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United Nations (CNN) -- On Tuesday, it was climate change. Wednesday, terrorists. And on Thursday, President Barack Obama confronted yet another emergency that threatens wide destruction overseas: the Ebola outbreak spreading in West Africa. Crisis management has become a hallmark of Obama's second term, perhaps seen nowhere better than at the annual United Nations General Assembly, where the world's leaders -- and their attendant calamities -- converge upon New York. Obama's three main issues here -- climate change, ISIS and Ebola -- each has the potential to rapidly spiral out of control, officials suggest, with the effects of a warming planet already being registered and Americans overseas already being killed both by terrorists with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and by the deadly virus spreading in Africa. Ebola patients left to lie on the ground . Hoping to demonstrate to fellow leaders his government's handle on the problems, Obama said Wednesday that the U.S. "will not be distracted or deterred from what must be done" when it comes to helping solve the world's problems. But throughout his 48 hours at the United Nations, Obama made clear he wasn't going to take it all on himself. "We cannot do this alone," he said during remarks at a session on combating Ebola, which has struck three countries in West Africa and prompted a large-scale U.S. military effort to stop its spread. CDC: Ebola cases could reach at least 550,000 by January . "We don't have the capacity to do all of this by ourselves," he said, adding, "I hope I'm properly communicating the sense of urgency here. Do not stand by thinking that somehow because of what we've done, that it's taken care of. It's not." That warning of the limits to U.S. power is broadly the same message Obama wanted to deliver on climate change and ISIS, which he focused on this week. Both threats, Obama said at various points, will require coalitions of governments to act rather than the U.S. alone. U.N. Security Council unanimously passes anti-terror resolution . "Nobody gets a pass" when it comes to reducing carbon emissions, Obama said, singling out China as a country that has a "special responsibility" to figure out ways of emitting fewer gases that scientists believe lead to global warming. As he directs the U.S. to rein in pollution from coal-powered plants, Obama hopes other nations that emit large amounts of carbon will follow along, though commitments from China, India and Russia have been modest. Without firm plans from those countries to reduce carbon use, climate experts say, there's little hope of turning around warming trends that threaten the global population. Marchers sound urgent call for climate change ahead of U.N. assembly . So, too, will the threat from ISIS be contained only through coalition pressure, Obama and his aides maintained at the U.N. "We cannot do this for you" was his message to newly elected Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi during a meeting Wednesday, saying that any resolution to Iraq's problems could come only from a lasting, inclusive government. The coalition of Arab countries that joined in the U.S. air campaign over Syria -- a victory for Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry -- can help "de-legitimize" the ideology espoused by ISIS, U.S. officials say, making the group an essential part of Obama's war plan. "This is not America's fight alone," he said Tuesday before leaving for the global gathering in New York. The long, slow fight against ISIS: Airstrikes, failures on the ground . Commitments have been forthcoming, including a unanimous vote at the Security Council for new standards in stemming the flow of foreign fighters. But even that measure will be hard to enforce, underscoring the difficultly in getting even like-minded nations moving in the same direction. "Resolutions alone will not be enough," Obama said. "Promises on paper cannot keep us safe. "The words spoken here today must be matched and translated into action, into deeds -- concrete action, within nations and between them, not just in the days ahead but for years to come."

Obama made clear at the U.N. that the U.S. isn't going to take the world's problems alone . Obama's main issues at U.N. -- ISIS, climate change, Ebola -- could spiral out of control . "Resolutions alone will not be enough. Promises on paper cannot keep us safe."

(CNN) -- Congress has moved to prevent money from the proposed $825 billion stimulus package from being used for zoos, aquariums, golf courses, swimming pools and casinos, an effort to ensure the bill funds only what it calls the "highest quality" infrastructure projects. Restrictions added to the stimulus proposal would keep the money from zoo projects, among other things. "The purpose of this bill is to direct funding at projects that are primarily and clearly aimed at benefiting the economic conditions of communities and the public at large," the bill states. "The federal government and all other levels of government are directed to look with a skeptical eye at projects that don't meet that test." CNN revealed last month that a list of "ready to go" stimulus projects endorsed by the U.S. Conference of Mayors included museum and zoo renovations, aquatic centers, skateboard parks and bike and horse paths. One of the zoo projects in the report is a $4.8 million polar bear exhibit at the Providence, Rhode Island, zoo. The House Appropriations Committee added those restrictions last week after criticism from watchdog groups like the National Taxpayers Union, which monitors government spending. "To the people supporting them, these proposals aren't a joke," said Pete Sepp, the group's vice president. "But to the taxpayers funding them, yes this will be a joke for them, only they won't be laughing." The restrictions in the bill appear meant to address reports about some of the projects endorsed by the U.S. mayors, Sepp said. The stimulus bill, known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, has been placed on the congressional fast-track. It could come to a vote in the full House of Representatives as soon as Wednesday, and Democratic leaders have said they aim to get the package to President Obama's desk for enactment by Presidents Day. Watch Obama say he's optimistic after discussing the bill with GOP leaders » . "A historical level of transparency, oversight and accountability will help guarantee taxpayer dollars are spent wisely and Americans can see results for their investment," Rep. Dave Obey, the Wisconsin Democrat who leads the Appropriations Committee, said in a statement. The committee also added language that would prevent any money given to the state of Illinois from being handled by the state's impeached governor, Rod Blagojevich. Blagojevich faces federal charges accusing him of attempting to trade or sell the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Obama after his November election, and the state Senate began his trial Monday. The governor denies any wrongdoing and has skipped his impeachment trial to proclaim his innocence on the talk-show circuit. The measure sets up project monitoring, including a government-wide recovery program Web site, where all announcements for grant competitions, formula grant allocations and competitive grant awards must be listed. In addition, government agencies must publish on the site, "a description of all infrastructure projects, and the total cost and the justification for using stimulus money." The strict rules require that the notification include "the name of a person to contact at the entity if there are concerns with the investment and an e-mail address for the federal official in each agency whom the public can contact," the bill states. "Also included within the notification must be a certification from the mayor or governor or other chief executive, as appropriate, that the investment has received the full review and vetting required by law and that they accept responsibility that this investment is an appropriate use of taxpayer dollars." A Recovery Act Accountability and Transparency Board will be created "to review management of recovery dollars and provide early earning of problems," according to a summary of the bill provided by the appropriations committee. The board will include inspectors general and deputy cabinet secretaries. The stimulus package is already being taken up by key committees in the Senate, where Majority Leader Harry Reid -- from casino-heavy Nevada -- said he is not concerned about the House restrictions on money going to casinos. "Casinos are a huge part of Nevada's economy and create a lot of jobs," Reid told CNN on Tuesday. "But none of the spending in this bill is earmarked for any casino, so this provision is largely symbolic."

House panel adds restrictions to stimulus bill after criticism from watchdog groups . Bill: Funding should go only to the "highest quality" infrastructure projects . Mayors' group had endorsed projects including horse paths, skate parks . House could vote on $825 billion stimulus package on Wednesday .

(CNN) -- It will be former world No. 1 against former world No. 1 when Maria Sharapova lines up against Caroline Wozniacki in the women's final at Indian Wells on Sunday -- a tale of two careers that have headed in opposite directions. While Sharapova completed her recovery from longterm injury problems by completing her collection of grand slam titles at last year's French Open, Wozniacki is still waiting for her first major crown as she battles to remain among the game's top 10. Sharapova returned to second in the rankings following Friday's 6-4 6-3 semifinal victory over fellow Russian Maria Kirilenko, as another former No. 1 -- defending champion Victoria Azarenka -- slipped down after pulling out of her quarterfinal clash with Wozniacki due to an ankle injury. The Dane, meanwhile, battled into her third final in four years at the Californian hard-court tournament as she came from behind to overcome German fourth seed Angelique Kerber 2-6 6-4 7-5. "Maria is a great competitor and fights for every point," Wozniacki said of her next opponent, who she thrashed in the 2011 semis on the way to winning the title. "She plays very aggressively and tries to take every ball on the rise and plays very flat -- it's going to be very tough." Sharapova, who won the desert event in 2006 and was runnerup last year, has a 4-2 advantage over the world No. 10 and won both their encounters after that Indian Wells defeat. "Caroline is dangerous when she has the opportunities to open up the court and runs you side to side," said the 25-year-old, who will be seeking her 28th WTA title while Wozniacki aims for a 21st. The 22-year-old will try to stifle Sharapova's power game on a surface that suits her patient baseline approach. "I really enjoy this tournament -- I think it shows," Wozniacki said. "I think the court suits me very well. I like that it goes fast through the air but it's a pretty slow court. "It's a game of chess out there -- if you play it here, you expect it here. 'Wait, is it short? Okay, go in and attack. Is it deep? You need to play deep back because you don't want her to attack.' "It's a game of finding out where is the toughest for the opponent to get to the ball." In the men's tournament, Rafael Nadal has reached his fourth successive final since making his comeback from longterm injury after beating sixth-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych 6-4 7-5 in the first of Saturday's semifinals. "It's completely unexpected," said Nadal, who won two out of three clay events before heading to the U.S. "To be in the final ... it's a big surprise but I'm here and I'm very, very happy." The Spaniard will face Juan Martin del Potro, who eliminated World No 1. Novak Djokovic 4-6 6-4 6-4 to end the Serb's 22-match winning streak. "He's a big challenge for me also," del Potro told reporters of Nadal. "He will want to win this tournament, for sure, and it's going to be very interesting match." Djokovic had won 17 matches since the start of the year, which included his run to a fourth Australian Open crown and the ATP title in Dubai. "It happens," Djokovic told reporters. "All the credit to my opponent today. He deserved to win because he was more composed in the important moments and he played the right shots. "He stepped into the court, where, on the other side, me, I made a lot of unforced errors and was at back of the court too passive. It's sport."

Maria Sharapova will play fellow former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki in final . Sharapova defeats fellow Russian Maria Kirilenko in semis to reach title match again . Wozniacki, the 2011 winner, reaches final at Indian Wells for third time in four years . Rafael Nadal reaches final of men's event after beating Tomas Berdych on Saturday .

London, England (CNN) -- One of Britain's most cherished maritime treasures will complete a miraculous rise from the ashes when it reopens to the public later this week. The Cutty Sark was devastated by fire in May 2007 but a £50 million ($81 million) restoration project has seen the historic vessel returned to its previous majestic glory. The 143-year-old vessel is the world's last surviving tea clipper -- a type of nineteenth century merchant sailing ship renowned for its speed -- and was once considered the epitome of commercial maritime technology. It will receive the royal seal of approval when the Queen and Prince Phillip preside over its reopening ceremony in Greenwich, London, on Wednesday. As part of the extensive restoration process the vessel has been raised 11 feet (3.3 meters) above ground, with its lower levels encased in a glass casing symbolic of the sea. See also: World's oldest warship gets $25 million revamp . This new feature enables visitors to walk underneath the ship, exposing the design and engineering feats that enabled the Cutty Sark to reach what were once record-breaking sailing speeds of 17 and a half knots (20 mph). "We have raised the ship so she'll be right up there with the best (historic ships)," Richard Doughty, chief executive of the Cutty Sark Trust, told CNN. "She's a beautiful ship, a name that everybody immediately recognizes," Doughty added. "The fire touched people's hearts (and) you value something when you think you're going to lose it." Launched from the small town of Dumbarton on the banks of the River Clyde in western Scotland in 1869, the Cutty Sark has a long and colorful history. The ship carried a wide variety of cargo during its working lifetime -- including the finest teas, wool and gunpowder -- and made frequent journeys between the UK and major trading ports in Asia, Europe, Africa, Australasia and the Americas. See also: Adventure tourism at the bottom of the sea . Most of the tea clippers to grace the waves during the same period lasted for only a few years and just seven survived into the twentieth century. By the mid-1920s, the Cutty Sark was the only one still afloat and in 1954 it was transferred to its current dry-dock site in Greenwich. Here the vessel became a symbolic memorial to Britain's 19th century maritime and colonial dominance, attracting visitors and maritime enthusiasts from all over the world. It is this rich historic significance that the restoration project hopes to convey. A number of new hi-tech educational features meanwhile have been added to augment the overall theme. "She was the fastest of her day, the last remaining tea clipper, emblematic of the importance of international trade and Britain's maritime heritage," said Jessica Lewis, curator of the Cutty Sark restoration project. "We've used a variety of media to tell the story of the ship in different ways -- oral history and reminiscences, new AV (audio visual) and digital interactives. Once up and running the offer will be enhanced with live interpretation and family events," Lewis added. The Royal Museum Greenwich, which will take over the day-to-day running of the Cutty Sark after the reopening ceremony, hope the attraction will pull in around 300,000 visitors every year. See also: Voyage to discover historic vessel of Sir Francis Drake . Although the ship doesn't officially reopen for business until Thursday, visitors to the site have been able to view the vessel from afar as the finishing touches are applied. Those canvassed by CNN were positive in their appraisal of the Cutty Sark's restored aesthetic appearance. "It's a really impressive sight," said Cathy Sertori who had traveled to London all the way from Australia. "I'd heard about the restoration project and it's such an important historical ship that we really wanted to come down and see it while we are here," Sertori added. "There is already loads to see in London but the glass feature is so impressive. It will give people a totally different perspective on the skills and design that went in to creating such a magnificent ship," she said.

The Cutty Sark will reopen to the public in London this week . $81 million has been spent restoring the historic ship . The Queen and Prince Phillip will give the vessel their royal blessing .

Philadelphia (CNN) -- When Yashodo Gurung left her mother's side at a West Philadelphia abortion clinic, she thought the 41-year-old woman was napping while she awaited her medical procedure. But now, as testimony Tuesday in the trial of the clinic's doctor indicated, Gurung wonders if maybe her mother was in fact dead when Gurung was asked by a staffer at the Women's Medical Society to return to the waiting room at the front of the clinic. "I thought she was peaceful and sleeping," the a 26-year-old Bhutanese refugee said through a translator, wiping her eyes with a tissue. Dr. Kermit Gosnell faces eight counts of murder in the deaths of seven babies and that of Gurung's mother, Karnamaya Mongar, of Virginia, who died of an anesthetic overdose during a second-trimester abortion. Authorities accuse Gosnell, 72, of using scissors to sever the spinal cords of fetuses who emerged from their mothers still alive. Medical examiner had to thaw fetal remains in Philly abortion case . He has pleaded not guilty. His defense attorney, Jack McMahon, has maintained that none of the infants was killed; rather, they were already deceased as a result of Gosnell previously administering an abortion drug. Mongar died November 19, 2009, after overdosing on anesthetics prescribed by the doctor, Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams said following the arrest of Gosnell and before a gag order was put in place preventing attorneys and now jurors from speaking to the media. Williams called the facility "a house of horrors" that performed "botched and illegal abortions" and that was full of containers of fetuses' body parts. Born in Bhutan, Mongar spent 18 years living in a bamboo hut in a Nepalese refugee camp before coming to the United States in July 2009 as part of a humanitarian resettlement program, the family's attorney, Bernard Smalley, told CNN in 2011 following the release of the grand jury report. The mother of three and grandmother of one was 19 weeks into her pregnancy when she went to Gosnell's practice. Gurung testified that while she waited with her mother for several hours, she saw her mother given multiple doses of medicine in pill form. Gurung also saw her mother receive additional medication intravenously through an IV line inserted in Mongar's hand. Mongar's brother, Damber Ghalley, who speaks English, also testified Tuesday. Ghalley told jurors he took Mongar to Gosnell's practice two days in a row. After hours inside the clinic during the second visit, Ghalley was waiting outside in his car when things turned chaotic as an ambulance and firefighters arrived on the scene, he said. "I knew something was wrong when I saw the ambulance," Ghalley testified, adding that firefighters had to use bolt cutters to open a padlocked emergency exit just to get Mongar out of the clinic on a stretcher. Ghalley said he saw Gosnell standing inside the doorway asked him what was happening. "He (Gosnell) said the procedure was done but 'Your sister's heart stopped,'" Ghalley said. Jurors also heard from Gosnell's former maintenance man, Jimmy Johnson, who testified that his duties included removing the biohazard waste from the exam rooms. Johnson said that the toilets inside the clinic would be "stopped up" at least twice a week. "When I plunged it once, particles came up," Johnson said. "What kind of particles," assistant district attorney Edward Cameron asked. "An arm came up," Johnson replied. Also on trial is Eileen O'Neill, 56, a medical school graduate who worked as a doctor at Gosnell's clinic. O'Neill, who did not have a medical license, is charged with participating in the operation of a "corrupt organization." If found guilty, Gosnell could be sentenced to death. Philadelphia abortion clinic worker pleads guilty .

Dr. Kermit Gosnell is on trial on eight counts of murder in eight deaths . The deaths are those of seven babies and a 41-year-old woman . The woman had gone to Gosnell's clinic for an abortion . Trial testimony Tuesday came from the woman's 26-year-old daughter .

(CNN) -- The Pentagon took issue Friday with the Afghan government's claim that there was a lack of evidence against 65 prisoners released this week over staunch U.S. objections. "All of these individuals are people who should not be walking the streets," said Rear Adm. John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman. "And we had strong evidence on all of them, evidence that has been ignored, and that's unsatisfactory to us." He added that the prisoners posed threats not just to U.S. forces, but also civilians, as many of the prisoners were accused of killing innocent Afghans as well. The U.S. military in Afghanistan has said some of the men are linked to attacks that killed or wounded 32 American or coalition service members and 23 Afghan security personnel or civilians. "They're still very dangerous individuals who should have remained locked up," Kirby said. "There's not going to be an active targeting campaign ... to go after them. That said, if they choose to return to the fight, they become legitimate enemies and legitimate targets." Mohammad Ishaq Aloko, the Afghan attorney general, said Thursday that the decision to release the prisoners was made "according to our law," and Abdul Shukor Dadras, head of the Afghan Review Board, said the attorney general ordered the releases from the Parwan Detention Center -- formerly known as Bagram prison -- after a careful review of 88 cases. In a statement posted on its website, the U.S. Embassy in Kabul called the move "deeply regrettable," saying the Afghan government "bears responsibility for the results of its decision." Kirby suggested the move by the Afghan government endangers the military mission there and is "unhelpful to the relationship that, that we want to have with Afghanistan." He said that Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel feels that this decision, along with other recent decisions made by Kabul "make it that much harder for many of those on the Hill in Congress to further support the Afghan missions." A 23-page document obtained by CNN Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr from a U.S. military official who asked not to be identified said about 19 of the released men were associated with direct attacks that killed or wounded 60 U.S. or coalition force members. There was no immediate explanation for the discrepancy. According to the document, 25 of the men were linked to the production or placement of IEDs; 33 tested positive for explosive residue when processed after capture; and 26 were associated with attacks that killed or wounded 57 Afghan citizens and Afghan National Security Forces. Prior to the prisoners' release, U.S. authorities had repeatedly aired their displeasure over the plans. "We have made clear our judgment that these individuals should be prosecuted under Afghan law. We requested that the cases be carefully reviewed," the U.S. military said ahead of the release. "But the evidence against them was never seriously considered, including by the attorney general, given the short time since the decision was made to transfer these cases to the Afghan legal system." NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said he was "gravely concerned" by the decision, "which appears to have been made based on political calculations and without regard for due process before the Afghan courts." In a statement, he called it "a major step backwards for the rule of law in Afghanistan." The U.S. military noted that the group included an alleged Taliban explosives expert, a suspected Haqqani network commander and a specialist accused of building and placing improvised explosive devices. Afghan President Hamid Karzai defended the releases and slammed the United States for criticizing them. "Afghanistan is a sovereign country," he said. "If the Afghan authorities decide to release a prisoner, it is of no concern to the U.S. and should be of no concern to the U.S. And I hope that the United States would stop harassing Afghanistan's procedures and judicial authority and I hope that the United States will now begin to respect Afghan sovereignty." CNN's Tom Watkins, Jethro Mullen, Catherine E. Shoichet, Qadir Sediqi, Elizabeth Joseph and Sara Mazloumsaki contributed to this report.

Admiral: If prisoners return to the fight, "they become legitimate enemies" U.S. Embassy in Kabul says the prisoner release is "deeply regrettable" U.S. military says some of those freed are linked to attacks on U.S. troops . Afghanistan says it doesn't have enough evidence to keep them behind bars .

(CNN) -- Samsung plans to challenge a U.S. court ruling that recommends more than $1 billion in damages to Apple over a patent dispute. A federal jury recommended Friday that Apple be awarded the damages after finding Samsung guilty of "willful" violations of a number of Apple's patents in the creation of its own mobile products. In a statement, Samsung said it will "move immediately to file post-verdict motions to overturn this decision in this court, and if we are not successful, we will appeal this decision to the court of appeals." The jury did not recommend awarding Samsung any money in its counterclaims that Apple had violated some of its patents. "This is a huge win for Apple," Mark Lemley, a Stanford law professor, said in an e-mail. The award "is just large enough to make it the largest surviving patent verdict in history." In aftermarket trading, Apple stock jumped more than $12 a share, to more than $675 a share. Samsung said the verdict should be viewed "as a loss for the American consumer." CNN Money: What the Apple-Samsung verdict means for your smartphone . "It will lead to fewer choices, less innovation, and potentially higher prices," the company said in a statement. "It is unfortunate that patent law can be manipulated to give one company a monopoly over rectangles with rounded corners, or technology that is being improved every day by Samsung and other companies. "Consumers have the right to choices, and they know what they are buying when they purchase Samsung products. This is not the final word in this case or in battles being waged in courts and tribunals around the world, some of which have already rejected many of Apple's claims. Samsung will continue to innovate and offer choices for the consumer." Apple praised the court for "sending a loud and clear message that stealing isn't right." "The mountain of evidence presented during the trial showed that Samsung's copying went far deeper than even we knew," the company said in a statement. An issue still to be decided is whether to grant injunctions that could prevent Samsung from selling products that infringe on Apple's patents. Judge Lucy Koh wanted both sides to be ready for a hearing on the matter in two weeks, but Samsung's team argued that wasn't enough time. A hearing was scheduled for September 20. Apple had asked for $2.7 billion in damages, claiming that Samsung "ripped off" its iPad and iPhone designs. Samsung countersued Apple for infringing on five of its patents and asked for $519 million. A nine-person jury spent two and a half days puzzling out its final verdict. Jury members used weeks of notes and memories of testimony, 109 pages of jury instructions, and boxes of evidence, including a collection of contested smartphones and tablets as their guide. The jurors had to complete a complicated 20-page verdict form filled with charts and yes or no answers to determine exactly which device violated what patents and which companies were responsible. Finally, they had to calculate the final damages amounts. Each side was given 30 minutes to go over the form and search for inconsistencies. Judge Koh and Samsung spotted a problem with the damages amount for a Galaxy Tab model. After being sent back to the jury for reconsideration, the total amount of damages was bumped down by about $2.5 million, to $1,049,343,540. After the trial was over, all nine jurors opted to leave through a back door of the courthouse to avoid speaking with the mass of reporters waiting at the front entrance. The lawsuit is the largest yet in the ongoing worldwide patent brawl between the two companies, which itself is just one battle in Apple's war against Google's Android mobile operating system. On August 24, a South Korean court found that both parties had infringed on each other's patents, banning the sale of the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, two iPad models and Samsung's Galaxy S2. The Korean court ordered Apple to pay Samsung $35,000 and Samsung to pay Apple $22,000. 19 incredible Apple secrets revealed in court . CNN's Heather Kelly, John D. Sutter, Dan Simon and Ben Brumfield contributed to this report.

Samsung says it will "move immediately to file post-verdict motions to overturn" ruling . Its statement comes after a jury recommends Samsung pay Apple in patent trial . The jury did not recommend awarding Samsung any money in its counterclaims .

(CNN) -- With just a few clicks of a mouse, kids as young as 12 can have free condoms delivered to their doors in California. News of the program's expansion to two new counties comes as the federal government approves the "morning-after pill" without a prescription for girls as young as 15. The development has garnered mixed reactions. "I would ask parents the question, 'Who should be making decisions for the best welfare of your child -- you as a parent, or the state, who has no direct connection, has no understanding, has no relationship with your child?'" San Diego-area pastor Chris Clark told CNN affiliate KSWB. "If I was 12 and hearing this 'news' and looking at my Lego blocks, I would feel like such a loser. 'Is everyone doing it but me?' Talk about pressure!" CNN commenter Song Sing Sing posted. Commenter bare_necessities "couldn't disagree more." Having received free condoms during a fifth-grade health class, bare_necessities says classmates usually used them to make balloons. "Most, if not all, of us hadn't even become interested in the other sex at that age, but I'd like to think that the experience prepared us better for when we did. Condoms don't make children more sexually active." The alarming rates of sexually transmitted diseases among teens call for immediate action, health officials say. The Condom Access Project has been around for a year. Late last month, it expanded to San Diego and Fresno counties, bringing the number of counties it serves to seven. As part of the project, anyone between 12 and 19 years old in those counties can confidentially request a pack of 10 condoms online, up to once a month. It's similar to Planned Parenthood programs that offer free condoms to teens who come to the organization's health centers. With each order, teens also receive personal lubricant to reduce breakage as well as educational information, said the California Family Health Council, which runs the Condom Access Project. So far, the program has sent nearly 30,000 condoms to youths via home mailers in the past year. "Despite broad retail availability, teens continue to face many barriers to accessing condoms," such as embarrassment, cost and confidentiality, the council said. The mail-order program targets counties that the council has designated as "STD hot-spots." "California is experiencing a near public health crisis with STD rates among teens rising to alarming levels," said Julie Rabinovitz, the council's president. "By providing sexually active teens and their parents with the tools they need to prevent STDs and unintended pregnancy, we are hoping to move the needle in the right direction." While teen pregnancy rates in the state have declined steadily over the past decade, rates of sexually transmitted diseases among California teens ages 15 to 19 are rising, the council said. In 2011, more than 42,000 cases of chlamydia and 4,800 cases of gonorrhea were reported in that age group, according to the California Department of Public Health. Out of California's 58 counties, San Diego and Fresno counties are among the highest for both chlamydia and gonorrhea cases. The program runs on a $5,000 annual budget supported by federal tax dollars, CNN affiliate KSWB reported. The health council says it operates the country's largest Title X system in the country, providing sexual and reproductive health care for more than 1 million Californians a year. It also receives support from grants and individual and corporate donations, the group said. The federal Title X Family Planning program, enacted in 1970, provides contraceptive services and preventative health care. By law, priority is given to people from low-income families, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. FDA OKs morning-after pill for ages 15 and up . CNN's Travis Sattiewhite contributed to this report.

Health council: "California is experiencing a near public health crisis with STD rates" Teens in San Diego and Fresno counties are now able to get free condoms delivered by mail . Youths in five other California counties have already received about 30,000 free condoms . The program runs on a $5,000 annual budget supported by federal tax dollars .

(CNN) -- Sens. Hillary Clinton and John McCain are pushing for a gas-tax holiday, but Sen. Barack Obama says the plan is a quick fix that would do more harm than good. Sen. Hillary Clinton campaigns this week in Wilmington, North Carolina. Gov. Mike Easley has endorsed her. McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, was the first to propose a temporary suspension of the federal gas tax. His plan would lift the 18.4 cents per gallon tax during peak summer travel months. It also would suspend the 24.4 cent diesel tax. Clinton, who rejected a similar idea in 2000, said her plan is different from McCain's. She said the Republican's proposal would cost the government up to $10 billion -- money that is used to improve roads. The senator from New York said she'd make up for the lost revenue with a "windfall profits tax" on oil companies, meaning their profits over a certain amount would be subject to a 50 percent tax. Her plan also would close $7.5 billion in oil and gas loopholes as well as monitor prices for manipulation. Watch how candidates plan to deal with soaring gas prices » . Obama does not support a suspension of the gas tax, which he described as a political scheme that would save the average driver $25 to $28. "It's typical of how Washington works -- let's find some short-term, quick fix, even though we're not really doing anything," he said. Watch an analysis of how the candidates' plans differ » . Instead, Obama would use a windfall profits tax on oil companies to help low-income families pay their energy bills. He also insists he would put forth more effort than others to limit oil companies' influence in Washington. Analysts and Obama said the proposal to suspend the tax temporarily would do little to stimulate the economy or lower gas prices and could leave roads in disrepair. "It's a quick fix for people who believe cheap gas is their birthright," said Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at the research firm Oil Price Information Service. "It's not a prudent thing to do." Kloza said the amount of money motorists would save would do little to stimulate economic growth. The revenue from the gas tax is much needed for road repairs, he added. "Look, somewhere down the road you have to use less," Kloza said. "As painful as it might be, higher prices do sway behavior toward a more energy disciplined America." Obama is using the issue to liken Clinton to McCain, while she is trying to paint Obama as out of touch with working-class voters -- a group that will play a big role in the upcoming Indiana primary. Indiana and North Carolina both hold their primaries next Tuesday. Obama leads Clinton in the overall delegate count, 1,725 to 1,588. Clinton has a slight edge in superdelegates, leading Obama 256 to 234. Since neither candidate can capture the 2,025 delegates needed to secure the nomination with wins in the remaining contests, the party's superdelegates probably will decide who gets the Democratic nod. Superdelegates are party leaders and officials who vote at the August convention for the candidate of their choice. North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley, a superdelegate, endorsed Clinton on Tuesday. Recent polling suggests Obama holds a double-digit lead over the former first lady in that state, though no surveys have been released since Clinton's win in Pennsylvania last week. After attending a rally with Easley in Raleigh, Clinton is scheduled to head to Indiana for events in Indianapolis, Hobart and Princeton. Obama also is in North Carolina, where he has town hall-style meetings scheduled Tuesday in Winston-Salem and Hickory. McCain continues his weeklong health care tour, with a speech Tuesday in Tampa, Florida. McCain opposes federally mandated universal coverage. Clinton wants mandated health insurance coverage for all Americans, while Obama backs a plan that would mandate coverage for children but not adults. E-mail to a friend . CNN's Suzanne Malveaux and Jessica Yellin and CNNMoney.com's Steve Hargreaves contributed to this report.

Sens. Hillary Clinton and John McCain back federal gas-tax holiday . Sen. Barack Obama says plan would do more harm than good . North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley endorses Clinton . McCain in Florida as part of weeklong health care tour .

Beirut, Lebanon (CNN) -- In a country as small as a newborn baby is tiny, the birth of Ghadi has been a very big deal for Lebanon. "Ghadi was born pure, was born a Lebanese citizen," explains his happy mother, Kholoud Sukkarieh, as she holds her nearly 2-month-old baby close. "He was not born a sectarian person." Sukkarieh calls that accomplishment "a step forward for a better Lebanon" and "the result of a long struggle." You certainly wouldn't know from glancing at Ghadi's uncluttered birth certificate -- a simple document that belies the complexity of his status. Sukkarieh points proudly to a line that would normally denote her son's sect. But on this historic, yet flimsy little square of paper, it's been very deliberately left blank. That may sound easy, but in a country of 18 different faiths spread amongst less than five million people, it was anything but. Lebanon's government relies heavily on a sectarian political balance to maintain a very tentative peace. It's a system that always seems fraught with peril for its population. Ghadi, whose name in Arabic means "my future", isn't old enough to worry yet. His parents dream of a future where he'll never have to. Sukkarieh, a Sunni Muslim, and her husband Nidal Darwish, who is Shiite, never wanted a religious wedding ceremony. But civil marriages aren't legal in Lebanon. Committed as much to each other as they were to their cause, Sukkarieh and Darwish took on political and religious leaders -- fighting a two-year battle from engagement onward in order to become the first couple to be granted a civil marriage license in Lebanon. Amidst the country's confessional system of governance, one whose politics have become more fractured as its sectarian lines have grown deeper, it looked on many occasions like they might not win out. But despite strong opposition and multiple threats, they persevered. The law still hasn't been changed but momentum is now growing to change it. Sukkarieh and Darwish's marriage license was approved last April, and they haven't stopped pushing the envelope since. But in Lebanon, where religion can mean the difference between life and death, love and birth aren't always celebrated. "Somebody talked to me on Facebook," Sukkarieh tells me, "and said 'I will turn your baby into blood because he's an illegal baby' based on his point of view ... saying 'you won't see him growing up -- you will see him killed some day between your hands.'" It's difficult to imagine how anyone could see Ghadi as a threat, yet sectarian tensions have long existed in this country -- one that experienced a brutal 15-year civil war, and one that is being drawn deeper every day into another civil war in neighboring Syria. Just last week, two suicide bombs rocked Beirut. Over the summer, dozens were killed in blasts targeting both Sunni and Shiite strongholds throughout the country. It's no wonder Darwish is so fearful for his family. "It's very hard because, when Kholoud and I started down this path, we got threats, but it didn't make a difference to us, we were proud of what we were doing and the steps we were taking," he says. "But since Ghadi arrived we've started to feel scared." The family that wants to change Lebanon may now have to leave it. As they consider relocating, they grow sadder and more worried. "You end up living a life of fear," says Darwish. "I just constantly want to protect Kholoud and Ghadi," he adds, "hold them close and not let them go." "We are trying now to apply for immigration somewhere else where we can be protected as human beings and [where we can keep] our human and civil rights," Sukkarieh says. This is the sad reality of Lebanon: A beautiful baby whose arrival was meant to bring hope may now need to depart a divided country that could use that hope more than ever.

Lebanese parents refuse to mark baby's sect on birth certificate . Parents have received threats in Lebanon, a country deeply divided on sectarian lines . Parents also fought two-year battle to get first civil, non-religious marriage certificate . Divisions among sects in Lebanon deepen as Syria's civil war spills into country .

(CNN) -- President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Monday as more than 10,000 pro-Israel activists gathered in Washington for the annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee Policy Conference. But rather than focusing on the stalled Middle East peace process, their talks and subsequent media coverage have centered on the question of using military force to stop Iran's nuclear program. The events in Washington took place just after 24 Christian, Jewish and Muslim prominent faith leaders from the United States and Indonesia returned from a mission to the Middle East. The joint delegation returned from the birthplace of the three great faiths of the Western world convinced that religion can be a force for unity and understanding instead of a source of division and conflict. Unfortunately, however, concerns about security and safety have made the Holy Land a region of walls that have all but eliminated any contact between Israelis and Palestinians today. In the six days the delegation visited the region, they got a sense of the fear that has led to the building of many kinds of walls. They saw much evidence of the distrust, intolerance and hatred that exists between the two sides of the conflict. But they also met faith leaders and civic activists of great vision and courage. Rabbi Michael Melchior, the founder of Mosaica Center for Inter-Religious Cooperation and a former member of the Israeli Cabinet, is working with Dr. Abdul Rahman Abbad, the secretary general of the Muslim Council of Religious Leaders in Palestine, to moderate the views of extremist religious leaders. The delegation met with leaders of Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam, which, for more than 40 years, has created a model community of Jewish-Palestinian coexistence, including a School for Peace that has trained thousands of youths and teachers to help create a humane, egalitarian and just society. And they met with leaders of Parents Circle/Bereaved Families Forum who have lost loved ones in the conflict but have turned their anger and loss into constructive work to advance peace. Although many of the American faith leaders in the delegation had some exposure to the Middle East, this was a new experience for our colleagues from Indonesia, which does not have diplomatic relations with Israel. For them, the trip was one of several thousand miles as well as one of cultural and historical assumptions. The Indonesian delegation that participated in our mission deserves credit for doing what so few leaders in the world do today: having the courage to cross a great divide with an open mind to better understand the "other." All delegates came to better understand the competing narratives that fuel the conflict in the region. For more than 60 years, a just solution to the Middle East conflict has eluded the greatest statesmen of our time. Perhaps it is time for a different strategy. Let's call it an Abrahamic peace strategy. In the field of conflict resolution, mediators help disputing parties peel back layers of difference until they reach common ground on which both parties can agree. In the Middle East, that common ground is our common ancestor Abraham. Abraham did not build walls. He built wells to sustain all those around him with life-giving water. He did not exclude anyone from his home, opening all four flaps of his desert tent so that any wayfarer, coming from any direction, would feel welcome and share in his hospitality. That is why we are taught that the core character trait of anyone true to the Abrahamic tradition is compassion. No peace plan will ever work in the Middle East until there is a wholehearted commitment to get Christians, Jews and Muslims to recognize that the core values they share from Abraham transcend political ideologies, flags, national anthems and even geography. They must be educated in the same classrooms, join hands in launching social action projects to help the most vulnerable, visit each others' places of worship and then visit each others' homes to drink coffee and become friends. If we could promote projects that bring Israelis and Palestinians face to face, it would begin to plant the seeds for peace for future generations in a way far more enduring than the signing of a treaty by heads of state. Political strategies have failed. Let us try a new strategy, one that goes back to the faith of our common ancestor Abraham. Start with that, and peace will follow. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the authors.

The stalled Middle East peace process is getting little public attention . Interfaith delegation toured Mideast in search of answers . The three major faiths in Mideast share tradition traced back to Abraham . Peace could be built on Abraham's core value of compassion for the stranger .

YUSUFIYAH, Iraq (CNN) -- Until recently, Yusufiyah was among the most dangerous places in Iraq. U.S. Col. Michael Kershaw meets with Sunni leaders in Yusufiyah, formerly a hot spot for insurgent activity. Located in the so-called "triangle of death," a violent area south of Baghdad, it was the site of frequent clashes between coalition forces and Sunni fighters. In May, two U.S. soldiers went missing in Yusufiyah and were never found, despite a massive search. But today, Sunni tribal leaders in this town cooperate with U.S. forces in their battle against foreign fighters and al Qaeda in Iraq. "It's all the roll of the dice. It's people and politics all intertwined down here," said Col. Michael Kershaw, commander of the Second Brigade, 10th Mountain Division. Kershaw now greets his former enemies with kisses, hears their grievances, spends time in their homes and even shares meals with them. He is surprised at how far relations have progressed. "Our hope a year ago was to establish very basic inroads down here," Kershaw said. "We thought the insurgency was far too deep for us to be able to effectively root it out and develop the relationship with the locals." As happened in Anbar province to the west, local Sunni leaders from this town south of Baghdad finally turned on the al Qaeda extremists in their midst when the death and destruction became too much to bear. "Killing people, stealing goats, everything, you name it," said Sheik Hamid Karbouli, when asked why he and his men now oppose al Qaeda. Karbouli has recruited some 150 volunteers to man checkpoints and carry guns. Sunni sheik lists grievances against al Qaeda » . The U.S. military calls the men concerned local citizens. "I haven't had more than one IED destroy a vehicle in an area where concerned citizens were located ... in the past two months," Kershaw said. To further encourage local tribesmen to turn against al Qaeda, the U.S. military pays local sheiks to provide security in their area; they receive up to $10 per man. It's a controversial policy, but one that has helped the U.S. military identify and stop insurgents, Kershaw said. "In the three months since this has started, we have gathered more insurgents up, more terrorists, than we did in the preceding nine months. And that's because they have pointed out to us these people within their own ranks," Kershaw said. The next step is to have these young Sunnis join the Iraqi police. For that to happen, the U.S. military needs the cooperation of the Shiite-dominated government in Baghdad. Cooperation, however, is slow in coming. Iraq's central government is concerned these gunmen might turn into armed militias if the U.S. pulls out and civil war erupts. To assuage these concerns, Kershaw is registering as many of the local volunteers as possible, taking photographs and retinal scans, hoping leaders in Baghdad will agree to hire them as Iraqi police. "What we see as being the end state down here is these tribes being brought back full into the government process," Kershaw said. The Second Brigade has lost 53 men in Iraq. Their photos are proudly displayed in the brigade's headquarters. Some of the U.S. soldiers here have a hard time forgiving the Sunnis for what they might have done in the insurgency. "Were some of these people part of the insurgency? Sure they were," Kershaw said. "Our job over here isn't to do what's comfortable for us, and it isn't to do what we want," he said. "Our job is to do the nation's bidding. If this gets our nation closer to a solution for this country ... then that's what we're gonna do." E-mail to a friend .

Yusufiyah, south of Baghdad, was among the most dangerous places in Iraq . Local Sunnis tired of the destruction wrought by al Qaeda in Iraq . They partnered with U.S. forces to keep their town safe . Iraq's Shiite-dominated central government remains wary of such partnerships .

ANTIOCH, California (CNN) -- Two cadaver dogs working separately each showed interest in the same area of property belonging to kidnapping suspects Phillip and Nancy Garrido, a possible indication of human remains, police said Thursday. Police search for evidence relating to missing girls Ilene Misheloff and Michaela Garecht. Authorities will use ground-penetrating radar equipment on Friday to examine the area, and "we will eventually be digging in that location," said Hayward police Lt. Chris Orrey. The Garridos face a combined 29 felony counts in the 1991 kidnapping of Jaycee Dugard, then 11, from South Lake Tahoe, California. Authorities believe the couple held Dugard in a hidden compound behind their home for 18 years and have said Phillip Garrido, a registered sex offender, fathered her two children. On Tuesday, police from Hayward and Dublin, California, began executing search warrants simultaneously on the Garrido property and an adjacent property to which Garrido had access. They are seeking any evidence in the 1988 abduction of 9-year-old Michaela Garecht of Hayward and the 1989 disappearance of 13-year-old Ilene Misheloff of Dublin. Both agencies have said that while Garrido has not been named a suspect in either case, he cannot be eliminated as a suspect. Watch police search the Garrido home » . On Wednesday, authorities said they had found bones on the Garrido property as well as the adjacent property but do not know whether they are animal or human. The bones are being analyzed, Orrey said on Thursday, and no new information was available about them. In addition, a bone fragment was found on the adjacent property last week. Police said it was probably human, and it is being tested at the state DNA lab. Police said the spot that the dogs showed interest in was in "open ground" on the Garrido property. The first dog gave a tentative indication of something there, so the second dog was brought in and made a more definite indication, said Sgt. J.D. Nelson of Alameda County Sheriff's Office. The dogs, which undergo between six months and a year of training, are trained to find human remains. It is possible for the dogs to give "false positives," Nelson said -- a reason why the second dog was brought in. However, since both dogs showed interest, going forward with the other methods is recommended, he said. Orrey said the digging could begin as soon as Friday, but was not sure when it would occur. Police have disassembled some horse sheds and a deck on the properties, Orrey said, and plan to overturn the concrete slabs they were built on in order to have the dogs check the spots out. There are other slabs on the property as well, she said, some of which are "randomly placed" and "piqued our interest," she said. Authorities have seized documents from the home, apparently some writings by Garrido -- "it appears he was a pretty prolific writer," Orrey said. Learn more about Phillip Garrido's history » . Police also have taken some things for Jaycee and her family, and "a few things we want to take a second look at," she said, adding, "nothing compelling so far has been taken." Officers are "doing a lot of photo-documentation" in case anything turns out to be connected to another case, she said. The operation may wrap up midweek next week, Orrey said. The home is in unincorporated Contra Costa County, near Antioch, California. Meanwhile, officials at Contra Costa County Animal Services Department said Dugard and her daughters will be reunited with pets taken from the Garrido home after he and his wife were arrested in late August -- five cats, two dogs, three cockatiels, a pigeon, a white mouse and a parakeet. Officials said the animals appeared to be well cared-for. It was unclear when Dugard would get them back. CNN's Dan Simon contributed to this report.

Two cadaver dogs each show interest in the same area of Garrido property . Authorities to use ground-penetrating radar equipment Friday . Ilene Misheloff ,13, went missing in 1989; Michaela Garecht, 9, in 1988 . Phillip and Nancy Garrido also are accused of abducting Jaycee Dugard .

(CNN) -- Ferrari have been fined $100,000 after Fernando Alonso kept his world title hopes alive with a controversial victory in the German Grand Prix on Sunday, though the result was allowed to stand. The two-time world champion claimed his and Ferrari's first win since the Formula One season-opener in March, but motorsport's ruling body decided that the team had broken rules banning orders to drivers after Felipe Massa let Alonso through late in the race. The race stewards have also referred the incident to the World Motor Sport Council for further consideration, the official F1 website reported. Alonso, who started second on the grid behind Sebastian Vettel, recovered after being overtaken at the beginning by Massa, who held off his surging teammate until the 49th lap of 67. Then he appeared to let the Spaniard through after being told on his radio that he was the slower of the two drivers. Massa's race engineer Rob Smedley told him: "Alonso is faster than you. Can you confirm you understand?" Then when Alonso went through, Smedley added: "Good lad -- just stick with it now, sorry." It appeared to be a tactical decision by the Italian outfit, with Brazilian Massa trailing Alonso by 31 points in the overall standings before the race. Alonso, who also won in Bahrain, stayed in fifth place but closed to within 34 points of leader Lewis Hamilton with eight races left. He pulled clear to win by 4.1 seconds, twice setting the fastest lap of the race. F1 championship standings after Hockenheim . Massa held on for second place for his best result of the season since Bahrain, with German Vettel third and teammate Mark Webber sixth as Red Bull failed to follow up the latter's victory last time out at Silverstone. The race came a year to the day after Massa suffered a horrific head injury after an accident in qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix which ruled him out for the rest of the season. After the race, he refused to criticize his team about the incident but looked visibly disappointed and would not elaborate on how he felt about the events -- while Ferrari denied that rules had been broken. Was Schumacher's return a big mistake? Massa told reporters: "I don't need to say anything about that. He passed me. We're doing a good job for the team." Hamilton, the 2008 world champion, finished fourth to be on 157 points -- extending his lead to 14 over McLaren teammate Jenson Button, who was fifth. The Red Bull drivers were left level on 136 points in third and fourth. Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said he believed Ferrari had broken the rules. "The drivers should have been allowed to race. Massa did the better job. He was in the lead and the regulations are pretty clear -- team orders are not allowed," he told UK race broadcaster the BBC before the fine was announced. "I have to say that is the clearest team order I've ever seen. It will be interesting to see what the stewards make of it because for me it was as clear as 2002, which is why the rule was brought in. It's wrong for the sport." In 2002, Ferrari told Rubens Barrichello to let Michael Schumacher pass in the closing stages of the Austrian Grand Prix. But Schumacher, who finished ninth on his return to a race he has won four times, said he believed his former team made the right move. "I understand 100 percent and I would do exactly the same -- what are we here for? We're fighting for the championship," the 41-year-old said. Renault's Robert Kubica claimed seventh place at Hockenheim, but it was a disappointing day for Mercedes on the German team's home track as Nico Rosberg was eighth ahead of seven-time world champion Schumacher. Kubica's Russian teammate Vitaly Petrov claimed the final point on offer in 10th place.

Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso wins the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim . Spaniard recovers after being overtaken by Ferrari teammate at the start of race . Felipe Massa led until 49th lap, after being told by team he was the slower driver . Ferrari fined $100,000 for the incident and may yet receive further punishment .

Washington (CNN) -- Environmental advocacy groups hope President Barack Obama will live up to the words of his second inaugural address that put climate change front and center on the national agenda even though he rarely mentioned it during the presidential campaign. But the same advocates, including the Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council, say the president should use the power of the executive branch to further those aims rather than pursuing a congressional strategy. Melinda Pierce, legislative director for the Sierra Club, pushed the president to focus more on executive orders and regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency than on legislation. "Congress is a place where good ideas go to die," she said. "There is a tremendous amount that his administration can do without Congress. He has the authority; he doesn't have to wait for Congress." Eric Pooley, senior vice president of the Environmental Defense Fund, told CNN that while "serious climate legislation isn't in the cards this year" the White House understands that congressional "legislation is not the only way to make progress." CNN Poll: Do Americans agree with Obama on climate change and immigration? "There is a clear plan of action here," Pooley said. "It is time to just get started with the rule-making, which is a process that gives ample time for give and take between the administration and industry." Included in the list of executive actions that Pierce and others hope for are curbing carbon emissions among existing power plants, not just new plants, and mandating high efficiency standards to larger trucks and longer haul vehicles. Those sort of executive branch actions are similar to what Obama pushed for during his first term. In 2011, the EPA issued new standards on toxic pollutants and mercury emissions from coal power plants. Obama also finalized regulations requiring that passenger cars and trucks nearly double their fuel efficiency by 2025. Bob Keefe, spokesman for the Natural Resources Defense Council, said Obama's first term was successful on environmental issues because of those actions. However, he acknowledged that he would have liked to have seen more from the president. "You take what you can get and you hope for more," Keefe said. "I think the president is recognizing this in his speech." Why 2013 could be a game-changer on climate . In a lengthy paragraph in his address on Monday, Obama said, "We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that failure to do so would betray our children and future generations. The path towards sustainable energy sources will be long and sometimes difficult. But America cannot resist this transition; we must lead it. We cannot cede to other nations the technology that will power new jobs and new industries -- we must claim its promise." The president made little mention of climate policy in his 2012 campaign and outlined little, if any, specific climate policy plans for his second term. Obama's climate policies, specifically Energy Department loan and grant programs for developing advanced energy technologies, were used against him on the campaign trail following the bankruptcy of Solyndra, which received economic stimulus money. Attack ads featured a visit Obama made to the California solar panel manufacturer and Republican candidate Mitt Romney used the bankruptcy to highlight what Republicans believed were misspent taxpayer funds on unproven energy projects. Pooley called this time period -- the last two years of Obama's first term -- the "two years of silence," when very little talk was devoted to climate change. It wasn't until Superstorm Sandy, an extraordinary confluence of powerful weather systems, devastated coastal New York and New Jersey in late October that the issue of climate change made an impact on the political season. Obama's speech ties current issues to founding principles . Before the storm hit, the last time both candidates mentioned the issue in any substantive manner was in written statements to a science organization in September. "Sandy put this thing back on the agenda with an vengeance and restarted a national climate conversation," Pooley said. "That is the reality, that is what reminded everybody that this issue is not going away, that we need to deal with it." Next step: Obama's State of the Union speech on February 12. Pooley said he has "every reason to suspect" that Obama is going to unveil more detail in that speech about "what he is going to do."

Activists push for Obama to focus more on executive orders and EPA regulations than on legislation. President made little mention of climate policy in 2012 campaign and outlined few climate policy plans . Superstorm Sandy returned climate change to the political conversation just before the election . One advocate anticipates Obama will reveal some detail about his environmental agenda in the State of the Union address .

Los Angeles (CNN) -- A planned Michael Jackson tribute concert, supported by the late pop star's mother and four siblings, was in disarray Thursday amid family squabbling and the apparent failure of promoters to sign any big-name acts so far. Tickets for the show, scheduled for Cardiff, Wales, in October, were to go on sale Thursday, but instead of providing a link for purchases the promoter's website asked fans to "Please Standby for further announcements." The head of the British company promoting the concert promised last week it would "feature the world's most amazing music performers." The roster would be revealed online one act at a time over the next 10 days weeks, Global Live Events CEO Chris Hunt told reporters at a July 25 news conference. "Everybody's in the midst of signing contracts so nothing can be announced until that happens," Juliette Harris, spokeswoman for Global Live Events, told CNN late Tuesday. She suggested an announcement would come Wednesday. By Thursday, still no acts had been announced. The problems started soon after brothers Marlon, Tito and Jackie, sister La Toya and family matriarch Katherine Jackson attended the "Michael Forever: The Tribute Concert" announcement at the Beverly Hills Hotel on July 25. La Toya Jackson said it was "something that's spectacular" while the Jacksons' mother called it "a show fit for a king." "If my son were here today, he would feel the same way," Katherine Jackson said. "I know my brother would be very, very proud to see all the artists that he admired and respected so much coming together for this event," Tito Jackson said. But an hour later, Jermaine and Randy Jackson, the only brothers not at the news conference, issued a sharply worded statement that reflected a deep division within the Jackson family over the show. "We want to make clear that this does not reflect the position of the entire family," the two brothers said in a joint statement. "While we wholeheartedly support the spirit of a tribute that honors our brother, we find it impossible to support an event that is due to take place during the criminal trial surrounding Michael's death." While Hunt had hinted it could include a Jackson brothers reunion, the statement from Jermaine and Randy Jackson made it clear that would not happen. "In light of this, we feel it is inappropriate to be involved with such an ill-timed event and its promoter, Global Live," Randy and Jermaine Jackson said. Their statement said the idea of the October concert was presented to the entire family in April "as an idea already in its advanced stages." The decision to go ahead with it "disrespects opinions and wishes expressed in the strongest terms" by some members of the Jackson family, they said. The Michael Jackson Fan Club agreed with the two brothers, issuing a similar statement. "We share their concerns that this concert is taking place at a most inappropriate time when everyone's care and attention should be focused on the matter of justice. We believe that, as stated by Jermaine and Randy, the most important tribute we can give to Michael Jackson at this time is to seek justice in his name." Jackson fans posted messages on the concert's Facebook page questioning ticket prices and the process for buying them. Fans must place bids for a chance to buy a ticket. The higher their pledge to a charity, the better their chances of getting a good seat. "The ticket system is so bad!! the higher you bid the better seats you get?? not every Michael fan is rich!!!" one fan posted on the "Michael Forever Tribute" Facebook page Thursday. After several days of such negative posts, a link to the Facebook page was removed from the concert's website. The October 8 show, in the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff, which seats 75,000 people, would be at least four hours long, Hunt said. In addition to the other problems surrounding the event, a spokesman for Michael Jackson's estate said last week that the promoters never sought or obtained permission from the estate's executors to use late pop singer's name or image. "The estate has not been contacted and is not involved with Global Live Events in the UK tribute concert announced today," spokesman Jim Bates told CNN.

NEW: Online ticket sales are suspended for the show . The "Michael Forever Tribute" is schedule for Cardiff, Wales, on October 8 . Jackson brothers Jermaine and Randy object to the show's timing . "Nothing can be announced until" contracts are signed, a spokeswoman says .

(CNN) -- Anytime James Carville, Paul Begala and David Axelrod hold hands and jump for joy, it's worth pondering how to turn their joy into tears. They're jubilant -- just ecstatic -- about Newt Gingrich's South Carolina victory. On the eve of the South Carolina primary, Carville opined in a CNN.com column addressed to GOP leaders, "Let me break it to you gently -- you've got a first-class disaster on your hands." Not to be outdone, Begala blustered in the Daily Beast, "Above it all we can hear the weeping, the wailing, the gnashing of teeth of the Republican establishment as Gingrich's victory sends them into full-blown panic." You know what? If Newt becomes the GOP nominee, they might be right. But they also might be wrong. Very wrong. I get a kick out of Democrats thinking they know how handicap a GOP race. If Democrats were good at thinking like Republicans, they would see the light and stop being Democrats. But instead, Democrats are so bent on seeing Republicans as a bunch of angry, right wing, intolerant, unreliable extremists that they have a track record of missing the mood of the country, especially the sentiment of people who don't wake up to The New York Times. Here's what Democratic National Committee Chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Florida, said just three months before the November 2010 elections: "Really it's hard to know where the Republican Party ends and the tea party begins. ... So it has really caused, I think, a pretty difficult problem for them going into the November elections because they have candidates ... on the extreme right-wing fringe who want to end Medicare as we know it, yank the rug -- the safety net out from under our senior citizens. I mean, Americans really are going to have a very clear choice set up in November between moderate Democrats who are centrists, where the country is, and Republicans who are really off on the right-wing fringe." Three months later, the tea party led Republicans to their biggest mid-term election victory in 72 years, winning a remarkable 63 seats in the House,along with six in the Senate. And don't forget in 1980, Democrats were cheering for Ronald Reagan to win the GOP presidential nomination, thinking he was too conservative and too much of a cowboy to appeal to mainstream voters. Of course, Reagan went on to a 44-state, 10-point thumping of incumbent Jimmy Carter. Leading Democrats, and the most of the media, similarly dismissed the Contract With America and the possibility that voters could elect the first Republican House in 40 years when that took place in 1994, led by their favorite right wing, unsteady extremist, Newt Gingrich. Given President Barack Obama's significant problem winning the support of working class, blue collar Americans, I wouldn't be so jubilant if I were on the other side. Not only is America being led by a president who thinks blue collar Americans cling to their religion and guns, or that the Cambridge police were "stupid" when they did their job, but the economy is bad, unemployment is high and the debt is out of sight. This president, who was elected essentially having the experience of a state senator, is in over his head and is vulnerable to defeat both substantively and personally. As anyone who knows Newt knows, he indeed could blow himself up and the dancing Democrats may have reason for joy. But I wouldn't be too quick to discount Newt's ability to strike a chord with working class, upset with Washington, ready-for-change voters who will overlook Newt's personal problems because they're drawn to his blunt, direct, tough talk. I also wouldn't so easily discount the possibility that the anti-Obama sentiment and the desire for deep and meaningful change in Washington might propel Newt to a position none of us, myself included, could have imagined two days ago. Follow CNN Opinion on Twitter . Join the conversation on Facebook . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Ari Fleischer.

Democrat James Carville said Republicans have a disaster on their hands . Ari Fleischer says Carville misses the appeal of Newt Gingrich to working class . He says the former speaker can tap into widespread dissatisfaction with Obama . Fleischer: Gingrich could blow up his chances, but it's possible he could win .

(CNN) -- Early this year, comic book writer Nathan Edmondson set out to tell fictional stories based on the super-secret U.S. government paramilitary organization once named the Intelligence Support Activity (or ISA). But it turns out what Edmonson created from his wildest imaginations hues pretty close to reality about the little known, seldom discussed agency. His stories focused on a specialized subset of the organization that was a "technologically advanced, mixed-gender team of first responders with backgrounds in a variety of military and spy disciplines." In reality, the ISA has been around since the 1970s. Originally hidden from the Pentagon and Congress, its existence has never publicly or officially been acknowledged. "The ISA is a secret kept from the Army, it's even a secret kept from itself," said Edmondson. "If you're in the ISA, you may not know who else is in it. It's the military equivalent of telling a story about aliens in space. You're reaching out for that great mystery, that void to see what you can pull out of it." The mystery around the group alone seemed like a natural for storytelling. Then a funny thing happened as Edmondson started publishing the Image Comics title: He got a lot of things right. "There were parts of this group that we crafted as fiction that we later found out were not as fictional as we thought," the writer told CNN. Once Edmondson discovered this, he made a point to have the right people consulting on every issue. He reached out to a few contacts from his days having worked in Washington, as well as the U.S. Army Entertainment Liaison office. "We're [often] working with some special ops group, whether it's Green Berets or PSYOPS Delta. We don't let an issue go by without consulting people to see how we can make the issue richer in terms of special ops activity." The most recent issue, "The Activity" #7, had the participation of Navy SEALs, who co-plotted a major scene in the story. "What happens in this particular scene has a domino effect on the rest of this book," he said. "We contacted some rather elite Navy SEALs -- in fact, we can't say with whom we consulted. We were instructed not to," he said. "We gave them our scenario and asked how we would go about doing it. They gave us a step by step of how they would execute this mission, down to things they would say or not say. The first 10 pages goes into what the SEALs told us, down to gear and weaponry too." If you haven't heard about the ISA, that's by design, as Edmondson pointed out when describing how he researched this idea for a comic book. "I'd been reading a lot about Delta Force or as they're more commonly referred to, 'The Unit' [the subjects of a recent CBS TV series]. In the course of reading about them I discovered some things about the ISA - their name changes every year to protect them. They are commonly known as Orange, the counter-terrorism of Delta Force -- they wanted a group in the army who could do all these things. You can go a lot of places with that," Edmondson said, talking about possible story ideas. Edmondson said that many of his ideas come out of conversations he has with those involved in various special ops areas. He has also done various panels at conventions with members of the special warfare community. Comic books and the military have been connected going back to troops reading them in World War II to Marvel Comics' recent special issues for service members. Edmondson's writing on this and other books such as "Dancer" has gained him a following in the comics world, but it goes beyond that with "Activity." "We have an e-mail account set up into which we receive e-mails from soldiers all over who appreciate the accuracy and attention to detail. Officially working with the military on this is tricky as they cannot to this day acknowledge the existence of the ISA, but we have received much support in general regarding simply our respectfulness of the armed forces." Edmondson will also be visiting a few military bases in the near future.

Nathan Edmondson set out to write fictional account of super secret U.S. troops . He says after he consulted with military members, he realized there was truth in his tales . Unit has never actually been acknowledged by military . Navy SEALs have been consultants for recent stories, taking a plot and giving it details .

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- Pakistan's military continued its assault Thursday on militants in Taliban-held areas, its chief spokesman told reporters. Pakistani army trucks move military equipment into the troubled Buner district Thursday. So far, 14 militants have been killed in the past 24 hours, Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said. The operation is still ongoing in the districts of Dir and Buner, which was recently seized by the Taliban in violation of an agreement with Pakistan's government. Pakistani forces have completely secured Daggar, the main town in Buner and the scene of heavy fighting on Wednesday, Abbas said. The Daggar operation resulted in the deaths of 50 militants, but freed 18 Frontier Corps personnel who had been abducted by militants, he said. Fifty-two of their colleagues are still believed to be held by their suspected Taliban kidnappers. This week's military operation has resulted in more than 180 militant casualties since Sunday, while the military has suffered one death and one injury, according to Abbas. He said he hopes the operation will be completed by the end of the week. Pakistan has asked the United States to supply its forces with helicopters, communication equipment and night vision technology, Abbas said Thursday. Most of this week's casualties happened on Tuesday, when Pakistani fighter jets launched airstrikes, killing at least 70 militants in the Dir district, according to the Pakistani military. The operation is part of the Pakistani army's intensified drive against the Taliban in its restive tribal regions. The Pakistani government has been criticized for not cracking down on militants along its border with Afghanistan. As a result, the U.S. military has carried out airstrikes against militant targets in Pakistan, which have rankled relations between the two countries. The military campaign has apparently not stopped Washington from carrying out unmanned drone attacks on Pakistan's soil. A suspected unmanned aerial vehicle killed six people Wednesday night in the village of Kaniguran in the tribal district of South Waziristan near the border with Afghanistan, Pakistani intelligence sources said. Pakistan has complained repeatedly about what it says are American airstrikes on its territory. The U.S. military in Afghanistan has not commented on the strikes, which typically target Taliban fighters in the border region. But the United States is the only country operating in the region known to have the capability to launch missiles from remote-controlled drones. U.S. President Barack Obama is "gravely concerned about the situation in Pakistan," he told reporters Wednesday night. Speaking at a news conference capping his 100th day in office, Obama said the United States has "huge national security interests in making sure that Pakistan is stable" and doesn't end up a "nuclear-armed militant state." But he stressed he was more concerned about the ability of Pakistan's civilian government to "deliver basic services," and not "that they're immediately going to be overrun" by the Taliban. Pakistan's recent military crackdown has led to an exodus of civilians from the region. At least 33,000 residents have left their homes in the midst of the recent fighting, according to Amnesty International. Civilians fleeing from Lower Dir in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province join more than 500,000 people already displaced by the fighting, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said. The Pakistani military completed its operation to eliminate and expel militants in Dir Tuesday, and is now focusing on the Buner district, Abbas said. About 300 militants entered Buner a few days ago, in violation of the Taliban's recent agreement to leave the district, he said. Buner is about 60 miles from Islamabad, but Abbas said the militants pose no threat of entering the capital. The fighter jets pounded targets in Buner and the Swat Valley in an effort to block the militants' entry and exit points, according to Abbas. CNN's Samson Desta, Ivan Watson, and Nasir Habib contributed to this report.

Pakistani military intensifies drive against Taliban in restive tribal regions . Recent military operation has resulted in more than 180 militant casualties . Has not stopped U.S. unmanned drone attacks on Pakistan's soil . Barack Obama "gravely concerned about the situation in Pakistan"

(CNN) -- She suffers from an autoimmune disease, but seven-time grand slam winner Venus Williams refused to blame her health for an early exit at the Australian Open. The former world No. 1 came into the year's first grand slam in good form after reaching the final of a warm-up event in Auckland in New Zealand, but despite winning the first set against Russia's Ekaterina Makarov, Williams slipped to a 2-6 6-4 6-4 defeat. Williams, ranked 37th in the world, was diagnosed with Sjogren's syndrome -- which causes joint pain and can deplete energy levels -- in 2011. She hasn't won a grand slam since Wimbledon in 2008. But the American, who will compete in the doubles event alongside her sister and top seed Serena Williams, refused to look for excuses after her defeat by the 22nd seed Makarova, who will face U.S. world No. 141 Irina Falconi in the second round. "I think that's a factor for any professional athlete, so I don't think I'm any different from anyone else," Williams, who made 56 errors during the match, told reporters when asked if her health was the reason for her defeat. "The last 12 months I have had issues, but this year I definitely am looking forward to having a good run and feeling well." Williams will now focus her energies on supporting Serena, who wasted no time in wrapping up a 6-2 6-1 win over Australian 17-year-old Ashleigh Barty. The biggest upset of the opening day saw sixth seed Petra Kvitova slip to a 6-2 1-6 6-4 reverse against Thailand's world No. 87 Luksika Kumkhum. It was Kumkhum's first ever match with a top 10 player and her victory means she will at least equal her best grand slam performance to date -- reaching the second round in Melbourne last year. "I didn't play well," conceded Kvitova, a Wimbledon winner in 2011. "I didn't play my game that I really tried all off season to work on. It was a great off season. I was really excited to be here, feeling good. "But I think that probably I wanted too much, and then everything just fell down." Australian Sam Stosur delighted the crowd by chalking up a 6-3 6-4 win over Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic. Seventeenth seed Stosur won the U.S. Open in 2011 but has never been beyond the fourth round of her home grand slam. The weather looks set to play a major part in the tournament, with temperatures expected to top 100 degrees Fahrenheit on Tuesday after relatively mild conditions on Monday. Organizers are reportedly preparing ice vests and ice towels to keep players cool, but Stosur felt perfectly at home in the heat. "It was pretty hot out on court," said the 29-year-old Australian. "You get that response from the court and balls when it's hot and the sun is shining. "I was jumping and using my spin and all that whenever I was able to, so that was nice." Fourth seed Li Na, beaten by Victoria Azarenka in last year's final, admitted she knew nothing of her Croatian opponent Ana Konjuh before registering a comfortable 6-2 6-0 success. Li's reward for beating the world No. 239 is a second round meeting with Switzerland's Belinda Bencic. Fresh from picking up her first title in two years in Auckland, 14th seed Ana Ivanovic beat Dutchwoman Kiki Bertens 6-4 6-4. There was also joy for Germany as both world No. 15 Sabine Lisicki and Angelique Kerber, seeded ninth, advanced courtesy of wins against Mirjana Lucic-Baroni and Jarmila Gajdosova respectively.

Venus Williams loses in the first round of the Australian Open . Former world No. 1 loses 2-6 6-4 6-4 to Russia's Ekaterina Makarova . Australia's Sam Stosur records a straight-forward win over Klara Zakopalova . Li Na and Ana Ivanovic also safely into the second round .

Washington (CNN) -- Texas Gov. Rick Perry said in an interview released Wednesday that he was "a bit arrogant" when he launched his ultimately failed bid for president in 2011, but that after spending nearly two years "in preparation" for another, he feels "substantially more prepared to run." Perry told The Washington Post that he may have drawn undue confidence because of his experience as governor of an expansive and economically influential state. During a sit-down at the Republican Governors' Association meeting in Florida, he said that experience made him feel he could "step into that role of candidate and stand up in front of the American people." "I was mistaken," Perry admitted. The Republican governor entered the 2012 presidential race to high expectations and great fanfare in late 2011, quickly rising to the top of the polls before plummeting to the bottom after a series of gaffes and missteps derailed his bid. Perhaps the most infamous -- his declaration of "oops" when he forgot the final federal agency he'd nix if he became president -- continues to dog him as he contemplates another bid. Perry acknowledged the fact that his 2012 failures will shadow his political future, but he said he believes Americans would give him another chance if he decides to run again. "It's never going to go away," he said of his failed bid. "It's always there, just as Bill Clinton's 1988 [long-winded Democratic] convention speech is always there. It's always part of your past. I'm a big believer that Americans ... are interested in how do you perform after you've been knocked down." But he was satisfied with how his 14-year tenure as governor of Texas had turned out, as Texas continues to boast a strong economy, he said. Perry also expressed pride in Texas' transformation from "an intellectual and cultural backwater to a place that is very much on everyone's radar screen on where would be a good place for us to either relocate or expand." The governor said that experience would be part of his main pitch as he runs again, something he said Americans won't find in "another relatively young, inexperienced United States senator or a congressman for that matter." Perry, if he does run, will likely face a wide array of challengers for the GOP nomination, many of them members of the U.S. House or Senate. And he said he'd perform much better in a second presidential campaign after spending "the last 22 months in preparation." "I'm comfortable I'm substantially more prepared to run for the presidency," he said. "I know the challenges. And so, again, I'm not ready to pull the trigger and say I'm in, but I'm comfortable that the process I've put in place here is a proper, timely and thoughtful process." "The decision [about running] may be no, but it will not be a no because I'm not prepared," he added. Those preparations have included multiple trips abroad and chats with policy experts, including former secretaries of state Henry Kissinger and George Shultz. And he's become a more outspoken critic of President Barack Obama on immigration in recent months, framing his own experience governing a border state as a competent alternative to Obama's handling of the nation's immigration problems. On Wednesday, he told the Post that the President's expected executive order delaying deportations of thousands of illegal immigrants is "unconstitutional" and "unlawful." "It is bad public policy, and the American people are not for it," Perry added, calling on Congress to send various immigration reform measures to Obama's desk to put him on record explaining his opposition to any such reforms. But he framed himself as a pragmatist against the more conservative voices in the GOP calling for the President's impeachment over the executive order. "No," he said, asked about whether impeachment should be on the table for the GOP in the party's response. "I think the American people want to see government work. ... I don't think the vast majority of people see impeachment as government working. That is a last ditch effort to stick a finger in the eye of the President."

Gov. Rick Perry of Texas says with 22 months of preparation, he's ready for another bid . Voters will give him a chance to overcome 2012 campaign gaffes, Perry believes . He says impeachment should be off the table for the GOP response to executive action .

(CNN) -- President Barack Obama announced that 300 companies -- including Apple, Wal-Mart and others -- have signed a pledge to help the long-term unemployed by making sure they don't have barriers in their hiring practices. This is good news, but it won't solve the problem. The best we can hope for is that the companies now will make special efforts to seek out and employ those who have suffered long-term joblessness. That's a nice start, but feel-good gestures won't cut it when there are almost 4 million Americans who have been out of work for more than six months. That's a big number. What's disconcerting is that the current long-term unemployment is more serious than in previous economic downturns. Data from previous business cycles show people suffering from long-run joblessness at worst accounted for about 20% to 25% of the unemployed. In recent months, that percentage has jumped to nearly 40% -- an all-time record! Indeed, America is beginning to look like Europe. It used to be that long-term unemployment in the U.S. was only a fraction of Europe's, but the latest data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development show that the United States has caught up to many of Europe's welfare states. That's not a race we want to be part of, much less win. So what's the solution? There's no silver bullet, but economic growth is the single most important key. All forms of unemployment get worse when the economy is weak. But when the economy is booming, the job market gets better for everybody -- including those who have been unemployed for long periods. Unfortunately, economic growth hasn't proven easy. The recession may have ended officially in the summer of 2009, but we're still suffering through a sluggish economic cycle. Recent improvements in the overall employment rate are in large part the result of people dropping out of the labor force, and the problem of long-run unemployment has barely budged. To boost employment, we need the kind of strong growth America enjoyed during the Reagan and Clinton years, when millions of new jobs were created and the unemployment rate fell dramatically. To get there, we need a return to the types of free-market policies we got under Reagan and Clinton: a lower burden of government spending and less intervention from Washington. Unfortunately, we've been moving in the exact opposite direction. Under both Presidents Bush and Obama, the size and scope of government has expanded, and the United States -- which had the world's third-most free-market economy when Bill Clinton left office -- has now dropped to 17th in the Economic Freedom of the World rankings. We also need to make sure the unemployed don't get lured into long-term dependency. One glaring example of misguided big-government policy is the argument to endlessly extend unemployment benefits. That sounds compassionate, but according to economists such policies discourage the unemployed from aggressively seeking new jobs. There is also persuasive evidence that employers are reluctant to hire people (regardless of any "pledges" they may sign) who have been out of work for lengthy periods, which makes the President's preferred approach of more unemployment benefits akin to an overprotective parent who hinders a child's development. Moreover, Obama's proposed hike in the minimum wage would actually counteract any good his pledge would do. Why? Increasing the minimum wage is the equivalent of sawing off the bottom rungs on the economic ladder. Simply stated, businesses create jobs when they think a new employee will help the bottom line. Artificially raising the cost of workers -- particularly those with marginal skills -- is a recipe for creating more unemployment. The president's effort to get companies on board with hiring the long-term unemployed should be applauded, but he shouldn't for one second think that it will solve the problem. In fact, too many of his other proposals would serve only to exacerbate the problem the long-term unemployed are facing. Instead, Obama should take a page out of the Reagan and Clinton presidencies and take action to get to the root of unemployment: economic growth. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Daniel J. Mitchell.

300 companies pledged to aid Obama initiative to help the long-term unemployed . Daniel Mitchell: This is a nice gesture, but nearly 4 million Americans need jobs . He says economic growth is key and free-market polices are what we need . Mitchell: The unemployed should not get lured into long-term dependency .

Cairo (CNN) -- An angry crowd lingering near the Israeli embassy in Cairo after an attack on the building a day earlier turned on journalists reporting the incident Saturday, accusing at least one of being an Israeli spy. As a CNN crew filmed the embassy from across the street, another crew from American public television -- led by Egyptian television producer Dina Amer -- approached the building. The crew's Russian cameraman was preparing to film the embassy when a woman in the crowd began hurling insults at the TV team, Amer said. "There was this older lady who decided to follow me and rally people against me," Amer recalled. "She said 'you're a spy working with the Americans.' Then they swarmed me and I was a target." A growing crowd surrounded Amer and her colleagues, as they tried to leave the scene. Mohamed Fadel Fahmy, a producer working for CNN, rushed to help escort Amer through the angry crowd. But suddenly the two reporters were pinned against the railing of an overpass by young men who were accusing Amer of being an Israeli spy. Yelling "I'm Egyptian," Fahmy managed to pull Amer another 10 meters down the road, until the pressure from the mob overwhelmed the pair. Amer screamed as she and Fahmy were knocked to the ground and the crowd started to trample them. Other CNN journalists tried to reach in to help, but were pushed back by a wall of angry men. Fahmy lay on top of Amer, shielding her with his body. "I was thinking, how powerless I was because there was no police to save us," Fahmy said. "I was worried that they were going to rape her." At that moment, a student bystander named Mohammed el Banna called out to the journalists and pointed out a nearby car. Somehow, Fahmy managed to carry Amer to the open door of the public television crew's car, where two of her female colleagues were waiting just a few feet away. The mob pounded on the windows and tried to reach into the vehicle as the panicked reporters fumbled and struggled to get behind the steering wheel. When Margaret Warner, a correspondent with the PBS program "Newshour" managed to get the vehicle moving away from the crowd, men threw stones at the departing vehicle. Amer had few words to describe the terrifying ordeal. "They were animals," she said. Other Egyptian journalists told CNN they were also attacked Saturday while trying to report near the Israeli embassy. Ahmed Aleiba, a correspondent with Egyptian state television, said he was pursued by civilians and soldiers. "I had to run because obviously they were targeting journalists," Aleiba said in a phone call with CNN. "They attacked two other TV crews." "I was in the car getting ready to film. A soldier knocked on the window with his stick and said 'if you don't leave by midnight your car will be destroyed,"" said Farah Saafan, a video journalist with the English-language newspaper Daily News Egypt. Journalists have been targeted before in Cairo. On February 2, dozens of journalists of different nationalities were beaten and pursued around the city while trying to report on pro-Mubarak demonstrations. The day descended into one of brutal street violence, as pro-regime supporters backed by men on horses and camels attacked opposition demonstrators on what became known as the "Battle of the Camel." And CBS News correspondent Lara Logan suffered a brutal sexual assault in Tahrir Square while covering the celebrations that followed former President Hosni Mubarak's resignation on February 11. On Saturday, as some journalists ran for their lives from the Israeli Embassy, the interim government was holding crisis talks with Egypt's ruling military council and top intelligence chief. The emergency session concluded with a pledge to honor Egypt's international treaties and defend foreign embassies. The government also announced plans to re-activate the country's 30-year-old emergency law. Application of the law had lapsed since the overthrow of Mubarak, according to a senior official in the National Security Directorate, who spoke to CNN on condition of anonymity. One of the five measures announced after Saturday's crisis talks calls on authorities to make "media and political powers accountable for inciting security lapses." "It's obvious that there is some sort of plan leading to military rule in this country," warned Egyptian state TV's Aleiba. "The next step will be martial law."

One Egyptian journalist is accused of being an Israeli spy . A producer working for CNN helps her to safety . Other journalists report similar experiences .

(CNN) -- Smartphone owners may have to ask themselves: why text when there's Facebook Messenger? That's a question the cellular carriers will lament as the biggest technology players pile into what's known as the mobile-messaging space. Facebook joined the fray on Tuesday with the release of Messenger for iPhone and Android. Facebook's Messages feature, which allows people to communicate privately with friends on the social network and recently with e-mail acquaintances, is already built into the Facebook apps. However, the new standalone Messenger software is a cornerstone for Facebook's ambition to become the communications hub on phones, Facebook employees working on the messaging product have said in interviews. To design the app, Facebook acquired the development team that built a program called Beluga. It allows users to include photos and location coordinates with each message and can also send text messages to phone numbers, much like the new Facebook app. Andrew Bosworth, a Facebook product director, discussed the potential need for a dedicated client in an March interview, days after the Beluga engineers started at the Palo Alto, California, company. "One click from the home screen is a valuable trait," he said, contrasted with the need to open the full Facebook app in order seek new messages. "They've built specifically for mobile-to-mobile. Our messages stuff was built for a convergence between mobile and Web and e-mail and a bunch of other things." Bosworth suggested that a standalone messenger was "the next step" in Facebook's plans. As it turns out, it was. But cell operators, which derive substantial profits from texting plans and per-message fees, stand in the way, Bosworth said. How they manage their SMS networks is viewed by tech visionaries as controlled, stifling. (SMS stands for Short Messaging Service, another name for texting.) Facebook is made up of people who breathe the hacker ethos. Earlier this summer, for example, Facebook hired George Hotz, aka GeoHot, who hacked iPhone and PlayStation 3 software. Networks should be malleable, these people often say. "SMS to SMS: those are controlled by the carriers," Bosworth said during the interview from March. "That's a closed loop." Apple, whose founders famously built "blue box" equipment decades ago for enabling free phone calls, much to the chagrin of telecom firms, apparently buy into this thinking as well. This fall, Apple will bundle a mobile app called iMessage into iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad, which can bypass cell carrier infrastructure granting free text messages to other users of Apple devices. Similarly, Research in Motion has BlackBerry Messenger. And Google provides two services: Huddles, which is part of the Google+ social network, and Google Voice. A dedicated app can be deployed on, say, your mother's smartphone in order to ween her off of AT&T's or Verizon Wireless' texting services and into a free communication network that uses minute amounts of data. "To people, it's a bridge -- like, 'Oh, I already know how this works. This is great,'" Bosworth said. These types of apps "are taking SMS and moving it away from that closed-loop thing and into another space," he added. "This is an area that's very exciting and hot and interesting," Bosworth said. "I don't think anyone has the answer yet. I think Facebook Messages is the very likely substrate upon which these things end up operating." An AT&T spokesman declined to comment. Verizon has said it intends to eventually move all of its services onto its next-generation 4G LTE data network. The company hasn't said how it would price the different features. Software alternatives to texting could pose a threat to existing money makers, but carriers must find or create other worthwhile channels to charge for, Verizon Wireless marketing chief Marni Walden said in an interview in January. "We'll always be in a place where we have to evolve how we generate revenue for the business," Walden said. "But we're not going to run away from the innovation that's happening out there. We're going to make sure we innovate it better, or integrate it better on our devices than anyone else, as opposed to putting up a walled garden." To that, the technorati might say: LOL.

Facebook released the Messenger app for smartphones on Tuesday . Facebook executives have talked about the need for change in the wireless industry . Other tech giants offer similar software for phones .

LONDON, England (CNN) -- The decision to make "Che" was an easy one, Benicio Del Toro says. Filming the movie was anything but. Benicio Del Toro stars as Latin American revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara. "I have to say it probably is the most difficult movie I've ever made, and I've made a few," Del Toro says of his starring role in director Steven Soderbergh's Spanish-language biopic. One of Hollywood's most bankable stars, Del Toro has made a name for himself playing dark and brooding characters in movies like "21 Grams," "The Usual Suspects," and "Traffic," for which he won an Oscar. He now adds to that list the role of revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara, an Argentine doctor whose role in the Cuban Revolution in the 1950s vaulted him to cult status where he remains today. To play the Latin American revolutionary, Del Toro says he had to start with the man himself rather than invent a character. He read what Che wrote and interviewed a range of people, including those who knew him when he was a child, as well as those who were there in his last days. And then there were the countless photos of the iconic and controversial leader which he pored over. Looking at the pictures, seeing the attitude that he had in the photographs," he says, "I learned a lot from the photographs." The meticulous study pays off on screen. Del Toro delivers a soulful performance that has earned him accolades. He won the Best Actor award at Cannes this year and he is being hotly tipped for another Oscar nod. Which films and actors do you think are contenders for this year's Oscars? Share your picks in the SoundOff below. Che's life "is what movies are made of," Del Toro told CNN. The incredible story, along with the opportunity to work with Soderbergh, who directed him in 2000's "Traffic," for a second time drew him to the project. The 41-year-old bilingual actor was born in Puerto Rico but grew up in Pennsylvania. It wasn't until he was in his early 20s and wandered into a bookstore in Mexico City that he discovered Che. "I bought a compilation of his letters that he had written to his family and I read that book. I didn't know anything about this guy, so that started my journey," he recalls. See how the movie was received in Cuba » . "Che" is split into two parts -- "The Argentine" and "Guerrilla." When shown in its entirety, the movie clocks in at a staggering 257 minutes. Part one charts Che's rise from young idealist to revolutionary hero during the Cuban Revolution. Part two depicts his efforts to bring change to all of Latin America and focuses on his campaign in Bolivia, where he died. Shot in various locations ranging from the jungles of Bolivia to Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, filming was grueling. "In this film, we went pretty fast," Del Toro says. "We went really fast." Soderbergh wanted to film using only natural light, and production moved rapidly. On some days, Del Toro recounts, they only had 15 or 30 minutes to capture a scene. One day of filming felt like a whole week of work, he says. "The way I felt on a Monday in this movie is the equivalent to how I felt at the end of the week of another movie." Del Toro, who also co-produced the movie, isn't complaining though. He speaks with pride about the effort the cast and crew put in to the moviemaking process, which he describes as "hit and run." "Che" is being released in two parts, but the epic is best viewed in its entirety, Del Toro says. "You'll get the full experience of what we went through, of the two movies together as one." The full-length version of "Che" will have a limited opening in the U.S. on Dec. 12. It is scheduled to be released in separate parts in the UK on Jan. 2.

Benicio Del Toro stars in "Che," a biopic of the Latin American revolutionary . His performance is generating Oscar buzz in Hollywood . Directed by Steven Soderbergh, the two-part film is more than four hours long . Del Toro on Che: His life "is what movies are made of"

(CNN) -- The 30-mile stretch between Biloxi and Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, is still dotted with battle wounds from Hurricane Katrina seven years later. Concrete slabs and steps that lead to nothing but trash and overgrown weeds are all that is left of historic brick homes. But amid the slabs are majestic homes with grand, sweeping porches and perfectly manicured lawns. The owners of these homes are as tough and resilient as only survivors of one of the deadliest storms in history could be. State-by-state: Isaac evacuations, delays . Lifelong Bay St. Louis resident Corky Hadden lives on the spot of his childhood home, set off the water where the bay feeds into the Gulf of Mexico. While he and his family evacuated to safety inland, Katrina's ravaging storm surge swept the house right off its stilts, leaving only the foundation intact. "We had some old columns that the old house stood on, and those columns were picked clean, there was nothing left on them," he said. Determined, Hadden rebuilt where his boyhood home once stood, both stronger and higher. "I've got poured concrete pillars filled with steel, 10 times more steel than before," he said. "We're now 24 feet above sea level, 11 feet from the ground." Isaac could bring in a 12-foot storm surge, which would mean Hadden's first floor could take on some water. "We don't have anything important below that 24-foot elevation," he said. Live blog: Isaac moves in . Air conditioning units and electric boxes are strategically placed on the house's second floor, safely away from most critical dangers. Outside, the air is full of Isaac's portents. The normally calming sounds of the surf are dimmed by hurricane flags clanging loudly against an old converted ship mast in Hadden's front yard. The blazing red flags with the signature black squares in the center stand out in stark contrast to the temporarily blue sky. Hadden and his neighbors are wary but calm. "I think everybody has come back in a much stronger fashion," he said. "We're watching, but we're prepared." Riding eastward toward Gulfport along white sand beaches with sparkling blue waters, beautiful antebellum-style homes grace the coastline. The stately green manse where Ben and Nancy Stone live right off the beach is a new construction, a near replica of the 1800s-era house that was obliterated by Katrina. iReport: Share your images, videos of Isaac . A portion of the second floor ended up in their neighbor's yard. In the debris, the Stones found a closet that contained the original floorplans. Armed with the diagram and hard lessons learned post-Katrina, the family rebuilt. "We prepared for everything we think would happen in a redo of Katrina," Ben Stone said. The house is made of walls a foot wide, windows that can withstand 200 mph winds, and sports steel beams that tunnel into the ground. "This is a special place for us. We like to get up in the morning, and first thing I do is look out to the Gulf. It gets angry from time to time, but it's the most beautiful sight I see," Stone said. "I was not going to live the rest of my life without coming back here." The vacant lot next door is where Sissy Leatherman's mother used to live. 6 mobile apps to track Isaac . "After Katrina, she was like 'Huh-uh, I'm getting out of here,'" Leatherman said. Her mother, like herself, moved inland away from the Gulf's reach. Leatherman and her husband spent some time on Gulfport's beach Monday so their twin girls could enjoy some outdoor fun. "I told them it's literally the calm before the storm," she said. Like many other Gulf Coast Mississippians, Leatherman is ready for Isaac, and other storms that may loom. "We aren't too worried. I don't think it'll be that bad," she said. "But we know a Katrina will happen again. We know it will."

Biloxi and Bay St. Louis stretch still shows signs of Hurricane Katrina . Those who stayed have rebuilt with storms in mind . Now they're preparing for Isaac and other inevitable storms .

(CNN) -- American golfer Webb Simpson expects a close battle with world No. 1 Luke Donald this week as both seek to top the PGA Tour's end-of-season money list for the first time. Both will line up in Florida for the final event of the U.S. circuit's Fall Series, with $846,000 on offer for the winner from a total prize purse of $4.7 million. Donald had been in pole position in his bid to become the first golfer to top both the U.S. and European money lists in the same season, but Simpson went $363,029 clear in the PGA standings despite suffering a playoff defeat to fellow American Ben Crane at the McGladrey Classic on Sunday. Englishman Donald, who went to a friend's wedding instead, will now need to finish second or higher at the Children's Miracle Network Classic at Disney World starting on Thursday to usurp Simpson. Simpson has won $6.2 million so far from 25 events, while Donald is on almost $5.84 million from 18. The 26-year-old Simpson is seeking to cap an incredible breakthrough year in which he won his first title at Wyndham Championship in his home state of North Carolina in August, then triumphed in the second event of the FedEx Cup playoffs and narrowly missed out on the $10 million jackpot when he faded to 22nd at the Tour Championship. "I think coming in, finishing second is going to make it a lot harder for Luke," world No. 12 Simpson told the PGA Tour's official website. "But I'm sure he's going to play well. He's played well most every week this year. I still wouldn't be surprised if I have a little work to do next week. "It would be nice to run away with it, but it wouldn't surprise me if it's going to be pretty close. Winning would take care of a lot, I think." Crane said his form over Sunday's final round was "as good as I can play" after claiming his fourth title. The new world No. 50 carded eight birdies in the final 11 holes to finish on 15 under par, before Simpson bogeyed at the second additional hole to hand Crane victory. "Is that right?" Crane said when he heard the statistics from his impressive round. "What the heck? Wow. That's as good as I can play. "I just said, 'Well, if I'm going to have a chance, I'm going to have to birdie two of the last three holes.' "Newsflash: If you don't birdie the first one and you're dormie with two holes to play and you've got to make two birdies, it gets harder. I read it perfectly and the ball went right in the middle and I was just thrilled." Despite the win, his first since the Farmers Insurance Open in January 2010, Crane had little time to celebrate, with his wife Heather due to give birth to their third child on Monday. "I told my wife, 'I don't even know if I should -- what am I doing here? You're about to go into labor ... Should I even be playing this week?' " he said . "I was driving, bringing the car down after the playoff was over, and someone said, 'Well, you've got to name the baby -- the baby's middle name has got to be McGladrey or Frederica ... Sea Island.'" American Michael Thompson mised out on the playoff by one shot as he finished third ahead of 2010 British Open winner Louis Oosthuizen. Oosthuizen's fellow South African and 2008 Masters champion Trevor Immelman was fifth on 12 under, two shots clear of a five-way tie for sixth place which included two-time major winner Angel Cabrera. Jim Furyk, the 2003 U.S. Open champion who topped the PGA Tour money list in 2010, tied for 11th on nine under.

Webb Simpson moves ahead of world No. 1 Luke Donald on PGA Tour money list . American loses to Ben Crane in playoff at McGladrey Classic on Sunday . Donald trying to be first man to top PGA and European Tour money lists in same year . Englishman will now need to finish second or higher at final Fall Series event .

(CNN) -- Tiger Woods has not only declared himself fit to play at this week's PGA Championship, after playing nine holes of practice at Valhalla on Wednesday, but he's also eying a fifth title. Since he withdrew from the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational on Sunday after jarring his troublesome back, Woods' participation had dominated the buildup to the final major of the year. However, the 38-year-old's physiotherapist fixed a problem that had looked set to rule him out, after Woods dislocated his sacrum -- a bone at the base of his spine -- when landing in a bunker. "I felt good once the bone was put back in," the former number one told reporters on Wednesday evening. "I'm not in any pain." "Once he put it back in, the spasms went away and from there I started getting some range of motion. "The inflammation has been down, I have range of motion, my speed and power -- and I just need to keep it up." Leaderboard: PGA Championship . Woods' participation had been in serious doubt prior to his practice round, after he struggled to tie his shoes on Sunday because of pain. Yet there was better still for Woods' legion of fans as he responded to the question of whether he could win in Louisville with a resounding 'Yes'. "(To) try to go out there and win this event, that's all I'm focused on," said Woods, who won the PGA Championship the last time it was held at Valhalla Golf Club in 2000. Following surgery to treat a trapped nerve in his back in March, a three-month layoff forced the American to miss both the Masters -- for the first time in his career -- and the U.S. Open. His back problems appeared to have been put behind him until the weekend flare-up in Ohio, only the third PGA Tour event he had contested since the operation. However, Woods says Sunday's injury was unrelated to the operation earlier this year. "It was a different pain to what I had been experiencing so I know it was not the site of the surgery," he explained. Woods' confidence about any potential victory flies in the face of his recent performances in the majors, having failed to win any of the last 19 he has contested. In his last appearance at July's British Open, he finished 69th -- a performance that would have been unimaginable prior to the decline in his game following the well-documented marital problems he suffered in 2009. Trailing the all-time record held by Jack Nicklaus, 14-time major winner Woods needs to prove his form and fitness this week to have a hope of making Tom Watson's team for next month's Ryder Cup against Europe in Scotland. While keeping a close eye on Woods' practice round, the veteran Watson also named Steve Stricker as one his Ryder Cup vice-captains on Wednesday -- with the 47-year-old joining Andy North and Raymond Floyd as an assistant. Woods' form this season barely reflects the feverish speculation over his fitness, since his best finish from the seven tournaments he has contested worldwide is a lowly 25th. Should he suffer no further problems, Woods will partner former champions Phil Mickelson and Padraig Harrington when he tees off on Thursday. He is chasing his fifth title after winning the event in 1999, 2000, 2006 and 2007. PGA breaks with tradition . In a separate development on Wednesday, PGA Championship organizers announced that the 2016 edition of the competition will be held in July. The event is traditionally held in August but with golf featuring at that year's Olympics for the first time since 1904, with the Rio Games running between August 5-21, the PGA has been forced into a change. The tournament scheduled for Baltusrol in New Jersey will now take place on July 28-31. "It's a condensed schedule," PGA of America chief executive officer Pete Bevacqua told reporters at Valhalla. "Obviously with the Olympics, it's also a Ryder Cup year, you throw in the (PGA playoffs), so it's a very congested schedule."

Woods declares himself fit to play Thursday's PGA Championship . Participation had been in doubt after suffering back problems on Sunday . Former world number one says he can win fifth PGA crown this week .

(CNN) -- Jean Jennings Bartik, the last of six women programmers who debugged and operated the earliest general-purpose computer, has died. Bartik, 86, died Wednesday in New York, said Jon Rickman, vice president of information systems at Bartik's alma mater, Northwest Missouri State University, and director of the Jean Jennings Bartik Computer Museum. Bartik was profiled in a CNN.com story last month about women mathematicians who were recruited by the U.S. military to do ballistics research during World War II. Bartik and five of her fellow "computers" went on to program the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer, but they didn't receive recognition for their work until years later. "Jean is probably one of the most significant pioneers in computing," Rickman said. "Jean worked hard and, as a woman in a man's world at that time, especially in the business world, it's amazing what she was able to accomplish." Bartik graduated from Northwest Missouri State Teachers College in 1945 as the school's one math major. She recalled living on her parents' farm, refusing the teaching jobs her father suggested and avoiding all talk of marrying a farmer and having babies. Instead, she took a train to Philadelphia to work for the military. There, she learned ballistics calculations and was quickly hired to work on the ENIAC, created during the war by University of Pennsylvania scientists John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert Jr. Bartik and her colleagues debugged the computer, which weighed 30 tons, contained about 18,000 vacuum tubes and completed the same work the women "computers" did but in a fraction of the time. Bartik went on to work on the BINAC and UNIVAC computers and to work in the fledging high-tech publishing field. Her children and grandchildren all grew up to be good with numbers, she said in February. Bartik and the other ENIAC programmers didn't receive much attention for their work after WWII, but their story was recently featured in the documentary "Top Secret Rosies: The Female Computers of World War II." Bartik wrote an autobiography that is being edited; Rickman said he hopes it will be published this year. In 1997, Bartik was inducted into the Women in Technology Hall of Fame, along with her fellow ENIAC programmers, Kathleen McNulty Mauchly Antonelli, Frances Snyder Holberton, Marlyn Wescoff Meltzer, Frances Bilas Spence and Ruth Lichterman Teitelbaum. In 2008, Bartik was one of the Fellow Award honorees at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California, along with Robert Metcalfe, an inventor of Ethernet, and Linus Torvalds, who began the development of the Linux kernel, or operating system. Northwest Missouri State University opened the Jean Jennings Bartik Computing Museum in her honor. "I'm going to miss her terribly. It's such an end of an era," said Bill Mauchly, the son of ENIAC pioneers John and Kay Mauchly. After John Mauchly's death in 1980, Bartik and Kay Mauchly renewed their friendship and gave talks about their experience in the early days of computing. Both women wrote autobiographies, Bill Mauchly said, and remained close until Kay's death in 2006. "(Bartik) was such a ball of fire and so much fun," Bill Mauchly said. "They made a great team, because my mother was more demure. That's the part I remember, them traveling around like a traveling band, the Jean and Kay Show. They finally got to have their own little audience." "They're going to continue to be an example of women in technology from the very beginning. I think (Bartik) gave us what we needed to remember her by." In February, Bartik said women hadn't gotten far enough in technology, but she saw a promising future. "Women are busily working on it," she said. "I have high hopes for them."

Jean Bartik was among the women recruited to do ballistics calculations during WWII . Bartik went on to work on the ENIAC, BINAC and UNIVAC machines . Half a century later, their work is only beginning to get recognition . Bartik wrote an autobiography, which editors hope will publish this year .

(CNN) -- Edward Snowden's leaks of classified intelligence already have him being compared to Daniel Ellsworth of the Pentagon Papers and Bradley Manning of the WikiLeaks fame. Snowden felt compelled to leak valuable documents about the NSA's surveillance programs. The 29-year-old was willing to give up his $200,000 job, girlfriend, home in Hawaii and his family. He boldly pronounced, "I'm willing to sacrifice all of that because I can't in good conscience allow the U.S. government to destroy privacy, Internet freedom and basic liberties for people around the world with this massive surveillance machine they're secretly building." The uproar over the recent revelations about government surveillance programs has raised eyebrows and concerns across the political spectrum. Many on the left have been surprised that most of the same policies (now even the surveillance of U.S. citizens and phone companies) that President George W. Bush initiated, are being used, and expanded upon, by the Obama administration. Many on the right say it is government overreach and that Congress should have been briefed on the broad programs. Although the cause for alarm in political or policy circles might have merit, the exercise of these authorities by the executive branch does, in fact, appear to be legal. Once again, the war on al Qaeda is pitting national security against America's longstanding commitment to the promotion of civil liberties and human rights. Opinion: Edward Snowden is a hero . The current threat by al Qaeda and jihadists is one that requires aggressive intelligence collection and efforts. One has to look no further than the disruption of the New York City subway bombers (the one being touted by DNI Clapper) or the Boston Marathon bombers to know that the war on al Qaeda is coming home to us, to our citizens, to our students, to our streets and our subways. This 21st century war is different and requires new ways and methods of gathering information. As technology has increased, so has our ability to gather valuable, often actionable, intelligence. However, the move toward "home-grown" terror will necessarily require, by accident or purposefully, collections of U.S. citizens' conversations with potential overseas persons of interest. An open society, such as the United States, ironically needs to use this technology to protect itself. This truth is naturally uncomfortable for a country with a Constitution that prevents the federal government from conducting "unreasonable searches and seizures." American historical resistance towards such activities is a bedrock of our laws, policies and police procedures. But what might have been reasonable 10 years ago is not the same any longer. The constant armed struggle against the jihadists has adjusted our beliefs on what we think our government can, and must, do in order to protect its citizens. However, when we hear of programs such PRISM, or the Department of Justice getting phone records of scores of citizens without any signs of suspicious activities nor indications of probable cause that they might be involved in terrorist related activities, the American demand for privacy naturally emerges to challenge such "trolling" measures or data-mining. The executive branch, although particularly powerful in this arena, must ensure the Congress is kept abreast of activities such as these surveillance programs. The need for enhanced intelligence activities is a necessary part of the war on al Qaeda, but abuse can occur without ensuring the legislative branch has awareness of aggressive tactics such as these. Our Founding Fathers, aware of the need to have an energetic, vibrant executive branch in foreign affairs, still anticipated checks upon the presidency by the legislature. Working together, the two branches can ensure that both legally, and by policy, this is what the citizens desire of their government -- and that leaks such as Snowden's won't have the impact and damage that his leaks are likely to cause. As for Snowden, regardless of how any of us feel about the national security surveillance programs at issue, he must be extradited back to the U.S. for interviews and potential trial -- if for no other reason than to deter others from feeling emboldened to break the law in the same way in the future. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Glenn Sulmasy.

Edward Snowden leaked classified intelligence about government surveillance . Glenn Sulmasy: Enhanced intelligence activities are necessary in the war on terror . Abuse can occur if Congress is not aware of tactics like data-mining, he says . Sulmasy: Snowden should be extradited back to the U.S. for interviews and potential trial .

(CNN) -- From India to Las Vegas, superstitious lovebirds and numbers geeks are reveling in a once-in-a-lifetime event: the date 12/12/12. Sure, it might be just another set of numbers for some. But unlike the past 11 years, this will be the last such triple date for almost a century -- until January 1, 2101. That means one last chance for couples to get hitched on such an easy-to-remember wedding date (read: anniversary date). Those tying the knot at the Viva Las Vegas Wedding Chapel have 40 different 12/12/12 wedding packages to choose from. Six of those options include an Elvis impersonator. Others include pirate, gangster and gothic themes. "Besides a traditional wedding, the most popular is Elvis in a pink Caddy, where Elvis drives the couple down the aisle in a pink Cadillac," said general manager Brian Mills, who doubles as an Elvis impersonator. From midnight to midnight, more than 100 couples will walk or ride down the aisle at Viva Las Vegas. That's more than 10 times the number of couples who get hitched there on a typical Wednesday in December, Mills said. "The charismatic and fun-loving couple that gets married on a 12 day is lucky and balanced, but seeking constant goals to achieve," the chapel's website explains. "The 'go-getting' 1 and the 'sensitive' 2 make this a very balanced number. "1 is the vibration of 'new beginnings' and starting things afresh. The 2 vibration is about seeking 'balance' and that's certainly something that many will struggle with -- balancing the bank balance, balancing the food and beverage intake, balancing the emotions ... balancing in every way." For professional numerologists, 12/12/12 isn't just a cool repetition of digits or a lucky day for lovers. It's a fantastic day to start a new business venture or make a significant purchase, Indian numerologist Swetta Jumaani said. According to numerology, 12 is considered a "three" number because the digits add up to three. And three is a very good number because it corresponds with the largest planet, Jupiter, in addition to wealth. (In case you're wondering, Jumaani says the No. 1 "planet" is the sun, and the No. 2 "planet" is the moon.) "If you're in a business of trading money, or the buying and selling of anything, (Wednesday) is a good day to make investments," Jumaani said. "If you want to buy something -- property, if you want to buy gold -- it'd be a good day." But Wednesday is a terrible day to wear black, she said. "Black is a very inauspicious color. Something bad always happens." Halfway across the world in Alabama, Kiam Moriya will turn 12 on 12/12/12 -- at exactly 12:12 p.m., AL.com reported. "It's like one minute out of a whole lifetime," Kiam told the news site. "You know, it's all 12s." Wednesday also marks a milestone for the Vatican, where Pope Benedict XVI sent his first official tweet to the world. It's unclear whether the pope chose 12/12/12 for the digits or for some other reason. But more than 600,000 followers waited to see what message @Pontifex would offer in 140 characters or less. Despite the weddings, superstitions and inaugural papal tweet, underwhelmed Twitter users griped about all the brouhaha. "Ladies and gentlemen, it's 12.12.12 and...... Nothing happened," Aazief Khalid of Malaysia tweeted Wednesday. And nothing like it will happen again for almost 100 years. Read more: The allure of the Mayan Apocalypse .

One Las Vegas chapel is offering 40 different wedding packages for 12/12/12 . An Indian numerologist says Wednesday is a great day for making investments . Pope Benedict sends his first official tweet Wednesday . Some people on Twitter are underwhelmed by the unusual date .

Washington (CNN) -- It must have been at least a little satisfying Thursday for President Barack Obama. He had repeatedly warned Russian President Vladimir Putin against annexing Crimea from Ukraine, threatening tougher sanctions aimed at the Russian economy. Following the Russian parliament's vote to approve the annexation, Obama made a previously unscheduled appearance before TV cameras to essentially tell Putin: I told you I'd do it. "These are all choices that the Russian government has made, choices that have been rejected by the international community, as well as the government of Ukraine," Obama said. "And because of these choices, the United States is today moving, as we said we would, to impose additional costs on Russia." 'We said we would' His hastily arranged remarks signaled European allies that Obama would take a leading role on the issue, and also responded to pressure from political foes and some supporters at home for a tougher response to what Vice President Joe Biden called a "land grab" by Putin. Even Hillary Clinton, Obama's former secretary of state who is the overwhelming favorite for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016, said this week that the administration should do more to support Ukraine. Russia lawmakers vote to annex Crimea; U.S. steps up sanctions . The steps announced Thursday expanded on a previous U.S. list of sanctions targets, adding more senior Russian officials and what officials called "cronies" of Putin as well as a bank controlled by a Putin associate. Obama also warned Moscow that possible further sanctions would go after key sectors of the economy if Russia escalates the crisis in Ukraine. A new executive order signed by Obama authorizes his administration to target Russian companies in the financial services, energy, metals and mining, defense and engineering industries -- all vital components of the Russian economy. EU leaders met Thursday to discuss their own steps, so Obama's immediate response gave him the mantle of leadership on the matter. Finland's Minister for European Affairs and Foreign Trade Alexander Stubb told CNN's Nina dos Santos that the EU will add as many as 10 more names to its previous list of targets, but won't hit any companies at this stage. So far, European powers such as Germany and Britain have been unwilling to embrace significant economic sanctions against Russia because of their strong trade and investment ties with Moscow. Severe consequences . In a briefing to reporters, senior U.S. administration officials sounded further warnings against any Russian provocations in Ukraine. "We believe that it is very important to signal that if Russia further escalates this situation they will be met with severe consequences," one official said. The tough talk looked even more credible compared to Russia's almost comical response to the U.S. announcement: sanctions against nine U.S. political leaders and administration officials. On Ukraine, more must be done . Moscow's list included House Speaker John Boehner, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Republican Sens. John McCain and Dan Coats, Democratic Sens. Robert Menendez and Mary Landrieu, and some members of Obama's White House team. "I guess this means my spring break in Siberia is off, my Gazprom stock is lost, and my secret bank account in Moscow is frozen," McCain joked in response. 'Badge of honor' Landrieu, who is facing a tough re-election battle this year in generally conservative Louisiana, called her sanction by Russia "a badge of honor." Obama and U.S. officials have made clear that the response to Russia will remain in the diplomatic and economic arenas, with one senior administration official essentially rejecting for now any direct U.S. effort to bolster Ukraine's military forces for a ground war. "Nobody wants the outcome here to be a full-bore military conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and in fact, the Ukrainian government themselves have been quite restrained in not giving in to provocation and not having this go the way of bloodshed," the official said, adding that "we don't want to take steps to add to a momentum of further militarizing the situation." Clinton walks a 'fine line' on Putin . CNNMoney's Mark Thompson and CNN's Dana Bash and Lisa Desjardins contributed to this report.

NEW: Finnish official says EU will sanction individuals, not companies . Obama quickly announces new U.S. steps to take the lead on a global response . U.S. official: Further escalation would bring "severe consequences" for Russia . Sen. Landrieu calls counter-sanction against her by Russia a "badge of honor"

(CNN) -- Sen. Barack Obama told CNN on Wednesday the recent uproar over his former pastor's sermons has reminded him of the odds he faces in winning the White House. Sen. Barack Obama opens up in a one-on-one exclusive interview with Anderson Cooper. "In some ways, this controversy has actually shaken me up a little bit and gotten me back into remembering that the odds of me getting elected have always been lower than some of the other conventional candidates," the Illinois senator told CNN's Anderson Cooper in an exclusive one-on-one interview. Obama declined to speculate on whether the controversy surrounding the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's sermons may damage him politically, but said his campaign does best when it doesn't follow the "textbook." "If I was just running the textbook campaign -- doing the conventional thing -- I probably wasn't going to win because Sen. [Hillary] Clinton was going to be much more capable of doing that than I would be," he said. "We had tremendous success, and I think we were starting to get a little comfortable and conventional right before Texas and Ohio." The exclusive interview came one day after Obama delivered a speech on race and politics in Philadelphia, during which he denounced some of Wright's comments, but said he could not repudiate the man himself. "I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother. These people are a part of me. And they are a part of America, this country that I love," Obama said in the speech. Asked why he didn't denounce the controversial comment when he first heard of them more than a year ago, Obama noted Wright was on the verge of retirement. "I told him that I profoundly disagreed with his positions. As I said before, he was on, at that stage, on the verge of retirement. ... You make decisions about these issues. And my belief was that given that he was about to retire, that for me to make a political statement respecting my church at that time wasn't necessary." Watch him discuss his former pastor » . In the wide-ranging interview, Obama also hit back at rival Clinton's recent claims that he is standing in the way of revotes in Florida and Michigan. "Sen. Clinton, I have to say on this, has been completely disingenuous. She said when she was still trying to compete with the votes in Iowa and New Hampshire that Michigan and Florida wouldn't count," he said. "Then, as soon as she got into trouble politically and it looked like she would have no prospects of winning the nomination without having them count, suddenly she's extraordinarily concerned with the voters there." "I understand the politics of it, but let's be clear that it's politics," he added. "I want the Michigan delegation and the Florida delegation to be seated. And however the Democratic National Committee determines we can get that done, I'm happy to abide by those rules." Watch what Obama has to say about DNC rules » . Those comments come hours after Clinton made a trip to Michigan and directly urged Obama to join her call to count the Michigan and Florida votes or hold new elections in those states. "Sen. Obama speaks passionately on the trail about empowering American people. Today, I am urging him to match those words with actions to make sure people of Michigan and Florida have a voice and a vote in this election," Clinton said at a campaign rally in Detroit. "This is a crucial test [for Obama] -- does he mean what he says or not?" Michigan and Florida held primaries in January, but the national party stripped them of their delegates for scheduling their contests too early. Michigan has 157 Democratic delegates at stake, and Florida has 211. On the issue of Iraq, Obama said significant improvements have been made, but the U.S. strategy "continues to be a failed strategy." Watch him explain his Iraq position » . "I mean, no one has answered the question as to how this operation in Iraq -- that has now lasted five years, will have cost us more than a trillion dollars and thousands of lives -- how this has made us more safe." E-mail to a friend .

Sen. Obama discusses former pastor with CNN's Anderson Cooper . "This controversy has actually shaken me up a little bit," Obama says . Obama also blasted Clinton's claims that he is hindering Michigan, Florida revote . Illinois senator says U.S. efforts in Iraq continue to be a "failed strategy"

(CNN) -- I once stayed at a youth hostel in Copenhagen called Sleep in Heaven. Which sounds quite pleasant until you realize that, apparently, heaven is cold and damp and completely infested with bedbugs. I guess that's the part they don't tell you in Sunday school. "No, no. It's great. Nothing to worry about. Beautiful white robes. Big puffy clouds. Probably a salad bar." But there were none of those. Just bed bugs. Something was rotten in the state of Denmark. The next day, bitten and disgusted, I literally ran to catch a train to Berlin and haven't had pleasant thoughts about that country since. This was back in 2003. The tortured memories persist and still haunt my dreams. Which is why, the other day, almost eleven years later, I was delighted to learn that the United States finally invaded Denmark, set it on fire, and raised the American flag. Sort of. Here's what happened. There's a wildly popular computer game called "Minecraft" where, as best I understand it, players build highly imaginative environments and constructions using 3D cubes. It's sort of like a modern, digital-version of Lego, but without the risk of waking up the neighbors when you step barefoot on a wayward block. "Harold, I think Paul next door is constipated again." "Mark it on the chart, Diane." Now, I've never actually played this game because I'm a grown man with far more important things to do like tweeting and running my pretend fantasy football sports dynasty. So, to the millions of fine people who play "Minecraft," I sincerely apologize for oversimplifying your beloved game. It's all just too complicated, for I have six functioning brain cells, and five of them are dedicated to breathing and blinking. But, from what I can tell, part of the fun in "Minecraft" is creating these new virtual worlds and exploring those of others. And it's also a way to re-imagine worlds that already exist. So, the Danish government sanctioned the creation of a replica version of their country within "Minecraft" to use as a progressive teaching tool for schoolchildren, educating them about Denmark's geography. Really, it was a wonderfully creative and virtuous idea. Thus, cyber vandals promptly decided to blow it up. Somehow, these vandals were able to infiltrate virtual Denmark while sneaking in virtual dynamite, at which point they virtually demolished parts of virtual Copenhagen. What's interesting is that the use of this virtual dynamite was actually banned on the Danish server. But the ever-cunning vandals discovered they could sneak it in inside a virtual mining cart. Which is both amazing and ridiculous .. that it should come to this. But through their virtual sneak attack invasion, the vandals proudly constructed virtual American flags all over town, and built virtual signs reading: AMERICA. (Forgive me for a moment as I cue some Lee Greenwood and dab these red, white, and blue tears of pride rolling down my cheeks.) Initially, it was believed that the virtual damage was virtually catostraphic and virtually widespread. However, Chris Hammeken, an actual spokesperson from the Danish Geodata Agency, explained to the BBC, "Only a minor area was destroyed." There was no official word on whether or not a virtual Sleep In Heaven youth hostel was annihilated in the process. I guess a man can dream. Though the Danish Geodata Agency was quickly able to fully "repair" the "destruction," there was no fixing the psychological damage. Soon after the attack, images appeared on a "Minecraft" forum, and Denmark's defeat had officially gone public. And viral. Now, understand that I'm not an outwardly patriotic individual. But, despite the fact that -- all kidding aside -- Denmark really is a beautiful country with incredibly happy, intelligent, and peaceful citizens, I have to admit that, upon reading about this I felt a rather large twinge of U.S.A. pride. The whole thing was just so absurd and wonderfully American. Oh, that it should come to this. Follow @JarrettBellini on Twitter.

A virtual version of Denmark was created in the "Minecraft" game . "Cyber vandals" snuck into virtual Denmark, set off virtual dynamite and raised U.S. flags . Virtual Denmark has since been repaired .

(CNN) -- Have you noticed that homelessness isn't worse? Here we are, living through the most protracted joblessness crisis since the Great Depression -- and surprisingly, fewer people are living on the street. The federal Department of Housing and Urban Development reported that the number of the chronically homeless declined by 30% between 2005 and 2007. You might have expected the numbers to spike again when the financial crisis hit but no. Since 2007, the number of chronic homeless has dropped another 19%. A broader measure of the number of homeless counts the number of people living out of doors on one randomly chosen night. That broader measure has also improved through the economic crisis. Between January 2011 and January 2012, homelessness among veterans dropped by 7%. To what or whom do we owe this good news? In very large part, we owe it to the president whose library opened in Dallas last week: George W. Bush. For three decades, we have debated what causes homelessness and how to deal with it. Is homelessness a mental health problem? A substance abuse problem? A problem caused by gentrification and urban redevelopment? Or something else again? The Bush administration substituted a much simpler idea -- an idea that happened to work. Whatever the cause of homelessness, the solution is ... a home. In 2002, Bush appointed a new national homeless policy czar, Philip Mangano. A former music agent imbued with the religious philosophy of St. Francis of Assisi, Mangano was seized by an idea pioneered by New York University psychiatrist Sam Tsemberis: "housing first." The "housing first" concept urges authorities to concentrate resources on the hardest cases -- to move them into housing immediately -- and only to worry about the other problems of the homeless after they first have a roof over their heads. A 2004 profile in The Atlantic nicely summarized Tsemberis' ideas: "Offer them (the homeless) the apartment first, he believes, and you don't need to spend years, and service dollars, winning their trust." Many old school homeless advocates resisted Mangano's approach. They were impelled by two main objections: . 1. They believed that homelessness was just the most extreme form of a problem faced by low-income people generally -- a lack of affordable housing for low-income people. Focusing resources on the nation's hardest cases would (these advocates feared) distract the federal government from the bigger project of subsidizing better housing for millions of people who did not literally live in the streets. 2. By 2002, the nation had been worrying about homelessness for several decades. Countless programs from state and local agencies responded to some separate part of the problem; tens of thousands of people earned their livings in those state and local agencies, disposing of massive budgets. "Housing first" threatened to disrupt this vast industry. "Housing first" was comparatively cheap, for one thing: a homeless shelter might look squalid, but it cost a great deal to operate -- more, oftentimes, than a proper apartment with kitchen and bath. The transition to "housing first" threatened jobs and budgets across the country. There was only one counterargument to these objections: "Housing first" worked. It worked from the start, and it worked fast. It worked so well that the Obama administration has now claimed the approach as its own, even keeping Mangano on the job for the first weeks of the new administration. Bush remains one of the more controversial and less popular ex-presidents. But if in the next days you happen to walk down a city street, take a moment to notice how many men or women are sleeping there. Results will vary from place to place, but on average, there are probably fewer than half as many as a decade ago. The job is not completed yet. But for the first time since the 1970s, the abolition of homelessness has become a real and near possibility. Whatever else you think of the 43rd president, that achievement is part of Bush's legacy, too. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of David Frum.

David Frum: Despite the Great Recession, fewer people are living on the street . Frum: Why isn't homelessness getting worse? Because of the policies of George W. Bush . He says under Bush the simple solution of providing a home ("housing first") worked . Frum: Abolition of homelessness has become a real possibility, thanks to Bush .

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Listen closely and you'll hear squeals of disgust from a watchdog group tracking congressional pork in the nation's capital. Research on swine odor is one of the projects listed in the "Pig Book," released Tuesday. Citizens Against Government Waste is out with its annual "Pig Book" -- a list of lawmakers whom the group considers the most egregious porkers, members of the House and Senate who use the earmarking process to funnel money to projects on their home turf. Fittingly perhaps, the list includes nearly $1.8 million for swine odor and manure management research in Iowa. "In fiscal year 2009, Congress stuffed 10,160 projects into the 12 appropriations bills worth $19.6 billion," the group said in a report released Tuesday. The amount marks a 14 percent increase over 2008. The "Pig Book" also names dozens of what it considers the most blatant examples of pork-barrel spending. See a list of those projects » "Taxpayers are ready to revolt," said Tom Schatz, the organization's president. "Despite repeated claims by members of Congress that earmarks have been reduced, the Pig Book belies that claim." Included in the funding is $3.8 million for the Old Tiger Stadium Conservancy -- a group dedicated to finding a new use for the stadium that the Detroit Tigers baseball team played in from 1896 through 1999. An additional $1.9 million went to the Pleasure Beach water taxi service project in Bridgeport, Connecticut, requested by then-Rep. Chris Shays. A bridge fire more than a decade ago means beach-goers have to travel a couple of extra miles to get to the beach. Alaska led the nation in pork per capita, at $322 a person. At the bottom of the list was Arizona, with less than $12 per resident. Sen. John McCain does not request earmarks for his home state. See where each state ranks » . Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran, the ranking Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee, topped the list of senators receiving earmarks, with a total of $653 million. The chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, was second, with $445 million. Hawaii Reps. Neil Abercrombie and Mazie Hirono, both Democrats, topped the list for earmarks in the House of Representatives. Abercrombie's pet projects received a total of almost $257 million; Hirono's received almost $153 million. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, was granted the organization's so-called "Porkasaurus" award for earmarking $143,000 for the Las Vegas Natural History Museum. "Sen. Reid is fond of saying that earmarks have been around since we were a country. Now he must be blaming it on the dinosaurs," Schatz said. Some recipients of the earmarks disagreed with the characterization of their projects as "pork." Kathleen Wendler, a member of the Old Tiger Stadium Conservancy's board of directors, argued that the $3.8 million dedicated to the old ballpark was critical to revitalizing the surrounding Detroit neighborhood. The money "is not pork at all," she said. The ballpark, if properly utilized, can be an "economic development generator for the local business district. This project will help draw younger people into the neighborhood. It will help save the neighborhood in the long run." To qualify for the "Pig Book," a project must meet at least one of these standards: It was requested by only one chamber of Congress; was not specifically authorized; was not competitively awarded; was not requested by the president; greatly exceeded the president's budget request or the previous year's funding; was not the subject of congressional hearings; or served only a local or special interest. -- CNN's Alan Silverleib contributed to this report.

NEW: Senate Appropriations Committee leaders from both parties top earmarks list . NEW: Some recipients of earmark funds say their projects are not pork at all . Watchdog group releases its annual list of lawmakers it considers the worst porkers . Citizens Against Government Waste has criteria for citing projects as pork .

(CNN) -- Backed into a corner and desperate; That's the view of some economists watching the European Central Bank's latest attempts to curtail the euro bloc's recession. Thursday's interest rate cut, designed to combat a three-year debt crisis, will not stimulate economic growth in the bloc, they say. Less than a year after the ECB President Mario Draghi buoyed the markets with his promise to do "whatever it takes" to keep the currency together, the central bank's governors move has left some economists questioning whether the ECB has reached the limits of its power. Speaking in Bratislava, Slovakia, ECB President Mario Draghi said the central bank is "ready to act if needed." But the Italian shied away from announcing any extraordinary policy measures such as another "big bazooka" to increase bank liquidity or the unlimited purchases of government debt -- known as OMTs -- for troubled eurozone nations that sparked controversy in September. Read more: The eurozone's reluctant leader . Joerg Rocholl, president of the European School of Management and Technology, told CNN that the rate cut is "a desperate move," and means the ECB can avoid criticism that it is "overstretching its mandate." Despite the ECB's commitment to bankroll ailing eurozone nations who request a full sovereign bailout by buying up government bonds, it has so far resisted the temptation to implement aggressive monetary stimulus. That intransigence puts it at odds with many of its peers around the world. The Bank of Japan, the Federal Reserve and the Bank of England have all embarked on a process of quantitative easing -- increasing the supply of money in the economy -- while also introducing other policies such as an unemployment benchmark and a funding for lending scheme, intended to encourage banks to loan to small businesses. Read more: Will `Abenomics' lift Japan from recession? Mujtaba Rahman, head of research firm Eurasia Group's Europe practice, said Draghi "exhausted" his political capital when he introduced the OMT program in September. Italian and Spanish bonds, which had been been weighed down by market uncertainty, rebounded. Rahman added the ECB may be reluctant to announce new support measures because it breeds inertia among politicians looking to push through changes, such as a banking union, needed to bring Europe closer together. He said: "The wind has gone out of the sails on banking union. Once you announce intervention, you remove the incentive for countries to put the necessary structures in place." He told CNN that "shovelling money" to small businesses in peripheral Europe is the most likely next step for the ECB, but says the German elections and legality of the ECB's current bond-purchasing program are obstacles to any extraordinary policy announcements in future. With the worst hit countries in Europe in a depression and unemployment rising, the ECB could be forced to take more action, in addition to the current measures, to prevent the crisis worsening. Greece and Spain are both suffering with unemployment above 27% while Italy is drowning in a government debt of almost 2 trillion euros ($2.6 trillion), according to Eurostat -- the European Commission's data service. Read more: May Day protesters flood streets of Europe . Joerg Kraemer, chief economist at Commerzbank -- Germany's second-largest bank -- would expect the ECB to cut the deposit rate to negative territory before putting in place any other non-standard measures such as a loan scheme for small businesses. He said that the central bank is "in a corner" and has already exceeded its mandate significantly. Peripheral countries must stop expecting the ECB to come up with solutions to problems that should be solved by governments, he added. "We are already seeing drastic action," Kraemer told CNN, "the ECB has a very expansionary monetary policy, which I personally think, is too expansionary." He added: "This immediately puts the reform pressure off the peripheral countries and especially Italy. Without far reaching reforms you don't solve the reasons and the causes for the sovereign debt crisis."

Speaking in Bratislava, Slovakia, ECB President Mario Draghi said the central bank is "ready to act if needed." Rahman said ECB may be reluctant to announce new support measures because it breeds political inertia . Greece, Spain are both suffering with unemployment above 27% while Italy struggling with high government debt .

BEIJING, China (CNN) -- If there's one thing that makes Beijing an enticing city to both local and expatriate Beijingers alike, it's the food. Wangfujing Snack Street offers all sorts of exotic food, including sea horse. China's capital offers something for everyone -- from cheap street stalls to five-star gourmet eateries. Variety is the key -- from the more obvious delicacies such as fried fish, to things that are, well, a little more exotic. One great place in Beijing that offers both is Wangfujing Snack Street, in Dongcheng district. An ornate blue and gold archway marks the start of the street, which even at midday is already a bustling hive of hungry locals and curious tourists. Enticing smells swirl around continuously, as colorful characters shout out invitations to try their food. One guy, dressed in a red silk robe and black skullcap, sings out an invitation while holding a fan in one hand and his pigtail in the other. The type of food is extensive. Due to years of intermigration, almost every province is represented. There are lamb kebabs from Xinjiang, noodles from Gansu and spicy beef from Sichuan. And it's cheap: A stick of kebabs can be had for just 3 RMB (40 cents). There's also a lot for the sweet tooth, such as candy-covered apples in an array of vibrant colors, and whole coconuts filled with sweet water. But while the street's food is mostly conventional, there are also plenty of snacks on offer for the more adventurous. "Welcome, where are you from?" asks a friendly teenager, as he dangles a skewer of live scorpions in front of my eyes. "Would you like to try? Only 8 RMB." I'm too mesmerized by the scorpions' jiggling legs and snapping claws to offer a reply. He quickly shows me some of his other products for sale. They include sea horse (25 RMB), cicadas (5 RMB) and starfish (20 RMB). All are cooked by frying in oil, and can be accompanied by a variety of different sauces. Wangfujing Snack Street is a treasure, but for those who want to try something even a little more exotic, it might be worth jumping in a taxi for a 10-minute ride to Dongsishitiao Street, also in Dongcheng. The restaurant, Guo Li Zhuang ("strength inside a pot"), is unique in that it claims to be China's only specialty penis restaurant. It was started back in 2000 by a father-and-son team who also happen to be Chinese traditional doctors. "They both used to buy a lot of different food products to eat, such as animal penis for good health," explains restaurant manager Nancy Lee. Watch Nancy Lee discuss the food offerings available » . "Then they thought, if we are spending so much money buying this food, why not open up a restaurant that would benefit ourselves and friends? So it's not so much a business-oriented as a health-oriented idea." The restaurant is formal and divided up into private dining booths. Any preconceptions of drunken customers making lewd jokes about the food choices quickly diminish. The menu is quite exhaustive -- and there are other choices to consider, including seafood, flowers, bean products and wild mushrooms. But there's one main focus. "We serve the penis from nine different animals," says Lee. "They are cow, sheep, dog, donkey, horse, deer, yak, snake and seal." They are usually prepared in a hot pot or stir-fried, and one penis, according to traditional Chinese medicine, should be shared by three people. The meat dishes can be accompanied by assorted sauces such as lemon soy and chili soy, and any number of vegetable platters. The food, especially in a country with such inexpensive dining prices as China, isn't cheap. "The average cost per person to dine here is about 500 RMB ($73)," explains Lee. "Our clientele is usually made up of government officials and wealthy businessmen." Perhaps a one-of-a-kind experience they probably won't forget.

Beijing's culinary offerings range from street food to upscale restaurants . Dongcheng district in Chinese capital offers many food choices . Food from China's various provinces on offer throughout Beijing .

(CNN) -- A terrorist explosion in Bulgaria. Tourist kidnappings in Egypt. Sometimes violent demonstrations in Greece. A coup in Mali. Deadly drug wars in Mexico. Olympic security failures in England. Who wants to be a tourist these days? The deadly bombing of a bus carrying Israeli tourists Wednesday in Bulgaria is the latest bit of bad news in a summer plagued by global instability. Traveling hardly sounds relaxing. The U.S. State Department's latest worldwide safety caution issued Wednesday warns that terrorist groups "continue to plan terrorist attacks against U.S. interests in multiple regions, including Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East." Targets might include public transportation systems and "sporting events, residential areas, business offices, hotels, clubs, restaurants, places of worship, schools, public areas and other tourist destinations" in the United States and abroad where large numbers of U.S. citizens gather, according to the State Department. Despite ongoing advisories and worldwide economic uncertainty, the numbers suggest travelers are nevertheless determined to see the world. International tourist arrivals grew 5% in the first four months of 2012, according to the United Nations' World Tourism Organization. The agency estimates that 415 million tourists will travel worldwide during this year's May-August peak travel season, and international tourism is expected to increase by 3% to 4% for the full year. "In the case of acts of violence or any other risk/crisis situation such as natural disasters, it is important that countries are prepared and have built crisis management structures and preparedness plans to deal with such unforeseen events in order to minimize their impact on tourism," wrote Sandra Carvao, a WTO spokeswoman, in an e-mail. "Yet in many cases, these are isolated events that if well-managed will have a limited impact on tourism demand." The number of U.S. travelers going abroad last year dropped 3% from 2010 to nearly 59 million, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce's Office of Travel and Tourism Industries, but 2012 is looking strong for U.S. travel abroad. "So far, in 2012, we are seeing increases in U.S. outbound air traffic to all world regions. It is too early to tell if any of the events that have just occurred will impact travel," a Commerce Department official said via e-mail. This year's outbound air traffic is up 5% through April 2012, according to department figures. While most of their travelers aren't heading into political hot spots, U.S. travel agents say their clients understand terrorist threats and political unrest are part of what they have to consider in a post-9/11 world, along with the price of a plane ticket. "We've had little to no cause for concern from our travelers, many of whom are on extensive European vacations traveling with family for up to three weeks in Europe," wrote Pattie Fanta, owner of Travel Leaders in Bay Village, Ohio, in an e-mail. "I advise my clients to remain vigilant and alert while on the road (even in the U.S.), know they have good trip insurance and call us should any problems arise." Perspective is key, says veteran travel writer Zora O'Neill, who was boarding a Thursday red-eye flight to Greece. "Sure, I'm going to Greece, and even Athens -- but I know where the demonstrations usually are in Athens and the scale of them -- so I know just to avoid that part of the city," says O'Neill, author of more than a dozen travel guides, plus an upcoming book on Arabic language and the Middle East. "The key to perspective is a map! 'Demonstrations in Greece' typically boils down to one major square in Athens. 'Drug war violence in Mexico' affects only a tiny portion of the country. And for terrorist attacks, it's stone-cold to say it, but the safest time to go somewhere is after an attack, when the security is the most vigilant." CNN's Marnie Hunter contributed to this report.

Despite economic uncertainty and terror threats, international travel is up globally . U.S. travelers curbed travel abroad in 2011, but numbers are up for 2012 . Travel agents say most clients are not headed to trouble spots . Today's traveler is aware of threats and unrest in the post 9/11 world, agents say .

Washington (CNN) -- The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected a condemned Georgia inmate's request that his execution be delayed as he attempts to prove his "actual innocence." The justices without comment on Monday turned aside two separate appeals from Troy Davis, likely setting the stage for the state to set another execution date. Davis has gained international support for his long-standing claim he did not murder an off-duty Savannah police officer more than two decades ago. Monday's ruling is the latest in a case that is procedurally complex but, legally, a simple claim of innocence. Davis was granted a stay of execution by the U.S. Supreme Court two hours before he was to be put to death in 2008, and the court in 2009 ordered the federal District Court to take another look at the case. That court, after holding a hearing to review evidence, ruled in August that Davis "failed to show actual innocence" in the case. The District Court suggested that, for procedural reasons, Davis should take his appeal of its ruling directly to the Supreme Court. Davis ended up filing with both the 11th Circuit and the Supreme Court. The 11th Circuit deflected the appeal in November, saying it agreed with the district court that the Supreme Court was the correct place for the filing. Davis then took his case to the U.S. Supreme Court in January, filing two pleas. One sought review of the Georgia federal judge's rejection of the innocence claim, and the other asked for a test of the 11th Circuit's refusal to review the case. The justices on Monday turned down both pleas without comment. Davis' sister said Monday that she is "very disappointed" by the Supreme Court's rejection. Martina Correia-Davis said Davis' attorney told her they would continue to pursue all possible legal options, including a possible re-petition of the Georgia State Board of Parole. She said she had not spoken to Davis about Monday's decision but expected his attorney to call him soon. Correia-Davis said she doesn't want the case to be moved back to Savannah, where Davis was tried and convicted for the 1989 murder, because she doesn't think he will "get a fair chance" there. Witnesses said Davis, then 19, and two others were harassing a homeless man in a Burger King parking lot when off-duty officer Mark MacPhail came to the man's assistance. They testified that Davis shot MacPhail twice and fled. Since Davis' conviction in 1991, seven of the nine witnesses against him have recanted their testimony. No physical evidence was presented linking Davis to the killing of the policeman. But upon reviewing Davis' claims of innocence, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia found in August that Davis "vastly overstates the value of his evidence of innocence." "Some of the evidence is not credible and would be disregarded by a reasonable juror," Judge William T. Moore wrote in a 172-page opinion. "Other evidence that Mr. Davis brought forward is too general to provide anything more than smoke and mirrors," the court found. Amnesty International, which is monitoring the case, expressed disappointment Monday that the Supreme Court had rejected the appeals. "It appears that the justice system is comfortable allowing someone to be executed when there are lingering doubts about guilt in the case. No objective person could confidently determine that Davis is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt from the evidence available now in his case. That leaves an ominous cloud hanging over an irreversible sentence such as the death penalty," the international human rights group said in a statement. "The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles, as the final fail-safe, has the opportunity to commute his sentence to life and prevent the possibility of executing an innocent person." Prominent figures ranging from the pope to the musical group Indigo Girls have asked Georgia to grant Davis a new trial. Other supporters include celebrities Susan Sarandon and Harry Belafonte; world leaders such as former President Jimmy Carter and former Archbishop Desmond Tutu; and former and current U.S. lawmakers Bob Barr, Carol Moseley Braun and John Lewis. CNN Supreme Court Producer Bill Mears contributed to this report.

The justices turned aside without comment two appeals from Troy Davis . The action likely sets the stage for the state to set another execution date . The ruling is latest in case that is procedurally complex but, legally, a simple innocence claim .

(CNN) -- The Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor will shut late next year and be decommissioned, its owner announced Tuesday, citing low prices for natural gas and high operating costs. "This shutdown decision was made because this asset is not financially viable," owner Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee LCC said in a statement. The 40-year-old plant, which employs 630 workers, is in Windham County on the Connecticut River, near the border with Massachusetts. During decommissioning, a process that could take decades to complete, fuel will be transferred to storage, Entergy said. Entergy said decommissioning is expected to cost $566 million, but its decommissioning trust contains $582 million. The plant's boiling water reactor, made by General Electric, uses river water as a cooling source and is licensed to operate through 2032. Vermont Yankee had been the subject of a battle between state authorities and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission over its GE-designed containment housing known as the Mark 1, one of 23 such reactor housings in the United States. That was the design used at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, where three reactors melted down after the station was struck by the tsunami that followed an earthquake in March 2011. The disaster resulted in the widespread release of radioactive contamination that forced more than 100,000 people from their homes. Japan fed up with 'whack-a-mole' approach to Fukushima . The Nuclear Regulatory Commission rejected a petition by anti-nuclear groups to shut reactors using the GE Mark I containment. Japan will need decades to clean up after Fukushima Daiichi, the world's worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl in 1986. The U.S. nuclear industry hasn't built a new reactor since the 1970s. But on February 9, the commission approved two new reactors at the Vogtle nuclear plant in Georgia. The reactors differ from those at the GE plants at Fukushima Daiichi and in the United States. National Energy Institute President and CEO Marvin Fertel called the closure "a great loss to the state of Vermont, the regional economy and consumers and the environment." But the Vermont plant's finances have dimmed in recent years, as widespread drilling for shale gas has lowered the price of natural gas. A 2008 post that is still on Entergy's website predicted that "the continued operation will result in over $2 billion in additional income for the residents of Windham County and the state of Vermont as well as increased tax revenues for the state in excess of $300 million in today's (2008) dollars." At the time, Vermont Yankee was supplying nearly a third of the electricity used in the state. But the company said Tuesday that it had spent more than $400 million in operating costs since 2002. "The announcement today by Entergy that it will shutter the troubled Vermont Yankee reactor is the latest -- but certainly not the last -- domino to fall for the failing U.S. nuclear power industry," said Mark Cooper, a senior fellow for economic analysis at the Institute for Energy and the Environment at Vermont Law School. He noted that Tuesday's announcement follows the August 1 announcement by Duke Energy that it is abandoning its reactor project in Levy County, Florida, and that the French-subsidized nuclear giant EDF was pulling out of the U.S. nuclear power market "due to the inability of nuclear power to compete with alternatives and the dramatic reduction in demand growth caused by increasing efficiency of electricity consuming devices." He cited the recent closures of four other nuclear reactors: two at San Onofre in California and one each at Kewaunee in Wisconsin and Crystal River in Florida. "What we are seeing today is nothing less than the rapid-fire downsizing of nuclear power in the United States," he wrote. "It is important to recognize that the tough times the U.S. nuclear power industry faces today are only going to get worse." After Chernobyl, complexity surrounds local health problems . CNN's Matt Smith contributed to this report.

"This asset is not financially viable," owner Entergy says . The 40-year-old plant employs 630 workers . Decommissioning will probably take decades .

(CNN) -- Alvin E. Roth of Harvard University and Lloyd Shapley of UCLA have been awarded the Nobel Prize in economics for their work in market design and matching theory, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced Monday. Roth and Shapley's work focuses on finding the most efficient way to match parties in a transaction, whether it be students to schools or organ donors to recipients, according to the academy. Shapley used game theory to study matching models, and Roth built on them to make real-world changes to existing markets, including school choice and organ transplants, the academy said. Elements of their work are built into software that guides kidney donations in the United States, as well as in school choice models in New York, Boston, New Orleans and other U.S. cities, Roth told reporters Monday. Roth, who was awakened by an early morning call about their win, said he was not expecting the prize but was honored to share it with Shapley. "I'm sure when I go to the class this morning my students will pay more attention," he said. The economics prize is the sixth and final of the annual awards that spotlight the world's top scholars and peacemakers. The economics award was not among the original prizes created in 1895 by Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel to honor work in physics, medicine, chemistry, literature and peace. It was added as a category in 1969 by the Swedish central bank in memory of the industrialist. As such, the economics prize is given by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, following the same principles used to determine the other Nobel Prize winners, according to the Nobel committee. The monetary award that accompanies the Nobel Prize was lowered by the foundation this year by 20% from 10 million Swedish kronor ($1.5 million) to 8 million kronor ($1.2 million) because of the turbulence that hit the financial markets. The economics selection follows last week's awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to the European Union, a selection that surprised many and drew scorn from Italian and Greek demonstrators who took to the streets to protest austerity measures. Opinion: Nobel Committee wasted an opportunity in its Peace Prize . The 27-nation union was honored for its work in promoting democracy and reconciliation following World War II, even as it grapples with a financial crisis that threatens to break the EU apart. Opinion: Why Europe deserved Peace Prize . "The Nobel committee is a little late for an April fools joke," said Martin Callanan, leader of the Conservatives and Reformists party in the European Parliament. While Callanan called the Nobel committee "out of touch," others applauded the selection. Another surprise was the Nobel committee's selection of Chinese writer Mo Yan as the winner of the Nobel Prize for literature. The Chinese author, whose pen name means "not talking," has captivated his countrymen by intertwining fantasy and gritty everyday life. Mo, a Communist Party member, is considered a writer within the system and has embraced official party restrictions on writing. He also was elected by the Communist Party to a vice chairman spot in the state-sanctioned China Writers Association. Unlike the news blackout in China two years ago when Chinese dissident Liu Xiabo won the Nobel Peace Prize, state-run media reported Mo's win immediately following the announcement. Patrick Poon of the Independent Chinese Pen Center said the award by the Nobel committee appeared to be a recognition of -- or attempt to please -- the Chinese government. This year's prize for economics was selected from among hundreds of nominations, the Nobel committee said. Two Americans shared the prize last year for their study of the cause-and-effect relationship between government and economic policy. Thomas Sargent, a professor at New York University, and Christopher Sims, a professor at Princeton University, carried out their research independently, though their work was considered complementary. Sargent and Sims received their doctorates from Harvard in 1968. Read more: Nobel Peace Prize winner rips into fellow laureate over corruption . CNN's Ben Brumfield and Joe Sterling contributed to this report.

NEW: U.S. economists win prize for study of market design and matching theory . NEW: Their work is used in education and organ transplants, among other things . Economics was added as a category in 1969 by the Swedish central bank . Two American professors also shared the 2011 Nobel Prize for economics .

London (CNN) -- Summer may be drawing to a close but for the eurozone's economy, spring has only just begun. After 18 months in recession, the single currency bloc finally posted some much needed growth in the form of a 0.3% expansion of gross domestic product for the second quarter. Watch more: Europe's new challenges . Brussels was quick to take the credit, claiming its policies of structural reforms had finally started to take hold, whilst the investor community cautioned more work would be needed to ensure the nascent recovery could be sustained. The truth is that yes, things are looking up but it depends where you are in Europe and there's certainly little room for complacency. Predictably, growth in the eurozone's two biggest economies, Germany and France, underpinned the region's revival. But a closer look at individual countries further down the pecking order throws up some unexpected surprises, which I've outlined below. Read more: Can Europe drive a new industrial revolution? Portugal, a nation whose profligacy and lack of competitiveness led to it being bailed out, grew 1.1% while the Netherlands, famous for its fiscal prudence, shrank 0.2% -- its fourth straight quarter of contraction. The economies of Italy and Spain remained stuck in reverse gear as well. So much for the stereotypes and the hard and fast crisis response rules which have taken endless European Union summits to draft. Reading the data one would be forgiven for thinking three years of austerity never happened. In fact it wasn't even mentioned once in Olli Rehn's own communique. Watch more: Why Europe's problems will come back . And yet the challenge for Europe's leaders at a time when some of them are coming up for re-election will be to seize upon the green shoots without dropping the ball on spending cuts. In Germany, which will face a general election next month, business groups are already lobbying any incoming government to boost investment spending. And in France, large firms are still loath to hire due to the government's lack of fiscal clarity and President Hollande's new punitive tax regime. A CEO of one FTSE 100 business with over 60,000 staff across the EU told me Europe was in recovery, and that presented opportunities -- but confidence was needed to ensure the upswing really took hold. Read more: Meet tiny nation bucking eurozone's pain . However, as any business leader will also tell you, confidence is an intangible currency. Indeed, the next challenge for Europe's top brass will be to convince companies the future is bright enough to start hiring again. Across the eurozone and the broader EU as a whole, firms have been amassing huge cash reserves which, in the face of uncertainty, have been neither spent on new machinery nor on the hiring of new staff. Such businesses will need more evidence of a true lift than a mere quarter of expansion before they are to undertake any hefty capital expenditure. The eurozone crisis has dominated the political and economic sphere for more than three years. During that time millions have lost their jobs creating a legacy of high unemployment and long-term underemployment which will take years to tackle. With more than a quarter of their populations out of work today, countries like Spain and Greece will probably still finding solutions to their jobs crisis by the time the next recession rolls around. Explore: How the crisis made the rich richer and the poor poorer . That's not counting a whole generation who missed its first step on the job ladder. If Europe really has learned its lesson, business and government should start setting the wheels in motion now to work together and retrain staff for the jobs available today and tomorrow. More jobs would boost domestic consumption and help provide a counterweight to export-dependency of the growth generators like Germany. But to hire, businesses need to be offered incentives. One incentive is a stable, more robust economy. Another is a benign interest rate environment, which is why what would really give this recovery legs is a rate cut by the end of this year. Mario Draghi, take note. Read more: Central bankers and the games of wordplay .

After 18 months in recession, the eurozone finally posted some much needed growth . Things are looking up but it depends where you are in Europe, and there's little room for complacency . The challenge for Europe's leaders will be to seize upon the green shoots . Now, the bloc's business leaders need confidence, but that is an intangible currency .

(CNN) -- Rory McIlroy has never played in a World Match Play semifinal before, and he has never been ranked No. 1. Lee Westwood lost his top spot at the World Golf Championship event in Arizona a year ago, and he wants it back. Before this week the Englishman had never made it past the second round of the 64-man tournament in 11 attempts. Ideally they would be meeting in Sunday's 18-hole final in a showdown to see who will depose Luke Donald as golf's top dog, but instead they will have to clash in the semi. The winner of that morning match will play either Hunter Mahan or Mark Wilson, with the U.S. assured of a shot at the trophy for the first time since Tiger Woods took it home for the third occasion in 2008. "I think it's the match that most people wanted and definitely the match that I wanted," world No. 2 McIlroy told reporters after beating South Korea's Bae Sang-moon 3&2 in his quarterfinal on Saturday. "I'm excited about tomorrow, it should be a lot of fun and very exciting for everyone involved. "All I need to do is focus on the match tomorrow morning, and then I think the biggest task for both of us, me and Lee, is getting yourself so much up for the semifinal. "You have to get yourself up for that again. So that will be the tough task because obviously both of us feel you've got to get past each other -- for Lee to get back to number one and me to get there for the first time. "You have to put your all into that and then whoever wins tomorrow morning, you get yourself back up again to go back out tomorrow afternoon and win the whole thing." While McIlroy has already won the U.S. Open at the age of 22, the 38-year-old Westwood is still waiting for his first major victory -- though he has topped the European Tour money list and ended Woods' record-breaking run at the top of the rankings in 2010. "We've played a lot together. It will be a good match -- I hope it will be a great match, that we both play well and make a lot of birdies," Westwood said of the clash with his European Ryder Cup teammate after his 4&2 victory over Scotland's Martin Laird. "My priorities were to win major championships and win World Golf Championships because I haven't ever won any. I've been at No. 1 a couple of times. It would be a different way of thinking to me compared to Rory, who hasn't been No. 1. He may be thinking about it, but my main goal is to play well or play as well as I've been playing tomorrow morning and try and win that match." Neither Mahan nor Wilson are ranked inside the top 20, but have both been in fine form at the Ritz-Carlton course this week. World No. 22 Mahan went through after thrashing U.S. Ryder Cup teammate Matt Kuchar 6&5 in the shortest quarterfinal since the tournament started in 1999. "Matt couldn't find the putter today, which is rare for him, because he's a great putter," Mahan said of his 14th-ranked opponent. "I got lucky in that aspect. But I played solid, didn't make any bogeys and didn't give many holes -- and kept the pressure on him. That was nice to do." Wilson, ranked 42nd and a three-time winner on the PGA Tour, cruised past Sweden's Peter Hanson 4&3, and has yet to play past the 16th hole this week. "I don't think too many people picked me to win," said Wilson, who is looking to follow in the example of last year's winner Donald and his predecessor Ian Poulter -- none of the trio are long hitters.

World No.2 Rory McIlroy to play third-ranked Lee Westwood in World Match Play semifinals . The winner will depose Luke Donald at the top of the world rankings if they can also win the title . The U.S. will have a shot at the title for the first time since Tiger Woods won it in 2008 . U.S. Ryder Cup player Hunter Mahan will play compatriot Mark Wilson in the other semifinal in Arizona .

(CNN) -- It is likely that radical cleric Abu Hamza -- who was found guilty on terror charges by a New York federal jury this week --- will now spend the rest of his life in a U.S. top security prison while his victims will gain some succor from the fact that he is finally behind bars. However, merely stopping high-profile extremist preachers is not enough if the threat they represent is to be confronted. Much more needs to be done to challenge extremist narratives, ideas and propaganda if we are prevent the next generation of extremist preachers from emerging. There was a time, during the 1980s and early 1990s, when individuals would rarely become radicalized without direct contact with an extremist preacher of some description. In this context, preachers such as Abu Hamza became highly significant as recruiters and propagandists. Their ability to tailor the al-Qaeda worldview to young and impressionable audiences in Europe and North America allowed them to target a generation of Muslims born and raised in the West. However, even though many key extremist preachers have now been arrested or deported -- such as Omar Bakri and Abdullah Faisal -- extremist narratives are still being disseminated and reaching their target audiences. The likes of Abu Hamza have left a legacy which has now been taken on by some Western-born recruits, using educational institutions, prisons and the Internet to spread extremist messages. The fact that an estimated 400 British citizens are believed to have traveled to Syria to join jihadist groups suggests their efforts are having some success. In tackling extremism we need to ensure universities and colleges are not hosting extremist preachers without providing a robust challenge to their views. We need to ensure prisoners are offered mentoring and support to turn their lives around, making them less susceptible to recruitment within prisons. Online extremism also needs to be challenged with counter-arguments; this could be done through websites and social media accounts that confront the extremist narrative. A recent Quilliam report further details how this can be done. Arresting key individuals or shutting down extremist websites -- as some European governments propose -- are not long-term solutions to this problem. Extremist narratives only lose their appeal when they are undermined and thoroughly discredited; when the debate is opened up and won by their opponents, rather than being shut down and lost. We need to enter the realm of ideas and pitch more positive and enlightened values against extreme and regressive arguments. The extreme Islamist narrative offers listeners a simplistic framework through which all geo-political developments are misconstrued. Just as Marxists view all activities as part of a class struggle, so extreme Islamists rely on a West versus Islam framework or a Muslim versus non-Muslim rivalry. In the view of such extreme Islamists, Muslims are at war while non-Muslim states and political entities form part of a broad struggle to undermine Islam. Conflict zones -- such as Syria, Iraq or Afghanistan -- are viewed not as localised or isolated conflicts but part of a grand conspiracy to undermine Islam and prevent the emergence of a utopian Islamist super-power. Undermining extreme Islamism is about undermining the framework or narrative that is being used. This involves discrediting it and exposing its inaccuracies from a political, historical and theological point of view. It is also about revealing the true nature of the extremist narrative and presenting it in its unembellished form. Extremists often rely on highlighting a select number of grievances, while ignoring other less convenient ones, in order to create moral outrage and garner sympathy. Exposing this selective and agenda driven approach to conflict zones and political developments is key to discrediting their efforts. Ultimately, extremism will stop appealing to young people when it becomes unfashionable and is regarded as yesterday's news. However, or that to happen we need not only counter-narratives but also alternative narratives through which the world can be understood and appreciated. For this to happen we need more political literacy, more spaces in which young people can discuss political and social developments and a stronger sense of national and regional identity so that people feel a greater sense of rootedness and belonging. We undermine extremists by illustrating how our values are better than theirs and offering constructive answers in opposition to their destructive proposals.

Ghaffar Hussain: We need to confront extreme Islamist narratives . Preacher Abu Hamza, found guilty this week on terror charges, renowned for radicalization . Undermine radicals by offering a stronger worldview, says Hussain .

(CNN) -- Only a few hours had passed after the Boston Marathon bombing, which killed three people and injured hundreds, when this little nugget of inspiration showed up in my Twitter feed: . "Back home. You know what? I'm going for a run. Definitely." That tweet is from Peter Vigneron, a writer who was at the marathon when the bombs went off. Luckily, as he writes on his blog, he was far enough from the blasts to be safe. As the hours went by I started to see more online posts like that -- runners in Boston and elsewhere making pledges to lace up their sneakers and hit the road. It felt like a groundswell of grass-roots action, a collective statement that this tragedy, no matter who perpetrated it or why, wasn't going to stop people from doing what they love. iReport: Run for Boston 2014 . By Tuesday, people from Hong Kong, India, Canada, England, Croatia, Brazil, Mexico, Russia and the Netherlands were using the hashtag #runforboston and a Google doc created by CNN iReporter Becca Obergefell to log their journeys. The momentum has been building. As of early Tuesday afternoon, 360 people had logged more than 1,200 running miles on Obergefell's page. People also have been sharing their stories with her. "I ran to clear my head, but it didn't work. So I ran because I could. Because the freedom of running wasn't taken away from me. Because the running community stretches to all cities and all places, and I'm glad to be a part of it," one person wrote to Obergefell, a 26-year-old in Columbus, Ohio. I heard these stories and got inspired. That's why I'm pledging to run a marathon in honor of Boston -- and, since I'm kind of a couch potato, I'm going to pledge to do it by April 15, 2014, the 1-year anniversary of the tragedy. I'd like to invite you to do the same. Sign up by going to the "Run for Boston 2014" page on CNN iReport and uploading a photo of you and your running shoes. Alternatively, post the photo to Instagram or Twitter with the hashtag #runforboston and #cnnireport. If you're so inclined, tell us why you're running. You don't have to pledge to run a marathon. Run a mile or a 5K -- or do a walk. The important thing is to get out there and get moving. Do it for Boston. Do it for your health. Or, if you use the simple app called Charity Miles, you can do it to raise money for one of the several worthy charities it features. I'm doing it because I feel like I've got to do something. It's been 12 years since 9/11 and 18 years since the Oklahoma City bombing. I was safely miles away, in a middle school classroom, when a bomb exploded in downtown Oklahoma City, killing 168. But that morning is stuck in my memory forever. I'm running because I don't want any of these tragedies to change me or to change us as a people -- to make us afraid, to keep us indoors. I am by no means a regular runner -- or even a runner at all. One of my friends saw a post about this idea on Facebook and thought I was joking. So please don't feel shy about signing up to do something new. I have no idea what I'm getting myself into -- and I think that's probably a good thing, at least for now. CNN also hopes to make a video about the collective journey -- and I'm running to see what it will be like to (hopefully) complete this challenge as a group. I could go on, but instead I'm going to go take a photo with my sneakers. And then hit the sidewalk. I hope you'll do the same. The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of John D. Sutter.

Runners are hitting the road in support of Boston bombing victims . John Sutter: I'm pledging to run a marathon by April 2014; join me . Sign up for the CNN iReport challenge: Run for Boston 2014 . Sutter says the #runforboston hashtag led to the challenge .

Washington (CNN) -- Bill and Hillary Clinton's seemingly never-ending political careers have had a tremendous impact on at least one person: Monica Lewinsky. The former White House intern, whose sexual relationship with the 42nd President led to his impeachment, will never be able to escape the spotlight -- as long as the Clintons are still in it. As Hillary Clinton mulls another presidential run in 2016, her husband's relationship with Lewinsky has become fodder for her political foes. Possible Republican 2016 presidential candidate Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky has invoked Lewinsky and Clinton's affair twice in as many months. "If (Democrats) want to take a position on women's rights, by all means do. But you can't do it and take it from a guy who was using his position of authority to take advantage of young women in the workplace," Paul said this past weekend on C-SPAN's "Newsmakers" program. And on NBC's "Meet the Press" last month, Paul brought up Clinton's "predatory behavior." Documents reveal Hillary's private reaction to Bill's cheating scandal with Monica . Asked if Bill Clinton's past should be a consideration in a potential second presidential bid by his wife, Paul said he's "not saying that," but "sometimes it's hard to separate one from the other." When it comes to judging Bill Clinton's legacy, however, Paul said the affair should certainly be considered a factor. The conservative Washington Free Beacon first reported on public documents stored at the University of Arkansas library that detail some of Hillary Clinton's discussions with a close friend, Diane Blair, at the time. Clinton told Blair that Lewinsky was a "narcissistic loony toon." Blair, who died in 2000, wrote that "(Hillary) is not trying to excuse (Bill Clinton); it was a huge personal lapse. And she is not taking responsibility for it." CNN has confirmed the documents are authentic and has reached out to a spokesman for Hillary Clinton, who has not responded. Lewinsky will continue to be part of the Clintons' story. Which leads us to ask -- where is she now? Immediately after Clinton's impeachment, she remained in the spotlight. She worked with author Andrew Morton on a book about her, called "Monica's Story," which was published in March of 1999. She was a spokesperson for Jenny Craig in 1999, according to IMDb, and worked as an American culture reporter for British Channel 5. She launched a handbag design line and then hosted a reality television program in 2003 called "Mr. Personality." In the years following her White House internship, she made herself available for media interviews, including with Time magazine and Barbara Walters. But in 2005, she switched gears completely. She moved to London, where she attended the London School of Economics and graduated with a master's degree in social psychology. Her thesis was titled "In Search of the Impartial Juror: An exploration of the third person effect and pretrial publicity." Her publicist at the time, Barbara Hutson, said that "the audience of students and parents erupted in spontaneous applause. ... It was a very emotional moment for her." But since 2006, Lewinsky has kept an extremely low profile. She stayed in London for a while job searching, and she was seen in New York with friends in 2009. Hutson, who no longer represents Lewinsky, told CNN that she's "trying to lead a private live," but she promised that she would forward our request for comment. In 2012, however, reports surfaced of a $12 million book deal. If they're true, Lewinsky's life in the shadows might come to an end. According to the New York Post, she was shopping a juicy, tell-all book proposal around to publishers. If such a book were released soon, before 2016, it could be the second time Lewinsky has a major political impact on the Clintons. Will Bill Clinton be a help or a hindrance if his wife runs for president again?

Nearly 20 years later, Lewinsky scandal has become fodder for Hillary Clinton's political foes . Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky has invoked Lewinsky and Bill Clinton's affair . Lewinsky has remained out of the spotlight since 2005 .

Los Angeles (CNN) -- Halle Berry's lawyers returned to court Tuesday to ask a Los Angeles judge to keep her child's father away from their daughter because of a Thanksgiving Day fight with Berry's fiance. The father, model Gabriel Aubry, claimed in a court filing Monday that the fiance, Olivier Martinez, ambushed him when he was dropping the daughter, 4-year-old Nahla, at Berry's Hollywood Hills home. Police arrested Aubry, 37, and charged him with misdemeanor battery, but he insisted he was not the aggressor in the fistfight, which sent him to a hospital. Berry, 46, and Aubry have been engaged in a bitter legal fight over custody of Nahla since their five-year romance ended in 2010. The battle heated up last year after the Oscar-winning actress announced her engagement to Martinez and asked a family court to allow her to move with the daughter to Paris. Aubry, in a sworn statement that helped him gain a temporary restraining order against Martinez on Monday, said the fight in Berry's driveway last Thursday morning was apparently motivated by the custody battle, which Berry recently lost. Berry, who pays Aubry child support under the shared custody agreement, was told she cannot move to Paris with the child unless Aubry goes there as well. In his statement, Aubry said: "While he was attacking me physically, Mr. Martinez said to me in an aggressive and threatening voice, 'You cost us $3 million. When you see the judge, you're going to tell him you're going to Paris or I'm going to kill you. You're going to Paris, you're going to get your 20 grand a month in child support. From now on you're going to do drop-offs on the street.'" Berry: I'm so glad I waited to have Nahla . Aubry's lawyer attached several photos to the filing to show his blackened, swollen eyes, cut lip and bruised face. Aubry was treated at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center for a fractured rib and several bruises on his face and forehead, and he required stitches to repair three cuts in his mouth, the filing said. In the statement, Aubry said Martinez first threatened him the day before, when Berry and the two men were visiting Nahla's school. "Martinez, who seemed very angry and agitated, suddenly started speaking to me in French, and spouted off things such as, 'I wish I could beat the s**t out of you right now. You're lucky we're in a school right now," his statement said. The next morning, when Aubry was parked in Berry's gated driveway to hand over his daughter to the nanny to spend Thanksgiving Day with her mother, Martinez approached him and said, "We need to talk," Aubry said. "All of a sudden, Mr. Martinez jumped on me on the side of my body, and punched me such that he had taken me down to the ground," Aubry said in the sworn statement. "He continued to punch me at least two or three times, kicked me in the ribs with his knee or foot, and took my head in his hands and slammed it to the concrete driveway. It all happened so suddenly, I did not see Mr. Martinez's actions coming, and thus, I was not ready for it and was not able to defend myself." Aubry suggested that police should look at video from the three security cameras in Berry's driveway "before she and Mr. Martinez deleted them." It was unclear if such video exists or if police have it. If so, it could be key evidence on December 13 when Aubry is in court to face the battery charge and on December 17 when he seeks to make permanent the temporary restraining order issued Monday banning Martinez from harassing, intimidating or contacting him. Tuesday's hearing, in which Berry hopes to persuade a judge to order Aubry to stay away from their daughter, will be in a closed courtroom.

A judge orders Berry's fiance to keep away from her ex, Gabriel Aubry . Aubry, her daughter's dad, faces a battery charge after a fight with Olivier Martinez . Photos show Aubry's injuries, which says happened with Martinez attacked . Berry and Aubry have battled for two years over custody of young Nahla .

(CNN) -- Running for president is an expensive endeavor, but the cost isn't measured in dollars alone. Sure, we can count the $4 million in super PAC dollars Mitt Romney's allies just spent to tear down his Iowa opponents with negative ads. Indeed, Romney and his allies spent nearly $150 for every caucus vote he received in his eight-vote victory. But you can't put a price tag on the principles he sold out to the Tea Party in order to buy its extremists' support. Romney, who, Newt Gingrich likes to say, once ran to the left of Sen. Ted Kennedy, has scrambled in the past year to get to the right of Rick Perry, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum. The same career politician who less than a decade ago told Massachusetts voters "my views are progressive" told South Carolinians last month, "I line up pretty darn well with Tea Partiers." In the same breath Romney called himself "the ideal candidate" of the right wing. As Romney now takes his dangerous promises and disregard for the middle class to New Hampshire on Tuesday, then South Carolina and beyond along the primary campaign trail -- and, he hopes, into the general election -- he's weighed down by heavy baggage. He belittled President Obama's $1,000 tax cut for typical middle-class families, deriding it as a "little Band-Aid." But Romney's own plan would give that same family just $54, savings even he admits is "not a huge tax cut." He doubled down on his misguided idea to "let Detroit go bankrupt," even though the president's rescue of the auto industry saved more than 1.4 million American jobs up and down the supply chain, leading to a renaissance in the American car industry. Romney has also said he'd let the foreclosure process "hit the bottom." Presumably this is so investors can swing in and make a quick buck. Drawing on his lucrative business experience of firing workers, off-shoring jobs, closing plants and bankrupting companies, Romney has a plan for the speculators, but not the families who stand to lose their homes. He promised to veto the DREAM Act and deny young illegal immigrants the chance to earn a path to citizenship if they give back to the only country they've ever known by serving in the military or going to college. He backed the right-wing Republican budget that would eventually end Medicare as we know it, gut Social Security and slash funding for higher education. He criticized the president for ending the war in Iraq, saying he would rather leave 30,000 troops on the ground with no clear mission or plan for withdrawal. And the icing on the Tea Party cake? He has repackaged the same policies that caused the financial crisis -- mistakes like making the middle class pay for tax breaks for the wealthy and big corporations and letting Wall Street write its own rules so big bankers can make millions while gambling with everyone else's economic security. These Tea Party-coddling promises may have won Romney a caucus, but he'll find they come at a cost -- to his own candidacy and, even more distressingly, to us. To you and me, a Romney presidency would mean four years of out-of-control college and healthcare costs. It would mean less responsibility for everyone to do their fair share, but more families losing their jobs and their homes. But that's the price Romney is willing to pay for the support of the far right. Once the primary is over, though, Romney will have to move back to the middle. Independent voters aren't going to like the lengths to which Romney has married himself to the Republican Party's extremist elements. The American people can't afford to give him a pass. Romney said he wants to be the Tea Party's "ideal candidate," but by adopting the principles of a group that doesn't speak for mainstream Republicans -- let alone the majority of the Americans he hopes to lead -- he could be falling in with the wrong crowd at the expense of the middle class. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Donna Brazile.

Donna Brazile: Romney sells out history of moderate principles to get Tea Party support . She says his long record of positions should give both Tea Party and middle class pause . She says his policy plan favors rich, would end Medicare as we know it . Brazile: Romney will have to tack back to middle after primaries .

London, England (CNN) -- A British journalist was killed and a second wounded in Afghanistan when the vehicle in which they were traveling struck an improvised explosive device, the Ministry of Defence said Sunday. Rupert Hamer, defense correspondent for the Sunday Mirror newspaper, and photographer Philip Coburn were embedded with the U.S. Marine Corps and were accompanying a patrol near Nawa in southern Afghanistan when the explosion occurred Saturday, the ministry said in a statement. "Despite the best efforts of medics at the scene, Mr. Hamer died of his wounds," the statement said. "Mr. Coburn remains in a serious but stable condition." A U.S. Marine was also killed in the explosion, the ministry said. Five U.S. Marines were seriously wounded. The ministry said earlier Sunday that a member of the Afghan National Army was also killed, but later said no Afghan nationals were killed or wounded. "Both Rupert Hamer and Phil Coburn accompanied me on my most recent trip to Afghanistan," said British Defense Secretary Bob Ainsworth in the statement. "I got to know them well and I was impressed by their hard work and professionalism. My thoughts and deepest sympathies are with the families, friends and colleagues of both men at this extremely distressing time." The Mirror said in a statement that Hamer, 39, and Coburn, 43, had flown to Afghanistan on December 31 for a trip that was to have lasted a month. Hamer is survived by his wife and three children, ages 6, 5 and 19 months, the newspaper said. He had been with the Mirror for 12 years. According to his Mirror blog page, Hamer had covered the British armed forces since 2004 in the Middle East, central Asia, Oman, Bahrain, Iraq and Afghanistan. Coburn has been with the paper for eight years and has previously worked with Hamer in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Mirror said. His previous assignments for the paper have included events in Rwanda and Hurricane Katrina in the United States. "Rupert believed that the only place to report a war was from the front line, and as our defense correspondent he wanted to be embedded with the U.S. Marines at the start of their vital surge into southern Afghanistan," Sunday Mirror Editor Tina Weaver said in the statement. "He was a seasoned, highly regarded and brave journalist who had reported from both Iraq and Afghanistan on many occasions. It was his fifth trip to Afghanistan, and he had forged friendships with a number of the soldiers serving out there." Hamer was affectionately known as "Corporal Hamer" in the Mirror office, Weaver said. "He was a gregarious figure, a wonderful friend who was hugely popular with his colleagues." Coburn, she said, is a consummate journalist "and brilliant photographer ... He and Rupert made a dedicated team, working together around the world, sacrificing personal comfort countless times to record the reality of wars. We wish Phil a speedy recovery and send our warmest wishes to his partner and family." British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said in a statement, "I was deeply saddened by this tragic news, and my heartfelt thoughts and sympathies are with the families, friends and colleagues of Rupert and Philip. Their courage, skill and dedication to reporting from the front line was incredibly important and ensured that the world could see and read about our heroic troops. Their professionalism and commitment to our forces will not be forgotten." In recent weeks, the ministry had worked with Hamer on a special Christmas edition of the Sunday Mirror, containing messages for deployed personnel from their families, Ainsworth said. "The sacrifice of service personnel is well documented and rightly respected, but this news demonstrates the risks also faced by journalists who keep the public informed of events on the front line," he said. Hamer is the second journalist to die in Afghanistan in recent weeks. On December 30, Calgary Herald reporter Michelle Lang, 34, died along with four Canadian soldiers when a roadside bomb struck their armored vehicle in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar. According to a tally kept by Reporters without Borders, Hamer would be the 20th journalist to die in Afghanistan, and the 12th foreign journalist, since September 11, 2001.

Sunday Mirror's Rupert Hamer was embedded with U.S. Marine Corps . Harner killed when vehicle struck improvised explosive device in southern Afghanistan . Blast also kills Marine, Afghan soldier; photographer, 5 Marines wounded .

(CNN) -- Sarai Sierra followed her passion to Istanbul -- a budding photographer lured by the possibilities the picturesque, ancient city has to offer. But the day before she was supposed to fly back home, the 33-year-old mother of two went missing. Sierra had taken up photography last year, posting her work to the photo sharing app Instagram and quickly amassing 3,000 followers. Some people she met through the service encouraged her to visit Istanbul, her husband, Steven, said. They offered to act as tour guides, he said. "You're admiring pictures, but you're getting acquainted with people that you've never met before," the husband said. He thought the trip was a great idea for his wife. Now, he can't help but wonder whether she should have trusted people she met online. Traveling alone . Sierra had originally planned to travel with a friend, who canceled, her husband said. She flew alone to Istanbul on January 7. "She did a lot of researching about the area, about where she was going to stay, the safest places to go and the time of day to travel," her friend Magalena Rodriguez said. After her arrival, she began posting pictures to Instagram and stayed in touch with family back home via Skype. Her photo feed displayed images of Istanbul's beautiful skyline and historic landmarks. She also squeezed in an excursion to Amsterdam in the Netherlands and to Germany, starting January 15, where she went to photograph graffiti. She returned to Istanbul on January 19. Three days later all signs of life from Sierra ceased. No-show on flight home . Sierra had rebooked her flight to arrive back early, on January 22, in part to surprise her two sons, 9 and 11. Just days before her scheduled trip home, Sierra spoke with her father David Jimenez via Skype to remind him of her flight number and arrival time. On January 21, she messaged her sister to say she was glad to be heading back to New York. When Jimenez went to Newark airport to pick Sierra up, she didn't show, he said. The airline told him she had never checked in for the flight. "She kept in contact with us all the time," Sierra's mother, Betzaida Jimenez, said. "And then not to hear from her? It's not like her." On Monday, Steven Sierra landed in Istanbul with his wife's brother to help police search for her. The next day, police released a surveillance camera video of Sarai at a shopping mall, flipping through her iPad. The scenes from January 20 are the last known images of her. Last signs of life . The manager of the small private hotel where Sierra was staying reported last seeing her the day the surveillance video was shot. That was a Sunday. Her Skype account, which she avidly used, went silent a day later. A day after that was when she missed her flight home. The time she last talked with her family, Sierra was planning to see the Galata Bridge and visit the Asian side of Istanbul, her husband said. The former capital of the Byzantine and East Roman empires straddles the continents of Europe and Asia. After her family raised the alarm that she was missing, some of her belongings -- including her passport and medical cards -- were found in her room in Istanbul, though her iPhone and iPad were not there, according to her husband. A heartbroken family . Her parents can't watch the surveillance video. It's too painful. "I wish she was close, wish she was close by, so I could reach out and grab her and bring her back," her father said. Steven Sierra has lost his appetite for living and sometimes wishes that one morning he just wouldn't wake up. But he has to keep going for the sake of his children. "I would never wish this on anybody," he said. "There's times when...you feel like you're gonna lose it mentally." He says he wants to be there to protect her, wants to make sure she is not cold or hungry. But all he can do is wait. And hope. CNN's Ivan Watson and Mary Snow contributed to this report .

A feed of photos on Instagram marks Sierra's trail then goes cold . She flew to Istanbul alone after making friends there online . The mother of two hasn't been heard from since January 21 and didn't fly home the next day . Her husband, Steven, says he has no explanation as to what happened to her .

Los Angeles (CNN) -- A week after AEG's lawyer refused to concede for legal arguments that Michael Jackson is dead, he acknowledged the pop icon's death in court. The stipulation -- an agreement between two parties in a case that something is a given fact -- could save time in a trial that is expected to last several months. Michael Jackson's mother and children are suing AEG Live, contending the concert promoter is liable for the pop icon's death because it negligently hired, retained and supervised Dr. Conrad Murray, the physician convicted of involuntary manslaughter in his death. While acknowledging Jackson died on June 25, 2009, AEG lawyer Marvin Putnam is still reluctant to stipulate what killed him and that Murray was the cause. Here's the courtroom exchange between Jackson lawyer Brian Panish and Putnam Wednesday: . Panish: "I'm asking for a stipulation that Michael Jackson died and the cause of death. Are you willing to stipulate that Michael Jackson died?" Putnam: "Absolutely." Panish: "Are you willing to stipulate that the cause of his death was Dr. Murray?" Putnam: "That you've never asked before. Let me look at what that means." Putnam refused to stipulate that Jackson was dead at a pretrial hearing last week, later explaining to CNN that he did not want to concede any elements that are needed to prove the case against AEG. AEG organized and hosted a massive public memorial service for Jackson at the Staples Center in Los Angeles 12 days after his death. Prosecutors said Jackson's death was caused by a fatal combination of the surgical anesthetic propofol and sedatives Murray gave him in a desperate effort to treat his insomnia. Detective: Money woes may have led doctor to "break the rules" Los Angeles Police Detective Orlando Martinez delivered testimony this week that Jackson lawyers believe boosted their argument that Murray's negligent treatment that killed Jackson was spurred by his deep financial trouble -- something they contend AEG executives should have known. Martinez, who led the department's probe of Jackson's death, testified that he suspected Murray's "severely distressed" financial situation -- including having his home in foreclosure, delinquent taxes, student-loan liens and unpaid child support -- could have led him to give Jackson unsafe treatments. One contention in the lawsuit is that the concert promoter should have known that Murray's financial stress could have been a problem for the doctor. After interviewing Murray two days after Jackson's death, Martinez's "thinking at the moment was the crime was negligence," he testified. Martinez, who will return to the stand for a third day of testimony Thursday, showed documents that said Murray's Las Vegas home had lost $500,000 in value and was in foreclosure; his Las Vegas medical clinic faced eviction for non-payment of rent; he had a long list of loan defaults; and his expenses outweighed his income by $2,700 a month. Murray, who initially asked AEG for $5 million to work for a year as Jackson's personal physician, eventually agreed to take $150,000 a month. "That's a lot of money for anyone," Martinez said. "Seeing the scene and talking to him about what he had done and how he did it raised questions." "Focusing on the financial aspect may have been important for Dr. Murray's willingness to disregard his Hippocratic Oath for financial gain," he testified. What he learned about Murray's financial troubles led him "to opine that he may have, for this easy money -- the $150,000 a month -- may break the rules, bend the rules, to do whatever he needed to do to get paid." Dr. Christopher Rogers, the deputy medical examiner who conducted the autopsy on Jackson, will be called to testify after that questioning of Martinez concludes Thursday. No court is scheduled for Friday.

AEG's lawyer refused to stipulate Michael Jackson is dead at a hearing last week . "Absolutely," he says when asked again Wednesday if he'd agree Jackson is dead . Detective: Money woes may have led Dr. Conrad Murray to "break the rules" Murray's clinic was being evicted, home in foreclosure when hired as Jackson's doctor .

(CNN)A newly distributed ISIS release appears to show the decapitated body of captive Japanese journalist Kenji Goto, after an English-language lecture is given by masked ISIS member "Jihadi John" to the people of Japan. The video, 67 seconds long, was released Saturday as others before it, by ISIS media wing Al Furqan Media, and cannot be authenticated by CNN. "We are deeply saddened by this despicable and horrendous act of terrorism and we denounce it in the strongest terms," Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said in Tokyo, according to broadcaster NHK. "To the terrorists, we will never, never forgive them for this act." He said that Japan will continue to provide humanitarian aid to countries affected by the bloody fight against ISIS. Goto's mother, Junko Ishido, said he wanted to help create a world without wars. "I'm shedding tears of sorrow, I just can't think of any words to say. But I don't want this sorrow to create a chain of hatred," she said, NHK reported. The video opens with a black slate that reads, "A Message to Japan." The video then shows a kneeling Goto wearing an orange outfit. The man known as "Jihadi John" is standing behind him. The terrorist speaks while holding a knife in his left hand. "Abe, because of your reckless decision to take part in an unwinnable war, this knife will not only slaughter Kenji, but will also carry on and cause carnage wherever your people are found. So let the nightmare for Japan begin," the man says. The video cuts to black as the militant puts the knife to Goto's throat. It then shows the apparent result of the decapitation. It's not clear who conducted the apparent killing. The knife-wielding masked man with a London accent, nicknamed "Jihadi John," has issued threats and overseen the beheadings of other captives. He has appeared in at least six videos with hostages. New questions raised about 'Jihadi John' The fate of a Jordanian pilot captured by ISIS in Syria, Moath al-Kasasbeh, was unclear. He is not mentioned in the video. ISIS had been demanding that Jordan exchange a convicted terrorist, Sajida al-Rishawi, for the pilot. If there was no swap, ISIS said it would kill al-Kaseasbeh first, then Goto. Goto would be the second Japanese hostage to be killed by ISIS recently. A video file posted online a week ago by a known ISIS supporter shows an image of Goto holding a photo of what appeared to be the corpse of his fellow captive, Haruna Yukawa. U.S. President Barack Obama called the act a "heinous murder." "We stand today in solidarity with Prime Minister Abe and the Japanese people in denouncing this barbaric act," the President said in a written statement. "We applaud Japan's steadfast commitment to advancing peace and prosperity in the Middle East and globally, including its generous assistance for innocent people affected by the conflicts in the region." The 47-year-old Goto left Japan last fall, when his youngest daughter was 3 weeks old. His wife, Rinko, first heard from his captors December 2. Jordanian officials have said they are willing to swap al-Rishawi -- a female jihadist imprisoned in Jordan for her role in a 2005 suicide bombing at a wedding reception that killed dozens -- for the pilot. But Jordan's key condition is proof that al-Kaseasbeh is still alive. Al-Kaseasbeh was captured after he ejected from his F-16 jet last month near Raqqa, the extremist group's de facto capital in Syria. Fahed al-Kaseasbeh, an uncle of the pilot, told CNN: "I am sad and devastated to hear this news, regardless of the nationality of the person. I am sad about this act of the beheading of any human. Also, I am very worried about the well-being of the son of my brother, my nephew." CNN's Kareem Khadder, Ali Younes and Jennifer Deaton contributed to this report.

Mother says her son wanted a world without war . Video has not been authenticated by CNN . Japan leader says nation will never forgive ISIS .

New York (CNN) -- True love may be priceless, but does that mean we should pay through the nose for fine chocolate on Valentine's Day- or any day? The answer is unequivocally yes in the opinion of Rick and Mike Mast whose organic hand-crafted chocolate bars garnering rave reviews retail for $9. "You get what you pay for," insisted Rick Mast, 34. "For me, chocolate shouldn't be something you can pick up at the gas station for a buck or two." The Mast Brothers are not gourmet chocolatiers -- the artisans who melt down large blocks of chocolate and refashion the mix into delectable treats of all shapes and flavors. Rather, Rick and his brother Mike, 31, are true chocolate makers in the tradition of Willy Wonka's oompa-loompas, though the towering, red-bearded Masts -- Rick is 6'4", Mike 6'3" -- could hardly be confused with author Roald Dahl's fictional Lilliputian chocolate workers. From a small store-front factory in the Brooklyn, New York neighborhood of Williamsburg, the Masts are producing an intensely complex tasting chocolate -- yes, just the way fine wine should deliver layers of flavor -- even though their ingredients are as simple as can be: cacao beans and sugar. "We don't dumb it down so it's not as exotic or as sexy an experience," said Rick Mast explaining why he adds no milk fat, cocoa butter or emulsifiers. "Chocolate should take you on a trip." The Masts began producing chocolate in their apartments. Three years ago after maxing out several credit cards and investing their modest savings they turned their passion into a business that tries to live by an environmentally-friendly ethos. They purchase organic cacao beans from Venezuela, Madagascar and the Dominican Republic. To reduce their carbon footprint this year they plan to have a friend who owns a large sailboat deliver some of their beans. The beans are roasted in two convection ovens for about 15-to-20-minutes. Then the chocolate-makers pour the beans into a custom-made whirling, buzzing contraption that separates the husk from the nibs -- the meat of the bean that becomes chocolate. The resulting nibs go into vats where granite wheels crush them. Sugar is added and the mix is stirred until smooth. Pans filled with the thick pudding-like concoction then sit on a shelf for a month, to allow the full flavor of the bean to emerge. Finally, the cacao-sugar mix is melted down, stirred again and poured into bars. What results is a dark chocolate that tastes like so much more than chocolate: imagine chocolate infused with spice, citrus, and tea, except none of those is an ingredient. "We're bringing out the different characteristics and the flavors people didn't think were imaginable from chocolate," said Mike Mast. For extra variety the Masts add coffee, hazelnuts, almonds, sea salt, peppers and black truffles to create additional flavors. A few of New York's finer restaurants, including Per Se, now offer Mast Brothers Chocolate on their desert menus and leading gourmet shops carry the brand as well. The Masts are shipping 5,000 chocolate bars a week and say they have 1,000 potential accounts on their waiting list. With a high content of cacao -- 70% to 81% -- Mast Brothers Chocolate has as much of the chemicals behind chocolate's mythical aphrodisiac qualities, the serotonin building-block tryptophan and stimulant phenylethylamine, as most any other bar. But, is it worth $9 for 2.5 ounces? I can't say it's the most delicious chocolate you will ever eat; it has none of the sweetness that lures so many of us to chocolate. But it likely will be the most interesting chocolate you may ever taste. And, after all to keep priceless love aflame we need to keep things interesting.

Chocolate shouldn't be something you can pick up at the gas station for a buck or two, says Rick Mast . Ingredient list is simple: cacao beans and sugar . "We're bringing out the different characteristics and the flavors people didn't think were imaginable from chocolate," said Mike Mast.

(CNN) -- Arsenal's passage through to the knockout stages of the Champions League took a severe knock on Tuesday night as they went down to a shock 0-2 defeat at Braga in Group H. Two late goals from Brazilian striker Matheus mean Arsenal relinquish their place at the top of the table and means Arsene Wenger's team with need to get a result against Partizan Belgrade in their final match. Arsenal will complain that they had a cast iron penalty denied by the officials, when Carlos Vela was brought down in the box in the 80th minute. But the referee didn't see it that way and booked the Mexican striker for diving. Moments later, Matheus evaded Arsenal's offside trap before executing a cool finish over a flailing Fabianski in goal. The Gunners misery was compounded when Matheus broke through again in injury time, weaving through a series of tackles, before firing precisely into the top corner. In the other Group H game Shakhtar Donetsk earned a comfortable 3-0 win over strugglers Partizan Belgrade with second half goals from Stepanenko, Jadson and Eduardo. MSK Zilina threatened to add to Chelsea's recent Premier League woes when they took a shock first half lead at Stamford Bridge in Group F. Babatounde finished off a flowing movement to fire past keeper Ross Turnbull after 19 minutes. They maintained their lead until six minutes into the second half when Daniel Sturridge equalized for the Blues. Florent Malouda sparred any blushes when he scored four minutes from time to maintain Chelsea's 100 percent record in Europe this season. In the group's other game, Marseille inflicted a 3-0 defeat on Spartak Moscow at the Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow. Nicolas Valbuena opened the scoring for the visitors with a pinpoint strike after 18 minutes, while Loic Remy added a second shortly after the break, dinking the ball over a defender before firing home -- the ball rebounding off both posts before finding the net. A red card for Brazilian striker Welliton in the 65th minute made a Spartak comeback even less likely. And so it proved as Brandao added a third three minutes after Welliton departed. The win moves Marseille up into second place in the group on nine points, which is enough for them to qualify for next year's knockout phase. First half goals from Benzema and Arbeloa were followed by a brace from Cristiano Ronaldo in the second as Real Madrid coasted to an easy 4-0 win over Ajax at the Amsterdam Arena. But Madrid's evening was soured when first Xabi Alonso then Sergio Ramos were sent off for time-wasting late in the game. The win means they maintain their unassailable lead over AC Milan at the top of Group G. The Serie A leaders left it late to secure their place in the knockout stages. Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored his fourth goal in five Champions League games in the 65th minute, followed by an injury time strike from Ronaldinho to beat bottom placed Auxerre 0-2. Roma completed a memorable second half comeback against Bayern Munich in the Stadio Olimpico in Group E. Two goals from Mario Gomez in the 33rd and 39th minutes gave Bayern, who had already qualified before tonight's match, a first-half lead. Roma halved the deficit four minutes into the second half thanks to a goal from striker Marco Borriello, but Roma fans were kept waiting until the 81st minute for the equalizer from De Rossi. Second half substitute Francesco Totti completed the turnaround when he converted an 84th minute penalty to put Roma within touching distance of the knockout phase. In the other Group E game, a 15th minute strike from Federico Almerares was enough to give Basle a 1-0 win over CFR Cluj-Napoca.

A late brace from Braga striker Matheus sinks Arsenal in Portugal . Chelsea come from behind to beat MSK Zilina 2-1 and maintain 100 percent record . Real Madrid put four past Ajax but have Alonso and Ramos sent off late on . Roma comeback from two goals down to beat Bayern Munich 3-2 in Rome .

Los Angeles (CNN) -- "Swatting" pranks have sent police rushing with guns drawn to a growing A-list of celebrity homes in recent weeks, but new tactics, technology and a proposed law could bring the dangerous hoaxes to an end. Russell Brand's Hollywood Hills home was the latest target Monday afternoon. A 911 caller told a Los Angeles Police Department emergency dispatcher that a man with a gun was in the house. "A number of officers from the Hollywood Division" were sent to Brand's address, LAPD Detective Gus Villanueva said. To get to Brand's home high above Sunset Boulevard, police cruisers sped up the narrow, winding street past the homes of Halle Berry, Herbie Hancock and many other celebrities. Officers must approach the scene with guns drawn, not knowing what is happening inside the house and expecting the worst. "It's a very high-risk response," Los Angeles County sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said. "The problem with crying wolf is that sometimes it's not false, so we always have to respond accordingly but cautiously." Among the LAPD, the Sheriff's Department and other local agencies in the Los Angeles area, it has happened about a dozen times in recent months. The actors and musicians targeted would make an impressive red carpet: Rihanna, Justin Timberlake, Miley Cyrus, Chris Brown, the Kardashians and Tom Cruise. A 12-year-old boy was sentenced to two years in juvenile detention after he admitted last month that he made fake emergency calls that sent police to Ashton Kutcher and Justin Bieber's homes last October. "The comments of the call advised that there were individuals inside the location with guns and explosives, and that several people had been shot," a police statement said. Boy admits 'swatting' Kutcher, Bieber . Dozens of emergency personnel rushed to Kutcher's home on October 3, 2012, only to find workers inside and no emergency, police said. Kutcher, who was on the set of his TV sitcom "Two and a Half Men," also rushed to his home. Catching swatters who spoof a telephone number so that an emergency dispatcher thinks a call originated from a celebrity's home will get easier as technology and tactics improve, Whitmore said. These prank calls earned the nickname "swatting" because law enforcement agencies sometimes would send SWAT teams to respond to the false emergencies. Law enforcement agencies are "making advances each day" in their ability to track the calls to their origin, he said. Along with new technology, investigators have analyzed the calls to learn how to identify them. "We're getting better at knowing what is and what isn't a hoax," he said. When Rihanna's Hollywood Hills home was swatted last week, the dispatcher suspected it was a hoax, so just one police patrol car was initially sent, LAPD Cmdr. Andrew Smith said. "We figured it was a swatting," Smith said "We really low-keyed it compared to how we've been." LAPD officers are being trained on "what to be aware of and the possibility these are swatting calls," Smith said. "We're training dispatchers to be able to recognize certain distinct characteristic of these calls and maybe change the way we dispatch them so they don't draw as high a profile response." The rash of swatting incidents spurred the sheriff and other law enforcement chiefs to push for tougher penalties for those convicted, Whitmore said. California state Sen. Ted Lieu has introduced legislation to require a mandatory 120 days in jail for anyone convicted of swatting, Whitmore said. The swatter would also have to repay police for all costs, which would probably be several thousand dollars, he said. "This is not a panacea, but a step in the right direction," the sheriff's spokesman said. Lieu, whose Los Angeles district covers some of the celebrity homes targeted, held a public hearing on his proposal at the California Capitol in Sacramento on Tuesday morning.

Celebrities targeted by fake 911 calls recently would fill a Hollywood red carpet . A proposed law would increase penalties for making false emergency calls . Police are getting new tools for tracing swatting calls, sheriff's spokesman says . "We're getting better at knowing what is and what isn't a hoax," he says .

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- There was no shortage of superstars in Washington this week, including the middle school students of Atlanta, Georgia's Ron Clark Academy. Ron Clark Academy students singing their newest song, "Dear Obama," in Washington this week. "There are those Obama kids!" "Those are the kids from TV!" "Sing for us!" The middle schoolers' ode to the political process, "You Can Vote However You Like," set to the tune of rapper T.I.'s "Whatever You Like," has garnered exhilarating fame nationwide. Invited to perform at inauguration events, the boys and girls were stopped along every block in the capital by people who asked them to sing and pose for a picture. "I have a sleepy energy," sixth-grader Kennedy Guest Pritchett said. "I feed off of the crowd and their cheers." The students' new song, "Dear Obama," which they have performed this week, offers advice to the president on energy, taxes, financial regulation and al Qaeda and urges him to "control Ahmadinejad." "Dear Obama hear us sing/We're ready for the change that you will bring/Gonna shine the light for the world to see/to spread peace hope and democracy. ... Fight for health care for the young so that coverage is available to everyone/It's time to find a renewable way to fuel our needs so we don't end up depending on Chavez and the Middle East." Watch the students sing "Dear Obama" » . The kids will perform Tuesday at the Africa and International Friends Inaugural Ball, sharing a stage with Usher and Patti LaBelle, one of many events in their packed schedule highlighted by a luncheon gala Monday to honor the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. "I want to do good every song we perform. When the crowd cheers, I feel like we did a good job," said Willie Thornton, a seventh-grader. "I feel a lot of adrenaline afterwards." The students have met the Kenyan Boys Choir, who told their American counterparts what kind of animals they might see when the Ron Clark students travel to Kenya on a school trip in June. At another luncheon, the sixth- and seventh-graders were thrilled to catch a glimpse of actor Ed Norton, the man who played the Incredible Hulk. But he didn't compare to singer Beyonce, who closed Sunday's star-studded Lincoln Memorial concert and drew giggles and shouts. The kids gained notoriety just before the election when they appeared on CNN, singing "You Can Vote However You Like." They became media favorites overnight, appearing on several networks and shows. Dressed neatly in their school uniform of khaki pants, light blue shirts and navy blue blazers, they discussed the Iraq war, the economy and taxes with the composure of adults. Their teacher, Ron Clark, known for his innovation, has used pop music to teach his students. He once changed the words of Rihanna's infectious hit "Umbrella" to teach geography. "You have to give students something they can identify with, something that catches their enthusiasm and spirit," he said. "I'm so proud of them all. They've taught me a lot." Before founding his school in the rough neighborhood of South Atlanta, Clark taught in Harlem, where he penned "The Essential 55," a rule-book for educators that caught Oprah Winfrey's eye. She talked about it on her show, and it soon became a New York Times bestseller. This past Christmas, Clark received another gift from the talk show host: $365,000. Winfrey donated $1,000 for each day of the year. Clark has said that the money will help provide scholarships for a year. The teacher said he plans to incorporate Barack Obama's inauguration into lessons throughout the rest of the school year. "Our school is about politics and world issues and helping the kids understand that they have an important role in all of that," he said. CNN's John Murgatroyd and Ashley Fantz contributed to this report.

Singing Atlanta schoolkids perform at inauguration festivities . "I have a sleepy energy," one 6th-grader says of the group's packed schedule . Ron Clark Academy singers gained fame for their "Vote However You Like" song . They have written another song, "Dear Obama," which offers advice to the president .

(CNN) -- With the holiday season upon us, what better time to take a luxury break and get away from it all -- and relax with a few rounds of golf. From volcanic islands to tropical paradises, wildlife sanctuaries and stunning mountain vistas, CNN has sought out courses that cater for the high end of the market. Here are five of the best resorts around -- let us know if we have missed off your favorite luxury golfing retreat: . Mission Hills Hainan Resort (Haikou, China) Situated in the volcanic region of Hainan Island, the resort houses a remarkable 10 golf courses, each incorporating the native lava rock formations. There are 518 guest rooms and suites, a three-story clubhouse, 12 restaurants, a fully-equipped sports and recreation center, an aquatic theme park, therapeutic volcanic mineral springs, a spa oasis and a shopping arcade. The Blackstone Course is earning a reputation as one of the world's finest, and hosted the 2011 World Cup of Golf in November. A premiere suite will set you back a cool $500 a night, while a round of golf is $200. St. Regis Princeville Resort (Kauai, Hawaii) Perched on the northern shore of the island, this resort reopened in 2009 after a $100 million refurbishment. There are 252 rooms, of which 51 are ocean-view suites, and the resort incorporates 9,000 acres, providing stunning views of Hanalei Bay and its towering cliffs -- the setting for the movie South Pacific. On the golf front, there are 27 holes on the Makai course, with 18 having been completely renovated in 2010. Rooms at St. Regis begin at a cool $375 per night, while the Makai course costs $220 per round. WaterColor Inn and Resort (Santa Rosa Beach, Florida) Located in the Gulf of Mexico and recently named "Best Hotel in Florida" by the readers of Travel + Leisure, the U.S. resort offers luxurious waterfront accommodation, restaurants, a full-service spa, and two of the sunshine state's most celebrated golf courses. One of these is Shark's Tooth, designed by golfing legend Greg Norman, which is a private course only open to guests at the resort. It costs a whopping $525 a night to stay in a beach-view room, with a round of golf at Shark's Tooth setting you back another $95. Pristine Bay Resort (Roatan, Honduras) Located on a tropical island 35 miles off the coast of Honduras, the new Pristine Bay Resort is situated on a 400-plus-acre site adjacent to the Caribbean Sea. The world's second-largest barrier reef provides a stunning backdrop to the Black Pearl Course, with the 120-room resort scheduled to open January 2012. Residents and guests will have access to the ocean-front Bay Village with boutiques, art galleries, restaurants, cafes and other entertainment options. The cheapest rooms start at $300 a night, with a round of golf coming in at $150. Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge (Alberta, Canada) Set in the heart of the Rockies, this beautiful course is rated by SCOREGolf Magazine as the number one golfing resort in Canada. Elk, deer and wildlife are able to roam free on the UNESCO World Heritage Site, which opened in 1925. Between May and October, the resort offers the "Ultimate Buddy Trip" for eight or more people. At $3,125 per person it isn't cheap, but for your money you get a three-day/two-night stay in Milligan Manor -- the largest luxury cabin at Jasper Park Lodge -- two rounds of golf, a fly fishing excursion, whiskey tasting and a private outdoor barbecue with your own chef.

Pristine Bay Resort is situated on a 400-plus acre site adjacent to the Caribbean Sea on Roatan . Mission Hills lies in China's volcanic region of Hainan Island and has 10 golf courses . Elk and deer roam free at Canada's Jasper Park Lodge, a UNESCO World Heritage site .

(CNN) -- News that Microsoft has sunk $300 million into a venture with Barnes & Noble sends a clear signal that the computing giant and the bookseller aim to shake up the e-book market with new ammo in their fight against Amazon and Apple. But whatever impact the move has on sales of B&N's Nook e-readers now, it's the future of the partnership that has truly disruptive potential. The Nook's considerable catalog of books and other content could become more formidable when married with products like Microsoft's forthcoming Windows 8 operating system -- which is designed to run on tablet computers -- and even its leading game console, the Xbox. "Microsoft has not successfully gotten outside of PCs in any way other than the Xbox," said James McQuivey, an analyst with Forrester Research who studies both e-readers and Microsoft products, including the Xbox. "Now, if you have the best game console in the world and the highest penetration of a PC operating system in the world and an OK platform for tablets, you really do have an interesting play that Microsoft has stumbled into." Early versions of Windows 8 have received largely positive reviews. Several electronics companies are said to be building tablets to run the system. But content is king. And with Barnes & Noble's book offerings cooked into Windows 8, it could put the system in the same league as Apple's, which has incorporated iTunes into virtually all of its products. "This is a key way of getting more content on to the Microsoft platform," Ingrid Lunden wrote for TechCrunch, "specifically e-books content to ensure that its Windows 8 tablets will be able to compete not only against the best-selling iPad but also the Kindle Fire from Amazon, along with the rest of the company's e-readers." According to Monday's announcement, Microsoft's $300 million is buying a 17.6% stake in B&N's Nook products and books, which are being split off from the company's brick-and-mortar stores. Currently, Amazon has more than 60% of both the e-book and e-reader market, McQuivey said. Estimates suggest that Amazon, which tends to be stingy with announcing its sales figures, has sold more than 20 million Kindles, including at least 6 million Kindle Fire tablets. McQuivey says the Nook has probably tallied less than half that. A Barnes & Noble representative declined Monday to comment on sales figures, saying only that the company has sold "millions" of Nooks. "What's happening right now is, Amazon is walking away with that business, because Amazon already has the book buyer at a critical point: their website," McQuivey said. "Amazon has almost a chokehold. ... The only way to get around that is if you happen to be a Barnes & Noble customer or you're in the Barnes & Noble store." What a merging of Nook products and the new Windows 8 operating system could do, he said, is "try to get you before you even go to Amazon." The Microsoft deal might not have a huge impact on sales of current devices, according to McQuivey. But it sets the table for a future in which a Nook tablet, running Windows 8, could marry content from PCs with content from the Xbox game console and other devices. Adding at least one tablet to its Nook lineup (McQuivey predicts multiple devices with different-sized screens) would put Barnes & Noble more on par with Amazon, which has had more success with its $199 Kindle Fire than any other would-be competitor to Apple's iPad. ComScore says the Fire is the top-selling tablet running Google's Android operating system, with more than 54% of that market in the U.S. The second-place device, the Samsung Galaxy Tab, comes in at about 15%. Whether a Nook-Windows combo could have similar success, of course, remains an open question. "Clearly," McQuivey said, "this is just a first step."

Microsoft's investment in the Nook expands options for Barnes & Noble e-books . The Windows 8 operating system could benefit from the Nook's catalog . Currently, Amazon dominates the e-reader and e-book marketplace . Microsoft spent $300 million for 17.6% of B&N's e-book business .

Washington (CNN) -- The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that office rents in Washington are poised to overtake rents in New York City. Washington now boasts the lowest office vacancy rate in the nation. New York City is bleeding jobs, unemployment is over 10 percent. Washington is booming as government agencies like TARP and the General Services Administration expand. New York's crisis and Washington's growth is more than a business page story. Over two centuries, American culture has been shaped by the physical separation of politics and finance. The British might centralize everything in London, the French in Paris, the other countries of Europe in their great capitals, but the United States divided these functions. The Constitution of the new republic provided for an autonomous federal district. It did not specify where that district should be. Mexico and Argentina both have federal districts that coincide with their greatest cities, and that option was at least theoretically available to the United States as well. Instead, the capital was sited on the swampy banks of the Potomac, far from the great commercial centers of the founding era: Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Charleston. This decision had profound effects for the first 150 years of the new country's life. If a business leader wanted to talk to a member of Congress or the Cabinet, he had to take a long train ride, often a very long train ride. Simpler and easier to leave the job to a lobbyist. Sheer physical distance interposed itself much of the time between the country's financial, business, and political leaders. It was an event when the great J. Pierpont Morgan made his way here, and most of the titans of 19th century industry never appeared at all. In our own era, however, the distance has shrunk, decade by decade, faster and faster all the time. It's not a coincidence that the impressive new premises of the Securities and Exchange Commission are located across the street from Washington's Union Station. The power brokers don't even have to hail a cab on disembarking from the Acela. And now the distance has vanished to nothing, and the one-time junior partner has gained the upper hand. The crisis of 2008 -- and the Great Recession of 2009 -- has interpenetrated government and finance in a way never before seen in the history of the United States. The kind of proximity to power once required only by defense contractors is suddenly required by all kinds of firms. Hilton Hotels will move from Beverly Hills to Washington. The accounting firm Deloitte will consolidate operations here, as will the legal firm McGuire Woods as it develops a new focus upon lobbying. The Federal government is now the majority owner of the lending arm of General Motors, GMAC. It owns the nation's largest insurance company, AIG. It is banker, automaker, and lender of last, second and first resort. President Obama joked at his first White House correspondents' dinner that he had just been named Auto Executive of the Year. Who wouldn't want to lease the office next door? The Federal Reserve has acquired a portfolio of $1 trillion in mortgage securities. The government regulates salaries in the companies in which it holds interests -- and pay czar Kenneth Feinberg has lamented in a television interview that his power does not extend even further. "The biggest disappointment, I think, is that under the statute my jurisdiction is so narrow, and so circumscribed, that I have no real direct mandatory power over other Wall Street or other national companies," he said. But as Washington gains, the country loses. It loses something more than its ideals of free enterprise and private ownership. It loses the very American idea of a capital as a specialized locale to which specific tasks are delegated -- not an American Versailles where favors are distributed and attendance is mandatory. Not so long ago, Microsoft didn't even have a Washington office. Today Microsoft and Google are deadlocked in fiercer struggles than those that divide the oil lobby and the eco lobby. For those of us who reside in Washington, the change is mostly positive. Certainly the restaurants are vastly improved. But maybe the country was better when the food in the capital was worse. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of David Frum .

Rents for offices in Washington could soon be more expensive than in New York . David Frum says it's a sign of Washington's dominance as the new financial capital of U.S. He says long tradition of separating business, government centers has ended .

(CNN) -- Dennis Rodman's flashy visit to North Korea is just a big elaborate show. Don't be fooled by it. The bizarre, seemingly lighthearted episode comes at a time when tensions are again running high and overshadows the pain and suffering faced by ordinary North Koreans. The regime is continuing its dangerous weapons tests, treating its population terribly and starving countless people. On Tuesday, North Korea issued new hostile threats, this time to nullify the armistice agreement that ended the Korean War in 1953. The regime has made threats in the past, but the intensity of its recent belligerence is unusual. North Korea blatantly violated multiple U.N. Security Resolutions with its December 2012 rocket test and its third nuclear test in February. It has made hostile statements toward the United States and South Korea in reaction to the announcement of the new U.N. Security Council resolution that imposed more sanctions on the regime. Just when the situation seemed to be getting worse, the world suddenly saw the young leader Kim Jong Un receiving an American star with great hospitality and enjoying an afternoon of basketball. What this portrait lacks is the unimaginable level of the suffering of people inside the country who are deprived of basic human rights and food. The regime's track record on human rights is even more ominous than its threats of rockets and nuclear weapons that often provoke the international community. North Korea's history is marred by decades of unimaginable famine. In 2011, Freedom House listed the regime as one of the seven worst violators of human rights in the world. It is a place where political prisoners languish in gulags, escaped defectors testify of cannibalism, and famines decimate the population. The latest reports indicate that the food situation appears to be somewhat improved. In a recent survey conducted by U.N. agencies, the prevalence of chronic malnutrition in children was 27.9% and acute malnutrition was 4%. These are not just numbers and statistics. Children's growth and development is being permanently stunted. The impact of endless hunger and recurrent famine has tremendous long-lasting impact on the North Korean people. It has been estimated that 3.5 million North Koreans died of starvation in the severe famine of the 1990s . In its November 2012 crop and food security assessment, the U.N. predicted a gap of 207,000 tons of food this year in North Korea. This deficit exists in spite of planned imports and Chinese assistance. In human terms, this translates into a situation where about half the country's most vulnerable population, those who are dependent on the regime's public food distribution system for sustenance, are severely food insecure. The fact is that, even if North Korea's harvests are improved this season, the public food distribution system is still extremely vulnerable to shocks, such as severe weather. At these levels of malnourishment, dramatic improvements to the system are still needed to ensure people are safe from famine caused by the next flood or severe drought. The world must be careful not to be blinded by congenial games and friendly speeches coming out of North Korea. It's just a staged show. It doesn't actually solve any of the problems the country is facing. Most importantly, such sideshows are not in the interest of the North Korean people. Some may contend that Dennis Rodman's visit brought exposure to the regime, which may in turn translate to some benefits, whether it is improved business relations, better communication or more spotlight through other famous stars. However, the world should not be distracted by the dictatorship's façade and attempts at friendly gestures to lure other countries to start a dialogue or defuse the tensions it has created. Instead, the world needs to focus on the dire situation of the North Korean people and stay committed to finding solutions that will alleviate their hunger and improve their living situations. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Ellen Kim and Carolyn DuMond.

Ellen Kim, Carolyn DuMond: Dennis Rodman's flashy visit to North Korea is just a big show . Kim, DuMond: Bizarre episode overshadows the suffering of North Korean people . They say the regime is listed as one of the seven worst violators of human rights in the world . Kim, DuMond: The world must not be blinded by the facade, it should help the population .

(CNN) -- A former southern California schoolteacher is set to be arraigned Tuesday amid allegations he bound young students, then photographed them with semen-filled spoons held at their mouths and three-inch cockroaches crawling across their faces, among other graphic depictions. Authorities have said they have discovered roughly 600 images taken by Mark Berndt, 61, in his classroom. Dismissed by the Los Angeles Unified School District school board about a year ago, Berndt was arrested January 30. He appeared in court two days later, after which he was ordered held on $23 million bail -- $1 million for each of the 23 counts of lewd acts on a child that he faces. All of those initial 23 victims were between 7 and 10 years old, and all but two of them were girls, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office said. Berndt has not yet entered a plea. Since his initial appearance, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department spokesman Sgt. Dan Scott said an additional 200 photographs purportedly taken by the longtime Miramonte Elementary School teacher had been found. It is uncertain what, if any, additional charges Berndt may face as a result of that discovery or other developments in the investigation. The law enforcement probe began when investigators found "over 40 photographs depicting children in a school classroom, with their eyes blindfolded and mouths covered with tape," a Los Angeles County sheriff's statement said. "Investigators learned that some of the photos depicted suspect Mark Berndt with his arm around the children, or with his hand over their mouths," according to the sheriff's department. Some photos showed "children with large live Madagascar-type cockroaches on their faces and mouths." Others show female students with "what appeared to be a blue plastic spoon, filled with an unknown clear/white liquid substance, up to their mouths as if they were going to ingest the substance," said the sheriff's department. Scott said that Berndt was arrested soon after lab testing matched Berndt's DNA with a substance -- later determined to be semen -- from a blue plastic spoon and an empty container from a trash bin in his classroom. The young students "didn't realize they were victimized," said the sheriff's department spokesman. "They thought they were being blindfolded and gagged as a game," Scott added. "And they were rewarded with cookies or spoons full of sugar, (but) they did not realize the spoon contained semen." A search of Berndt's home found hundreds of photographs depicting children and a video showing sexual "bondage" activity that "mirrored the bondage-type photos of the children," investigators said. Parent Bessy Garcia, the mother of two children who were among Berndt's alleged victims, spoke of betrayal. "He wasn't only a teacher, he was our personal friend," she told CNN earlier this month. "He tricked us. We thought he was the best person in the world." Los Angeles School Superintendent John Deasy said that Berndt was removed from his teaching job in January 2011, after school officials learned of the police investigation. A teacher for 30 years, Berndt initially challenged the school district's decision to dismiss him. But he eventually dropped his appeal and resigned last spring. His arrest this January precipitated a broader fallout, into the adequacy of safeguards for the school's students and the prospect of more victims. Days after Berndt was taken into custody, another Miramonte Elementary teacher -- Martin Springer, 49 -- was arrested and charged with three felony counts of lewd acts with a girl under the age of 14. He has pleaded not guilty. The school board subsequently shut Miramonte down for two days, during which the board reconstituted the entire staff in the 1,400-student school. Miramonte is located in unincorporated Los Angeles County within the Florence-Firestone area, about 6 miles south of downtown Los Angeles.

An arraignment is set for Tuesday in L.A. County for Mark Berndt, 61 . The former teacher faces 23 counts of lewd acts involving a child . He lost his job in January 2011, then was arrested one year later . Police say his DNA matches semen found on spoons in his classroom .

(CNN) -- Maybe you had one as a kid, or knew someone who did. It's the iconic little red wagon with the Radio Flyer logo. Radio Flyer is developing a prototype of a wagon with digital controls and an MP3 player dock. If so, you might not recognize the newest product dreamed up by the brain trust at Radio Flyer's Chicago, Illinois, headquarters. This wagon, called the Cloud 9, is equipped with enough high-tech bells and whistles to make the family minivan jealous. "We approached this product much like an automotive company might with a concept car," said Mark Johnson, Radio Flyer's product development manager. Outfitted with 5-point safety harnesses, padded seats, cup holders, foot brakes and fold-out storage containers, the sleek, curved Cloud 9 has every family covered for a ride through the park. But that's just for starters. There's a digital handle that tracks temperature, time, distance and speed -- just in case energetic parents want to track their split times around the playground. And there's a slot for an MP3 player, complete with speakers, for some cruising tunes. That's right: The little red wagon has gone 2.0. "Music is such an important part of kids' and families' lives, we thought it would be great to have a speaker system built in the wagon," said Tom Schlegel, vice president of product development. The Cloud 9 is still a prototype, but it wasn't developed on a whim. The company did extensive market research beforehand, then tested it out on the real experts at home. "We sit down [and] observe how moms and kids are using our products," said Schlegel. "That's where our new ideas come from." To develop those ideas, Radio Flyer's designers are using state-of-the art technology. They use Wacom Cintiq graphic tablets, allowing them to draw directly onto digital renderings of new products. And Radio Flyer also has its own in-house computer numerical control, or CNC, machines that create prototypes right on site. Radio Flyer's blend of cutting-edge design and old-fashioned products appears to be a successful recipe. In an economy where businesses and families alike are tightening their belts, the company is still going strong. "Radio Flyer survived the Great Depression, and this year has been a difficult year for a lot of companies," Schlegel says, "But Radio Flyer is actually growing this year. We're actually looking for engineers and designers in our product development group to keep up with the growth of the company." That's quite a testament for a company nearly 90 years old. Theirs is an American success story that started when Italian immigrant Antonio Pasin started building wooden toy wagons in 1917. He had limited success but was encouraged enough to start the Liberty Coaster Company in 1923. The company changed names seven years later, becoming Radio Steel & Manufacturing. The world was introduced that same year to the first steel wagon, called the Radio Flyer. Since then, Radio Flyer has become perhaps the world's most famous maker of wagons, tricycles and other toys. The company's best-known product even inspired a 1992 movie, "Radio Flyer," about a boy who imagines converting his red wagon into a flying machine to help his little brother flee an abusive stepdad. Whether you grew up on Rock-'em Sock-'em Robots or Xbox, the little red wagon has remained a mainstay of child's play. It's certainly evolved over the years, though -- the rusty metal has been replaced with plastic. But the spirit of Radio Flyer, which conjures memories of a simpler time, remains intact. "One of the most important things about Radio Flyer products is that they really help [keep kids active outdoors]," Schlegel said. "So when we're designing our products, we're really looking at how can we get kids outside and playing, away from the video games and TV screens and computer screens." CNN.com's Brandon Griggs contributed to this story.

Radio Flyer, maker of the classic red toy wagon, is creating a high-tech new product . The Cloud 9 wagon has digital controls, speakers and a dock for an MP3 player . The wagon is still a prototype, developed after extensive market research . Radio Flyer's founder began building wooden toy wagons in 1917 .

(CNN) -- George Hochsprung's world began to crumble Friday when one of the students at the Connecticut middle school where he works walked up to him. Something was happening at the elementary school less than 10 miles away where Hochsprung's wife was principal, the student said, holding a computer. There were reports his wife had been killed. Hochsprung rushed out of the building, one of dozens of family members of students and staff at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, desperately seeking information about their loved ones that day. His wife, Dawn, was in a meeting that morning when a 20-year-old local man blasted his way into the elementary school armed with three guns. She stepped out of the meeting to find out what was going on and never returned. She was among the 26 people shot and killed inside the school by the gunman, Adam Lanza, who then turned a weapon on himself. Twenty of the dead were children. As people across the world struggle to comprehend Lanza's atrocious acts, George Hochsprung has been left with a future that no longer makes sense. He is more than 20 years older than his wife, who was 47 when she died. He never imagined he would outlive her. "Dawn and I built this beautiful house in the Adirondacks, our dream," he said in an interview Sunday night, sitting on a couch surrounded by his three daughters and one of his stepdaughters. "It was going to be Dawn's house because I was going to die," he said, explaining that they had included extra rooms in the house, so that their children and grandchildren could come keep his wife company after he was gone. "And now it's me," he said. "I don't think I can do that." He is now leaning on the support of their children and 11 grandchildren, but even that seems incongruous to him. "My job has always been to take care of other people," he said. Slain principal remembered as energetic, positive, passionate . Fittingly for two people who had made their careers in education, the couple met at a school, Rogers Park Middle School in Danbury, Connecticut. It's the same school where he was working Friday. He was a good deal older when they met, but she was his superior in the school hierarchy: She was an assistant principal, and he was a seventh-grade math teacher. "I just fell in love with her," he said. But it took a little while for him to persuade her to marry him: "She turned me down five times." Once he won her over, their wedding was influenced by their mutual love of sailing, taking place on a boat at sea near the Connecticut port of Mystic a decade ago. They had both been married previously, and their union brought together three daughters on his side and two on hers. One of her two daughters, Erica, described a devoted mother. "Every practice, she was there," she said. "All of my sister's cheerleadering stuff, she was there. Every dance competition. She was doing homework on the bleachers, but she was there. And she was my rock." Dawn Hochsprung's commitment to her family was closely matched by her dedication to her students, according to friends and family members. "She was really nice and very fun, but she was also very much a tough lady in the right sort of sense," according to Tom Prunty, a friend, whose niece goes to Sandy Hook and was uninjured Friday. "She was the kind of person you'd want to be educating your kids. And the kids loved her." Her decision to step out into danger when the shooting began has left her husband with some difficult emotions. "Dawn put herself in jeopardy, and I have been angry about that," he said. But that changed Sunday, he said, when he met two teachers who told him that his wife had instructed them to take shelter while she confronted Lanza. "She could've avoided that," George Hochsprung said. "But she didn't; I knew she wouldn't. So, I'm not angry anymore." His voice wavering, he continued: "I'm not angry. I'm just very sad."

Dawn Hochsprung was principal of the school were 26 people were massacred . Her husband says he never imagined he would outlive her . He says he was initially angry she had put herself in danger by confronting the gunman . But now he says, "I'm not angry. I'm just very sad"

(CNN)The moon has risen, and it's quiet around this little Armenian village. Past a field of tilled soil and over a stone wall in a little brick house, the children have been put to bed and there is a kettle on the stove. A woman speaks in a hushed voice on the phone. Her voice is tired but full of emotion. Another woman rises with the dawn and slips a scarf over her hair as she steps into the dew of a new morning. She ushers the livestock with a rough wooden stick to the point of gathering -- from there, the village shepherd will take the animals out to pasture. Still another woman, with aged hands and a furrowed brow, is bent low over a pile of potatoes. She peels them tirelessly as she prepares food for her family. In the Armenian village of Lichk, you will find many hard-working women, but you will not find many men. All these women's husbands are thousands of miles away. Because of the poor economic situation of this village, 90% of its working-age men have left for better-paying construction jobs in Russia. So for eight or nine months a year, women run the village. These are sturdy women. A grit and strength sustain them as they bravely take care of not only their families, but also their village as a whole. Photographer Julien Pebrel had been working in the Caucasus region when he heard rumors of towns without men. He and his translator did some investigating and found the stories were true. He spent two weeks in September 2013 documenting the lives of the women of Lichk. Social media . Follow @CNNPhotos on Twitter to join the conversation about photography. Pebrel stayed with Anoush and Ruzanna, two sisters-in-law who lived together with their families while their husbands worked in Russia. He captured painterly scenes of the village with his Rolleiflex film camera, only using his digital camera in low-lighting situations. "That's why I love film," he said. "You don't need to do post-production to get some beautiful colors." And indeed he has captured the feeling of a bygone era. The colors and lighting give the images a storybook quality. There is a great sense of community among the women. Everything is a team effort, from working the land, uprooting vegetables, herding the livestock across dirt roads, sheering curly-haired sheep, baking flat bread and raising wide-eyed little ones. Now this is not to say that there are no men whatsoever in Lichk. Look under the shade of a cool brick wall, and you can find the older generation wearing caps and denim as they tell stories and play cards on splintery wooden tables. These men serve as a source of authority over unruly schoolboys and provide support for their daughters-in-law. But even Pebrel says it is still "the women who do everything." In the beginning, Anoush and Ruzanna didn't discuss the emotional toll this separation takes on them. But by the end, they acknowledged that while most of the women in the town do trust their husbands, there is still an underlying fear that the men may lead a secret life in Russia. Worse yet is that some of the men never return. "We try not to think too much about that," the women told him. While there is a great deal of determined patience required for both the husbands and wives, the winter months are a time of pure celebration. When the men return at the end of the year, the village is filled with weddings, parties and births. It's a time of joyful reuniting. (Although Pebrel said he overheard stories of children who did not recognize their fathers when they returned.) Those three months together are savored before the husbands, sons and fathers will pack their suitcases and leave for the majority of another year. Again, the women will unwaveringly take the helm of this village. Despite the fiscal hardships, the exhausting manual labor and the lonely pangs they face, they remain strong and full of love. Julien Pebrel is a photographer based in Paris. He is a member of the MYOP Agency. You can follow him on Facebook.

Photographer Julien Pebrel visited an Armenian village where it's mostly women . Almost all the men are spending up to nine months a year working in Russia . But the women are strong and resolute, and they keep the village going .

(CNN) -- It was once the polluted hotbed of the Industrial Revolution in London, a large area of land that became badly contaminated with toxic waste after centuries of abuse. But the hope of the local Olympic organizers is that, what was once a wasteland site in Stratford, will soon bloom with fauna and wildlife as the green heart of the 2012 Games' site. The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) is planning to convert the area into Britain's first new public park in London for over a century once the sporting event is over and -- in order to create the intended environmental legacy -- the work of planting, cultivating and remodeling the new landscape is already underway. The Olympic Park will not only provide a public space for people to enjoy both during and after the Games, the aim is to generate a variety of habitats for wildlife with 2,000 trees and 350,000 wetland plants. "There are all kinds of different habitats here and there are target species," John Hopkins, a project sponsor for the parklands and public realm at the authority, told CNN. "We have things like the frog ponds, which hold water and have loggeries in them. "We also have over 700 wildlife installations. We have wet woodland, which is a very rare habitat that feeds off the river to keep it wet." Wetland areas have been central to the regeneration of the area, specifically along the banks of the River Thames, which runs from the UK's east coast and through the heart of the British capital. "This is part of a huge vision for restoring working landscapes in the whole of the Thames gateway, which is great for bio-diversity and great for people," Hopkins said. "Parks like this create those places where people want to live, work and play." Turning the former industrial area into a suitable home for plants and animals has not been a straightforward process. Factories had been located on the site in the 18th and 19th centuries, which left the soil in need of special treatment. "This site was one of the crucibles of the Industrial Revolution in London," Hopkins said. "Some of the land was heavily contaminated after centuries of abuse. "We had what we called 'soil hospitals.' They were treating all of the materials to make sure that it was suitable for re-use on the site." Paul de Zylva, head of international environmental organization Friends of the Earth has been working on the issue of the Games coming to London since 2003, two years prior to the city being awarded the Olympics. He told CNN he was generally supportive of the work being done by the ODA. "The plan they have come up with is about trying to create some of the old London habitat that used to exist there," said Da Zylva. "Grasslands, meadows, woodland and waterways as well, and I think that's been done well. "They are putting in a long-term management plan for the area. There's a 10-year management plan for the park, which is a good start. "They are trying to manage the land to be of high conservation value, to the point where some parts of it would be on the way to being designated as a site of special scientific interest, which is the highest possible designation in this country. So that's a good ambition." De Zylva also praised the honesty of London's organizers with regards to making information about the Games available. "We said to them that we do want you to be open and transparent about what the impact of putting on the Games would be, and they published that. "We were very pleased they did. We think it's important, if you're going to learn lessons from staging the Games, that you have a baseline of information about what it actually takes to host the Olympics. "This is the first time it has been done, London has been good in that respect." London has held the Summer Olympics on two previous occasions, in 1908 and 1948 -- next year's event will begin with the opening ceremony on July 27 and conclude on August 12.

London's Olympic Park has been designed to accommodate both people and local wildlife . The site in the Stratford area of the city was contaminated and soil had to be treated . London officials hoping to regenerate areas of ruined land along banks of the Thames . The Games will officially begin with the opening ceremony on July 27, 2012 .

(CNN) -- A common view is that U.S. politics have gone into shutdown, that the whole system can no longer function and deliver the kind of government that Americans want and need. That's certainly the opinion in my native Britain, where I'm regularly told the United States -- particularly the Republican Party -- has been gripped by a kind of madness. I can't agree. The current crisis is certainly traumatic for those involved and bodes badly for the next round of debt ceiling negotiations. But it's not historically unique or a symbol of conservative insanity. First of all America has gone through shutdowns before. Andrew Stiles notes in National Review that the U.S government has shut down 17 times since 1976. The vast majority of those shutdowns happened when the Democrats controlled the House. They happened under Jimmy Carter over abortion policy (remember when that divided the Democrats?) and under Ronald Reagan, mostly about budget priorities -- including efforts to nix Reagan's pet projects (sound familiar?). During the 21-day face-off between Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich, unemployment fell slightly and America emerged with a welfare reform deal. Not too bad. Those shutdowns remind us that U.S. politics have always been partisan and rancorous -- as the two-party system was established with the intention of being. Honest, heated debate is part of being a democratic nation. Before the 1960s, progressive legislation in the House was constantly stonewalled by coalition of Southern Democrats and conservative Republicans -- a bloc that it took a civil rights revolution to undo. In the 1940s, Harry Truman found his legislation blocked by a "do-nothing" Congress of Republicans (although that Congress still got a lot done). Of course, in the 19th century, partisan divisions reflected the battle lines of a bloody civil war. Abraham Lincoln's superhuman effort to get a ban on slavery through Congress testifies to the timelessness of the battle between executive and legislature. And Congress in recent decades has rarely been popular. True, today a shockingly low 10% of the population approves of its performance. But its rating never exceeded 40% throughout the 1970s and 1980s and sunk to 20% in 1979 and 1992. Today, no one is denying that we find ourselves in an almighty mess with the potential for disaster as the clock ticks toward default. But there's logic to the arguments of everyone involved. Barack Obama and the Senate Democrats refuse to give up on Obamacare, especially since the president's re-election. John Boehner is indeed being held hostage by members of his Republican caucus, but those tea partiers have a right to argue that the polls show Obamacare is unpopular, that they have evidence it will threaten the economic recovery, that they can use their sway in the House to say how the money should be spent, and that they are pursuing a valid constitutional strategy to get what they want. The polls also show that the shutdown is bad politics, and that the public blames the GOP for it. But would we rather the House do exactly as the president tells it to and not follow its conscience on the vital subjects of health care and finance? America is not Britain, where a party's control of one aspect of government (the House of Commons) effectively guarantees control over the entire system. The American way has the potential for divided government built into it, precisely because its founders wanted to protect against the growth of the state and to keep it in check by making it hard to pursue utopian manifestoes through to their glorious end. Passing lots of laws and spending lots of money ought to be a difficult, complex business. But for anyone dreaming of a government so hamstrung that it can't do anything at all, I have some sad news to impart. The Internal Revenue Service has stopped sending out refunds but is still collecting money. Join us Facebook/CNNOpinion. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Timothy Stanley.

Timothy Stanley: Many think U.S. politics gripped by madness on shutdown, but it's not so . He says Democratic Congresses responsible for majority of shutdowns in the past . He says current debate is part of democracy, and the positions of all parties today are logical . Stanley: U.S. founders built serious checks into system, and it's supposed to be complex .

(CNN) -- Now that Mitt Romney has all but wrapped up the Republican nomination for president, the discussion has veered toward potential running mates. Who embodies the conservative credentials Romney is seen as lacking? Who can deliver a battleground state that will put Romney over the top? Who can generate the enthusiasm that will bring not only Republicans, but also independents, to the polls on Election Day? Presidential candidates -- Democrats and Republicans alike -- have always considered factors like these. What is notable about this year's early speculation, however, is the manner in which women have been incorporated into the conversation. We seem to have reached the point at which a woman is always included in a "veepstakes" list. The Washington Post named nine men and Gov. Susana Martinez of New Mexico as its top 10 picks. The Fiscal Times included Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina as one of its top seven names. And Fox News offered nine men and two women as plausible running mates. A few days ago, on ABC, Jonathan Karl laid out several categories of contenders. His "top tier" included Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and Rob Portman of Ohio, along with former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. Among the "second tier" possibilities were New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, and Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels. And then there were "the women." In a category all to themselves, Karl placed Sen. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, as well as three governors: Haley, Martinez and Mary Fallin of Oklahoma. Politics: Rubio backs Jeb Bush for VP . Anyone can debate the pros and cons that each of these candidates would bring to the Republican ticket. What is not up for debate, however, is that Karl, and undoubtedly many others, consider certain potential candidates as women first and political professionals second. Before her election as governor in 2010, Fallin served two terms in the House of Representatives and 12 years as lieutenant governor. Her executive experience, therefore, is not very different from that of Daniels. Before winning a gubernatorial election two years ago, Martinez served as district attorney (a position to which she was first elected in 1996). Her political pedigree is similar to Christie's; he served as a federal prosecutor for six years before his election as governor in 2010. Ayotte was New Hampshire's attorney general when she was elected to the Senate last cycle. Rubio, who joined Ayotte as a member of the freshman class, had never before held statewide office, although he had served in the Florida legislature for 10 years. We do not mean to diminish the credentials of any of these men. In fact, that's our point. All of these names are credible and viable vice-presidential candidates. Karl doesn't say whether the women he lists are "top tier," "second tier" or even "wild cards" (another of his categories). They're just "women." Consumers of political news are denied a real analysis of these women's place in the informal pecking order. Of course, Karl is not the first to evaluate politicians as women first and politicians second. As scholars of gender politics, we are long familiar with the tendency among the media and those who practice politics to refer to a "woman governor" or "women candidates." We hear talk about the gender gap and the Republican Party's "woman problem" as if women are one large, undifferentiated group best identified by their sex. And we routinely see pundits, pollsters, and politicians refer to women running for office as "outsiders" (even when they're insiders) or "out-of-the-box choices" (even when they're quite conventional). This is, of course, because women are still woefully underrepresented at every level of American government. As long as women remain an anomaly in politics, their sex will continue to cause them to stand out. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Kathleen Dolan and Jennifer L. Lawless.

Jennifer Lawless, Kathleen Dolan: Romney likely GOP pick; focus now on finding VP . They say nowadays women usually at least included in list of potential VP candidates . They say ABC's Karl made lists of potential candidates; gave women a separate list . Writers: Women still woefully underrepresented in electoral politics; viewed as outsiders .

(CNN) -- As a longtime political operative, I know firsthand how a vote here or a vote there can make a huge difference in a close election. And as Vice President Al Gore's former campaign manager, I understand the impact U.S. Supreme Court decisions can have on electoral outcomes. These two reasons are why I'm outraged by what's going on in Ohio. This week, the Supreme Court, on the eve of early voting, ruled that efforts by Ohio Republicans to restrict early voting days were acceptable. This gets rid of what's called the Golden Week in Ohio -- the period when voters can register and cast their ballot at the same time. It ended convenient voting hours, when Ohioans could vote after a long day at work -- as late as 9 p.m. It also ended voting on one of the two Sundays before Election Day when many folks head to their polling place after church. These have been hallmarks of the Ohio voting system, but the Supreme Court and Republicans have yet again changed the rules in the middle of the game -- all to create barriers between people and the ballot box. And unfortunately it's not just Ohio where Republicans have doggedly tried to restrict or cut early voting days or hours. In Wisconsin, Gov. Scott Walker and the GOP have reduced and limited the early voting period, including weekend voting. In North Carolina, the Republican governor and legislature took away a week of early voting. And in Georgia, a GOP legislator lamented a county's move to expand early voting, saying he would "prefer more educated voters" over black early voters. Think this doesn't have any real impact? Think again. In 2012, a third of voters cast a ballot before Election Day, in person or by mail -- more than double the rate during the 2000 election. All told, more than 18 million voters cast an early in-person ballot when President Obama was re-elected. Voting shouldn't be a challenge. It should be as easy and accessible as possible. We shouldn't require forms of ID that folks don't have, we shouldn't restrict days or hours that allow working people a chance to both do their job and exercise their democratic right, and we damn well shouldn't be throwing up new obstacles midstream. When obstacles are thrown up, we should have protections for voters. That's why I was so frustrated when the Supreme Court last summer gutted the Voting Rights Act in Shelby v. Holder. The Supreme Court ruled that there's no need for national oversight when localities and states with a history of racially discriminatory voting laws make voting rule changes. I'm not alone with my frustration. A recent poll from Lake Research and the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights found that nationally, 69% of the American public favors restoring the VRA, with only 10% opposing. Voters of both parties, all races, and every region across the country favor a congressional proposal to restore the Voting Rights Act. I'm hopeful that Republicans and Democrats will, in the lame duck session after the 2014 elections or in the beginning of the next session of Congress, hammer out legislation that restores oversight and protects voters. As Democrats, we believe in giving every eligible citizen the opportunity to vote -- whether it's early because they can't take off work on Election Day or absentee because they might have plans to be out of town. And we believe this for two reasons. First, when more people vote, Democrats win. That's because more Americans agree with us on the big issues and the big questions -- like who's got my back? But second, it's because our democracy is better when more people have skin in the game. Our democracy relies on participation and we've never done better by excluding folks. If there's one thing we can count on, it's that the GOP is going to continue to come up with last minute schemes to make it more complicated, more confusing, or just plain more difficult for honest, hardworking citizens to vote on Election Day or before. It's up to us to stop them.

Supreme Court ruled Ohio could restrict early voting; other GOP states have also done it . Donna Brazile: Court ruling also ends convenient hours that help working people vote . Brazile: More and more people vote early, so GOP efforts to discourage it has big impact . Brazile: Democracy relies on participation; we've never done better by excluding folks .

(CNN) -- Some people have a difficult time deciding what to give during the holiday season. For me, it couldn't be easier. That's not only because shopping for my husband, Bill, is so easy -- he's quite happy to receive books or jigsaw puzzles every year. It's also because there is a simple way that anyone can give a meaningful gift this time of year. And it's happening Tuesday. Just as there's Black Friday and Cyber Monday for finding great shopping deals, there's now #GivingTuesday for anyone who is feeling grateful this time of year and wants to share a bit of their good fortune with those in need. One of the best ways we've found to do that is to contribute to the U.N. Foundation's Shot@Life campaign. For just a few dollars, you can provide life-saving vaccines to children in the poorest countries. Living in the United States, most of us take vaccines for granted. We get them when we're children, and when we grow up to be parents, the pediatrician tells us when our child should get the next one. But that isn't the case in many parts of the world, where millions of children still aren't getting immunized against life-threatening diseases. Bill and I believe that vaccines are one of the real miracles of modern medicine. Over the last 50 years, they have saved more lives than any other medical innovation. Vaccines have nearly eliminated polio, and significantly reduced the incidence of life-threatening diseases such as measles, pneumonia and severe diarrhea. With vaccines, children have a much better chance of growing up healthy and becoming productive members of their community. Without vaccines, children are vulnerable to many deadly and disabling diseases. Today, more than 80% of children around the world receive a complete course of life-saving vaccines during their first year of life. That's incredible progress. Yet one in every five children -- mostly in the world's poorest communities -- don't get this level of protection. As a result, an estimated 1.5 million children under age 5 die each year from vaccine-preventable diseases. Thankfully, there are committed, compassionate people working to close this gap. Since 2000, one of our largest global health partners, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, has enabled 440 million children in developing countries to receive life-saving immunizations. This effort has saved the lives of 6 million children. At the community level, women in particular play a major role in helping children get the vaccines they need. In Pakistan and Nigeria, female health care workers risk their lives to get polio vaccines to children in areas of conflict. And mothers are most often the ones keeping track of their children's health records and making sure they get vaccinated. And there's another group -- people like you -- who can also make an important difference. Often, people say they don't believe they can really have an impact on big, global issues. The truth is, they can. In the 15 years that I've been doing this work, I've seen time and again that when lots of individuals take action it adds up to a movement that can achieve impact for women and children on a grand scale. And when it comes to vaccines, it's easy to have a real and lasting impact right now. For just a $5 contribution to Shot@Life, you can protect a young girl from polio and measles for her entire lifetime. For $15, you can protect a boy from the two most deadly diseases -- pneumonia and severe diarrhea. The more you're able to give, the more children you can help protect. And on #GivingTuesday, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is sponsoring a "one day sale." We will match any donation you make to Shot@Life, so your gift will go even further. No matter how much you decide to donate, giving a child a shot at a healthy life is one of the most meaningful gifts you can give this holiday season. When you help one child grow up healthy, you're helping an entire family. And healthy, thriving families help entire communities create a better world for all of us. A small gift can make a big difference.

Melinda Gates: Vaccines have saved more lives than any medical innovation . Living in the U.S., most of us take vaccines for granted, she says . Gates: Women play big role in helping children get vaccines they need .

(CNN) -- Remember Conficker? About 5 million computers still are believed to be infected with the Conficker worm. The hugely talked-about computer worm seemed poised to wreak havoc on the world's machines on April Fool's Day. And then ... nothing much happened. But while the doom and gloom forecast for the massive botnet -- a remotely controlled network that security experts say infected about 5 million computers -- never came to pass, Conficker is still making some worm hunters nervous. Phillip Porras, program director at SRI International, a nonprofit research group, said Conficker infects millions of machines around the world. And the malware's author or authors could use that infected network to steal information or make money off of the compromised computer users. "Conficker does stand out as one of those bots that is very large and has been able to sustain itself on the Web," which is rare, said Porras, who also is a member of the international group tracking Conficker. Still, computer users, even those infected with Conficker, haven't seen much in the way of terrifying results. After the botnet relaunched April 1, it gained further access to an army of computers that the program's author or authors could control. The only thing the author or authors have done with that power, though, is to try to sell fake computer-security software to a relatively small segment of Conficker-stricken computers, Porras said. The lack of a major attack has led some people in the security community to assume that the worm is basically dead. Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer with F-Secure, an Internet security company, says the people who created Conficker would have launched a major offensive by now if they were going to. Hypponen, who is scheduled to speak about the Conficker botnet next week at Black Hat, a major computer security conference, said he thinks whoever made Conficker didn't mean for the worm to get so large, as the size of the botnet drew widespread attention from the security community and the media. "This gang, they knew their stuff. They used cutting-edge technology that we had never before. ... I've been working in viruses for 20 years, and there were several things that I'd never seen at all," he said. "That, to me, would tell that perhaps this is a new group or a new gang, someone who tried it for the first time." He added, "The more experienced attackers don't let their viruses or their worms spread this widely. They, on purpose, keep their viruses smaller in size in order to keep them from headlines." Veteran botnet creators tend to hold the size of the malicious networks to about 2,000 to 10,000 computers to keep from being noticed, he said. "Even if the [Conficker] gang would want to continue operations, most likely they would drop the current botnet and start something new," he said. Don DeBolt, director of threat research for CA, an information technology company, said researchers are still watching Conficker. "It's still being tracked, so it is still active out there, but certainly the threat has been mitigated by all of the attention and focus that it has received," he said. DeBolt said the press hyped the Conficker story because it was tied to April Fool's Day and because it made so many computers vulnerable to attack. He said other viruses and botnets pose more serious threats. Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos, a computer security company, said the infected Conficker network is still growing. "The interesting thing is, the hackers never really did much with the botnet that they created. So they created an army of lots and lots of computers ... but they've never really done anything with it," he said. "They were almost frightened off doing it." Others disagree with that assessment. Hypponen said Conficker was not hype; it was the largest network of its kind seen since 2003 and deserved the attention it got from the security community and from the public. Porras said theories about the the motives of Conficker's creator are based on speculation. The important thing, he said, is that security experts will continue to work to reduce the number of computers infected with the worm.

Conficker, a feared computer worm, hasn't caused much damage yet . Security experts disagree about whether Conficker threat has passed . Worm made news because of an supposed April Fool's Day attack . Some infected computers have received malicious anti-virus software .

(CNN) -- The phenomenon of women choosing not to have children is afflicting the industrialized world in alarming numbers. Childlessness is steadily becoming more widespread, particularly in English-speaking countries but also in Japan and in much of Europe. In 20 years, the number of childless women in many countries has doubled. In the lively debate that has followed the American publication of my book "The Conflict," much has been said and written about the pros and cons of breastfeeding and mothers staying at home. But this larger issue receives scant attention. In the United States, where fertility rates remain high, 20% of women are childless, which is twice as many as 30 years ago. There are an estimated 18% in England, 20% in Italy, and between 21% and 26% in Germany. We do not have figures for childless Japanese women, but we do know that Japan has one of the lowest fertility rates in the world, along with Germany, where it hovers at 1.3 children. Although a minority of women choose not to have children, the trend constitutes a genuine revolution, pointing to some unspoken resistance to motherhood. As we know, as soon as women were able to control reproduction, pursue studies, enter the job market and aspire to financial independence, motherhood stopped being an inevitable, self-evident step and became a choice instead. Whether we like it or not, motherhood is now only one important aspect of women's identity, no longer the key to achieving a sense of self-fulfillment. And the rate at which women are saying no to children -- most notably among those with college education -- suggests that the choice, for many, threatens the other facets of their identity: their freedom, energy, income and professional accomplishments. No country can afford to ignore a decline in its birthrate. In the long term, a nation's pension payments, power and very survival are at stake. To curb the drop in recent decades, some European governments have re-evaluated their family policies. Germany's example is especially instructive: Although the state's family policies are now among the most generous in Europe -- a parent who stays home with a child receives 67% of his or her current net income for up to 12 months -- they have failed to boost the birthrate or reverse the figures for childless women. Germany's policies provide considerable financial help, but they essentially encourage mothers (recent figures show that only 15% of fathers take advantage of the leave) to quit the work force. Only an astonishing 14% of German mothers with one child in fact resume full-time work. Thus the family policies end up promoting the role of the father-provider, while mothers in effect feel the need to choose between family and work from the moment the first child is born, an especially risky proposition when one in three marriages ends in divorce. In this situation, where a high number of mothers are able to stay at home but the birthrate remains exceptionally low, the message is clear: Women do not want policies that serve only to support mothers in their family life. For women to want children, they require policies that support the full range of their needs and roles and ambitions -- maternal, financial, professional. The varying European experiences show that the highest birthrates exist in the countries with the highest rates of working women. It is, therefore, in society's interest to support working motherhood, which requires considerable public investment. Generous leave is not, by itself, an incentive. To raise more than one child, a mother must have access to high-quality, full-day child care, but that is still not enough. Income equality, flexible work hours and partners sharing family-related tasks -- these are the essential components that will allow women to be mothers without forgoing their other aspirations. Tellingly, these are the rallying causes of traditional feminism, more pressing and relevant than ever. It turns out that profound feminist reform, in the workplace and in family policies, might just be what is needed to keep the birthrate from free fall. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Elisabeth Badinter.

Elisabeth Badinter: In 20 years, number of childless women has doubled in many countries . In the U.S., where fertility rates remain high, 20% of women are childless, Badinter says . The trend points to some unspoken resistance to motherhood, she says . Badinter: Feminist reform might just be what is needed to keep the birthrate from free fall .

Washington (CNN) -- In the enclaves of Richmond, Virginia, the political and ideological dividing line is a highway. On one side of Interstate 195 is Windsor Farms, a wealthy community designed to look like an English village. It is home to a historic country club and its residents are 75% Republican, according to an analysis by the Cook Political Report. On the other side of the highway is Carytown, a community that prides itself on its urban chic shops and restaurants. It held a craft beer festival this past weekend and its residents are 75% Democrat. "Clearly one side of the city of Richmond is very old money and conservative and on the other side of the street, it's a very progressive college community," said David Wasserman, U.S. House editor for the Cook Political Report. "This is a fairly recent development. We've never seen this type of polarization on a neighborhood level to such a degree and it's only increasing." The growth in the number of Americans who sort themselves into communities like Windsor Farms or Carytown, consistently express either liberal or conservative views and the disappearing overlap between those two groups illustrates why the country — and the Congress -- is so divided, according to a new study by the Pew Research Center. "Voters are plenty to blame for the current predicament they complain about," Wasserman said. "People want to live next to others who share their political and cultural values. It makes it easier for politicians to gerrymander because voters are already presorted." And that type of redistricting means a more hyper-partisan class of voters is more likely to send like-minded, hyper-partisan lawmakers to Washington to represent them, political analysts said. It's your fault: How our 'tribes' help create gridlock in Congress . The Pew report found that increasingly, the most politically active and engaged Americans are opting to live in "ideological silos," communities peopled with like-minded individuals who passionately hold on to partisan views and eschew those whose opinions differ. Among the report's findings: . Why does this matter? Because, as the report points out, over the past 20 years, "partisan animosity has increased substantially" — more than doubling, in fact. The most politically engaged Americans are most likely to see only the rightness of their own positions and view the opposing sides ideas as "so misguided that they threaten the nation's well-being." Meanwhile, the majority of Americans, those who hold more centrist views, are content to sit on the sidelines, staying out of the political fray, the Pew report found. This is a recipe for legislative gridlock, political demographers and analysts said. Lynne Cheney: Partisanship is a Madisonian principle . Think of it as a ripple effect, Bill Bishop, co-author of "The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like-Minded America is Tearing Us Apart," told CNN last year. "Like-minded groups, over time, become more extreme in how they're like-minded," he said. This means in order to be considered a "good Democrat" or "good Republican" citizens, and the lawmakers who represent them, are pressured to think and vote only in a certain, partisan way, political demographers and analysts have found. And woe the person who votes against the group-think. Take for example, Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, whose 7th Congressional District includes Windsor Farms. His opponent, Dave Brat, a political newcomer and economics professor was able to use Cantor's openness to considering a path to citizenship for the children of illegal immigrants as an example of how the veteran lawmaker was out of touch with his conservative base. Cantor lost the Republican primary on Tuesday by double digits. Down but not done: Cantor's loss not end for immigration reform . Cantor had been "taking conservative position after conservative position after conservative position, but almost 100% wasn't enough for these folks," CNN political analyst John Avlon said.

Politically engaged Americans are increasingly partisan, according to a new Pew poll . Hyper-partisanship at the local level eventually leads to hyper-partisanship in Congress, experts say . Those who trend more moderate are also less likely to be politically-engaged, the Pew poll found . All of these factors have create gridlock on the Congressional level, experts say .

(CNN) -- For the past few weeks my email box has been slowly, inexorably, filling up with Davos invites. A seminar here, a reception there, a late nightcap thrown in. Everyone, it seems, has an event -- and they want you to attend. There are the governments bringing along their hot-shot ministers, with whom you can schmooze over canapes; the consulting groups holding parties to reveal their latest surveys; the NGOs seeking attention and coverage for their causes; the companies screaming "we're here, come and meet our CEO!" Like opportunistic birds pecking juicy flies from the head of a wallowing hippo, they are feeding on the WEF's ability to attract the world's biggest political, economic and corporate players. Governments meet corporations; corporations meet clients; the press meets everyone. All have a story to tell and an agenda to sell. Allow me to give you a taste of some of this year's events: one company has invited me to a "thought provoking breakfast discussion on the future of human capital" (dress code: Business casual; funny - I was going to wear my ski gear); another is offering a session on "re-defining success in a digital age." Doesn't salary count anymore? Then of course there is the need to have a USP. One consulting group has tied its Davos invite to a photography exhibition: "Game changing -- now is the time!" Everyone wants to be seen to be game changing. There are some obvious winners. The Sochi Nightcap, sponsored by Coke and the Russians, will celebrate the two week countdown to the Winter Olympics in Sochi. Since it's late -- from 10 'til midnight - and also sponsored by Russian business, I predict with confidence that this will be both full and very lively. Then of course there are the hardy perennials, such as PWC with its Global CEO Survey launch, featuring cocktails. There are some events that you just don't miss (if, that is, you are lucky enough to be invited). The informal closed breakfast session with Shimon Peres is always a fascinating chance to hear the 91-year-old president of Israel speak with prescience on world issues. It alone is worth the trip to Davos. Everyone from Martin Sorrell's WPP to the government of South Africa wants a bit of your time during the Davos week. And all of this is on top of the 88 pages of official panels, seminars and discussions. Crucially, invitations are always described as "individual and non-transferable" as if there are hordes of interlopers waiting to freeload. To guarantee your place it is not enough to simply be a Davos attendee, you need to be invited to each specific event too. Davos is probably the world's most elite society, but it dresses itself up as a non-elite event. Don't be fooled. You must wear a specially coloured badge, which shrieks your status to others. There are events to which you may be granted admission or be barred from joining. Even the hotel that you are allocated speaks volumes (please WEF, some will beg, don't put me in Klosters this year... pretty please!). But there is one meeting place for everyone at Davos, where status goes out of the window, and who you are matters less than if you can pay for the ridiculously priced drinks: the Piano Bar. Late, very late at night, they pack them in with bone crushing disregard for comfort. Everyone from interns and volunteers, to CEOs and government leaders - the lot. Drunken singing and high jinks ensue. This is a truly Swiss experience because the Piano Bar is neutral territory. It doesn't matter how you got to Davos, or why you are there; once you're in the Piano Bar all that matters is that you drink, sing and make merry. Then the early hour arrives, and the chance for a couple of hours' sleep, before it's time to attend that morning breakfast discussion, redefining something or other. You will only wish you could remember what. Read more: . All you need to know to be a Davos delegate . Davos 2014: Complete coverage .

Richard Quest heads to Davos, where everyone, it seems, has an event they want him to attend . Among the guests are the world's biggest political, economic and corporate players . Governments meet corporations; corporations meet clients and the press meet everyone .

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Opponents of a bill that would overhaul the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act blocked consideration Thursday of the controversial bill until after the July 4 recess. Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wisconsin, says the FISA overhaul legislation is "deeply flawed." Senate Democratic leaders announced the delay because of a filibuster spearheaded by Sens. Russ Feingold, D-Wisconsin, and Chris Dodd, D-Connecticut. But the measure is expected to pass by a large margin with the support of both major parties' presumptive presidential nominees, Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain. Language that appears likely to let telecommunications companies escape lawsuits over the Bush administration's warrantless surveillance program has drawn sharp opposition from liberal Democrats such as Feingold and Dodd. "I'm pleased we were able to delay a vote on FISA until after the July 4 holiday instead of having it jammed through," Feingold said. "I hope that over the July 4 holiday, senators will take a closer look at this deeply flawed legislation and understand how it threatens the civil liberties of the American people. It is possible to defend this country from terrorists while also protecting the rights and freedoms that define our nation." "I'm pleased that consideration of the FISA Amendments Act has been delayed until after the 4th of July recess," Dodd said. "I urge my colleagues to take this time to listen to their constituents and consider the dangerous precedent that would be set by granting retroactive immunity to the telecommunications companies that may have engaged in President Bush's illegal wiretapping program. "When and if FISA does come back to the Senate floor, I will offer my amendment to strip the retroactive immunity provision out of the bill. I implore my colleagues to support the rule of law and join me in voting against retroactive immunity." The House of Representatives voted last week to overhaul FISA, which requires a secret court to sign off on domestic electronic surveillance in intelligence cases. The law was passed in 1978 in response to Watergate-era wiretapping abuses. The Bush administration and the bill's supporters argue that modern technology requires that the law be updated to allow intelligence agencies to spy on phone or Internet traffic overseas that might be routed through switches in the United States. "As telecommunications technology has changed, intelligence agencies have been presented with collection opportunities inside the United States against targets overseas," said Sen. Jay Rockefeller, the Democratic chairman of the Intelligence Committee. "Yet because of the way FISA was written in 1978, they could not take full advantage of these new opportunities." Supporters say the new bill requires court oversight of communications intercepts and will prevent presidents from launching another program like the one the Bush administration acknowledged in 2005. Obama, who had said he would oppose any bill that would toss out lawsuits against the phone companies, has said he will support the new proposal. He said it makes sure that in the future, "somebody's watching the watchers." "Given that all the information that I've received is that the underlying program itself actually is important and useful to American security, as long as it has these constraints on them, I felt that it was more important for me to go ahead and support this compromise," Obama said Wednesday in Chicago, Illinois. President Bush acknowledged in 2005 that he ordered the secretive National Security Agency to intercept communications between U.S. residents and people overseas suspected of having ties to terrorism. The administration insists that the program was authorized when Congress approved military action against al Qaeda after the terrorist network's 2001 attacks. But Democrats and some leading Republicans in Congress say it violated FISA, which required intelligence agencies to get court approval before spying on Americans. The revelations led to several lawsuits against the phone companies that cooperated with the program by people who suspect they were targets of the wiretaps. The Bush administration has refused to share records of the program with federal courts, invoking a "state secrets" privilege.

Democratic Sens. Russ Feingold, Chris Dodd lead filibuster against bill . They urge their peers to reconsider the legislation over the July 4 recess . Measure is expected to pass with a large margin and support of Obama, McCain . House voted last week to overhaul 1978 legislation .

Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) -- Attackers wielding rockets and machine guns in northwestern Pakistan struck a NATO convoy carrying fuel to Afghanistan, a local police chief said on Wednesday. Nisar Ahmed Tanoli, the police chief of Noshehra district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, said 17 oil tankers and four containers were all set ablaze. This convoy was parked on side of the road, and convoys are generally operated by contracting Pakistani logistics firms, using local trucks and drivers. This is the latest strike on Afghan-bound supply convoys in Pakistan. Azam Tariq, the central spokesman for Pakistani Taliban, said a special squad designated to strike NATO supply efforts made the attack near Quetta, Pakistan. The Pakistani Taliban has claimed responsibility for an earlier attack on oil tankers, a spokesman for the militant group told CNN by phone Wednesday. Quetta police said 20 oil tankers parked near that city were set ablaze Wednesday, and one person died in the attack. Shah Nawaz, a senior Quetta police official, said more than 12 gunmen in three vehicles opened fire on the tanker trucks. He said the person who died was killed in the shooting. Nawaz said the gunmen also threw petrol bombs on the trucks. Of the 20 tankers that caught fire, nine were destroyed. At least five other attacks have been carried out on vehicles carrying supplies for NATO forces in the past week, leaving at least six people dead. The Pakistani Taliban has also claimed responsibility for two of the earlier attacks on convoys. "The oil and the machinery is for logistic support to the NATO forces who killed our innocent sisters and brothers in Afghanistan, which we would never allow," Tariq said Wednesday. Pakistan closed the main land route for NATO supplies crossing from Pakistan to Afghanistan -- known as the Torkham border -- after U.S. helicopter strikes across the border killed two Pakistani soldiers. A report from a NATO and Pakistan assessment team concluded that soldiers fired warning shots to let them know of their presence, but the helicopter crews assumed they were insurgents and fired the shots. "Two coalition helicopters passed into Pakistan airspace several times. Subsequently, the helicopters fired on a building later identified as a Pakistan border outpost, in response to shots fired from the post. The assessment team considered it most probable that they had fired in an attempt to warn the helicopters of their presence. Unfortunately, following the engagement, it was discovered that the dead and wounded were members of the Pakistan Frontier Scouts," NATO's International Security Assistance Force said. A second supply route through Chaman -- in the western province of Balochistan -- is open, but the Pakistani Taliban is threatening violence on any route used for NATO purposes. "Our special squad will make [the] supply line to NATO through Chaman border as impossible as we did in Torkham border," Tariq said Wednesday. Nawaz, the police official, said authorities have also felt an impact. "After closing of the Torkham border for NATO supplies, pressure on the Chaman border has become almost doubled, which is creating security problems for us," he said. Tariq said this week that the earlier Pakistani Taliban attacks were carried out as revenge for drone strikes and NATO's attacks in Pakistan. "U.S. and NATO forces are killing innocent Pakistanis, which is unacceptable, and we will teach them a lesson by such attacks," Tariq said. Supply convoys are important for the Afghan war effort. Coalition forces rely heavily on convoys from Pakistan to bring in supplies and gear. In Washington Tuesday, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said that attacks on fuel convoys interrupt a tiny fraction of U.S. war supplies. "There have been attacks historically on NATO convoys passing through Pakistan to Afghanistan. And they are sometimes sensational and they are sometimes horrific and they are sometimes deadly and that is tragic," Morrell said. "But if you put this in context and in perspective, we're talking about ... impacting about 1 percent of the supplies that we funnel through Pakistan into Afghanistan." CNN's Fred Pleitgen and Charley Keyes contributed to this report.

NEW: Another strike on oil tankers is reported . The Pakistani Taliban says it has a special squad to attack NATO supply efforts . A local police official says police are experiencing security problems .

London (CNN) -- I am pleased and relieved that the court in Paris finally found in my favor this week in my case against Google. With hundreds of pages of court documents, mainly generated by Google lawyers, you would have thought my case against them was complicated. It's not. The point is very simple. It concerns nine illegally acquired pictures which courts in the UK and France have previously ruled should not be shown. If someone posts one of these pictures somewhere in the world, Google's search engine will automatically find and display it. However Google will take the picture and its link down whenever they are asked to do so. As they themselves say, they have done this many times for me and for others. The problem is that having removed a picture following receipt of notice from me, their search simply replaces the picture with another taken from a different webpage. The images, which I fought so hard to establish were illegal, continually reappear courtesy of Google. Given that they are prepared to take a specific illegal picture down manually once it has been identified, why not do so automatically? They have the software to recognize specific pictures. Indeed they make the tool freely available on their homepage. So why not use it? They know exactly which pictures are involved because we have repeatedly identified them. All I was asking was that, automatically rather than manually, they stop displaying these specific and known pictures and providing links to them. This seemed to me an obvious and simple request. It is what the French court has now ordered them to do. It also seemed to me to be in Google's own interest. Surely they would not want the trouble of dealing manually with endless take-down requests when they already had the software to identify specific images and could block them automatically. Was this not exactly the sort of thing computers do and Google are particularly good at? It is very difficult to understand why Google should fight tooth and nail to resist doing automatically something they are fully prepared to do manually. To begin with, Google argued that they didn't have the software. Then they said, OK, they could develop the software but there was some great principle involved in blocking a picture, notwithstanding that they must already do this for indecent images of children and other illegal images and information. Then they said it might inadvertently block something legitimate -- obvious nonsense given that we are dealing with a small number of specific pictures. Then they tried to mix this up with cases where a person wanted something objectionable removed without a court decision. Then they suggested we were asking them to exercise judgment - again obvious nonsense given the court decisions that already existed about these specific pictures. Finally, they claimed they were defending free speech. But it's the courts which said the pictures were illegal and should not be shown, so the issue is the rule of law, not freedom of speech. I think that there is something seriously wrong with the culture at Google. The technical side is brilliant and extremely useful. There are some extraordinarily gifted people working on the technical side and coming up with ideas and then the software to exploit them. Yet the non-technical management, particularly in the legal department, seems to be irrational to the point of becoming adolescent. It's almost as if they refuse to do something entirely sensible, and which would save them and others time and trouble, for no better reason than that someone asked them to. In the end, it's about obeying the law and having respect for the rule of law. There is absolutely nothing wrong with observing the law automatically, quite the reverse. There must be some rational people at the top of Google. You would expect them to respect the rights of the individual once established in a court of law. They should insist their legal department do the same. But you may be wondering why I decided to fight the case when it was obvious the primary result would be to draw attention to precisely those pictures I wanted to get rid of. There are two reasons. First, unless the pictures are blocked automatically, I or my lawyers will have to monitor the web in perpetuity. Second, the principle that an individual is able to rely on the rule of law to enforce his or her rights is, I think, of fundamental importance. This should apply no matter who is the opponent or what their business. I hope that this judgment helps establish that principle in respect of online publications and that it may be of use to others in the future. The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of Max Mosley.

French court orders search engine Google to remove Max Mosley orgy pictures . Courts had previously ruled the images must not be shown . Max Mosley: Images he fought to establish were illegal, continually reappear on Google . I think there is something seriously wrong with the culture at Google - Mosley .

(CNN) -- The early-morning slaughter of four Florida siblings at the hands of what authorities say was their mother is an "almost unheard of" case, crime experts said Wednesday. Investigators are still trying to determine what happened at the Port St. John home of 33-year-old Tonya Thomas early Tuesday morning. But Patricia Pearson, author of "When She was Bad: How and Why Women Get Away with Murder," said mass killings with women as a perpetrator are rare -- and when they do happen, they typically aren't committed with guns. "If a gun was used, that's almost unheard of," Pearson told CNN. Women make up about 5% of the ranks of mass killers, said James Alan Fox, a criminologist at Northeastern University. And most cases in which women kill their families involve young children, said Fox, the author of "Extreme Killing: Understanding Serial and Mass Murder." Sheriff's deputies in Brevard County say Thomas turned a .38-caliber revolver on herself after killing her two sons, 15-year-old Jaxs Johnson and 12-year-old Joel Johnson, and two daughters, 17-year-old Pebbles Johnson and 13-year-old Jazlin Johnson. The children went to a neighbor's house when the shooting started, with at least one reporting being shot, according to recordings of 911 calls released by the sheriff's department Tuesday -- but they returned while neighbors were on the phone with deputies, and more shots followed. "The two kids were in the front yard, one banging on the front door, 'Help us! Help us!'" a neighbor told dispatchers. "There was so much confusion going on we couldn't tell who shot who, and then when I was talking to you the one kid said his mom shot him." "I cried so much," slain boy's classmate says . Investigators don't know a motive for the killings, said Lt. Tod Goodyear, a spokesman for the Brevard County Sheriff's Office. But he said neighbors have described a history of public arguments among Thomas and her children, and Jaxs Johnson was arrested after a pair of fights with his mother in April. The teen was charged with domestic violence after a pair of fights with his mother, according to records released by the sheriff's office. In the first, on April 8, he knocked out a window with his bicycle during a fight; Thomas told deputies "she is attempting to get him into different programs to help with his issues." The following day, she said, her son punched and kicked her when she tried to wake him for school, then ran out of the house. She again called deputies, who arrested him on April 10, Goodyear said. He spent at least two days in juvenile detention after the arrest and had a court date scheduled for Tuesday, Goodyear said. Thomas herself had been arrested on domestic violence charges in 2002, after a fight with her former boyfriend, the children's father, Goodyear said. Fox said the circumstances appear to be a case of "suicide by proxy," in which a family member takes the lives of her loved ones "out of a warped sense of love" before killing herself. "Typically, the perpetrator is suicidal, feels life is miserable and doesn't want to go on," Fox said. "But why does she take her children? Because she wished to be reunited them in the afterlife or wants to spare them the misery of this life." Usually the victims in such cases are young children, however -- "partly because young children are vulnerable," he said. "Older kids can run away." And the reported circumstances are "really unusual," far different from typical cases involving either women or men. In an e-mail to CNN, Pearson said that in cases where women kill their children, "They target them because that is their sphere of power, and also their source of stress." But she added, "I've never seen a case where the children were this old, however. They're almost always under 5."

Women make up only about 5% of mass killers, a criminologist says . Police say Tonya Thomas shot her four children, then killed herself early Tuesday . 911 calls recount confusion over the shootings in Port St. John, Florida . Neighbors have described a history of public arguments among Thomas and her children .

(CNN) -- There's always been something about Margaret Thatcher that makes grown men go weak at the knees, particularly members of the Conservative Party. Perhaps she revives memories of stern schoolmistresses; perhaps they just grudgingly admired a strong woman telling them what to do. I suspect the same will be true of Meryl Streep's portrayal of the former British Prime Minister in the new biopic, "The Iron Lady," which the consensus appears to view as a pitch-perfect performance, accurately capturing the look, sound and general aura of the United Kingdom's first female premier. For many, the movie will be a nostalgia trip, whisking viewers back to happier times when politics was politics, there were heated ideological battles and elected leaders actually believed in something. "The Iron Lady" plays on all of those things, although without explicitly taking sides. There's no real attempt to analyze whether she was right or wrong during any highlighted episode. So we witness Mrs Thatcher taking on striking miners in the mid-1980s, taking on the Argentinians to recover the Falkland Islands early in her premiership, and -- the most consistent theme of all -- taking on the British Establishment to reach to top of what Disraeli called "the greasy pole" of politics in the first place. Review: "The Iron Lady" Biopics naturally simplify -- how else could an eventful career be crammed into just over 100 minutes of celluloid? But the essence of the Thatcher years are certainly there and besides, the collective memory of that turbulent decade is also simplistic and broad brush. A nuanced analysis of Thatcher's economic record would hardly have kept the box office busy. That said the screenplay takes few serious liberties with historical fact. Mrs Thatcher's political love-in with the then US President Ronald Reagan is covered, albeit briefly, as is her attempted assassination by the IRA in 1984. The leadership crisis that ended her premiership in 1990 also features, as one might expect in a biopic. Thatcher, of course, remains a deeply divisive figure in the UK -- not least in parts of northern England and Scotland -- so movie audiences, like the country at large, will be divided. Maggie fans will glean reassuring glimpses of what made her great in their eyes, while those who remember her less fondly will no doubt come away with their prejudices safely intact. Gallery: "The Iron Lady" and other political biopics . But for the generation or so of moviegoers who have no direct memory of the events covered in the film, their perception of Mrs Thatcher -- her legacy and beliefs -- will undoubtedly be highly informed by "The Iron Lady." Although not really "political" in that it offers few judgments, Streep's performance is nevertheless useful historical propaganda for a Conservative Party grappling with many of the same issues today. More interesting will be the reaction to the depiction of Baroness Thatcher's dementia, first (publicly) revealed by her daughter Carol a few years ago. Although it has often been mentioned in the press, few in the UK are directly aware of its extent and will probably be shocked at Streep's nuanced portrait of the Iron Lady displaying more than a little mental rust. It's almost a taboo subject, looking back on Mrs Thatcher's political career through the eyes of an obviously frail old lady. How would an American audience have reacted to such a portrayal of Ronald Reagan in his dotage? I suspect not at all well. Political activists prefer to remember their heroes -- and heroines -- in their prime. Older members of the Conservative Party often indulge in the wistful refrain: "If only Maggie was still leader of the party." They do so because they find the thought comforting, secure in the knowledge that with a click of her heel and a firm handbagging she would sort out all the old enemies. In that respect, "The Iron Lady" will probably bring tears to some veteran Tory eyes.

David Torrance: Margaret Thatcher biopic "The Iron Lady" a nostalgia trip . The movie shows Thatcher as PM in the 1980s, and as a frail elderly woman, suffering from dementia . Torrance: 1980s were a time "when politics was politics and elected leaders actually believed in something" He says "The Iron Lady" may prove "useful propaganda" for the Conservative Party .

(CNN) -- Hillary Clinton supporters launched a counteroffensive this week against claims that documents related to the Benghazi attack investigation were sanitized and ahead of another congressional hearing. A Clinton spokesman responded quickly to the story released Monday, calling it "patently false," and a group helping with the former secretary of state's communications and rapid response mobilized an entire communications strategy, website and talking points around the issue. The strategy has a directness that has not always been seen from Clinton aides and affiliated groups, which have generally waited for a story to fully emerge before taking it on. A GOP-led House Select Committee on the Benghazi attack holds its first public meeting Wednesday, with seven Republicans and five Democrats looking into the September 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. compound in Libya that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens. The issue has been white hot politically since then. It loomed as an issue that Republicans used against President Barack Obama in the closing months of the 2012 election, and with the prospect of Clinton running for president in 2016, the issue has continued to burn. Rand Paul: If Hillary Clinton worked for Bill Clinton, she'd be fired . Sharyl Attkisson, who resigned from her job as a CBS News correspondent in 2014 for what she said was liberal bias, published a report Monday alleging that a State Department official close to Clinton had withheld and sanitized documents during the department investigation. The story, which many conservative outlets branded as a "bombshell," was hung on Deputy Assistant Secretary Raymond Maxwell, one of the men reprimanded over the attack. The State Department flatly denied the story. The Accountability Review Board "had full and direct access to State Department employees and documents. Any accounts to the contrary like that one you mentioned are completely without merit, completely ill-informed," said Marie Harf, the department's deputy spokeswoman. "These reports show a complete lack of understanding of how the ARB functioned. It collected its own documents directly from anybody in the department. There was a department-wide call for information to be given directly to the ARB." Nick Merrill, Clinton's spokesman, followed up Tuesday with a statement to CNN. "This is patently false, as the State Department said yesterday about the process that allowed unfettered access to the Accountability Review Board." Correct the Record, the outside group handling communications for Clinton and urging her to run for president in 2016, launched a rapid response the same day "to rebut, fact check, and respond to the upcoming Benghazi Select Committee hearings." The effort includes a website -- BenghaziCommittee.com -- that highlights statements from the group, points out questions already addressed by past Benghazi panels and fact-checks some critics' claims. The group says it hopes to model its response after the way campaigns respond during debates. "The loss of life in Benghazi was a tragedy but the questions of what happened that night have already been asked and answered," the group said in an email. "Republicans have no credibility on this issue and are wasting taxpayer dollars on these sham hearings to ask questions that have already been answered, all for political gain: both to drive up their base turnout in 2014 and to go after Secretary Clinton for 2016." Benghazi probe presses ahead despite new report . Clinton has taken responsibility in the attacks and has told a number of groups that it was her biggest regret at the State Department. In her memoir, "Hard Choices," she knocks those "who exploit" Benghazi for political gain and says, "Those who insist on politicizing the tragedy will have to do so without me." The passage is considered a flat no to any suggestion that Clinton would testify before the House's latest Benghazi committee. Despite that, committee chairman Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-South Carolina, is undeterred from proceeding with the investigation. A statement Tuesday from the committee said, "As Chairman Gowdy has said, he is willing to risk answering the same question twice rather than risk it not be answered at all." CNN's Brianna Keilar contributed to this report.

Clinton supporters respond quickly to story saying Benghazi documents were sanitized . House committee is holding another hearing into the 2012 attack, which killed 4 Americans . Clinton supporters say claims are effort to boost GOP midterm turnout, make it an issue in 2016 .

(CNN) -- I believe in remakes. "Father of the Bride," "Ocean's Eleven," "The Parent Trap"... Each version was a classic in its own time. And despite the fact that the recently announced "Dirty Dancing" remake -- most likely -- won't hold a candle to the 1987 dance flick, I'm optimistic. With all the buzz surrounding "Dirty Dancing" 2.0, which will be directed by the original film's choreographer, Kenny Ortega, it's easy to forget that this isn't the first reboot. In 2004, "Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights" was released. And this brings me to my confession: I really liked "Havana Nights." Before you skip down to the comments section and unleash fury, I am aware that "Havana Nights" isn't nearly as good as "Dirty Dancing." Diego Luna and Romola Garai don't even look like Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey's understudies. But if you take it for what it is, a dance movie with its own spin on a classic storyline, it's really an enjoyable flick. Plus, there are some pretty funny scenes -- whether or not they were intended to be comical, I'm not sure. "Havana Nights" worked because it didn't try to introduce us to a new Baby, a new Johnny Castle, or even a present day Catskills resort. It took what I have officially dubbed the "Friends With Benefits" approach: Same story, different movie. "Friends With Benefits," starring Mila Kunis and Justin Timberlake, hit theaters just six months after Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher's "No Strings Attached." Both films featured two friends attempting to engage in a casual, sexual relationship. Of course, in "Dirty Dancing's" case, 17 years went by before another film adopted the plotline. Like the original, "Havana Nights" is a period piece, of sorts -- it takes place during the late 1950s during the Cuban Revolution. At the beginning of the film, Katey (Garai) has just moved to Cuba with her family. There she meets Javier (Luna), a bus boy and talented Latin dancer who teaches her some moves. Just replace a few Kellerman's performances with a Latin ballroom competition, and substitute "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" for Mya's "Do You Only Wanna Dance" and you can probably fill in the rest. Also, I'm a sucker for movie montages. There's nothing better than watching a series of events play out while simultaneously listening to a catchy track. In the case of "Havana Nights," about halfway through the movie, scenes of the couple rehearsing their moves on a rooftop and at the beach are backed by Wyclef Jean and Claudette Ortiz's "Dance Like This." They even have their own, less challenging, version of Swayze and Grey's dramatic lift. Here's my point: The movie wasn't trying to be the next "Dirty Dancing." It was simply recycling a winning formula. In the interest of full disclosure, "Havana Nights" absolutely bombed at the box office. With a budget of $25 million, it only grossed about $14 million nationally. It could have been the relatively unknown cast. Though, Luna had a budding career in Latin America before channeling Swayze in 2004. John Slattery and Sela Ward appeared in the film as Katey's conservative parents. Maybe people felt protective of "Dirty Dancing," and chose to rebel against a film that dared to mooch off its name. With so many fans already up in arms over Kenny Ortega's impending update -- countless groups opposing the flick have popped up on Facebook this week -- it will be interesting to see if people make it to the box office. I know I will.

I have a confession to a make: I enjoyed 2004's "Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights" With a budget of $25 million, "Havana Nights" only grossed about $14 million nationally . The remake will be directed by the original film's choreographer, Kenny Ortega .

London (CNN) -- It's Sunday morning and I'm standing in front of a newsagent's shop, waiting for the stranger who lives above it to let me into his home. I'm one of thousands taking advantage of Open House London's all-access invitation to tour London's most prolific and innovative buildings, including private residences the public would never have access to otherwise, from the Prime Minister's historical abode to the recently renovated townhouse I've come to see. Since its inception in 1992, the concept has spread to 24 cities -- including New York, Tel Aviv and Buenos Aires -- but the London event, which takes place over one weekend each September, remains the largest, with 800 properties participating this year. Though Open House's mission is to foster an appreciation for architecture and urban design, those opening their doors to the public also provides an opportunity for the city's designers and homeowners to show off their work. How the other half lives . There's a queue outside of painter Isabelle Ducimetière's modernist home in wealthy Hampstead village (a short walk from the home of Ernö Goldfinger, the father of modernist architecture in Britain) when I arrive. The grey, angular house, designed by the award-winning Guard Tillman Pollock Architects, is the only one on its block of simple brown Victorians participating in Open House this year. "I think it's a tribute to architecture," she says of her home, which was shortlisted for a Royal Institute of British Architects award in 2012. "I believe that my house is interesting, and obviously many people do." Inside is like an industrial gallery space, all cement and glass, with guests leaning in to examine Ducimetière's impressive collection of furniture including vintage chairs by Charles and Ray Eames) and ornaments, like a Vietnamese vase that's over 700 years old. There are as many marveling at the fortress-like wall around the garden as there are around each expensive art piece. Open House is as much a way to experience an inaccessible lifestyle as it is a chance to look at inaccessible architecture. From a family of architects herself, Ducimetière feels as though it's her duty to let others experience her home and its wonders, though it may be a bit pricey to emulate directly. "Hopefully people enjoy it and find inspiration for their own homes, or open their views on other things related to architecture." The business of inside access . Letting in the public can also benefit the firms behind these fantastic homes. Matt Keeler, principal architect at KSKa Architects, has been asked to show 18 properties with Open House over the last 11 years, and is always grateful to be recognized. "For me, it's like being in a Royal Academy exhibition," he says. Magic Box, a west London Edwardian he redid in his studio's minimalist style (think wood, geometry, and expansive windows), is run like a realtor's showing. Visitors are asked to remove their shoes at the door, and there are finger sandwiches on offer in the kitchen. Keeler presents a slideshow about the property every thirty minutes. "We get most of our businesses from Open House London," he tells me between presentations. "Sometimes I have people say 'Matt, we've been following you for three years. Now we've got some money and we'd like you to be our architect.'" In fact, the owners of this particular home first met Keeler at at Open House four years ago. They were so impressed that when they bought a house in 2012, they turned to him to transform their traditional home into a contemporary retreat. But even if they don't bring new business, Keeler is always receptive to feedback from those outside the design world. "When you get little old ladies saying 'I didn't really think I liked modern architecture, but this is amazing,' it's great." What we can learn from the tattoos of our ancestors . Battersea Power Station: The life, death and rebirth of a London icon . One hundred years since the 'Golden Age' of posters began . The strange world of toilet architecture .

Open House London gives visitors access to the city's most interesting buildings . The goal is to foster an appreciation for architecture and urban design . The event allows proud homeowners to share their space with the public, and can connect architects with new clients . This year, 800 properties were featured in the weekend event .

(CNN) -- Sebastian Vettel is so dominant in Formula One right now that his rivals must be hoping for help from the heavens, but even the weather seems unlikely to stop the Red Bull driver from a fourth successive win at Sunday's Korean Grand Prix. A typhoon had been forecast to hit this week in Yeongam, but conditions have died down -- although there is still a possibility of rain during the race. Vettel, however, was unconcerned after clinching his sixth pole position of 2013 with another commanding performance in Saturday's qualifying at the Korean International Circuit. The German headed off Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton, who was fastest in Friday's second practice, while Red Bull teammate Mark Webber was third fastest -- though the Australian will start 13th on the grid after his third reprimand of the season at Singapore. Interactive: F1 gears up for more Gangnam Style . "It's not a disaster if it starts to rain," Vettel told reporters after setting pole for the third successive race, at a venue where he has won the past two years. "Same as usual we have rain tires in the garage but obviously they're talking about heavy wind. "I arrived on Wednesday and it was very, very windy. Since then the wind seems to have died down and I think the typhoon has changed direction. I think tomorrow should be fine in terms of conditions -- whether it is dry or wet. "If we get some of the rain from the typhoon isn't 100% clear at the moment but, as I said, it doesn't matter. Most important is that we did the job." Hamilton also had five pole positions going into qualifying, but was just over two-tenths of a second slower than Vettel -- who leads the championship by 60 points as he seeks a fourth successive world title. "We did as good a job as we could," said 2008 world champion Hamilton. "I felt like I got the most out of the car and perhaps there's always a little bit of room to improve but in general it's been a good weekend so far, so I really hope that tomorrow we're able to fight with them." Webber is paying the price for receiving a lift from Ferrari's Fernando Alonso following his car's late failure in Singapore, an act of friendship that left both drivers in trouble with the race stewards. "We had to take a bit of pace out of the car for qualifying. Not much but just looking at how we would compromise qualifying a little bit more for the race," said the 37-year-old, who has six races left before quitting F1 to drive for Porsche in the World Endurance Championship. "I think the race will be interesting. Obviously well and truly out of position but we will fight and come back through." Lotus' Romain Grosjean will head the second row after qualifying fourth, followed by Mercedes' Nico Rosberg and Alonso -- who criticized tire supplier Pirelli after being more than 0.8 seconds slower than Vettel. "It's a tire that cannot do five kilometers. If you push them, you finish them -- which is not normal," said the two-time world champion, who won the inaugural Korean race in 2010. "I'm sure all the cars, if they pushed 100% from the start of a lap, they would not do five kilometers. So it is not very helpful and not very nice to drive like this, at 95% of the lap. "We are getting used to them being unable to last one lap, getting used to these marbles (rubber debris on the track) so you have two meters of racing line. Three or four years ago no-one would have thought this was possible." Alonso's teammate Felipe Massa will start sixth ahead of Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Esteban Gutierrez. Kimi Raikkonen, who will replace Massa at Ferrari next year, will be ninth ahead of the McLaren duo of Sergio Perez and Jenson Button.

Championship leader Sebastian Vettel has most pole positions in 2013 . German will head grid for Sunday's Korean Grand Prix from Lewis Hamilton . Vettel's teammate Mark Webber qualifies third but will start from 13th place . Lotus' Romain Grosjean heads the second row along with Mercedes' Nico Rosberg .

(CNN) -- Instant messaging, texting, Facebook, and ... "Call of Duty?" The "Call of Duty" games effectively adapt to changing communication habits, Bobby Kotick, the CEO of game publisher Activision, told CNN on Tuesday. And that could be the smoking gun in the franchise's takeover of the video-game industry. The latest entry in the console-game series, "Call of Duty: Black Ops," has netted more than $1 billion in sales worldwide since it came out on November 9, Activision announced on Tuesday. In that time, gamers have spent 600 million hours with the game, the company said. "More people play 'Black Ops' every day than watch Jay Leno, David Letterman and Jimmy Fallon, combined," Kotick boasted. "The audience of 'Call of Duty' is probably greater in terms of size ... than in any other interactive form of entertainment." Activision didn't invent war games or first-person shooters. Even today, the genre continues to attract new big-budget entrants. On Tuesday, Electronics Arts released "Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Vietnam." Yet it's the "Call of Duty" games that attract blockbuster openings and fervent support. By some estimates, "Black Ops" had the biggest five-day opening in revenue of any entertainment debut in history. The "Call of Duty" games generally feature compelling, cinematic storylines. In "Black Ops," soldiers are tasked with assassinating Cuban leader Fidel Castro. But it's the competitive play that draws the biggest crowds, Kotick said. Some 60% of traffic coming through Microsoft's Xbox Live online gaming service is from "Call of Duty" games, where players can take each other on, he said. "The multiplayer is really the thing that has changed the game in such a meaningful way," Kotick said. Instead of getting together to watch a movie, some people huddle around the living-room game console, or strap on a headset and chat online with friends across town or across the country over some gunfire. "If you look at the 500 million people who are on Facebook and the way that people text each other and instant message and use video chat, there is now an evolution of media," Kotick said. "Those are the characteristics and attributes that a generation and audiences feel are very important to their media and entertainment experiences. And we expect that." "Call of Duty" delivers on that trend, he said. These games can be as integral to the social lives of young people, especially males, as any other form of digital communication. Kotick rattled off various factors he says make the "Call of Duty" franchise stand out from competitors -- "production value, the level of polish," that "no detail gets left unaltered," he said. Perhaps most important is "the sophistication and capability of the multiplayer matchup," Kotick said. "Black Ops" credits Activision's Treyarch studio as the primary developer. The game came under scrutiny from video-game critics after a shakeup at Infinity Ward, the developer most often associated with the franchise. Activision fired two executives from Infinity Ward for "wrongdoing" -- "so wrong that you were left with no choice" but to dismiss them, Kotick said. Their positions have since been filled after the company was flooded with about 5,000 résumés, Kotick said. "Multiplayer has been largely developed by Treyarch," even in games like "Modern Warfare," which were credited to Infinity Ward, Kotick said. "I don't think Treyarch got their due for how much they contributed in the production and polish to the multiplayer." Future "Call of Duty" games may borrow some things from Activision Blizzard's other massive franchise, "World of Warcraft," Kotick said. For example, developers should constantly mold their games based on audience feedback, he said. "Blizzard really created the model for how to do this successfully and effectively, making sure the community of 'World of Warcraft' players has incredible influence on the future of the product," Kotick said. "There's so much more that we can deliver to our players."

"Call of Duty" effectively adapts to changing communication habits, says Activision's CEO . The games can be as integral to social lives as Facebook and text messaging . Activision hopes to adapt lessons from "World of Warcraft" into "Call of Duty"

(CNN) -- As a player who has won African and Olympic titles with Cameroon and Spanish league and Champions League titles with Barcelona as well as three African footballer of the year awards, Samuel Eto'o expects to command respect. Barcelona star Samuel Eto'o is one of a number of top footballers who have spoken out against racism. Yet Eto's spectacular career in Spain, where his goalscoring prowess have made him one of the world's most feared and admired strikers, has been punctuated by incidents in which he has been the victim of sickening racist abuse. Memorably, Eto'o started to walk off the pitch in protest during a match at Real Zaragoza in 2006 after being taunted by home supporters chanting monkey noises only to be persuaded to return by his Barcelona teammates and the club's coach, Frank Rijkaard. "I was leaving the field and if it wasn't for Rijkaard, my teammates and the referee, I would have done it," Eto'o recalls. "In that moment you start thinking whether there is something wrong with being black, you know? But I think we are all humans, everyone's blood is the same color and we all have the same heart. I don't see any differences in skin color." While Spanish football's reputation for sophistication and flair has made la Liga one of the most attractive and marketable competitions in world football, attitudes in the stands have not always kept apace with the cosmopolitanism on display on the pitch. Nor has positive leadership always come from the top. Real Zaragoza were fined just 9,000 euros ($13,800) for the abuse directed by their supporters at Eto'o. And in 2005, the Spanish national coach Luis Aragones -- currently steering Spain through Euro 2008 -- was at the center of controversy when he used a racist slur to describe French striker Thierry Henry, now a teammate of Eto'o's at Barcelona. Eto'o admits that racism is so widespread in Spain that he no longer dares take his family to matches. "Racism can happen anywhere and I don't want them to see it," he told CNN. "It's a sad situation in football. In my opinion the problem is getting bigger and the people that should come up with a solution are not doing it. So to protect my family, I don't take them to the game." With black players regularly subjected to monkey chants in Spanish stadiums, Eto'o believes determined action is needed before verbal abuse spills over into physical violence. "The authorities are working to find solutions. But they must find them. We can't wait until some crazy fan jumps from his seat and kills a black player before measures are taken. The players are revolted by it and we try to help each other. But the authorities must find a way to set an example." One of the saddest aspects of racism in football is that many of those who participate in taunting colored players would never dream of behaving the same way on the street, at work or at home. But Eto'o fears attitudes in stadiums may reflect wider social attitudes which find expression amid the passion, emotion and anonymity of the football crowd . "Football stadiums are just a reflection of what is going on in society," Eto'o says. "Many times in stadiums people just feel more relaxed and say what they think when they're somewhere else." He believes the Spanish media has a key part to play in tackling racism in football, not just by highlighting incidents of abuse but in creating an environment in which racism in the stands is no longer quietly condoned. "I don't make the decisions, but something needs to be done. Right now, the media here pays attention to the incidents of racism, but doesn't discuss solutions. That's the tragedy. They use these images to create an impact rather than to identify racism as a problem and to urge people to find a solution. TV has a lot of weight on public opinion and what the industry must do is make people feel a social responsibility to stop this kind of behavior."

Samuel Eto'o: "We can't wait until some crazy fan kills a black player" Barcelona striker has endured regular racist taunting while playing in Spain . Eto'o almost walked off during a match in 2006 because of sustained abuse . He no longer allows family to come to games to protect them from racism .

Washington (CNN) -- A divided Supreme Court spent this week's final oral argument on health care reform Wednesday examining whether states would be "coerced" by the federal government to expand their share of Medicaid costs by the risk of losing funding if they refused to take part. The session concluded three days of public debate on the 2010 Affordable Health Act and focused on the contentious legal issue of federal versus state powers, in this case involving the Medicaid government-run health care for the poor and disabled. Medicaid, which operates on federal and state funding, would be expanded under the health care reform law, and 26 states filed legal challenges against what they contended was an unfair burden forced on them by Washington. Court tackles question: Would all of health law be scrapped? The debate on Medicaid was especially divided along ideological lines. Paul Clement, arguing for the states that say they would suffer under the new Medicaid requirements, met skepticism from many on the left. Justice Elena Kagan noted that 90% of current Medicaid funding comes from Washington and asked if it would be a bad deal "if the government were to give boatloads of money to the states." When Clement replied yes, Kagan erupted, saying "Wow, wow!" and shaking her head. However, Chief Justice John Roberts and his conservative colleagues worried the states would be powerless to refuse the new requirements. "Why not be concerned about the authority the federal government is exercising?" Roberts said to Solicitor General Donald Verrilli, who represented the government. "That is the leverage" the central bureaucracy holds, Roberts noted. The "coercion" issue was surprisingly added to the health care debate by the Supreme Court justices. Medicaid is administered by the states with a combination of federal and state money. It currently required coverage only for poor children and their parents or caretakers, adults with disabilities and poor individuals 65 or older. Both sides of the issue agree that what the high court decides on Medicaid could have broad implications for the regulatory ability of the federal government to set long-term national policy goals in areas such as the environment, education and the workplace. Some states have long complained their autonomy is being eroded by creeping federal intervention on spending matters. Article 1 of the Constitution gives Congress the power to "lay and collect ... taxes to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States" and to "regulate commerce ... among the several states." Such authority has long been broadly interpreted, including when imposing conditions on recipients, be they individuals or states. No federal court has ever ruled states have been unlawfully coerced when they accept conditions or strings attached to federal funds. The Supreme Court in 1987 affirmed that congressional discretion. Starting in 2014, the health care law's Medicaid changes would make millions of additional Americans eligible for benefits by raising the income cap for qualification. That would include all adults up to 133% of the federal poverty line. The tricky point is that states are not forced to agree to the law's incremental Medicaid increases, spread out over six years. The states could instead abandon their participation in the program, but they say that would be a financial, social and political catastrophe -- one that they cannot realistically accept. Lawsuits by 26 Republican-led states say the new law's significant expansion of the social safety net unconstitutionally "coerces" state governments. Supporters of the health care law say the Medicaid issue involves political motivations rather than real policy concerns. "These arguments aren't based on Medicaid's health outcomes among children or seniors," Dr. L. Toni Lewis, the health care chair of the Service Employers International Union, said at a news conference Wednesday. "They aren't based on testimony from those who have received services from Medicaid. They aren't even based on data that shows how well Medicaid controls costs compared to private insurance. That's because the challenge to Medicaid in the Supreme Court isn't based on what's good for our health. It's just based on politics and posturing." CNN's Tom Cohen contributed to this report.

26 states challenged a Medicaid expansion under health care reform . The justices are divided on ideological grounds on the matter . The issue touches on the legal question of federal and state powers . The high court debate on Medicaid concludes a week of health care reform hearings .

Beijing (CNN) -- When an old widower from the central Chinese city of Wuhan went into hospital last summer because of a persistent high fever, he was diagnosed with the AIDS virus -- and made national news. The man, in his late 70s, had frequently hired prostitutes after his wife died, and doctors believe he contracted the HIV virus -- which can eventually develop into full-blown AIDS -- through unprotected sex, the official Xinhua news agency reported. With the population rapidly aging, more than 10% of China's 1.3 billion people are now over the age of 60, census figures show. Improving living standards mean many Chinese are living and remaining sexually active for longer. But now the threat of HIV/AIDS looms large over a segment of Chinese society not previously known for a high prevalence of cases: senior citizens. What is HIV/AIDS? Among new HIV-positive cases nationwide, those over the age of 50 accounted for almost 15% at the end of 2009 -- a sharp rise from less than 8% just four years earlier, according to a recent report by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The center said most patients were male and contracted the virus through unprotected sex. The United Nations has estimated 780,000 people will be living with the AIDS virus in China by the end of this year and more than half of them are unaware of their condition. Chinese officials acknowledge the real figure may be higher, particularly among the elderly. West must not give up on AIDS fight . "It's very hard for us to obtain an exact number due to our limited ability to monitor and report the epidemic situation in this age group," Hao Yang, deputy director of the Health Ministry's disease control bureau, told a health seminar in Beijing last year. "Older people are more prone to having medical conditions that require surgeries and hospitals are stricter on pre-operative checks -- that's how many of them are notified of their HIV status for the first time." Researchers say the lure of easy sex with prostitutes -- the average price paid a relatively modest $5.5 -- and the lack of safe sex knowledge among their generation have exposed an increasing number of Chinese senior citizens to the danger of HIV/AIDS. Another 30 years of AIDS? Hao said his ministry had already started including the elderly in its HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention campaigns, which previously targeted only younger people and high-risk groups like migrant laborers and sex workers. But many activists view the government effort as inadequate in dealing with a burgeoning problem, especially as senior citizens diagnosed with the AIDS virus tend to face far greater difficulties and discrimination in China than their younger counterparts. "Traditionally the elderly are the respected members of family and society, but once infected with HIV, they become a disgrace and face harsh moral judgments," said Zhang Biao, whose non-governmental organization AIDS Care in China has counseled elderly patients in southwestern China for five years. "People of their age are usually pillars of their households, taking care of both their parents and children," he added. "But instead, these patients now have to rely on their families to support them financially and psychologically." Others echo Zhang's sentiment, adding that elderly patients remain neglected in state-sponsored AIDS treatment and prevention programs. "Currently AIDS patients are required to provide proof of residence and employment to receive basic care at public hospitals," said Yu Tian, a volunteer with Shanghai-based NGO Leyi. "But many elderly patients are either unemployed or unable to work due to their medical conditions -- making them ineligible for subsidized antiviral treatment." Activists have called on the government to overhaul its HIV/ AIDS policy and allow NGOs to receive more international funding and cooperation. "We are willing to work with other experts to reach out to the elderly and teach them the concept of safe sex," said Yu. "There's so much room for improvement in this area."

More than 10% of China's 1.3 billion people are now over the age of 60 . Among new HIV-positive cases, people over 50 account for almost 15% in 2009 . United Nations has estimated 780,000 people will be living with the AIDS virus in China . Researchers: Cheap sex with prostitutes and lack of safe sex knowledge puts elderly at risk .

(CNN) -- The head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has rejected suggestions that the United States has adopted too soft a stance on climate change negotiations with China. Protesters march through Sydney, Australia on June 13 to urge more government action on climate change. IPCC Chairman Rajendra Pachauri has told CNN that the U.S. is right to absolve China from setting firm caps for national cuts in carbon emissions. His comments came after U.S. climate change negotiator Todd Stern was quoted in China Daily as saying, "We don't expect China to take a national cap at this stage." "I feel that's a very pragmatic view," Pachauri told CNN. "I don't think you'd expect any of the emerging markets to take an actual cut or even a commitment to reduce the rate of growth." Stern was in China last week for high-level talks with his counterpart, Xie Zhenhua, vice chairman of China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). In a press briefing on Friday, Stern described the talks as "very constructive," and emphasized that the while the U.S. wouldn't demand specific cuts in China's carbon emissions, it expected a "considerable" reduction "to where they would otherwise be." Pachauri told CNN that developed countries would be best advised to lead by example and promise specific cuts of their own. "It doesn't make sense to be tough because, let's face it, the developed world really has not lived up to what was expected of them. I think there's a far more productive strategy, a constructive approach would be to first make a commitment to reduce emissions in the developed world, get the emerging markets to take some fairly ambitious action within their own territories, and then we move from there onwards." "If you just keep pushing the Chinese that they've got to make some kind of a commitment for cuts or reductions in emissions intensity, you're not going to get anywhere," he added. China has demanded that developing countries cut their emissions by at least 40 percent from 1990 levels by 2020. It also wants rich countries to donate up to one percent of their annual gross domestic product to help poorer countries tackle climate change. "I think that's an opening gambit in a set of negotiations which in all will ultimately be decided by compromise from all those that are involved. I don't think it defines what's going to happen ultimately," Pachauri said. "China will be certainly be persuaded to accept something lower, I have no doubt about it," he added. Last week, Japan became the latest developed country to publicly commit to specific cuts in carbon emissions. Its vow to reduce emissions by 15 percent on 2005 levels by 2020 was lambasted as lacking ambition, and is a fraction of the cut scientists say is necessary to prevent dangerous climate change. "I think that's not going to be the final word," Pachauri said of the Japanese commitment. "Who knows where the developed world as a whole will end, whether it will be 20 percent or 25 percent or more, but all of this is at least in the realm of possibility given the positive direction that I see coming out of Bonn." Two weeks of talks in Bonn ending last Friday brought together delegates from 182 countries to lay the groundwork for a global climate change deal to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which expires at the end of 2012. It's one of a series of meetings scheduled in the lead up to the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen on December 7, seen as the most important climate change talks since the Kyoto deal was adopted in 1997. Pachauri told CNN the progress made at the latest round of talks in Bonn bodes well for a global deal in December. "I think the whole spirit of the discussion it seems to me as being far more productive than one would have anticipated, particularly given the fact that the U.S. is now engaged fully in this part of these discussions in an active way," he said.

IPCC chairman noted "positive direction" of climate change talks in Bonn . Delegates met in Bonn last week to lay groundwork for global climate deal . Climate talks in Copenhagen in December aim to forge post-Kyoto agreement . Pachauri: "I don't see what a tougher stance (with China) would do"

MEMPHIS, Tennessee (CNN) -- When James Earl Ray bought a white Mustang in the summer of 1967, he stood on a streetcorner in downtown Birmingham, Alabama, and pulled the cash out of his shirt pocket, $2,000 in all. James Earl Ray paid $2,000 cash for a white Mustang, similar to this one, the seller told the FBI. "Mostly twenties, with some $100 bills," the seller would later tell the FBI about the sale to Ray, later convicted of assassinating the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. "He must have had a roll of twenties, if he paid that guy $2,000 in twenties, that'd be a lot of money," said Jerry Ray, James Earl Ray's brother. Police Capt. John Light, who was chief of detectives that year in Ray's hometown of Alton, Illinois, suspects the wad of money came from a still-unsolved bank robbery. While Ray was on the run as a prison escapee from Missouri that summer, two men walked into the Bank of Alton with a pistol and a sawed-off shotgun. Both wore stocking masks. The leaner man went behind the counter, scooped up the cash and fled with close to $30,000. Ray, King crossed paths before shooting » Within a day or two of that robbery, Ray would leave the area and head to Canada -- just as he did almost a year later when he fled the scene in Memphis, Tennessee, after King's murder. Light told CNN the stolen bank money consisted mainly of $20 bills. The partially burned shotgun and the stocking masks were found abandoned in a wooded area near a cemetery where Ray's mother is buried. Ray returned from Canada and bought the Mustang after seeing a classified ad in Birmingham the month after the robbery. In the months to come, Ray would keep spending $20 bills. When Ray underwent plastic surgery in Los Angeles 30 days before King's death, he paid in cash -- denomination unknown. When he drove back to Birmingham six days before the murder to buy a .30-06 high-powered hunting rifle for just under $250, the gun store salesman later told investigators, "I remember he paid for the gun with $20 bills, paid cash." On April 4, 1968, only hours before King would die, the landlady at the boarding house where Ray rented a room told police, "He gave me a $20 bill" when he paid for a week's rent just across the street from the Lorraine Motel. In the sporting goods store where Ray went to buy binoculars, the salesman told police, "He gave me two twenties; I think he had two twenties left... The bills came out of his right pocket, neatly folded, and nothing but bills." For Light, the bank holdup is the most likely answer to the question of where Ray got the money to travel as a fugitive to Canada and Mexico, then to flee again to Canada and finally London, England, after King's murder. "Thirty-thousand dollars back in 1967 was a lot of money," Light said. In London, Ray ran short of money. Four days before he was caught, he robbed a bank. His thumbprint was found on the holdup note. He got little more than $200 -- enough to buy an airline ticket to Brussels, Belgium, where he hoped to join mercenaries fighting to keep white rule in southern Africa. He was stopped at a London airport when a police sergeant spotted his phony Canadian passport. Ray lived very cheaply on the run. He got change back for his $20 bill at the Memphis boarding house -- a week's rent there was $8.50. The original prosecutors in the Memphis case decided it would not have cost that much for all of Ray's travels. "He was living on a dollar to two dollars a day," said current prosecutor John Campbell. "He was even darning his own socks to be able to save money."

Police: James Earl Ray's money came from a bank robbery in his hometown . Gun, masks used in robbery found near burial plot of Ray's mother . Ray bought a Mustang and underwent plastic surgery before King's death . Prosecutors believe he lived very cheaply on the run .

Washington (CNN) -- A seismic study found that the Washington Monument can withstand a worst-case earthquake scenario, officials said Thursday in describing needed repairs to the iconic landmark damaged in the 5.8-magnitude quake a year ago. The 555-foot monument will be under full scaffolding for repairs to damaged marble plates, stonework and other problems near its top, said Bob Vogel, superintendent of the National Mall and Memorial Parks. At a news conference with other U.S. officials, Vogel offered no time frame for the repairs. Officials previously said the monument could be closed through 2013 and possibly into 2014. The monument has been closed since an earthquake struck the mid-Atlantic region near Richmond, Virginia, on August 23, 2011. Quake-damaged monument may stay closed until 2014 . "This is the most significant earthquake to ever strike the U.S. east of the Rocky Mountains," U.S. Geological Survey Director Marcia McNutt said at the news conference. "More people felt this earthquake than any earthquake in U.S. history." A comprehensive seismic study determined the monument faced no risk of collapse, even in the event of a "maximum considered earthquake," the estimated worst possible quake over a 2,475-year period, Vogel said. Such a scenario "did not present a concern for structural collapse," he said, adding that "supporting soils are indeed adequate to withstand" a maximum considered earthquake. At least nine marble panels on the outside of the monument near the top are cracked, according to a post-earthquake assessment. Others are chipped but not in danger of falling, the report said. Indoor repairs are also required. Some interior tie beams and some cracked panels will be fixed. About 700,000 visitors go to the top of the monument in a typical year. The Washington Monument was built between 1848 and 1884 and has been repaired three times previously, with the most recent work done from 1997 to 2000. The signature obelisk wasn't the only landmark in the U.S. capital city affected by last year's quake. Three towers of the National Cathedral and carved pinnacles and embellishments that decorate them suffered severe damage. The church's interim dean, the Rev. Francis H. Wade, said Thursday that the cost for repairs, restoration and historic preservation should exceed $50 million. It is expected this effort will take 10 years. Repairs done since last summer's quake have focused on stabilizing stone. On Thursday, cathedral officials announced they had received a $5 million gift from the Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment that will be used for architectural restoration. "After a year's time, we have a long way to go toward full restoration," Wade said. "But we also have countless individuals, organizations and houses of worship to thank that have shared in their belief in the work of this sacred place -- and I have no doubt that they would join me in gratitude for this major restoration grant." The August 2011 tremor rattled buildings around the nation's capital, as well as stoked concerns about whether residents, workers and visitors were prepared. During Thursday's news conference outside the Washington Monument, officials described an upcoming drill designed to prepare people to react quickly if another big earthquake hits the region. Called the Great Southeast Shakeout, the drill is scheduled for 10:18 a.m on Oct. 18. Its aim is to encourage people to drop to the floor or ground, take cover under a desk or table, and hold on until the shaking stops. Last year, they said, many people in the Washington business district fled their buildings like in a fire drill, putting them at potential risk from falling debris. The website for the drill is www.shakeout.org/southeast. Where to find exceptional America . CNN's Greg Seaby, Tom Cohen, Eric Fiegel and Lindy Royce contributed to this report.

NEW: The damaged National Cathedral gets a $5 million gift for restoration efforts . The Washington Monument can withstand a worst-case earthquake, a study shows . The iconic landmark will be in full scaffolding for upcoming repairs . Officials are planning an earthquake preparedness drill for the region .

(CNN) -- A Nigerian immigrant's dream came true when President Barack Obama signed into law a rare private bill granting him permanent residency in the Unites States. Victor Chukwueke, who lives in Michigan on an expired visa, came to the United States 11 years ago to undergo treatment for massive face tumors. He graduated from a university in the state, and plans to attend an Ohio medical school that requires him to have permanent residency, also known as a green card. In a rare act, the United States Congress passed a private bill this month granting him permanent residency. Obama signed the bill Friday. Private bills -- which only apply to one person and mostly focus on immigration -- are rarely approved. His is the only one to pass in Congress in two years. "I was overwhelmed with joy; it was nothing less than a miracle," the 26-year-old says. "Only in this country can so many miraculous and wonderful things happen to someone like me." Before coming to the United States at age 15, Chukwueke lived in the southeastern Nigeria town of Ovim. He suffers from neurofibromatosis, a genetic disorder that causes massive life-threatening tumors on his face. Treated as an outcast because of his deformed face, he was depressed and humiliated, he says. His family abandoned him at an orphanage after taking him to the nation's best facilities for treatment. "I went to a large teaching hospital in Nigeria and the doctor touched my face and said there was nothing they could do," he says. " I cried and begged him to do something. I was so tired of the humiliation." Nuns from the Daughters of Mary Mother of Mercy rescued him from the orphanage in 2001 and arranged for a Michigan doctor to perform surgery on him. He considers himself lucky to have developed the tumors. "Without them, I would not have met the nun, left Nigeria, arrived in the U.S. and had the miracle to attend medical school," he says. He lives with the nuns in Oak Park, Michigan. They have cared for him since he came to the U.S., where he has undergone seven surgeries, including one that left him blind in the right eye. Despite the obstacles, he remains committed to getting an education. He finished his GED -- the equivalent of a high school education -- while undergoing treatment and enrolled at a community college. A benefactor helped him attend Wayne State University, where he graduated last year with a bachelor's in biochemistry and chemical biology. He had a 3.82 GPA and gave the university's commencement speech. "Should I call myself a victim, or should I press forward to my dreams?" he asked during the speech amid thunderous applause. Soon after his graduation, the University of Toledo in Ohio admitted him to medical school. The only hurdle: The program requires him to have permanent residency status. With Obama's signature, his wish has come true. "My own personal struggles to receive treatment have motivated and encouraged me to pursue a medical career ... to alleviate the pain and suffering of others," he says. "A medical career will allow me many gratifying years of making a difference in the health and lives of others." Chukwueke's journey to get legalized has seen many strangers rally to his help. Inspired by his story, Sen. Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat, sponsored the bill, S. 285. The measure passed the Senate in the summer and the House this week. Attorney Thomas K. Ragland took his case pro bono. "Victor's story is remarkable," says Ragland, who is based in Washington D.C. "Here is this kid who comes from Nigeria, he was taunted and teased for his diseases, and he comes to this country and excels, despite so many surgeries. It is a testament of not letting anything get in the way." The number of illegal immigrants in the United States was estimated at 11.5 million last year. Following the signature, the State Department will reduce by one the number of immigrant visas available to Nigerians.

Victor Chukwueke's visa expires after he comes to the U.S. for treatment of face tumors . He plans to attend an Ohio medical school that requires him to have a green card . A Michigan senator introduces a private bill to grant him a green card . In a rare act, Congress passes the bill this month .

(CNN) -- "These are the explosive devices, they are all made locally," Captain Daoud Hassan Mahmoud explains, crouching down and pointing to the metal cylinders, perhaps just 20cm in diameter -- dozens of them are lined up next to each other. The cylinders are packed with a deadly concoction of fertilizer, explosives and other chemicals bought from the local market. "I don't want to name them so that the government doesn't confiscate them from the shops," Mahmoud says. Placed on the top of the cylinder thick nuts and bolts -- which will turn into lethal shards of shrapnel once detonated: Crude, but highly effective. "This one would blow up a jeep or a pick-up," he says, pointing to two of the cylinders which a rebel is roughly taping together, in the final stages of preparation. "For a tank or an armored vehicle we use six or eight." Outgunned by Assad's forces, the captain's team -- the Daoud brigade -- is resorting to Iraq-style guerilla warfare, turning to roadside bombs and, in at least one case, a suicide bombing. Escalating violence limits U.N. observer mission in Syria, official says . Clips said to be of the brigade's operations are often posted to YouTube, starting off with a Quranic verse, followed by stylized graphics of the brigade's name, and its division -- the Damascus Hawks. Hardly audible below the music -- a jihadi chorus meant to motivate -- a voice narrates each attack. The videos are all very similar in tone to those that came out of Iraq when al-Qaeda-allied insurgents there took on the US military. In that battlefield the IED proved to be the most effective weapons against American armor. In Syria today it is also becoming the weapon of choice. Mahmoud says they have received no outside help. "Our funding is dependent on donations, a small collection of money. And what we're able to capture from the Syrian military. We have not received any help even from the Free Syrian Army leadership or the Syrian National Council," he claims. And so, he says, they have had to improvise. Is Syria in a civil war? "We only have AK 47s, sniper rifles, machine guns," Mahmoud explains. "And the regime is fighting us with tanks and rockets. We don't have heavy weapons. We're relying on mines and on making bombs." Mahmoud says he commands 300 men. The Damascus Hawks Division is made up of around 8,000, operating mostly in Idlib province. There is no way of confirming such claims. The division, he says, was first made up of defectors and civilians and has gradually increased in numbers. He says his men are moderate Islamists, who follow the military council of the Free Syrian Army, fighting for democracy. "As military men, we don't want to see one in power," he says. "We want a democratically elected president, we have to separate the military from the presidency. "We are also fighting corruption and those opportunists that are in the Idlib countryside," he continues, referring to people he says are capitalizing on the uprising to wreak havoc and carry out operations in the name of the opposition. The men look relaxed as they calmly mill around among the olive groves, AK 47s slung over their shoulders. This is territory they control. They are a ragtag collection of rebel fighters but in this part of Idlib province in Syria, they boast of taking the fight to the Syrian regime. Just back from a mission, one of the fighters explains that it failed. "We set up an ambush against Assad's army using IEDs but they received intelligence about our plan and rerouted the convoy." Another claims his unit was successful. "We destroyed an armored vehicle," he boasts. This is now the Syrian battlefield. Fifteen months on, peaceful protests have morphed into more of an insurgency that threatens to become an all out war. U.S. military completes initial planning for Syria .

Syrian rebels outgunned by Assad regime's military might . Fighters are turning to Iraqi insurgent style improvised bombs . Devices made from pipes packed with fertilizer, chemicals and nuts and bolts .

London (CNN) -- Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, head of the 85 million-member worldwide Anglican Communion, announced Friday he will step down from his post at the end of the year. Williams has been archbishop of Canterbury, the top role in the Church of England, for 10 years. He has accepted the position of master of Magdalene College at Cambridge University, starting in January, a statement on his website said. Williams said: "It has been an immense privilege to serve as archbishop of Canterbury over the past decade, and moving on has not been an easy decision." He thanked those who had "brought vision, hope and excitement" to his ministry. He has informed Queen Elizabeth II of his decision, the archbishop's office said. As supreme governor of the Church of England, the queen will formally appoint his successor. The Crown Nominations Commission will consider who will follow Williams in the role "in due course," his office said. The secretary-general of the Anglican Communion, Canon Kenneth Kearon, wrote to senior church leaders to announce Williams' resignation, the Anglican Communion News Service reports on its website. Williams' time in office has "coincided with a period of turmoil, change and development in the Anglican Communion, and his careful leadership, deeply rooted in spirituality and theology, has strengthened and inspired us all in the Communion during this time," Kearon is quoted as saying. The issues of homosexuality and women bishops have caused public tension and deep division within the Anglican Communion during Williams' tenure. Although Williams came out against gay marriage, speaking of the dangers -- as he called them -- of "imposing" this on the rest of the population, he is generally perceived to be a liberal and is credited with pushing through the ordination of women bishops, expected later this year, which had been a major controversy. The issue of gay rights has already riven the Anglican community in the United States and is anathema to most African Anglicans, the church's largest population. General Synod member Andrea Minichiello Williams, who heads the British group Christian Concern, urged the Church of England to "move decisively" to find a successor who would provide a clear voice on divisive topics. "There are many issues confronting our nation at the moment, which have raised the question of the place of Christian faith in British society. This is, therefore, a crucial time for the established church in this country to provide leadership, clarity and direction as many people want," she said in a statement. Among those considered likely to take over from Williams is the Ugandan-born Archbishop of York, John Sentamu. He sought refuge from Idi Amin in the United Kingdom in the 1970s but still holds conservative values more recognizable to the African bishops, drawing fire most recently for accusing gay rights' activists of imposing a "dictatorship" of their values. The second-ranking figure in the Church of England, Sentamu is highly popular in the United Kingdom. He penned a column in the newly launched Sun on Sunday. In a statement on his website, he said he had heard the news of Williams' resignation with "great sadness." He paid tribute to Williams as "a remarkable and gifted leader who has strengthened the bonds of affection." And, reflecting the controversy that has surrounded Williams, Sentamu added: "Despite his courageous, tireless and holy endeavour, he has been much maligned by people who should have known better." Born in Wales in 1950, Williams studied theology at Cambridge and was an academic before going into the church. He became bishop of Monmouth in 1991 and was appointed the 104th archbishop of Canterbury in 2002. Millions around the world watched him celebrate the marriage of Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, last April. CNN's Nima Elbagir, Richard Allen Greene and Pierre Meilhan contributed to this report.

NEW: Williams was "a remarkable and gifted leader," says Archbishop of York . NEW: Church of England needs a new leader with a clear voice, head of a Christian group says . The Archbishop of Canterbury heads the 85 million-strong worldwide Anglican Communion . Williams will take up a position at Magdalene College at Cambridge University next year .

(CNN) -- I stood up and began talking on the floor of the Texas State Senate not long ago because I hoped the Republicans in power would listen to how their latest cruel health care proposal would hurt the women of Texas. Simply put, this bill would take away access to the most fundamental form of health care women need. It would close down almost 90% of the women's clinics in this state. This comes after more than 50 women's health clinics providing cancer screening and family planning services were closed because the Republicans withdrew state-financed support from them. We now have 42. Under this draconian proposal, a state as expansive as Texas would have only five clinics remaining to serve thousands and thousands of women. Real Texans don't want any woman to die of cancer because she can't get decent health care or medical advice. Real Texans don't want any woman to lose control of her life because she can't get birth control. During the filibuster, women around the state related thousands of personal stories to me: One young woman said contraceptives gave her a chance to choose motherhood when she was ready. Women were helped by a clinic with the difficult and highly personal decision to end a pregnancy. Another woman said a clinic had helped comfort her when a much-wanted baby was dying inside her. The "people's filibuster" that put a temporary stop on the misguided bill that powerful Republicans are still intent on ramming through will long be remembered as the moment when regular Texans -- real Texans -- stood up and said "enough" to the self-interested politicians who have run our state for too long. Enough to using Texas as a political laboratory for testing far-right ideas. Enough to using Texas as a workshop for fattening the wallets of their special interest friends and supporters. And enough of politicians listening only to each other, rather than real Texans. There are important issues that desperately need the attention of the politicians who are -- at least for now -- in charge of our state. Sadly, Gov. Rick Perry and his powerful allies don't seem interested. They don't identify with the strong Texans who live in the town of West, where an unregulated, unmonitored fertilizer plant blew up, taking lives and destroying livelihoods. Because of a lack of state oversight, the small volunteer fire department that rushed to help didn't know the degree of danger they were facing. They paid with their lives. Real Texans believe in looking out for each other. We believe in honoring our mothers and fathers and keeping our smallest residents -- our children -- healthy. The politicians in charge of Texas now clearly don't. Perry has refused to even consider expanding health care coverage in Texas because he cares more about scoring political points than he does about our Texas families. Real Texans help when their neighbor is in need. Texas Republican political leaders take perverse pride in how deeply they have cut our state's education budget. Thousands of teachers have been pulled from classrooms, schools have closed and valuable programs have been canceled. In many places, districts are forced to choose between prekindergarten programs and English, algebra and art. Real Texans want their kids to have the best education possible, not the one politicians looking to brag about budget cuts have left us with. My first filibuster, two years ago, was an attempt to protect our schools and our children from these reckless cuts. Republican leaders rewarded me for my efforts by removing me from the powerful Senate Education Committee. I had to fight unfair Republican redistricting efforts when they tried to make the district I represent disappear. Now, Texas Democratic legislators are fighting hard to pass an equal pay for equal work bill, something that is crucial to the many families that rely on income from dad and mom. But then real Texans have never been afraid of a good fight. That's what happened at our State Capitol during the filibuster, when real Texans -- ultimately --decided to make their voices heard. I have a question for Perry and the state's powerful politicians who have ignored real Texans for so long: . Can you hear us now? And, more important, are you listening? The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Wendy Davis.

Wendy Davis says her filibuster was to get Republicans to listen to women of Texas . Davis: Enough to using Texas as a political laboratory for testing far-right ideas. Davis: Enough to using Texas as a workshop for giving millions to corporations . She says state politicians have cut health care, education, reproductive rights to the bone .

(CNN) -- Investigators continued their search Tuesday for a 7-year-old girl who was reported missing after her mother was found dead in Oklahoma. "We've got to find that little girl," Special Agent Ray Homer of the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation said. "We're doing what we can." The girl -- Aja Daniell Johnson -- was reported missing from Geronimo, Oklahoma, late Sunday, the bureau said. Her 37-year-old mother, Tonya Hobbs, was found dead inside a parked RV. They also are trying to find the dead woman's estranged husband, Lester William Hobbs, 46, the bureau has said. Lester Hobbs and Aja are presumed to be in Hobbs' car -- a white 1992 Toyota Paseo with Oklahoma tag No. 577-BPW, police said. Police were looking for Hobbs and Aja in Oklahoma and Texas. Authorities were working with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children on Tuesday to set up a toll-free phone line and put Aja's photo on a Web site of missing children, Homer said. They have had no communication with Lester Hobbs or anyone else that would indicate Aja's location, he said. Tonya Hobbs and her daughter visited Lester Hobbs at his sister's home, the bureau said. Lester Hobbs is not Aja's biological father, police said. Texas authorities also issued an Amber Alert, Texas Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Lisa Block said. Authorities believe Hobbs has connections to Rockport, Texas, and the alert was issued preemptively, she said. Tonya Hobbs and her daughter were last seen Saturday night. Authorities did not say how Hobbs died, but the bureau said investigators believe someone killed her. The RV belonged to Lester Hobbs and was parked at his relatives' home, Richard Goss, agent in charge of the bureau's Lawton, Oklahoma, office, told reporters. Hobbs' relatives became suspicious Sunday after they did not see Tonya Hobbs or Aja. One of them pried open the RV door and discovered Tonya Hobbs' body, he said. Lester Hobbs and Aja were gone, Goss said. The Hobbses were separated, but apparently Tonya Hobbs was visiting Lester Hobbs in an attempt to reconcile, Goss said. The couple had been together for about five years. The Comanche County, Oklahoma, Sheriff's Office said Aja has a medical condition that requires medication. "Our main concern at this time is to find the little girl," Comanche County Sheriff Kenny Stradley told reporters. "We know that she does need some medication," and authorities were checking leads regarding that, he said. He did not specify Aja's medical condition. Goss said Lester Hobbs has an extensive criminal history, but did not elaborate. The sheriff's office said he had prior felony convictions. Lester Hobbs was supposed to appear in court in Lincoln County, Oklahoma, on a DUI charge, Goss said, and did not appear, so a warrant has been issued for him. Aja's biological father was awarded emergency custody of her in November, according to Oklahoma County District Court documents obtained by CNN affiliate KWTV of Oklahoma City. At a hearing, Tonya Hobbs -- identified as Tonya Dunkin in the documents -- and the girl's father, John Johnson, agreed that she would have supervised visitation with Aja and keep the girl away from Lester Hobbs, the documents said. Aja is 4 feet tall and weighs 59 pounds, Goss said. She has brown eyes, and her hair is brown with the ends dyed black. Lester Hobbs is about 6-foot-1 and 190 pounds, with hazel eyes and brown hair, according to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation. The agency released a picture of him and said he has a mustache but no longer has a goatee. Geronimo is about 12 miles south of Lawton, Oklahoma, in the south-central part of the state.

Girl's mother was found dead inside parked RV; estranged husband sought for questioning . Police say man, girl presumed to be traveling in a white 1992 Toyota Paseo . Authorities think man has connections to Rockport, Texas, so Amber Alert issued there . Sheriff's Office said girl has a medical condition that requires medication .

Washington (CNN) -- A day after the United States published a blacklist of alleged Russian human rights abusers, whom Washington slapped with personal sanctions, the Kremlin answered with a list of its own. It slaps alleged American rights violators with similar sanctions, official Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported Saturday. The U.S. list is part of a December 2012 law, the Magnitsky Act, which imposes visa bans and freezes assets of Russian officials believed to be connected to the death of whistleblower Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who uncovered the country's largest known tax fraud. U.S. releases blacklist tied to alleged Russia rights abuses . Magnitsky was allegedly beaten to death in detention, a claim which Russian authorities dispute. The new law has been a thorn in the side of Moscow, which banned U.S. adoption of Russian children shortly after it passed. Washington's blacklist, published Friday, contains 18 names. The Russian list also contains 18 and is a conscious, incensed reply to the U.S. list. Russian news agency Interfax published the names of Americans on Moscow's list. It includes an FBI agent, a DEA agent and officials at a New York district court. "This war of lists was not our decision, but we do not have the right to ignore such open blackmail," Russia's foreign ministry said in a statement according to RIA Novosti. It accused the United States of basing its relationship with Russia on "mentorship." Washington's blacklist includes people said to be linked to the Magnitsky case, including senior officials in the Russian interior ministry, prosecutors, judges, prison officials and tax officers. The people on Russia's mirror list have a connection to the U.S. detention camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, RIA Novosti reported. It also includes Americans who were allegedly "involved in the abduction and removal to other countries of Russian citizens and in threats to their lives and health." More on the Magnitsky Act . An additional, classified list, which was submitted to the U.S. Congress, includes people who are subject only to the travel ban. Other blacklisted names were tied to other high profile cases. One was accused in the 2006 shooting death of a Chechen man who filed claims against Moscow with the European Court for Human Rights in Strasbourg for human rights violations in Chechnya. The other is believed to have played a part in the 2004 murder of American Paul Klebnikov, the editor of Forbes' magazine's Russian edition, in what was viewed as an attempt to quash investigative journalism in the country. A senior State Department official told reporters the list was the product of an investigation based on information from non-governmental organizations and other information made available to the United States. The official said the rigorous standards used to develop this list were similar to those used to designate individuals and companies on other U.S. blacklists. Additional names would be added to the blacklist, should more information become available, the official said. Absent from the list were certain Russian officials close to President Vladimir Putin. But the senior State Department official said "political considerations" in the U.S. relationship with Russia were "not a factor" and that additional names could be added to the blacklist, should additional information become available. Russian reactions . President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said Friday that the U.S. blacklist would have a "very negative effect on bilateral Russian-American relations." But he appeared to play down the long-term impact, saying ties between Moscow and Washington were multifaceted and still had potential for growth. Russia's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, warned Friday that the publication of the list risked overshadowing the visit of National Security Adviser Tom Donilon, who is scheduled to visit Moscow on Monday. "The choice of timing was not entirely favorable," Lavrov said, considering Donilon's visit is meant to address the broad aspects of the U.S.-Russia relationship. If the list is published, we will react and our American partners know that."

Russia answers a U.S. human rights law with revenge sanctions on 18 Americans . The U.S. law already drew an angry response when signed into law in December . Friday, Washington published a list of alleged Russian human rights abusers . Russia's blacklist includes members of a New York district court and FBI and a DEA agent .

(CNN) -- When a disaster of a mega-proportion hits a city - from a terror attack to a hurricane - there are procedures in place to deal with the aftermath. Suggest that the source of a serious humanitarian crisis could lie in outer space, however, and many will assume you are talking science fiction. But one woman is on a mission to convince the world -- and especially governments and the United Nations -- to take threats such as potential asteroid strikes more seriously. Meet Nelly Ben Hayoun, Designer of Experiences at the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute in California, creator of the International Space Orchestra -an orchestra composed of space scientists- and trainee astronaut. "This isn't a Bruce Willis film, this is real life", says the 29-year-old, from Provence, France. Speaking from SETI, Ben Hayoun rattles off statistics about space, dissects doomsday scenarios, contemplates the possibility of aliens and brings names such as Carl Sagan to Jean Baudrillard into the conversation. She has been called the 'Willy Wonka of design and science' and her latest project, Disaster Playground, is a documentary film, about scientists preparing for disasters from space that could threaten Planet Earth. Ben Hayoun speaks to illustrious space scientists from SETI, NASA's Near Earth Objects (NEO) project and Disaster and Rescue Assistance (DART) including: extra-terrestrial intelligence specialist Dr. Jill Tarter (the inspiration for Jodie Foster's character in the film Contact), and meteor shower expert Dr. Peter Jenniskens. So what do you do in the case of hazardous asteroids or a small NEO (Near Earth Object)? ANSWER from Disaster Playground: There are different mitigation techniques in place: kinetic impactor, blast defection, combination methods, gravity tractor (a spacecraft to deflect an asteroid using only its gravitational field to transmit impulse). Alternative methods: moving asteroids with lasers, focusing sun energy, changing thermal properties, electro-static pushing and reflecting white paint. Ben Hayoun investigates such real-life procedures in place to deal with the threat of an asteroid collision and how critical information would flow up the chain of command. "Who are the people who would make the decision and what would be the basis of their decision-making?" she asks. There are 20 people before the President is alerted and before 'the red button is pushed'. There might be something to be gained from revealing problems to the public in order to help secure funding which is a "big difficulty" she explains. "Humans are more willing to support a cause if you understand the difficulties involved." As well as the film, to be released on March 2015, she's also relying on an app, exhibitions and "immersive experiences" such as the one at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London as part of the Digital Design Weekend. She is determined to promote the role of women in the male-dominated space industry. Ben Hayoun recalls how she was once one of two women in a room of 1,500 people at the International Astronautical Congress. "This is my massive fight," she says with gusto. "How are these space agencies making choices on what we need? It occurred to me that the people making these decisions are men -- space science is a field which is 90% men, men men! We need women - let's face it we would come up with way smarter solutions!" But in all seriousness, Ben Hayoun warns that efforts to find and fund ways of dealing with the asteroid threat must continue. "It's not like I can say 'yes, we have a solution'," she said. "It's only going to the UN now. They are aware of their responsibility but at the moment they are just putting in place the committees." "Nobody knows exactly what the UN response would be and that's a real problem," said Ben Hayoun. WATCH: Space chat with astronaut Karen Nyberg . READ MORE: Star Trek legend who became NASA's 'secret weapon' WATCH: Space archaeologist unlocks secrets of ancient civilizations .

Disaster Playground follows scientists planning for space catastrophes . 'Failure is not an option' mantra associated with space exploration . Women need to be promoted in space industry . Funds to deal with asteroid threat must continue .

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Predatory mice are threatening the albatross population on a remote south Atlantic island and have caused the birds' worst nesting season on record, a British bird charity says. Baby albatross on a remote Atlantic island are threatened by killer house mice. The research from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds indicates bad news for the Tristan albatross, whose only home is Gough Island in the middle of the south Atlantic. House mice not native to the island are threatening the Tristan albatross with extinction, the RSPB said. The mice are also threatening the native population of bunting, one of the world's largest finches, the RSPB said. "Without removal of the mice, both the albatross and the bunting that live there are doomed to extinction," Grahame Madge, a conservation spokesman for the RSPB, told CNN. The mice on the island eat the chicks of the albatross and bunting before they make it to the fledgling stage, the RSPB said. This makes it especially difficult for the albatross population to survive because the birds lay eggs only once every two years -- a very low reproductive rate compared to other birds, Madge said. "What [the mice] are affecting is the ability of the albatross to produce enough young to sustain the population," he said. Adult Tristan albatross are threatened by longline fishing at sea, a practice in which boats put up numerous 100-meter long fishing lines baited with squid or fish. The albatrosses are attracted to the bait and while some manage to steal it successfully, many more get snagged and drown, Madge said. Because of the impact from house mice, introduced to the island by sealers in the 18th and 19th centuries, conservation alliance BirdLife International earlier this year listed both the Tristan albatross and the Gough bunting as critically endangered -- the highest threat level before extinction. Gough Island, a British territory almost midway between Argentina and South Africa, is a place of stunning natural beauty. The island is not inhabited by humans. Gough Island and nearby Inaccessible Island are both listed as UNESCO World Heritage sites. A survey of the albatross on Gough Island in January showed 1,764 adults incubating eggs, the RSPB said. A later survey revealed only 246 chicks had survived to fledgling. "We've known for a long time that the mice were killing albatross chicks in huge numbers," said RSPB scientist Richard Cuthbert, who recently visited the island to assess the problem. "However, we now know that the albatrosses have suffered their worst year on record." The bunting suffer because the mice eat their eggs and chicks, and may also compete with them for food in the winter, Cuthbert said. "The decline in bunting numbers is alarming," said Peter Ryan of the University of Cape Town, who has been studying buntings on the island since the 1980s. "Without urgent conservation action to remove the mice, both the albatross and the bunting are living on borrowed time." The RSPB has been studying whether it is possible to remove the mice. It said trials so far look promising, but it urged the British government to step up funding for the project. It said eradicating the mice from Gough Island would solve the primary conservation threat facing both bird species. The RSPB said it had been working with New Zealand conservationists on a program to remove the smaller mice by dropping poisoned bait from helicopters. Tristan albatrosses are one of 22 species of albatross in the world. Albatrosses principally live in the southern Atlantic but some also live in the Pacific, the RSPB says. Albatrosses are among the largest flying birds, weighing up to 25 pounds (22.5 kilograms). One species -- the wandering albatross -- has a wingspan of 11 feet, the RSPB says. The birds can fly thousands of miles without a pause, and their only need to touch land is to nest and raise their young, the RSPB says.

Predatory mice are threatening the albatross population on a south Atlantic island . House mice not native to the island are killing and eating chicks . Mice are also threatening the native population of large finches .

Idaho Falls, Idaho (CNN) -- Forget, for the moment, about computer whiz kids who download copyrighted music for free. Forget, too, about sophisticated hackers who can steal identities. Focus instead on the next wave of potential computer miscreants -- criminals who can penetrate corporate computer systems to turn valves, start pumps or surge power at factories or electrical plants. They might even be able to hit chemical facilities. Those folks are on the minds of the researchers at the Idaho National Laboratory, where the federal government regularly trains industry leaders on how to protect critical infrastructure from cyberattacks. In the not-so-distant past, instructors here say, security officials relied on the "3 Gs" -- guns, gates and guards -- to protect infrastructure from intrusions. But increasingly mechanical systems inside those gates are being linked to computers and controlled via networks and cyberspace. That has left industrial control systems vulnerable to attack. CNN: Hackers take aim at real-world targets . To demonstrate the vulnerability, the Department of Homeland Security and Idaho National Laboratory in Idaho Falls recently showed reporters a cyberattack on a mock-up of a chemical facility. In the exercise, a small group of "Red Team" attackers staged an assault on the chemical plant. A larger group of "Blue Team" defenders sought to protect that mock-up building, which was constructed of barrel-size containers of water connected by pipes and pumps such as those found in chemical plants. The exercise used concepts that are relevant in the real world. Among them: . Exploiting corporate trust . The Red Team attackers, looking for access to the computer network, don't look for direct access to the control systems they covet. They know the vulnerability is elsewhere -- most likely in the executive offices of the fictitious chemical company. Executives frequently have access to internal computers networks, so they'll have timely access to information about productivity, output and information important to the market. They also frequently have access, perhaps indirectly, to networks that link to control systems. Assailants know they can "exploit the trust relationship." Getting a toehold into a system . In the Idaho exercise, Red Team members get a toehold by phishing, a tactic also used by hackers to steal financial or other information. They send an e-mail that appears to be from a friend or a legitimate organization to a representative, which contains malicious software and which opens a link between the sender's computer and the corporate computer. Subverting a system's security . Having established a toehold on the chemical company's computer, the Red Team discovers a surveillance camera in the chemical plant's control room. The camera, intended to safeguard the chemical plant, can now be turned against it. The Red Team can use the camera to observe the plant's staffing levels or zoom in on control panels and mechanical devices, gathering information that will help them in their attack. And once the attack is launched, they can each watch their opponent's response. The 'man in the middle' In sophisticated attacks, the Red Team can even insert itself between the machine and the machine's operator. The team can control the amount of water through a pump, while indicating to the machine's operator that everything remains normal. Red Team-Blue Team exercises typically last between eight to 12 hours, and are followed by a "hot wash" in which a "White Team" analyzes the attack and reviews ways to prevent attacks and respond to them. Fears of online intrusions on industrial control systems are not theoretical. In a then-classified 2007 demonstration at Idaho, experimenters using computer inputs altered a large electric power generator, causing it to self-destruct. The experiment, known as "Aurora," was the first demonstration that attackers could not only turn a mechanical device on or off but could destroy it. Then in 2010, a computer worm known as Stuxnet was discovered after it spread indiscriminately but is believed to have targeted equipment used by Iran to enrich uranium. The source of the worm has not been identified. Department of Homeland Security officials say attacks on industrial systems are occurring. Attackers are "kicking on the doors" of industrial systems, said Greg Schaffer, acting deputy under secretary of the department's National Protection and Programs Directorate.

Officials in Idaho train for cyberattacks that could affect the real world . Hackers could target chemical plants, factories, water treatment centers . Mechanical systems are increasingly linked to computers, making them vulnerable .

(CNN) -- Too few Americans are willing to talk about sexually transmitted infections, or STIs, but we simply cannot afford to avoid these discussions any longer. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently released data showing just how common and costly STIs are in the United States, especially for America's youth. Each year, we have 20 million new STI cases, half among teens and young adults ages 15 to 24. Across the nation at any given time, there are more than 110 million total infections, including new and existing infections. While the number of new infections is roughly equal among young women and young men, the health consequences of untreated STIs can be much more serious for young women, including losing the ability to have children. Every year, about 24,000 women in the United States become infertile because of an STI they probably didn't even know they had, because most infections have no symptoms. Left untreated, common STIs such as chlamydia and gonorrhea can also cause chronic pelvic pain, ectopic pregnancy and increase HIV risk. Human papillomavirus, or HPV, is by far the most common STI, representing nearly three-quarters of all STI cases. While the vast majority of HPV infections will not cause serious harm, some infections will persist and can lead to cervical cancer. Beyond the impact on an individual's health, STIs are also a significant drain on the U.S. health care system. Recent data place the cost of treating STIs at nearly $16 billion annually. Infections among young people account for nearly half of that cost (approximately $7.8 billion ). Young people are most at risk for several reasons. They are more likely to have multiple sex partners. Young women are biologically more susceptible to STIs, and many young people may be reluctant to disclose their risk behavior to a doctor, because of embarrassment, stigma or concerns about confidentiality. The good news is that all STIs are preventable and most are curable. But, because most STIs have no symptoms, testing is the necessary first step to treatment. CDC recommends annual chlamydia screening for sexually active women 25 years old and under. Annual gonorrhea screening is also recommended for sexually active women with new or multiple sex partners and women who live in communities with a high burden of the disease. Sexually active gay and bisexual men should be tested at least annually for HIV, syphilis, chlamydia and gonorrhea. All Americans should be screened at least once for HIV. In addition, for those who have not previously received the HPV vaccination, CDC recommends vaccination for all teen girls and young women through age 26, as well as teen boys and young men through age 21. To increase the early diagnosis and treatment of STIs, CDC is reaching out to health care providers and young people at risk throughout the nation with messages about the importance of screening. But many more voices will be required to stop the silent, continuing toll of STIs. In our communities, we must speak out against the shame and stigma that has too long been associated with STIs. Parents and caregivers need to open the door for frank, honest discussions with their children about STIs and behaviors that can place them at risk. And physicians need to talk to their young patients about STIs, risk behaviors and effective prevention methods. Sexually active Americans should talk with their doctor about STIs and which tests may be right for them. A little knowledge about STIs and regular screening can go a long way. It's also important for those who are sexually active to talk openly and honestly with partners about STIs, and to use condoms consistently and correctly. The severe health and economic toll of STIs in America is entirely preventable. With increased awareness, prevention, testing and treatment we can bring this hidden epidemic into the spotlight and safeguard the health of young people while saving the nation billions of dollars in the process. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Gail Bolan.

Gail Bolan: Each year, we have 20 million new STIs cases, half of them among young people . Bolan: The health consequences of untreated STIs can be more serious for young women . She says most STIs have no symptoms, so testing is the necessary first step to treatment . Bolan: STIs are preventable and most are curable, but we need to raise get the word out .