrived all the way from Kenya to London made an impression on a would-be entrepreneur, Jenny Dawson. The peas had been tossed aside at a wholesale food market, getting ready to be sent to the landfill. Soon after that, on a friend's farm, crates of apples, deemed too small for their buyer, were left out to rot. Seeing all this waste pushed Dawson, 27, who formerly worked for a hedge fund, to start a business using surplus produce. The model for Rubies in the Rubble, her jam and chutney business, was born, with the goal using food that would otherwise get tossed to create foods that people would buy. "Preserves seemed almost a natural thing to be doing with a glut of fruit and veg, because it then lasts up to 10 months," Dawson said. Infographic: Food waste; From farm to fork and landfill . The massive global problem of food waste has received more attention in recent years, and the figures are staggering. A U.N. report estimated last year that around the world, one-third of all food produced for human consumption is wasted. Many food banks now collect leftover foods from hotels and restaurants and redistribute them to those in need. Composting has become a common method of recycling food as fertilizer or soil amendment. Interactive: Businesses making the most of our food waste . But businesses like Dawson's have also cropped up to make use of food items that would otherwise end up in landfills. Awareness campaigns have helped the cause, she said, and change can be felt in the initiatives taken by supermarkets and restaurants. Waitrose, the U.K.-based supermarket chain, in October achieved its goal of sending zero food waste to landfills. Instead, unwanted food is donated or sent to anaerobic digestion plants to convert the material into biogas. Other major U.K. retailers are following suit, with Marks & Spencer announcing similar plans. And Dawson says consumers' attitudes have changed too. "Two years ago, people didn't like the word 'food waste,' because people wanted to be seen as having the best, having the perfect thing," she said. "Then as organic and being homegrown started to creep in, people actually liked the strange-shaped carrots or the small, different apples because it felt more organic and homegrown." In California, two entrepreneurs saw an opportunity in the mounds of coffee grounds thrown out each day by cafes in their own neighborhood. They now run a thriving business based on reusing waste. Interactive: Human misery behind high food prices . Nikhil Arora and Alejandro Velez were business students at the University of California, Berkeley, when they first heard in class that mushrooms could be grown entirely on discarded coffee grounds. The concept piqued their interest and led to the formation of Back to the Roots, a business that has gone from farming mushrooms to selling mushroom-growing kits, all relying on used coffee that gets thrown out by 35 cafes in and around Berkeley. Read: How severe weather impacts the global food supply . "Since day one, our first vision for this company, why we fell in love with it, was this idea of 'waste to food' and 'waste to wages,' — that you could create a really cool company in an urban setting, create really good jobs out of what was waste, and something about that was so powerful to us," Arora said. The company's main product, a mushroom-growing kit, is a cardboard box that houses a plastic bag filled with coffee grounds and mushroom spawn. Slit open the bag and mist the contents with water, and pearl oyster mushrooms will begin to grow, until they are spilling out the side of the box, reaching their full-grown size in about 10 days. Quiz: Test your knowledge of Xmas excess . Back to the Roots has sold 300,000 of the kits in the U.S. at outlets like Whole Foods, Nordstrom, and Bed Bath and Beyond stores. Arora said they use "a massive stack" of coffee grounds per day, and it comes to about 18,000 kilograms of reused grounds per week. However he realizes it is still but a tiny contribution to relieving the amount of food products that go to waste. "We know our mushroom kit's not going to solve world hunger, it's not going to themselves reduce the entire issue." Arora hopes that growing one's own food could bring to individuals, especially children, a greater awareness of where food comes from. And he says that the idea easily engages a wide spectrum of the public, from foodies to children to environmentally-conscious people. "We like to say if you're sitting on a flight, no matter who you're sitting next to, you could talk to them about this mushroom kit," he said.

Annually around one third of all food produced is wasted, according to U.N. Entrepreneurs are starting businesses to turn food waste into something wanted . Used coffee grounds provide basis for Back to the Roots business .

(CNN) -- Playboy magazine recently published its first Hebrew language edition in Israel -- but has anyone actually been reading the articles to notice? According to the publisher of the magazine, launched three months ago with Israeli model Nataly Dadon on the cover and an interview with a former Israeli intelligence chief between the sheets, the country is finally ready for a Hebrew Playboy. "It's a time when Israel is really joining the family of modern nations, and Playboy is just part of modern global culture," says Dan Pomerantz, who emigrated from his native Chicago to Israel 15 months ago. "The brand has been popular (in Israel) for a long time and a Hebrew language magazine can really reach the entire market, whereas the English language version is really a niche commodity." With its third issue about to hit the newsstands, Pomerantz contends that the public are becoming more comfortable with the magazine's content, while interest from potential advertisers, interview subjects and potential Playboy "bunnies" is growing -- the magazine's website has a form for would-be models to apply. "So far we haven't had a negative reaction," says Pomerantz, who acknowledges that many conservative and ultra-orthodox religious groups would "not want to interact with the brand." Read more: Butlers in demand in Gulf states . Earlier attempts to launch adult magazines in Israel met greater opposition. Galia Albin, the publisher who introduced Penthouse Magazine into the country in 1989, remembers a torrid 11 months before she sold the title. The reaction by religious groups was so fierce that the printing press was threatened with arson. "It wasn't easy," she said. "Good luck to (Playboy), I think they are brave. Israel is open in some ways but in magazines, no." Albin admits that she wanted a marketing gimmick that would cause a stir, but maintains that the magazine was introduced for more than just shock value, standing for a more liberal, secular society. "Back then, secular Jews didn't think they had rights," she says. Some observers believe that reading the Hebrew edition of Playboy could still be seen as political statement. "Playboy makes a very specific claim," says Hugo Schwyzer, the American author and commentator on gender studies. "It doesn't see itself as political, but it is political -- it advocates for hedonism and sexual pleasure and the right for women to bare their body in public... Those are deeply political statements in Israel in a way that they are not really political in other countries." However, for those on Israel's liberal left, Playboy's arrival in Hebrew is more like dusting off a relic from a bygone era. "If you want nudity, there's the internet," says Sarah Tuttle-Singer, a blogger for the Times of Israel. "I'm not seeing very much fuss (in public about the launch of the magazine). If they wanted to be interesting, they should have women wearing prayer shawls -- and only prayer shawls -- standing in front of the Kotel (Wailing Wall). "That might be scandalous, controversial, and at least something that we've not seen before. Unless the articles are holding their own merit, I don't see the interest," she said , noting that the Hebrew edition's Facebook page has only around 5,800 "likes." Gallery: Dubai's stunning skyline . Content aside, launching a new print publication, albeit with a well-known brand name, is still something of a business risk, when increasingly people use internet to find whatever they want, mostly for free. "We don't see ourselves as a magazine company," says Pomerantz. "High-quality content is what we provide. We are going to relaunch our website and give our audience a whole other avenue to reach us. What we've found is that the printed magazine gives us a certain gravitas." From a business standpoint, the launch could be seen as part of the brand's global strategy to diversify, as its magazine sales have steadily declined since their high point in the 1970s. According to a recent report in the Wall Street Journal, the U.S. print publication loses around $6 million each year and uses licensing to international editions as a way to offset the losses. The familiar bunny logo is now more likely to be seen on clothing, jewelry, luggage or condoms than magazine covers. For all the potential pitfalls of print publishing and dealing with controversial content, Pomerantz remains bullish about the magazine's ability to push a few boundaries. "From the statistics on our website and Facebook, we can tell that a number of our followers are Arab speakers and Palestinians within Israel and neighboring countries," he says. "We are looking forward to putting together special content specifically to target the Arab market. We've seen so far a real interest that we want to encourage."

March saw the launch of Playboy magazine's first edition in Hebrew . Previous attempts to publish adult magazine in the 1980s were met with hostility . Publisher says he has not seen a bad reaction since launch . Some contend that the magazine is no longer very scandalous and the internet makes it less viable .

Lagos, Nigeria (CNN) -- The death toll from weekend violence in central Nigeria climbed to more than 200 Monday after members of a machete-wielding Muslim group attacked a mostly Christian town south of the city of Jos, officials said. More than 200 were dead and 32 injured, according to Choji Gyang, a religious affairs adviser to the head of Plateau state, who said bodies were still being recovered. Sani Shehu, president of the nongovernmental agency Civil Rights Congress, put the number of dead at about 485 people. Twenty-six arrests had been made in connection with the violence, Gyang said. Nigerian Vice President Goodluck Jonathan put security on high alert Sunday and began operations to capture the "roving bands of killers" who attacked Dogo Nahauwa, a town just south of Jos. Are you there? Send your video, images to iReport . The townsfolk are predominantly Berom, an ethnic group that mostly practices Christianity, said Manase Pampe, spokesman for the Red Cross Plateau state office. Reports of the attack described the assailants as members of the Muslim Hausa-Fulani ethnic group, Pampe and government spokesman Gregory Yenlong said. The attackers stormed the town at 3 a.m. Sunday (9 p.m. Saturday ET) and remained there for 2½ hours, Pampe said. Buildings were set afire, and people were attacked with machetes, Yenlong said. The violence resembled previous outbreaks of ethno-religious clashes in the West African nation. But John Onaiyekan, archbishop of Abuja, told Vatican Radio the most recent outbreak is the result of a dispute over access to natural resources, not religion. "The point that needs to be made is that people are not killing one another because of religion," Onaiyekan said. Instead, he called it a "classical" economic conflict between farmers and less sedentary groups. The Plateau attack prompted Jonathan to place the area and neighboring states on "red alert," the vice president's office said in a news release. He directed security forces to "undertake strategic initiatives to confront and defeat these roving bands of killers," the office said. Jonathan, who became acting head of state in February while President Umaru Yar'Adua recovers from illness, called for calm. "He calls on all Nigerians to remain peaceful and law abiding since violence only begets further violence," the release said. "He also sympathizes with those who have lost relatives and friends in these attacks, asking the Almighty to grant them the fortitude to bear the loss." Onaiyekan said the government had imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew but noted it's difficult for authorities to impose curfews outside the cities. The recent casualties don't "say much about the ability of government to defend its citizens," he said. Hundreds fled the town as the violence raged Sunday. The Red Cross was caring for about 600 people at its camp in Boto in Bauchi state, said Alhaji Abubakar, the group's spokesman in the state. Bauchi is just north of Plateau state. Forty-eight people were treated at hospitals, national Red Cross spokesman Umar Maigari said. Red Cross officials counted 30 bodies in one community but were unable to continue their investigation, he said. Residents wanted to direct the attention to burying the dead, he said. Nigeria -- with more than 150 million people -- is the most populous country in Africa and almost evenly divided between Muslims and Christians. It has the sixth-largest Islamic population in the world -- 78 million-plus Muslims, according to a study last year by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. While some outbursts of violence are between Christians and Muslims, some disputes are also ethnic-based. The country is home to 250 to 400 ethnic groups, making it one of the most diverse African nations, according to the International Displacement Monitoring Center. Thousands were displaced in January when violence flared up in Jos, said Shehu of the Civil Rights Congress. A local activist said 69 people were killed and about 600 injured. Also in January, at least 150 Muslims were killed during an attack in Kuru Karama south of Jos, Human Rights Watch reported. Community leaders from Jos and journalists told Human Rights Watch they saw dozens of bodies lodged in wells or sewage pits. Most of the town's homes were burned, the group said. In November 2008, at least 700 Nigerians died in Christian-Muslim riots that followed a disputed local election, Human Rights Watch reported. CNN's Christian Purefoy contributed to this report.

Officials say death toll more than 200; others put figure as high as 485 . Predominantly Christian town attacked with machetes, buildings set on fire . Reports describe attackers as members of Islamic Hausa-Fulani ethnic group . Nigeria has seen other religious, ethnic violence, including deadly attack on Muslims .

(CNN) -- In the scorching desert of Qatar, scientists are showing that saltwater can be used to help grow crops. A one hectare research initiative known as the Sahara Forest Project -- modest in size, but not in ambition -- has produced a harvest of barley, cucumbers and arugula in the last few months using a mix of ingredients not usually associated with successful agriculture: seawater and Qatar's ample supply of heat. Conceived in Norway, the first-ever Sahara Forest Project facility launched last November to coincide with the United Nations Climate Conference e(COP18) in Doha. It implements a range of cutting-edge environmentally-friendly technologies that takes the things that Qatar has in excess -- heat and seawater -- and converts them into a range of valuable resources. "These are ideas that could sound too good to be true," admits the project CEO, Joakim Hauge, adding that in the early days the project met with an equal measure of enthusiasm and skepticism. "Really, though, there's a very simple principle behind this. Our starting point was to take what we have enough of -- seawater, heat -- and use it to produce what we need more of -- water, energy and a sustainable production of food." The project has a global scope. It boasts seawater-cooled greenhouses, concentrated solar power and algae production -- all working symbiotically to solve several of the world's ecological crises in one go. Read more: Crowdfunding innovation in the Middle East . "Qatar is one of the most challenging climates in the world to work in for this kind of thing," says Dr. Virginia Corless, the science and development manager. "The high temperatures and humidity make it very challenging for our technology. But if the technology works there, and it has, it proves it's feasible for many locations around the world." In addition to producing food and desalinated water in regions that indigenously lack both, the facility is also looking into greening the desert and creating alternative, eco-friendly fuel sources. Synergy is one of the cornerstones of the project; it's what allows it to address so many issues at once, like an elaborate, environmental Rube Goldberg mechanism. The facility features a concentrated solar power plant, which turns heat into steam, then, with turbines and generators, into electricity, which in turn pumps seawater to the site, where it is used to cool the greenhouses. Freshwater waste from the greenhouses is then used to irrigate plants outside. Strategically planted hedges outside the greenhouse help filter the remainder, creating a humidified and cooler environment for plants downwind. Read more: Qatar's new cultural jewel . Lastly, the saltwater is also used to cultivate algae, which can be used for large-scale bio-energy production -- though currently the algae plant is still in the research phase. Algae production on its own, says Corless, can be expensive and dependent on geographical constraints (it usually needs to be developed along expensive, sought-after coastal property). "What we're doing is putting an algae cultivation system into an even broader system that can share costs and increase energy. One of the biggest shared costs we have is the saltwater infrastructure," she says. Neil Crumpton, the chair and CEO of Planet Hydrogen, an NGO that promotes green energy, says the project is, potentially, a "game changer". "The biggest issues right now are climate change and water resources globally, and these simple technologies can tackle both," he says. "I can't help thinking that this is vision, not mirage." Read more: Risks and rewards in West Bank city project . Some experts, however, question if the Sahara Forest Project is the best use of resources. The facility, which was funded by fertilizer companies Yara International and Qafco and cost $5.3 million to set up. "With the same funding, you could restore ecosystems and help people more effectively through community-based natural resource management," says Patrick Gonzalez, a forest ecologist who has conducted research in the Sahel region of North Africa with the University of California, Berkeley. "Rather than pouring water on desert sands that haven't had much vegetation in centuries, you can restore land that until recently had a healthy tree cover. Natural regeneration of trees in the Sahel is less flashy and more difficult, but you could directly benefit the families that depend on the trees," he adds. Despite the mixed reviews, Hague says that the site has proven itself with the new crop influx, adding that many skeptics have been won over. "It helps when people can see it on the ground, and taste the cucumbers and see that this is real," he says. "We've proven that this can be implemented."

Sahara Forest Project in Qatar implements a range of cutting-edge green technologies that all work together . The system includes seawater greenhouses, concentrated solar power and algae production . The goal is to produce food and other vegetation, as well as desalinated water . The project has elicited enthusiasm but also skepticism over whether it is a good use of resources .

(CNN) -- U.S. intelligence officials would not rule out the possibility on Tuesday that admitted National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden has been meeting secretly with Russian authorities, who have given him asylum from U.S. prosecution. The subject of Russia dominated a House Intelligence Committee hearing, featuring testimony from the director of national intelligence, as well as the heads of the CIA, FBI, and Defense Intelligence Agency. DNI James Clapper told lawmakers it was "certainly a possibility" Russian intelligence services have spoken with Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor whose disclosure of sensitive surveillance methods has caused a political uproar. "I would find it incredulous if they didn't," said Clapper, about any efforts to influence Snowden by the FSB, Russia's state security organization. At least a half-dozen lawmakers raised broader concerns about Russia's global influence in areas like: . -- The civil war in Syria, where Russia has long supported the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. -- Support of Ukraine's current leadership, whose policies have prompted massive citizen demonstrations in the capital Kiev in recent weeks. -- The Winter Olympics, which begin later this week in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. U.S. officials have raised concerns about what they call a lack of security cooperation to ensure the safety of American athletes and interests. "I do think that this is somewhat reflective of current leadership in Russia," said Clapper. "I think there is clearly a desire to return to great global power status. And I think that colors the behavior of the Russian government in the pursuit of their interests in which they are competitive with us." Committee chairman Mike Rogers pressed FBI Director James Comey about whether journalists or news organizations could be held accountable for publishing sensitive material Snowden might still have in his possession. Documents he has admitted taking from secure NSA databases were exposed last summer, revealing the existence of vast American surveillance of electronic metadata relating to phone records and e-mail. "So if I'm a newspaper reporter for, fill-in-the-blank, and I sell stolen material, is that legal because I'm a newspaper reporter?" Rogers, a Michigan Republican, asked. "Right, if you're a newspaper reporter and you're hocking stolen jewelry, it's still a crime," Comey replied. Rogers then asked: "And if I'm hocking stolen classified material that I'm not legally in possession of, for personal gain and profit, is that not a crime?" Comey responded: "I think that's a harder question, because it involves a newsgathering function. It could have First Amendment implications." He would not talk specifics, calling the Snowden leaks an "active investigation." Clapper later said less than 10 percent of the documents Snowden allegedly took with him overseas has to do with "domestic surveillance." He also had a personal message for Snowden, who has been charged in federal court with espionage. "Snowden, for his part, claims that he's won and that his mission is accomplished," said Clapper. "If that's so, I call on him and his accomplices to facilitate the return of the remaining stolen documents that have not yet been exposed to prevent even more damage to U.S. security." Matthew Olsen, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, highlighted concern over the Olympics, and whether Muslim fundamentalists in disputed regions of Russia -- or other groups -- could launch deadly attacks on selected targets. Russian security forces have cracked down on suspected militants in the restive North Caucasus republic of Dagestan and elsewhere in recent weeks, after twin suicide bombings in the city of Volgograd in December. "The primary threat, from a terrorism perspective, comes from Imarat Kavkaz, probably the most prominent terrorist group in Russia. It's made its intent clear to seek to carry out attacks in the run-up to the games," said Olsen. "We think the greater danger from a terrorist perspective is in potential for attacks to occur outside of the actual venues for the games themselves in the area surrounding Sochi or outside of Sochi in the region." Against that backdrop, was the announcement on Tuesday that U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul would leave his post later this month. He cited a desire to return to his family in California. McFaul has been a controversial figure in Russia, with some state-run media viewing him with suspicion for his outspoken support of pro-democracy groups. One U.S. senator had tough words for Russia, while praising McFaul for his efforts to implement President Barack Obama's "reset" policy to improve relations with Moscow. "I have been deeply disturbed by the campaign of harassment the Russian government initiated and supported against Ambassador McFaul throughout his admirable service in Moscow," said Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican. "In my view, such conduct by the Russian government warrants concern for other U.S. officials working in the country."

Top U.S. intelligence official said it was possible Russian intelligence has spoken to Snowden . Snowden, a former government contractor, leaked sensitive U.S surveillance information to media . Facing federal charges in the United States, Snowden is now living under asylum in Russia .

(CNN) -- Could the days of trying to cram all your professional accomplishments onto a single sheet of paper be a thing of the past? Some job experts say we're already there. With news that Facebook might be joining the ranks of online-employment brokers, it's looking more and more like the old-fashioned resume might be growing obsolete. Facebook plans to launch its own jobs board, working with some existing sites to let users search listings, the Wall Street Journal is reporting. Yes, that's right: People may be looking for jobs on the same site where photos of their youthful indiscretions could turn off potential employers. It's not certain whether such a Facebook feature will pan out (Facebook isn't commenting, and the Journal cites unnamed sources). But in many ways, we're already in a post-resume era. What hiring manager is going to make a decision based on an e-mail attachment when they can browse your LinkedIn and Facebook profiles, read the gory details in your blog and hit Google to find out more about you -- good or bad -- all in one sitting? And paper resumes? Forget it. Between desktops, laptops, tablets and smartphones, some hiring experts say there's little reason to peruse a dead-tree summary of someone's career anymore. "I don't ever have anybody come in and hand me a paper resume," said Gretchen Gunn, a principal at MGD Services, a staffing firm in Stockton, New Jersey. "Ten years ago, your fax machine was loaded when you came in in the morning. Not anymore." Gunn blogged about the trend in January, writing that when someone hands her a paper resume at a job fair, she hands it back and asks for an e-mail. Why? "Because that paper resume has little chance of leaving my roll-along briefcase, which houses my laptop, iPad and other electronics," she wrote. "Our entire recruiting process is now online." Technically, Rachael King, who works on community engagement in San Francisco for software company Adobe, submitted a resume for her job. But it was just one digital blip that was "pinned" on a Pinterest board she created. Other pins included a listing of her public speaking engagements, links to news articles in which she'd appeared, her blog and even an article on how to build a resume on Pinterest. She dubbed it her "Living Resume," what she called "an ongoing collection of decidedly cool things I've done in my career, side gigs, and other projects." Some companies, especially those in the tech world, are going even further, saying they're no longer interested at all in an applicant's tried-and-true laundry list of jobs, education, awards and activities. Hiring managers often can gain a better sense of a person's judgment, personality and communication skills by perusing their Twitter feeds or Tumblr posts, they say. Union Square Ventures, a New York venture-capitalist firm that invests heavily in tech start-ups, hired two analysts last month after a search that started last fall. But instead of soliciting resumes when the positions were announced, the firm asked for a glimpse at applicants' "Web presence." "This could be anything from a Twitter account to a blog or Tumblr to a project you hacked together -- whatever represents you best," Union Square's Christina Cacioppo wrote on the company's site at the time. "We expect your Web presence to represent who you are, not who you think an employer wishes you were, so please don't waste time sanitizing your Web presence before sending us there. We get it." Applicants also were asked to create two Web videos of themselves, one saying why they wanted the job and the other answering the question:'"Which Web or mobile services most inspire you?" Gunn doesn't think most employers are going to go that far, at least not in the near future. But she already uses many of the tools Union Square did to augment what a job applicant provides on their own. "We look at Facebook; we look at LinkedIn," she said. "We love to see what you've done on YouTube. That makes that person more three-dimensional." She suspects resumes are here for a while longer, but they may take new forms. "The concept is not changing. That document, your life history of your work, isn't ever going to be obsolete," she said. "It's the vehicle that I think is changing." So, if LinkedIn and Twitter have replaced the fax machine of 10 years ago, what might a resume look like a decade from now? "I'm waiting for holograms. Oh, come on: 'Star Wars,' " she said, referring to the image of a miniature Princess Leia from the 1977 movie. "We were promised it way back then. If you want a serious answer, I think that's where the technology is going to take us."

Thanks to growing number of Web tools, some say the resume is already obsolete . Job recruiter says she never accepts a paper resume . One New York firm asked for Twitter, blog posts, videos -- but not resumes . Reports say Facebook may be launching a jobs board .

(CNN) -- Did you have a Franz Ferdinand moment when you first heard about Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 crashing in eastern Ukraine? I am talking about the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand, whose assassination 100 years ago sparked World War I. The reaction from some politicians and hacks suggested they were having such a moment, after the MH17 crash -- hinting that the world would never be the same. The Malaysian Boeing 777, en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, crashed in the Donetsk region of war torn eastern Ukraine, in an area controlled by anti-government forces, known as "pro-Russian separatists" in the West. Even before any details of the crash were confirmed, Russia found itself in the dock, accused of being responsible for the deaths of 298 people on board that plane, including citizens of the Netherlands, Malaysia, Australia and the Philippines. The most amazing part of this whole dramatic saga came when Russian President Vladimir Putin held a "scheduled," as we were assured, phone conversation with U.S. President Barack Obama, which, as fate would have it, actually took place when the wreckage of flight MH17 was still burning on the ground in a field not far from the town of Shahtersk. Talk about coincidences, eh? According to Kremlin and White House statements on the call, Obama and Putin discussed the crisis on the ground in Ukraine, sanctions and ways to find a diplomatic solution before Putin noted reports that a Malaysian plane had crashed. Details of the two leaders' exchange regarding the crash have not been revealed but it would seem safe to assume that Putin would have tried to assure his American counterpart that Russia had nothing to do with the downing of the airliner. Obama probably pretended to believe him but kept an open mind about it, especially as his stern-faced national security advisers -- of whom there are plenty these days -- were likely telling him that everything pointed to Russia playing some part in this tragedy. Naturally, the moment the plane hit the ground, the Ukrainian government pointed the finger of blame at Moscow, accusing it of arming the rebels in the east and providing all sorts of backup. Handily, a recording of a supposed phone conversation between two "Russian officers," one in eastern Ukraine and the other in Russia, was produced, intended to prove that they were discussing the downing of the plane. But, in all honesty, it would be tough for the Ukrainian government and its allies to explain how this rag tag army -- and yes, it is a rag tag army, whatever some people claim -- could have managed to bring down a plane flying at an altitude of 33,000 feet. Some talking heads on the box have been saying that as the separatists have already brought down a number of Ukrainian aircraft they could have shot down flight MH17. There's only one problem though: all the previous aircraft were flying at much lower altitudes, some actually as low as a few hundred yards from the ground, while flight MH17 was way out of reach of all the shoulder-held antiaircraft missiles that the anti-government forces have in their possession. So to bring down a passenger plane at such altitude a much more sophisticated system would have been needed, not to mention personnel on the ground with the specific training required to operate it. Nevertheless, Putin will have a very tough time convincing the world that Russia had nothing to do with the downing of flight MH17. Because on the face of it the circumstantial evidence is against him. You know, Crimea becoming part of Russia and "pro-Russian separatists" waging a war with government troops in the east with Moscow's backing. So in the Kremlin they are obviously getting ready for some serious turbulence, if you pardon the expression, hoping to tough it out -- especially as the situation at the moment remains unclear, with both the Russian military and the Pentagon providing conflicting reports of what "might" have happened. Mind you, the Kremlin has already come up with one brilliant move, saying last night it would refuse to accept the two black boxes from flight MH17 that have been recovered by the anti-government fighters at the place of the crash. In theory that denies Kiev the opportunity to claim that Russia is "tampering" with the evidence ... although Ukraine claimed Friday that Russia held the recording devices nonetheless. The one thing that will most definitely change after the downing of flight MH17 is that the civil war raging in Ukraine that had somehow been forgotten by the outside world will now -- with the death of nearly 300 foreign citizens -- get an international dimension. And maybe, just maybe, all the key players will now make a serious effort to try to stop the bloodshed there. And the Franz Ferdinand moment will just be a moment and nothing else.

Russia is in the dock over MH17, despite few confirmed facts, says Alexander Nekrassov . Nekrassov says Ukraine has blamed Moscow for the crash, accusing it of arming rebels . But he says it would be tough for Kiev to argue how a "rag tag army" could bring down a plane . The tragedy will hopefully focus international attention on ending the Ukraine bloodshed, he says .

(CNN) -- The human rights record of 2022 World Cup hosts Qatar is under the spotlight again after two Nepalese-British workers "disappeared in Doha following harassment by the police," according to a non-governmental organization. The Norwegian NGO Global Network for Rights and Development (GNRD) says its employees Krishna Upadhyaya, 52, and Ghimire Gundev, 36, both vanished while working in the Gulf State. The pair went missing on August 31, and a spokesperson for the UK embassy in Doha confirmed to CNN that it is investigating their disappearance. CNN has contacted Qatar's interior ministry on several occasions but has yet to receive a response. Upadhyaya, a human rights researcher, and Ghimire, a photographer, arrived in the country on August 27 and had been working on a report around migrant working conditions. In February, organizers of the 2022 World Cup published a "workers' charter" which they said represented "tangible progress" in addressing widespread concerns over migrant workers' welfare. According to GNRD, the missing men stayed at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, Doha, and were working from the Nepalese embassy. While it has been confirmed that Upadhyaya did check out of the hotel, he remained in reception after revealing to a friend in Norway that he felt unsafe. "Mr. Upadhyaya expressed alarm at the number of police in the vicinity, and noticed undercover authorities who came extremely close to him whenever he spoke on the phone," said a GNRD statement. "GNRD has since contacted the British Embassy in Doha, who has reported that Mr. Upadhyaya checked out from the hotel but did not board his flight. "GNRD holds the Qatari authorities responsible for their safety. In the event that its employees are subjected to any kind of physical or psychological harm, GNRD is prepared to take all necessary legal action." The NGO said it is in contact "with all relevant Foreign Ministries and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights" as it seeks to secure the safe return of both British citizens. "We request the immediate cooperation from Qatari authorities to fully disclose the whereabouts and current situation of Krishna Upadhyaya and Ghimire Gundev," it added. Upadhyaya, who is married with two children, has been working in the human rights sector for the past two years. He had traveled to Doha to finish a report on migrants who were reported to be overworked and forced to live "a life of misery and destitution," according to GNRD. Gundev, who is from London and is also married with two children, has been involved in a number of human rights projects during his career. After being awarded the right to stage the 2022 World Cup, Qatar's human rights record has come under intense scrutiny. A report released by Amnesty International last November alleged that the abuse of migrant workers was rife within Qatar's construction sector, while British newspaper The Guardian likened the conditions for such workers to "modern-day slavery." The furor which surrounded "stranded" footballer Zahir Belounis also raised questions regarding Qatar's kafala law, which makes it difficult for workers to leave the country without their employer's permission. Sepp Blatter, the president of football's world governing body, FIFA, described the conditions for migrant workers in Qatar as "unacceptable," but has so far refused to entertain the idea of moving the 2022 competition to another country. In response to Amnesty's allegations, the director of the Human Rights Department at Qatar's Foreign Ministry said laws are in place to protect workers' rights including working conditions, pay and accommodation, adding: "The living areas go through routine and unscheduled inspection." But Sharan Burrow, General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation, says "Qatar seems to think that creating a climate of fear and intimidation will somehow turn the eyes of the world away from its modern slavery economy." She added: "Hundreds of migrant workers, many of them women, are languishing in Doha's detention centers simply for running away from abusive and violent employers. "Foreign journalists have been detained for trying to report the truth, and state repression is actually increasing in a country that already showed no respect for basic human rights and legal standards." Qatar is spending a reported $200 billion on infrastructure and building projects associated with its first staging of football's global showpiece. FIFA has also still to decide the actual dates for the 2022 World Cup after fears that the searing heat in Qatar in the summer will be dangerous for players and spectators. There have been widespread calls for a "Winter World Cup" and FIFA says it is consulting stakeholders, including the major European leagues, before making a final decision.

Two human rights workers have gone missing in Qatar . Krishna Upadhyaya and Ghimire Gundev work for GNRD . British government confirms it is investigating matter . Qatar to host FIFA World Cup for first time in 2022 .

(CNN) -- Few issues divide people more sharply than abortion. So it is great news when recently lawmakers across the political aisle in Britain voted 181 to 1 to ban sex-selective abortion. The overwhelming support for banning abortion of a fetus based on its gender is progressive, moral and just. But what about gendercide -- the practice of killing baby girls, whether aborted or neglected after birth? Surely, there is no room for disagreement on the need to end gendercide. For every woman who freely chooses to abort a girl, there are countless others who are being forced to do so because of strong cultural preference for son. The sex-selective abortion of baby girls is not a pro-choice or a pro-life issue. It is a human rights issue that must be approached as an area of common ground. It is a woman's right to give birth to her daughter. For most of us, hearing "it's a girl" during a pregnancy ultrasound is cause for celebration. But in many countries, this phrase can be a death sentence. In fact, the words, "it's a girl" are the deadliest words on earth when heard during pregnancy. According to a U.N. estimate, up to 200 million women are missing in the world today due to gendercide. In China, the birth ratio of girls to boys is the most skewed in the world -- approximately 100 girls born for every 118 boys. When couples are restricted to one child, women often become the focus of intense pressure by their husband and in-laws to give birth to a boy. A woman need not be dragged out of her home and strapped down to a table to be a victim of forced abortion. Crushing social, economic, political and personal pressures in cultures with a strong son preference trample women who are pregnant with a girl. All too often, women in these cultures do not "choose" their daughters for abortion. They are forced. The "Terracotta Daughters" exhibit recently on view in New York City gave dramatic visual form to the girls that have been lost to the world through sex-selective abortion -- the haunting stares of an army of the dead. Because of gendercide, there are an estimated 37 million more men than women in China. As a result, the presence of "excess males" is one of the driving forces behind human trafficking and sexual slavery, not only in China but in surrounding nations as well. Alarmingly, China also has the highest female suicide rate of any country in the world. According to the U.S. State Department China Human Rights Report, the number of female suicides has risen sharply in recent years, from 500 women per day to a staggering 590. I believe that this grim statistic may be in some ways related to pressure on women to selectively abort or abandon their daughters. In India, the sex ratio at birth is 112 boys born for every 100 girls born. Indian girls, moreover, die of disease and neglect at a much higher rate than boys. Impoverished women in India are often manipulated or pressured into sterilization, which is one way of population control. There are even mass "sterilization camps" where women sometimes die of complications. Just this week, in Chhattisgarh, one of India's poorest areas, 11 out of 83 women who were sterilized died. This is the true "war on women" on a global scale. That one-third of the world's women -- those living in China and India -- are deprived of their right to bear girls is the biggest women's rights abuse on earth. These women deserve a passionate response from groups that stand for women's rights. Yet the response of the U.S. women's rights community has ranged from tepid to confused. My organization, Women's Rights Without Frontiers, has launched the "Save a Girl" campaign in rural China, and we are stopping gendercide, one baby girl at a time. We have fieldworkers in China who reach out to women who have learned that they are pregnant with or have just given birth to a girl, and are being pressured to abort or abandon her. A fieldworker will visit that woman and say, "Don't abort or abandon your baby just because she's a girl. She's a precious daughter. We will give you a monthly stipend for a year to help you support her." The practical support we offer empowers these women to keep their daughters. Our effort has helped more than 120 families keep their daughters. We plan to launch a "Save a Girl" campaign in India in 2015 as well. Every struggling mother in China and India deserves help to keep her daughter. Together, we can end gendercide one girl at a time and sweep sex-selective abortion into the dung-heap of history, where it belongs.

The British Parliament recently voted 181 to 1 to ban sex-selective abortion . Reggie Littlejohn: While abortion is divisive issue, we should all agree to end gendercide . She says in countries such as China and India, women are often forced to abort baby girls . Littlejohn: Gendercide is human rights abuse with bad and tragic consequences .

Philadelphia (CNN) -- Philadelphia abortion provider Kermit Gosnell was sentenced Wednesday to life with no parole in the death of one of three babies who died in his clinic. He received the same sentence in the two other deaths Tuesday. Gosnell, 72, was convicted Monday on three consecutive counts of first-degree murder for killing babies by cutting their spinal cords with scissors. Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams said he doubts there would be a doctor that would think three consecutive life sentences "is not a deterrent," but admitted that there might be criticism that Gosnell didn't get death. "We have shown him mercy where he failed to show mercy," Williams told reporters Wednesday. Williams' office announced Tuesday that Gosnell agreed give up his right to appeal in exchange for avoiding a possible death sentence. Judge Jeffrey Minehart, who rendered the decision, also sentenced Gosnell on Wednesday to 2½ to 5 years in the case of 41-year-old Karnamaya Mongar, who died of an anesthetic overdose during an abortion at Gosnell's West Philadelphia clinic. Before sentencing, Mongar family attorney, Bernie Smalley Sr., delivered a statement on behalf of her family. "She was a mother, a wife and a grandmother," Smalley said. "They lost something that can never be returned." Mother shares regrets amid trial . "They will always mourn the loss." Gosnell also was sentenced to 10 to 20 years each on two counts of conspiracy to commit murder. Those sentences will run concurrently. Additionally, he was sentenced to 10 to 20 years for running a corrupt organization. When the judge asked if he had anything to say, Gosnell turned to his attorney Jack McMahon, smiled and said, "Not at this time." Defense attorney McMahon, in an impassioned, 2½-hour closing argument, said said that none of the infants were killed. Rather, he said, they were already dead as a result of Gosnell administering the drug Digoxin, which can cause abortion. After the Wednesday court appearance, McMahon said Gosnell did not believe his acts constituted homicide and said his clinic "was not a house of horrors" "There was a lynching by the media prior to the trial," he said. "Dr. Gosnell performed over 16,000 abortions, helped many young women." McMahon said Gosnell knows that "some of his methodology was wrong" and that it was "wrong to perform abortion past 24 weeks. In Pennsylvania, abortions past 24 weeks are illegal unless the health of the mother is at stake. "He bent the rules but he's not a monster," McMahon said. After the hearing, jurors spoke and they said it was tough to look at images of victims during the trial. David Misko said Gosnell is "more of a predator than a monster." He said the trial was overwhelming and "took an emotional toll." Gosnell horror fuels fight for abortion laws . Gosnell's co-defendant, Eileen O'Neill, 56, was found guilty of conspiracy to operate a corrupt organization and two counts of theft by deception for operating without a license to practice medicine. O'Neill, a medical school graduate, was not charged with performing illegal abortions. She did not plead guilty. Eight people involved in Gosnell's clinic, called the Women's Medical Society, earlier pleaded guilty to various charges. Four of them pleaded guilty to murder. A grand jury report from 2011 says the "people who ran this sham medical practice included no doctors other than Gosnell himself, and not even a single nurse," yet they still made diagnoses, performed procedures and administered drugs. Gosnell also was accused of reusing unsanitary instruments; performing procedures in filthy rooms, including some in which litter boxes and animals allegedly were present at the time; and allowing unlicensed employees -- including a teenage high school student -- to perform operations and administer anesthesia. The remains of aborted fetuses were stored in water jugs, pet food containers and a freezer at the clinic, the city's chief medical examiner Sam Gulino testified. Former employee Kareema Cross said Gosnell regularly performed illegal late-term abortions that he routinely recorded as "24.5 weeks." McMahon, who called no witnesses, accused prosecutors of "the most extraordinary hype and exaggeration in the history of the criminal justice system," even adding that they are "elitist" and "racist." Gosnell has been accused by authorities of preying on low-income, minority women. McMahon argued that Gosnell offered access to health care for people who were poor and without health insurance. The doctor was first charged in January 2011. The case has drawn national attention and sharp criticism from anti-abortion activists.

Gosnell gets consecutive sentences of life without parole . District attorney says of Gosnell: "We have shown him mercy where he failed to show mercy" Gosnell's attorney says "he bent the rules, but he's not a monster"

Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- At least 17 people were killed in central Kabul on Saturday when a suicide bomber struck a vehicle in a military convoy, according to officials. Five troops and eight civilians were killed in the attack, NATO's International Security Assistance Force said. Afghan officials said four Afghans, including two students, were also killed. Among the dead was Master Corporal Byron Greff, a Canadian, according to the Canadian Expeditionary Force Command. It was not immediately clear whether he was included in the ISAF-provided figure. A U.S. military official said earlier that 13 Americans had died, but an ISAF spokesman could not confirm that number. The U.S. official emphasized details are continuing to unfold. A heavily damaged vehicle was believed to be an armored bus that was carrying U.S. troops from one base to another. A senior NATO official identified it as a custom-built, heavily armored Rhino. The attack caused a "number" of NATO and local Afghan casualties, ISAF said in a statement. Four Afghans, including two students, were also killed, said Hashmat Stanikzai, spokesman for Kabul's police chief. Afghan President Hamid Karzai offered his sympathies to the families of the victims in a statement and said the cowardly character of the attack demonstrates "the very evil and heinous nature of the enemy." A Taliban spokesman confirmed Saturday's attack in a text message, saying it killed "16 foreign soldiers, one civilian" and injured many others. Taliban casualty counts are often inflated; there was no other reliable indication 16 foreigners were killed. Stanikzai said the vehicle used in the attack appeared to be a red Toyota Corolla packed with a significant amount of explosives. It was unclear how many people were wounded, said Sediq Sediqqi, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry. The U.S. Embassy in Kabul expressed condolences to families and said it will continue the victims' "dedicated work on behalf of peace in this country and region." "It's a shock. It makes you mad. It makes me angry," said U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker. "We are not going to let these guys win." The attack was one of two targeting NATO-led forces on Saturday. U.S. and coalition casualties in Afghanistan and Iraq . A gunman wearing an Afghan army uniform turned his weapon on coalition forces during training, killing three and wounding several others, ISAF said. The shooter was killed in the incident in southern Afghanistan. The coalition did not provide any other details about the shooting, and did not disclose the nationalities of those killed. In another suicide attack in northeastern Afghanistan, a woman in a burqa detonated herself near the nation's intelligence agency. She tried to enter the National Directorate of Security and was shot at, but she still managed to detonate herself, said Sabour Alayar, deputy police chief of Kunar province. Two officers and two civilians were wounded, he said, adding that the female suicide bomber was about 25 years old. Alayar said they had intelligence of a suicide bomber looking for a target, and their security forces were on alert. Gen. John R. Allen, commander of ISAF, condemned Saturday's attacks across the country. "I am both saddened and outraged by the attacks that took place today against Coalition forces and the people of Afghanistan," Allen said in a statement. "The enemies of peace are not martyrs, but murderers. To hide the fact that they are losing territory, support, and the will to fight, our common enemy continues to employ suicide attackers to kill innocent Afghan fathers, mothers, sons and daughters, as well as the Coalition forces who have volunteered to protect them." The U.S.-led war in Afghanistan marked its 10th year earlier this month having passed two major milestones: The Taliban has been forced out of power and Osama bin Laden is dead. But Afghanistan has been hit by a wave of high-profile attacks in recent months that have jeopardized the peace negotiations. September's turban bomb assassination of former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani, revered by many as a father of the Mujahedeen movement that ousted the Soviets in the 1980s, appears to have dealt the biggest blow to the peace process. Rabbani was the chairman of President Karzai's High Council for Peace, which has been trying for a year to foster dialogue with the Taliban -- a strategy that Karzai publicly abandoned following Rabbani's killing. Nearly 2,800 troops from the United States and its partners have died during the 10 years of war, according to a CNN count. CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr and journalist Ruhullah Khapalwak contributed to this report.

Master Corporal Byron Greff, a Canadian, was killed . Angry U.S. ambassador says "we are not going to let these guys win" Four Afghans, including two students, are killed . In a separate attack, a female suicide bomber targets the nation's intelligence agency .

(CNN) -- Here's something you don't see every day: The 99% demonstrating in support of the 1%. But that's exactly what's been happening for several weeks all around New England at Market Basket grocery stores. In 1916, Athanasios and Efrosini Demoulas, who immigrated to the United States from Greece, opened a grocery store in Lowell, Massachusetts. Almost a century later, the family has expanded it to a chain of 71 supermarkets across Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine. In 2008, Anthanasios and Efrosini's grandson Arthur T. Demoulas was elected president of the Market Basket board. By all accounts, Arthur T., as he is known, presided over a very successful and happy company. Not only did Market Basket continue to expand and reap profits — generating $4 billion in revenues in 2012 — but workers have thrived as well. Full-time clerks start at $12 an hour. Cashiers with experience can earn over $40,000 a year. And managers can easily make into the six figures. Keep in mind that's in a nation where the average annual salary for grocery store cashiers is $21,370 and the national minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. The company also has a generous retirement plan, matching 15% of annual salary to employee retirement funds. What's more, workers up and down the supply chain receive good bonuses throughout the year. All this and Market Basket is affordable for customers, with prices regularly 10% to 20% lower than competitors. The company is profitable in an industry known for low profit margins, and has given $500 million in dividends to the nine family shareholders over the past decade. In other words, at a time when corporate executives and wealthy investors regularly try to argue that companies cannot pay workers well and be successful in generating profits, Market Basket has been an impressive and stunning example to the contrary. Market Basket has been a good company all around -- until recently, when things changed. So what happened? Well, the family board switched sides, ousted Arthur T. and installed his cousin Arthur S. Demoulas as president. One of the first acts under Arthur S. was to distribute $250 million in profits to the nine family shareholders, what a Boston Globe editorial called "an uncharacteristic act of greed for a firm known for its generous treatment of its workers and concern for price-conscious shoppers." There have been other ominous signs that Arthur S. and his allies plan to push profit at all costs -- at the expense of workers and the values of the company. And so in an unprecedented mobilization, managers and workers have protested at Market Baskets across New England, calling for their beloved CEO Artie T. to be reinstated. Last week, more than 6,000 Market Basket workers and managers joined in a peaceful march outside the company's headquarters in Tewksbury, Massachusetts. If you go to any Market Basket store around New England right now, you're likely to find employees and even some customers holding up signs protesting the new executive and supporting the ousted Artie T. Employees are also using social media to get their message out, using hashtags like #MarketBasket. Of course, if you go inside a Market Basket you're not likely to find much; even the warehouse workers are on strike. These protests aren't being organized by unions; after all, Market Basket workers aren't unionized. They're being organized by the employees and managers of the company. Already, eight managers have been fired for helping lead the protests. But the protests continue. As a result, the company is reportedly losing $1 million a day. A reporter interviewed one of the Market Basket workers at a protest. "I have a friend who works at Walmart," she said, "and I asked her, would they ever do this for their CEO?" The woman laughed. But what has become of capitalism in America is not funny: the extreme greed of a few overrunning the best interests of everyone, including workers, communities and a healthy growing economy. Just like the Occupy Wall Street protesters before them, the Market Basket workers are not protesting against capitalism. They're protesting for a certain kind of capitalism, a capitalism that works for owners as well as for workers and communities. It's the kind of capitalism that has made Market Basket a successful business for generations, the kind of capitalism that once meant shared prosperity and opportunity in America. The Market Basket managers and cashiers and bag boys joining in protest aren't just holding signs, they're also holding the aspirations of the majority of Americans. Those of us concerned about the growing economic inequality in America don't want to "eat the rich" — we simply don't want the rich to chew up and spit out everyone else.

Workers from Market Basket are protesting and calling for their ex-CEO to be reinstated . Sally Kohn: Market Basket, until it changed CEO recently, has been a great place to work . She says like Occupy Wall Street, Market Basket workers want shared prosperity . Kohn: But current leaders of Market Basket are greedy and cater to shareholders .

LONDON, England (CNN) -- New York is in Candace Bushnell's blood. The best-selling novelist and columnist has a gift for tapping into the zeitgeist of any New York minute. Smart, chic and driven, her story is also a classic New York success story - she was the girl who came to the city to make it and did so through a desire and determination to succeed. Candace Bushnell: "Sex and the City was never written to make people feel good." "I think people who come here and stay here are, number one, people who always have a dream," she told CNN. Bushnell was born on December 1, 1958 in the New England town of Glastonbury, Connecticut. However, at the age of 19 she shunned the idea of a more parochial life for the bright lights of New York in order to pursue her dreams of becoming a professional writer. "I was going to University in Houston, Texas and I decided that I knew what I wanted to do and it was time to go and do it. I literally ran away from college," she told CNN. Whilst enrolled at New York University, and juggling waitressing jobs, she wrote a children's book for publishers Simon and Schuster and received her first big paycheck of $1000. However, this was the first of many different writing jobs Candace undertook over the years. Watch Candace Bushnell take CNN on a tour of New York. » . She wrote for a series of underground papers and publications such as Night Magazine which documented the goings-on of the New York club circuit. By now Candace had herself become a fixture in Manhattan society and a regular at iconic nightclubs like Studio 54. "For me it wasn't about being a socialite. To be a socialite you had to come from a family who had money. New York is a city where people come to make it. And it doesn't really matter where you come from, but it's all about making it and success." After graduating from college she worked as a freelancer throughout her twenties. "I finally got a job on 'Ladies Home Journal,'" she told CNN. "The first thing I had to do every morning was sharpen pencils and my boss said I was the best pencil sharpener that they had ever had!" Bushnell got her real big break when she started writing for the New York Observer in 1993. She soon made an impact as a reporter with stories such as her investigation into burnt out New York celebrities in rehab in Minneapolis. She was given her own column in November 1994 which she called "Sex and the City". It chronicled the life, people and stories she had come to know in the Big Apple. The column was an immediate success and became a must-read in New York and it was not long before producers in LA began to take note. It was bought as a book in 1995 and sold to HBO as a series in 1996, which would become the basis for the hit television show and subsequent movie. See the story of "Sex and the City" in photos. » . "It started as a seed, with an absolute truth that people may agree with or it may disturb them. It disturbs me sometimes when I read it because it's very wrong and very honest," she told CNN. "I think most call it cynicism but I call it realism -- it is absolutely raw reality. It was never written for a big audience and it was never written to make people feel good. It was written as the truth in a humorous way." Since then Bushnell has written another four best-selling books which continue her dark humor and observations of New York society and its characters. Her book "Lipstick Jungle", published in 2005, also went on to become a successful television series on NBC. Amidst this success, the one thing Bushnell had not necessarily planned was marriage. The single girl about town, just like her "Sex and the City" alter-ego Carrie Bradshaw, it was a surprise even for her to fall for her husband Charles Askegaard, a principal dancer with the New York ballet, whom she met at a gala seven years ago. "I was cynical about relationships. I wasn't sure about marriage. But when I saw Charles across the room I thought 'that's the man you're going to marry,'" she said. Candace is now currently working on three more novels, including a young-adult book about Carrie Bradshaw's teenage years in the city. She continues to capture the spirit of the place she has made her home with the flair and drive of a true New Yorker. "I was a person who was born in a sense with a mission -- I don't always follow it but I always have it and I continue with it."

Candace Bushnell is the author of five novels, including "Sex and the City" She ran away from college aged 19 to become a writer in New York . "Sex and the City was never written to make people feel good," she says . Her book 2005 book "Lipstick Jungle" was also made into a hit TV series .

Maputo, Mozambique (CNN) -- More Brazilian companies are moving into Africa amid a government drive to build closer economic ties with the continent. A year ago Vale, the Brazilian mining giant, exported its first overseas coal shipment from Mozambique. The shift of 35,000 metric tons of thermal coal from the port of Beira to the United Arab Emirates marked the southeastern African country's emergence into the global minerals market. It was part of Vale's ambitious push into the country, and its plans to double capacity to 22 million tons of coal annually over the next few years. And Vale, the world's second largest miner, is not the only Brazilian company eyeing Africa's potential. With ties that date back to the era of slave trade, Brazilian leaders are quick to use the country's cultural affinity with Africa as an advantage in its competition. Ricardo Saad, who oversees Vale's Asia, Australia and Africa operations, says the continent is a "new opportunity." He adds: "I'm based here in (Mozambique capital) Maputo because our investments here in Mozambique are the most important." Vale operates across several African countries, including Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Africa. It has been in Mozambique since 2004. The thermal coal was mined from the company's Moatize concession in western Mozambique, an area believed to hold one of the world's biggest untapped reserves. Vale is making a broader pitch to access the country's natural resources. It is spending millions on infrastructure, including a railway line passing through Malawi and connecting its Moatize facility with Nacala, the largest deep-water natural port on Africa's eastern coast . The company plans to spend more than $12 billion across the continent over the next five years. Read related: Brazil competes with China, India to invest in Africa . Vale is not alone. Over the last few years, Brazil's state and private firms have quietly made inroads into the continent, operating mostly in strategic sectors such as infrastructure, energy and mining. Odebrecht, Brazil's biggest construction company, and Petrobras, a state-controlled energy group, have also stepped up their African operations in recent years. Trade between Brazil and Africa has jumped from around $4 billion in 2000 to about $20 billion in 2010. Read more: Why Asian giants scent opportunity in Africa . Analysts say that Brazil's interest in Africa shot up during Lula da Silva's eight years in power (2003-2010) as the former president made Africa a strategic priority for Brazil as part of the country's efforts to expand its global influence. "Lula visited Africa more times than any other statesman in the world during his tenure in government," says Lyal White, director of the Centre for Dynamic Markets at the Gordon Institute for Business Science in South Africa. Brazil's deepening engagement with Africa continued under the leadership of Dilma Rousseff, who became Brazil's president early last year. In her first year in office, Rousseff visited Angola, Mozambique, and South Africa. The cultural ties feed into the relationship, analysts say. "The fact that the majority of Brazil's population is of Afro-Brazilian origin -- making Brazil the world's largest black population after Nigeria -- is frequently quoted by the almost exclusively white governing elite of Brazil in order to stress Brazil's cultural similarities with the African countries," according to Christina Stolte, researcher at the German Institute for Global and Area Studies. Read more: Is the West losing out to China in Africa? Stolte says Brazil is very keen to avoid being viewed as a "neo-imperialist" power that is only interested in exploiting Africa's natural resources -- an accusation often directed at other emerging powers operating in the continent. "Lula and Rousseff have more than once openly critizised China's way of engagement with Africa, trying to distance Brazil from its resource hungry BRICS partner," she says. "Brazilian officials as well as businessmen frequently stress the aim of contributing to the development of African countries by pointing to the fact that Brazil is hiring and training local workforce and offering social projects to foster local development." Back in Mozambique, Saad says that Vale, along with making profits, is committed to the development of local communities. "When we talk about Africa, it's not possible to talk about Africa not thinking about sustainable development and respect to the people, respect to the environment, respect to the planet, but having the sense that our development is going to be also a local development," he says. "We are here to be a Mozambican company -- we come from Brazil, but we are Mozambican now," Saad adds.

Mining giant Vale is one of the many Brazilian firms eying Africa's potential . It plans to spend more than $12 billion on investments in Africa over the next five years . Analysts say Brazil is very keen to avoid being viewed as "neo-imperialist" power . Trade between Brazil and Africa jumped from $4 billion in 2000 to $20 billion in 2010 .

DALLAS (CNN) -- There was no impassioned plea to pass immigration reform. But the image was unmistakable. The sight of former President George W. Bush welcoming newly sworn-in citizens at a naturalization ceremony at his library and museum in Dallas on Wednesday offered a sharp contrast to the hardening opposition to immigration legislation in Washington. Senate passes sweeping immigration bill . Speaking for only five minutes, Bush did weigh in on the immigration system he tried but failed to reform during his second term in office. "The laws governing the immigration system aren't working. The system is broken," Bush told the crowd. "I don't intend to get involved in the politics or the specifics of policy, but I do hope there is a positive resolution to the debate," Bush said in a soft endorsement of reform efforts on Capitol Hill. "I hope during the debate that we keep a benevolent spirit in mind. We understand the contributions immigrants make to our country. " Twenty new citizens from 12 different countries, including two members of the Armed Forces, were sworn in at the naturalization ceremony conducted along with officials from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. "It's an honor to call you fellow Americans," Bush told the newcomers. Following Bush's remarks, each freshly sworn in citizen lined up to receive their naturalization certificate and a handshake from the former president. CNN Poll: Generational divide over immigration . Among the newly naturalized at the George W. Bush Center in Dallas, Danny Diaz admitted he illegally crossed the U.S.- Mexico border in 1994 in a long journey from his native Guatemala. It took nearly a decade for Diaz to receive legal residency status and finally citizenship. "It's a long wait. It's a hard wait, too," he said. "But if you work for it and you prove you know how to behave in this country, everything comes through." Diaz called immigration reform "a good thing." "There's a lot of good people out there who don't have papers," he said. Lance Cpl. Antonio Miguel Villaceran, a U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, was unaware Bush would be in attendance. "I love what George Bush is doing right now," he said. Akshaya Bandaru, who immigrated to the U.S. from India, received a private meeting with Bush along with the other newcomers and their families. Bandaru said the former president was funny. "I told him I was going into medical school and he said 'I hope it's geriatrics,'" Bandaru said. Bush pushes for progress on immigration . The former president has stayed out of domestic politics since leaving the White House in January 2009, and the timing of Bush's speech and a meeting of House Republicans to discuss the issue appears to be a coincidence. Hannah Abney, spokeswoman for the Bush presidential center, told CNN that the Texas event had been planned for a couple of months. The former Republican president tried but failed to pass immigration reform during his second term in the White House, due in part to opposition from Republican members of Congress. House immigration plan includes border security trigger . In an interview with ABC News last week while in Africa, Bush noted the importance of fixing a "broken system" and he said immigration reform "has a chance to pass." "It's a very difficult bill to pass because there are a lot of moving parts and the legislative process can be ugly. But it looks like they are making some progress," Bush told ABC. Asked if it will hurt the GOP if Republicans fail to pass the bill, Bush told ABC that "the reason to pass immigration reform is not to bolster a Republican Party -- it's to fix a system that's broken." Bush honors tradition, holds tongue on Obama . The bill passed by the Senate late last month includes an eventual pathway to citizenship for many of the 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States. That provision is opposed by many House Republicans, who consider it "amnesty." Bush's brother, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, last week urged the GOP-led House to pass the Senate's comprehensive immigration reform package with a few additional requirements. Jeb Bush, who is considering a 2016 bid for the White House, made his comments in a opinion piece he co-wrote in the Wall Street Journal. Jeb Bush urges House to pass immigration reform . The former president spoke about immigration reform at a conference last December. "America is a nation of immigrants. Immigrants have helped build the country that we have become, and immigrants can help build a dynamic tomorrow," he said. "As our nation debates the proper course of action relating to immigration, I hope we do so with a benevolent spirit and keep in mind the contribution of immigrants," he added. Bush quietly burnishes humanitarian legacy in Africa . George W. Bush on AIDS, Snowden and legacy . CNN's Dana Davidsen and Ashley Killough contributed to this report .

Bush made speech at a naturalization ceremony at his presidential library . Former president's speech comes same day House GOP discuss immigration reform . In interview last week, Bush said bill should be passed because system is broken . Bush tried and failed to get reform passed in his second term in office .

(CNN)Ambitious companies that ignore the imminent rise of Virtual Assistants as the gateway to the Internet run the same risks as those that dismissed the disruptive innovations of Google in 1998. The current generation of VAs are consumer products like Apple Siri, Google Now, Microsoft Cortana. Smaller innovators like Viv Labs are pursuing a less hardware or operating system dependent architecture. In the enterprise marketplace VA capabilities feature in technologies like IBM's Watson and Amelia from IPsoft. In 2014, there has been a surge in acquisitions of related artificial intelligence technologies by all the major technology companies. Rapid advancements in the underlying technologies have also been taking place -- from neural networks to natural language processing to wearables and emotional recognition systems. The launch of the first mainstream high-impact VA is perhaps four or five years away. What will a VA do? VAs will monitor mental and physical well-being, support lifestyle goals and ambitions through suggestions, prompts, and coaching. They will alert you when friends are nearby, translate both language and culture, help you budget or even intervene when you overextend. Just like a guardian or parent, they will advise you to avoid walking down a particular road at night, or tell you to apply sunscreen based on your skin type and sun levels. Many of these technologies currently exist in relative isolation and the power of the VA will be in consolidating all these data points into an integrated user experience. This could be on your phone, your watch, in your car, and in your home. You'll be able to choose if your VA is like a butler, friend, colleague, slave, or even master. Our research collaboration, Project Virtual Assistant, with global media agency Mindshare focuses on understanding what people really want from the next generation of these services. Our research findings . We worked intensely for two months with 12 workshop participants experimenting with the latest technologies. We conducted expert interviews with leaders in the field on the technical, legal, and socio-economic possibilities and implications, and surveyed 1,000 smart phone users in the UK. One clear finding is that every organization in the world needs to prepare now for a VA-infused future that will directly impact internal efficiencies and operations and external branding and growth strategies. Preliminary results from our previous Human Cloud at Work research indicated that wearables increased productivity in the workplace by 8.5%. Participants were keen to get real-time feedback on the potential correlations between data from their bodies and productivity and performance metrics. VAs will provide the automated opportunity to gather, analyze, and make recommendations from the data from not just one but all of your wearables in real-time. Similar to a football coach, managers will have the ability to put their best employees "on the field" and make split second decisions on productivity. The VA inside the company, and our heads . Internally, VAs will transform organizational behavior, leadership, and talent management. Companies will develop branded VAs supporting organizational culture and productivity. Think of them as super-powered Intranets or enterprise portals providing voice-activated access to training, coaching, assessment, knowledge, and internal communications. Early adopter companies can strategically position themselves as VA proponents. Already 62% of UK smart phone users say they are ready to integrate VAs into their everyday work lives. Well-being programs are increasingly important in organizational culture, and VAs can help individual employees learn about boosting their productivity and reducing stress in order to reach their rofessional goals and aspirations. VAs will also operate as gateways to business intelligence within a company. Optimizing their design and functionality for the needs of each individual organization will by a key ingredient to job satisfaction, retention, loyalty, and recruitment. VA as disruptor . Another important component of the VA will be to disrupt the consumer journey. For example, at the moment firms sell branded painkillers in your local pharmacy for up to 10 times the price of generic painkillers with identical ingredients. These identical products are often right next to each other on the shelf and yet consumers, typically out of brand loyalty and emotional triggers, will buy the branded product. VAs will augment the consumer journey by filling in our behavioral 'black holes' and protecting us from simple emotional exploitations. Your head and your heart might be telling you to buy the branded product partially because of the successful impact of the brand's consumer behavior insight, but your VA will automatically reinsert rationality into your decision-making process. Organizations will need to adapt their strategies as technology succeeds in protecting customers from behavioral exploitation where regulatory bodies and self-regulating industries have failed. In 1998 Google search spawned a revolution in the digital economy and fundamentally changed the way we connect with people, products and services. VAs mark the next digital revolution and will have an even more profound impact on our organizations, everyday lives, commerce, interactions, and behaviors. Read more: How mentors make superstars . Read more: Mapping the sharing economy . Read more: Making scents of disaster .

Virtual assistants are the most significant development of the digital revolution . Workplaces must adapt and establish working relations with them . We will be able to use them in every aspect of our personal lives . Leading players Google, Microsoft and Apple are seeking control of this massive new market .

(CNN) -- After months of speculation, one of Formula One's worst kept secrets has finally been confirmed. Fernando Alonso, the double world champion who recently left Ferrari, will rejoin McLaren for the 2015 season, which gets underway in March. The Spaniard, who won back-to-back world titles with Renault in 2005 and 2006, joins the British team after ending his four-year association with Ferrari. He will be partnered by Jenson Button, whose services were retained above Kevin Magnussen, who stays on as a test and reserve driver. Between them, Alonso and Button have won three world titles, 47 grands prix and achieved 147 podium finishes from a combined 500 races. Now 33, Alonso will be expected to boost McLaren's fortunes after a season which saw it struggle to match the pace set by the all-conquering Mercedes team. "Over the past year I have received several offers, some of them really tempting given the current performance of some of the teams that showed interest," he said in a statement. "But, more than a year ago, McLaren-Honda contacted me and asked me to take part, in a very active way, in the return of their partnership -- a partnership that dominated the Formula 1 scene for so long." Between 1988 and 1992, McLaren and Honda won 44 grands prix out of 80, with Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost winning all but one of the 16 races in one season. "I still remember, as a kid, the posters in my wardrobe, my toy cars in which I dreamed I would one day emulate Ayrton, and the kart that my father built for my older sister, and that I ended up falling in love with," Alonso added. "That kart had the livery of one of the most legendary partnerships in the history of Formula 1, McLaren-Honda, the car that Ayrton drove, the same partnership to which I am now honored to join. "I am joining this project with enormous enthusiasm and determination, knowing that it may require some time to achieve the results we are aiming for, which is no problem for me." It remains to be seen whether McLaren's new engine partnership with Honda returns it to the top of the sport. Alonso previously joined McLaren in 2007, but left after just one season due to tensions between him and then rookie teammate Lewis Hamilton -- the now Mercedes driver who was crowned 2014 world champion last month. This time around, Alonso will be paired with the vastly experienced Button. The Briton, who won the 2009 drivers' title with Brawn, has signed a new deal to extend his four-year stay with the team. "I am extremely excited to be embarking on my 16th year in Formula 1 and my sixth season for McLaren," said the 34-year-old, whose future had been heavily debated in recent days. "Like Fernando, I am certain that McLaren and Honda will achieve great things together, and I feel sure that, working together, all of us will pull incredibly hard to create a brilliantly effective winning team. "I admired Ayrton Senna enormously, but, for me, it was the exploits of Alain Prost that inspired me most as a boy. 'The best driver lineup' "The way he stroked those beautifully brutal red-and-white cars to grand prix wins and world championships was to my mind poetry in motion, and I have tried to emulate his driving style ever since. "Being a part of new-look McLaren-Honda is a wonderful opportunity for all of us and I am very pleased to have been invited to do my bit. In fact, I am absolutely raring to go." "I am sure (Fernando and I) will work extremely well together." After plenty of uncertainty over whether Button or Magnussen would be retained for 2015, McLaren chairman and CEO Ron Dennis is delighted with the pairing of two former world champions. "I can safely say that we now have by an order of magnitude the best driver lineup of any current Formula 1 team," he said. "We signed Fernando a little ago, but we decided not to announce the fact until we had also re-signed Jenson as his teammate. For many reasons, our negotiations with Jenson took quite a long time." The decision to retain Button means Magnussen loses his seat after just one season in the sport. The Dane finished 71 points behind Button in this year's championship. "I am very glad that Kevin will remain part of the team," said Button. "He is a very quick driver and a really nice guy."

Two-time world champion Alonso rejoins McLaren, the stable he left in 2007 . Alonso will be partnered by Jenson Button, retained above rookie Kevin Magnussen . McLaren chairman Ron Dennis labels the duo 'the best driver lineup' of any F1 team . Magnussen will stay on as reserve and test driver .

(CNN) -- A Virginia sheriff's deputy has been fired for liking his boss's political opponent -- on Facebook. Now Daniel Ray Carter Jr. is fighting back in court, arguing that a "like" should be protected by his First Amendment right to free speech. It's a case that could settle a significant question at a time when hundreds of millions of people express themselves on Facebook, sometimes merging their personal, professional and political lives in the process. According to court documents, the case began when Sheriff B.J. Roberts of Hampton, Virginia, fired Carter and five other employees for supporting his rival in a 2009 election. Carter's offense? Clicking the omnipresent Facebook thumbs-up to follow the page "Jim Adams For Hampton Sheriff." Roberts, of course, won re-election, leading to the firings. Free-speech advocates argue that the "like" should have been clearly protected by Carter's right to freedom of expression. But a U.S. District Court judge in Virginia ruled differently saying, in effect, that free-speech protections don't kick in when someone doesn't actually say something. "Liking a Facebook page is insufficient speech to merit constitutional protection," Judge Judge Raymond A. Jackson wrote in his May ruling, because it doesn't "involve actual statements." Carter is appealing that ruling in the U.S. Court of Appeals. The appeal was filed last week, and the sheriff's lawyers are expected to respond by next month. Carter's advocates argue the judge's definition of free speech doesn't match existing law. "The judge is wrong in the sense that the Facebook button actually says the word 'like,' so there are actually words being used," said Aden Fine, a senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, which has filed a brief supporting Carter's appeal. "And there's a thumbs-up symbol, which most people understand means they, literally, like something." Facebook itself also has weighed in with a brief to the court, saying that a "like" for a political candidate is "the 21st-century equivalent of a front-yard campaign sign." "A campaign endorsement in particular need not be elaborate or lengthy to constitute political speech," the site's lawyers wrote. "Carter need not have published a detailed analysis of the competing candidates' platforms for his speech to warrant First Amendment protection. His endorsement of his preferred candidate is enough." With the London Olympics in full swing, the ACLU's Fine compared it to another wordless moment -- the two American sprinters who defiantly raised gloved fists in a "black power" salute on the medals stand during the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. "They didn't say any words," he said, "but they clearly sent a message." Bruce Barry is a professor of Management and Sociology at Vanderbilt University and author of 2007's "Speechless: The Erosion of Free Expression in the American Workplace." He calls the argument used in the lower court ruling "ridiculous" and "on its face absurd." Barry believes if the appeals court upholds that judgment, it could make it much easier for employers to clamp down on their workers' speech on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter as well as on personal blogs and other sites. "If, as a lot of people expect, the appeals court overrules this and says this is obviously protected speech, then it may be that this case doesn't really establish a great amount of new law," he said. "That's the outcome a lot of people might expect. "But if it goes the other way, then it really does change things, at least in the legal realm. That would have, potentially, a significant effect." Barry notes that the Virginia case is the latest in a string of legal disputes that have arisen between employers and employees based on the increasingly popular use of social media. Last year, gadget-review site PhoneDog sued Noah Kravitz, a former employee, for taking with him a Twitter account he built while at the company to promote his work for other sites. And, last year, the National Labor Relations board weighed in on behalf of an ambulance driver who had been fired because of a negative Facebook post about the company for which he drove. The board said the company's policy, which prohibited negative comments by its employees on the Internet, was too broad. In February, the two sides settled the case. "I think that employers are often too concerned about his stuff and about their employees," Barry said. "(Social media) has just become so common, so ubiquitous." It's not clear how long it will take Carter's case to move through the court system. After the sheriff's lawyers respond, Carter's attorneys will get one more chance. Then, the court could take several months to hear further arguments and, ultimately, issue a ruling.

Virginia deputy says he was fired for liking sheriff's opponent on Facebook . Daniel Ray Carter Jr. says he was one of six fired for not backing his boss . U.S. District judge ruled his Facebook "like" wasn't protected by First Amendment . Facebook, ACLU and others have weighed in to support Carter's appeal .

(CNN) -- Thirteen-year-old Anjali didn't just pack her bags and run away to the circus, she signed a 10-year contract with a circus master after fleeing from long hours of domestic servitude in Nepal. Taken to India, she then endured years of appalling and dangerous working conditions for no pay. A British charity helped Anjali finally say goodbye to the circus. Anjali's story is not the same as other victims, but there are disturbing similarities: threats, sexual and labor exploitation, often cruelty, sometimes brutality. (To read Anjali's story, please go to UNODC's 2013 publication, Hear Their Story. Her name was changed to protect her identity.) Despite her terrible experiences, Anjali is one of the fortunate ones. There are millions of women, children and men across the world who face similar experiences. Human trafficking is now worth around $32 billion annually to the criminals and their networks. It is one of the world's most profitable crimes. I recently attended a debate on human trafficking at the U.N. General Assembly in New York. Other speakers included Oscar-winner Mira Sorvino, UNODC's good will ambassador against human trafficking. She spoke with dignity and with passion, which found echoes in the words of many of the other speakers, including U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The debate ensured that this crime remains on the radar screens of U.N. member states, one decade after the Trafficking in Persons Protocol entered into force. There is also some good news. Today, 83% of countries have proper legislation to combat human trafficking. In 2009, this figure was only 60%. So far, 175 states are parties to the Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and 154 are party to the Trafficking in Persons Protocol that is the foundation for our work against this heinous crime. Fifteen countries have also ratified the protocol since 2010. This, however, leaves 39 member states who still have to ratify the protocol and unite the entire world against human trafficking. Impunity is another festering issue. Sixteen percent of countries have never recorded a single conviction for human trafficking. Conviction rates remain low. CNN Freedom Project: Rescued Nepalese find new life in circus . Based on UNODC's Global Report on Trafficking in Persons 2012, between 2006 and 2009, the number of detectable cases of human trafficking for forced labor doubled from 18% to 36%. It shows that more action against this crime is being undertaken by law enforcement bodies, but there is room for improvement. There are also problems with data collection and analysis. Our human trafficking report contained information from 132 Member States. Almost a third of countries failed to provide information to the report. Fortunately, there is an international road map: the 3-year-old Global Plan of Action. The plan created the Victims Trust Fund managed by UNODC. So far, the fund has enabled 11 grass-roots organizations to aid victims in situations similar to that of Anjali. But the improvements, while encouraging, are coming too slowly to help the millions of victims. What is needed is a catalyst. My suggestion is an inspirational, but realistic goal: a decade of concrete action to end human trafficking. Action founded on international cooperation and coordination. Arrests made in modern slavery case . If we are truly serious about confronting this issue, I would suggest four steps to immediately improve the situation: . First, increased victim protection and support, second, universal ratification and full implementation of the U.N. Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, as well as its protocol; third, fresh contributions to the Trust Fund from governments, the private sector and the public to assist field organizations; and fourth, the provision of comprehensive data to understand the nature of this global crime. Legislation, however, is only the springboard for action. Every country needs a national action plan closely linked to regional and international efforts to counter human trafficking. We also need to hunt down the proceeds flowing from this ugly crime. Preventing money laundering means working closely with banks and the financial sector to report suspicious financial movements and creating a virtuous circle among financial intelligence units, law enforcement bodies and prosecution authorities. But, it is not good enough to simply imprison the guilty traffickers, we must take their money and close down the networks and trafficking routes for good. I am aware of the dangers of making unrealistic promises, but I believe we can achieve this goal. After all, our reach should always exceed our grasp. Let's turn the hourglass over and begin a decade of action to try to rid the world of the misery and suffering caused by human trafficking. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Yury Fedotov .

Millions of people fall victim to human trafficking, says Yury Fedotov . The world has made progress in reducing this profitable crime, he says . Fedotov: Many countries have passed legislation against trafficking . He says improvements coming too slowly; a decade of action is needed .

(CNN) -- A country girl finding her feet in the big (Emerald) city, Dorothy Gale is one of the most enduring and endearing characters in movie history. Part of what she discovers on her voyage over the rainbow is that apparently heroic, magical and/or much-admired folk -- such as the Wizard of Oz -- will probably turn out to be no better than anybody else. Now that I'm a parent, I realize that Oz is the father figure in the movie: He's not a bad man but not someone who can solve all his children's problems for them, either. All he can really do is appreciate them for who they are, so that they learn to appreciate themselves. But is Oz someone we care to know more about? Maybe. As much as I enjoyed Sam Raimi's new movie, which is breezy and bright in myriad dimensions, I doubt his story will exert a comparable hold on the popular imagination for generations to come. Dads just aren't that interesting -- not even to other dads. L. Frank Baum wrote 13 sequels to his most popular novel, but so far as I know, he never hit on the idea of a prequel. Ingeniously scripted by Mitchell Kapner and David Lindsay-Abaire, "Oz the Great and Powerful" mimics the movement and character arc of the original. It begins in the Midwest in black-and-white and then falls to a Technicolor Neverland in the eye of a twister. But we're no longer watching Dorothy, an innocent abroad. Instead, we have James Franco's Oscar Diggs ("Oz" for short), a charismatic charlatan and a two-bit showman with an eye for the ladies -- any lady, really; wiccans welcome! If there's a throne and a treasure trove at the end of the rainbow, maybe he'll stick around the next morning. He's not all heel, though. At least he has the decency to be embarrassed that he's not the magical savior everyone seems to be expecting. He says he aspires to greatness, even if he never seems likely to stretch for it. Franco doesn't quite get there, for me, in this role. He's an unconvincing fraud and a shaky charlatan -- too young, perhaps, to fool anyone except himself. Or, maybe he's just too contemporary to pass as a 19th century illusionist. Reportedly, Robert Downey Jr. and Johnny Depp turned down the role, and either might have played him with more aplomb. Presumably they were wary of messing with a solid gold classic, but while "Oz" does present a wide target for critics, they shouldn't have worried: Director Sam Raimi ("The Amazing Spider-Man," "The Evil Dead") takes care to honor the original in spirit and in style. It may be an impossible job, but he's surpassed reasonable expectations. The production design and the saturated colors are close enough that this movie really does work as a prequel (albeit in 3-D), and while the CGI is unmistakably 21st century, Raimi's unironic celebration of pure artifice does suggest a continuum of sorts. Today's fashion for green screen and chroma key is not so far removed from the back projection and studio sets of Hollywood's Golden Age. Because the Land of Oz exists outside our reality, even the most ersatz effects -- butterfly trees and flowers that toll like bells -- are fair game. In this place of garish, unnatural wonders and exotic fauna (Zach Braff turns up in the form of a diminutive winged monkey), the bewildered magician is swept off his feet by not one, but three magnificent witches -- Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz and Michelle Williams -- one after the other, each appealing to his better judgment and worst instincts, and none copping to the wickedness that we know will show its hand eventually. Will our flawed hero measure up to the fix in which he finds himself? And how, with nothing but an army of peaceniks to counter the witches' Winkies? The new "Oz" falls short of the 1939 "Oz" in charm and innocence and certainly in songs (there is only one, a brief, jokey number from the Munchkins). But as family entertainment, it's hard to fault such a rapturous spectacle and astute, suspenseful piece of storytelling. A true fantasist, Raimi has conjured up a valentine to the imagination, to smoke and mirrors and to the movies as a magical space where we might envisage, and possibly even realize, our better selves. That's more than good enough.

Sam Raimi's "Oz the Great and Powerful" is a prequel to "Wizard of Oz" Instead of Dorothy, James Franco's Oscar Diggs is the focus . Director Sam Raimi takes care to honor the original in spirit and style . Critic: "Oz" is short on charm and innocence but astute and suspenseful .

(CNN) -- The most insistent political question of the past four years has been: How can more Americans get access to medical care? The federal response was the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Better known as "Obamacare," it is a complex mix of insurance changes and tax credits. When the act takes effect on January 1, 2014, it will provide access to insurance to about 30 million people who currently don't have it. Unfortunately, that was the wrong question. So the looming "answer" is wrong as well. Here's the right question: How can we improve medical care so that it's worth extending it to more people? In other words, how can we create a health care system that helps people become and stay healthy? I have argued for years that we do not have a health care system in America. We have a disease-management system -- one that depends on ruinously expensive drugs and surgeries that treat health conditions after they manifest rather than giving our citizens simple diet, lifestyle and therapeutic tools to keep them healthy. CNN special report: "Escape Fire" The brutal fact is that we spend more on health care than any other country -- an estimated $9,348 per capita in 2013 -- and get shockingly little for our money. The U.S. "currently ranks lowest on a variety of health measures," concludes a new report from an expert panel commissioned by the National Institutes of Health. Specifically, Americans have more obesity, more sexually transmitted diseases, shorter life expectancies and higher infant mortality than the inhabitants of nearly all of the 16 developed "peer" countries studied. Why? A major culprit is a medical system based on maximizing profits rather than fostering good health. Let me be clear. I am not against all forms of high-tech medicine. Drugs and surgeries have a secure place in the treatment of serious health conditions. But modern American medicine treats almost every health condition as if it were an emergency. This leads to vast wealth for the corporate medical complex but poor health outcomes and empty wallets for the patients. Making this system more accessible by passing costs to taxpayers will simply spread its failures more broadly. The medical philosophy known as integrative medicine offers a better alternative. As defined by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health, IM combines mainstream medical therapies and complementary and alternative therapies "for which there is some high-quality scientific evidence of safety and effectiveness." It uses high-tech medicine sparingly to treat the most serious conditions while employing nutrition, exercise, stress-reduction and other simple, low-cost (or free) interventions to foster long-term health and resilience. It's one thing to read about the horrors of the modern medical system. It's quite another to see them vividly displayed in the faces and bodies of suffering Americans. I was honored to be interviewed for the documentary "Escape Fire: The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare," premiering at 8 and 11 p.m. ET Sunday, March 10, on CNN. The film offers an unflinching look at the causes and effects of our medical system's problems and provides some hopeful solutions. Highlights include: . -- The torturous journey of Sgt. Robert Yates, an injured veteran wounded in Afghanistan. He was prescribed a shopping bag full of prescription medications that left him broken and miserable in body, mind and spirit. Watching Yates begins to regain his health through gentle, low-cost therapies, including meditation and acupuncture, is profoundly moving. -- A look at the revolutionary Safeway Healthy Measures Program. It gives the supermarket chain's employees financial incentives for taking responsibility for their own health, decreasing Safeway's insurance costs significantly while improving participants' well-being. -- The dramatic story of Dr. Erin Martin, an Oregon primary care physician fed up with being pushed to treat patients faster and faster to boost clinic profits. She enrolled in the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine's Fellowship Program to find a better way, explaining that "I'm not interested in getting my productivity up -- I'm interested in helping patients." The film takes its name from the practice of setting a small fire to clear out nearby brush, allowing a fast-advancing forest fire to pass by harmlessly. Will we be sufficiently clear-eyed and rational to take a similarly bold action to avoid disaster wrought by our dysfunctional health care system? I hope so. In the film, I say, "The present system doesn't work, and it's going to take us down. We need a whole new kind of medicine." I am grateful to filmmakers Matthew Heineman and Susan Froemke for making that case in this persuasive and eloquent documentary. Please tune in to CNN Sunday evening. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Andrew Weil.

Andrew Weil: Providing more Americans with health insurance is not enough . Weil: We have a disease-management system, not a health care system . He says our medical system is more about maximizing profits than fostering good health . Weil: Watch "Escape Fire" at 8 and 11 p.m. ET Sunday, March 10, on CNN .

(CNN) -- An undersea cable carrying Internet traffic was cut off the Persian Gulf emirate of Dubai, officials said Friday, the third loss of a line carrying Internet and telephone traffic in three days. Dubai has been hit hard by an Internet outage apparently caused by a cut undersea cable. Ships have been dispatched to repair two undersea cables damaged on Wednesday off Egypt. FLAG Telecom, which owns one of the cables, said repairs were expected to be completed by February 12. France Telecom, part owner of the other cable, said it was uncertain when repairs on it would be repaired. Stephan Beckert, an analyst with TeleGeography, a research company that consults on global Internet issues, said the cables off Egypt were likely damaged by ships' anchors. The loss of the two Mediterranean cables -- FLAG Telecom's FLAG Europe-Asia cable and SeaMeWe-4, a cable owned by a consortium of more than a dozen telecommunications companies -- has snarled Internet and phone traffic from Egypt to India. Officials said Friday it was unclear what caused the damage to FLAG's FALCON cable about 50 kilometers off Dubai. A repair ship was en route, FLAG said. Eric Schoonover, a senior analyst with TeleGeography, said the FALCON cable is designed on a "ring system," taking it on a circuit around the Persian Gulf and enabling traffic to be more easily routed around damage. Schoonover said the two cables damaged Wednesday collectively account for as much as three-quarters of the international communications between Europe and the Middle East, so their loss had a much bigger effect. Without the use of the FLAG Europe-Asia cable and SeaMeWe-4, some carriers were forced to reroute their European traffic around the globe, which could cause delays, Beckert said. Other carriers could use SeaMeWe-3, an older cable that remained the only direct connection from Europe to the Middle East and Asia. Because this cable is older, it has a smaller capacity than the two damaged cables, Beckert said. Still, Beckert stressed that although the problem created a "big pain" for many of carriers, it did not compare to the several months of disruption in East Asia in 2006 after an earthquake damaged seven undersea cables near Taiwan. TeleGeography Research Director Alan Mauldin said new cables planned to link Europe with Egypt should provide enough backup to prevent most similar problems in the future. Schoonover said a similar Internet problem could not happen in the United States. "We have all the content here," he said. "It's not going to be felt other than we won't get the BBC." TeleGeography officials also said most traffic between the U.S., Canada and Mexico is carried over land, and there is a plentiful supply of undersea cables carrying traffic under the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Meanwhile, Internet service was slow Friday in Dubai and Egypt, where online service was intermittent, but there was less demand because many businesses in those countries aren't open on Fridays. Service providers in Egypt said they hoped to have improved capacity by Sunday. Web surfers in India were experiencing a marked improvement in service, though graphic- or video-heavy sites were still taking longer to load. Most of the major Internet service providers in India, like Reliance and VSNL, were starting to use backup lines Friday, allowing service to slowly come back, said Rajesh Chharia, president of the Internet Services Providers Association of India. The Indian ISPs were still alerting customers to slowdowns over the next few days with service quality delays of 50 percent to 60 percent, he said. The Internet slowdowns had no effect on trading at the country's two main stock exchanges, the SENSEX and the NSE, because they aren't dependent on the downed cables, Chharia said. Individual Web users were still feeling the effects. Madhu Vohra, who lives in the city of Noida on the outskirts of Delhi, said she uses Internet phone service Skype to call her son in the United States, but she hasn't been able to reach him since the slowdown. "We keep trying for a long time and the message comes up, 'This page can't display,' so finally we just turn the computer off and give up," Vohra said. Internet cafes typically full of teenaged gamers are nearly empty with speeds still frustratingly slow. "I felt like beating the ... modem, throwing it away, because we compete on the Internet and it feels really bad," said Aman Khurana, 13. State-owned Dubai telecom provider Du and Kuwait's Ministry of Communications estimated Thursday that the problems might take two weeks to fix. E-mail to a friend . CNN's Elham Nakhlawi, Mustafa Al Arab, Caroline Faraj, Tess Eastment, Aneesh Raman and Brad Lendon contributed to this report.

Repairs to one Mediterranean cable expected by February 12 . Cable reported cut Friday off Dubai in Persian Gulf . Extensive Internet failure has affected much of Asia, the Middle East, north Africa . Analysts say no chance of similar Internet loss in United States .

(CNN) -- Wildfires burning across some 1.4 million acres in 12 states have forced the evacuation of 1,800 homes and businesses in one Texas county and claimed the lives of two firefighters in Florida, authorities said Tuesday. The two Florida Division of Forestry firefighters died Monday while fighting a wildfire in north-central Florida that had been declared contained but suddenly burst out of control, Amanda Bevis, a division spokeswoman, said Tuesday. "They were both in tractors, and the fire literally just caught up with them," she said. The firefighters were identified as Josh Burch, 31, and Brett Fulton, 52. Both were rangers with the forestry division working the Blue Ribbon Fire in Hamilton County. "The wildfires have ravaged our state, burning more than 200,000 acres, and now, they have taken the lives of two of our very own men," Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam said in a statement. Two other firefighters were injured trying to rescue their colleagues, Bevis said. They were treated and released Monday and will make full recoveries, she said. In Texas, a fast-moving fire near Grimes County destroyed at least 26 homes as it burned across more than 4,000 acres. The fire was caused by homeowners grilling near Stoneham, Texas, CNN affiliate KHOU-TV reported. Grimes County Sheriff Don Sowell said officials have identified a person of interest who is believed to have built the barbecue pit that started the fire, but as of now authorities do not believe there was any intent of arson. The speed of the fire forced evacuations of whole subdivisions throughout the area. Jerome Seeberger, who owns 40 acres of land in Grimes County, said there's just one word to describe the scene. "Apocalypse," he told KHOU against a backdrop of charred trees. "I've never seen anything like this. Such a beautiful forest two days ago and now look at it." The fires in Florida and Texas were just two of 53 large uncontained wildfires burning in 11 U.S. states, from Alaska to Florida, according to the National Interagency Coordination Center. All told, the fires have burned 2,166 square miles -- nearly the size of Delaware. About 10,400 firefighters are involved in efforts to contain the fires, with more than 7,000 of them in Arizona and New Mexico, where fires have burned 853,518 acres, according to the center. The largest of the fires continues to be the Wallow Fire in east central Arizona and west central New Mexico. That fire has burned 527,774 acres so far, the fire's incident command team announced Tuesday, and is about 56% contained. While residents of Greer, Arizona, are being allowed to return home, evacuation orders remain in effect in other parts of Arizona and in Luna, New Mexico. Residents in parts of Apache County, Arizona, also have been told to be prepared to evacuate should the need arise. Power has been fully restored in Alpine and Nutrioso, Arizona, but remains out in areas north of Blue River, fire officials said. In North Carolina, Forest Service officials said they are closely monitoring a fire in Pender County, which has burned more than 4,000 acres. Though evacuations have not been ordered, residents of Pender County said they are worried. Diane Kuzina's voice broke as she described the fire's path. Kuzina owns land near the Pender County line. "I don't want to lose my home," she said. "It's just scary." Critical fire weather was forecast Tuesday for parts of Arizona, Colorado, Florida, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas, with a combination of low humidity and high winds in many locations raising the threat from wildfires. The weather service also warned that scattered storms forecast in southeast Texas could bring welcome rain but also lightning that could spark new fires. The number of wildfires so far this year is below the 10-year average for the United States, according to the U.S. Forest Service. But the number of acres burned is three times that 10-year average, according to the agency. While some state and local authorities have reported stretched resources from the widespread fires, Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell told Congress last week that there's plenty of capacity to continue fighting fires. The U.S. Forest Service and the Department of the Interior have about 16,000 trained firefighters available nationwide, Tidwell said. The agency also has left-over funds from previous years to pay higher-than-usual firefighting costs. CNN's Craig Bell contributed to this report.

Acreage burned this year is three times the 10-year average, U.S. agency says . A fast-moving Texas wildfire forces the evacuation of 1,800 homes and businesses . Two firefighters die in a wildfire in Florida . Nationally, more than 10,000 firefighters are battling wildfires .

(CNN) -- Pete Seeger sang with such a gentle voice that it's easy to forget how his music drove a fierce, radical movement for change. "Young people in the civil rights movement began to realize that music was like a weapon you could use, but it was a nonviolent weapon. So you didn't have to feel powerless. You had this weapon, and it was a beautiful song," said Candie Carawan in a phone interview from her Tennessee home. Her husband, Guy, is one of the musicians, along with Seeger and Frank Hamilton, credited with adapting the song "We Shall Overcome" from an earlier hymn. They were more vessels than songwriters. They became instruments through which the words of oppressed individuals got a hearing. Seeger, Carawan and others lifted up anonymous voices, and these voices changed the world. For 17 years, I've been working closely with nonprofit organizations that are advocating for causes. They deploy lots of PowerPoint shows. It's nearly unimaginable a nonprofit executive would put music front and center in an advocacy campaign. Yet that is what happened in the civil rights movement. And it worked. I called Guy Carawan a few years ago, when he was still granting interviews, to ask him whether the music came to be important through some kind of happy accident, or whether it was intentional. Turns out music was front and center by design. Some of the credit goes to Danish folk schools. That's where Myles Horton saw firsthand how to deploy culture in training individuals to take on social and political causes. A Tennessee native educated in New York and Chicago, Horton co-founded Highlander Folk School in 1932. As in the Danish schools he visited, music was central. His wife, Zilphia, classically trained in music, led Highlander's music program and helped create the anthems we associate with the civil rights movement. Highlander hosted and trained the Mount Rushmore names from the civil rights movement, including the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks and James Bevel. They mixed with folk musicians such as Seeger and Carawan. And everyone mixed with men and women who would never become famous -- just folks fighting for the right to vote, to move about freely and to speak freely. The right to be recognized as human beings, in short. This pre-Internet caldron of connectivity -- civil rights leaders and musicians and ordinary men and women mixing together in common cause -- scared the dickens out of people who derived power from the status quo. Authorities could arrest people and beat people. They just couldn't stop the singing. Carawan taught "We Shall Overcome" to young people in 1960 at the founding meeting of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee at Shaw University. "Ella Baker wanted me down there to teach that song," Carawan said. "There is power in the words and the songs and the people." Two weeks before, he had been at Highlander teaching "We Shall Overcome" to one of the first gatherings of the students who would lead sit-ins. At the same meeting, he taught students to sing "I'm Gonna Sit at the Welcome Table" and "Keep Your Eyes on the Prize." It all seems so harmless now, these beautiful songs. But singing those songs could result in a beating. Or time in jail. Music was gasoline on the civil rights fire, and Highlander was effectively a music distribution hub. So tiny little Monteagle, Tennessee, home to Highlander, became a threat to the most powerful people in the country. Georgia state officials sent a spy to Monteagle and ran a smear campaign against King. A congressional committee went after Seeger. The state of Tennessee shut down Highlander and seized the land. "There's great nostalgia for these songs," Candie Carawan says. "They have become part of American culture. But at the time, the songs were threatening. It helped people feel united." Nothing is more threatening to power than seeing opponents organize. It's easier to hold off a bunch of unhappy individuals, each isolated and harmless. It's tougher to resist a bunch of unhappy individuals who unite and work together. Or as Arlo Guthrie describes in his anti-war song "Alice's Restaurant," if one person sings alone, authorities will think he's crazy. If 50 people sing out together, they will see it's a movement. "Pete understood how powerful music could be," Candie Carawan said this week, reflecting upon his death. "He thought it could change the world. Not all of us would go that far, but he really believed that." Seeger described his banjo as a machine that surrounds hate and forces it to surrender. He was right. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of John Bare.

Legendary folk singer Pete Seeger died recently at the age of 94 . John Bare says Seeger was part of central role of music in civil rights movement . Bare: Leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. mixed with the singers who spread message . Seeger understood the liberating power of music, Bare says .

(CNN) -- London will at be the center of the sporting universe come Friday but as far as the city's commercial community is concerned, it will be business as usual during the Olympics. The English capital is one of the world's foremost financial and business hubs, but given the expected influx of nearly 550,000 tourists and sports fans every day during the Games, accommodation will be at a premium and getting around will be trickier than usual. Both UK chancellor George Osborne and London mayor Boris Johnson have publicly stated their determination to ensure the city remains "open for business" and contingency plans are in place to ensure this remains the case. But if you're visiting London in a professional capacity over the next three weeks, what can you do to avoid the crowds and make the most of your business travel time? CNN has compiled the below guide to help the business traveler sidestep the Olympic hulabaloo. Getting there . Heathrow Airport in west London expects to cater for 80% of all Olympic athletes, officials and media entering the UK during the course of the games, pushing its capacity to the limit. See also: Ultimate guide to London Olympics . But London is also accessible from the sky via a number of other airports both in and around the city. Gatwick, Luton, Stansted and London City international airports all offer alternatives to Heathrow. Smaller airports throughout the south east of England -- such as Southampton, Bournemouth and Southend -- are accessible from international destinations and have connecting bus or train services to the capital. London is also accessible from mainland Europe by the Eurostar train, a favorite of the business traveler for its speed, comfort and disembarkation point right in the heart of the city. Accommodation . According to the latest research by the hotel market intelligence provider Travelclick, 46% of all hotel rooms in London have already been snapped up for the Olympics (a fourfold increase on the same time last year). This may be good news for the city's hoteliers but high demand has inflated prices. Travelclick has recorded a 70% increase in average daily rate in comparison to 2011, with the average hotel room now costing £189 ($293) a night. Whilst it may still be possible to secure one of London's 120,000 hotel rooms at short notice, a cheaper option may be to head out to one of the city's nearby commuter towns. Prices at the Holiday Inn, the official hotel partner of the Olympic Games, in the suburban town of Maidenhead on the night of the opening ceremony start at £115 ($175). The same stay a little farther from London at the Ramada Inn in Milton Keynes meanwhile starts at £55 ($85) per night. See also: Best of London Olympic hotels . A commute into the city will still have to be negotiated, although there will be extra rail services into and out of London for the duration of the Games. Getting around . London has an extensive urban transportation network but even that won't be enough to completely quell the Olympic stampede, with organizers expecting "delays" and "exceptionally busy" periods. Transport for London has produced a series of interactive guides called Get ahead of the Games, which display how travel on underground and overground trains is expected to be impacted by Olympic events. It is hoped this will enable travelers to plan their journey in advance, avoiding bottlenecks and hotspots as they arise. Extra train, tube and bus services have been arranged, whilst boat transport along the river Thames (including to Canary Wharf, home to many of the city's big financial institutions) will also be ramped up. A Twitter handle, @GAOTG, has been set up to bring the latest transit news to city travelers as quickly as possible. Travel by car is advised against for all but Olympic VIPs -- who have been deigned important enough to be bestowed with their own dedicated lanes on London's roads -- but there are other options for those looking to avoid public transport. See also: Best ways to get around London Olympics . A campaign by previous British Olympic champions Sally Gunnell and Chris Boardman is encouraging those in the city to walk or hop on a "Boris Bike," London's public bike sharing service, to reach their destination. Alternative options . Given the expected strain on the city's infrastructure, businesses have been encouraged to adopt strategies that will minimize the impact on their day to day workings. A document from LOCOG, the 2012 Olympic Games organizing committee, advises businesses to allow employees to work from home to reduce the strain on public transport. If business meetings cannot be avoided for those in the city, plenty of planning and time for travel is recommended. Finding accommodation close to where meetings will take place and staggering meeting times so they don't clash with the start or finish times of Olympic events is also advised.

London's mayor says the city will remain open for business during the Olympic Games . But the city's infrastructure will be strained by an extra 550,000 people in the city every day . Olympic organizers and city authorities have compiled advice for businesses to help limit the Games impact .

(CNN) -- A Chicago, Illinois, couple, their real estate agent and a real estate broker face charges of violating the federal Fair Housing Act for refusing to sell a $1.8 million home to black radio personality and comedian George Willborn, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development said. The five-bedroom, 8,000-square-foot home was listed for $1.799 million by owners Daniel and Adrienne Sabbia and their real estate agent, Jeffrey Lowe, the housing agency said in a statement Tuesday. The charge alleges the Sabbias and Lowe stalled negotiations and took the property off the market after receiving a $1.7 million offer from Willborn and his wife, Peytyn -- the highest offer the Sabbias had received in the two years the property was listed, according to HUD. The Sabbias accepted the offer, but refused to sign the sales contract, according to the HUD complaint. Six days after the offer was accepted, the Willborns' agent asked about the issue, and Lowe told her that the "'reality" of selling the house was 'just hitting'" Adrienne Sabbia, the complaint said. The woman said she didn't believe that, since the house had been listed for two years, according to the complaint. Lowe sent the agent a text message the following day saying he did not believe it was about race, and believed it to be a "seller vs. seller issue not a seller vs. buyer issue." But the next day, Lowe told the Willborns' agent that the Sabbias were not signing the sales contract and taking the home off the market. "Respondent Lowe gave complainants various reasons for why the Sabbias had decided not to sell," the complaint said, including that Adrienne Sabbia had changed her mind, that the Sabbias could not find another home, and they wanted to keep their children in their current schools. The Sabbias told HUD investigators they refused to sign the sales contract because Adrienne Sabbia wanted the full asking price for the home. Conrad Duncker, named as the Sabbias' attorney by the Chicago Sun-Times, did not return a call from CNN seeking comment Wednesday. The Willborns filed an initial HUD complaint in January, amending it in March and July. The couple learned that the Willborns had filed a HUD complaint on January 29, the complaint said, and a few days later told Lowe to offer the Willborns the opportunity to buy the home with all its furnishings for $1.799 million. "When the Willborns learned that the Sabbias only offered to sell the subject property to them after receipt of the HUD complaint, they canceled a scheduled showing and declined the offer," according to the complaint. Lowe told investigators that while he was representing the Sabbias, Daniel Sabbia told him he would prefer not to sell the home to an African-American, but added "if it was for the right price he did not care who bought the house," the complaint said. However, the agency "has determined that reasonable cause exists to believe that a discriminatory housing practice has occurred in this case based on race and has authorized and directed the issuance of this charge of discrimination," according to the complaint. The charge will be heard by an administrative law judge unless a party elects to have it heard in federal district court, HUD said. If the judge finds discrimination occurred, damages may be awarded and fines may be levied. Punitive damages can also be awarded if the case is heard in district court. Besides the Sabbias, the Lowe Group Chicago Inc. and real estate broker Prudential Rubloff Properties are also named in the complaint. "Racial fairness is important at all income levels. Civil rights enforcement must be the effective shield against housing discrimination that in this case wealth was not," stated John Trasvina, HUD assistant secretary for fair housing and equal opportunity. Willborn is a radio personality who co-hosts the syndicated "Michael Baisden Show." He also has appeared as a comedian on television and in films, the complaint said. CNN's attempts to reach Willborn were unsuccessful. "I think it's unfortunate, sad and disgusting," Willborn told the Chicago Sun-Times. "It jolts you to your core beliefs. . . . No one has the right to dictate the American dream." "Complainants George and Peytyn Willborn have suffered emotional distress due to respondents' discriminatory acts," the complaint says. Willborn has indicated he is less trusting of people and their actions, and "he feels respondents have denied him the American dream he worked so hard to attain. They are surprised that something like this could happen in the year 2010." The Willborns' children "were disappointed at the loss of certain features of the house, and ... felt fear because of how they might be treated because of race," the complaint said. "The Willborns' daughter felt hurt and angry and now worries that if this happened to her parents that it may happen to her one day in her own search for housing as an adult."

Chicago couple accused of refusing to sign sales contract . George Willborn and wife offered $1.7 million . Agent says seller told him he would prefer not to sell to African-Americans .

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Private military contractor Blackwater USA "delayed and impeded" a congressional probe into the 2004 killings of four of its employees in Falluja, Iraq, the House Oversight Committee said Thursday in a report. Family members of the slain Blackwater employees listen during a congressional hearing earlier this year. Blackwater contractors Jerry Zovko, Scott Helvenston, Mike Teague and Wesley Batalona were ambushed, dragged from their vehicles and killed on March 31, 2004. The burned and mutilated remains of two of the men were hung from a bridge over the Euphrates River, an image that fueled American outrage and triggered the first of two attempts to retake the city from Sunni Arab insurgents. The company stalled the committee's investigation into the incident by "erroneously claiming" documents related to the incident were classified, trying to get the Defense Department to make previously unclassified documents classified and "asserting questionable legal privileges," according to a report from the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee's Democratic staff. According to Blackwater's reports on the killings, the men killed in Falluja had been sent into the area without proper crew, equipment or even maps. One company document found a "complete lack of support" for its Baghdad, Iraq, office from executives at the company's headquarters in North Carolina, the committee report states. "According to these documents, Blackwater took on the Falluja mission before its contract officially began, and after being warned by its predecessor that it was too dangerous. It sent its team on the mission without properly armored vehicles and machine guns. And it cut the standard mission team by two members, thus depriving them of rear gunners," the report states. In a written response to the report, Blackwater called it "a one-sided version of this tragic incident." "What the report fails to acknowledge is that the terrorists determined what happened that fateful day in 2004," the company said. "The terrorists were intent on killing Americans and desecrating their bodies. Documents that the committee has in its possession point out that the Blackwater team was betrayed and directed into a well-planned ambush." The report notes that members of the now-defunct Iraqi Civil Defense Corps "led the team into the ambush, facilitated blocking positions to prevent the team's escape, and then disappeared." Blackwater did not discuss details of the report's findings, noting the incident is still the subject of a lawsuit by the slain contractors' families. The committee's chairman, California Democrat Henry Waxman, has scheduled a hearing Tuesday on Blackwater's operations in Iraq. The company's chairman, Erik Prince, is scheduled to testify at that hearing. The committee previously disclosed that the day before the fatal mission, the manager of Blackwater's Baghdad office warned his bosses he lacked armored vehicles, radio gear and ammunition. During February's hearing and in a subsequent written response, Blackwater general counsel Andrew Howell told the committee that documents on the attack had been classified by the U.S. government. But the Pentagon later told the committee the documents had not been classified. In addition, Blackwater made "multiple attempts" to get the Defense Department to declare company and Coalition Provisional Authority reports on the incident classified, the report states. The Pentagon refused. The families of the slain men have sued Blackwater Security Consulting, one of the most familiar of hundreds of private military contractors operating in Iraq. The families allege the company failed to provide their relatives with adequate gear and weaponry. Blackwater has denied the allegations and argued the men agreed to assume the risks of working in a war zone. Thursday's report adds to the intense scrutiny the company has faced since it was involved in shootings September 16 in western Baghdad. Iraqi authorities said Blackwater guards protecting a U.S. Embassy convoy opened fire indiscriminately, killing as many as 20 civilians. Blackwater said its employees responded properly to an insurgent attack on the convoy. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte on Thursday told a Senate committee that "something went tragically wrong" in the Baghdad incident, and that the State Department and Iraqi authorities are conducting a thorough investigation. He said Blackwater guards had fired their weapons on 56 of the 1,873 escort missions they have conducted in Iraq in 2007, "And each such incident is reviewed by management officials to ensure that procedures were followed." "I personally was grateful for the presence of my Blackwater security detail, largely comprised of ex-Special Forces and other military, when I served as ambassador to Iraq," Negroponte told the Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday in response to questions. "Their alert and controlled posture kept me safe -- to get my job done." E-mail to a friend .

House probe: Blackwater tried to delay, impede investigation into 2004 killings . Four Blackwater employees ambushed, killed in Falluja in 2004 incident . Company said unclassified documents were classified, report says . Blackwater calls report "a one-sided version of this tragic incident"

(CNN) -- A California judge ruled Monday that a then 10-year-old boy committed second-degree murder -- and knew what he was doing was wrong -- when he fatally shot his father, a local neo-Nazi leader. Jeffrey Hall was asleep on a couch in his family's Riverside home when his son killed him on May 1, 2011, according to authorities. CNN is not naming the boy, who is now 12, because he is a juvenile. Hall had been the Southwestern states regional director for the National Socialist Movement, according to an online tribute to him from the group's leader, Jeff Schoep. One of the nation's biggest, most well-known neo-Nazi organizations, the National Socialist Movement idolizes Adolf Hitler and touts virulent rhetoric against those who are Jewish, immigrants and not "pure-blood whites," according to the Southern Poverty Law Center civil rights group. Prosecutors contend the victim's neo-Nazi background is not linked to his death, saying the young killer's concerns about abuse and his family being split up were more significant factors. "It was our belief that this would have happened even if (Hall) was not part of the National Socialist Movement," said John Hall, a spokesman for the Riverside County district attorney's office. "This was done more on a domestic level." According to an arrest warrant issued for Hall's wife, Krista McCary, and posted from the Southern California Public Radio's website, Riverside police arrived in May 2011 at what they described as a "filthy," unkempt home and found the victim dead on the coach "with a gunshot wound to the left side of his head." Five children -- ages 10, 9, 7, 3 and a 2-month old -- were inside the home at the time, as was McCary, the warrant said. Three of the children later told a detective they knew where guns were inside the house, according to the arrest warrant. The eldest said he'd taken a revolver off a low shelf in his father's and stepmother's closet, then killed his sleeping father. The boy told police "he was tired of his dad hitting him and his mom," and that he thought his father was having an affair that might contribute to the family's break-up. Less than three weeks after Hall's death, McCary was arrested and charged with five counts of willful child endangerment and four counts of criminal storage of a firearm, according to Riverside Superior Court records. In August 2011, she pleaded guilty to one count of each charge and was sentenced to 120 days in custody (all but two of them in work release) and four years of probation. The boy has been detained in juvenile halls in Riverside County since the shooting. His lawyers initially sought an insanity defense but later dropped that approach and argued their client didn't fully grasp the ramifications of what he did, according to John Hall, the district attorney's spokesman. The murder trial before county Judge Jean Leonard -- and not a jury -- got underway October 30, 2012, continuing off-and-on for about 10 days over four months, ending Monday. As there are no "guilty" or "not guilty" verdicts in her California juvenile court, Leonard instead found it "true" that the boy had committed murder and understood his actions were wrong. The next hearing in the case is scheduled for February 15, where placement of the boy will be determined. The convicted boy could remain in custody up until his 23rd birthday, though he could be freed sooner or have a number of other living arrangements as determined by the judge, said John Hall. Schoep recalled the 32-year-old victim -- pictured on the tribute website raising a National Socialist Movement flag, which contains a swastika -- as a "dedicated father" who "spent countless hours on the California and Arizona border leading patrols in efforts to halt illegal immigration, (and organized) events for the NSM countless times." Schoep's ex-wife Joanna told the Southern Poverty Law Center that Hall was her ex-husband's best friend. The same civil rights group described Jeff Hall as "something of a rising star in the neo-Nazi universe." A public advocate for a "white nation," he led rallies full of white supremacists giving Nazi salutes at a day-laborer center and synagogues, in addition to his border patrol activities, according to the law center. He was also a politician of sorts, earning nearly 30% of the vote -- after he'd publicly stood by his neo-Nazi views -- in a race to join the Western Municipal Water District board of directors in Riverside County.

A boy, then 10, fatally shot his father in 2011 as he was sleeping on a couch . The father was a leader in the National Socialist Movement, a neo-Nazi group . Prosecutors argued domestic issues, not the dad's background, led to death . A judge finds it "true" the boy committed murder and understood it was wrong .

(CNN) -- When I "beat" cancer the first time, I was excited. My daughter was on her way to remission as well, and we were going to be a normal family again. It was almost over. Then Saoirse's cancer came back with a vengeance, and she was taken from us. I wanted to trade places with her, but I was better. I was in remission, and I had to learn to live again, even though my baby girl had died. So I did just that. I pushed forward. I started a nonprofit neuroblastoma foundation in Saoirse's honor, helped my husband start a business called CareAline Products to distribute products I had made for her when she was sick, and gave birth to our second child. Mom sews a new dream after toddler's death . Life seemed to be moving in the right direction. I felt great, and while there was always a little voice telling me remission wasn't a guarantee, I thought that I had made all the necessary changes in my lifestyle to keep me cancer-free forever. Then, in one instant of excruciating pain, that belief that everything was going to be OK was gone. A kidney stone sent me to the ER. When the doctor came back with the CT results, I wasn't expecting the words that would come out of her mouth: . "You have a 4-millimeter kidney stone. But you also have some swollen lymph nodes next to your aorta. They were flagged by the radiologist because of your history." The world went silent, which is a feat, considering I was sitting in a busy ER. I'm pretty sure I stared dumbfounded at the doctor for at least a minute, unmoving. Lymph nodes. Swollen. Those words stuck in my head. While I did my best to believe that follow-up tests would be negative, in the back of my mind, I knew. The cancer was back. I was sent home to pass my kidney stone, and to start the excruciating process of figuring out what the heck was going on inside my body. First came the scans -- CT and PET. Then a biopsy. Waiting for test results takes an extreme emotional toll. With every day that passed I grew more anxious, and more unfocused. The news came at lunchtime on a Tuesday six weeks after that fateful ER trip. "They are calling it a Hodgkin's lymphoma," the doctor said. All I could say was, "OK." I was numb. Then frustration set in, quickly followed by extreme annoyance. How could this be happening again? I didn't have time to deal with cancer. I had a foundation to run, a business to help with, and first and foremost, an 8-month-old to take care of. When I set out to fix something, I do it right. I think this is why my cancer relapse hit me so hard. It means I have to go back to the drawing board and start again. It's a feeling of failure that is hard to overcome. I have tried not to let my family and friends see my disappointment, but it has been almost impossible to hide. This time, cancer isn't the unknown beast it was the first time I was diagnosed. This time cancer was the nagging neighbor who finally moved and put their house on the market and then decided to come back instead of paying closing costs. Relapse is a fear of the known. I know what chemo feels like. I know the nausea, the hair loss, the numbness, the fatigue, the burning veins and the pain. I know that chemo can take me from feeling great to feeling like crap in less than four hours. I know what high-dose chemo does to a patient whose only wish is to live a little bit longer. I've seen quality of life stripped away for a chance at a few more months, and the ever-diminishing chance of a cure. With that knowledge came a major decision: Should I give in and allow myself to be thrown back into the chaos of toxic therapy -- or defy the fear and find a better way? During the six weeks I waited for my test results, I started to think about, talk about, and research different treatment options. I wasn't comfortable doing chemotherapy again, as I knew the treatment would be much more intense and toxic than what I had already been through. When relapse was confirmed, my general practitioner told me about homeopathic cancer therapy. I did more research, and made more phone calls. It just felt right. My doctors are on board, especially since I have a slow-growing disease. While some may not understand my choice to forgo conventional treatment, this time around I'm determined not to be scared into toxic therapy. This is a chance to take back control of my body. I'm determined to beat cancer, and I know that I am strong enough to do so. After all, I did it once before. The opinions in this article are solely those of Kezia Fitzgerald.

Kezia Fitzgerald went into remission from Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2011 . The cancer relapsed in March of this year . Fitzgerald says relapse is the "fear of the known"

(CNN) -- GOP candidates Christine O'Donnell, Sharron Angle and Nikki Haley have captured the attention of the country this election season, but they're just a few of the record number of women pursuing office this year. More than 160 women congressional and gubernatorial candidates won their primaries and will be on the ballot next week, leading some observers to dub 2010 the "Year of the Woman." This year's record-breaking numbers are encouraging, but deceiving, said Siobhan "Sam" Bennett, president of the Women's Campaign Forum. "We're ranked 90th in the world in the number of women in elected office. We trail behind Cuba and Afghanistan," she said, citing data from the Inter-Parliamentary Union on the percentage of women in national parliaments. "[People] look at Hillary Clinton's run for Congress. She's secretary of state. They look at [House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi and say, 'Oh, we got there! We have parity,' " Bennett said. "Nothing could be further from the truth." Bennett worries that for the first time in more than 30 years, we'll see a backslide in the percentage of women in Congress, particularly among Democrats. Democrats are expected to lose seats in the House and Senate, and the female lawmakers in office are overwhelmingly Democratic. There are 13 Democratic women in the Senate, compared to just four Republican women. In the House, there are 56 women who are Democrats and 17 who are Republicans. "The deeper problem underneath all this is we do not have a pipeline or a bench of women prepared to step up and run for the inevitable number of women that we are going to lose this cycle," added Bennett, who was the Democratic nominee for Pennsylvania's 15th District in 2008. "She Should Run," a program run by the Women's Campaign Forum, is an effort to recruit and equip women candidates. The program also encourages women to ask other women to consider making a bid for office. iReport: Maria Shriver shares her thoughts on women in politics . In a potential blow to the current crop of female candidates, women voters aren't as pumped about heading to the polls this year, according to national surveys. "We haven't seen this in the past, but this year it does look like women are less enthusiastic about voting than men are," said CNN polling director Keating Holland. In a commentary for CNN.com, Susan Wefald and Sara K. Gould, both with Ms. Foundation for Women, pointed to a number of factors leading to lower levels of excitement: . Women feel overburdened by the state of the economy, turned off by the current state of American political affairs. "The rhetoric of this political season may not be what we want or like, but times are simply too tough for millions of women to sit this one out," they wrote. Jennifer Lawless, a former congressional candidate and current director of the Women & Politics Institute at American University, says it is not specifically women who are low on enthusiasm this year. "Women are disproportionately registered as Democrats. So it's not necessarily that women are less excited and less interested -- it's that Democrats are, and that indirectly means women are," she said. Based on her experience campaigning for the midterms, Sue Lynch, president of the National Federation of Republican Women, said she thinks interest among Republican women is higher than ever. "The enthusiasm that I'm seeing as I travel across the United States has just been overwhelming," she said. "The enthusiasm I think is at its peak. I don't know that I've ever seen in the past 12 years at the national level such a camaraderie for our women in moving forward and running as candidates." The female candidates, she added, are bringing a new tone to the Republican Party. "My adrenaline is pumping," Lynch said. "It is the year of the Republican woman. I pray to God that on November 3 I'm right." Lawless, who is less optimistic about Election Day, says she expects at best, women will hold steady at 17 seats in the Senate and lose four to six seats in the House. "All of the pieces were in play for an anti-establishment, anti-Democratic, anti-incumbency year, and we've seen that happen," she said. "Republican women running this cycle have an opportunity to represent that which is not currently in power -- which tend to be Democratic establishment candidates." 1992 -- the previous "Year of the Woman" -- was really the year of the Democratic woman, because that was who represented the anti-establishment candidate at the time, Lawless said. "It's shaping up to look like the year of the Republican. And it turns out that in some of the most high-profile races, the Republicans actually have women running."

A record number of women run for office, but experts fear women will actually lose seats . Democrats expected to lose seats, and female lawmakers are mostly Democrats . Observer predicts women will hold steady in Senate and lose a few seats in House . But veteran campaigner Sue Lynch says, "It is the year of the Republican woman"

CERN, Switzerland (CNN) -- Scientists Wednesday applauded as one of the most ambitious experiments ever conceived got successfully underway, with protons being fired around a 27-kilometer (17-mile) tunnel deep beneath the border of France and Switzerland in an attempt to unlock the secrets of the universe. Scientists applaud during the switch on operation of the Large Hadron Collider. The Large Hadron Collider -- a $9 billion particle accelerator designed to simulate conditions of the Big Bang that created the physical Universe -- was switched on at 0732 GMT to cheers and applause from experts gathered to witness the event. While observers were left nonplussed by the anticlimactic flashing dots on a TV screen that signalled the machine's successful test run, among teams of scientists involved around the world there were jubilant celebrations and popping champagne corks. In the coming months, the collider is expected to begin smashing particles into each other by sending two beams of protons around the tunnel in opposite directions. Skeptics, who claim that the experiment could lead to the creation of a black hole capable of swallowing the planet, failed in a legal bid to halt the project at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research. Others have branded it a colossal waste of cash, draining resources from its multinational collaborators that could have been spent on scientific research with more tangible benefits to mankind. Sound off: What do you think of the experiment? French President Nicolas Sarkozy hailed the project as a major achievement for Europe. "The repercussions of this scientific investment without precedent in the history of humanity will be essential not only for the intimate knowledge of our universe, but also for the direct applications in fields as varied as intensive calculation or even medicine," he said. Watch as Big Bang experiment gets underway » . The collider will operate at higher energies and intensities in the next year, potentially generating enough data to make a discovery by 2009, experts say. They say the experiment has the potential to confirm theories that physicists have been working on for decades including the possible existence of extra dimensions. They also hope to find a theoretical particle called the Higgs boson -- sometimes referred to as the "God particle," which has never been detected, but would help explain why matter has mass. The collider will recreate the conditions of less than a millionth of a second after the Big Bang, when there was a hot "soup" of tiny particles called quarks and gluons, to look at how the universe evolved, said John Harris, U.S. coordinator for ALICE, a huge detector specialized to analyze that question. Since this is exploratory science, the collider may uncover surprises that contradict prevailing theories, but which are just as interesting, said Joseph Lykken, theoretical physicist at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. "When Columbus sails west, he thought he was going to find something. He didn't find what he thought he was going to find, but he did find something interesting," said Lykken, who works on the Compact Muon Solenoid, one of six experiments inside the collider complex. Why should the layperson care about this particular exploration? Years ago, when electrons were first identified, no one knew what they were good for, but they have since transformed our entire economy, said Howard Gordon, deputy research program manager for the collider's ATLAS experiment. "The transformative effect of this research will be to understand the world we live in much better," said Gordon, at Brookhaven National Laboratory. "It's important for just who we are, what we are." Fears have emerged that the collider could produce black holes that could suck up anything around them -- including the whole Earth. Such fears prompted legal actions in the U.S. and Europe to halt the operation of the Large Hadron Collider, alleging safety concerns regarding black holes and other phenomena that could theoretically emerge. Although physicists acknowledge that the collider could, in theory, create small black holes, they say they do not pose any risk. A study released Friday by CERN scientists explains that any black hole created would be tiny, and would not have enough energy to stick around very long before dissolving. Five collider collaborators who did not pen the report independently told CNN there would be no danger from potential black holes. John Huth, who works on the collider's ATLAS experiment, called such fears "baloney" in a recent interview, and noted that in normal physics, even if the black hole were stable, it could just pass through the Earth without being detected or without interacting at all. "The gravitational force is so weak that you'd have to wait many, many, many, many, many lifetimes of the universe before one of these things could [get] big enough to even get close to being a problem," said Huth, professor of physics at Harvard University. CNN's Elizabeth Landau contributed to this story .

Startup has been eagerly awaited by 9,000 physicists around the world . It's the largest particle accelerator in the world and costs about $9 billion . Lawsuits allege it could generate black holes that could eat the Earth .

(CNN) -- George Sodini, the man who killed three women and wounded nine others before killing himself Tuesday at a Pennsylvania fitness center, showed in his writings typical characteristics of a mass murderer, experts say. George Sodini failed at every relationship but couldn't blame himself, experts say. "What distinguishes the mass murderer who takes his own life afterwards from the person who just commits suicide is the externalization of blame," said James Alan Fox, a Northeastern University professor of criminal justice and author of six books on mass murder. "If you blame yourself for your problems, then maybe you direct your violence inwardly. If you blame other people for your failures, like Sodini did, you go after those people." Sodini's blog vents his frustration and rage at the lack of relationships and sex in his life, and he blames all women for letting him down. Although Sodini expressed intense hatred for his brother and father, "it also didn't surprise me in this case that he made some derogatory comments about his mother," said Dr. J. Reid Meloy, a forensic psychologist and clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego. "A lot of times, when there's this level of hatred against women, there's also a very antagonistic relationship with the mother, but it gets shifted onto other women." Watch what Sodini reveals about himself on video » . Sodini did not target specific women who had hurt him but all women, Fox said. "He had an issue with women who were not giving him the time of day -- all these young, beautiful, attractive, healthy, fit women at the health club," Fox said. "And so he specifically chose the health club, not just some random spot, to go after the people he blamed." Mass killers feel that they have been victimized and that their actions are justified, Fox and Meloy said. "They've been victimized by someone at work, by someone in the family, by the world in general; they've been dealt a bad hand," Fox said. "And ... they feel at the very end they can stand up -- with a gun -- and restore that power imbalance. They often see the gun as the great equalizer. "This act, this final act of murder, is a way to leave this world feeling some degree of satisfaction of, in the end, being the last one to have the best and last laugh," Fox said. See a timeline of mass shootings since 2005 » . "The concept here is really, really hard for most people to grasp, and that is the sense of entitlement, that 'I have a right to murder all of these women because of my personal frustration,' " Meloy said. "It's absolutely astonishing that a person can come to that mind-set." Neither expert treated Sodini, but both noted that Sodini's act, like most mass murders, was anything but spontaneous. "His blog is a striking example of how mass murders are planned, relatively carefully planned, over the course of days, weeks or, in this case, months," Meloy said. "There's this myth that mass killers just snap and go berserk and suddenly, without warning, shoot indiscriminately," Fox said. "Well, he had been thinking about this for some time. He had originally planned to commit the mass murder in January [but] 'chickened out,' as he said. But this shows a lot of methodical planning, thinking." That hesitation, as well as his possible hesitation on the day of the killings, is unusual, Meloy said. "Typically, as these guys are doing it, they have no ambivalence," he said. "The have made the decision to maximize casualties and to also kill themselves, as he did." Often some humiliating event "starts the clock" and sets long-laid plans in motion, Meloy said, but he didn't see evidence of such an incident in the hours or days before Sodini's rampage. "These guys are very narcissistically sensitive, meaning that the kind of insult or slight that you or I would just fluff off, these guys will ruminate and think about it and do that for long periods of time," Meloy said. Sodini was not a bad-looking man; he was intelligent and had a good job, so his failure to attract women must have had something to do with his behavior, Meloy said. But Sodini couldn't see that. "He had difficult and unhappy and unsuccessful relationships with everybody," Fox said. "What he was never able to do was to see that perhaps the problem was him. Maybe there's a reason why everybody rejects him, no one wants to be close to him. Maybe it's something about his own personality. "But mass murderers don't look at things that way. If they saw themselves as being the culprit, perhaps they would just commit suicide. But no. Everyone else is to blame."

George Sodini's writings reveal typical characteristics of mass killers, experts say . Shooter shifted blame for self-induced problems onto others . Mass murderers feel violence is appropriate response, psychologist says . Attack was result of meticulous planning, not a spontaneous outburst .

(CNN) -- How does a survivor of sexual abuse respond to students rioting at Penn State? "You're not getting it. You just don't get it," said Dave Lorenz who was abused by a priest as a teen. "It's just stupid youthfulness." Earlier this week, legendary head football coach Joe Paterno was removed in the midst of a scandal involving sexual abuse allegations against a former defensive coordinator, Jerry Sandusky. What started as an apparent celebration of Paterno turned into a riot in the Pennsylvania town of State College. The crowd tipped over a news van and decried the media in anger Wednesday night. They held signs in support of "JoePa" -- a nickname for Paterno. Some said their frustration stemmed from the media's focus on Paterno, rather than the charges against Sandusky. Watching footage of Penn State students rioting in the streets Wednesday night, Lorenzo shuddered, then hung his head. What bothered Lorenz is that students "rallied around (Paterno's) house, cheering him up." "The kids up there just don't understand what this does," he said. "Stop thinking of the adult and start thinking of what happens to a child that goes through this. You love the adult, you may not know the kid. Start thinking of the kid and the horror they go through, because it's hell." Paterno has been under scrutiny because of his response to allegations brought to him in 2002 by a graduate assistant. The assistant allegedly said he witnessed Sandusky, now 67, having sex with a young boy in a shower at the campus football complex, according to a grand jury indictment. Paterno reported the allegations to his boss and Pennsylvania's attorney general said it appeared Paterno had met his obligations under state law. But critics said the coach should have reported the suspected abuse to police. Sandusky is accused of sexual offenses, child endangerment and "corruption of a minor" involving eight boys. Many within the Penn State community condemned the crowd's actions. In the campus newspaper The Daily Collegian, an editorial read: "Wednesday night was an embarrassment for Penn State... The way students reacted set our university two steps back." Penn State grapples with conflict over coach's firing, horrific allegations . Earlier this week, as questions about the coach's action mounted, students began swarming Paterno's home. The gatherings had the tone of a pep rally. Kayla Garriott, a 22-year-old college student who was sexually abused as a child, said the open support for Paterno was disrespectful to survivors. "That's the first thing people look at -- that their football team is without their head coach that's been there so many years. Nobody looks at the eight children." The rioters are "never going to be in those children's shoes. It's not about football. It's about eight children who are never going to get back their lives back. They're going to live with this the rest of their lives. They might not get over that." This kind of spectacle could even make abused kids more reluctant to go to the police, she said. The Penn State scandal prompted numerous calls from sexual abuse survivors, said Barbara Dorris, the outreach director at Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. "I have talked to people all over the country who have dealt with their abuse," she said. "This is bringing it all back. It's so upsetting. They were crying. They were angry." The reaction of the crowd could send an unintended message to children and teenagers who've been abused: They may feel blamed for what happened to the football team and the rioting, said Dorris, who was also abused as a child. It's a "horrible statement that a winning football team is more important than the safety of the children. It mirrors what happened in the (Catholic) church." SI.com: Penn State tragedy shows danger of making coaches false idols . Jerry Needel, a Penn State alum who graduated in 1999, watched the news unfold and felt he had to do something. "This just shook my beliefs and a big part of my identity to the core," he said. He started a campaign to shift the attention to supporting victims of child abuse, by raising money for RAINN, which stands for Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network. In addition, some Penn State students are planning to dress in blue for their next football game to support the victims of child abuse worldwide. Jennifer Marsh, the director of the National Sexual Assault Hotline said the news story is bringing awareness and facilitating a national discussion about abuse, a topic often cloaked in secrecy. "The biggest takeaway we've seen is just the outpouring of support to victims and survivors." National Sexual Assault Hotline 1-800-656-4673 .

Survivors of sexual abuse say they're appalled with unrest at Penn State . Some students condemned the actions by the crowd Wednesday . Survivors says students are short-sighted and don't understand abuse .

(CNN) -- The highly-fancied Russia team and co-hosts Poland crashed out of Euro 2012 on Saturday as the Czech Republic and Greece became the first nations to secure quarterfinal berths. Russia led Group A going into the third and final round of matches, needing just a draw against Greece to progress into the last eight. However, a superb strike from veteran Greece captain Giorgis Karagounis just before halftime proved enough to send Dick Advocaat's side home. "When we left Greece, we all said, 'We will give everything when our compatriots aren't having the best of times,' said Karagounis, referring to Greece's economic problems. "I believe that this tonight puts a smile on their faces. We're happy we managed to do this for Greece, for our country, for Greeks all over the world." Euro 2012: Day 9 as it happened . The Russians had a better goal difference than the Greeks, who won the tournament in a huge shock in 2004, but went out on head-to-head record. Poland needed to win to go through, but a 72nd-minute strike from Petr Jiracek sent the Czechs top of the table and facing a quarterfinal against the runner-up from Group B -- which will be decided on Sunday. Greece 1-0 Russia . Karagounis experienced the high of sending his country through to the knockout stage of a major tournament for the first time in eight years, but the 35-year-old may not get the chance to break his country's appearance record at Euro 2012. The midfielder will miss the quarterfinal after receiving his second yellow card of the group stages, having been controversially booked for diving when it appeared that he had been fouled in the penalty area in the second half. With Greece leading 1-0, a second goal would have killed off Russia's hopes -- but instead a furious Karagounis missed a nailbiting climax to the match after demanding to be substituted before he was sent off for further remonstrating with Swedish referee Jonas Eriksson. Karagounis, who matched 2004 captain Theodoros Zagorakis' mark of 120 caps for Greece, repeated his act of scoring at the European Championship, having done so in the opening match against Portugal eight years ago. He surged through the Russian defense after Sergei Ignashevich failed to deal with a throw-in and fired a low shot past goalkeeper Vyacheslav Malafeev in time added on at the end of the first half. Giorgos Tzavellas almost made it 2-0 with 20 minutes to play, but his curling left-foot free kick bounced to safety off the post. After that it was all Russia, but Igor Denisov was twice denied by goalkeeper Michalis Sifakis. It marked a disappointing end to the two-year reign of Advocaat, who will now return to his homeland with a post at Dutch club PSV Eindhoven. "The other team just defended. With all due respect, it was hard to play against them. But it's not that we didn't play well," Advocaat said. "We were undefeated for 16 games but we didn't win today. That's football. All compliments to Greece." Czech Republic 1-0 Poland . Poland had high hopes of making the most of home advantage in Wroclaw, but could not beat a Czech team that bounced back from their opening 4-1 crushing by Russia to top the group with six points. Jiracek followed up his opening goal from the 2-1 win over Poland with another vital strike. The 26-year-old midfielder, who plays for German club Wolfsburg, cut inside to beat goalkeeper Przemyslaw Tyton after being fed by veteran striker Milan Baros on the counter attack following good work by Tomas Hubschman. Poland poured forward in search of an equalizer, which by itself would not have been enough, but Michal Kadlec cleared a late effort off the line. "We started badly and let the occasion get to us a little bit, the home side capitalized on our mistakes," Czech goalkeeper Petr Cech said. "But with time we got better, we created chances and then scored a deserved goal." The Czechs will next go to Warsaw on June 21, where their opponents will likely be Portugal, Denmark or Holland. The Greeks are likely to face unbeaten Germany in Gdansk. Poland coach Franciszek Smuda is now expected to be replaced, as his contract has ended. "We know we had the chance to win but they (the Czech) played excellent football and they scored a goal," he told reporters. "We had several opportunities in the first half but we didn't take our chances."

Czech Republic and Greece first teams into quarterfinals at Euro 2012 . Russia and co-hosts Poland exit after losing final Group A matches . Captain Giorgos Karagounis scores Greece's winner against Russia . Petr Jiracek scores his second goal of tournament to eliminate Poland .

Washington (CNN) -- The Supreme Court gave an Idaho couple another chance Wednesday to challenge a government ruling barring construction of their "dream house," an important property rights defeat for the Obama administration. The justices unanimously ruled Chantell and Mike Sackett can appeal a compliance order that said wetlands on their residential lot were improperly filled with rocks and dirt. A building permit was then revoked. "Since the agency's decision was final and since the Sacketts have no other adequate remedy in a court, they may bring their suit" under federal law, said Justice Antonin Scalia. The couple's supporters had billed this as "David vs. Goliath" fight against the Environmental Protection Agency. "We're here to stand up for the property rights and the constitutional rights of all Americans," Mike Sackett told CNN in January, when the case was argued at the high court. "We felt blindsided by the EPA, and we remain determined to fight." The high court had displayed wide support for the Sacketts during oral arguments 10 weeks ago. "If you related the facts of this case -- as they come to us -- to an ordinary homeowner," Justice Samuel Alito asked the government's attorney, "don't you think most ordinary homeowners would say this kind of thing can't happen in the United States?" What happened has become a six-year fight pitting business and property rights groups against the federal government and many in the environmental community. The effect could be huge for the longstanding tension over the balance between commercial and private development, and maintaining clean air, water, and soil. The Sacketts bought a small parcel of about two-thirds of an acre in the Idaho Panhandle in 2005, near the shores of the resort community of Priest Lake. They hoped to build a three-bedroom home, surrounded by neighbors' houses, and had obtained a county permit. Gravel had already been laid for the foundation when EPA officials told them their land was a wetland. That barred any development. They were ordered to immediately "restore" the land to its natural state or risk fines of up to $37,500 a day. At issue before the high court was whether the Sacketts have a right to have a "timely and meaningful" hearing before a court to challenge a Clean Water Act wetlands-restoration order of a federal agency. About 3,000 administrative compliance orders are issued each year by the EPA. A federal appeals court agreed with the agency that the couple's only remedy was to go through a lengthy wetlands permit process, which the Sacketts said would cost thousands more than the property is worth. "EPA is not above the law," said Damien Schiff, an attorney with the Pacific Legal Foundation, representing the Sacketts in court. "That's the bottom line with today's ruling." Agency officials said in a statement: "EPA will of course fully comply with the Supreme Court's decision, which the agency is still reviewing, as we work to protect clean water for our families and future generations by using the tools provided by Congress to enforce the Clean Water Act." The EPA still maintains the land is a wetland, and says the couple passed up the chance to work with federal officials for an "after-the-fact" permit, which may have resolved the situation quickly and cheaply, a remedy the government says it uses often for individual homeowners. But Alito, in a concurring opinion Wednesday, said for "a nation that values due process," the bureaucracy the Sacketts endured was "unthinkable." "The combination of the uncertain reach of the Clean Water Act and the draconian penalties imposed for the sort of violations alleged in this case still leaves most property owners with little practical alternative but to dance to the EPA's tune," he said. Defining "wetland" and the potential impact on drainage and "discharging pollutants" from nearby land has long been a tricky, subjective process. Federal regulators for decades have had the authority to protect water quality, even when land is not directly adjacent to streams, rivers, swamps, lakes or oceans. The Sacketts property did not border Priest Lake, but the EPA determined gravel on the lot amounted to a pollutant into "waters of the Untied States." The high court in 2006 failed to reach a standard that would have redefined current wetlands mitigation laws, the laws now confronting the justices and the Sacketts. "The Supreme Court has come to our rescue," Mike Sackett said just after the decision was issued, "and reminded the EPA -- and everyone -- that this is still America, and Americans still have rights under the Constitution." "We did everything right," he told CNN about the permit process to build their home. He said the experience has been "literally terrifying." The case is Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency (10-1062).

An Idaho couple can file suit against an EPA ruling, the Supreme Court says . The couple's supporters had billed this as "David vs. Goliath" fight . Mike Sackett: "We're here to stand up for the property rights ... of all Americans"

(CNN) -- The two little girls vanished nearly 40 years ago, their disappearance long faded from the public consciousness, their names etched in a stone marker their hope-sapped parents placed in a local cemetery. But Maryland police have been tenacious about solving this cold case. And on Tuesday they breathed new life into it, when they announced a possible breakthrough. Convicted sex offender Lloyd Lee Welch Jr., 57, who's been serving a prison sentence in Delaware since 1997, was near Sheila and Katherine Lyon on that March day in 1975 when they went missing, Montgomery County Police Chief J. Thomas Manger told reporters Tuesday. Welch was at a plaza that was among the last places that the two girls were seen alive, and he was observed paying attention to the sisters, Manger said. He declined to state how police obtained this lead. Manger said that anyone who has information about Welch should call authorities. Police released photographs of him and his now-deceased girlfriend, Helen Craver, about whom police are also seeking information. "We need to know more about his activities," Manger said. Welch, who also went by the name of Michael Welch or Mike Welch, worked as a ride operator for a carnival company that set up their attractions in malls around the country, Manger said. His girlfriend also worked at the carnival company. Welch has "multiple convictions for sex offenses against young girls," Manger said. Investigators believe Welch may have been involved in other unsolved crimes around the country. He was also a drifter and sometimes stayed in homeless shelters, Manger said. Montgomery County police have stopped short of calling him a suspect in the two sisters' disappearance. The case faded from the headlines years ago. If they're alive, the women would be 48 and 50 years old now. After years of holding out hope, their parents gave up. Sixteen years ago, they set a marker for their daughters in a cemetery with their dates of birth and the date they went missing, the Washington Post reported. But the police department has not forgotten Sheila, who was 12, and Katherine, who was 10, the day their older brother, Jay Lyon, saw them last. Maybe, in part, that's because he joined the police force as a homicide detective just a few years after that. Taken: The coldest case ever solved . Walk to pizza parlor . The girls must have been full of anticipation when they decided to step out for some fun in their neighborhood not far from Washington, D.C. Their birthday dates were just one day apart, and celebrations were coming up in just a few days. It was also the first day of Easter school vacation. They walked half a mile to a nearby strip mall to check out the Easter decorations, the Montgomery Gazette reported. Their mother told them to be home by 4 p.m. At 7 p.m., police received a call reporting them missing, the privately run missing persons website CharleyProject.org reported. Police swarmed out looking for them and questioned passersby. A medley of witnesses said they'd seen the girls. One saw them walking to the shopping center. Another -- a child -- saw them talking to a stranger, a man holding a microphone and a briefcase. Police drew a composite of him based on the witness's description. But the girls walked away from him. An hour later, their brother Jay, 15 at the time, spotted them at the shopping center eating pizza. And after that, someone else saw them walking in the direction of their home, according to the CharleyProject description. Had they arrived, they would have made it home on time. Back then, it was common for children to walk to places in the neighborhood without their parents. But when the girls disappeared, that feeling of safety was shattered, the Gazette wrote. Now-dead convict likely linked to Florida woman's '89 disappearance . Celebrity case . The girls' father, John Lyon, was a well-known radio host in Bethesda at the time, so the story of his daughters' disappearance made the rounds. Anonymous callers rang the family demanding money, CharleyProject.org claims. One of them demanded their father deposit $10,000 in a particular location. He complied. No one picked up the cash. The man called again, but when asked for evidence that he actually had the girls, he broke off contact. In the ensuing years, the tips faded. The case languished. Until Tuesday. Arrest in 40-year-cold murder case . Senior couple charged in decades old cold cases . Oklahoma deputies pull bodies from lake, may date to '60s, 1970 disappearances . Police: Evidence in killing of former beauty queen points to ex-priest . CNN's Michael Martinez and Dave Alsup contributed to this report.

NEW: Police ask public for information about convicted sex offender Lloyd Lee Welch Jr. Sheila Lyon was 12, her sister Katherine 10, when they vanished . Their brother, Jay Lyon, saw them eating pizza that day . A few years later, he joined the police force .

(CNN) -- North Korea upped the ante Tuesday in its war of words, threatening to target South Korea and U.S. military bases. Even by North Korean standards, the series of threats this month by leader Kim Jong Un and ensuing actions have been incredibly provocative, making the situation on the Korean Peninsula more worrisome. Here's a look at Kim's escalating rhetoric and his country's actions since he came to power after his father's death in 2011: . March 2012 . As South Korea hosts world leaders at an international nuclear security summit in Seoul, North Korea moves a long-range rocket toward a launch pad. Pyongyang says it plans to carry out the test in mid-April as part of a commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il Sung, the nation's founder. April 2012 . Defying warnings by U.S. President Barack Obama that Kim has nothing to gain from provocations, Pyongyang launches the rocket. It breaks apart and falls into the sea. August 2012 . Kim visits the same military unit behind a 2010 attack on South Korea's Yeonpyeong Island, where he reminds the troops to be ready to fight a "sacred war" against Seoul. The North Korean leader makes the veiled threat just ahead of an annual war games conducted on the Korean Peninsula by the United States and South Korea. The dictator calls the joint Seoul-Washington military exercises a "war rehearsal" to invade. October 2012 . North Korea claims to have developed missiles that can reach the U.S. mainland. December 2012 . Kim announces plans to launch another long-range rocket in a renewed effort to send a satellite into space. Two days after the government announces the launch window is being pushed back because of technical issues, the rocket lifts off from the west coast of North Korea. Pyongyang declares the mission a success. January 2013 . North Korea announces it is planning a new nuclear test and more long-range rocket launches, all of which it says are part of a new phase of confrontation with the United States. The threats come two days after the U.N. Security Council approves the broadening of sanctions in response to the rocket launch in December that apparently put a satellite in orbit. February 2013 . North Korea carries out an underground nuclear bomb test on February 12. The test is designed "to defend the country's security and sovereignty in the face of the ferocious hostile act of the U.S.," the North's state-run Korean Central News Agency says at the time, referring to new U.S.-led sanctions. "This nuclear test is our first measure, which displayed our maximum restraint. ... If the U.S. continues with their hostility and complicates the situation, it would be inevitable to continuously conduct a stronger second or third measure." March 2013 . Angered by U.N. Security Council sanctions over its nuclear test, North Korea threatens for the first time to launch a pre-emptive nuclear strike against the United States and South Korea. It's one of a series of provocative threats and, in some cases, actions by North Korea that begins with Pyongyang saying it is scrapping the 1953 truce that effectively ended the Korean War. At the same time, it cuts off its direct phone links with South Korea at Panmunjom, the abandoned village that sits on the border between the two countries. North Korea then doubles down on the threat, saying it is nullifying the joint declaration on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. One of the country's top generals, according to published reports, claims Pyongyang has nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles that are ready to be fired. Although U.S. officials don't believe North Korea is in a position to strike the United States, the Obama administration responds to the threat by announcing plans to deploy additional ground-based missile interceptors on the West Coast. U.S. officials also say B-52 bombers are making flights over South Korea as part of annual, joint military exercises this month that have enraged North Korea. Pyongyang releases a new propaganda video that shows an imaged missile attack on U.S. government buildings in Washington, including the White House and the Capitol. The roughly four-minute video is posted on the YouTube channel of the North Korean government website Uriminzokkiri. North Korea threatens Tuesday to attack U.S. and South Korea bases, putting its troops on alert. It announces through state-run media that the military is ready for combat. The threat follows claims that U.S. B-52 bombers again made flights Monday over South Korea. CNN's Elise Labott, Jethro Mullen and Brad Lendon contributed to this report.

North Korea on Tuesday threatens to attack U.S. and South Korean bases . Pyongyang puts its troops on full alert and announces its military is ready for combat . The threat comes amid joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises .

(CNN) -- Outrage over the possibility that a Van Gogh, Bruegel, or any other treasure at the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) could be sold to pay down the city's debts prompted a Michigan state senator to propose legislation to protect the masterpieces. Under the bill presented Wednesday by Sen. Randy Richardville, any art museum in the state must adhere to a code of ethics set forth by the American Alliance of Museums, which prohibits the sale of pieces unless the money is directed to improving the museum's collection. The DIA has a similar policy with the city, but the government's emergency manager has the power to cancel or modify it. The bill came about after Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr asked the DIA for an inventory list so that its 60,000 pieces could be appraised. The move sparked alarm among residents and museum administrators that the DIA's collection would be sold to settle the city's massive $15.8 billion debt. "They basically let us know that the collection was not off the table," said museum director Graham Beal. Gov. Rick Snyder in March declared a financial emergency exists in Detroit and announced the appointment of Orr to get the city back on solid footing. Although Detroit owns the art displayed in the DIA, Richardville's bill would provide an extra layer of protection, so that if the city were to file for bankruptcy, none of its art could be sold to satisfy creditors. "We're talking about cultural influence for the city of Detroit. It's a part of the community and part of what makes Detroit, Detroit," said Richardville. "It shouldn't be sold for monetary use." Bill Nowling, a spokesman for Orr, told CNN that any concern for the art being sold is premature and that the request for an inventory list is simply a precaution. "There is no plan on the table to sell any asset of the city. The emergency manager continues to look at all options that will help solve the financial crisis the city faces," Nowling wrote in an e-mail. Nowling conceded that while the city has not made any plans to sell assets, "it is possible that the city's creditors could demand the city use its assets to settle its debts." Beal maintains that DIA's collection is among the top six in the Western Hemisphere. While he could not specify a value, Beal said it would likely be in the billions of dollars. To sell off its pieces would mean dismantling a collection that has set precedents in the United States, he contends. "It would be a tragic irony -- the first U.S. museum to acquire a Van Gogh in 1922 and then 90 years later, we sell it? It's terrible." The news that the DIA's collection may face dismantling prompted response from other museum directors across the country, including Thomas Campbell, director and CEO of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Even in the darkest days of New York City's economic woes, the "cultural treasures closely identified with [New York] ... were never considered an asset that might be cashed in during a crunch," Campbell said in a statement. "I am sure that many museum directors around the country would join me in condemning the Detroit emergency manager's consideration. Art for the public is not interim, fungible, or liquid," Campbell said. Detroit City Council President Charles Pugh is flatly against any such move, arguing that selling a masterpiece to pay bills does not address the city's long-term needs. "If we sell art, it's a one-time fix. We sell that Van Gogh for $30 million, it's a one-time fix. We didn't fix the structural problem," said Pugh. Laura Bartell, a bankruptcy law professor at Wayne State University in Detroit, said she believes Orr is just doing his job and that it would be irresponsible for him not to consider what assets Detroit has and what they are worth. "I don't think anyone argues that Detroit does not have the legal authority to sell something that Detroit owns. It's a question of whether Detroit will -- and if Detroit should," said Bartell. Gov. Snyder has been working with Orr to try to ward off the city's bankruptcy and the sale of the DIA's art. However, Snyder admitted that he is not legally empowered to declare the collection hands-off. Beal said he will do anything in his power to protect the art from any kind of depletion. "We will defend. We will do everything we can to defend the integrity of this collection," he said. The DIA was founded in 1885 and houses more than 100 galleries, a lecture and recital hall, an art reference library, and a state-of-the-art conservation laboratory, according to the museum's website. CNN's Poppy Harlow and Sheila Steffen contributed to this report.

Detroit is in deep debt . Officials ask for inventory of art collection in museum . That's raised outcry from those worried about possible sale . Spokesman for emergency manager says sale not planned .

Los Angeles (CNN) -- Current TV filed a countersuit Friday against its former star employee Keith Olbermann, a day after the television personality filed his suit against the company. Current TV, co-founded by former Vice President Al Gore and businessman Joel Hyatt, ousted Olbermann last week. The company's 16-page suit, filed in California Superior Court, accuses Olbermann of breach of contract and dismisses as "fiction" the charges Olbermann leveled against it Thursday. "In particular, Current seeks a determination that it is no longer obligated to pay a dime to Mr. Olbermann who, having already been paid handsomely for showing up sporadically and utterly failing to keep his end of the bargain, now seeks to be paid tens of millions more for not working at all," says the cross-complaint, which was signed by Laura W. Brill, a lawyer for Current TV. The cross-complaint says that Olbermann leaked the financial terms of his contract; refused to help promote the network; was absent 19 of 41 working days in January and February; and refused to participate in Current's caucus and primary election coverage specials, then changed his mind just before the Iowa Caucuses. Current said it has upheld its end of the bargain, and then some, despite criticism from Olbermann, who was its highest-paid employee. "For example, he arrogantly and falsely calls 'cheap' the company that has paid him the highest compensation he had ever received in his career, provided him the largest staff of any program he had ever anchored, given him the largest studio and custom-designed set on which he had ever worked, and paid over $50,000 in an eight-month period to eight different limousine companies because none of the previous seven were able to meet his Patrician standards for how to drive him around New York City," the cross-complaint says. It asks for Current TV to be relieved of any continuing obligations to Olbermann, asks for unspecified damages "to be proved at trial" and seeks reimbursement for legal expenses. A call to Olbermann's manager was not immediately returned. On Thursday, Olbermann had sued Current TV in the same court, claiming breach of contract, unfair dealing and disparagement. Olbermann says he is owed $50 million to $70 million in cash and equity compensation, according to the suit, which seeks a jury trial. The lawsuit also seeks a judgment for other unspecified monetary damages, with interest. "This action is necessary as Current has repeatedly and willfully breached its written agreement with Olbermann," his lawsuit said, "often continuing to do so after receiving specific notices to cure such breaches. "In its most recent breach, Current unilaterally, and without cause, terminated its agreement with Olbermann. Current's sudden and public termination of Olbermann was the latest in a series of increasingly erratic and unprofessional actions undertaken by Current's senior management," the lawsuit said. Olbermann's suit called Gore, Hyatt and Current management "no more than dilettantes portraying entertainment industry executives." In a statement Thursday, Current said it fired Olbermann for "serial, material breaches of his contract, including the failure to show up at work, sabotaging the network and attacking Current and its executives." It continued, "It is well established that over his professional career Mr. Olbermann has specialized in pounding the table. "However, Mr. Olbermann, by filing his false and malicious lawsuit, has now put this matter into a legal process where there will be an objective review of the facts. "We hope Mr. Olbermann understands that when it comes to the legal process, he is actually required to show up." Gore and Hyatt courted Olbermann to leave his previous employer, MSNBC, with promises of "an unprecedented level of control and resources to build a new progressive network," Olbermann's lawsuit said. Olbermann was given "full editorial control over 'Countdown with Keith Olbermann' " and the title of chief news officer, the suit said. But the relationship soured shortly after Olbermann joined the network, according to the suit. "Admitting that he and Gore 'had expertise lacking in order to strategically execute the vision (they had) committed to' Hyatt created an environment in which major business errors and technical failures became commonplace and acceptable," the lawsuit alleges. "Hyatt also attempted to isolate Olbermann from his professional representatives in an awkward attempt to form a close personal friendship with his new star," the suit says. When Olbermann didn't reciprocate, Hyatt withheld production resources and disparaged Olbermann in the press, the lawsuit says. CNN's Michael Martinez contributed to this report .

Current TV accuses Olbermann of breach of contract . Company co-founders Al Gore and Joel Hyatt are "dilettantes," Olbermann's suit says . Olbermann says he's owed $50 million to $70 million in cash and equity compensation . Current TV terminated Olbermann last week .

Los Angeles (CNN) -- A dancer-choreographer has filed a claim against Michael Jackson's estate related to alleged child sex abuse by the late pop icon. Wade Robson, now 30, denied in testimony at Jackson's child molestation trial in 2005 that he had been molested by the singer. Two months after Jackson's death in 2009, Robson said they had "a wonderful relationship" and he called Jackson "a kind human being." The lawyer for Jackson's estate called the new accusations "outrageous and pathetic." The details of the allegation are sealed by the Los Angeles probate court where Robson's lawyer filed the claim last week, according to a court document obtained Tuesday by CNN. The deadline has long passed for creditors to file claims against Jackson's estate, but Robson is asking the probate court to allow him to file a late creditor's claim. The sealed documents include an affidavit from Dr. David Arredondo, a San Francisco-based child psychiatrist, the filing said. Jackson was acquitted of child molestation charges in 2005, partly based on the testimony of Robson, his sister and his mother. "It's absurd," said Tom Mesereau, the lawyer who successfully defended Jackson in the trial. "He was one of the strongest witnesses for the defense at Michael Jackson's criminal trial in 2005. He was adamant under oath that he had never been molested at any time." A housekeeper at Jackson's Neverland Ranch testified that she saw Jackson showering naked with Robson during a visit in the early 1990s, but he denied it at the trial. "He withstood very aggressive cross-examination by the prosecutor," Mesereau told CNN Tuesday. "He stood his ground and never wavered in saying Michael Jackson had done absolutely nothing improper to him." Robson met Jackson in his native Australia when he was just 5. Jackson invited him for frequent stays at Neverland after Robson and his family moved to Los Angeles two years later. Their visits continued until he was 13, according to court testimony. Robson paid tribute to Jackson In an interview with "Entertainment Tonight" to promote his choreography work on the MTV Video Music Awards in August 2009. "I just had a wonderful relationship," he said. "I learned so much from him, as an artist and as a kind human being, and it's my goal to just try and continue as much as I can in my own little world that legacy." "We talk so much about him as the pop legend, which is important, but it's nice to remember that he was a man, that he was a father," Robson said. "And that's what it's really about is a father and his children, and he was a wonderful dad." The 2005 trial in Santa Barbara County, California, centered on charges that Jackson had molested a 13-year-old cancer survivor who often visited his ranch. He was also charged with plying the boy with alcohol, and conspiring to abduct, extort and falsely imprison the child and his family. He was acquitted on all counts. "I've known Michael for a long time. I've spent many hours talking to him about everything. I trust him. I trust him with my children," Joy Robson, the mother of Wade Robson, testified when called as a prosecution witness. Robson said she let Wade, who was then 7, and daughter Chantal sleep in Jackson's bedroom from the first visit. "Mr. Robson's claim is outrageous and pathetic," Jackson estate lawyer Howard Weitzman said in a prepared statement. "This is a young man who has testified at least twice under oath over the past 20 years and said in numerous interviews that Michael Jackson never did anything inappropriate to him or with him. Now, nearly four years after Michael has passed this sad and less than credible claim has been made. We are confident that the court will see this for what it is." Mesereau said it was "suspicious timing" for the claim to be filed at the start of the trial of the Michael Jackson wrongful death case, in which Jackson's mother and children are suing concert promoter AEG Live. AEG Live lawyers have said they would bring up the child molestation charges against Jackson as part of their defense. Coincidentally, Robson is artistic director for singer Demi Lovato's tour, which is being promoted by AEG Live, according to his website. When asked about it Wednesday, AEG Live attorney Marvin Putman denied there was any connection between the sex abuse accusation and the current trial. Debts, drugs, messy bedroom highlighted in Jackson trial . Autopsy reveals Jackson's secrets .

NEW: AEG Live lawyer denies any connection between sex claim and death trial . Robson, at Jackson's 2005 trial, denied he was sexually abused . He was one of Jackson's "strongest witnesses," attorney Tom Mesereau says . Attorney: Wade Robson's claim against Michael Jackson is "outrageous and pathetic"

(CNN) -- With all the Facebook news lately -- the flat IPO, the regulatory interest, the Chan-Zuckerberg wedding -- it's highly possibly you've forgotten all about Twitter. If so, you'd be like most Americans. Only 8% of online Americans check their Twitter feeds on an average day, according to survey results released Thursday by the Pew Center for Internet & American Life. That's up from 2% in November 2010 and 5% in August, the group says, but it's nowhere near the numbers Pew tallies when it asks about online social networks in general. In February, the group asked Americans if they "use social networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn or Google Plus." Sixty-six percent said yes. That's not an apples-to-apples comparison, since the questions were asked in different ways and since Pew didn't ask about just Facebook specifically. But it's fair to assume the vast majority of those respondents use Facebook, or Facebook in combination with some other social networks, said Aaron Smith, a senior research specialist at Pew. That means Facebook appears to be reaching a much broader chunk of the population. Perhaps confusingly, Twitter continues to make news for other reasons than popularity. The service was recently the basis for live question-answer-sessions with the U.S. president; it played a role in coordinating protests during the Arab Spring; and a Pakistani man inadvertently alerted the world to last year's raid that killed Osama bin Laden when he live tweeted it. It's also given consumers, including famous people such as director Kevin Smith, a way to complain about poor customer service. And it can create conversations between wildly different groups of people: Witness this exchange between Canadian rapper Drake and the billionaire oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens. A Forbes writer described the dichotomy -- that Twitter seems essential to some forms of communication but, apparently, isn't all that mainstream -- in this way: . "Twitter is growing in all sorts of ways: in the number of tweets sent per day, in the ad revenue it's taking in, in the number of celebrities and brands using it in ways they quickly come to regret. But in terms of the overall proportion of the population engaging with the social messaging service, it might be in a bit of a lull." User numbers also tell the story of Facebook's rise and Twitter's relative stagnation. Facebook says it has 901 million active users at this point, and the site is widely expected to cross the 1 billion mark this year. Twitter, meanwhile, says it has 140 million monthly active users. The site went through meteoric growth in its early years. But it's been six years since Twitter launched, and by some metrics that growth appears to have slowed. Unsurprisingly, a Twitter spokesperson saw things differently. "Growth is extremely strong. We announced that we have more than 140 million active users in March. The previous number we shared was 100 million active users just last September," Carolyn Penner told CNN in an e-mail. "To add to that, it took us 3 years, 2 months and 1 day to reach 1 billion Tweets. Now, we see more than 1 billion Tweets every 3 days." In its survey, conducted in two chunks between January and April, Pew found that the percentage of online Americans who use Twitter has leveled off. Only 15% of online adults in February said they used Twitter -- and that's "similar to" the 13% who said they used the micro-blogging platform in May 2011, according to Pew's report. While the overall popularity of Twitter may be about the same, the subset of people who use Twitter frequently appears to be growing, according to the report. "The proportion of online adults who use Twitter on a typical day has doubled since May 2011 and has quadrupled since late 2010," Pew writes. So it would appear that Twitter does matter quite a lot for some people. Smith, the Pew researcher, said in a phone interview that much of the growth in Twitter is driven by younger people who use the mobile Web or apps to access Twitter's services. It's part of the trend of "constant access" to data, which "really pulls people more deeply into the (technological) tools they use," he said. And maybe that's the trend to underscore, rather than pitting social networks at each other. Some tech pundits argue Facebook and Twitter serve very different purposes -- with Twitter becoming more of a news feed and Facebook becoming an online hub for friendships. What do you think? Is Twitter falling behind? Or, at a time when the network is democratizing the spread of information, at least for some people, does Twitter still have an important role to play on the Internet? If you're part of the elite, Twitter-addicted 8%, we'll await your responses on Twitter. And if not, CNN Tech also has a Facebook page.

Pew survey finds 8% of American Internet users go on Twitter daily . Forbes writer says Twitter "might be in a bit of a lull"

(CNN) -- No, there may not be an NBA season this year. But there is another installment of "NBA 2K," the top-rated basketball video game for 11 years running. This year's version, "NBA 2K12," will let you end the debate about what historical team is the greatest by offering 15 classic teams and players to battle on the court. The enhancements to the My Player mode, which allows you to create your own player and guide his career through the NBA draft, his rookie season and beyond, are what really make this an engaging game. Like in previous versions of the game, you start off by creating your player's physical attributes (height, weight, age, etc.). The game then assigns your abilities based off what type of player you want to be (perimeter shooter, post player, etc.). In theory, you could create a 7-foot point guard with zero post abilities, but I'm guessing the high dribble would make you susceptible to steals. After finalizing your player, you immediately play in a rookie showcase game that helps determine where you are selected in the"NBA Draft. This game shows off "NBA 2K12's" improvements over previous versions in replicating players' movements and facial features. The game's announcers also do a good job of mixing your player's performance into their play-by-play chatter. In the game, you try to play flawlessly while improving your teammate grade by making good passes, playing transition defense and demonstrating other skills that lead to victory. Meeting these goals help increase your skill point totals, which translate into improved attributes. I created a 6-foot-6 shooting guard from Marshall University (my alma mater) and picked up 18 points and a B-minus on my teammate grade in the rookie game. After the game, your player has to answer two questions from teams that will be interested in drafting him. How you answer is taken into consideration prior to the draft. The Charlotte Bobcats (No. 9 pick), Golden State Warriors (No. 11) and Utah Jazz (No. 12) were interested in my shooting guard. I answered the questions in a way that I hoped would get me selected by each team, but there was an answer choice, "I do not want to play for your team," that would have automatically dropped me off that team's list. Then it's time for the draft. Just like in real life, the draft starts off with NBA Commissioner David Stern (yes, it was really his voice) announcing the first pick and continuing on until your player gets selected. If you don't get picked early, this can be a rather drawn-out process since there is no way to skip to your selection. (Developers say the highest any created player can be selected is No. 3 (Utah Jazz), so don't set your sights on being the top pick.) After walking to the podium and signing your rookie contract, your team's public relations department contacts you and shows you a new billboard touting you as the future of the franchise. Having been selected by the Bobcats, it was pretty cool to see my player on some outdoor advertising in Charlotte. Now it's time to earn that contract. Your player's skills can be improved through buying skill points with your contract money or by doing individual and team drills -- most of which are new to this game. My shooting guard took advantage of the new arsenal of moves in "NBA2K12" to put up 33 points in 16 minutes in his first game. (Oh, you didn't think your rookie was going to be in the starting lineup, did you?) After every game, there is a press conference where you are asked about the game action. Your answers impact what your teammates think of you, your league-wide reputation and how you are perceived by your hometown fans. The answers were tough to interpret, and I came off as a jerk sometimes when I was trying to praise my teammates. One flaw with this game: My player still looked awkward when he was speaking. His bottom lip didn't seem to move, making him appear frightening when he addressed the media. As your season progresses, you can earn more playing time and more endorsements depending on your skills and reputation. (Those press conference answers are important.) Later in your career, you can request trades, negotiate contracts and guide your player to the NBA Hall of Fame. How long that takes depends on how fast your avatar becomes one of the best players in the league. Thanks to this My Player mode, "NBA2K12" has the depth and versatility to challenge even the best gamer to achieve basketball immortality. This improved feature personalizes pro hoops in a way that will have you cheering your player on -- maybe even to greatness.

"NBA2K12," the top-rated pro-basketball video game, goes on sale Tuesday . Game's My Player mode lets you create your own basketball player and guide his career . NBA Commissioner David Stern announces each draft pick, including your player . Game announcers do a good job of mixing your player's performance into their chatter .

Dubai, UAE (CNN) -- A year-long intense diplomatic push by British Prime Minister David Cameron to advance his country's business interests in the United Arab Emirates may not yet deliver the contracts he was hoping for. During his only international interview on his UAE visit ahead of the official opening of the Dubai Air Show on Sunday, Cameron told CNN the sale of up to 60 BAE Eurofighter Typhoon for $10 billion does not have to close this week. "I'm very hopeful and we've made huge progress. And we're looking at, not just at one particular deal, we're looking at a proper strategic defense partnership between our countries. I'm very confident that is on track," the Prime Minister said. "I'm hopeful for good announcements from Airbus, real progress in terms of BAE Systems, lots of British companies here and also big investments being made by the Emirates into Britain." About 230,000 jobs, government officials suggest, are directly linked to aerospace. Before leaving, those officials said the Prime Minister held meetings with the Prime Minister of the UAE and the ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum and the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. The Typhoon is built by Britain's BAE, Germany's EADS and Italy's Finmeccanica, but the U.K. is the lead contractor in negotiations. This is widely viewed as an all out effort to snatch it out of the grasp of French rival Dassault and its jet-fighter offering the Rafale. Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy opened a naval air base in the UAE in 2009, and there was a widespread belief it was France's contract to lose, but there was on-going rumblings over pricing in the UAE capital over the past two years, which re-opened discussions for Britain. The British Prime Minister has not hid his desire to advance diplomatic and economic relations with the Gulf states of the Middle East to help secure contracts and therefore jobs back on British soil. British officials here talk of a "domino effect" if they can close the UAE deal, since others would likely fall into place, as well. On Thursday, Britain announced that the UAE would be one of four Gulf states to have its citizens enjoy the benefits of an electronic visa waiver scheme, which can be obtained 48 hours before traveling. Those two gestures follow a ringing endorsement by the British Prime Minister of Dubai as a candidate city for the 2020 Expo bid which will be decided this month. This past week, his ambassador to the UAE, Dominic Jermey, said Britain is often been seen as the "eighth emirate." The UAE is a federation of seven emirates, with Abu Dhabi and Dubai being the two largest, which was founded in 1971. While business development is being worked on, the so-called P5+1 talks are scheduled to resume with Iran on its nuclear program. Gulf states are skeptical that Iran will abide by any terms to limit development of that sector. Cameron said sanctions are what brought Iran to the negotiating table, and a deal should not happen prematurely when asked if sanctions could start to be lifted in the first quarter of next year. "Britain led the way in Europe putting in place those oil sanctions which i think have brought us to this place. And my view is clear, there shouldn't be removal of sanctions unless there is a good deal." This year and next are crucial when it comes to strategic business interests, and this extends far beyond what Britain is hoping to secure. The two largest commercial carriers, Dubai-based Emirates and Abu Dhabi-based Etihad are planning to unveil multibillion-dollar plane orders as they experience rapid growth serving as a transport hub between Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas. Ahead of the official opening of the air show, Boeing released its Current Market Outlook report suggesting that the region will need 2610 new airplanes over the next two decades, with a book value of over a half trillion dollars. Outside the aerospace sector, the UAE has also accepted bids for tenders of its onshore oil and gas fields. For the first time in three-quarters of a century, production sharing agreements are expiring. While past energy production was dominated by Western-led international oil companies working with Abu Dhabi's national oil company ADNOC, the UAE has let it be known countries which are major importers of its crude will be given equal weighting during this bidding process. The UAE is looking to expand its daily out of crude from 2.9 million barrels a day to 3.5 million by 2017 and sits on roughly 9% of the world's proven oil reserves.

David Cameron says sale of BAE Eurofighter Typhoon does not have to close this week . About 230,000 jobs, government officials suggest, are directly linked to aerospace . Prime Minister has not hid his desire to advance relations with the Middle East .

Athens, Greece (CNN) -- Georgia Pandermi is looking for her first job, and she's not having much luck. "Even at bars or restaurants. I thought it would be easier to find something as long as I wasn't being very demanding," she told CNN. Pandermi, 18, is a recent high school graduate in the middle-class Athens neighborhood of Patissia. She has already asked at several shops and a supermarket but says that there are no jobs to be had. She's not alone. Dilemma for Greek youth: Fight or flee . The latest Greek employment data shows that more than half of people under the age of 25 are out of work. As of May 2012, 53.8% of young Greeks were unemployed, according to Eurostat, the statistics division of the European Commission. And things may be about to get even harder for Greece, which is relying on international funding to pay its debts. Media reports in Greece and abroad say creditors are demanding the government extend the working week to six days, as a condition for releasing more funds as part of the country's second bailout. A leaked letter reportedly sent to Greece's finance and labor ministries from the troika -- the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and the European Union -- is believed to order drastic labor market reforms to minimum wages and working hours. CNN has not seen the letter or its contents, but the rumor is enough to upset Greeks like Pandermi. "I don't like the idea of changing the working hours," she said. "The government has been making promises that it will protect us, and then it introduces more measures. If it now takes away employees' rights, who will protect us when we are asked to work longer hours for the same amount of money?" she asked. "Also, they want to cut all our benefits, and salaries have been cut by 30% in many cases. We can't live like that. Greece is an expensive country. The cost of living is not going down, but the money we make is getting less and we have to pay more for services." Your guide to the euro crisis . Greece has already agreed to a harsh austerity program and labor market reforms, which have led to violent street demonstrations and crippling unemployment. Now the Greek government is seeking new ways to implement budget cuts of 11.5 billion euros ($14.49 billion) to ensure the country receives its next bailout installment in October. Greek economist Yanis Varoufakis says that the troika's diagnosis of the labor market is "utterly erroneous" and that the greatest challenge for employers is not a lack of cheap labor but a shortage of demand for their products. Varoufakis expects the message of the IMF to be welcomed by eurozone electorates. "It resonates well with the average German voter, that the Greeks deserve a bit of a kicking ... and they've been having it too good for too long. So you have this confluence of false economic analysis and a stereotype in the north of Europe as to what the problem with Greece is," he told CNN. Last month, Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin to plead for more time to push through reforms to public finances. Members of the 17-nation currency bloc are waiting for the troika's report on Greece's troubled economy, due at the end of September, before making a decision. Until then, Greece is likely to take a back seat, as investors focus on whether the European Central Bank will intervene in the bond markets to help other ailing nations such as Spain and Italy. More: Why is unity so important to Europe? However, Varoufakis says a Greek exit from the eurozone is not likely soon. He said: "They can't kick Greece out (of the euro) without jeopardizing the whole of the eurozone ... they would love to get rid of Greece, but they can't without ensuring the domino effect won't destroy the eurozone." But he is concerned that if international and eurozone partners continue to make such severe demands, the debt-ridden nation will transform into a "mafia-ridden" protectorate. "More cuts, more reductions in minimum wages, further incursions into the welfare state, an effective collapse of social security. The vicious cycle will leave nothing standing," he added. For Pandermi, the job seeker, the future seems bleak -- not just for her, "but for future generations," she said: "I am worried that as I grow older, there will be no free health care or good education for my children. Everything will be in private hands and we will have to pay a fortune for basic things. They should not be allowing this to happen in a democratic country." Elinda Labropoulou reported from Athens, and Oliver Joy reported from London.

Media reports say that creditors are demanding an extension to the Greek working week . Eurostat: As of May 2012, 53.8% of young Greeks were unemployed . Eurozone members are waiting for the troika's report on Greece's troubled economy .

(CNN) -- Desperation, sophisticated smuggling operations and the emergence of a small Italian island as a migrant destination provide the sad backdrop to Monday's tragedy on the Mediterranean Sea -- the capsizing of a boat carrying African migrants from Libya to Italy. Libyan police officers help rescued migrants off an overcrowded boat that arrived this week in Tripoli. Jean-Philippe Chauzy, spokesman for the International Organization for Migration, said Tuesday that Libya for years has been a destination for migrants from the rest of Africa. Its relatively successful economy is a magnet for people from impoverished regions, and its proximity makes it a logical jumping-off point for Europe. People from places such as Ghana, Nigeria, Niger and Burkina Faso long have traveled to Tripoli and other Libyan locations and have gotten work there, from construction to washing cars. Chauzy said even people from the Horn of Africa, where Somalis and Ethiopians have fled to Yemen via the Gulf of Aden, are choosing to travel to Libya rather than pursue a trip to Yemen. Asians as well are opting to travel to Europe from Libya. While some Africans hope to settle in Libya, many others have their eyes on moving onward to Europe. They tend to sail to Lampedusa, an Italian island lying southwest of Sicily and just north of the African coast -- considered an advantageous way station for entrance into Europe. Italy has been bolstering its efforts to stop the illegal traffic. Some of the people who find their way to the island get asylum. Some migrants eventually are returned to their home countries, but others are taken from Lampedusa to facilities on the mainland, where they are sometimes simply released instead of being deported. Chauzy said people head to Europe first and foremost to help their families back home with a paycheck. He said the global economic crisis has led to a drop in the money sent back home, and that in turn has affected hurting African economies, where prices for staple crops have plummeted. He said that the bolstering of border controls sparked by such a tragedy could prompt migrants to take other dangerous routes. Watch as details emerge on latest tragedy » . Officials said at least hundreds of migrants are believed to have perished in the Mediterranean over the past year. In the latest incident, more than 200 African migrants are believed to have died after their vessel, carrying 250 people, capsized in rough waters. At least 20 people are confirmed dead, and 23 have been rescued. Another boat with more than 350 migrants aboard was rescued, and these migrants -- mostly Africans but also including some Asians -- were taken to Tripoli in Libya. The International Organization for Migration believes there are two other boats in the Mediterranean that could be carrying migrants. The flight of migrants on rough seas is not just a local phenomenon. "We are seeing it all over the world," U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said Tuesday. Smugglers, for example, also take people from western Africa to the Canary Islands, from Myanmar to Thailand, and from Turkey to Greece. Guterres said the tragedy shows the urgent measures people take "to escape conflict, persecution and poverty in search of a better life." Some of the people can be classified as refugees -- people fleeing war and persecution and who could qualify for asylum in other countries. Others are migrants from countries where there is no persecution. They are in search of jobs and a better life. Thousands have died on their journeys, but thousands have survived as well, with many awaiting asylum and resettlement opportunities. There has been much publicity about the flight of Ethiopians and Somalis across the Gulf of Aden to Yemen. Many have died en route, with smugglers at times throwing people overboard to avoid getting arrested by navies for their operations. Ron Redmond, the UNHCR spokesman, said he believes such movement will persist as the "economic situation continues to worsen worldwide." The agency said the number of asylum seekers in industrialized countries increased last year for the second year running, in part because of higher numbers of asylum applications by citizens of Afghanistan, Somalia and other turbulent nations. Last year, 36,000 people arrived in Italy by sea from North Africa. Some 75 percent of them applied for asylum, and about 50 percent of those received some form of international protection from the Italian authorities. Demetrios G. Papademetriou, president of Washington-based think tank Migration Policy Institute, said the movement of migrants is organized, with smuggling syndicates making "obscene profits" and "enormous amounts of money." "These are organized flows," Papademetriou said. As for the tragedy, "you will see this again and again and again," he said.

Libya has long been a destination for migrants from the rest of Africa . Many African migrants try to find work in industries such as construction . Others attempt to move on to Europe, with Italy a common destination . Strict border controls often prompt migrants to take other dangerous routes .

(CNN) -- The economic downturn may take its toll at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, which opens Wednesday night. But as always, the show will go on. Eli Roth and Brad Pitt are men on a mission in Quentin Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds." Studios are cutting back on parties and all the glitz that goes with them, according to news reports. Moreover, there will be fewer people around to cover Cannes, as news organizations around the world trim costs. (Several, in fact, have tightened up by eliminating their movie reviewers.) Nevertheless, those who attend may see a bumper crop of good and intriguing films, Variety's Jay Weissberg told Reuters. "We've all been hoping Cannes would pull something out of the bag to make us feel good again. On paper, they have." Leah Rozen, film critic for People magazine, said there are several promising contenders for the Palme d'Or, Cannes' top prize, as well as a number of notable movies premiering out of competition. "What Cannes really is, is an international festival, and you really see world cinema," she said. "This year, there are 52 films that are going to be represented, of which 20 are in competition." See Rozen talk about some of this year's promising works » . Two of the films in competition are American: Quentin Tarantino's World War II movie, "Inglourious Basterds," and Ang Lee's "Taking Woodstock," a tale about the 1969 music festival. Tarantino told The New York Times that he's been hoping to do a war movie for years. "You've got to make a movie about something, and I'm a film guy, so I think in terms of genres," he said. However, the maker of "Pulp Fiction" and "Jackie Brown" added, that doesn't mean what he ends up with resembles what he started with: "It's simply the spark that starts the fire." "Inglourious Basterds" was inspired by a 1978 Italian film that starred Bo Svenson ("Walking Tall, Part 2") and football player-turned-actor Fred Williamson ("Black Caesar"). Tarantino's film, which he characterized to the Times as "not a remake," stars Brad Pitt and Mike Myers. Cannes has been good to Tarantino; he won the Palme d'Or for "Pulp Fiction" 15 years ago. Buzz has been high on "Basterds" since Tarantino announced the project several years ago. "Taking Woodstock," the new film by "Brokeback Mountain" director Lee, is based on the book by Elliot Tiber, whose hotelier parents owned a musical festival permit in Bethel, New York, where Woodstock was held. The cast includes Liev Schreiber, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Emile Hirsch, Imelda Staunton and Eugene Levy as Max Yasgur, on whose farm the festival was finally held. Other films in competition include Lars von Trier's "Antichrist," Jane Campion's "Bright Star" and Pedro Almodovar's "Broken Embraces." Gallery: Some of Cannes' recent winners » . But this year's Cannes festival is attracting plenty of attention for its out-of-competition films as well. The festival is opening with "Up," the latest animated work from Pixar. "That sort of breaks convention to open with what is, basically, a fancy cartoon," Rozen said. Also at Cannes will be Heath Ledger's last film, "The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus." The Oscar-winning "Dark Knight" actor died during the making of the Terry Gilliam film; Gilliam managed to complete it by doing some rewriting and casting other actors -- including Jude Law, Colin Farrell and Johnny Depp -- to play Ledger's part. Despite the interest in seeing Ledger, the film is still struggling to find a buyer, though Entertainment Weekly recently reported that a Los Angeles screening went over well. Cannes, which also functions as a huge film marketplace, may widen the net in attracting distributors. But much of the fun from Cannes comes from the films that emerge from nowhere. Recent winners of the Palme d'Or include 2000's "Dancer in the Dark," which established singer Bjork as an actress, and "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days," a Romanian film that ended up topping many critics' lists in 2007. "One thing that always surprises me is that some of the films you have the lowest expectations for turn out to be terrific, and sometimes the bigger films turn out to be disappointments," Rozen said.

Quentin Tarantino's new film, "Inglourious Basterds," playing Cannes . Heath Ledger's last film, "The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus," also to be shown . Pixar's "Up" to open famed French festival, which begins Wednesday .

(CNN) -- The U.S. economy exceeded forecasters' expectations in February, adding 175,000 new positions. This is a welcome jump from the paltry 75,000 jobs gained in December and 113,000 in January -- which had constituted the weakest back-to-back monthly figures in three years -- but the unemployment rate edged up to 6.7%. And we are still far off pace for the recovery federal officials would like to see as they scale back a massive bond-buying program. The fact is there is a fundamental shift underway that we must address to get the economy humming again: the steady substitution of human labor with computers. More companies are mechanizing positions traditionally reserved for flesh-and-blood workers. Low-cost software is replacing blue- and white-collar jobs alike. A recent study by Oxford University researchers projected that up to 45% of U.S. jobs could be replaced by computers within the next two decades. America needs to adapt to this shift, or these lackluster job gains are going to become the new normal. And there is no better place to start than our schools. The fact is American teens are falling behind in key subjects that will prepare them for the new age of computing. In the most recent global education assessment, America's 15-year-olds scored below the international average in math and about average in science and reading. Furthermore, many of the specific skills our kids are learning in school today won't prepare them at all for the professional world they'll enter. Our schools need to change. And there is a clear strategy for how to do it. But first, the essence of the challenge. The first wave of professional technologies replaced physical laborers -- car production lines, for instance, evolved from a series of Bobs and Joes with specific technical proficiencies to just a handful of hyper-efficient assembly bots. Today, processors and software have grown so sophisticated that they can replicate core cognitive functions once thought to be the exclusive domain of humans. You can now hire computers to do your taxes and trade stocks. And these replacement technologies usually operate at much lower cost and higher reliability than their brain-ware competitors. MIT scholars Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee have been particularly perceptive in formulating strategies for how Americans can adapt to this seismic shift in the labor market. They note it's futile to try to outcompete; the flip side of the John Henry legend is that humans will eventually lose any direct competition with machines. Instead, they point to a teamwork model exemplified in competitive chess. About a decade ago, programs like Deep Blue started beating the top grandmasters on a regular basis. In response, there emerged what's called "freestyle" chess, which pairs a human and computer together -- the machine crunches the numbers and the person consults on broader strategy. It turns out that freestyle teams -- even when they include a mediocre human player -- can beat the top computers and grandmasters. This pairing synthesizes what each partner does best for a more complete chess strategy. The key lesson here is that American workers need to be trained to complement the raw processing and networking power of computers with uniquely human facilities, like evaluating subtle social cues and crafting macro strategies. Workers should use their wetware to amplify the software. This insight has clear implications for how to reform our schools so they can better prepare students for the new age of computing. First, classroom learning needs to shift focus from the accumulation of particular facts and figures -- How many countries are in Europe? When did Columbus arrive in America? -- to a broader emphasis on flexible analytical thinking and strategizing. After all, most Americans already have instant access to the sum total of human knowledge in the phone in their pocket. What will distinguish the workers of the future is an ability to harness, filter and synthesize all that data. Second, computers need to play a more central role in all learning. Young people need to feel comfortable using machines to meet a wide variety of educational ends. Third, schools need to teach entrepreneurship. Seeing business opportunities and then executing on them is a skill. It can be learned like geology and history. Young people need to be encouraged to take a critical eye to the world around them, find the inefficiencies and then problem-solve their way to potential solutions. Don't get me wrong: personality will be a key differentiator between machines and people for the foreseeable future. There will always be a role for the best-in-class customer service-orientated people with great personalities who can instantly establish an emotional connection to their customers. But the new age of computing is deeply disrupting the American labor market. By training the next generation of American workers how to complement -- not compete with -- these fabulous new technologies, our schools can ensure this country will flourish for decades to come. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Adam Lewis.

Adam Lewis: Jobs up last month; but this conceals reality about changing job picture . He says U.S. must adapt to major ongoing shift of replacing human jobs with computers . He says U.S.'s lagging schools must focus on flexible thinking, computers, entrepreneurship . Lewis: Next generation should learn how to complement, not compete with, new technologies .

(CNN) -- The police chief of Tulsa, Oklahoma, offered a stern, succinct message Saturday to the man he believes killed three people and critically wounded two others in a spate of seemingly random shootings: "We're coming for you." Chief Chuck Jordan described the shootings at four separate sites -- all of which occurred early Friday within two to three miles of each other -- as "vicious and cowardly attacks." A survivor described the suspect as a white man, driving an "older" white pickup truck, according to Jordan. Police Capt. Jonathan Brooks told CNN that such a truck had been spotted at at least three of the shooting sites, around that time. Still, Jordan indicated authorities do not know the identity of the shooter. He added, too, that a basic description of a white man driving a white truck "alone probably accounts for 50,000 people in the city of Tulsa." With the assailant still at large, city leaders stressed that information from the public will be critical to cracking this case. "To know that you can't walk down the street at night in your own neighborhood, that's a terrible thing," said city councilor Jack Henderson, who represents the district where the shootings occurred. "The only way that this person is going to be brought to justice is we need some leads. We need some people to come forward. We need some people to tell us what you know, what it is you heard." About 30 representatives from four different law enforcement agencies -- the Tulsa police, Tulsa County Sheriff's Office, the U.S. Marshals Service and the FBI -- are on the case, as part of a newly formed task force called "Operation Random Shooter." They'll be working around the clock to solicit leads, gather evidence and conduct interviews, according to Jordan. Earlier Saturday, Tulsa Mayor Dewey Bartlett told CNN that at least 40 cruisers are patrolling the affected area. He added that officers are spending the weekend "going, literally, door to door, and asking people if they have seen anything (and) what their opinions and observations are." What authorities do know is the first shooting occurred at 1:03 a.m. Friday, according to Brooks of the Tulsa police. That victim, 49-year-old Dannaer Fields, died at a hospital. Three minutes later, two people were shot nearby -- one of them "pretty close to the (gunman's) vehicle and the other ... a little further away," the police captain said. Those two were initially in critical condition but, by Saturday evening, were believed to have improved to stable and are expected to survive, according to Brooks. Then, just before 2 a.m., a fourth shooting incident -- like the first, a fatal -- occurred. The third person killed was found around 8 a.m. next to a funeral home in a more commercial district, though Brooks said police believe he was shot much earlier. In addition to Fields, Jordan identified the other two victims as William Allen and Bobby Clark. "It appears all the victims were out walking or in the yard," Brooks said. "This (happened in) a residential neighborhood, predominantly single-family dwellings, except for the last victim." All the victims were black. The Rev. Warren Blakney, a pastor at a city church and president of the NAACP's Tulsa branch, said the shootings could well prove to be hate crimes given that they happened in a predominantly African-American neighborhood. "For a white male to come that deep into that area and to start indiscriminately shooting, that lends itself for many to believe that it probably was a hate crime," Blakney told CNN. Brooks, the police captain, said one survivor recalled how "the suspect drives up to him, asks ... for directions and shoots him for no reason." There is no indication the shooter used a racial slur or said anything else that might indicate his motive, according to police. Jordan acknowledged it is a "very logical theory" to assume they were targeted in hate crimes, but said that "we have had no evidence" yet to indicate that. "Right now, I'm more worried about three of my citizens being murdered," the chief said. "And if it takes us in a direction of a hate crime, that's certainly where we'll go and we'll prosecute him for that as well." Tulsa's mayor commended city residents for already having "really come together," intent on helping capture the killer. "It should be concerning to all Tulsans, because we are all in this together," Bartlett said. "Some of our fellow Tulsans have been pretty violently shot, and some of them are not here today to enjoy the weekend with their families." CNN's Nick Valencia and Don Lemon contributed to this report.

NEW: The two survivors' conditions are thought to have improved, a police captain says . They were among five black people shot, three fatally, early Friday in Tulsa, Oklahoma . Tulsa's police chief asks for the public's help in finding the suspected gunman . An NAACP leader suspects it's a hate crime, but the chief says there's no proof of that yet .

(CNN) -- It's been 11 years since John Meletse, a deaf, gay South African man, first learned he was HIV positive. But the events of that day are all too vividly etched on his mind: After a brief but anxious wait inside a Soweto clinic, near Johannesburg, a doctor called him in his office. The doctor, unable to communicate with him in sign language, quickly wrote something in a piece of paper and stuck it in front of him. "You are HIV positive" read the note. "He didn't explain anything," Meletse recalls in sign language as tears roll down his face. "He just stuck this paper in my face and I was like: 'Me? What you're telling me is the truth?' And the doctor said 'yes,' and I could lip read and I asked him 'is it the truth' and he said 'yes' and the doctor told me 'go now, bye bye.'" The news left Meletse shocked and devastated as he struggled to grapple with how to cope with the disease and a community unsure of how to deal with him. "It was hard for me -- first I'm deaf, secondly I'm gay and thirdly I'm HIV positive, these three things, what must I do?" says Meletse, who was 25 when he was diagnosed with HIV. He decided, however, not to hide but to share his story and use his experience to inspire the deaf community to communicate openly about sex. "I thought for myself, I need to make a stand and I need to be open and out -- I'm gay, this is me, it's my identity, I'm the same as everyone else. A lot of deaf people still are closed up, keep it covered in the closet and I'm taking a stand." Today, Meletse's stance has seen him become a leading figure within the deaf and the gay rights community in South Africa. Over the last few years, he's been visiting schools for deaf children across South Africa, organizing workshops where he uses visual techniques to teach deaf sex education counselors how to raise awareness about HIV and AIDS. "When I turned 30," Meletse says, "my family came together and I'm out -- I'm out about being gay, about HIV positive, my sister fainted, they thought I was going to die and I said 'no, I'm going to be a role model for the deaf community, I'm going to motivate them, support everyone, I'm going to educate everyone, I'm going to try and stop HIV, I'm going to stop the blame and still I feel good about that.'" Meletse cites South African constitutional court judge, Edwin Cameron, the first South African official to publicly announce his HIV status, as his own role model. When Meletse heard him speak a few years ago, Cameron had already been living with HIV for 20 years. Cameron's public announcement inspired Meletse to also spread his heartfelt message. "I wanted that same feeling, I wanted to stop this stigmatization within the deaf community.'" "There's no education, the clinics aren't helping, we're just hitting a brick wall, what does HIV mean? Nobody knows and they're just dying, I was like I'm going to stand up and say I'm going to show you -- the same that I saw Edwin do -- for the disabled community." Meletse recently collaborated with Human Rights Watch which chose him to be part of a public awareness campaign about HIV in the deaf community. "People with disabilities throughout the world -- and we're talking about a billion people here -- are often ignored when it comes to issues of HIV and AIDS prevention, access to treatment, access to counseling and other preventative techniques," says Tiseke Kasambala, senior researcher in the Africa Division of Human Rights Watch. "This is because people living with disabilities are assumed not to have a sexual life, and it's something that for us is of great concern because we're seeing an increasing number of people living with disabilities who are now at risk of contracting HIV and AIDS because they simply don't have the information or the access to that kind of information," she adds. Driven by his desire to help others, Meletse is determined to work hard to dispel myths and change attitudes. "People look at disabled people and they say 'ha, they don't know about sex.' No, we're all the same, deaf people have sex, hearing people have sex. So blind people also have sex, all these things, we all do it. "But it's hard -- interpreters at clinics, there are so few. For blind people in Braille, what material is printed? Ramps for people in wheelchairs entering the clinic, it's hard. I respect the disabled people for trying in this world."

John Meletse is a deaf, gay HIV positive South African activist . He's been sharing his story to inspire the deaf community to communicate openly about sex . Meletse teaches sex education to raise awareness and understanding of HIV/AIDS . HRW chose him to be part of a public awareness campaign about HIV in SA's deaf community .

(CNN) -- Tencent, the world's third largest Internet company by market share, launched its popular instant messenger service in English, Japanese and French. The launch of QQi Instant Messenger is an international version of its Chinese QQ instant messaging services, which has 600 million subscribers -- the largest instant messaging subscriber base in the world. Versions in Korean, Spanish and German are planned to be released early next year, a company spokesperson said. Tencent is also planning the release of its first English language social networking site in early 2011. Marc Violo, product manager for QQi, said the launch marks a tentative step toward bringing products from the hugely popular Chinese Internet company to an overseas audience. "We have no intention of trying to compete with Skype or MSN instant messenger," Violo said. "We're looking to expand our reach outside of China to get involved with people who are interested in China." Already QQ has users in 212 countries, most of who come from the U.S. and Europe, Violo told CNN. Tencent has partnered with popular English-language web sites in China -- such as travel provider CTrip and state-run newspaper China Daily -- to draw more traffic from overseas consumers. "And if you want to instant message someone living in China, you have access to 92 percent of the online population here," Violo said. The company is also working on a partnership with Canada-based StumbleUpon, a content discovery service company. QQi hopes to have "between 7 and 10 million subscribers" by September, Violo said. A beta version, released last year targeting expatriates living in China, has 2 million subscribers. Tencent is not the only Chinese Internet company with international ambitions. Baidu, China's largest search engine, launched a search service in Japan several years ago. The company has plans to expand into other regions, including Latin America, the Middle East and Southeast Asia, according to Baidu spokesperson Kaiser Kuo. "We are looking at markets where Google is not dominant," Kuo said. "Our preference is for markets with languages that are not Latin-based, so we have a leg up there." In November, Baidu CEO Robin Li said he hoped that in 10 years, the Chinese search giant would become a household name in 50 percent of the world. With Chinese Internet companies' plans to do business abroad also come challenges that analysts say they are unsure China's domestic web giants will ultimately ever be able to overcome. The obstacles relate to the Internet censorship policies inside China that require companies to monitor and remove sensitive content from websites and block user behavior deemed inappropriate, political or otherwise. "This is one of the key issues for all of these really rich Chinese Internet companies trying to go overseas," Bill Bishop, a Beijing-based independent media consultant, said. "When they go into developing markets, it is one thing (because) there is a less sophisticated user base. When they go into the United States, they are carrying a huge amount of baggage and Google added a few tons to that baggage last year." Read more on Google in China . Companies, like Tencent, have no choice but to follow Chinese Internet law or be shut down. Tencent, for example, blocks chats or posts containing sensitive words from its servers. "For sure, I think all of the chats are monitored by QQ," Lu Gang, co-founder of OpenWeb.Asia, a working group focusing on the Asian Internet industry. "If you type in sensitive key words, the messaging will be blocked. I think more and more people realize the problem, but still no one will give up QQ because it is part of the Internet culture in China. If you are not using it, you will lose lots of contacts in your social life." Most recently the company was involved in a high profile dispute with Qihoo 360, China's largest antivirus software provider, which alleged Tencent was scanning private data of its more than 600 million users. Tencent denied the allegations. "This whole Qihoo 360 case only raises people's level of suspicion," Bill Bishop said. "Tencent may feel it is a great company but what matters is if they can convince users they are safe and now that bar has been raised significantly." Violo said he believes this can be done. "Most people don't realize that QQ is a very large multinational that is listed on the stock exchange and has thousands of shareholders," the QQi project manager said. "Everything needs to be transparent. Of course we are in China so the government can put pressure on the company, and of course we have to comply with certain subjects, which are sensible in China. But if you are not planning a coup d'état against the Chinese government using QQ, then QQ is a safe thing." CNN's Kevin Voigt contributed to this report .

Tencent is a Chinese Internet company with a hugely popular instant message service . Around 90% of China's online population use it . Company will launch English, French and Japanese language versions . Some analysts doubt it will be as popular with Western social media users .

(CNN) -- It seems difficult to open a paper, turn on TV or visit a website these days without hearing some awful new "discovery" about Obamacare and how it's going to end the world. More often than not, these claims are overblown, designed to get attention and score political points. This week, the New York Times published an article explaining that the savings many people hope to see in lower-cost insurance could come at the cost of fewer choices with respect to health care providers. This is very true. If we want to be realistic about health care reform, we have to acknowledge that everything comes with a tradeoff. In order to make insurance cost less, private insurance companies have to make use of the tools available to them. In the past, they could have tried preferentially to cover healthier people and refuse coverage to those with chronic conditions. That leaves a cheaper risk pool, which results in lower premiums. But Obamacare no longer allows that. If we want guaranteed issue and community ratings (so that no one can be denied insurance and no one can be charged more for being sick), then insurance companies must use other strategies to save money. In the past, insurance companies could have tried to issue policies that didn't cover as much. Policies with skimpier benefits are cheaper, too. But Obamacare sets minimums with respect to what qualifies as comprehensive coverage. So that tool was taken away as well. In the past, insurance companies could have set lower annual or lifetime limits, which confines their risk and allows them to sell insurance at a lower price. Or, they could have set really high deductibles or out-of-pocket maximums. These, too, are now more tightly regulated. So what's left? How can insurance companies make health care cheaper so that they can deliver lower premiums to people and attract more business? Well, one thing they could do is limit their administrative costs. But if you ask insurance companies, they tell you that they are already running pretty lean. They also like to make a nice profit, and they like to pay their executives well. So they are left with one really good option: Pay less for care. How do they do this? One way they've been doing it for years is to contract with certain doctors and hospitals to provide care for their beneficiaries for less money. Providers will agree to this because it guarantees them a certain amount of business. Insurance companies like it because it means they can pay less, charge lower premiums and sell more policies. And that is how many plans in the health care exchanges will compete for your business. Please understand that this is nothing new with respect to health insurance. At my job, there are a number of different plans offered to employees. The most expensive plan allows us to see the widest range of physicians. There's a cheaper plan available, but my kids' pediatrician (whom we revere) isn't in that network. So we pay for the more expensive plan. That's a choice we make as informed consumers. Problems will arise if people don't understand what they are getting into. There's no such thing as a free lunch. If you buy the cheapest plan, it may not include the doctor you want. If choice is your No. 1 goal, then you will probably have to pay for it. What makes this a problem for Obamacare, though, is that some health exchanges aren't offering a choice. For instance, in New Hampshire, only one insurance company is offering exchange plans, and it has a rather limited network. If you were previously uninsured, then the most straightforward argument is that the plan you're getting, probably with subsidies to make it cheaper, is better than nothing. But some people, who might have had individually issued policies before Obamacare with larger networks, will not be happy with their new plans. They may be cheaper, but they may have preferred to pay more for choice, and now they won't be able to. No policy is perfect. On the whole, I believe far more people will benefit from Obamacare than will be hurt by it. Any change will inevitably make someone unhappy. This is one of those situations. We shouldn't ignore this deficiency. We should fix it. One way might be to have a public option, run by the government, which might have a larger network. Medicare has perhaps the largest national network in the country, as more doctors accept it than just about any other form of insurance. So it's totally possible to offer more choice. But that will require politicians to work together to amend the law to make it better. It will be instructive to watch how people react to news like this. If they are truly concerned about fixing this problem, then they will seek solutions to do so. If they use this issue only to demagogue against the entire law, though, it's likely that they care more about politics than policy. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Aaron Carroll.

Lower-cost insurance could come at the cost of fewer choices of health care providers . Aaron Carroll: Insurance companies have been doing this for years to keep costs down . He says just as there's no policy that is perfect, there are tradeoffs to Obamacare . Carroll: One way to fix this is to have a public option, which might have a larger network .

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- The doctors, nurses, pharmacists and technicians gathered around her son's crib, their faces grim. Pamela Gorman knew what they were thinking: Her son, Christopher, was about to die. As a newborn, Christopher Gorman was given little chance of survival. His mom calls his recovery "a miracle." Christopher was just a few days old and had a rare blood infection and fungal meningitis, a brain infection. "I could tell in their eyes they had no hope for my son," Gorman said. "They told me to prepare for his death. They told me he might not make it through the night." Gorman never believed the doctors. In fact, she did something she thinks annoyed these men and women of science: She prayed. She prayed all the time. "They made me feel ridiculous for praying so much and so hard and leaving it up to God," said Gorman, who lives in Idaho Falls, Idaho. "But I told them my son not surviving was not an option." When he was a month old, Christopher left the hospital. He's been healthy ever since, she says. He turns 3 next month. "It was a miracle," she said. "There are just things doctors can't explain. Doctors are not in control of everything. There's stuff that happens every day that they can't explain." Empowered Patient: Watch more on faith and medicine » . A new study finds that many Americans have that same kind of faith. In the study, 57 percent of randomly surveyed adults said God's intervention could save a deathly ill family member even if physicians said treatment would be futile. However, just under 20 percent of doctors and other medical workers said God could reverse a helpless outcome. The study was published last month in Archives of Surgery and is one of many to show a "faith gap" between doctors and patients. "Patients are scared to death to talk to their doctors about this issue," said Dr. Harold Koenig, co-director of the Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health at Duke University. Given this gap, how can you discuss God with your physician? We asked advice from Koenig and two other physicians who study faith and medicine. 1. It's OK to ask for a doctor who also has strong religious convictions . Koenig suggests this approach when talking to a physician: "I would say: 'My religious beliefs are very important to me and influence my medical decisions and the way I cope with illness, and I want a doctor who has those same convictions. If you don't come from that perspective, do you know a doctor you can refer me to?' " If you're a Christian, you might find a like-minded doctor through the ZIP code search at the Christian Medical and Dental Associations. 2. Don't be surprised if you find No. 1 difficult to do . "Religion is the last taboo in medicine," said Dr. Daniel Sulmasy, an internist, a Franciscan friar and director of ethics at St. Vincent's Hospital and New York Medical College in New York. "Doctors and patients talk about intimate details like sexual practices and drug use but still have this great reluctance to talk about religion." Sulmasy suggests not asking directly about the doctor's own religious beliefs but instead focusing on your own religious needs. 3. It's OK to ask your doctor to pray with you . According to a 2006 study by the University of Chicago, 53 percent of doctors surveyed said it was appropriate to pray with patients when asked. This can work even when doctor and patient don't share the same faith. For example, Koenig, who's Christian, has prayed with Jewish patients. "In most cases, a general prayer asking for God's comfort, support and healing will be sufficient," he said. 4. Be specific about your religious needs . "If I'm a Muslim and I come to the point of dying, the hospital might need to relax the visiting rules, because it's important to have as many people as possible with me as I recite the Quran," Sulmasy said. "If I'm a Buddhist, it may be important to me to hear chant as I'm dying," he added. "If I'm a Catholic, I may want to receive the Sacrament of the Sick." 5. If you believe in miracles, say so . "Get that out in the open," advised Dr. Robert Fine, an internist and head of clinical ethics and palliative care at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, Texas. Confusion may ensue if you don't, he explains. For example, sometimes doctors think families are against removing life support at the end of life because they don't understand the medical facts, when they do understand but are waiting for a miracle. "Once we know that, we can have a discussion about faith," Fine said. CNN's Jennifer Pifer contributed to this report.

Recent study found many Americans believe in divine intervention in a medical crisis . If faith is important to you, it's OK to ask for a doctor with similar convictions . If you believe in miracles, make sure your health providers know it .

Los Angeles (CNN) -- An "America's Got Talent" contestant who was questioned by police in connection with his wife's death is now offering $25,000 for information leading to a conviction in his wife's "murder," the contestant says. Joe Finley, 47, a Los Angeles, California-area rock musician, said he wants to find the person responsible for what he called his wife's "murder." His wife's body was found just hours before he auditioned for "America's Got Talent" in October. On Wednesday, Lt. Fred Corral of the Los Angeles County coroner's department said Laura Finley's cause of death is still being investigated, and he added he's waiting on toxicology tests, which should be completed by the first week of January. Also this week, Los Angeles police said the case is still open and the death could have been an accident. But Finley has described police as accusing him of killing his wife, though no charges have been filed. Laura Finley, 48, who lived with her husband in Rancho Cucamonga, California, was discovered dead at the bottom of a staircase in the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles about 8 a.m. on October 23, according to police. Joe Finley, who owns a spring-manufacturing business, has hired attorneys Sean Macias and Nareg Gourjian, who have represented a number of high-profile clients including Chris Brown and Scott Peterson. Finley has described police as urging him to confess to killing his wife. Los Angeles police declined to comment on Finley's reward offer or his assertions. Laura Finley's relatives didn't respond to messages seeking a comment this week. Joe Finley told CNN he had nothing to do with his wife's death. "Absolutely not," he said. "I would never hurt a human being." "I will never be arrested for my wife's murder. There is no chance. There's nothing that would ever link me to this crime," he added. Finley said he was thinking of his wife when he decided to go ahead with an audition for "America's Got Talent," even though he'd just been told that she was possibly dead. "It was a very emotional moment for me and a way for me to connect with my wife." Finley said. The couple had checked into the hotel October 22 because Joe Finley was going to try out for the television talent show the next morning, he said. After partying that evening, Laura Finley left the room to get some ice, and at about 3 a.m., "she came back and I was in bed and she said, 'You wouldn't believe what happened at the ice machine.' Then she walked into the bathroom and started a bath, and I fell asleep," Finley said. He said he never asked what happened at the ice machine because he was falling asleep and didn't think it was a big deal. When he awoke at 6:30 a.m., his wife was gone, he said. At 11 a.m., two Los Angeles police detectives told him that his wife may have been found dead, and police were about to take him to the station when an "America's Got Talent" producer stopped them as they were walking out of the hotel, Finley said. The producer wanted Finley to audition for the show, Finley said. "He said, 'In fact, if you want to go in right now, we'll let you go in right now,' and I thought of Laura," Finley said. "I thought, 'I'm gonna go in there, I'm going to be as brave and courageous as I possible can for Laura,' and so the police escorted me in there." Finley said he chose a song that he used to sing to his wife. "I got through almost to the end, and I broke, and I just dropped my head and I took my sunglasses off, and I said, 'I'm sorry, I can't do this. That's the best I can do,' " Finley said. The show's production company declined to comment about Finley's audition. At the police station, detectives questioned Finley for hours about his wife's death, and they urged him to confess to killing his wife, Finley said. "They were screaming at me," he told CNN. Finley said he was arrested for drug possession at the time, but as of Wednesday, Gourjian, Finley's attorney, said no charges had been filed. Finley said people shouldn't jump to any conclusions about him just because he auditioned for the show. "To judge somebody in this position is just wrong. People should just wait, wait for the facts to come out," he said.

Musician Joe Finley auditioned for a TV show even though his wife had been found dead . Authorities say they are still investigating the death; Finley says her death is "murder" Finley says police tried to get him to confess, but he says he had nothing to do with her death . He's offering a $25,000 reward for the person responsible for his wife's death .

(CNN) -- Relations between the United States and Iran, already strained by U.S. sanctions on Iran's central bank and Iranian naval exercises in the Strait of Hormuz, are on the verge of spinning out of control. What can push the two nations into a military confrontation is the fate of a former Marine, Amir Mirzaei Hekmati. A Revolutionary Court in western Iran sentenced the dual U.S.-Iranian citizen to death on January 9, claiming that he is a CIA spy. It is not often that the fate of entire nations hinges on that of a single individual, but the execution of a Marine by Iran will almost certainly inflame public opinion and tilt the balance toward war. But perhaps what will save the day is an incident that placed friendship and trust, rather than enmity and paranoia, between Iranians and Americans. Days before the death sentence was passed on the Marine, American sailors rescued 13 Iranian fishermen held hostage for several weeks by Somali pirates who had seized their fishing vessel off the coast of Oman. Those Somali pirates may have pulled off a diplomatic stunt that has eluded American and Iranian politicians for more than three decades. For a brief moment, the pirates healed the wounds of history. Two nations split since the hostage crisis of 1979 found their fishermen and sailors forced into each other's arms by a turn of fate. It was a most embarrassing embrace, with both governments trying to figure out how to handle the threat of friendship. Even the pretense of hostility came down. It fell upon one of the rescued fisherman, Fazel Ur Rahman, to revel in the twists and turns of fortune. As devout seamen are wont to do, he interpreted his miraculous rescue by the Americans as an act of God. "It's like you were sent by God," he told the American sailors. "Every night we prayed for God to save us. And now you are here." Like Sinbad the Sailor, Rahman and his shipmates vanished in time. But then they found themselves returned to an Iranian port. They will no doubt relate their encounter, not with predator drones but a giant and gentle American whale. One can already hear the peels of laughter and shrieks of disbelief as Rahman tells the story of how they were disgorged out of the belly of the Somali shark because the American whale spoke Urdu. It may be that our fate is determined by crusty histories and fixed ideologies. But given the gulf separating Iranians and Americans, this metaphor is worth reflecting upon. The rescue of the fishermen also evokes memories of a distant past and dreams of a hopeful future. While the Islamic Republic's ideologues portray America as a belligerent and hostile power, most Iranians recognize that if it were not for America's defense of Iran's sovereignty in 1946, Joseph Stalin would have devoured northern Iran. Many ordinary people in Iran, far from seeking a war with the United States (or Israel), silently pray to God for an end to their hardships. They dream of an Iranian Spring. Sadly, in the modern Middle East, divine interventions -- God's creativity and compassion -- have taken on an ugly tone. If God favors this tribe or that faith, then must it mean that other faiths and tribes are to be destroyed? The acts of God -- earthquakes, floods, plagues, famine and such -- veer from the minor to the massive. Add nuclear weapons to God's arsenal and there is very little room left for tiny fishermen and their benevolent God. But what if the fisherman Rahman was right? With a Marine's life and so much else at stake, what if the whole rescue incident was an act of God, his way of shaming world leaders by showing how even the most clueless of pirates can turn sworn enemies into friends, however temporarily? For helping the hapless Iranians and the Americans find common ground, even if it's at sea, the pirates deserve a toot, a hoot and quite possibly a salute. Whether the future of U.S.-Iran relations will be stormy or turn hopeful, only God knows. Centuries before, Hafiz, the greatest of Persian poets, may have captured the essence of the fishermen rescue incident in describing what it means to offer friendship and show humanity. His wisdom can perhaps draw Iranians and Americans together: . "Plant the Tree of Friendship for It Brings Forth Boundless Joy. Uproot the Saplings of Enmity for It Summons Countless Sorrows." Follow CNN Opinion on Twitter . Join the conversation on Facebook . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Amir.

Amir: the fate of a former Marine can push the U.S. and Iran into a military conflict . He says that the incident of American sailors rescuing Iranian fishermen is a diplomatic feat . Amir: what if the whole rescue incident was an act of God? He says many in Iran dream of an Iranian Spring, they do not want war with the U.S. (or Israel)

New York (CNN) -- An accused international arms dealer, now in U.S. custody for allegedly agreeing to sell millions of dollars of weapons to a Colombian narco-terrorist organization, pleaded not guilty Wednesday in a U.S. courtroom to four counts of terror-related crimes. Viktor Bout, the alleged dealer, could face life in prison if found guilty, the Manhattan U.S. Attorney said. The charges he faces are conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals; conspiracy to kill U.S. officers or employees; conspiracy to acquire and use an anti-aircraft missile; and conspiracy to provide material support or resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization. In this case, that would be the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia or FARC. Bout appeared before U.S. District Judge Shira Sheindin wearing a brown tee shirt, black track pants and black sneakers. He was given headphones for translation to Russian, but Bout, who speaks six languages, spoke English to the judge and his attorney. He stood and said "good day" when the judge entered, and nodded that he understood his rights. The hearing lasted about 10 minutes. "The so-called 'Merchant of Death' is now a federal inmate," said U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara. Bharara said if Bout is convicted on all counts, he'll face a mandatory minimum of 25 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison. Bharara also announced an unsealed guilty plea of an alleged Bout associate, Andrew Smulian, on the charges. The Justice Department said that between November 2007 and March 2008, Bout agreed to sell millions of dollars of weapons to the FARC, called the "world's largest supplier of cocaine" and dedicated to the violent overthrow of the democratically-elected Colombian government. The weaponry allegedly included "surface-to-air missile systems; armor piercing rocket launchers; AK-47 firearms; millions of rounds of ammunition; Russian spare parts for rifles; anti-personnel land mines; C-4 plastic explosives; night-vision equipment; 'ultralight' aircraft that could be outfitted with grenade launchers and missiles; and unmanned aerial vehicles." Drug Enforcement Administration agents led a sting operation by posing as FARC members, and Bout was arrested in Thailand in 2008, where he remained in custody until Tuesday. Bout had agreed to sell the weapons to two confidential sources working with the Drug Enforcement Administration, the government said. In a meeting recorded in Thailand in March 2008, Bout said he could have the materiel airdropped to the FARC and offered to sell two cargo planes as well, the government alleges. Bharara said Bout indicated that he wanted the weapons to be used against U.S. personnel in Colombia. He indicated that the United States was his enemy and that the FARC's battles against the United States were his as well, the government said. He was arrested after that meeting by Thai officials. Bout arrived in New York late Tuesday, after being extradited from Thailand. The Russian citizen and former Soviet military officer is being held in a high-security prison in Manhattan until his trial, the Justice Department said. Bout allegedly began building his arms business as the Soviet Union disintegrated in the early 1990s. He acquired surplus Soviet planes and started shipping arms and ammunition to conflict zones, according to the U.S. Treasury Department. Bout -- who has gone by many other names, including "Victor Anatoliyevich Bout," "Victor But," "Viktor Budd," "Viktor Butt," "Viktor Bulakin" and "Vadim Markovich Aminov" -- is accused of supplying weapons to war zones around the world, from Sierra Leone to Afghanistan. But he has repeatedly said he has broken no laws and that the allegations against him are lies. Attorney General Eric Holder said Bout's "alleged arms trafficking activity and support of armed conflicts in Africa has been a cause of concern around the world." "His extradition is a victory for the rule of law worldwide. Long considered one of the world's most prolific arms traffickers, Mr. Bout will now appear in federal court in Manhattan to answer to charges of conspiring to sell millions of dollars worth of weapons to a terrorist organization for use in trying to kill Americans." The Russian government issued a terse reaction Tuesday on Bout being sent to the United States. "It is very deplorable that the Thai government succumbed to the outside pressure and conducted the illegal extradition of Viktor Bout," Russia's Foreign Ministry said. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said: "We as a country will continue assisting Viktor Bout as a Russian citizen in every possible way." CNN's Sally Garner and Susan Candiotti contributed to this report.

NEW: Viktor Bout pleaded not guilty in court Wednesday . The suspected arms dealer faces life in prison if convicted . The charges allege his involvement with the FARC .

(CNN) -- Oklahoma's governor Tuesday declared states of emergency in 56 counties following a string of deadly tornadoes and severe storms that swept through the area the day before. Gov. Brad Henry took an aerial tour of one of the hardest hit areas Tuesday afternoon. "I lost track of the number of damaged and destroyed homes that we saw," Henry said. "Literally hundreds and I think thousands of homes have received damage in these storms, and many, many of those homes have been destroyed." Are you there? Send images, video . "Even though central Oklahoma was the hardest hit, this storm really was a statewide event, and there is damage and destruction throughout the state," he said. The governor said that Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano assured him "that FEMA would act very, very quickly on our request for a presidential disaster (declaration) and federal aid." Meanwhile, a maze of downed power lines and wrecked homes in parts of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, hindered search-and-rescue efforts Tuesday as authorities worked to ensure no more victims of Monday's tornadoes lay in the rubble. The state Department of Emergency Management lowered its death toll from five to two, saying that three children had been erroneously reported dead. The children are in critical condition, the state said. Their mother was one of the two dead. More than 100 people were treated for various injuries, the state said. Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett said 80 homes and businesses in the city were destroyed by the storm, which he called "probably the most significant" to hit during his seven years in office. The storm system that swept through the state on Monday spawned multiple tornadoes and dropped softball-sized hail. More bad weather was on the way Tuesday, and the National Weather Service warned Oklahomans to prepare for severe storms Tuesday afternoon and early evening. Tornado watch in western Oklahoma . Officials said they planned to release more detailed damage estimates Tuesday and decide how to manage cleanup efforts in areas where tornadoes left behind snapped utility poles, downed trees and severely damaged homes. In Norman, Oklahoma, south of Oklahoma City, mobile homes were blown to pieces in one neighborhood, where debris littered yards and streets alongside large trees ripped straight from the ground. Watch iReport video of tornado in Norman, Oklahoma . Norman resident and CNN iReporter Erica Loftis said she spotted the funnel cloud from Interstate 40 while headed to her parents' home and could see it headed toward the home when she arrived. She and her parents took shelter in a small cement room with steel doors, where they could feel their ears popping and hear the storm ripping away parts of the house around them. "You could feel the pressure - it was scary," Loftis said. Outside, the sound of "screeching metal" filled the air, she said. Afterward, all the home's windows were broken, its chimney was blown into a neighbor's yard and the garage door was sucked in. In addition, a boat from a nearby marine store ended up in one of their trees, she said. And a truck stop east of Oklahoma City was demolished, taking a direct hit from one of the tornadoes, according to a spokeswoman for Love's Travel Stops and Country Stores. But motorists who pulled off the interstate to take cover were ushered into the truck stop's large coolers and restrooms before the tornado tore the roof off the building, blew out car windows and overturned tractor-trailers, spokeswoman Christina Dukeman said. Love's employee Charlescie Greenway said she and two other women made it to one cooler before the twister hit. "The three of us were kind of trapped in there, holding the door shut, praying to God that we don't die and that everybody else was safe," Greenway told CNN affiliate KWTV, adding, "it was really scary -- the wind was like trying to pull the door off the latch." Cornett said quick thinking by the truck stop's employees saved people inside. "They were all huddled into a cooler and all walked out alive," he said. More than 65,000 homes and businesses were without power throughout the state, emergency management officials said. Nearly 15,000 homes were without power in Norman alone, according to Oklahoma Gas & Electric. The Lake Draper Water Treatment Plant, which provides about half of Oklahoma City's water, was also without power, City Manager Jim Couch said. Because of the outage, city officials placed a ban on outside watering for 48 hours, he said. "It's unknown when that power will be restored," he said. "Major transmission lines in the area have been damaged." State emergency officials said more than 100 homes were destroyed and another 70 sustained major damage. Additionally, 43 businesses were destroyed. CNN's Tyson Wheatley contributed to this report.

NEW: State officials lower death toll from five to two . Storm destroyed more than 100 homes and 43 businesses . Truck stop east of Oklahoma City destroyed by direct hit from tornado . More than 65,000 homes, businesses without power throughout the state .

(CNN) -- In a long-awaited speech Thursday in Florida, President Obama will boldly go where no president has gone before, laying out an entirely new vision for the U.S. space program. The firestorm of controversy has already begun . For more than 50 years, presidents have pushed for government rockets to send astronauts to space, the moon and possibly Mars. But now a new paradigm is being proposed. The moon program is off the table, and Mars is only a distant possibility. NASA is essentially getting out of the astronaut business, letting the Russians and private enterprise take over. The glory days of NASA, some say, are over. The Obama plan is truly breathtaking, ending an era that lasted from Presidents Kennedy to Bush. Some specifics: . • The moon program, called Constellation, is being suspended, and its components and $9 billion of research are going down the drain. The Ares rocket, which recently underwent a successful preliminary test, will be canceled. The Orion lunar module will be repurposed as an astronaut "lifeboat" tethered to the international space station. • The space shuttle program is ending, causing 4,600 workers to lose their jobs. (This was also in the Bush plan, but that proposal included funding the Ares rocket.) • Without a space shuttle, the U.S. will rely temporarily on Russian rockets to send our astronauts into space. • Eventually, private enterprise will take over launching our astronauts. Some critics say that this is all too much, too soon. Private companies may not be ready to pick up the slack for years to transport astronauts. Conceivably, any political crisis with the Russians in far-away places, such as the Balkans, might affect our access to outer space. And we will just have to swallow our pride when the Chinese plant their flag on the moon sometime after 2020, as they say they will. Proponents of the plan Obama is expected to describe, however, say that it is long overdue and inevitable. In these trying financial times, the U.S. cannot sustain an ambitious space program. Get real, they say. Let private enterprise take over. It's the American way. But everyone agrees that the wheel is broken and needs to be fixed. It all boils down to one dirty four-letter word: cost. During the Cold War, the superpowers gladly opened their treasuries because the space race was a matter of national pride and honor. Since then, the realities have sunk in. It costs about $10,000 per pound to send anything into near-Earth orbit. (Think of John Glenn made of solid gold.) But when you add in life support and safety factors, it costs about $65 million to send each astronaut aboard the space shuttle, which in turn costs half a billion dollars per launch. To go to the moon would cost perhaps 10 times as much. There are some positive recommendations that Obama should keep in mind as he plots the future of the space program. • NASA needs to set concrete goals and deadlines. In the past, the space shuttle and the international space station were used to justify each other's existence. Instead, the space program should hold the feet of the bureaucracies and corporations to the fire. Having a tangible vision of the future, with a clear destination and mission, will hold planners accountable, give a sharp focus to the objectives of the space program and cut waste. • NASA has to abandon its cost-plus model, where it guarantees its contractors a profit beyond the cost. This model is unsustainable -- the tail wagging the dog. It's an open invitation for bureaucracies and corporations to pad their budgets, rather than operate as efficiently as possible. • NASA has to inspire competition and innovation. The Hubble Space Telescope and the robotic missions to the planets have been a shining beacon for research based on goals set by scientists instead of the narrow priorities of bureaucracies and politicians. • NASA has to fund risky, out-of-the-box propulsion systems -- besides the expensive chemical rockets that are used now -- to help drive down the cost of space travel. A lot of a rocket's fuel goes into lifting itself into orbit, which is a waste. Ground-based laser and microwave beams, for example, can vaporize water contained in a rocket, which is then shot out the other end, so only the payload goes into space, not the fuel. As he speaks to aerospace workers, the president should frame this moment as an opportunity to redesign the space program. The key is to maintain the U.S. as the leader in innovation, ideas and progress, because science is ultimately the engine of prosperity. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Michio Kaku.

Michio Kaku: President Obama's changes to space program alter vision that's held for 50 years . Kaku says cuts and new priorities make some critics believe NASA's glory years over . Kaku: Program must rely on Russia until private firms can get our astronauts back in space . Kaku: NASA must streamline operating costs, innovate and set concrete goals for the future .

LONDON, England (CNN) -- London police said Thursday they are planning one of the largest and most complex operations in their history as the city gears up to host the G-20 summit next week. Police divers carry out security checks near the site of next week's G-20 summit in London. London's three police forces are being brought under a single umbrella for the G-20 security plan, dubbed Operation Glencoe, said Cmdr. Simon O'Brien of London's Metropolitan Police. Police forces from surrounding counties like Essex and Sussex are also assisting with security, he said. Officers will be protecting the summit venue, delegates, their hotels, their official engagements, as well as monitoring protests around the capital, O'Brien said. "This is one of the largest, one of the most challenging, and one of the most complicated operations that we've ever delivered," he told reporters Thursday. The Met Police has canceled all staff leave for April 1 and 2. The summit takes place April 2. Watch security preparations for the G-20 meeting » . O'Brien would not say how many police officers would be on duty, but he said there were 10,500 police shifts being scheduled between March 24 and April 2. The total cost of the security operation is £7.2 million ($10.4 million), he said. The G-20 summit brings together heads of state and financial leaders from the top 20 industrialized and emerging economies. Leaders from non-G-20 nations will also be represented, along with hundreds of other officials including the heads of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. The one-day summit is already attracting a "significant amount of interest" from protest groups, O'Brien said. "Old faces on the protest circuit" have started to reappear ahead of the event, he said, although he gave no names. "Some see the G-20 as an opportunity to galvanize support" for their various other causes, he said. The first big protest is expected to take place Saturday in Central London. Police expect some 20,000 people to turn out, O'Brien said. Though organized by trade unions, some 120 different groups are taking part in the "Put People First" march, which will start at Victoria Station, wind through Trafalgar Square, and end in a demonstration at Hyde Park. Heavy rain is predicted for Saturday. April 1, the day before the summit, will see various smaller demonstrations in central London. Protesters are calling it "Financial Fools Day," a play on April Fools Day and the anger surrounding the current economic crisis. An "Alternative G-20 Summit" will also taking place near the summit venue, the ExCeL convention center in east London. Police have been developing intelligence about all the demonstrations and a policing plan for each one, O'Brien said. There will be no special laws under which officers can arrest protesters who break the law, he said, and counter-terrorism measures will only be used when they apply. Asked about reports that some protesters may be planning violence similar to the recent riots in Greece, O'Brien said simply that police have "well-rehearsed tactics" and an experienced team on hand to deal with it. "We will not tolerate any people breaking the law, attacking buildings, people, or our officers," he said. There have also been reports that protesters may be planning to storm important buildings like the Bank of England. O'Brien said only that police were prepared for a "range of instances." The ExCeL venue is in East London, 10 minutes from the financial district of Canary Wharf, and there are concerns that protesters angry about the economy could target workers in the area. The London Chamber of Commerce said many firms are advising their staff to take precautionary measures, including wearing more casual clothing, hiding any company logos, canceling unnecessary meetings, and keeping movement in and out of the building to a minimum. "The vast majority of firms will have robust security arrangements in place," said the Chamber's chief executive, Colin Stanbridge. "Canceling unnecessary meetings may have to be considered, but people shouldn't feel as though they can't travel in London to conduct important business." UBS, which has offices in the financial district, would not confirm any specific measures but said the company was prepared. "We are aware of the situation and we'll have appropriate security measures in place," a company spokeswoman told CNN. O'Brien called the precautionary measures "common sense" but said police would work to ensure that companies face no disruption next week. "This is a very complex operation with some really experienced public order commanders," he said. "We're up for it and we're up to it."

Police say they are planning one of their largest and most complex operations . London's 3 police forces under a single umbrella for the G-20 security plan . "Unprecedented" protests expected ahead of next Thursday's summit meeting . Protests include street party outside Bank of England dubbed "Financial Fools Day"

LONDON, England (CNN) -- From bedroom creators to big studios, hand-drawn to CGI, animation has charmed and entertained children -- and, increasingly, adults -- for many years. The Screening Room went to Annecy in France to discover the secrets of success in animated films... Annecy has hailed animators like director Tim Burton, seen here receiving a special award at Annecy in 2006. Annecy is the Cannes of animation. The French town, which lies close to the Swiss border just 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Geneva, has hosted the International Animated Film Festival for almost half a century and attracts a younger crowd than many of the major film festivals. With prizes for long and short features, television and student animation, Annecy highlights a wide variety of different types of animation and budgets. One veteran of Annecy is Craig Decker, known as worldwide cult figure "Spike" and co-founder of "Spike and Mike's Sick & Twisted Festival of Animation." Beginning 30 years ago as a means of bringing independent animation to new audiences, the touring festival was instrumental in showcasing the early works of legendary animators such as Tim Burton, Pixar's John Lasseter and Aardman's Nick Park, as well as the first episode of "Beavis and Butthead." Spike explained to CNN the challenge of getting animation taken seriously. He said, "Originally we had to deal with the stigma. We showed great films like National Film Board of Canada [pieces], or "Tin Toy" by John Lasseter, works of art, masterpieces that take two to three years to make, and we had to deal with, 'What is it? Cartoons like Bugs Bunny or something like that?' And over the years we've educated the public, and we've put animation in the context of a very cool thing [with] a young, hip, adult audience of 18 and over." Stop-motion classics . One of Spike and Mike's biggest fans, Nick Park, won the Annecy award for Best TV Animation with "Shaun the Sheep," a spin-off from "A Close Shave," one of Aardman's famous Wallace and Gromit short features that grabbed an Oscar. Stop-motion is also close to the heart of director Tim Burton, who employed the technique on "Corpse Bride" and "The Nightmare Before Christmas." He said, "Because it's such an old-fashioned technique, a lot of it truly has to do with finding the right group of animators, the right group of people to build the puppets, because a lot of things are being done by computer now. Very few people are doing this style of animation." Allison Abbate, a producer on "Corpse Bride," added, "Stop motion is an age-old process as far as animation in film-making goes. It hasn't really changed since the days of King Kong - we used new technology in 'Corpse Bride' to bring it into a new century." Appropriate animation . "I think there's room for all types of animation," she continued. "It depends on the story. The story should really decide how you tell it. I think there are stories that are better made in 2-D and CGI and that's what you'd go for." 2-D animation is the mainstay of Japanese anime - a subject so vast it will command its own feature in a subsequent edition of the Screening Room. The film "Paprika" has won worldwide critical praise during the past year as a sophisticated example of the art, whose keenest supporters are sometimes contemptuous of their Hollywood animation counterparts. Asia is becoming an increasingly powerful force in animation, where companies who traditionally provided a cheap source of labor for animation studios are now using their skills to take a leading role in the creative process. UTV Toons is one of several Indian companies forming partnerships with big U.S. production houses to make new animated features. Combination of skills . Animation requires a combination of several skills, as producer Allison Abbate explained. She told CNN that animators face many complex challenges. "Animators have to know how to move things, how things work anatomically in a space, but they also have to know how to act, how to emote and that is what makes animation so different from live action. It is so crafted, one frame at a time." But Spike points out that the rewards animation promises can be very high. "Obviously in features, look at the most successful films," he told CNN. "They're nearly all animated Pixar pieces or, if it's live action, it's the special effects animation that carries the film." And the future? Spike believes animation is going mobile. He said, "Internationally, what's exciting is with new media: with digital; with broadband; with mobile phones. That's where we're going with our stuff." E-mail to a friend .

The International Animated Film Festival in Annecy is the Cannes of animation . Festival highlights the best in animation, from student work to studio shorts . Experts say the future of animation is on mobile devices .

(CNNMéxico) -- Mexican food was the great star of the second state dinner held in the Obama administration. In honor of President Felipe Calderon, the menu was Mexican dishes made from iconic American ingredients with herbs and vegetables that were grown in the White House gardens. Who would dare surprise a Mexican president with Mexican dishes in Washington? The chosen chef was Rick Bayless, one of the great gurus of Mexican cuisine in the United States, who has popularized his dishes through his TV program, six cookbooks and, of course, his three restaurants: the casual Frontera Grill, the four-star Topolobampo and the newly opened Xoco. His restaurants are in Chicago, and the Obamas were regular patrons before the couple moved to Washington. Still, the James Beard Award-winning chef was surprised to be invited to their new home. "I could hardly believe it. I kept going back to see if I actually had been invited or if it was a mistake ... no, it is an amazing honor to be invited to cook at the White House," Bayless said in an interview with CNNMéxico. The evening's dishes were carefully chosen after consulting with first lady Michelle Obama and executive White House chef Cristeta Comerford. "We started with menus that we knew that the president and first lady had enjoyed, things that they have enjoyed they were at our restaurants. And we put two or three different menus because I didn't know how they did the service at the White House, and you have to make the menu tailored to the way the kitchen is set up. You can't do all things in all kitchens," Bayless explained. "We learned that we couldn't serve soup because we knew that the first lady really enjoyed the tortilla soup, the soup that we do, but she said it was too hard to serve for 200 because the service is really fast." And finally, what was the menu? The guests began their dinner with a Jicama salad with oranges, grapefruit and pineapple citrus vinaigrette served with a Chardonnay Ulisis Valdez Russian River 2007. This was followed by an herb green ceviche of Hawaiian opah (fish) with sesame-cilantro crackers. The main dish was Oregon Wagyu beef in Oaxacan black mole accompanied by black bean tamalon and grilled green beans, paired with a Cabernet Sauvignon Herrera Selección Rebecca 2006. Finally, dessert was chocolate-cajeta tart with toasted homemade marshmallows, graham cracker crumble and goat cheese ice cream accompanied by a Mumm Napa Carlos Santana Brut champagne. "The whole idea about a state dinner -- and people don't usually understand this -- but when you are hosting a dignatary from a foreign country it is not common to serve food from their country. It is common to serve them the best of American cuisine, because you are hosting them," Bayless said. "It's huge departure for Obama administration to have served food of Mexico, but they did it because of my work, I have really brought the true flavors from Mexico to the United States... however, we did feature a number of fabulous American ingredients like the opah from Hawaii and the Wagyu from Oregon." "I loved it... it was such a great menu that we are going to put that menu as one of our tasting menus in Topolobampo in a couple of weeks", said Bayless, who was born in Oklahoma City but lived in Mexico from 1980 to 1986. Of all the praises chef Bayless received for the dinner, two made him particularly happy. One, from Mexican first lady Margarita Zavala, "who said that she loved the ceviche verde that we did, she told me that two or three times that she loved that ceviche." The other, from President Calderon, "who said that it was one of the best mole negro he had ever had," said Bayless. The White House blogged about the dinner . That mole was precisely the most complicated part of the dinner, not only because it takes more than 20 ingredients and seven hours to make, but also for another reason. "I didn't want the flavors of the toasting chiles and things like that to get out of the kitchen and waft the White House. I thought it was inappropriate to do that. Cris Comerford, the chef there, she ensured me that they had really good exhaust systems and she was right, it took all those aromas out, but I toasted the chiles just a few at a time so the aroma would not leak out of the kitchen," Bayless added. At the end, the labor was well worth it because, the chef said, "It's one of the best moles I have ever made." Bayless is used to working under the spotlight-- he also took top honors on Bravo's "Top Chef Masters" TV program.

Rick Bayless was chosen to cook Mexican food for the president of Mexico . The Obamas were familiar with the chef after dining at his Chicago restaurants . Bayless: Mexico's first lady said several times she loved the cerviche verde .

(CNN) -- Michael Jackson was an international superstar, and many in the black community herald him for breaking down racial barriers in the music industry. Michael Jackson was one of the first black global superstars. "Michael Jackson made culture accept a person of color way before Tiger Woods, way before Oprah Winfrey, way before Barack Obama," said the Rev. Al Sharpton. "Michael did with music what they later did in sports and in politics and in television. And no controversy will erase the historic impact." As the Jackson 5, Michael Jackson and his brothers "became a cutting-edge example of black crossover artists," said Mark Anthony Neal, a professor of black popular culture at Duke University's Department of African and African American Studies. "You basically had five working-class black boys with Afros and bell bottoms, and they really didn't have to trade any of that stuff in order to become mainstream stars," Neal said. Young Michael Jackson was the first black "bubblegum teen star" in the vein of Monkees singer Davy Jones, Neal said. Jackson continued as a pioneer in the black culture when he broke barriers by appearing on MTV, and by breaking sales records with the 1982 album, "Thriller." Timeline: The life of a "King" » . "At the time that he releases 'Thriller,' I always argue that MTV was arguably the best example of cultural apartheid in the United States," Neal said. The former president of CBS Records, Walter Yetnikoff, remembered with scorn that MTV would not play "Billie Jean" or "Beat It" because it billed itself as a rock station. Looking back on that era, a 1991 Los Angeles Times article quoted MTV founder and then-CEO Robert Pittman as saying the channel's format didn't lend itself to other musical styles, including R&B and country. And Pittman accused his critics of attempting to impose their musical pluralism on the channel's die-hard rock fans. But Yetnikoff said he threatened to pull videos of his other artists unless MTV played Jackson's videos. Watch Yetnikoff talk about getting Jackson's videos played » . Soon Jackson's videos were heavily in rotation on MTV. Showcasing a black artist paved the way for the popular show, "Yo! MTV Raps," and other black artists, Neal said. In turn, Jackson became one of the first African-Americans to be a global icon. He also influenced a new generation of black musicians, including Usher, Ne-Yo and Kanye West, according to Joycelyn Wilson, a professor of African-American studies at Morehouse College, who specializes in popular culture and hip-hop studies. Slideshow: Michael Jackson and his music » . Changing appearance . Jackson's changing physical appearance in the past two decades led to criticism he was trying to be less black. "Here's a man who started off looking very typically African-American and ended up looking like something few people would have recognized early in his career. His nose was trimmed, his lips were different ... his skin was different," said Cheryl Contee, who writes as Jill Tubman on Jack & Jill Politics, a blog centered on African-American issues. "The only thing that seemed to almost stay the same were his eyes," said Contee, who also called Jackson "a genius and more than a trailblazer." "I think [it] troubled a lot of people that he left his skin color behind and seemed somehow to be ashamed of who he was [when] he was born," Contee said. But during a 1993 interview with Oprah Winfrey, Jackson shot down rumors that he was dying his skin to make it lighter. He told the talk show host that he had vitiligo, a disorder that destroyed his skin pigmentation. Black popular culture professor Neal said Jackson's physical changes did not reflect his life on the whole. "I think if you solely pay attention to Michael Jackson's physicality, you actually miss something that's much more complex. ... Michael Jackson artistically and aesthetically never turned his back on blackness. His work was always in conversation with black culture both in the United States and more globally," said Neal. Neal said Jackson's changes were not to deny blackness, nor to become more white. "This was somebody who most of his career we read as being asexual. And I think that many of the changes to his face, particularly his skin tone, he was almost trying to achieve an a-raciality," said Neal. Contee upset some commenters on her blog when she highlighted both the positive and negative aspects of Jackson's life, or what she termed his "mixed legacy." "Some people were very offended that I would dare to mention some of the unfortunate aspects of his later years," she said. "But others [acknowledged] that they had mixed feelings about his legacy and what that meant to African-Americans."

Jackson 5 went mainstream and maintained black identity, professor says . MTV didn't play videos of black artists before Jackson . Expert: Despite his changing appearance, he was always in touch with black culture .

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- Rawalpindi's police chief stopped doctors at the hospital where Benazir Bhutto died from conducting an autopsy, according to a lawyer on the hospital's board. In a video released Sunday, Benazir Bhutto, far right, appears through the sunroof before shots ring out. It was a violation of Pakistani criminal law and prevented a medical conclusion about what killed the former prime minister, said Athar Minallah, who serves on the board that manages Rawalpindi General Hospital. However, the police chief involved, Aziz Saud, told CNN that he suggested an autopsy be done, but that Bhutto's husband objected. The revelation came on Monday after new videotape of Bhutto's assassination emerged, showing her slumping just after gunshots rang out. The tape provided the clearest view yet of the attack and appeared to show that Bhutto was shot. That would contradict the Pakistan government's account. Read Bhutto's full medical report . A previously released videotape showed a man at the right of her vehicle raising a gun, pointing it toward Bhutto, who was standing in her car with her upper body through the sunroof. He fired three shots, then there was an explosion. In the video that emerged on Sunday, Bhutto was standing, and her hair and scarf appeared to move, perhaps from the bullet. Bhutto fell into the car, then came the blast. Watch new tape showing apparent gunman » . These images seem to support the theory that Bhutto died at the hands of a shooter before a bomb was detonated, killing another 23 people. Doctors at Rawalpindi General Hospital declared the 54-year-old dead hours after Thursday's attack, but the cause of her death has been widely debated. Pakistan's Interior Ministry announced on Friday that Bhutto died from a skull fracture suffered when she fell or ducked into the car as a result of the shots or the explosion and crashed her head onto a sunroof latch. See the likely sequence of events » . Bhutto's family and political party maintain that the government is lying, and insist she died from gunshot wounds. Bhutto's husband, in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Monday, called for an international investigation into his wife's death, saying the new video proves the Pakistani government "has been trying to muddy the water from the first day." "Everything is now very clear that she was shot," Asif Ali Zardari said. Zardari also called on the U.S. government to push for an international probe. "I want them to help me find out who killed my wife, the mother of my children," he said of the Bush administration. Javed Iqbal Cheema, spokesman for Pakistan's Interior Ministry, said the government's conclusion on Bhutto's death was based on "absolute facts, nothing but the facts" and "it was corroborated by the doctor's report." But Minallah issued an open letter on Monday and released the doctors' clinical notes to distance them from the government statement, and he also talked to CNN. In the letter, Minallah said the doctors "suggested to the officials to perform an autopsy," but that Saud "did not agree." He noted that under the law, police investigators have "exclusive responsibility" in deciding to have an autopsy. Minallah told CNN that he was speaking out because the doctors at the hospital were "threatened." "They are government servants who cannot speak; I am not," he said. He did not elaborate on the threats against the doctors. He said the lack of an autopsy has created "a perception that there is some kind of cover-up, though I might not believe in that theory." "There is a state within the state, and that state within the state does not want itself to be held accountable," Minallah said. Cheema said the government had no objection to Bhutto's body being exhumed for an autopsy if the family requested it. Her widower has said the family was against exhumation because it did not trust the government. Minallah said the family could not have prevented an autopsy at the hospital without getting an order from a judge. The three-page medical report, which was signed by seven doctors, described Bhutto's head wound, but it did not conclude what caused it. It noted that X-ray images were made after she was declared dead. The wound was described as an irregular oval of about 5 centimeters by 3 centimeters above her right ear. "Sharp bones edges were felt in the wound," it read. "No foreign body was felt in the wound." E-mail to a friend . CNN's Jomana Karadsheh contributed to this report .

NEW: New video proves Bhutto shot, widower says . Doctors claim Pakistani police prevented an autopsy on Benazir Bhutto . Lawyer Athar Minallah said the move violated Pakistani criminal law . Police chief Aziz Saud said he suggested autopsy but Bhutto's widower objected .

(CNN) -- Anti-government protests across Syria -- one propelled by the funeral of an assassinated Kurdish opposition leader -- turned deadly again Saturday as security forces cracked down, activist groups said. Mashaal Tammo, a spokesman for the Kurdish Future Party and a member of the newly formed Syria National Council, was shot dead Friday at a private residence in the northeastern city of Qamishli. The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said after Tammo's funeral, more than 50,000 people joined a mass demonstration demanding the overthrow of the government of Bashar al-Assad. It said two people were killed. The group said a 14-year-old child was killed in Damascus province and 14 others were injured when security forces opened fire on a funeral procession for protesters killed Friday. The Local Coordination Committees (LCC) of Syria reported a different toll. It said five people were killed in Qamishili. Another two died in Hama; one in Douma; and one in the Damascus suburb of Dumair. Meanwhile in London Saturday, five protesters were arrested outside the Syrian Embassy. A spokesman for London's Metropolitan Police said three people were arrested after climbing the roof of the embassy and two others were taken into custody for separate incidents related to the protest. There was no breach of security, the spokesman said. In Qamishili, anti-government activists were also staging a general strike to mourn Tammo, the LCC said. The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported Friday that he was killed by "an armed terrorist group." Local activists said he was slain by members of a pro-government militia. Catherine Ashton, the European Union's foreign affairs chief, condemned the assassination "in the strongest terms," in a statement Saturday. "Mr. Tammo's death follows other targeted assassinations in the past days, which are totally unacceptable. These appalling crimes further add to the EU's grave concern over the situation in Syria. All those responsible for and complicit in these crimes must be held accountable," the statement said. Tammo had previously spent more than three years as a political prisoner for his criticism of the Syrian government, it added. In Istanbul, Turkey, several dozen Syrians gathered in a hotel basement to remember Tammo. "The regime is trying to play a game of ethnicity so people fight each other," said Omar Shawaf, a Syrian opposition activist. "Mashaal Tammo was someone who represented unity of ethnic groups. This dirty regime will not keep quiet until they destroy the country and create a civil war." Mourners relied on some of the same technology that has publicized the uprising in Syria, a country where the media is strictly controlled.. "The government tried to kill him one day before his murder and one month before his murder," said Abdul Ghafar Mohammed, speaking via Skype from Qamishli. "Now Tammo has become a flame of the revolution." In Arabic, Tammo's first name, Mashaal, means flame. The EU's Ashton also condemned the beating of opposition leader Riad Saif and urged an end to all violence to allow for a peaceful transition to democracy. A White House statement Friday said Saif was subjected to a "vicious and unprovoked assault." The LCC described the attack on Saif, who was beaten in the Damascus neighborhood of Medan, as a "dangerous development" and said the Syrian government was taking advantage of the "lax attitude" of the international community to repress political opponents by violent means. The Syrian Observatory said Saturday that tens of military tanks were blocking routes out of the western city of Homs, a day after protests over the death of Tammo were held there. Mobile and landline networks were reported to be down. Clashes also broke out Saturday between security forces and protesters who had pulled down a statue of al-Assad, the LCC said. The United States called Friday for al-Assad to "step down now" following the assassination and amid continuing violence in the nation. Assad should resign "before taking his country farther down this very dangerous path," White House spokesman Jay Carney said in the White House statement. "It is also notable that these acts of violence took place just three days after the U.N. Security Council failed to pass a resolution calling for international human rights monitors in Syria in face of brutal repression," he said, referring to a resolution vetoed by Russia and China. Earlier this week, Russia and China vetoed a U.N. Security Council draft resolution condemning Syrian authorities for using violence against anti-government demonstrators. The two nations argued the proposed resolution would lead to military intervention similar to the NATO operation to protect anti-government protesters in Libya. CNN's Ivan Watson and Salma Abdelaziz contributed to this report.

NEW: Syrians in Turkey gather to remember slain opposition leader . His killing sparks protests in Syria that turn deadly . A general strike is called in the city where he was killed Friday . Syria remains tense as a violent government crackdown continues .

Bangkok, Thailand (CNN) -- Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra dismissed calls by protesters for her to step down by Tuesday, saying she is open to talks to resolve demonstrations against her government that turned violent over the weekend. Yingluck said in a televised news conference that it would be unconstitutional for her to step down and that the door was open for negotiations. The leader of the anti-government demonstrations, Suthep Thaugsuban, on Sunday urged the democratically elected Yingluck to resign, saying he was giving her two days to "return power to the people unconditionally." He made the comments after a face-to-face meeting with the Prime Minister in the presence of military leaders. Suthep, a former deputy prime minister for the opposition Democrat Party, has called for power to be transferred to an unelected "people's council." But Yingluck, who survived a no confidence vote in Parliament last week, is refusing to budge despite weeks of protests in the streets of the capital, Bangkok. Monday evening, a Thai court issued an arrest warrant for Suthep on a charge of insurrection. Worst unrest in years . On Saturday, three people were killed and more than 60 wounded in clashes between protesters and Yingluck's supporters -- the worst civil unrest in Thailand since a military crackdown on demonstrations in 2010. On Sunday, police used tear gas to fend off demonstrators trying to force their way into the government headquarters. Many protestors had towels they soaked with water to hold over their mouths and eyes for the gas. Yingluck reiterated Monday that authorities would not use violence against protesters, but police appeared to be resorting to increasingly tough measures to keep demonstrators at bay. Lt. Gen. Paradon Patthanathabut said police at government headquarters had used rubber bullets in certain instances. The number of protesters in the area appeared lower than in recent days, but hardcore elements seemed to be among those who remained. Tear gas canisters, rocks and bottles of water were hurled back and forth across the barricades. The government headquarters, known as Government House, are a symbolic target for protesters. Amid the siege, Yingluck has decamped from the seat of government power to the police headquarters, said government spokesman Teerat Rattanasevi. Demonstrators, meanwhile, continued to occupy official buildings they had stormed last week -- the Ministry of Finance and another complex of government offices. But Suthep's call for a civil servants to go on strike appeared not to have taken hold Monday. "Governmental agencies are all functioning normally," said Teerat. "But of course, some offices that have been taken over by these protesters have to work from their temporary setups." Thaksin's influence . Protesters say they want to rid Thailand of the influence of exiled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, the older brother of Yingluck. That's an ambitious goal in a country where parties affiliated with Thaksin, who built his political success on populist policies that appealed to Thailand's rural heartland, have won every election since 2001. Thaksin was ousted in a military coup in 2006, and has spent most of the time since then in exile overseas. If he returns, he risks a two-year prison sentence on a corruption conviction, which he says was politically motivated. The current protests in Bangkok were prompted by a botched attempt by Yingluck's government to pass an amnesty bill that would have opened the door for her brother's return. That move added fuel for critics who accuse Yingluck of being nothing more than Thaksin's puppet, an allegation she has repeatedly denied. The military -- which removed Thaksin amid protests in 2006 -- has remained on the sidelines of the current crisis. Yingluck said Monday that she believes the military is taking a neutral stance. Chaos and commerce . Although the demonstrations have brought chaos to certain pockets of Bangkok and prompted warnings from foreign embassies to avoid protest areas, everyday life has continued in much of the city. Some street traders have even adapted to service protesters needs. On Sunday, many people down the street from the barricades near Government House, just out of reach of the tear gas, were cooking by the side of the road. Others were driving through with pick-up trucks giving food to protestors. One enterprising vendor rode through the protest area selling ice creams in between volleys of tear gas. 10 questions: What's behind the protests in Thailand? Leading Women: Thailand's first female PM Yingluck Shinawatra . CNN's Kocha Olarn and Paula Hancocks reported from Bangkok; Jethro Mullen reported and wrote from Hong Kong .

NEW: Thai court issues an arrest warrant for Suthep on a charge of insurrection . Yingluck Shinawatra says the door is open for negotiations . The protest leader on Sunday urged Yingluck to step down .

(CNN) -- CNN correspondent Sean Callebs has just finished a long assignment: living on food stamps during all of February. He tracked his experiences on the American Morning blog. CNN's Sean Callebs with a meal he prepared living on a food-stamp budget. This meant no eating out, no food on the run while covering stories and no enjoying king cake and other New Orleans specialties during Mardi Gras. The food stamp program, newly named the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), is run by the Department of Agriculture and provides food to those in need. The latest numbers show 31 million Americans are relying on supplemental food assistance to get by every month. Callebs is based in New Orleans, so he worked through the Louisiana Department of Social Services. The agency gave him a gift card worth $176, the maximum amount of assistance for which he was eligible, instead of an actual EBT card or food stamps. This week, he reflected on what he learned in an interview with House Call. House Call: Did living on a limited food budget have an impact on your health? Callebs: I wouldn't say it had a big impact on my health. I think that towards the end, I wondered if having fewer calories than I normally eat and also not having as much meat and fish -- I wondered if that affected my energy levels. I was running maybe 4 to 5 miles and toward the end of this diet when I got to three miles I just got kind of winded. I don't know why that happened. Watch Sean Callebs talk about his experience » . HC: Were there also some benefits? Callebs: I think I lost weight. I wouldn't say noticeable. It's not like I came out of this 30 days later and people were like "Wow, what happened to you?" but all my clothes are looser. I don't have a scale, but I can tell you my pants are much looser. HC: You write in your blog about your love of diet soda and how you had to drop it. Callebs: (Laughing) It's funny, because for the first 10 days it was really on my mind a lot. It was probably more than anything else I missed -- probably a sad commentary on my lifestyle. Then toward the end, I didn't even think about it and my photographer, as a joke the last day, he brought over two 20 ounce bottles of diet soda and said, "At midnight tonight you can have these," and I didn't drink them. I don't miss it as much and, I can't guarantee this is what caused it, but I've always had a problem with acid reflux and once I got started eating on the food stamp diet, it seemed to go away. I can't conclusively say that that was the cause, but I sleep better and I feel better. HC: How does your $176 compare with the average food stamp allotment? Callebs: I think it's difficult to say that there's an average food stamp allotment because it really breaks down to how many people you have in the family and to what degree you live at or below the poverty level. I went to the state, and I said, "I want to pretend I have no income so how much can I get?" and they said this is the maximum you can get: $176. I did get a lot of e-mails, A LOT of e-mails, from people who have lived with government assistance and they said, "Look, $176 is a ton of money to live on. So you think it's hard? You should put yourself in our shoes." That was sobering because I thought $6.28 a day -- that's basically a super-sized fast-food meal. (According to SNAP, the average monthly stipend was about $96 per person and about $215 per household in 2007.) HC: So, what did you learn? Callebs: I think that I learned that you can stretch $176. It sounds intimidating if you've always had enough, but if you haven't had enough then you learn pretty quickly how to make ends meet. That's what I learned pretty quickly. Snacks went out the window, name brands went out the window but, all in all, I ate pretty healthy. HC: Are you going to continue with this new way of living? Callebs: I am. I just got back from the grocery store and I spent $27 and I got plenty of food to last me for a few days. I've already wrapped it up and put it in the freezer. I'm still buying the stuff I bought before. It's a diet I'm sure I'll stick to. I feel good.

CNN's Sean Callebs talks about his month living on a food-stamp budget . He lost some weight but learned how to better cook, budget and bargain-hunt . Callebs cut out diet soda "treat" and experienced less acid reflux . Range of responses from readers, from "can't be done" to "welcome to my world"

Washington (CNN) -- By all accounts, it started innocently. An airport screener missed a bag. But by the time it was over, authorities had shut down an airport terminal for two hours, airlines delayed almost a dozen flights and scores of air travelers probably were wondering whether they should have taken the train. The shutdown of the A-2 terminal at Newark Liberty International Airport on Wednesday is probably typical in many ways. But a Port Authority police report gives a detailed account of the breach, the TSA's response, and some of the behind-the-scenes confusion that led to the two-hour closure. The mistake . It happened at 11:04 a.m. According to the TSA, an X-ray machine detected a suspicious object in a bag, and a screener was told to conduct a hand search. But, for reasons still unclear, before the officer turned his or her attention to the task, the passenger left the checkpoint, along with the bag. The Port Authority Police Department report gives a slightly different account. It says the TSA screener picked up and screened the wrong bag. When the mistake was discovered shortly thereafter, the traveler had already left the checkpoint, and the screener could not describe the passenger. Authorities shut down the checkpoint, and a breach of security was issued, the Port Authority report says. The response . At 11:18 a.m., TSA screeners looked at recordings captured by the closed circuit television cameras. They told police they figured out who the unidentified passenger was. They gave police a description of a black female traveling with a black male. But when the two travelers were located and rescreened, it was found that they were not the folks involved in the breach. The confusion . The TSA then gave a description of a tall black male carrying a black laptop bag, according to the police report. That person was also found, and ruled out. "This process continued three more times," the police report says. Police found, and then ruled out, a white woman traveling with two children in a stroller, a 6-foot white male wearing a brown shirt and jeans and carrying a suitcase, and a white male with curly brown hair wearing a JetBlue uniform. After the fifth false identification, authorities ordered the terminal area shut down and cleared. All passengers, flight crews and employees were told to leave for rescreening. The end . At 12:22 p.m., more than an hour into the incident, a screener stopped a female JetBlue employee believed to be the owner of the bag. Upon rescreening, it was determined that her bag was allowed to pass through security unchecked. But because of the lapse of time, and the possibility she could have taken contraband into the secure side of the checkpoint, officers continued with their inspection of the area and its occupants. They reopened the checkpoint about 1 p.m. But wait! There's a twist. While Port Authority Police Department union representatives complained that the incident was an example of TSA incompetence, a TSA official, speaking on background, said other factors may vindicate the agency. The TSA said that a woman they identified early in the incident twice denied being the woman with the suspicious bag. The woman's repeated denials prompted them to focus on other individuals, prolonging the incident. The woman may have denied having the bag, the TSA official speculated, because she had purchased some perfume in a duty-free shop, and did not have the liquid in the required one-quart plastic bag. The TSA official acknowledged the theory was speculative, but said the TSA hopes to learn more in a "hot wash" or review of the incident. The consequences . Wednesday's breach occurred just two days after a TSA miscommunication resulted in a scare at nearby LaGuardia airport. In that incident, a screener removed two suspicious objects from a traveler's bag, determined that they were not explosive, but placed them aside. When a later shift arrived, they feared the devices were pipe bombs and called police. "Unfortunately, these glaring TSA security failures at our nation's busiest airports continue to undermine security, which imperils and needlessly inconveniences the traveling public," Paul Nunziato, president of the Port Authority Police Benevolent Association, said in a statement to CNN. "It is a shame these security breaches have become daily events." Nunziato said that the "astonishing number of TSA security failures" has led airport police organizations to ask Congress to create uniformed standards for airport security. "Until Washington acts to mandate these reforms, this game of Russian Roulette will continue," he said. Responded TSA spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein: "We screen nearly 2 million passengers a day and we are always looking for ways to improve and strengthen our processes." Farbstein said the TSA is conducting a thorough review of the incident to see why the suspicious bag was not "picked up and inspected right away."

Newark International Airport terminal was shut down for two hours following a security breach . Traveler left security checkpoint with bag that had been flagged by TSA screeners . Two days earlier, a security scare was reported at New York LaGuardia airport .

(CNN)As a guy with a Fred Flintstone physique, competing on the same runway with a Miss Universe contestant was never on my bucket list. Yet, there I was, alone with the stunning Miss Ghana 2014, as we eyeballed each other's outfits head to toe. Abena Akuaba Appiah, who will battle for the planet's most prestigious tiara this weekend at the 63rd annual Miss Universe Pageant, was wearing a form-fitting ivory mini dress with black leather go-go boots. I was wearing a sleeveless purple satin V-neck dress with neon yellow Reeboks. "I like your dress," she said, without the slightest trace of irony. Pretending to be used to such compliments, I replied, "Right back at ya!" before awkwardly turning the conversation to Ghana's geography, of which I knew nothing. (Note to self: The next time I hang out with Miss Ghana, remember that her home city of Accra is the capital.) The "runway" we shared last fall was one mile of pavement along the Hudson River in Hoboken, New Jersey. We were fellow participants in the "Runaway Bridesmaids" charity race for Airline Ambassadors International, an organization that trains airport employees to spot and report human trafficking. Dozens of women and men stampeded in formal gowns and party dresses for the fundraiser, prompting Ms. Appiah to switch out her high-heeled boots for sneakers. Before the race, as Miss Ghana's bodyguard snapped pics of us with her mobile phone, I imagined what she might be texting her friends and family back home: "Dear Mom and Dad: If this contestant in the purple dress is a preview of my competition, this pageant will be a breeze!" Her real Instagram feed was much kinder, praising me and another male bridesmaid for our "courage." For the same reasons I love the "It's a Small World" ride at Disney, I always look forward to watching the Miss Universe contest. It's a kitschy, utopian universe where countries are supposed to set aside their petty rivalries and hatreds and pretend to be BFFs. Critics can dismiss it as a sexualized hybrid of the United Nations and the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue. But for the three hours the contestants stand on stage, it doesn't matter how big their country's army is, the size of the nation's gross national product, or whether it has nuclear weapons. It's fascinating to see if that façade can even last three hours. This week Miss Lebanon Saly Greige weathered a PR crisis at home for posing in a selfie taken by Miss Israel Doron Matalon along with Miss Slovenia and Miss Japan. It is against Lebanese law to make contact with Israelis. Although she is smiling in the picture, Miss Lebanon accused Miss Israel of "photobombing" her, and it's understandable why she's running scared. In 1993, Miss Lebanon Ghada Turk was stripped of her title when she posed with the then-Miss Israel. The Miss Universe Facebook page is filled with fun-spirited group pics like this: Random contestants frolicking on the beach, strutting on the golf course, hugging local children and taking Zumba dance classes. I kid you not, Miss Italy and Miss Turkey even had a "roomie-pajama party" wearing matching socks! (Exclamation point is the pageant's, not mine.) What will happen if Miss Israel and Miss Lebanon both make the Top 5 on Sunday night? How about Miss Russia and Miss Ukraine? Will contestants from any of the former Soviet bloc countries -- Miss Poland, Miss Hungary, Miss Czech Republic -- give Miss Russia the stink eye? Just like the Olympic Opening Ceremony, the Miss Universe pageant encourages people (on stage and at home) to momentarily be classy and see each other as individuals versus national or ethnic stereotypes. Not that any of the millions of viewers around the globe will be asking for a geography lesson, but the competition also forces people to wonder: "So where exactly IS Trinidad and Tobago?" and "How cool is it to have an ampersand in your country's name?" Back to my personal competition with Miss Ghana, I surprised myself by crossing the finish line a few minutes ahead of her. For unknown reasons, she chose to walk (well, glide) through the race course and coolly acted as if winning were unimportant. However, Ms. Appiah could soundly defeat me in a burping contest. According to her official Miss Universe bio, Miss Ghana can burp "more than 50 times in a row." All those curves must do wonders for the acoustics. I'll definitely be rooting for her to win it all. How could I not? She liked my dress.

Darren Garnick: Miss Universe contest a kitschy, utopian event where nations put aside their rivalries and act like BFFFs . He says dustup over Miss Lebanon selfie with Miss Israel shows that spirit tricky to maintain .

(CNN) -- A diabetes test that measures a person's average blood glucose control over the preceding two to three months is being recommended as the new diagnostic tool for the condition. Diabetics have too much glucose in their blood when the condition is uncontrolled, and must monitor it. A committee of international experts recommended the test, called the the A1C assay, at the American Diabetes Association's 69th Scientific Sessions over the weekend. The report could instigate a change in the way diabetes is diagnosed, the American Diabetes Association said. The A1C assay, which has been used for nearly 30 years to determine how well a patient controls diabetes, is a more stable, reliable diagnostic tool than the techniques currently in use, the authors of the report said. "This committee that I chaired is recommending that this be used as widely as possible to diagnose diabetes instead of the blood sugar test," said Dr. David Nathan, director of the Diabetes Center at Massachusetts General Hospital and chairman of the committee. The A1C test, which consists of a simple blood test, is also more convenient than the two tests commonly used for diabetes -- the fasting plasma glucose and the oral glucose tolerance test -- the authors said. In the fasting test, the patient does not eat for about 12 to 14 hours before a blood test. In the tolerance test, the patient drinks a sweet solution and has blood drawn two hours later. In addition, Nathan said, "It probably is better related to the development of eye disease with diabetes, and therefore probably serves as a better diagnostic tool." The international committee was assembled by the American Diabetes Association, International Diabetes Federation and European Association for the Study of Diabetes, but those organizations have not officially endorsed the report. "Basically, the American Diabetes Association supports the concept, supports the use of the A1C to diagnose diabetes, and just has to look at the implications of it, and the implementation of it," said Richard Kahn, Chief Scientific and Medical Officer for the American Diabetes Association, who was part of the committee. Using A1C in diagnosis would be particularly useful for determining whether patients have type 2 diabetes, which is more difficult to diagnose than type 1, said Dr. William Bornstein, assistant professor of endocrinology at Emory University, who was not part of the committee. "This will be beneficial to the population in terms of helping us more clearly diagnose folks who are at risks for complications and help them manage that earlier," Bornstein said. Still, controversy likely will arise over the use of the A1C in diagnostics because of the long, established track record of using the other two methods, Bornstein said. iReport.com: Boxing champ talks about diabetes struggle . How it works . Humans cannot live without having sugar called glucose in their blood. Too much glucose, however, attaches to a variety of proteins in the body and harms them. Uncontrolled diabetes is characterized by too much glucose in the bloodstream. This excess glucose then glycates with -- or sticks to -- a protein called hemoglobin, which carries oxygen from the lungs to the body's cells. The A1C test measures the percentage of glycated hemoglobin in the blood, which is a reflection of average blood glucose control, according to the American Diabetes Association. A1C is a better measure of the problem that diabetes causes than glucose-based tests, at least for monitoring, said David Schoenfeld, professor of biostatistics at Harvard University. He and colleagues, including Nathan and a large group of international researchers, studied the relationship between A1C and average blood glucose. While many diabetics monitor their average blood glucose levels daily, at the doctor's office the patient receives a measurement in terms of hemoglobin A1C, Schoenfeld said. He and researchers created a chart to convert these two measurements, so that patients would not have to interpret two different numbers and feel confused. They concluded in a 2008 paper that, for most patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes, A1C levels can be expressed as average glucose. The international committee concluded that an A1C level of 6.5 percent indicates that a person has diabetes, while values between 6 percent and 6.5 percent are likely to be at highest risk for developing diabetes. Experts note, however, that there is a continuum of risk for complications, and the "cut-point" of 6.5 percent should not be considered an absolute dividing line. All adults who are overweight and have additional risk factors, such as family history of diabetes, high blood pressure or abnormal lipid levels, should be screened for diabetes, according to the American Diabetes Association. Adults aged 45 or older should be tested even if they do not have these risk factors, the association said.

Committee says A1C test is more reliable and convenient than other tests . Tests in use now are fasting plasma glucose and oral glucose tolerance test . A1C test is currently used for monitoring patients' control of diabetes . Expert: Report may cause controversy because of track record of using current tests .

(CNN) -- Securing the release of American prisoners Kenneth Bae and Matthew Miller from North Korea was not cost-free. It may also be an omen of the return of recurring efforts by U.S. administrations of both parties to negotiate deals with Pyongyang that inevitably fail. The United States supposedly does not have diplomatic relations with North Korea. After all, the arms proliferating, dollar counterfeiting, nuclear-armed dictatorship, which torpedoed a South Korean ship in 2010, hasn't accounted for all of the foreign nationals it kidnapped abroad to train its spies, and occasionally threatens America and its allies with annihilation. But that hasn't stopped a string of senior U.S. diplomats from visiting Pyongyang over the past three administrations. The most recent denizen was U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, who on Saturday brought home the two Americans imprisoned by the regime for alleged speech and faith-related activities that wouldn't get a second look in the civilized world. While Clapper's trip may have been "last-minute," as the Obama administration described it, the efforts to arrange it probably went on for months -- and are emblematic of an unfortunate approach to North Korea and its Chinese allies that spans Republican and Democratic administrations -- especially in their final years. Washington and Pyongyang both have agendas beyond what is visible today. Is North Korea being magnanimous in releasing Bae and Miller before their trumped-up prison sentences ran out, or might it want something in return? In fact, it has already acquired something: the appearance of legitimacy. The autocrats who maintain North Korea's totalitarian rule through fear -- and the young leader, Kim Jong Un, who even had his uncle executed -- relish any opportunity to show how they can make representatives of vastly more powerful nations come to Pyongyang and kiss their proverbial ring. Previous visitors in this vein have included then-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, former President Jimmy Carter, former Vice President Al Gore, and various representatives of then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. The North Korean government knows more about the U.S. political cycle than many American political scientists. It saw that the final two years of the Bill Clinton and George W. Bush administrations were fruitful for dealing with presidents and secretaries of state desperately trying to burnish their legacies. Under President Clinton, aid to North Korea from Washington and Seoul spiked beginning in 1999, and included efforts to build nuclear power plants for the North Koreans. Under President Bush, Rice announced in 2007 a breakthrough whereby Pyongyang would give up its nuclear program in exchange for aid. As some predicted, North Korea took the aid but kept the nuclear program. It now likely hopes for a repeat of sorts. North Korea no longer depends on foreign handouts for its survival. By some accounts, its economy is better off than ever, thanks to expanded trade with China -- much of which is supposedly banned by U.N. resolutions. But Pyongyang would still welcome further sanctions relief and loves to be courted diplomatically, which makes it look strong. Courtship of North Korea also invariably involves obeisance to the notion that China will pressure its neighbor into behaving -- and perhaps even surrendering its nuclear weapons program. This is a diplomatic truism that just isn't true: Beijing has always normalized trade with North Korea rapidly after any disruptions in the wake of North Korean nuclear tests or other belligerent acts. But it seems only Pyongyang and Beijing are in on this joke played on American and allied diplomats -- and China's unelected government itself cherishes the legitimacy it gets from being seen as the regional diplomatic linchpin. That is why Beijing has also been promoting multilateral talks with North Korea. The way out of this is to stop believing that romancing Pyongyang will advance U.S. interests. North Korea has violated numerous arms agreements with the United States or other parties. Pyongyang will not be sweet-talked out of its nuclear arsenal or other provocations. Washington can end the cycle of North Korea taking Americans hostage by declaring U.S. passports invalid for travel to North Korea. Furthermore, the United States and its allies should pivot to a program of putting nonviolent pressure on the North Korean regime. Washington should tell the truth about China's support of Pyongyang, increase aid to defectors who try to pierce the curtain of censorship that keeps North Koreans in the dark and punish any company or bank that does business with the regime. Putting the United States at the same table as lawless thugs isn't just morally repugnant -- it's ineffective. The free world should devote more effort to a better form of diplomacy that makes life difficult for its opponents.

Kenneth Bae and Matthew Miller released by North Korea . Agreement may be sign of more deals to come, says Christian Whiton . Whiton: Kim regime is demonstrating knowledge about U.S. politics . Time for U.S. to stop 'romancing' North Korea, he says .

(CNN) -- The push to plug the plumbing problem from hell at Fukushima Daiichi is about to get some help from a U.S.-built robot designed to search for leaks from one of the Japanese nuclear plant's crippled reactors. Built in Colorado by California-based nuclear cleanup contractor Kurion, the refrigerator-sized robot will stick a 15-foot mechanical arm through a hole in the main floor of the reactor building. The arm is equipped with radiation-shielded cameras and capable of lifting 100 pounds. It can also carry cutting tools -- either a set of heavy-duty shears or a high-pressure water jet that can cut steel. Kurion custom-built the device to peer into the basement of the Unit 2 reactor building, most of which remains off-limits to humans. The reactor is believed to be leaking highly radioactive coolant water through a rupture in a donut-shaped chamber at the base of the reactor. Matt Cole, Kurion's engineering director, said the arm will be used to inspect three areas around that chamber, known as the suppression pool, for suspected leaks. If found, other robots -- some still to be developed -- will be dispatched to repair the damage, he said. "I think it certainly will solve part of that mystery," Cole said. "They know there is a leak because of the balance of water, but they don't know exactly where that leak is." A nearly 50-foot wall of water slammed into Fukushima Daiichi in the historic earthquake and tsunami that struck eastern Japan in March 2011. The wave flooded the plant and knocked out power to the cooling systems of the three reactors that were running at the time. The result was the world's worst nuclear accident since the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, as the reactors overheated and spewed radioactive particles into the environment. Though no deaths have been directly attributed to the Fukushima Daiichi accident, about 138,000 people who were forced to flee homes as far as 25 miles away are still living in temporary housing. The damage to reactors 1 and 3 was dramatically visible, as massive hydrogen explosions blew apart their concrete housings in the first days of the accident. But what happened in No. 2 has largely remained a mystery. Four days after the tsunami, operators reported hearing a bang from deep within the reactor, probably from another hydrogen explosion, and a spike in radiation levels. The unit's turbine plant soon filled with water that was loaded with nuclear wastes, backing up through service tunnels and spilling into the neighboring Pacific Ocean. "Some places, the radiation is too high, so people cannot get in," said Mayumi Yoshida, a spokeswoman for The Tokyo Electric Power Company, which owns the plant. In other parts, workers who go in "have to come out within a few minutes," she said. Three years later, operators are still having to pump more than four tons of water an hour -- 26,000 gallons every day -- into each reactor to keep them cool, Yoshida said. That water builds up in the basements of the reactor buildings, along with hundreds of tons of groundwater that seeps in every day. TEPCO has had to collect and store thousands of tons of radioactive water in tank farms around the site and is struggling to keep it from leaking back into the environment. Robots have been able to explore some of the buildings, but have yet to get a good picture of what happened to the suppression pool, Yoshida said. Estimates provided to Kurion indicate that dozens of gallons per hour are escaping from the leak its robot was designed to locate, Cole said. The device was designed to fit through doors in the damaged building and be installed in a first-floor space where radiation levels are elevated, but still accessible to workers, Cole said. From there, it will reach through the floor and into a basement where hourly radiation exposure would be dozens of times higher than what a typical person receives in a year, according to TEPCO figures. "Success for us would be to get clear confirmation of where the leaks are, so that the next phase of the work can be planned," Cole said. Engineers eventually want to fill the primary containment vessel surrounding the No. 2 reactor with water, but to do that, they have to fix the leaks, Yoshida said. The device was shipped to Japan in early May and is expected to be in operation by late summer, Kurion says. The company already has built a system that chills and filters long-lived radioactive cesium out of the reactor coolant -- a mechanism it boasts of having put into operation within five weeks. Residents cleared to return home amid ongoing contamination fears . How Fukushima changed world's attitudes to nuclear power .

Robot to poke its arm into basement of ruined Japanese nuclear reactor . The arm can lift 100 pounds and cut steel . The goal is to find a long-suspected coolant leak in Fukushima's No. 2 reactor . "I think it certainly will solve part of that mystery," engineer says .

(CNN) -- The stench of the burnt bodies was so potent, Abu Jafar said, he could smell it from 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) away. "It smells awful because the regime appears to have burnt so many bodies recently," the opposition activist said Sunday from the beleaguered city of Homs. "Some cars arrived this morning and carried away dead bodies. We are not sure where." Read more: Deadly day in Syria as diplomats talk . Jafar's account comes a day after what may be the deadliest day yet in Syria's 21-month civil war, according to opposition figures. Lakhdar Brahimi, the joint U.N.-Arab League envoy, gave a dire warning Sunday on the rapidly deteriorating situation in Syria. "If nearly 50,000 people have been killed in about two years, do not expect just 25,000 people to die next year -- maybe 100,000 will die," he told reporters in Cairo. "The pace is increasing," he said. "A solution is still possible, but it is only getting more complicated every day," Brahimi added. "Had we dealt more carefully with this conflict in 2011, it would have been much easier to resolve it. There is no question that it is much harder today." Read more: 'Til death do us part: Marriage destroyed by war . Brahimi met Sunday with Nabil Elaraby, secretary-general of the Arab League. On Saturday, Brahimi met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Russia and China have used their veto power in the U.N. Security Council to block some of the toughest resolutions proposed against the Syrian regime. Read more: Official: Russia invites head of Syrian opposition for talks . Traveling heavily in hopes of brokering a halt to the war, Brahimi said last week he is pinning his hopes on the formation of a transitional government in Damascus that would hold power until an election. At least 397 people were killed across the country Saturday, the opposition Local Coordination Committees of Syria said. At least 143 deaths were reported Sunday, including 10 children. The LCC said Saturday's death toll included more than 200 people who were captured and "field executed" by Syrian soldiers in the Homs suburb of Deir Baalbeh after Syrian forces won a battle there. Read more: As Syria suffering spirals, envoy hopes for political transition . The group's representative in Deir Baalbeh said he could only personally account for 27 deaths, but said a Syrian soldier who had been captured by rebels said government forces killed at least 200 people in the suburb. The group posted video of several men's bodies lined up in a grassy field with wounds to the head, in what it claimed was footage taken by witnesses. Jafar said he believes Deir Baalbeh was targeted "because it is the main gate to reach the Khaldiya neighborhood, which has been under the control of the rebels." Syrian state-run TV confirmed there was conflict in the area but said that government forces had been chasing down "terrorists." News footage showed bodies that appeared to have been dragged across the floor in a building, leaving long trails of blood behind. Read more: U.S. officials: Syria using more accurate, Iranian-made missiles . The news report said forces had killed "several terrorists" in the Deir Baalbeh area. The government frequently refers to rebels seeking to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad as "terrorists." But another opposition activist in Homs, Hadi Abdallah, said the situation in nearby Deir Baalbeh "is only turning from bad to worse." "Smoke is rising from Deir Baalbeh this morning, and a stench is coming out of some of its streets due to the burning of some corpses by the regime forces," Abdallah said Sunday. "What is noticeable in the bodies we found yesterday and today in Deir Baalbeh is that they appear to have been slaughtered at the neck and then burned, including women and children. Others appear to have been killed from knife and bullet wounds." Read more: Syrian military police chief defects to join 'the people's revolution' Syria's state-run news agency SANA said Sunday that the military has been killing many terrorists. One army unit "killed several terrorists and injured many others" and destroyed launchers of locally made missiles that the terrorists had used to attack orchards in the Maartamasrin area in Idlib province, SANA reported. CNN cannot independently confirm casualty and other reports as Syria's government has severely restricted access to the country. CNN's Hamdi Alkhshali contributed to this report.

NEW: At least 143 people were killed Sunday, a Syrian opposition group says . Syria says its military killed terrorists who were attacking orchards . Saturday may have been the deadliest day of the conflict . There could be 100,000 deaths in Syria next year, envoy says .

(CNN) -- For the elite basketball stars of the NBA and WNBA, winning Olympic gold is a given. Silver is for the losers. The U.S. men's team has been champion 13 out of 16 times since 1936. American women have topped the podium six out of eight. "Second place is unacceptable," says legendary center Hakeem Olajuwon, who was in the U.S. "Dream Team" that topped the podium in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. With teammates such as Shaquille O'Neal, Charles Barkley and Scottie Pippen, the Nigerian-American, who was born in Lagos, quickly came to realize that reality. "Coming to the United States, being there for so long, then it becomes -- you are expected to win gold," he told CNN's Aiming for Gold show. Olajuwon, who is rated one of the greatest 50 NBA players of all time, came into the Atlanta Games having helped Houston Rockets win back-to-back NBA titles in 1994 and 1995. Security presence . While he enjoyed winning Olympic gold, the sheer fame of the Dream Team left them surrounded by an all-pervading security presence and he felt he missed out on the Games experience. "We can't go anywhere -- we weren't even free to go to the (athletes') village. So it was a different experience from that perspective. "The opening day you get all the different athletes but after that, of course, for security issues the Dream Team were by themselves." But he added: "The Olympic gold medal is a huge accomplishment and so is my career with NBA basketball. I'm just happy that I get the opportunity to accomplish both." Olajuwon retired in 2002 but is still involved in the game, acting as a mentor for the likes of current superstars LeBron James and Kobe Bryant. Argentina's Luis Scola followed in Olajuwan's footsteps at Houston Rockets and to the top of the Olympic podium. The Nightmare Team . The forward center achieved the feat at the 2004 Games in Athens, on the way beating a U.S. lineup which acquired the unfortunate label of "The Nightmare Team." It was a stunning upset, but proof that the rest of the world had raised their standards to match America's NBA elite. "I take a lot of pride in the gold medal because of the whole experience that happened behind it," he told CNN. "When you talk to somebody here in the U.S. and they find out you played in the Olympics and they are like, 'Wow, the Olympics?' 'Yeah.' 'How did you do?' 'We won it.' They are stunned, they cannot believe it really." U.S. basketball chiefs were sufficiently stunned to revamp its organization and coaching staff so by the 2008 Olympics in Beijing traditional dominance had been restored. Scola and his Argentina teammates took the bronze medal in China. He will be in an Argentina squad attempting to cause another upset at the 2012 Olympics in London, but believes U.S. success is almost inevitable. "There are three big sports here: baseball, American football and basketball. Basketball is really the only one that's played in the Olympics. So I think that plays a role too. "There's a lot of talent in the U.S., a lot of talent. There's 10 different teams you can pick players from and that will be a very good team and eventually you can win a medal or a gold medal, no question about that." Women's star . For WNBA legend Lisa Leslie, defeat at the Olympics just wasn't an option. She played in four Games and won four golds with an all-conquering U.S. squad from 1996 to 2008. "I really loved that moment of being on the podium and having the gold medal placed around my neck, just listening to the chants and listening to our national anthem -- that always gives me chills," she told CNN. "That was my favorite sports moment." Boosted by her record 488 points, 241 rebounds and 36 blocked shots in Olympic competition, Leslie and her teammates had a remorseless winning attitude. "Our main goal was one game at a time, one country, one goal, and that's to win a gold medal." Leslie, who retired from the Los Angeles Sparks in 2009, will go down in history as the first woman to complete a slam dunk in a professional game. The six foot five inch center achieved the feat in 2002 and went on to make it her trademark during a glittering career.

United States has dominated men's and women's Olympic basketball . Legendary center Hakeem Olajuwon played in 1996 "Dream Team" Luis Scola was in Argentina team which snapped U.S. domination in 2004 . WNBA star Lisa Leslie won four straight gold medals for U.S..from 1996-2008 .

(CNN)Last week, I was among 14 American Muslims who met with President Barack Obama at the White House, where I delivered a handmade Valentine's Day card from two California sisters, Sabrina and Saniya. Sabrina, who is 10, told the President that she likes how he's running the country, and that she plans to be an engineer or a basketball player when she grows up. She also wrote that she was worried about kids being mean to her because of her Muslim faith and asked for the President's help amid the growing crisis of anti-Muslim hate. This week, my heart sank as I read every parent's worst nightmare in the news: Three bright-eyed young Americans had been brutally slain in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Deah Shaddy Barakat; his new wife, Yusor Abu-Salha; and her sister Razan Abu-Salha were charitable, optimistic and promising individuals who were determined to make the world a better place, but whose lives were viciously ripped away. As the facts unfold, many indications lead us to believe that this is likely a hate crime. Yusor Abu-Salha's father has repeatedly stated that his daughter told the family that the neighbor didn't like them because of the way they looked. The accused killer's social media posts frequently attacked religion. And the manner of death: bullets to the head. Sadly, this incident is not an isolated tragedy. Hate crimes and anti-Muslim bigotry have been escalating at an alarming rate, causing fear among families and communities of heinous attacks exactly like the one we witnessed in North Carolina. In the last few months, we have seen public figures engage in rhetoric that has only added fuel to the fire of anti-Muslim hate and bigotry. Just a few weeks ago, Texas state Rep. Molly White posted on her Facebook page about an upcoming Texas Muslim Capitol Day where students get to engage with elected leaders. In her post, White indicates that she left "instructions to staff to ask representatives from the Muslim community to renounce Islamic terrorist groups and publicly announce allegiance to America" when they visit her office. A few months before, White posted that "Muslims cannot be trusted no matter how peaceful they appear." Earlier, in January, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal warned Americans of fabricated "no-go zones" in the United States where non-Muslims are not allowed to go, and insisted that immigration by Muslims should be viewed as an "invasion," clearly not grasping the fact that Muslims have been a part of America since their forced migration on slave ships. And it gets worse. Since the release of the movie "American Sniper," we have seen ugly and threatening messages on social media. One Twitter user said the film "makes me wanna go shoot some (expletive) Arabs." Another Twitter user suggested that people look up the list of mosques and Islamic schools in the United States (he provided them a link to a community website that compiles the names and locations of these institutions) and then attack them with guns and other heavy ammunition pictured in his tweet. Hate-filled rhetoric and threats of violence have popped up in every facet of our society. As a Muslim, it is difficult to go about my life without my faith being attacked on social media, on mainstream cable news and in my community. At last week's meeting, I asked the President to host a summit to examine discrimination directed at people of faith in America. While Obama announced Friday that the FBI has begun an inquiry into Tuesday's horrific killings in North Carolina, now, more than ever, we need the President and Attorney General Holder to speak from the podium and personally address the larger issue of anti-Muslim bigotry. Furthermore, it is critical for Holder, our nation's chief law enforcement officer, to direct and complete a rigorous federal investigation on the attack and make it clear that violence against anyone based on how they look or how they pray will not be tolerated. In fact, 150 organizations have signed onto a letter asking Holder for such an investigation. As Americans, we want all our children to grow up with the same opportunities. We want all our families to be able to practice our faiths and be part of communities that celebrate and welcome diversity. We want to keep our communities safe from acts of violence. Today, Muslim, Arab, Sikh and South Asian-American parents are hugging their children a little tighter, feeling helpless to protect them from others who hate them simply because of how they look or the way they pray. As we carry the torch for Deah, Yusor and Razan and remember the great things they accomplished in their beautiful lives, let us also honor their memory by ensuring that young children such as Sabrina and Saniya are not targets of future hate crimes. Let us assure tomorrow's rising stars that they can grow up in a world where they don't have to fear their fellow Americans. Let us create a nation where Sabrina doesn't feel the need to ask her President to protect her from hate.

Farhana Khera: Hate crimes and anti-Muslim bigotry have been escalating at alarming rate . Khera says 150 groups are urging investigation of Chapel Hill killings as hate crime .

(CNN) -- The man leading the hunt for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 says the search is the most difficult in human history, but modern technology greatly increases the chances of finding the missing plane. The four underwater signals that search teams detected are still "the most promising lead" investigators have in the search for the Boeing 777, Angus Houston told CNN's Anna Coren on Monday. But are they all pings from the plane's data recorders? A Wall Street Journal report Monday said authorities increasingly believe only the first two signals detected are relevant to the search. And a U.S. Navy source told CNN that Navy officials assisting in the search are sharing the signal data with U.S. agencies and consultants for "re-analysis," adding that searchers have more confidence in the first two pings detected. Houston told CNN it's still too soon to rule out any of the signals. "Analysis on all four detections is continuing," he said. "At this point in time, it is too early to discount any of the acoustic detections." The pings have played a key role in shaping the search for the plane, which went missing March 8 during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people onboard. Houston told CNN the hunt for the plane is even more difficult than that for Air France Flight 447, which disappeared in the Atlantic Ocean in 2009. "The big difference between Air France 447 and MH370 is that the last known position, in terms of MH370, is at the top of the Malacca Straits, and then the aircraft continued to fly for an extended period after that," Houston told CNN's Anna Coren on Monday. "Whereas Air France, they had a very good last known position, which then turned out to be very close to where the aircraft was eventually found." But he said searchers are performing "groundbreaking work" with satellite analysis, which has helped isolate the search area in the Indian Ocean. "Without that, we would be essentially searching the whole of the Indian Ocean, and I think the chances of finding the aircraft in those circumstances would have been slim," Houston said. "I think by having this defined search area ... I think eventually we will find the aircraft." Houston is the chief search coordinator for the Joint Agency Coordination Centre, based in Australia. He said his greatest concern throughout the two-month search has been the families of those on board. "To have a set of circumstances where you don't know what's happened to your loved ones in circumstances such as this, it's just a terrible, terrible emotional trauma of all of those involved," he said. "And beyond that, the wider public has a great interest in what happened here because we all fly in airplanes, and we all fly long distances over water, and a lot of people want to know what happened and why it happened." Hunt for MH370 gets deeper, broader, pricier . About criticism of Malaysia . Since the plane disappeared on March 8 with 239 people on board, the Malaysian government has been criticized for its response and accusations that it has not been transparent. Houston said he believes Malaysia has been forthcoming. "I think some of the commentary about what the Malaysians have done, I don't think is as fair and objective as it might have been," Houston said. "People are looking for answers, and there are no answers at the moment. That's the difficulty." 'It just disappeared' Houston said he understands why many families are frustrated by the lack of information. "Initially, the aircraft -- well, simply put, it just disappeared. And I guess in this day and age, that surprised a lot of people," he said. But such a disappearance is quite possible if the transponder or anything on the aircraft that transmits signals is turned off. "I think that's something that we, as a world community, have to correct as soon as possible," Houston said. "We need to have jetliners that are equipped with some sort of tracking device that can't be turned off, that can be tracked all of the time. And with satellite technology available, I think that can be done in the near future." On the same day that Houston spoke, a satellite communications company said it would begin providing a free global airline tracking service. Inmarsat, the company whose satellite had the last known contact with Flight 370, said it proposed the service to the International Civil Aviation Organization ahead of the ICAO's conference on aircraft tracking this week. "This service is being offered to all 11,000 commercial passenger aircraft, which are already equipped with an Inmarsat satellite connection," the company said in a statement. It said the tracking would cover "virtually 100% of the world's long haul commercial fleet." CNN's Rene Marsh and Catherine E. Shoichet contributed to this report.

NEW: Angus Houston says underwater signals remain "the most promising lead" "Groundbreaking work" with satellite analysis will help find the plane, he says . Houston defends Malaysia's response to the missing plane . Inmarsat offers free global airline tracking to all 11,000 commercial passenger planes .

(CNN) -- In the wake of this month's Senate report graphically detailing acts of torture by the CIA at Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere, the American Psychological Association announced it is actively investigating collusion of its members with the torture program at Guantanamo. Meanwhile, a decision last week by my own professional association, the American Institute of Architects, or AIA, suggests that impunity for all may be the order of the day. Despite years of advocacy and formal requests, the AIA -- which claims as its members a majority of the roughly 110,000 architects in the United States -- has officially declined to add specific language to its code of ethics that would prohibit the design of torture chambers in U.S. prisons and around the world. In doing so, it cites anti-trust concerns and the potential difficulty of enforcing the prohibition, but it ignores the claims of human rights. To be sure, the AIA's ethics code contains aspirational language that broadly states, "Members should uphold human rights in all their professional endeavors." Contrast that, for example, with the code of the American Medical Association or the World Medical Association Tokyo Declaration on Torture, which reads, "The physician shall not provide any premises, instruments, substances, or knowledge to facilitate the practice of torture." That leaves providing the premises for torture up to us architects, and as far as the AIA is concerned, we are open for business. Yes, the prisons at Guantanamo had architects. The design of Camp 6 was based on the Lenawee County, Michigan, jail, according to its architect. Other camps were built with prefabricated steel prison cells, a popular jail-building technology that may well have been used to construct the CIA's "black site" prisons overseas. The only apparent justification for the additional expense and complexity of building on such remote sites with no access to local labor or building materials was that these were places where the legal system could not interfere with indefinite detention and "enhanced interrogation techniques." The AIA's decision not to prohibit design for torture is not just about a handful of egregious projects, however, despite the horrific and planned-for consequences for some of the occupants taken to those buildings. It's also about the design of spaces in more conventional prisons intended for prolonged solitary confinement: a practice roundly regarded as a form of torture by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture. These organizations are but some of the human rights advocates that wrote letters urging the AIA to enact a prohibition. Here in the United States, about 20,000 people are held in solitary confinement in one of 45 or so specially designed "supermax" prisons, and some 60,000 more are held in "segregation wings" and "security housing units" in state prisons and "the hole" in county jails. While architects cannot be held responsible for unintended uses of the spaces they design, the intention of most of these spaces is clear from the get-go. The use of remote-controlled doors, individualized cellular "recreation yards" and solid cell fronts with special pass-through slots are all architectural features that enable and deepen isolation, leading inexorably to psychological pain. Half of all prison suicides happen to the approximately 4% of people in solitary confinement. Architecture facilitates this suffering and these deaths. In the face of the Senate's torture report, citizens can by and large only watch the different branches of government contest what happened. But just as all Americans are stained and put at risk by our country's reputation for torture, all of us have opportunities within the multiple roles we play in life to reject torture and enact accountability. As citizens, it is our responsibility to vote out torturers and to demand prosecutions of perpetrators so that torture will never happen again. Likewise, all licensed professionals have a responsibility to protect the health, safety and welfare of the public. And, for me and my fellow architects, we must further protect our values by changing building codes and industry standards as new challenges emerge (often after a major building disaster). The unwillingness of American's leading architectural association to prohibit the design of torture facilities is a shocking, shameful and deeply troubling statement. It refuses to place any limit on the potential role of design in human rights violations, even the most egregious. Accountability begins at home. Unless and until the AIA revisits the issue, American architects are represented by a professional association whose ethical boundaries include the facilitation of torture. So, back to business: How far apart should those ceiling shackles be? What dimensions did you want for that waterboard? And of course I think it all looks best in black. Join us on Facebook.com/CNNOpinion.

Raphael Sperry: AIA declined specific prohibition on architects designing torture chambers . He says group chose not to follow organizations like the AMA in banning involvement . Professionals have responsibility to protect health, safety, welfare, Sperry says .

(CNN) -- Tom Daley wanted the world to hear the truth straight from his mouth. The 19-year-old diver, who was one of Britain's heart-throb poster-boys for the London 2012 Olympics, took to YouTube Monday to reveal he is in a relationship with a man. After complaining that he had been misquoted in an interview over his sexuality, Daley recorded a five-minute clip before tweeting: "Got something I need to say...not been an easy decision to make, hope you can support me! :)." In the short video, he said: "In spring this year my life changed massively when I met someone, and they make me feel so happy, so safe and everything just feels great. "That someone is a guy." Earlier this year, in September, the London 2012 bronze medalist was voted the world's sexiest man by leading gay magazine, Attitude. While Daley has always been cautious in commenting on his private life, he felt the time was right to make the revelation after being angered by quotes attributed to him in a recent interview. He said: "One thing I consider to be pretty important is having a private life and you're probably thinking, 'Why did you do a book, why did you do a documentary?' "In an ideal world I wouldn't be doing this video because it wouldn't matter, but recently I was misquoted in an interview and it made me feel really angry. "For me honesty is important and I've always been honest. I may have been vague in some of my answers, but I've always been honest. "One thing I've never really felt that comfortable with talking about is relationships. I've never really had a serious relationship to talk about." Daley said he has been dating the man for several months. "It did take me by surprise a little bit," he said. "I did have in the back of my mind that something like that could happen. "It wasn't until spring this year that something just clicked and felt right. My whole world just changed there and then. "Of course I still fancy girls. Right now I'm dating a guy and couldn't be happier. I feel safe and it really does just feel right. People are going to have their own opinions and I think people are going to make a big deal about this. "Is it a big deal? I don't think so. I wanted to say something and I feel like now I am ready to do it." Daley shot to prominence in 2008 after reaching the finals of both the individual 10-meter platform and 10-meter platform synchro events at the Beijing Olympics at the age of 14. He has since go on to establish himself as a celebrity both in and out of the diving arena, gaining over 2.4 million Twitter followers and even having his own television show in the UK, called "Splash." His life in the public eye has not come without its problems. Daley suffered bullying at school and was subjected to vile online abuse last year after placing fourth in the synchro event at London 2012, before bouncing back to stand on the podium in the individual competition. He also lost his father Rob in 2011 following a five-year battle with cancer. But Daley says his announcement would not have been a problem for his father, although he does concede there have been "mixed opinions" within his family. "People think: what would your dad say? He always said to me, 'As long as you are happy, I'm happy.' And right now I couldn't be happier. "My mum (Debbie) has been so supportive as well. All the friends and family I have told have been so supportive, which has been great. "I told the rest of my family today, and let's just say they had mixed opinions. Lots of them did not believe it. Lots of them wanted me to keep it quiet. "I didn't want to get my words twisted. I wanted to put an end to all the rumors and speculation, and just say it and tell you guys. It's what I want to do. "My friends and family are always there to support me. And I hope you guys can be too. I mean I'm still Tom, I still want to win an Olympic gold medal in Rio 2016 for Great Britain. I am still as motivated as ever to do that. It would be great to have you guys on that journey, too." Daley will now head to Houston, Texas, for the Team GB training camp until Christmas. He follows other leading divers in making a public statement about their sexuality. Australia's Matthew Mitcham announced he was homosexual before he won gold in Beijing, while four-time Olympic champion Greg Louganis came out as gay after quitting the sport in 1995.

British diving star Tom Daley reveals he is in a gay relationship . The 19-year-old announces the news in a YouTube clip . Daley says he is still attracted to girls, but has never been happier . He won bronze medal at the London Olympics in the 10-meter platform .

(CNN) -- Defending champion Serena Williams breezed past Germany's Angelique Kerber in her opening match at the WTA Championships in Istanbul's Sinan Erdem Dome on Tuesday. The world No.1 needed just 65 minutes to overpower the World No.9 winning 6-3, 6-1 as she looks to seal a fourth WTA Championships crown and an incredible 11th title this season. "I feel really good -- I think I served very well -- and she's beaten me before so I was just a little nervous and so focused going into this match. I felt like I was going to have to play well to win," Williams said. "I'm actually happy about my match and I never say that! I'm really excited about that. I've been working really hard since the Open and hopefully I can continue with that here." Earlier, World No.2 Victoria Azarenka was made to work a little harder against Sara Errani. The Belarusian eventually came thorough 7-6, 6-2 but only after her Italian opponent sustained a calf injury at the start of the second set. Errani battled bravely but couldn't stop Azarenka bringing an end to a three-match losing streak which began at the U.S. Open final where she lost to Williams. That defeat was followed by consecutive first round exits at events in Tokyo, where she lost to sister Venus before she was dumped out in the first round of the China Open in Beijing by Germany's Andrea Petkovic. "I was missing a little bit too much at the beginning but I turned it around," Azarenka said after beating Errani. "It was a little bit difficult to focus in the second set because I didn't know what was going on (with Errani's injury). Even after the time-out, she was returning unbelievably and fought until the last point." Sixth seed Petra Kvitova had a good head-to-head record going into her match against Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska and once again came out on top. The Czech triumphed in straight sets 6-4, 6-4 to improve her match record against the World No.4 to 5-1 and secure her 50th win in a WTA match this year. The season finale features the top eight singles players and the top four doubles pairings who are competing for a $6 million prize pot. Wawrinka crashes out in Basel . Two ATP Tour 500 events are taking place this week as the top men look to secure their place at the season-ending World Tour Finals at the O2 Arena in London which start on November 4. Home favorite Stanislas Wawrinka crashed out in the first round of the World Tour 500 event in Basel, Switzerland going down in straight sets 6-4, 6-3 to Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France. The Swiss No.2 is currently eighth in the rankings, but seventh in the Race to London given that Andy Murray has withdrawn from the event. Wawrinka can secure his place at the London finals with a good showing at the Paris Masters next week. Read more: Andy Murray to step up comeback . Tomas Berdych also suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Croatian Ivo Karlovic. The 34-year-old veteran dispatched the World No.6 4-6, 7-6, 7-6. Berdych would have guaranteed a place at the World Tour Finals in London if he had reached the semifinals in Basel, but will now have wait until next week to seal a top eight slot. Elsewhere, there were comfortable wins for Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis who overcame Germany's Benjamin Becker 7-6, 6-1, and Croatia's Ivan Dodig, who is through to the second round after his opponent Carlos Berlocq retired after two games. Meanwhile at the ATP Tour event in Valencia, Spain's Nicolas Almagro is safely through to the second round after beating compatriot Pablo Andujar 6-2, 6-3. But there was disappointment for the Spanish crowd as Fernando Verdasco went down 6-3 7-6 to Polish qualifier Michal Przysiezny and Feliciano Lopez lost out 6-3, 6-1 to France's Julien Benneteau. Przysiezny's compatriot Jerzy Janowicz also overcame Spanish opposition defeating Pablo Carreno 7-5, 7-6. Russia's Mikhail Youzhny is through to the second round after Bernard Tomic retired. The Australian pulled out of the match when he was trailing 4-1 in the final set.

Serena Williams starts defense of WTA Championship title with win over Angelique Kerber . World No.2 Victoria Azarenka also a winner on Tuesday beating Sara Errani 7-6, 6-2 . Stanislas Wawrinka crashes out of home ATP Tour 500 event in Basel, Switzerland .