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(CNN) -- This story is about a U.S. senator's alleged trips on a private plane to the Caribbean for sex parties with prostitutes. If it proves to be true, it would most likely topple a powerful politician and affect President Barack Obama's ability to pass legislation. If it is false, it would raise questions about how government watchdog groups and the media handle anonymous tipsters and their information. The senator is New Jersey's Robert Menendez, a 59-year-old divorced father of two who is set to become chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. His Senate website calls Menendez "a fighter for New Jersey families." Menendez denied the story in a statement issued Wednesday by his Senate office: "Any allegations of engaging with prostitutes are manufactured by a politically-motivated right-wing blog and are false." The "right-wing blog" Menendez is accusing of manufacturing the allegations is The Daily Caller, an online publication founded by conservative commentator Tucker Carlson and Neil Patel, a former adviser to former Vice President Dick Cheney. The Daily Caller published its first reports on the allegations in early November just before the election. The stories were based on interviews with two women and a Dominican Republic official -- all unidentified. That prompted a denial then by the Democratic senator. He was easily re-elected. But the latest allegations are based on documents published by a "non-partisan" Washington watchdog group -- Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, known as CREW. It would be a stretch to call CREW "right-wing," considering Executive Director Melanie Sloan served as minority counsel for the House Judiciary Committee under Rep. John Conyers, D-Michigan, before being hired by the Clinton Justice Department to be an assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia. In fact, a quick online search finds blogs accusing CREW of being a "left-wing" group. CREW published an e-mail this week it received last April from a man who identified himself as Peter Williams. "My duty as a U.S. citizen obligates me to report what I consider to be a grave violation of the most fundamental codes of conduct that a politician of my country must follow," the tipster wrote. E-mails sent by Williams included statements from women detailing what they said were sex parties in a house and on a yacht in the Dominican Republic owned by Dr. Salomon Melgen, a south Florida ophthalmologist. One e-mail purported to include a statement from a woman who said she was paid to have sex with the senator several times when she worked for "the Doll Palace" escort service in the spring of 2009. Prostitution is legal in the Dominican Republic, but only if the prostitute is 18 or older. Williams suggested that he and the women "will be willing to testify" about the allegations if their safety was guaranteed. His e-mail to CREW said he became aware of the alleged behavior while traveling in the Dominican Republic for "personal and business reasons" starting in 2008. CREW said it passed the "numerous" Williams e-mail exchanges on to the Justice Department and the FBI in July 2012, after the group was "unable to independently verify the truth of the allegations." But 10 months after the first contact with Williams, Sloan told CNN her group now has doubts about Williams' identity, motives and veracity. "This unnamed source said he has had this information about Sen. Menendez as early as 2008, yet he didn't come forward until four years later, right before Sen. Menendez was up for re-election," Sloan said. "Further, this source refused to ever speak by phone to us, with other news organizations, or with the FBI, so, those two facts combined to seriously undermine his credibility." CNN efforts to reach Williams through the e-mail address used to contact CREW have been unanswered. It is not known whether the FBI succeeded in talking directly to Williams, but there was a very public indication this week that the agency is investigating Melgen. Agents were seen carrying boxes from his Palm Beach, Florida, office Wednesday. An FBI spokesman in Florida confirmed there was "law enforcement activity" at the location where the search occurred but did not mention Melgen or anyone else and did not explain what agents were investigating. In 2011, the Internal Revenue Service hit Melgen with an $11 million tax lien. "The government has not informed Dr. Melgen what concerns it may have, his lawyer Dean L. Willbur Jr. told CNN in an e-mail Thursday. "We are confident that Dr. Melgen has acted appropriately at all times. Additionally, any issues concerning Dr. Melgen and the IRS have been fully resolved and satisfied." Menendez calls Melgen a friend and political supporter. He acknowledged flying on the eye doctor's plane three times to the Dominican Republic in 2010, trips that he said were "paid for and reported appropriately." One of the trips involved official travel for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which he chairs, while the other two were personal trips, Menendez's spokeswoman Patricia Enright said. The senator is not required to publicly disclose information concerning personal travel, she said. The senator made a payment of $58,500 from his personal funds to Melgen's company on January 4 for the full operating costs of the two flights Menendez took in August and September 2010 to the Dominican Republic, Enright said. It was an "oversight" on the part of the senator not to have paid for the flights at the time he took them, she said. New Jersey state Sen. Sam Thompson, a Republican, sent a complaint to the Senate Ethics Committee in November calling for an investigation, saying Menendez may have violated Senate ethics by "repeatedly flying on a private jet to the Dominican Republic and other locations ... and soliciting prostitutes." Thompson said he did not hear back from the Ethics Committee. At an event in Washington on Thursday night, when asked by CNN whether be violated Senate finance rules, Menendez said, "These are nameless, faceless, anonymous allegations. You should find out from them." The Senate Ethics Committee said it could not comment. Enright said the senator assumes the committee is reviewing the matter, but he has not been contacted. CNN asked Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Thursday whether he thought Menendez was handling the controversy properly. "First of all, Bob Menendez is my friend," Sen. Reid said. "He is an outstanding senator. He is now the new chair of the Foreign Relations Committee. Any questions in this regard direct to him. I don't know anything about it." "I think the issue of the trips alone are probably not enough to suggest that he doesn't have the right to assume the chairmanship of the Foreign Relations Committee," Sloan said. "I think if all the allegations together prove to be true, that would certainly suggest questions about Sen. Menendez's fitness for the chairmanship and perhaps even his position in the Senate." The executive director for CREW, which sent the Williams e-mails to the FBI, said people should "withhold judgment given the many questions about the source of these allegations and the timing of these allegations. I think the best thing is to wait for the FBI to investigate and figure out what really happened here, if Sen. Menendez did something wrong and if not, who's really behind this effort to smear him." If this story evolves into a scandal and Menendez is forced to resign, the Democrats' majority in the Senate would likely get one vote thinner. New Jersey law allows Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican, to appoint an interim senator until a special election, which would be no sooner than November. CNN's Jim Acosta, Ted Barrett, Adriana Hauser and Joe Johns contributed to this report.

Sen. Robert Menendez denies allegation he hired prostitutes . Watchdog group that surfaced allegations now questions tipster's credibility . Tipster "Peter Williams" won't talk directly to investigators, watchdog head says . Senate Ethics Committee won't confirm whether it is investigating .

(CNN) -- Forty years ago, a group of young people led by a charismatic, 5-foot-2-inch ex-con named Charles Manson set out on a murderous spree in Los Angeles, California. They planned to spark an apocalyptic race war that Manson called "Helter Skelter," after a song by the Beatles. Charles Manson's mug shot shows a beard gone gray. The swastika on his forehead is still visible. Over two nights in August 1969, the killers took the lives of seven people, inflicting 169 stab wounds and seven .22-caliber gunshot wounds. They used the blood of their victims to scrawl anti-establishment messages on the walls: "Pig," "Death to Pigs," "Rise" and a misspelled "Healter Skelter." "The murders were probably the most bizarre and far-out in the recorded annals of American time," said Vincent Bugliosi, who prosecuted Manson and members of his "Family" and later wrote the best-selling book "Helter Skelter." "People are fascinated by the strange and the bizarre." Crimes linger in our memories when they are especially horrific or when they represent the era in which they occur. The Manson murders did both. And they grew to symbolize the dark side of the California dream, as well as the political, social and cultural turbulence of the 1960s. Listen to the music of the Manson murders » . Laurie Levenson, a professor at Loyola Law School who follows high-profile cases, described Manson as the worst of the worst, evil incarnate. "If you're going to be evil, you have to be off-the-charts evil, and Charlie Manson was off-the-charts evil," said Levenson. The Manson murders abruptly ended the "decade of love," and Southern California lost its sun-kissed, self-indulgent innocence. The crimes added a lasting mantra for the times, Los Angeles Times columnist Patt Morrison said: "Live freaky, die freaky." "It was the dark side of paradise," Morrison said. "People could shake their fingers and say, 'This is where your high-living, rich, hippie, movie-star lifestyle gets you. This is where the drug culture gets you.' It's the boomerang effect, the wages of sin." Actress Sharon Tate, 26, famed hairstylist Jay Sebring, 35, coffee fortune heiress Abigail Folger, 25, and two others died shortly after midnight August 9, 1969, at a rambling house overlooking Benedict Canyon. Tate was married to director Roman Polanski and eight months pregnant. She begged in vain for her life, saying she wanted to live to have her baby, according to Bugliosi. The next night, grocer Leno LaBianca, 44, and his wife, Rosemary, 38, were butchered in their home in the wealthy Los Feliz neighborhood. Rosemary LaBianca was stabbed 41 times. A fork jutted from Leno LaBianca's abdomen, where one of his killers had carved the word "war." When arrests came and the identities of the killers became known, the case grew even more frightening, Bugliosi said. The suspects were hippies who lived in a commune at an old movie set in the San Fernando Valley called Spahn Ranch, where they dropped acid, engaged in orgies and went on nighttime break-ins, missions they called "creepy crawls." "They could have been the kid next door," Bugliosi said. "Tex Watson was a straight-A student, a track star. Patricia Krenwinkel wanted to be a nun and sang in a church choir. Leslie Van Houten was homecoming princess at Monrovia High School." They were in thrall of Manson, who told them he was Jesus Christ -- and the devil, rolled into one. Manson's "Helter Skelter" race war and revolution never came. He and Susan Atkins, Watson, Krenwinkel and Van Houten are serving life terms for their roles in the murders. Atkins, who is said to be dying of brain cancer, has a parole hearing next month. With their brew of violence, music and anti-establishment youth counterculture, the murders and ensuing trials established Manson as a perverse cultural icon that endures to this day. Along the way, the mastermind transcended his victims, and the Tate-LaBianca murders became known as the Manson murders. Charlie Manson's image can still be found on posters and T-shirts. In 1998, the animated television series "South Park" featured Manson in a Christmas special. There have been books, a play, an opera and television movies about the case. There are even iPhone applications of Manson's famous quotes. Learn more about the music that was influenced by Manson » . "Manson is like a Rorschach test," said Robert Thompson, a Syracuse University professor who teaches popular culture. "How you interpret his place in popular culture depends on your own place in the culture." Before the Manson murders, no one thought hippies were capable of violence. The Manson Family was "looking and living like typical hippies," Bugliosi said, "but they were mass murderers. That was their religion, their credo. They wanted to kill as many people as they could. That shocked the nation, and that hurt the countercultural movement." Manson's musical roots partially explain his staying power. A folk singer, he wanted to break into the music industry and recorded some songs with one of the Beach Boys. Manson's own music has continued to influence other performers, like Guns N' Roses and Marilyn Manson. Manson believed that the Beatles were speaking to him through the lyrics of the White Album, which was released in late 1968. The apocalyptic message, as Manson interpreted it: Blacks would "rise up" and overthrow the white establishment in a race war. Manson and his Family would be spared by hiding out in a "bottomless pit" near Death Valley until he could emerge to assume leadership of the post-revolutionary order. Manson's crimes continue to evoke a strong reaction long after public obsession over other high-profile cases has faded. He was the bogeyman under the bed, the personification of evil, the freaky one-man horror show. For years, when prison officials still allowed it, he gave television interviews, never failing to shock. The interviews kept memories of him fresh long after he was locked up. "You got a pistol on you?" he asked Tom Snyder during a televised 1981 prison interview. "Well, I just thought you might not like what I have done and want to do something about it." Seven years later, he was far more volatile during a televised conversation with Geraldo Rivera: "I'm gonna kill you, as many as I can. I'm gonna pile you up to the sky, I figure about 50 million ..." What sets Manson apart from other infamous killers is that he never killed anyone himself, Levenson said. Instead, he convinced others, mostly women, to kill for him. His powers of persuasion didn't stop there. During his 1970 trial, Manson carved an X in his forehead, saying, "I have Xed myself from your world." His codefendants and sidewalk followers soon did the same. When Manson was convicted, he and his codefendants shaved their heads. "It's mind warp. That was really scary," Levenson said. "It wasn't just that people were spouting beliefs for him; they were cutting crosses in their heads. "I think Manson will haunt us forever."

Seven died in two-day Manson murder spree 40 years ago . Killers inflicted 169 stab wounds, seven gunshot wounds . Charles Manson didn't personally commit murders, got others to do it . Manson, others serving life terms .

(CNN) -- Eight women and four men convened regularly over 13 months. They heard from dozens of witnesses, considered 30,000 pieces of evidence. All of it was with one question in mind: Who was responsible for 6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey's death? On October 13, 1999 -- nearly three years after the diminutive Colorado pageant queen's body was found in her home -- the 12 grand jurors went back to their own homes, sworn to silence and with nothing apparently to show for their effort. "We do not have sufficient evidence to warrant the filing of charges," then-Boulder County District Attorney Alex Hunter said. The presumption was that the grand jury hadn't voted to indict anyone. That included failing to take action against JonBenet's parents, John and Patsy Ramsey, whom Boulder police had said were under "an umbrella of suspicion" in the girl's death. Yet the Boulder Daily Camera, the daily newspaper in that Colorado city, now says there was more to the story. Citing several unidentified jurors as well as an assistant district attorney in Hunter's office, the paper reports that the grand jury did, in fact, vote to indict the Ramsey parents on charges of child abuse resulting in death. Hunter, the man who presented the case to them, didn't sign the indictment, however, the Daily Camera reports. It's a decision that Bill Wise, a former prosecutor who wasn't directly involved in the grand jury proceedings, confirmed to the paper and said makes sense. "The state of the evidence in that case was simply inadequate to file a charge, in my opinion, and that obviously was Hunter's opinion, too," Wise said. "Whether it's against one or two people, you just didn't have the evidence." Those now in the Boulder County District Attorney's Office aren't commenting on the report, spokeswoman Catherine Olguin said Monday. But Lin Wood, the Atlanta lawyer for John Ramsey, said, "I have known for years that Boulder prosecutors did not file charges against John and Patsy Ramsey because the evidence to prosecute them did not exist." He said Monday that any reported "confusion of the grand jury over child abuse" could have been addressed had the Ramsey parents testified, as they repeatedly offered to do. Wood also pointed to the 2008 findings from then-District Attorney Mary Lacy that DNA tests ruled out any Ramsey family member's involvement in the girl's death. "The DNA tests performed after the time of the Boulder grand jury not only prove the Ramsey family to be innocent and the grand jury wrong, they also make former District Attorney Alex Hunter a hero who wisely avoided a gross miscarriage of justice," Wood told CNN. Mom: 'There's a killer on the loose' It was December 26, 1996 -- a day after JonBenet got a bicycle as a Christmas gift -- when Patsy Ramsey said she discovered a three-page ransom note in her Boulder home. Police came and, later that day, found JonBenet's beaten and strangled body in the family's basement. Days after burying the girl in suburban Atlanta, where they had previously lived, the Ramseys appeared on CNN. "There's a killer on the loose," Patsy Ramsey said January 1, 1997, in an interview that brought an intense national spotlight on the case. "I don't know who it is. I don't know if it's a she or a he, but if I were a resident of Boulder, I would tell my friends to keep your babies close to you. There's someone out there." The parents insisted an intruder committed the crime, but no one was caught and no description was given. In time, the focus turned on the parents: Could they have done it? Investigators didn't find footprints in the snow outside the home, there was no sign of forced entry. A paintbrush from her mother's hobby kit was used to tighten the rope that choked JonBenet. And the alleged ransom note was written from paper inside the house and referenced little-known details about the family's past and its finances. Despite the suspicions, the Ramseys were never named as suspects. But they were a focus of the grand jury, which first convened in September 1998. On Monday, CNN talked with one juror and another's spouse, both of whom indicated that -- at the behest of the district attorney's office -- they would not discuss the case. Messages left by CNN with several other jurors were not immediately answered. But according to Wise and several jurors who talked with the Daily Camera, the decision was eventually made to indict John and Patsy Ramsey. This was even though the jurors weren't sure who, exactly, had killed young JonBenet. "We didn't know who did what," a juror told the newspaper, according to a story on its website. "But we felt the adults in the house may have done something that they certainly could have prevented (JonBenet's death) or they could have helped her. And they didn't." 16 years later, still no arrests or charges . According to Wise, who worked as a prosecutor for 28 years before retiring, there was disagreement among the eight or so involved in the prosecution about what to do after the grand jury voted to indict. He told the Daily Camera that he thinks his former boss did the right thing not pressing forward with the case, arguing that the evidence didn't show whether Patsy or John Ramsey may have been more directly responsible. "If I were on a jury, I would not convict either of them," said Wise. As is, while there have been many twists and turns since the grand jury was discharged in 1999, there's been no closure. The Ramseys were busy in March 2000, releasing their book "The Death of Innocence," filing multimillion-dollar lawsuits against media organizations who they say libeled their son (who was 9 at the time of JonBenet's death) and settling a lawsuit with a tabloid newspaper. That May, the Ramseys returned to CNN to face off with Steve Thomas, a former Boulder police detective who'd released a book of his own. Thomas claimed the girl died after "an explosive encounter" over a bed-wetting incident, something the Ramseys fiercely denied. The district attorney's office, then led by Lacy, took over the case from Boulder police in 2002. Four years later, there was an apparent breakthrough with the arrest of 41-year-old teacher John Mark Karr in Bangkok, Thailand. This came after he freely -- and repeatedly -- said he was with JonBenet the night she died, although he insisted her death was an accident and that he "loved" her. But soon after his arrest and return to Colorado, prosecutors announced DNA evidence proved Karr had nothing to do with JonBenet's death. That same year, 2006, Patsy Ramsey died at the age of 49 following a fight with ovarian cancer. Then came Lacy's 2008 letter to John Ramsey, exonerating him and the rest of his family after tests of DNA evidence found in the girl's underwear and beneath her fingernails . "To the extent that we may have contributed in any way to the public perception that you might have been involved in this crime, I am deeply sorry," Lacy wrote. Since then, authorities have said they'd continued to try to find answers. But despite their work, the case remains as cold as it was on that late December day, some 16 years ago.

A Colorado paper reports a grand jury voted to indict JonBenet Ramsey's parents . The paper cites jurors and an ex-prosecutor, claiming the DA didn't sign the indictment . The lawyer for Ramsey's father says the "hero" DA averted "a gross miscarriage of justice" 16 years later, there still have been no arrests or charges in the 6-year-old's death .

(CNN) -- Justin Ross Harris was indicted last week on eight counts in the hot-car death of his 22-month-old son, Cooper. Harris could face the death penalty if prosecutors decide to seek it and he's convicted of the most serious charge. However, the felony murder charge predicated on second-degree child neglect -- which was the original charge at the probable cause hearing months ago -- still poses the biggest threat to Harris' freedom. That, and, of course, the sexting charges, which will likely be the easiest to prove. But make no mistake: That felony murder charge will be how the prosecution can convict Harris of his son's murder, even if the killing was unintentional, and, in Georgia, if the underlying felony was unintentional. Each of the eight counts plays a key strategic role in maximizing the state's chances of a conviction against Harris. Following is a breakdown of these carefully calculated charges. The brilliance of the strategy is in the details. Murder in Georgia: Most states divide murder into degrees. Georgia does not. In Georgia, there's only one degree of murder, but with very different kinds of killings qualifying as murder. In this case, two types of murder are alleged: 1) an intentional killing called "malice" murder, and 2) "felony murder," an enigmatic unintentional killing, that is still classified as murder because it is the result of an enumerated felony. Even more complicated, in this case, two different subcategories of felony murder are alleged using child neglect crimes as the predicate felony. Any of these convictions carries a minimum life sentence, but only malice murder is eligible for the death penalty. Count 1 -- malice murder: This is the murder with which we are all familiar. It's the kind committed in the Rue Morgue, or by Professor Plum with the candlestick in the billiard room; or any of the "Murders She Wrote." Film, literature and even our board games reflect our cultural assumptions about murder -- that it's an evil crime reserved for the most wicked intent. In Georgia, that's called malice murder, which is defined as a killing with "malice aforethought," or intent to kill. There are two kinds of malice: express and implied. Express malice is that deliberate, manifested intention to end another's life. The reality is, however, that direct evidence of deliberate intent is a rarity. Defendants don't always volunteer: "I shot the sheriff." It's quite the opposite. Nearly all defendants steadfastly maintain their innocence; they're more likely to deny shooting the deputy. That's why the law allows for malice to also be implied from the circumstances, as long as the defendant's behavior demonstrates an "abandoned and malignant heart." Whether express or implied, to convict here the prosecution has a heavy burden to prove this mental element. That's why felony murder is a much more appealing and devastating weapon in the charging arsenal. Counts 2 and 3 -- felony murder (which are predicated on counts 4 and 5, respectively): Felony murder is more of a legal fiction than it is traditional "murder." It is an unintentional killing, but one that happens during the commission of another crime. The rationale is that if you commit an inherently dangerous felony, you accept the high possibility that a person will die during the act. An example would be that if you were robbing a bank and one of your co-conspirators went crazy and shot a teller and a cop? Well, you'd be charged with felony murder, even though you didn't pull the trigger. You committed a felony, and a death resulted. So, to prove felony murder, the prosecution need not prove intent to kill. It only need prove: 1) commission of the underlying felony and 2) a resulting death. Count 2 is felony murder based upon count 4: intentional child neglect. So, if the defendant acted intending to cause his child cruel and excessive physical pain, and death resulted, he has committed felony "murder" under count 2. Still the most problematic for this defendant, however, is count 3, which is the original charge from the preliminary/probable cause hearing. This is felony murder predicated on another felony, count 5, second degree child cruelty. But, instead of having to prove the defendant intentionally caused excessive physical pain (first degree), the prosecution here need only prove that he caused pain with criminal negligence (second degree), even if it was unintentional. The traditional felonies eligible for felony murder were intentional crimes: burglary, arson, rape, robbery and kidnapping. To allow felony murder for an accident seems inconsistent, but Georgia courts hold that this crime of criminal negligence can be the predicate crime for felony murder. That's right: In Georgia, you can be convicted of murder -- society's most heinous crime -- for your unintentional negligence. Count 6 -- criminal attempt: As a society, we punish not only completed crimes but also attempts to commit crimes. It makes sense: suppose a bank robber trips and breaks his leg on his way into the bank with his Glock and his President Nixon mask. He is then arrested without even entering the bank to rob it. We all agree that he cannot escape punishment simply because he's unsuccessful at robbing banks. At the same time, if the would-be robber simply fills up his gas on the way to buy a Glock and a Nixon mask, so he can rob a bank in the future, has he "attempted" a robbery yet? Where's the line? To the courts, as long as whatever the defendant does is a "substantial step," then he's guilty of attempt. Here, the attempt is connected not to the death of his child but rather to the alleged sexual exploitation of another minor -- the target of the text messaging. Counts 7 and 8 -- dissemination of harmful material to minors: To many, these charges seem like they are tacked on, but they are anything but. In fact, they are devastating to the defendant tactically. Here's why: . Harris is now additionally charged with knowingly disseminating and furnishing to a minor female sexually explicit printed matter and photographs -- or, as the detective testified at the preliminary hearing: sexting. The Cobb County detective testified that while Cooper was in the car, Harris sent a photo of his erect penis to an underage girl and was sexting with several women. At that hearing, the defendant had a strong argument that the sexting was improper character evidence (generally not admissible to prove criminality), and more, that evidence that Harris was a creep was not admissible on the neglect or murder charges. But watch what happens now that he's been indicted on these charges: evidence supporting the sexting charges is now relevant. That evidence will at a minimum cause a jury to dislike Harris. At worst, it will be viewed as motive to be rid of his child. Second, of all the charges, these are arguably the easiest to prove, thanks to technology. Did phone 1 send something to phone 2? Was that something considered "harmful material"? Was a recipient a minor? Most of those elements can be established with phone records and a birth certificate. As for the "harmful material," so far, if the allegations are true, it sounds like it could fit. Ultimately, this is hardly a scatter-shot indictment. Each charge plays a vital role, but the most potentially damaging is still the same charge from the preliminary hearing: the felony murder based upon the second-degree criminal neglect. After all, whether you condemn this defendant or sympathize with him, there is a preliminary consensus that at minimum he did something tragically and massively careless. And under modern law, that is apparently what we call "murder."

Justin Harris was charged in eight-count indictment in hot car death case . Cevallos: The counts are structured to maximize the chance of a conviction . Cevallos: In Georgia, even an unintentional act can be grounds for murder conviction . He says sexting charges will be easiest to prove and could influence entire case .

(CNN) -- Dieting in Hungary is not recommended. The country's cuisine is a rich blend of Europe, Middle-eastern and Asian food. The French lend their influence with goose liver pate, while the seven-layer Dobos cake can rival Austria's famed Sachertorte for sickly sweet extravagance. Food here is abundant and affordable -- a nightmare for weight-watchers, a dream for true foodies. Goulash . Goulash -- is it a soup? Is it a stew? Hungary's national dish (pronounced "gooyash," by the way) is a cross between the two, a steaming bowl of slow-cooked beef, carrots, onions and loads of Hungary's trademark paprika to give it a good kick. It's hard to find a restaurant that doesn't serve it -- from the humblest café to the grandest establishments. Where to try it: In the sleek, modern surroundings of Budapest Bisztro (Vecsey utca 3, +36 1 783 0788). Langos . The Hungarians' favorite street food certainly hits the spot on a chilly morning when you're desperate for a quick bite before lunch. It's simple: a deep-fried flatbread topped with sour cream and grated cheese -- sometimes with a bit of garlic just to annoy the person next to you. Where to try it: The Danube town of Szentendre has some of the best langos in the country. There's tiny alleyway leading to St Janos church in the main square, where a sign helpfully saying "langos" should point you in the direction of a nameless stall halfway up the alley. Paprika chicken . Those sweet red peppers that are such a staple of Hungarian cooking really shine in this popular stew also known as chicken paprikash. Powdered paprika goes into the dish too, along with onions, garlic, tomatoes and a dollop of sour cream. Served with egg dumplings called nokedli (like the Austrian spätzle), it's comfort food that's hard to beat. Where to try it: If you're in the Buda Castle district of Budapest, try Alabardos Restaurant (Orszaghaz utca 2, +36 1 356 0851). Hortobagyi meat pancakes . Hungarians adore their palacsinta -- pancakes that are more like French crêpes than the thicker American ones you douse with maple syrup. This savory version is just as decadent: a rich stew of minced veal or chicken tucked inside the pancakes and smothered with a sour cream and paprika sauce. Where to try it: While relaxing under the stone arched ceiling of Pierrot (Fortuna utca 14, Budapest, +36 1 375 6971), housed in a 13th-century former bakery. Goose liver pâté . It's not just the French who like goose liver; the Hungarians are right behind them in their love for this buttery delicacy. Where to try it: They wrap it in bacon and lightly grill it at Aranysarkany Vendeglo restaurant in Szentendre (Alkotmany utca 1; +36 26 301 479). Or you can have it as a starter at one of Budapest's landmark restaurants, Gundel (Gundel Karoly Way 4, +36 1 468 4040), in the lush surroundings of the city park. Cold sour cherry soup . While a lot of Hungarian dishes are perfect for cold days, chilled sour cherry soup is just the thing for warm summer evenings. Fresh sour cherries combine with sour cream and sugar in this refreshing classic. Where to try it: Leves (Vamhaz korut 14, Budapest, +36 30 241 7760), for the takeout version. Tihanyi pike perch . Lake Balaton is Hungary's playground, where everyone flocks to laze in thermal springs and feast on the lake's plump pike perch. You can have this succulent fish roasted, grilled or prepared Tihanyi style: made into a terrine with cream, white wine, spinach and dill. Where to try it: Gorgeous views of the lake come with delicious plates of fish at Ferenc Pince Csarda (Cserhegy 9, Tihany, +36 76 448 575) from its prime position on the Tihany peninsula. Stuffed cabbage leaves . You won't go far in Central and Eastern Europe without coming across cabbage rolls, and Hungary is no exception. Here they're called toltott kaposzta: pork mince stuffed into cabbage leaves with -- you guessed it -- lots of paprika. It's best with sour cream on top, in true Hungarian style, along with sauerkraut and chunks of smoked pork. Where to try it: After browsing the stalls in Budapest's Central Market, you can grab a plate of hearty stuffed cabbage upstairs in Fakanal Etterem (Vamhaz korut 1-3, +36 1 217 7860). Kurtoskalacs (chimney cake) "Chimney cake" is made by wrapping pastry around a cylinder to bake over the last of the embers in an open fire. The pastry is also often coated in lots of sugar so the lovely sticky caramel coating can hold on to the extra flavors dusted on top -- anything from cinnamon to cocoa to chopped walnuts. Where to try it: It's best slightly warm with ice cream and coffee in Molnar's Kurtoskalacs café (Vaci utca 31) in Budapest. Dobos cake . Seven layers -- yes, seven -- of moist sponge cake sandwiched with chocolate buttercream. Then, before things get too gooey, there's a thin layer of caramel on top to give it a lovely crunch. We have 19th-century Hungarian confectioner Jozsef Dobos to thank for this heavenly creation which has become a staple in Hungarian coffeehouses. Where to try it: The sumptuous interior of Budapest's Central Kavehaz (Karolyi Mihaly utca 9, +36 1 266 2110) is a suitably grand setting for such a glorious cake. Eszterhazy torte . A cake fit for a prince -- Prince Eszterhazy, to be precise. The Hungarian royal's name lives on in one of Europe's most famous cakes: Five layers of almond meringue and buttercream with elegant swirls on top. Where to try it: Just around the corner from Budapest's ornate Parliament is Szalai (Balassi Balint utca 4, +36 1 269 3210), a delightfully old-fashioned cake shop where you can indulge in one of these royal treats. Somloi sponge cake . Not one but three types of sponge cake -- vanilla, chocolate and walnut -- go into this luscious dessert. But it doesn't stop there: Fresh whipped cream, chocolate sauce and pungent rum bring the three cakes together to form an exquisite dessert. Where to try it: For sheer opulence, this rich dish is best devoured in the fantastic interior of the New York Café (Erzsebet korut 9-11, +36 1 886 6111) in the Boscolo Budapest hotel.

Goulash, Hungary's national dish, is pronounced "gooyash" Paprika chicken shows off the sweet red pepper, a staple in Hungarian cooking . Dobos is seven layers of sponge cake, sandwiched with chocolate buttercream, topped with a thin layer of caramel .

Boston (CNN) -- Pounding his fist on the witness stand Thursday, real-estate developer Richard Buccheri, 73, described the day he came face-to-face with Boston's alleged Irish mob kingpin James "Whitey" Bulger. Bulger is charged in the deaths of 19 people during some two decades. He also faces charges of extortion, racketeering and money laundering. He had called Buccheri to a meeting to discuss the positioning of a fence on a property Bulger associate Kevin Weeks wanted to buy, Buccheri said. He said they had barely sat down when Bulger banged on the table and told Buccheri, "You know Rich, sometimes you should just keep your mouth shut. You know Kevin Weeks is like a surrogate son." Buccheri's opinion on the positioning of the fence was not favorable to Weeks. Raising two fingers to his mouth to demonstrate, Buccheri said Bulger "takes a shotgun off the table and sticks it in my mouth. Then he took it out, punched me in the shoulder and said, 'Richard you're a stand-up guy. I'm not going to kill you." But then, he said, Bulger "puts a 45 to my head" and demands $200,000 in 30 days, "threatening to kill me and my family." Buccheri said he cut a check for the 200-grand, which Bulger's henchman, Steve Flemmi cashed days later. Buccheri said he had to give a Braintree bank teller verbal permission to cash the gargantuan check. Flemmi finished up his six days of testimony Thursday. He described a decades-long journey that included extortion, meetings with FBI agents and slayings. Flemmi testified he was by Bulger's side for most of it, saying both were FBI informants. He described hundreds of occasions when he and Bulger met with FBI agents. The defense suggested Wednesday that Flemmi would say anything to sweeten his deal with prosecutors and possibly get out of prison, even though the government has never raised that as a possibility. Flemmi was arrested in 1995, was found guilty and was sentenced in 2001 to 10 years in prison for extortion and money laundering. In 2003 he pleaded guilty 10 murders and was sentenced to life in prison. Bulger attorney Hank Brennan asked Flemmi whether he hoped to get out of prison one day, and Flemmi said, "I'm still alive. There's always hope." Brennan also highlighted Flemmi's relatively comfortable living conditions. "It's like the Club Med of federal facilities," he said. "You really think so?" Flemmi responded, apparently incredulous, about the undisclosed prison. Brennan also asked about an apparent delicatessen on the premises serving salmon, steak, and smoked oysters. Flemmi denied such a place exists, saying, "If I fed some of that food to my dog, he'd bite me." He then complained about the July Fourth prison meal saying disgustedly, "The hotdogs were burned. The hamburgers were burned." Flemmi was spared the death penalty on the 10 murder charge after agreeing to testify against Bulger and his disgraced FBI informant handler, John Connolly. Authorities say Connolly accepted thousands of dollars from Bulger and his crew in payoffs and, in turn, tipped them off to law enforcement activity. Connolly was convicted of federal and state crimes and is serving 40 years in Florida. Under Flemmi's plea deal, the government allowed him to keep numerous properties including a home, at least four condos and a coin laundry. Despite Connolly's conviction and Flemmi's testimony, Bulger's lawyers have argued in this trial that he was not an FBI informant. Authorities say Connolly, who was raised in the same housing projects as Bulger, cut a deal with the alleged mob figure in 1975. Bulger would give information about the Italian mob -- the FBI's prime target -- while Bulger, authorities said, got names of rival gang members and other informants who had dirt on him. He is accused of killing those people. Without that FBI protection, prosecutors say, Bulger and Flemmi's reign of terror would not have been as successful or lasted as long as it did, from the early 1970s through the mid-1990s. Bulger rose to the top of the notorious Winter Hill gang, prosecutors say, before he went into hiding for more than 16 years after the crooked FBI agent told him in December 1994 he was about to be indicted on federal racketeering charges. He was captured in Santa Monica, California, two years ago, living under a false name with his girlfriend in an apartment in the oceanside city. The girlfriend, Catherine Greig, was sentenced to eight years in prison last summer for helping him evade capture. At his arraignment in July 2011 he pleaded not guilty to the 19 murder charges and 13 other counts. Through his lawyers, the 83-year-old defendant had argued he was given immunity by the FBI and a former prosecutor. The judge dismissed the claim, saying any purported immunity was not a defense against crimes Bulger faces. Prosecutors plan to call two more witness Friday, and expect to rest their case on the 30th day of trial. The defenses amended witness list, which was cut virtually in half to 32 witnesses last week, was whittled down to a potential 16 witnesses after Judge Denise Casper ruled some witnesses irrelevant and the defense withdrew a handful. The list is subject to further change. Among those virtually certain to testify are four FBI agents who the defense says will testify Bulger was not an informant for FBI in Boston. The government argued that Bulger is not "charged" with being an informant and the testimony could confuse jurors. But Casper said that, "given the centrality of the government's allegation of Bulger being an informant to all of the matters in this case, I think those are proper witnesses." Also on the stand Thursday afternoon was bar owner Kevin O'Neil, one of the O's in "Triple O's Bar," an establishment that doubled as one of Bulger's many headquarters in the 1970s and '80s. O'Neil said he had Bulger on the payroll, but he was never an employee. When prosecuting attorney Zachary Hafer asked why he was on the payroll, O'Neil responded, "He asked." Hafer: "Why didn't you say 'No'"? O'Neil: "I didn't think it was smart." O'Neil testified that in Christmas of 1994 he got a call from Connolly, who said, "Get ahold of the kid because his friend has a problem." In rapid-fire questioning, Hafer asked, The Kid?--"Kevin Weeks"; the friend?--"Jim Bulger"; the problem? --"I believe indictments." O'Neil testified that he then saw Connolly talking to Weeks shortly after that call. O'Neil said he never saw Bulger again after that day. Prosecutors say Connolly tipped Bulger off to a 1995 indictment, causing Bulger to go on the run, landing himself on the FBI's top 10 most wanted list before being arrested in California. Besides the slayings, Bulger is accused of using violence, force and threats to shake down South Boston's bookmakers, loan sharks and drug dealers. The Irish mob allegedly laundered its ill-gotten gains though liquor stores, bars and other property it owned in South Boston. CNN's Gary Carter contributed to this report.

Real-estate developer Richard Buccheri says "Whitey" Bulger put a gun to his head . He says it happened as part of a dispute about the placement of a fence . Buccheri: Bulger demanded $200,000, "threatening to kill me and my family"

(CNN) -- Call it good timing, divine intervention or just dumb luck. What started out as a wee-hours traffic stop wound up catapulting a 30-year-old California real estate attorney and reserve sheriff's deputy into an unfamiliar -- and uncomfortable -- role: that of hero. It was Shervin Lalezary who put the cuffs on Harry Burkhart, a 24-year-old German national whom Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca called "perhaps ... the most dangerous arsonist in the county of Los Angeles that I can recall." Burkhart is suspected of setting a rash of car and building fires across the city. Following his arrest, no more suspicious fires were documented in Los Angeles, authorities said. Lalezary was working his $1-per-year job as a reserve deputy with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department early January 2. Normally a part-time deputy, the Tehran, Iran, native had been working full time for four days as a spate of arson fires -- more than 50 in all -- had Angelenos on alert. "You just got the sense that everyone in the city was on edge, rightfully so, because of what was happening," Lalezary told reporters. He recalled "seeing residents flee from their homes and basically run for their lives." Armed with a description of a possible suspect and vehicle gleaned from a surveillance video released by police, Lalezary pulled over a van and shone a spotlight inside. The man he saw fit the description -- a white male adult with a short ponytail and a receding hairline. "That was very distinct information about a person," Lalezary said. The sighting "was a big key." At the same time, two Los Angeles police officers, seeing Lalezary put on his flashing lights to initiate the traffic stop, pulled in behind him. Questions remain about how much Lalezary knew about the man in the van when he pulled him over. The U.S. State Department said its agents recognized Burkhart on the surveillance video from a separate investigation and shared their knowledge with Los Angeles authorities. Lalezary and the sheriff's department have stayed mum on that aspect. Asked why he pulled the van over, Lalezary flashed a boyish grin and said only, "Information that we had on him ... on the vehicle he was driving. There was a good deal of information being circulated." But it was Lalezary who was thrust into the spotlight. Questioned by reporters hungry for more about him, he deftly deflected questions about himself and his personal life, choosing to praise the deputies at the sheriff's West Hollywood station. "As a reserve deputy, I've seen what they do, and I've sat next to them in the car shift after shift after shift, and I have tremendous respect for what they do," he said. "They take the reserve program extremely seriously, and they treat us as one of them when we're in the car." He declined to talk about any statements Burkhart may have made at the time, as well as his own emotional state. Lalezary responded politely to an e-mail request for an interview but referred questions to the sheriff's department. He signed the e-mail, "Warmly, Shervin." "He is very humble. He's a good kid," said sheriff's Capt. Phil Hansen, who heads the department's Reserve Forces Bureau. He said Lalezary's reticence to accept accolades and his insistence on sharing credit with other officers may be part of the culture -- especially among the reserves. "Part of being a reserve is striking that balance, because you're not full time," Hansen said. Lalezary attended both UCLA and the University of Southern California, Baca said. He received his law degree at USC, according to the State Bar of California, which lists his law office as being on Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. He was admitted to the bar in 2008. "I've been interested in both law and law enforcement for several years, and I think each influences the other," he told reporters. After moving from Iran with his family, Lalezary grew up in Beverly Hills, said Steve Whitmore, spokesman for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. Lalezary credits his family and upbringing with his desire to give back to the community, Whitmore said. "He really does just want to provide community service to West Hollywood," Whitmore said. While reserve deputies are required to work a minimum of 20 hours a month, Whitmore said Lalezary "loves it so much, he's out once or twice a week in a patrol car." Lalezary's younger brother Shawn is also a reserve deputy and told reporters he now has "big shoes to fill." "I'll continue to strive to be as good of a brother and deputy as he is," Shawn Lalezary said. The incident has focused attention on reserve deputies, a program used nationwide to provide support for sheriff's departments. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department has 844 reserve deputies in a variety of settings, including mounted patrols on horseback, search and rescue teams, dive teams and helicopter pilots, Hansen said. The reserve deputies undergo the same training as full-time deputies, except the classes are offered on nights and weekends rather than during the day, he said. And reserve deputies, with only a token salary, are subject to many of the same hazards as regular officers. A Facebook page, "In Memory of our Auxiliary Police Officers," provides a lengthy list of reserve and auxiliary officers who died in the line of duty nationwide. When patrolling, Hansen notes, "You never know what you're rolling up on." Reserve deputies provided 175,000 hours to the sheriff's department last year, Baca said. "That's a tremendous resource for our department," the sheriff said. "They're a huge part of what we do. These are people that really step forward and literally at times put their life on the line for a dollar a year." Requirements for being a Los Angeles County reserve deputy include being a U.S. citizen, passing a thorough background check, holding a high school diploma and being employed or a full-time student. They are much the same requirements as for regular police officers or sheriff's deputies, Hansen said. Lalezary became a Level 1 reserve deputy -- meaning he could patrol alone -- in December after completing the requisite 1,064 hours of training, Whitmore said. Burkhart's arrest came during Lalezary's fourth solo patrol shift. "I think the beautiful thing about our program is it mirrors the full-time program exactly," Lalezary told reporters. While the training is held at different times, "everything we do is the same." "When reserve deputies are out on patrol, the public doesn't know whether it's a reserve deputy or a full-time deputy," he said. "It makes no difference and rightfully so. The training doesn't make any difference either." In many instances, the reservists are unsung heroes because of their assistance in cases that aren't as high profile, Hansen said. The search and rescue teams, for instance, "do some fabulous work, and they rescue people on a regular basis," he said. "The public just knows it's the sheriff's department. ... They're involved in some very dangerous and technically demanding rescue work in the mountains." About a month ago, a reserve team helped local authorities recover the bodies of people who had died in a mining accident, he said. Lalezary is "very humble," Hansen said. "He knows ... that there's another 843 folks that are doing very similar work and doing great things. ... In terms of the danger or the dedication and work ethic and everything else, there's a lot of other people doing the same thing on a daily basis."

A reserve deputy arrests arson suspect in a series of Los Angeles fires . Shervin Lalezary shuns the spotlight . Los Angeles arrest focuses attention on reserve deputies . The reservists take on officers' training, risks for $1 a year .

(CNN) -- Brent King says it still "takes my breath away" to talk about his daughter in the same sentence as the man who killed her. But he takes comfort in the knowledge that new California legislation named after his daughter, Chelsea King, will help protect other people's children from sex crimes. "If this legislation would've been in place before, Chelsea would still be with us," King said, speaking Tuesday about Chelsea's Law, which he and his wife, Kelly, worked on with state Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher. Chelsea's Law is awaiting Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's signature after unanimously passing the Senate and Assembly in a rare display of bipartisanship. Formally known as AB 1844, the bill creates mandatory sentences of life without parole for specified violent sexual offenses against children. Another major provision of the 62-page bill is lifetime parole for people who commit certain sex crimes against minors. Read the complete text of the bill . It's not the only proposed legislation to arise out of the heinous acts of registered sex offender John Gardner III, who admitted in March to killing 17-year-old Chelsea King. A few days after her body was found, he led authorities to the remains of 14-year-old Amber Dubois, who had been missing for more than a year. Gardner was sentenced to three consecutive terms of life without parole for the murders and an attack on a jogger. The deaths of the young girls provided impetus for a flurry of tougher proposed laws aimed at protecting children. Dubois' father is behind three assembly bills concerning law enforcement response to missing children. Among the legislative proposals: . -- Creating a rapid response team in the state Attorney General's Office to help find abducted children. -- Reducing the minimum time for reporting a missing child from four hours to two. -- Enhanced training for police officers who search for missing children. The four bills are on their way to Schwarzenegger's desk after being fast-tracked through the Legislature. Chelsea's Law also has an urgency clause that means it will take effect as soon as Schwarzenegger signs it. The Dubois bills do not have an urgency clause and would take effect in January 2011. The bills could have a ripple effect as King actively tries to get other states to adopt similar legislation. Read how Chelsea's killer targeted others . The speed of passage was rare for the California legislature, but not without precedent from other child safety legislation, said Mark Klaas, president and founder of KlaasKids Foundation, a nonprofit devoted to fighting crimes against children. "California has a history of responding very strongly to vicious sex crimes against kids, especially in an election year," Klaas said. "When you have the fresh memory of a beautiful young girl murdered by a person who shouldn't have been out in the first place, they're going to respond accordingly." He cited the passage within months of a three-strikes law named for his daughter, Polly, who was abducted during a sleepover and murdered in 1993. Jessica's Law, which increased penalties for certain crimes against minors, also passed within months of being introduced, Klaas said. Klaas said he believes the Dubois bill will have a more immediate effect than Chelsea's Law. "Sentencing gets a lot of publicity, but they rarely seem to deliver on the promises. Other administrative bills are less colorful and more localized, but they have a possibility of helping shore up infrastructure," he said. Gardner was paroled September 26, 2005, after serving five years for two counts of lewd and lascivious acts on a child younger than 14 and a single count of false imprisonment for attacking a 13-year-old neighbor. Under Chelsea's Law, lewd and lascivious acts on a minor will carry a mandatory sentence of life without parole. The "one-strike" provision applies to forcible sex crimes against minors that include aggravating factors, such as the victim's age or whether the victim was bound or drugged. "Because of what he'd done previously to the 13-year-old girl, he would have been given life without the possibility of parole," Brent King said. "He never would've been let out, and Chelsea never would've been harmed." King and other supporters say the bill is the most sweeping reform of its kind in recent California history, touching upon sentencing and parole as well as treatment and funding. Opponents of Chelsea's Law call it another feel-good measure that pushes registered sex offenders further to the fringes of society. "No matter how slight the offense, everyone in California is included in the same net, ridicule, rules and restrictions," said a San Diego woman whose adult son is on the registry for improperly touching a 16-year-old girl. He lost custody of his son. As a result of residency restrictions, he had to move in with his parents, she said. The mother asked that her name be withheld for fear of reprisal against her family. "Our constitutional rights are violated daily, and no one in this country cares," she wrote in an e-mail. "This new law is yet another 'feel good' law that further damages families of those on the registry, and will no doubt add millions of tax burdens to taxpayers." The woman and her son live in the same neighborhood where the Kings lived when Chelsea was alive. After Chelsea disappeared, the King family asked neighbors to tie blue ribbons around trees in her memory. The King family relocated to Illinois a few weeks ago. "Every morning, I awaken to blue ribbons tied to the trees across the street. A daily reminder that we are now lepers," the San Diego woman said in her e-mail. "What happened to Chelsea was an unimaginable tragic event caused by one sick individual." In response to criticism that the legislation took a "one-size-fits-all" approach to punishing sex offenses and managing paroled sex offenders, Fletcher amended the bill in committee. It now includes criteria for assessing the risk of recidivism and, based on that risk, placing certain paroled sex offenders under greater supervision. The bill also calls for those risk assessment "scores" to be included in the offenders' online profiles on the Megan's Law website, California's version of the sex offender registry. "We will be instituting a dynamic risk assessment, which means it can change on a monthly basis and it will be based on a whole series of factors, not just the crime," said Fletcher, who introduced the legislation in the state assembly in April. The bill also allows the use of polygraphs in parole supervision. "This legislation provides experts with better tools than the ones available now to assess risk. If you have a sex offender who's not compliant, their risk assessment level will go up, they'll get more visits and supervision," Fletcher said. The amended legislation also addresses funding for changes expected to cost tens of millions of dollars over the next decade, according to a preliminary study by the state Legislative Analyst's Office. The crime of petty theft will be downgraded to a misdemeanor, clearing clogged court dockets and freeing space in jails and prisons. Despite its broad sweep, Brent King says the bill's cornerstone is the one-strike provision. "It was my and Kelly's belief that there was no reason that we could find that people who targeted young children violently could ever be reformed, so why give these violent sexual predators an opportunity to strike twice? That was our premise and it grew from there," he said. King said he has identified four states that are interested in adopting similar legislation but he would not name them. "I think California has taken such a strong step forward that I'm excited about taking Chelsea's Law across the nation."

Chelsea's Law is one of four bills stemming from murders committed by John Gardner III . Chelsea's Law mandates life without parole for forcible sex offenses against minors . Three bills backed by Amber Dubois' father address missing children searches . Bills await governor's approval in what could send ripple effect across country .

(CNN) -- Dear cicada friends, . We know you probably don't speak English, but we humans can't really buzz that well, so this letter will have to do. The last time we saw your cicada variety, known as Brood II, emerge was in 1996. Other broods have come and gone since then, but we're still glad to see you. You were still in your larval stage in '96, so you probably don't remember. Now, you're rising to the surface and having a grand ol' party. So much so that CNN is tracking readers' reports of your locations and listening to recordings of your buzz. We humans have a hard time imagining what it must be like to go into hiding for years on end and leave your fate in the hands of the world. Who knows what the world will be like when you next emerge 17 years from now? Will it be a mundane place or a strange post-apocalyptic scene? That's why we're so in awe of you. You are like living time capsules, and you take it in stride. Life is one big, buzzing party for you. Open Story: See where readers are finding cicadas . But all good things must come to an end, and before you go, we'd like to bring you up to speed on the things you've missed since you were last here. It's probably not pleasant to think about, but we want to reach you in time. We were inspired to write you this letter because of a heartfelt iReport we received from Janie Lambert of Hughesville, Maryland. She talked about many events that have happened in the past 17 years. Like your species, her family has hatched a new generation of offspring during this time. Your buggy brains aren't really geared for philosophy, but here's a grub of an idea: the tragedy of your lives is a metaphor for our own. It's too bad you barely missed Baz Luhrmann's "Romeo + Juliet," with Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes in the leading roles. It came out in fall 1996 -- well after you would have ducked into the ground. And don't forget about "Tromeo and Juliet," which also came out around that time. Bet you would have related to William Shakespeare's infamous star-crossed lovers, who were destined to shack up and then die while still in their teens. We think you would also have a special appreciation for the "Austin Powers" movie trilogy, which kicked off in 1997. It features a British spy who is cryogenically frozen in the 1960s and then emerges in the 1990s with a strong mating instinct. Strip away the bad teeth and Union Jack decor, and your stories are much the same. Read about cicada life cycles and other broods . Culture shock was a big part of the "Powers" films, and you're probably feeling like a Rip Van Winkle as well. Surely you must be wondering where you can get some pogs, or the latest dramatic twists and turns in the Van Halen line-up. Radiohead released several acclaimed albums (including "OK Computer" and "Kid A") as well. Heck, there was even a Woodstock anniversary concert in 1999. A few years later, an electronic band called Cicada formed in the UK. Their self-titled debut album (2006) will make your feelers twitch. It includes a song called "Cicadas" that intermingles rhythmic buggy noises with sweet synthetic sounds. You skipped most of the boy/girl bands -- just barely. The Backstreet Boys put out their self-titled album in June 1996 and *NSYNC rose soon thereafter. The Spice Girls released their debut album "Spice" worldwide by 1997, and Britney Spears reached stardom status in the late 1990s. The Jonas Brothers, Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez ... there's so many. The brothers Hanson MMMBopped their way onto the charts in 1997 when they were just nymphs. They continued to put out albums after they finished molting, and now generate almost as much buzz as you do -- and have produced nearly as many larvae. Oh, and we almost forgot to mention "Star Wars"! There are now three prequels to come before the first "Star Wars" (that was really Episode IV), and there's this character called Jar Jar Binks and ... never mind. You've had to digest so much already. If you're still unsure about what happened in the 1990s, BuzzFeed is totally on it. Any relation? They're about as cicada-like as humans get, constantly searching for whatever happens to be buzzing at any given time. The writers are in their laboratories concocting nostalgia for the 2000s as we speak. But we don't want to bug you with too much popular culture. There's also plenty of serious history that you've missed. We've been through five presidential elections now, and three presidents. The truth is, maybe you're better off not having seen footage of the September 11 terror attacks, or the wars that began afterward. You also conveniently missed the biggest burst of the housing bubble, or running the risk of getting laid off during the Great Recession. You can't bring most liquids through airport security anymore, and the NASA space shuttle program as we knew it has ended. In 1999, the technology world fretted over the Y2K bug, in which a date-formatting issue threatened to bring down computer programs everywhere. Concerns about serious problems seemed largely unfounded when 2000 finally rolled around. Cicadas should also be aware that the "New Beetle" was released by Volkswagen in 1998, which in turn renewed humans' desire to drive a bug. In the world of devices, the BlackBerry device is still consumed in its addictive CrackBerry form, but plenty of two-leggers are using smartphones and tablets with touchscreens. (You don't have hands, so you might need a keyboard that you can tap with your legs.) You fast-forwarded through the meteoric rise of the World Wide Web, and the spider-like reach of social media. You missed complaining about several Facebook layout iterations and being friends with that guy named Tom on MySpace in the 2000s. You can still be friends with him now, but it's just not the same. The predictable backlash toward spending too much time online works to your advantage, because you're well-equipped for it. You spend just about all your time in the out-of-doors, happily buzzing away and doing your thing until your time comes. Dying cicadas spotted in Staten Island . You're probably not worried about all these things that bipeds are always fussing about, but we just thought we'd let you know. Maybe there's a few things we're missing out on, as well. If there's any consolation, it's that other broods will return in the coming years, albeit in varying places and at different intervals. Brood III, Brood X, you name it. But there's only one Brood II. Until we meet again with your descendants 17 years from now, let's all say goodbye and farewell. Buzzing off, . The People of Planet Earth . "Bzzz zzzzz zzzzzz zzzz bzzzzz bzz" What would you add to this letter? Are there any important events that stand out to you? Share your thoughts in the comments area below. Follow @CNNLightYears on Twitter for more science news .

17-year cicada variety known as Brood II has been invading several states . These cicadas were last seen in 1996, when things were different . Here's some things missed after 17 years in hiding . What would you add to this letter? Share your thoughts in the comments .

(CNNGo.com) -- Globe-trotters know what it's like trying to sleep coiled up on a hard plastic airport seat for hours while they await their next flight. But it doesn't have to be that way. Transit hotels are making long, multi-flight trips tolerable. These short-stay hotels are located within security checks in airports and close to terminals. Passengers can walk off the plane and check into a room to refresh between long flights. No visa is required to stay over in a given country. Read more on CNNGo: World's biggest airport planned . Rates at transit hotels vary but are often cheaper than at regular hotels. Minimum required stays average about six hours. Standard amenities include a bed, desk, toilet, shower and Internet access, but many premium transit hotels include gyms and spas, as well. Transit hotel hot spots . Because business depends on a heavy flow of onward-bound passengers, transit hotels are nearly exclusive to busy transfer hubs, especially in Asia. One of the most popular transit hotels is at Singapore's Changi, one of the world's busiest airports and a frequent layover spot for flights to and from Asia. Amsterdam Schiphol Airport is one of the busiest airports in Europe -- its compact and clean "Yotel" hotel pods do good business. Read more on CNNGo: Singapore's Changi Airport the world's favorite . You won't find in-airport transit hotels in Melbourne Tullamarine Airport or Sydney Airport's international terminal -- Australia is not a common midway point for journeys. Good for business, but good business? Nigel Summers, director of the world's largest hospitality consulting firm, Horwath HTL, says that transit hotels can be a tricky investment for hoteliers. "You don't have to give people much [because it's a very short stay], but it can be difficult to predict the flow of people," Summers says. Read more on CNNGo: 15 spectacular swimming pools . "For example, if there is a major closure at an airport, it can be hard to plan how much food to prepare and how much staff to keep on." The success of transit hotels also depends on the efficiency of the airport, with more efficient airports being less suitable for hotel business. "If it is easy to clear customs, say at Hong Kong, people are probably less likely to stay inside the airport for their layover," explains Summers. Read more on CNNGo: World's 15 most expensive hotel suites . "But if it's harder, somewhere like New Delhi, people are more likely to find accommodation inside the airport." Here are a selection of transit hotels around the world that could make your next journey a little more comfortable: . Transit hotels around the world . Ambassador Transit Hotel, Singapore Changi Airport, Singapore . Single rooms from S$58 (US$48) before tax, for six hours. TV, en suite bathroom, complimentary tea and coffee, wake-up call. Located at Terminals 1, 2 and 3, Changi Airport, Singapore; 75 Airport Blvd., Singapore; +65 6542 5538; www.harilelahospitality.com. Kuala Lumpur Airside Transit Hotel, Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Malaysia . Standard rooms from MYR140 (US$45). Includes: fitness center, shower, sauna. Located next to the Satellite building, next to Gate C5, KLIA Sepang, Selangor; +60 3 8787 4848; www.klairporthotel.com . See Boeing's luxury offices in the sky . Incheon Airport Transit Hotel, Seoul Incheon International Airport, South Korea . Standard rooms from US$45 for six hours. Includes: Internet, air con, TV, phone. Located opposite boarding gate 10. Incheon International Airport, 43 272 Gonghangno, Jung-gu, Incheon; +82 32 743 3000; www.airgardenhotel.com . Louis Tavern, Day Rooms and CIP lounges, Suvarnabhumi Airport, Bangkok, Thailand . Standard single room 2,200 baht (US$65) for four hours. Internet access, television, telephone, flight-information monitor, mini-bar. Located on Level 4 Concourse G of Suvarnabhumi Airport; +66 2 134 6565 6; www.dayrooms-ciplounges.com . Airport Hotel, Abu Dhabi International Airport, United Arab Emirates . Standard rooms start at US$185 for day use between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m. High-speed Internet, king-sized bed, separate living room, massage chair, gym, shower. Located in Sheikh Rashid Terminal of Terminal 1 and Concourse 2 of Terminal 3; +971 2 5757 377 ; www.dih-dca.com . Yotel, Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam, The Netherlands . Standard cabin €45 (US$61) for four hours. Large single bed, monsoon-power shower with body wash and towels, TV, work station, free Wi-Fi. Located in the main terminal in Lounge 2 near Pier D. Vetrekpassage 118, Schiphol Airport. Amsterdam, The Netherlands; +31 20 7085 372; www.yotel.com . Hotel Tranzit 2, Prague Airport, Czech Republic . Standard cabin one night (24 hours) from €119 (US$162) for double room. Also available for day use. Packages for three, six or 10 hours -- single use three hours, €35 (US$48). Shower package -- €24 (US$38). Includes: Free high-speed Internet, satellite TV. Located between Terminal 1 and Terminal 2. Prague Airport, Letiste s.p., Praha, Czech Republic; +420 236 161 222; www.pragueairport.co.uk . Dayrooms Flughafen Zürich AG, Zurich Airport, Switzerland . Standard room CHF$49 (US$55) for three hours or less. Includes: Wake-up service, TV, shoe-cleaning machine, Internet access, air conditioning. Located in Transfer zone D. Postfach, Zürich-Flughafen, Switzerland; +41 43 816 21 08; www.zurich-airport.com . Evergreen Transit Hotel, C. K. S. International Airport, Taoyuan, Taiwan . Standard room rates NT$2,800 (US$92) for one night. Includes: Parking, baby-sitting, pool, gym, sauna, hair dryer. Located in Terminal II.; Taoyuan County, Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport Terminal II 4th Floor; +886 (0)3 383 4510; www.evergreen-hotels.com . Eaton Smart, Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi, India . Standard room rates five hours at Rs 3,000 (US$65). Includes high-speed Internet access, LCD TV with cable satellite channels and in-room dining options. Located in Terminal 3, Level 5, Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi; + 91 11 452 52000; newdelhiairport.eatonhotels.com . © 2011 Cable News Network Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved .

Transit hotels are short-stay locales in security checks in airports and close to terminals . Rates at transit hotels vary but are often cheaper than regular hotels . One of the most popular transit hotels is at Singapore's Changi, one of the world's busiest airports .

(CNN) -- As Chicago prepares to host all-out golfing war in the form of the Ryder Cup, there is more reason than you might think to remember the city's most infamous son. "Scarface" Al Capone was not a man to be in competition with. The murderous mob boss ruled Chicago to the rattling sound of heavy machine-gun fire in the 1920s and took out anybody -- make that pretty much everybody - who stood in his way. But it was not all bootlegging and brutality for the life of Capone. Photos: American gangsters . Away from the bloody battles of prohibition-era America, it turns out he loved nothing more than a good walk spoiled and target practice of a very different kind. As unlikely as it seems, the gangster was a golf nut. "Al Capone was an avid golfer," John Binder, academic and author of The Chicago Outfit: Images of America, told CNN. "Some of the guys around him were, too. "The hoods loved sports. Capone and a few others managed some fighters, and they went to baseball games together a lot, too." Capone liked golf, but that is not to say he was very good at it. "At first, he seldom broke 60 for nine holes; he eventually elevated to 18 holes though there is no evidence he was anything but a hacker on the golf course," wrote Luciano Iorrizo in Al Capone: The Biography. Iorrizo continued: "His rounds were devoted to having fun with his gangster friends who drank plenty each hole, gambled recklessly on the stroke of a ball and carried loaded weapons in their golf bags for use in emergences." Ryder Cup revolutionaries: Seve and Ollie . During his 1920s heyday, Capone was a regular at Burnham Woods golf course - a facility 20 miles south of Chicago that is still in operation today, though Capone's memory has long since been erased. It was there he hosted regular games with his associates and acquired the services of a wide-eyed, eight-year-old caddie named Tim Sullivan. In a 1972 article for Sports Illustrated, Sullivan recalled his first round on the bag for Capone. The stakes were $500 a hole and Capone was partnered with "Machine Gun" Jack McGurn in a foursomes match against Fred "The Killer" Burke and Jake "Greasy Thumb" Guzik. McGurn and Burke were both implicated in the 1929 St. Valentine's Day Massacre -- the gangland hit on his mob rivals that made Capone a household name. Neither faced charges, but McGurn -- a talented golfer -- was assassinated almost exactly seven years later in a suspected revenge attack. Burke was convicted of the murder of a policeman in 1931 and died of a heart attack in prison. Guzik was the Chicago mob's lawyer of choice. You might call them the original 'group of death'. And there were we thinking Europe's Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell were a frightening pairing to come up against. "Capone teed off first," said Sullivan. "He fetched the ball a whack that would have sent it clear down the fairway, only he hooked it and it curved way off to the left into a clump of trees. "I scrambled around on all fours for about 10 minutes trying to find it, scared to death Al would lose his temper and hit me or maybe shoot me, but all he did was grin, pat me on the head and call me Kid. 'It's O.K., Kid, So we lose a stroke, that's all. Just gimme another ball.' And I thought: 'He can't be as mean and rough as he's cracked up to be.'" Sullivan paints a picture of wild, booze-fuelled matches where cheats prospered and arguments frequently spilled over into violence. There was the time Capone accidentally shot himself in the foot by setting off a revolver in his golf bag as he rummaged for a club. And the time Guzik, maddened by his inability to escape a bunker, ran after Sullivan wielding his driver and ready to use it. This was golf the way gangsters play it, with etiquette very much afterthought. "There was a crazy game called Blind Robin," Sullivan wrote. "One guy would stretch out flat on his back, shut his eyes tight, and let the others tee off from his chin. They used a putter and swung slow and careful. Otherwise they would have smashed the guy's face. On the putting greens they'd throw down their pistol holders -- clunk - and hold a wrestling match." Taking the first tee on day one of the Ryder Cup suddenly does not seem such a nerve-wracking proposition after all. Phil Mickelson won't be armed and we won't see Sergio Garcia swigging whisky and ready to beat his caddie over the head with a hybrid (at least we hope not). There will be bodyguards, though, especially surrounding Tiger Woods. McIlroy to hunt down Woods at Medinah? But to disregard Capone's golfing exploits as drunken folly is to do his infatuation with the sport a disservice. According to a new book written by the mobster's niece, Deirdre Marie Capone, her uncle was so hooked he escaped under a false name and made a golf pilgrimage to Scotland during the height of his reign -- traveling with a caddy who doubled as his bodyguard and buying a handmade set of clubs, which he had engraved with his initials. "He was in love with the game and with Scotland,'' Mrs. Capone told the Daily Express newspaper. ''I remember seeing his bag of clubs in the house in Miami. He told me they'd been made for him in Scotland.'' Capone, with his crime syndicate bringing in an estimated $100 million a year at the peak of its operation, had no problems funding his habit . According to Billy Kay, author of The Scottish World: A Journey Into The Scottish Diaspora, Capone's Chicago outfit saw golf as yet another avenue for making money. Most people paid to play, but -- as with everything with Capone -- golf found a way of paying him. "Every city had gangsters but the country clubs were built and financed by the social elite and gangsters were not allowed near," Kay told the Daily Record in 2009. "But Chicago was a unique set-up. Al Capone and his gang ran the golf clubs in Chicago. There, mobsters like Capone, drew protection money from the country clubs and they had access to the golf courses." Binder has yet to find evidence Capone used golf to make money. He does accept, though, that criminal activity was likely in the planning on the fairways. "Golf was a pastime for them (the Chicago outfit)," he told CNN. "It wasn't until the 1950s and 60s that the mob in Chicago started controlling golf clubs. But if they're on the course and nobody's around, they're talking business. Many normal people in the business world use golf that way." The one thing Capone could not control was his game. He died in 1947, aged 48, and having never mastered how to hit a straight drive or sink a putt. There is just not a racket to get you from tee to green, it seems, which goes to show there really are some things in life that money cannot buy. If he was still with us there is no doubt Capone would have scored VIP Ryder Cup passes for his golfing buddies. Watching on with cigars in mouth, hipflasks in hand and guns at the ready, the Chicago outfit would have been in their element at Medinah Country Club. They would, quite literally, have owned the place.

Infamous gangster Al Capone and his associates were keen golfers . Capone oncet eed off by hitting the ball off the chin of an associate . Capone traveled under a false name to play golf in Scotland . He died at the age of 48 from cardiac arrest .

(CNN) -- When Nelson Mandela stepped out of South Africa's Victor Verster prison a free man 20 years ago Thursday, he was his country's most famous freedom fighter. Black South Africans and other opponents of apartheid lined streets to see him when he was released, cheering wildly and waving flags. He was a hero, imprisoned for 27 years for the crime of opposing a government that sought to enforce severe segregation laws with brutality. Once free, Mandela worked with South Africa's white president, F.W. de Klerk to end those policies, knocking down the pillars of segregation one at a time. Three years after his release from prison, Mandela and de Klerk shared the Nobel Peace Prize. The African National Congress -- once again legal after being banned in 1961 -- elected Mandela as its president, and he won South Africa's presidential election in a landslide in 1994, the country's first black president. "We dedicate this day to all the heroes and heroines in this country and the rest of the world who sacrificed in many ways and surrendered their lives so that we could be free," he said in his inauguration speech. "Their dreams have become reality. Freedom is their reward. We are both humbled and elevated by the honor and privilege that you, the people of South Africa, have bestowed on us, as the first President of a united, democratic, non-racial and non-sexist government." And he kept his promise to serve but one term. Already in prison when convicted of treason in 1964 and given a life sentence, Mandela was a living symbol of the struggle against South Africa's racist apartheid system enacted when he was 30 years old. But the African National Congress leader fought for justice long before the National Party's 1948 election and subsequent introduction of apartheid. And in his last public words before he was whisked off to jail, Mandela spoke of his own dream. "I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination," he said. "I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons will live together in harmony, and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for, and to see realized. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die." Rolihlahla Mandela was always meant for great things, but his name -- it means "pulling the branch of a tree" or, colloquially "troublemaker," in the Xhosa language -- foreshadowed how that greatness would manifest. Born into a Thembu royal family -- but the wrong branch to be considered in line for the throne -- Mandela was the first of his family to attend school, where a teacher gave him the name "Nelson." He even went to college but was tossed out at the end of his first year for protesting school policies. And he ran away to Johannesburg, where he finished college and began law studies, to escape an arranged marriage. But 1948 focused Mandela's life like nothing before. First organizing non-violent resistance to apartheid policies, Mandela and his ANC cohorts were nevertheless hounded -- arrested, beaten, followed, spied upon -- by the government. When the ANC was formally banned in 1961, the group realized that non-violence wasn't working. "It was only when all else had failed, when all channels of peaceful protest had been barred to us, that the decision was made to embark on violent forms of political struggle," he said in court. " ... the government had left us no other choice." Prior to his imprisonment, Mandela was anything but a free man, traveling incognito, organizing the business of the African National Congress without having to bring its members together in one place where they would be vulnerable to government action, spending days and weeks away from his family. Even before his release, Mandela had moved beyond freedom fighter to statesman, a position he still holds despite retiring from public life in 2004 to spend more time with his family. He spoke out for democracy, human rights and peace. He fought against AIDS but admitted he probably could have done more to stop the spread of the disease. He created foundations to carry on his legacy, spoke around the world and tirelessly told the world that the end of apartheid was not his doing but the work of many others who shared the same dream. But Mandela is not remembered simply for ending apartheid. He was also behind reconciliation, a painful and lengthy process that attempted to hold those responsible for the brutality accountable for their acts without alienating the other white South Africans. In nearly every speech, Mandela pushed this concept. He urged black South Africans to support the South African national rugby team -- hated by many blacks because they viewed it as the sport of their oppressors -- in 1995. And when the team won the 1995 Rugby World Cup, team captain Francois Pienaar received the trophy from the president himself, wearing a duplicate of Pienaar's jersey. Pienaar, after the release of the movie "Invictus" that tells the story, said of his first meeting with Mandela -- when the president described his plan to use the team to help bring white and black south Africa together -- "I left that first meeting with the feeling that we were in good hands in South Africa. I felt safe with him." And Mandela was instrumental in bringing soccer's World Cup to South Africa -- finally arriving this year, six years after soccer's world body awarded the event. Now 91, Mandela rests in the company of his family, including his third wife, Graca Machel. The accolades have been heaped upon him. He is a hero to his people, and to much of the world. But 15 years into democracy, South Africa still faces rife poverty, unemployment and crime. Many people do not enjoy the benefits of freedom -- there is more to be done, but no one pretends otherwise. "I've been amazed that they haven't said to hell with Mandela and Tutu and all these people who talk about reconciliation and go on a rampage," Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu said of the patience of South Africa's poor. Tutu also won a Nobel Peace Prize -- in 1984 -- and was one of many who carried on Mandela's work through the late 1960s, the 1970s and the 1980s. He was chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Committee and is now chairman of The Elders, a group he, Mandela and Machel founded to provide a mechanism for world leaders to share their wisdom. F.W. de Klerk is not a member of that group. But he recognizes both the transformative work he and Mandela did in the 1990s and the troubles the country still faces. "We have averted a catastrophe, the new South Africa with all these big problems is a much better place than it would have been had we not taken the initiatives we did in the early 1990s," he said. "We are back in the international community; we play a positive good role on the problematic continent of Africa. So life is good but not for the poor." And no one is more keenly aware of those "big problems" than Rolihlahla Nelson Mandela, now known fondly in South Africa by his clan name, Madiba. He saw it clearly in 1994, when his autobiography, "Long Walk to Freedom," was published. "I have traveled this long road to freedom," he wrote. "I trust I did not falter. I made missteps along the way. But I have discovered the secret that, after crossing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to cross." Twenty years ago, there was no freedom for Mandela, no freedom for black South Africans. There may be more hills to cross, but those black South Africans are no longer strangers to freedom.

Mandela was convicted of treason in 1964, given a life sentence . Mandela, de Klerk shared Nobel Peace Prize . Mandela once said violent political struggle became rule after nonviolence failed . Mandela was the first of his family to attend school .

New York (CNN) -- Close to 10,000 total flights have been canceled since the beginning of a holiday blizzard that blanketed much of the U.S. northeast with snow and left thousands stranded. Airline representatives from AirTran, American, Continental, Delta Air Lines, JetBlue, United, U.S. Airways, Spirit and Southwest reported a total of at least 9,726 trips were called off due to weather since Saturday. Of those, at least 1,335 flights were canceled on Tuesday as major airports across the region slowly got back to normal. "With all the cancellations and delays, it'll be two to three days before the airlines are at a regular schedule," said Thomas Bosco, general manager of New York's LaGuardia Airport. By early Tuesday evening, LaGuardia was still operating well below its normal 70 flights per hour, he said. John F. Kennedy Airport, in the New York City borough of Queens, and Newark Liberty International, in northern New Jersey, opened to incoming and departing traffic at 6 p.m. Monday, Port Authority spokeswoman Sara Joren said. AirTran spokesman Christopher White said his airline didn't plan any more cancellations Tuesday after dropping 81 flights on Monday. Instead, White said, AirTran planned to operate additional flights out of LaGuardia, Boston's Logan Airport and White Plains, New York's Westchester County Airport to get people home. Delta Air Lines canceled 300 flights on Tuesday and was still facing reduced operations at JFK and Newark because of runway issues, according to spokesman Trebor Banstetter. "We're hoping to return to a full schedule at JFK by tomorrow morning, and at Newark by midday tomorrow," Banstetter said. But the slow recovery left many passengers anxious to get home. Zarmeen Hussain and her family knew their flight home to New Jersey -- scheduled for Monday evening -- might get canceled. But they didn't expect a four-day delay. "We were very confused and like, 'Oh, my God,'" Hussain said from an Atlanta hotel Tuesday morning. She, her husband and daughter were in Georgia for a college reunion and were told the earliest available flight will be on Friday. "We were thinking of the option of driving, but the car rental company gave us a quote of $2,000," Hussain said, laughing. She said many rental car companies are out of vehicles. Julie Stratton is in a similar predicament. She was scheduled to fly from New York to Indianapolis, Indiana, on Sunday, and ended up sleeping at LaGuardia Airport. Stratton said Monday she was told she might not be able to fly out until Thursday. "It's not the best of scenarios, no," she said. "But you just have to make the best of it. There's nothing else you can do." The storm that has unnerved domestic and international travelers produced blinding snow and wreaked havoc from the Carolinas to Maine. By Monday night, more than 4,155 flights had been canceled, up to 32 inches of snow piled up in areas and wind gusts blew as strong as 80 mph. Several dozen people were trapped and others were thrown to the ground Tuesday when a ski lift at Sugarloaf Mountain in Maine came to an abrupt stop after a cable malfunctioned. CNN meteorologist Jacqui Jeras said wind gusts of up to 50 mph were blowing in the area at the time. "I felt a jerk," said CNN employee Robb Atkinson, who was among those trapped on the lift. He described hearing "screams from skiers below" as he watched at least three chairs drop 20 to 30 feet to the ground. Atkinson said he and other trapped skiers were watching the injured being carried from the mountain. "This storm was one of the most challenging storms we've had in a decade or two," Bosco said Monday. Jeras said the onslaught of snow had stopped, but the storm's impact was still being felt. "The strong winds will be prevalent today," she said Tuesday morning. And in another move back toward normalcy, New Jersey Senate President Stephen Sweeney -- stepping in as acting governor -- rescinded the state of emergency in that state shortly after 10 p.m. Monday. Several emergency declarations were made in states and cities as the storm barrelled up the East Coast and officials executed emergency plans in an effort to expedite assistance. On Monday, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg urged residents not to dial 911 unless calling about a life-saving emergency as the city grappled with the fifth-largest storm in New York history. Parts of Brooklyn had 24 inches of snow, according to the National Weather Service -- shy of the 32 inches reported in Rahway, New Jersey. High winds were also a problem, including gusts as strong as 80 mph in Wellfleet on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The Federal Transportation Security Administration has been coordinating with airports and airlines to bolster staffing as necessary as flights resume, according to spokeswoman Sterling Payne. Authorities were also investigating an incident that occurred at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport on Tuesday when . the wing of an Airbus jet clipped the horizontal bar near the tail section of another jet while it was being de-iced, according to airport Director Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge. Both planes returned to the gate and were undergoing inspection, she said. Stranded travelers in New York slept on cots and atop luggage carousels Sunday night, while less-fortunate people bedded down on airport floors. "It looked like everybody was camping inside," said Jacob Chmielecki, who was stranded with his family at New York's LaGuardia airport. Antonio Christopher said he spent two nights sleeping at Heathrow Airport in London, where snow caused major delays earlier this month. On Monday, he found himself in a similar situation across the pond. "It's one of those things," he said. "You have to keep up about these things. It was a blizzard. There's nothing you can do about it." Other travel -- by rail and road -- was snarled as well. Hundreds of people were left stranded at New York's Pennsylvania railroad station after Long Island Railroad canceled trains. Amtrak said it would resume normal service Wednesday between Boston and Washington, but passengers could see some delays. By Tuesday, police had removed more than 1,000 abandoned vehicles from New York's Van Wyck Expressway and Cross Bronx Expressway, according to Bloomberg, who called the operation "the biggest effort to clear snow our city has ever seen." "Because the snow fell so quickly and in such great amounts, and because the wind blew so forcefully -- creating whiteouts -- many motorists got stuck and abandoned their vehicles in the middle of streets," the New York mayor said Tuesday. Bloomberg said the states of New York and New Jersey loaned the city 35 ambulances, helping reduce the backlog of emergency medical services requests. The city has requested private tow companies to assist in cleanup efforts . Bloomberg noted that New York City is also facing blood-supply shortages and asked residents to donate, saying, "We need your help now more than ever." According to Connecticut Light & Power's website, the number of its customers affected by the storm dropped dramatically from 33,712 on Monday to 753 by Tuesday afternoon. CL&P services 1.2 million Connecticut residents, so less than 1% of customers state-wide were affected. Some 10,000 customers in Westchester County and New York City lost power due to storm and tree damage, according to a Consolidated Edison statement. By Tuesday, 500 households remained without power, ConEd said. CNN's Aaron Cooper, Allan Chernoff and David Ariosto contributed to this report.

Nearly 10,000 flights have been canceled since Saturday . At least 1,335 flights were canceled on Tuesday . More than 1,000 abandoned vehicles are removed from New York interstates . New York is now facing shortages in blood supplies, the city's mayor said .

Santa Rosa, Peru (CNN) -- Murder suspect Joran van der Sloot arrived Friday in Peru to face charges that he killed a Peruvian woman as police in Lima said they had identified the weapon that killed 21-year-old Stephany Flores Ramirez. Flores' body was found Wednesday in a Lima hotel room registered to van der Sloot, a Dutch citizen who was twice arrested and released in connection with the 2005 disappearance of an American teenager, Natalee Holloway, in Aruba. Investigators also found a baseball bat in the room, two law enforcement sources -- who said it was the murder weapon -- told HLN's "Nancy Grace." Chilean authorities delivered van der Sloot to their Peruvian counterparts in the border town of Santa Rosa, where he was greeted by hecklers and dozens of media personnel jostling for position to get a better picture of the Dutch citizen. Paperwork showed that van der Sloot entered Chile the same day Flores' body was found, Chilean police told CNN. He was captured in Chile on Thursday and flown Friday aboard a military aircraft to the border to be expelled, said Macarena Lopez, a spokeswoman for Interpol. The Chileans drove Van der Sloot across the border to a Peruvian police station. He made a 100-foot walk from the car to the station as journalists pushed past a police line and a handful of hecklers rained loud and angry obscenities on the suspect's head. Van der Sloot was taken inside the station for processing. From there, he was to be taken to the nearby town of Tanca and then flown to Lima. Holloway was on a high school graduation trip to the Caribbean island of Aruba in 2005 when she disappeared. Van der Sloot was arrested twice in connection with the case but released both times. He denied any involvement and has not been charged. The family of Stephany Flores Ramirez, the woman found dead in van der Sloot's hotel room, said Friday they had mixed emotions about the suspect's capture and return to face charges in Peru. "I cannot say that I was happy," brother Enrique Flores told CNN's Rafael Romo. "I feel a little relief in this pain that I have and that my family has. This pain that won't go away ... We want this action not to happen again." Stephany's sister-in-law Carolina Jorge was more outspoken. "We need justice for our family, for Natalee's family," she said. Stephany's father, Ricardo, was more wistful and philosophical. "My daughter had everything in life," the businessman and race car driver said. "Perhaps my error was to show her the pretty side of the world. I didn't show her that there was the other side to the world -- the evilness." The family said they thought Stephany had been abducted until authorities found her body. Her burial was Thursday. Van der Sloot's former attorney, Joseph Tacopina, told CNN it was too early to reach any conclusions. "I just think we need to take a step back before we get to the 'I told you so' stage, and let's see what the evidence is here," Tacopina said Thursday. Tacopina said he is not representing van der Sloot and no longer has a good relationship with the family. Van der Sloot also faces an arrest warrant on charges of extortion and wire fraud in Alabama, U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance said Thursday. The charges are unrelated to the killing of the Peruvian woman and deal with an attempt to sell details about Holloway for $250,000, Vance said. Van der Sloot, 23, was traveling alone in a taxi near the Chilean central coastal city of Vina del Mar Thursday when he was detained, said Douglas Rodriguez, spokesman for the Chilean Investigative Police. TV images showed him emerging from a black police SUV at the police station. His hair, which had been dark in previous images, was red and worn in a close-cropped crew cut. There is "incriminating evidence" linking van der Sloot to the killing of Flores, said Peruvian criminal investigator Cesar Guardia Vasquez. The woman's bludgeoned body was found in Room 309 of the Hotel Tac in the Miraflores section of Lima, police said. She suffered blunt trauma to the head, breaking her neck, and to her torso and back, Peruvian police said Thursday. Van der Sloot had been staying at the hotel since arriving from Colombia on May 14, police said. Room 309 was booked in his name, authorities said. A hotel guest and an employee witnessed the pair entering the hotel room together at 5 a.m. Sunday, Guardia said. Police have video of van der Sloot and Flores together the previous night at the Atlantic City Casino in Lima, he said. Two Peruvian cab drivers said in an interview on CNN affiliate America TV that they drove a man matching van der Sloot's description to a city on the other side of the Chilean border. "He paid me and I took him to Arica, to the border," cab driver Oswaldo Aparcana said. The man sat in the front seat and smoked many cigarettes, Aparcana said. The passenger told the cabbies he used to live in Aruba, said the other driver, Carlos Alberto Uribe. Holloway, the Alabama teenager, disappeared May 30, 2005, five years to the day since the hotel videotape that officials say showed van der Sloot and Flores going into his hotel room. Both women are reported to have met van der Sloot at a night spot. Ricardo Flores said police found his daughter's car about 50 blocks from the hotel. Inside the car, he said, authorities found pills like those used in date rapes. Ricardo Flores said he did not believe his daughter knew the Dutch citizen beforehand. Both of them speak English and they struck up conversation at the casino, he said. Interpol had alerted its office in Chile and other bordering countries of the case and placed them on alert in case van der Sloot tried to leave that country, Peruvian Interpol Interim Director Gerson Ortiz told CNN. Van der Sloot was arrested in Aruba in 2005 along with two other men, brothers Deepak and Satish Kalpoe, in connection with Holloway's disappearance. They were later released. In 2007, they were arrested a second time after Aruba's then-chief prosecutor, Hans Mos, said he had received new evidence in the case. Van der Sloot, who was attending college in the Netherlands, was brought back to Aruba. But judges ruled the new evidence -- which included an Internet chat the same day Holloway disappeared in which one of the three youths said she was dead -- was not enough to keep them jailed. In 2008, prosecutors sought unsuccessfully to arrest van der Sloot a third time after a videotape surfaced on Dutch television. In it, van der Sloot tells a man he considered to be his friend that he had sex with Holloway on the beach after leaving the nightclub, then she "started shaking" and lost consciousness. He said he panicked when he could not resuscitate her and called a friend who had a boat. The two put Holloway's body in the boat, he said, and then he went home. The friend told him the next day that he had carried the body out and dumped it in the ocean. But an Aruba court ruled there was not enough evidence to re-arrest him. Aruban prosecutors said authorities had met with van der Sloot in the Netherlands, but in a two-hour interview he denied any role in Holloway's disappearance. CNN's Mayra Cuevas contributed to this report.

Police identify baseball bat as murder weapon . Hecklers, media greet suspect at Peruvian border . Brother of slain woman says "this pain won't go away" Van der Sloot was previously a suspect in Alabama teen's disappearance .

Los Angeles (CNN) -- The phrase most spoken by AEG Live's co-CEO during his testimony in the Michael Jackson wrongful death trial was: "I don't recall." Katherine Jackson and her oldest daughter, Rebbie Jackson, watched as Paul Gongaware, who was in charge of producing and promoting Jackson's ill-fated comeback concerts, testified this week that he couldn't remember sending key e-mails or approving budgets that included $150,000 a month for Dr. Conrad Murray. CNN exclusively obtained video of Gongaware's deposition in the case, which was played to jurors Wednesday. He is back on the stand for more testimony Thursday and Friday. Gongaware also denied thinking that Jackson's health was frail in the last days of his life, despite e-mails from others in the production suggesting the singer needed help. Jackson's mother and three children are suing AEG Live, contending the concert promoter is liable in the pop icon's death because it negligently hired, retained or supervised Murray. AEG's lawyers argue it was Jackson who chose, hired and supervised Murray -- and their company only dealt with Murray because Jackson demanded they pay for him to be his "This Is It" tour doctor. Murray was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Jackson's drug overdose death and he is serving a prison sentence. Gongaware seemed to dance around some questions like Jackson doing a "Moonwalk," including when he explained an e-mail to his boss' assistant in which he said he was having nightmares and cold sweats about the concerts. It was not an admission that he was concerned about Jackson's ability to do the show, he said. "It was just playing around, joking," with AEG President Tim Leiweke's assistant, Carla Garcia, he testified. "Carla is an absolute babe and I was just chatting her up," he said. While that testimony drew laughter in the court, it was unclear how jurors and the female judge viewed it, because Gongaware also acknowledged his girlfriend worked at AEG. Gongaware's repetition of "I don't recall" several dozen times under questioning by Jackson lawyer Brian Panish eventually drew laughs from jurors, including when Panish began answering for him with that phrase. After the jury left the courtroom Wednesday, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Yvette Palazuelos commented on the number of "I don't recall" responses. "We've had a lot of that," she said. "How much more of that?" AEG exec called Jackson "freak" before signing concert contract . The 'smoking gun' Panish questioned Gongaware about an e-mail Jackson's lawyers call the "smoking gun," which they argue shows AEG Live executives used Murray's fear of losing his lucrative job as Jackson's personal physician to pressure him to have Jackson ready for rehearsals despite his fragile health. Show director Kenny Ortega e-mailed Gongaware 11 days before Jackson's death expressing concerns that Murray had kept Jackson from a rehearsal the day before. Ortega also raised his own concerns about Jackson's health. Gongaware testified on Wednesday that he thought Ortega was "overreacting." His e-mail reply to Ortega read: "We want to remind (Murray) that it is AEG, not MJ, who is paying his salary. We want to remind him what is expected of him." Gongaware, in a video deposition played in court on the first day of the trial, said he could not remember writing the e-mail. Trust your memory? Maybe you shouldn't . Panish on Wednesday played for jurors a section of Gongaware's deposition, recorded in December, in which Jackson lawyer Kevin Boyle questioned him about what he meant when he wrote to Ortega, "We want to remind him that it is AEG, not MJ, who is paying his salary." Boyle: "Based on the assumptions that AEG is your company and MJ is Michael Jackson, do you have an understanding of what that means?" Gongaware: "No, I don't understand it, because we weren't paying his salary." Boyle: "So why would you write that?" Gongaware: "I have no idea." Boyle: "Now, let's go on to the next sentence. When you say 'his salary,' who are you talking about?" Gongaware: "I don't know." Boyle: "Oh, but how do you know you weren't paying his salary if you don't know who we're talking about?" Gongaware: "I don't remember this e-mail." Boyle: "Didn't you just testify that 'we weren't paying his salary'?" Gongaware: "AEG?" Boyle: "Yes. No. You just testified 'we weren't paying his salary.' You just testified to that a few seconds ago, right?" Gongaware: "I guess." Boyle: "Well, whose salary were you referring to? Dr. Murray?" Gongaware: "Yes." Watch more of Gongaware's testimony here . After Gongaware began recalling in court Wednesday what he meant in the e-mail, Panish suggested it may be a case of "repressed memories" where "someone doesn't remember something for three or four years." "You didn't have any psychotherapy to remember what you wrote here?" Panish asked. "You didn't like get put to sleep --" (Judge Palazuelos injected: "Hypnotized?") "--to see if you remembered this? "No," Gongaware answered. Sweet controversy at Jackson death trial . The Elvis connection . Gongaware's career as a concert promoter started with Elvis Presley's last tour. He testified that he met Jackson when he was with Presley manager Col. Tom Parker in Las Vegas. Elvis' name came up in the trial on Tuesday as Panish questioned Gongaware about his knowledge of drug use during concert tours. He should have been able to recognize red flags signaling Jackson's drug use because of his experience with Presley and his time as Jackson's tour manager in the 1990s, the Jacksons contend. An e-mail to a friend two weeks after Jackson's death supports their argument, the Jackson lawyers contend. "I was working on the Elvis tour when he died so I kind of knew what to expect," Gongaware wrote. "Still quite a shock." AEG lawyer Marvin Putnam later told reporters that Gongaware was referring to the public reaction to Jackson's death, not saying he expected Jackson would meet the same fate as Presley. Presley collapsed in the bathroom of his Memphis, Tennessee, mansion -- Graceland -- on August 16, 1977, at age 42. While his death was ruled the result of an irregular heartbeat, the autopsy report was sealed amid accusations that the abuse of prescription drugs caused the problem. Jackson died on June 25, 2009, at age 50. The coroner ruled his death was caused by a fatal combination of sedatives and the surgical anesthetic propofol. Murray told investigators he gave Jackson nightly infusions of propofol to treat his insomnia. He was convicted of involuntary manslaughter, sentenced to four years in prison and stripped of his medical license. Gongaware -- who has worked as a tour promoter for 37 years for bands including Led Zeppelin, the Grateful Dead and many others -- testified that the only artist he ever knew who was using drugs on tour was Rick James. Gongaware is currently the tour manager for the Rolling Stones North American tour. Promoter: 'I kind of knew what was going to happen' to Jackson .

AEG Live exec struggles to explain "smoking gun" e-mail . Paul Gongaware: "I have no idea" why he wrote AEG was paying Dr. Conrad Murray . Jackson lawyers argue e-mail shows the concert promoter hired the doctor . Gongaware's repeated "I don't recall" answers draw laughs in court .

(CNN) -- Valera remembered being left in the Russian snow. How he lost his lower arms and some of his toes, he wasn't always sure. At times, he said he was in a fire. The truth of what the 14-year-old experienced in his early years, no one will ever know. The orphanage where he lives said Valera was abandoned as a small child at a hospital in St. Petersburg, Russia. He had gangrene, the result of meningitis and an infection, which forced amputations. He was released to the orphanage in Nizhny Lomov, where he's waited nine years for parents and a home to call his own. On Saturday, Stephen Jack and his wife, Christine, will leave their Goldsboro, North Carolina, home to fly to Russia, the final step in a 15-month journey they hope will give the boy what he's always wanted. "Having never seen him and only knowing a little bit about him, I still feel attached to that child," said Jack, 53, who already has six children, four of them adopted. "I understand he can talk his way into your heart and mind in no time. When the world is opened up for him, who knows what his capabilities and possibilities are? ... If all goes well, on the 21st he becomes my son." It is a trip the Jacks will take with trepidation. The actions Thursday of a Tennessee woman who put her adopted 7-year-old son on a plane and returned him to Russia, saying he was violent and that officials misled her family, puts Americans in the process of adopting from Russia on edge. Officials in Moscow have threatened to suspend all American adoptions and the Jacks face a two-week process involving a court appearance and loads of paperwork before they can fly home with Valera. "What this woman did to us is put us on pins and needles," Jack said. "My wife has been beside herself, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't concerned." The adoptions of about 3,000 Russian children by Americans are in progress, according to Tom DiFilipo, president of the Joint Council on International Children's Services, an advocacy group for children in need of families. Russia is the second country this year, after Haiti, in which adoptions have been thrown into a tailspin. No suspension has been announced, but mere talk of such a recommendation spawned a campaign on Monday by the council to galvanize the adoption community and child advocates. People are being encouraged to sign a letter to President Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev (which will be presented to them Wednesday morning), post blogs and share videos about adoption successes. "Our message is this is an isolated incident. The adoption system did not fail. What failed was the decision-making process of this adoptive mother," DiFilipo said. What Torry Hansen of Tennessee did is "outrageous and indefensible, and not indicative of the average adoptive parent. One-hundred-thousand people adopt every year. I don't know of another case like this." The case has rocked the adoption community. "I talked to parents yesterday, and they're just devastated," said Deborah Gray, a child and family therapist, trainer and author, based in Seattle, Washington, who has 20-plus-years experience working on attachment, trauma and grief issues. "It makes it seem like these kids are defective, that adoption itself is not a permanent status. ... It's a public embarrassment," she said. "The vast majority of families are enriched by adoption. To have this kind of approach is really off the wall. I can't understand why it would have gotten to this point." Adoptive parents can feel overwhelmed during transition . She and other advocates said they wish Hansen had reached out for assistance and tapped services available for parents before shipping the child back to Russia after six months. "There are so many services that were available to her. She could have contacted FRUA [Families for Russian and Ukrainian Adoption] which is a resource-rich place, gotten a good psychiatric assessment, including hospitalization if necessary to figure out what made this little guy tick," Gray said. The incident may have been a wake-up call to agencies and those in the adoption community to make sure adoptive families are prepared for challenges and have resources for help lined up in advance, especially if they live in rural parts of the country, said Sue Gainor, national chair of Families for Russian and Ukrainian Adoption, a volunteer-led nonprofit that offers support and community. Gainor, who adopted a son from Moscow in 2001, said there are between 600,000 and 800,000 orphans in Russia, with an additional 80,000 to 100,000 in hospitals awaiting placement in orphanages. "When you slow adoptions, you affect a lot of children," she said. "There's lots of angst in the adoption community. The minute you see the picture of that prospective child, that kid is yours." Being a parent, child advocates and members of the adoption community add, means helping a child adjust to change and work through challenges. "This is just so sad because that kid had no chance whatsoever," said Larisa Mason, who directs a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, adoption agency and serves on the board of the National Council for Adoption. "A 7-year-old who changed his whole life within six months -- new language, new food, a new mother -- no question he would have issues. Even a dog would have issues." In addition to hoping adoptions continue uninterrupted, many also want Hansen punished for her actions. Natasha Shaginian-Needham is the founder and director of Happy Families International Center in Cold Spring, New York. The agency, established in 1992, helps orphans with special needs (including Valera), with adoptions being part of its work. "The mother who finds somebody on the Internet, who sold his services for $200 in order to pick up and deliver [him] ... in Russia, demonstrates serious neglect and abandonment," she said. "There was a very high risk that the child could have been met by a pedophile or worse, a killer. The community in Russia is outraged by the fact that the mother may not be punished at all for her inhuman action." Prospective adoptive mothers like Andrea Wright of Wake Forest, North Carolina, hope she, her husband, Kenneth, and the boy they want to adopt aren't punished because of Hansen's actions. Leaving St. Petersburg, Russia, on Friday, Wright was overwhelmed with joy and anticipation. The 40-year-old fundraiser and her husband had just spent a week bonding with a little boy they are on track to soon call their own. The hopeful first-time parents arrived armed with toys to engage little Andrei, who will turn 1 later this month. In awe and with hearts melting, they watched as the child teetered into the room, clasping the hands of an orphanage caregiver. Of all the toys they brought him, stacking balls and cars included, his favorite item: Cheerios. Though he was a little reluctant at first, he warmed up during their stay. When they left him, he waved his arms to say goodbye. In six to eight weeks, they have plans to return to Russia to appear in court, the next phase in their journey to become parents. "We've been working on the process for close to a year. It's been one procedural thing after another. ... We are so prepared to be parents and have worked so hard to get to this point," she said. "We're hoping that since we've been to Russia once that we'll be allowed to continue. We're trying to go with a lot of faith and prayers at this point that it'll all work out."

About 3,000 American families are in the process of adopting from Russia . Actions of Tennessee mom, who returned adopted son to Russia, has them worried . Moscow officials threaten to suspend adoptions; hopeful parents move forward . Advocate: "100,000 people adopt every year. I don't know of another case like this"

Buchanan, New York (CNN) -- Stepping into the containment dome of Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant No. 3 is almost surreal. It's like entering a movie set, but instead of walking by wooden props, we're passing through an 11-foot-thick concrete-and-steel wall. This is the nuclear facility that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo wants to shut down, the long-time target of both anti-nuclear and environmental activists, the nuclear power plant that sits only some 25 miles from New York City. Just a strip of yellow tape warning of radioactive danger separates me, my producer Sheila Steffen and cameramen Rod Griola and Ken Borland from white-uniformed technicians who are removing groups of nuclear fuel rods (204 rods are packaged together in each fuel assembly) and inserting new ones, a month-long process that takes place every two years. Armed guards stand behind us, even after we have cleared three levels of tight security and a radiation briefing. Getting into the White House is easier, far easier. Around my neck are two Indian Point security passes and two dosimeters that will measure the amount of radiation I receive: one will be sent for analysis to a laboratory, the other is an electronic-arming dosimeter, a real-time radiation detector set to beep if I were to receive a dose of 100 millirems per hour. (During our radiation briefing we are told a chest x-ray delivers 8 millirems.) A massive 100-ton steel plug hangs from cables. Below, workers surround the nuclear core, which is underwater. They control machinery that delicately moves the fuel assemblies through a water-filled canal connected to the spent fuel pool, where rods filled with uranium pellets cool down for years. There are nearly 50,000 uranium pellets in each fuel assembly collection of rods. Pumps keep water circulating into the pool so it remains at a temperature of 100-degrees Fahrenheit (compared to the 2,100 degrees that nuclear fuel can reach before it would meltdown). So, keeping the power on here is essential to averting disaster. Indian Point receives its power from the same electric grid to which it contributes. If the power goes out -- and it briefly did only three weeks ago due to a utility technician's error -- backup diesel generators kick in to keep the plant functioning. That's exactly what happened during the recent outage. Each of Indian Point's two reactors have three auxiliary diesel generators, and then there are separately located backups to those backups as well as diesel-driven fire pumps that can keep the spent fuel rod pools filled. It's all designed to avoid the kind of catastrophe that occurred at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi plant. Plant managers spend lots of time thinking about potential emergencies and how to avert them. "Our plant is designed to handle the worst natural disaster. Our people are trained. We have many layers of redundancy," said John Dinelli, director of operations at Indian Point. The plant is built to withstand at least a 6.0-magnitude earthquake, greater than the region has ever experienced, though researchers at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory warn a 7.0 is not out of the realm of possibility since they have determined the plants is built near the intersection of two active seismic zones. "We believe that we can handle a (magnitude) 7 earthquake," said Joseph Pollock, vice president of operations for Entergy, the plant's owner. "The theoretically highest predicted earthquake in this area would be of a magnitude where our plant design will be able to withstand that and we would be able to respond and shut the plant down in a safe manner." In truth, Indian Point's operators say, a severe hurricane is a far more likely event, for which they also have extensive contingency plans. During the month-long refueling process at unit No. 3, the containment dome's hatch remains open. To be prepared for a natural hazard -- or even the possibility of an attack -- Indian Point keeps a giant plug sitting on a massive forklift nearby that plant workers can shove into place within 15 minutes to protect the reactor. Such precautions and procedures are part of Entergy's application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a 20-year operating license renewal. Unit No. 3's license expires in 2015, unit No. 2 in 2013. (Indian Point shut down its original reactor, No. 1, in 1974). Back inside the dome, after technicians vertically lift a 12-foot fuel assembly from the nuclear core, they turn it horizontally and move it along a water-filled canal to the adjacent building that houses the spent fuel pool where the assembly is positioned in an upright rack for cooling, which takes years. The pool about 40 feet deep, surrounded by 6 feet of concrete on all sides, and it has a greenish tint to it. Workers stand on metal ramps overhead, prepared to accept the next spent fuel assembly. My electronic arming dosimeter registers a .3 millirem, its first detection of radiation. In a locked, plexiglass-enclosed case not far from the pool sit brand new fuel assemblies fresh from Westinghouse, waiting their turn for a swim to the nuclear reactor core. As precise as the underwater operations are, they are not without flaw. In unit No. 2, Indian Point's other active plant, there has been a relatively small leak during refueling that officials say has let out as much as eight gallons of contaminated water a day into the containment dome area. "We haven't found the exact location of the leak to be able to do the repair and stop it," said Pollock. "We're working with a couple of firms. Right now there's a technique being used in Germany that we're trying to see if it would work here and we're going through that evaluation right now." Pollock says the leak is neither cause for concern nor a safety hazard since it's within one of the reactor domes. As we leave the spent fuel pool, we hand in both our dosimeters for analysis before stepping into a device that detects if we've picked up any contaminants on our clothing or shoes. I step in, push my chest against the oversized metal detector style contraption, wait an uncomfortably long 30-seconds, then do the same with my back up against the device. My heartbeat slows as I step through the locked security gate and walk back towards the largest part of the nuclear plant: the power-generating room. This is where the steam that's created from the nuclear reactor flows through huge tubes to turn giant turbines that power the generator that produces the electricity Indian Point sends off to the grid. Each plant generates 1,000 megawatts of power, providing as much as 30% of the electricity for New York and Westchester County. Since unit No. 3 is undergoing refueling, workers are busy maintaining and upgrading the turbines and generator. Both Indian Point plants are pressurized water reactors, as opposed to the crippled Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan, which is a boiling water reactor. Pressurized reactors aren't necessarily safer than boiling water reactors, they just employ a different technique to harness the heat generated by nuclear fission to produce steam. As the nuclear crisis unfolds in Japan, Indian Point officials say they're hoping for details that might help operations here. "Undoubtedly we will come back with lessons learned to continue to improve our safety margins and increase them even further," said Pollack. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is initiating a safety review of Indian Point and all other U.S. nuclear power facilities, as part of its response to the crisis in Japan.

CNN Correspondent Allan Chernoff and his crew go into a nuclear power facility . The Indian Point facility sits some 25 miles from New York City . New York Gov. Cuomo wants to shut it; the plant seeks a 20-year license renewal .

Shenzhen, China (CNN) -- Three weeks ago, hip-hop star Andre Young -- better known as Dr. Dre -- made news as his Beats Electronics line, a maker of premium headphones, was valued at more than $1 billion thanks to an investment from the Carlyle Group. But the former N.W.A. rapper is not the only one profiting from his headphone line. Across the Pearl River Delta in southern China, counterfeit Beats are flowing out of factories, assembly workshops and shops, attracting businesspeople that sell the headphones on global markets. A CNN reporter approached wholesale companies about buying in bulk in order to learn how the underground sale of knock-off headphones works. "Business is very good," said a woman, who, with her family, runs a wholesale company selling copied headphones in one of Shenzhen's many mega-malls. "You buy cheap from me, you sell expensive in your home country, we all make a lot of money," she added. To prove her point, she shows an Excel spread sheet on her laptop listing customers from all over the world: Italy, Denmark, United States, Canada, Dubai, Russia and more. She said she recently sold a large amount of counterfeit Beats by Dr. Dre for $50,000 to a British businessman who sent them to the UK by jet -- which is considerably more expensive than container ship -- and sold them as originals. While top-line Beats headphones retail for $400, the Shenzhen operators interviewed sell knock-off versions wholesale for $70. "A lot of people are making a lot of money on Beats right now," she said. Factory owners here have a nose for what's hot and what's not. Nearly 70% of all fake goods -- including DVDs, clothing, and electronics goods -- seized worldwide from 2008-2010 came from China, according to the World Customs Organization. And looking at the shops in Shenzhen's Huaqiangbei commercial district -- a destination for buying electronics, especially fakes -- Beats by Dr. Dre are definitely hot, prominently displayed next to iPhones, Samsung gear and Nikon cameras. To look at them, some are clearly fakes with poor packaging and logo color schemes that are wildly different from those well-known products. Rise of high-priced headphones . Behind the shops and inside small rooms around the district, workers in their early 20s can be seen busily assembling counterfeit goods, such as smartphones and iPads. The long corridors are filled with cigarette smoke that drifts out from the tiny workshops as deliverymen rush by with their arms full of electronic components. Everywhere you hear the sound of packing tape being wrapped around cardboard boxes. The counterfeit boom is fed, these days, by the rise of high-end headphones that Dr. Dre's audio products helped kickstart with the launch of Beats in 2008, analysts say. Just a few years ago, few people would be ready to pay several hundred dollars for a pair of headphones. Now, with celebrities like Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber and P. Diddy putting their names to signature pairs, Beats is the hottest brand for stylish music lovers. "Today, the premium headphone market is defined by fashion and brands as much as it is by sound quality," Ben Arnold, director of industry analysis at market research firm NPD Group said in a recent report. "One third of premium headphone buyers are under the age of 25 and many of these consumers view headphones as equal parts listening device and fashion accessory." Richard Kramer, analyst at Arete Research, added that better audio quality in smartphones is also one of the main driving forces behind making high-end headphones viable. In the U.S., sales of headphones rose by a third last year to $2.4 billion, with Beats by Dr. Dre making up almost 70% of all high-end headphones during the Christmas period, according to market research firm NPD. In Europe, sales of headphones hit an all-time high in the first quarter of the year, figures from market research group GfK show, with premium headphones leading the way. Total sales increased by 9% during Q1 on Europe's 17 main markets to 304 million euro (US$410 million), according to GfK. Real or fake headphones? At another Shenzhen store, a sales executive at a factory and trading company, connects a pair of fake Beats Pro to her iPhone and puts them on the reporter's head. The sound quality is surprisingly good. In the U.S., an original pair would cost $400. She offers her best quality headphones for the wholesale price of $70, medium quality for $45 and "so-so quality" for $30. "Medium quality is most popular, but the trend is going towards high-end. Consumers want good sound," she said, adding that she can deliver 100 units of any Beats product by the following day. For 1,000 items it will take a week. "Since it's copies, we don't want to have too much in stock," she said. On the streets and down in the subway, in-ear Beats headphones are sold for as little as $1. According to the company website, real in-ear Beats sell for $100 and up. Beats Electronics, the company behind the Beats by Dr. Dre brand, said in an email to CNN that the company shows "a fierce commitment" to fight piracy and that it works in close collaboration with anti-counterfeiting organizations, police and customs authorities to identify counterfeit sellers, distributors and manufacturers on key markets. They also scan online marketplaces for unauthorized use of Beats trademarks. "Since efforts began, Beats has seized hundreds of thousands of counterfeit products in more than 50 countries," the company said. The U.S. government has long complained about the theft of intellectual property in China. CNN reached out to authorities in Shenzhen to ask about counterfeit sales activities, but they have not yet responded. However it appears that Chinese officials are moving to crack down on counterfeit trade. A month-long joint operation with U.S. Customs in July resulted in the seizure of more than 243,000 counterfeit products using trademarks from Beats by Dr. Dre., Apple, Blackberry and Samsung. U.S. Customs and Border Protection said the operation was the biggest bilateral customs enforcement effort ever conducted by the U.S. As a result, a man in New Orleans was arrested for allegedly importing counterfeit Dr. Dre headphones and selling them on Craigslist. Evading the police . But in Shenzhen, the counterfeiters are working hard, too. CNN spoke with another woman involved in the trade -- a "copy brand exports professional" according to her business card -- who helps companies to transport counterfeit goods from Shenzhen to other countries. She said she advises her customers to avoid Chinese logistic companies and always use European or American shipping companies since "customs usually trusts these brands better." Storeowners reveal other tricks to bypass customs. They send all Beats in two boxes; the outer box has a made-up name to hide the real goods. "We got the idea from a European customer," she said. Precautions aside, in the Huaqiangbei commercial district few seem to have any moral objections about the pirating of goods. Outside the Huaqiangbei Police Station, a friendly officer in sunglasses points down the street when asked where the best fake mobile phones can be found. Asked if such purchases are legal, he just breaks out in loud laughter.

Popularity of high-priced headphones has led to a rise in fakes coming out of China . CNN goes behind the scenes of sales of counterfeit Beats by Dr. Dre in Shenzhen . Wholesalers sell knock-offs at $70 to global buyers who can resale as high as $400 . Seller: "Buy cheap from me, you sell expensive in your home country, we all make a lot"

(CNN) -- Ingrid Betancourt says death was her "everyday companion" during the six years she was a hostage of a leftist rebel group in Colombia. Recently freed FARC hostage Ingrid Betancourt tells Larry King that her captivity was "hell." "I really couldn't even imagine that I was taking the road for seven years," she told CNN's "Larry King Live." "For me, I thought perhaps it could last for three months at the most. I couldn't imagine what was going to come." Betancourt, who has French and Colombian citizenship, was campaigning for the Colombian presidency when the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia abducted her in 2002. She was rescued July 2 in an elaborately planned ruse that hoodwinked FARC captors into giving up Betancourt and 14 other hostages including three American contractors. She spoke to King Tuesday from Paris, France. "In a way, I thought that [the rebels] knew what my struggle was," she said. "I thought they were wanting perhaps something like the things I was fighting for. I was fighting for social justice. I was fighting against corruption." Watch Betancourt describe life in the jungle » . During the interview, Betancourt talked very slowly and appeared weary. She explained that it had been a long and arduous week. Her kidnapping was swift and it was hard for her at first to comprehend going from a free person to a prisoner, she said. Have a question for Betancourt? Ask it here . "You are a free woman and then you become a prisoner and you receive all kinds of orders. Sit here, stand there. That's it," she said. "You just, you don't have the possibility of even moving to take your bag without asking for permission." Betancourt's campaign for Colombia's presidency was built on her promise to curb drug trafficking and FARC's methods of kidnapping innocent people. She met with FARC leaders, imploring them, "No more kidnapping." "I thought that perhaps we had that common ground. I was mistaken. I didn't understand that they think completely different. "If you don't work with them, if you're not one of the members of that club, you are an enemy," she added. "I didn't know I was their enemy, but I was." Background: A closer look at FARC » . Betancourt said she knew her captors had orders to kill her if a rescue operation was launched. "I lived for nearly seven years with the awareness that death was my everyday companion," she said. Medical care was nonexistent, she said, and even day-to-day activities were difficult. "I was the only woman in a camp with other men," she said. "Everything for me was difficult. Bathing, changing myself, I was always late for everything." The rebels' response to her lateness: "They scream. That was every day life." She said after being freed she immediately noticed one thing about her life was drastically different -- she was no longer constantly scratching herself, bombarded by bugs and insects. "You know, it was hell. It was hell for the body, it was hell for the soul, it was hell for the mind...everything was so horrible," she said. "We had all kinds of pains." "In a week, the difference of going from this life to that life..." Betancourt answered nearly all questions, but she would not discuss Emmanuel, the child born in captivity to her running mate, Clara Rojas -- who was captured along with her -- or whether she was sexually abused. "I think that many things that happened in the jungle we have to leave in the jungle," she said. Rojas was released earlier this year. Rebels took Emmanuel from his mother about a year after his birth in 2004, delivering him to a farmer who posed as an uncle and had the boy placed in foster care in Bogota, where he remained until being reunited with his mother after her release. Betancourt also would not detail the punishment she endured after a failed escape attempt. "Oh, that was horrible," she said before telling King that she was "not ready for that." "I don't want to fill myself with those memories," she said. But the worst thing that happened to her, she said, was "realizing that mankind, that human beings can be so horrible to other human beings." Despite her nightmare, Betancourt said she harbors no hatred for FARC rebels. "It's like a kind of position I took many years ago that when I was released I wouldn't take out of the jungle any kind of bitterness or any kind of eagerness to seek for revenge, anything of that," she said. "And now that I'm out, I feel that I am like in another land. It seems so far and people seem so alien to me. "I don't want to forget but I want to forgive." Betancourt's release was greeted with an outpouring of joy in France, with politicians and media praising the woman who had become a cause celebre in the country where she grew up. She was given a clean bill of health last week despite reports that she had suffered chronic liver problems for years while in captivity. She walked on her own from a plane the day of her rescue and she remained standing for more than an hour as she recounted her rescue and answered questions from reporters. On the day of her rescue, Betancourt said, the hostages were awakened at 4 a.m. and told they had to be ready to move. An international commission, they were told, was coming by helicopter, and they were to be moved to another place in that helicopter. But when it arrived, one of the men aboard the helicopter appeared to know the rebel commanders, and the hostages lost hope. "There was this camera and they were filming us and I was thinking, they just want to tape us so that the world sees that we are alive ... and this is going to go on and on and on for four more years, five, six more years," she said. In truth, the Colombian military had tricked the rebels into believing the transfer was ordered by a FARC commander. And once the hostages were taken aboard the helicopter and it took off, the soldiers overcame the rebel commander who boarded with them, Betancourt said. "I saw the commander of the FARC, he was on the floor, he was neutralized and I heard the voice of the leader saying 'This is Colombian Army, you are free,' " she said. "I couldn't talk. I screamed. It was like a yell from, it was a scream that went from the bottom of my stomach," she said. "And then I hugged everyone I could hug. I would have hugged anyone at that second. I hugged the one that was beside me, front -- I would kiss everybody. It was crazy. It was very intense. We were crying." Watch the entire remarkable interview » . Now that she is in France and has been reunited with her children and her mother, Betancourt said she is still concerned with the fate of other hostages held in the FARC-controlled jungles. "We could be over there, we could be the ones left in the jungle," she said. "We had this incredible luck to be here, so for me it's very, very important, very important to ask all the people that can help us to fight for the release of the ones who are still in the jungle." As for her future, Betancourt said she would likely run for office again, but added that it wasn't a priority at the moment. "I'm the same woman, but I know that deep in my heart, I've changed in many ways," she said. "I have changed in the way I relate to people and the way I react to many things. I changed also my goals in life. I think that the only thing that remains, perhaps, is my desire to be there for others and to help."

FARC kidnapped Ingrid Betancourt in 2002 as she ran for Colombian presidency . "I didn't know I was their enemy, but I was," she tells Larry King . Betancourt was rescued along with 14 others in an elaborate operation last week .

(CNN) -- Many were surprised that he was even on the field at the Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday, but when Cristiano Ronaldo left it he did so with the adoring chants of Real Madrid's fans ringing in his ears. Jose Mourinho had been expected to rest the Portugal star ahead of Wednesday's Champions League last-16 clash against his former club Manchester United due to fitness worries, but the 28-year-old shrugged off any concerns with a virtuoso display. He fired a hat-trick in the 4-1 win over Sevilla, and had a hand in the other goal, before being taken off with almost half an hour to play as the sounds of "Ronaldo, Ronaldo" resounded around the ground. It was a touching moment for the player, who has not always had the closest relationship with the Madridistas despite his phenomenal scoring record. He took his tally to 24 in La Liga this season -- behind only Lionel Messi's 34 -- and 36 in all competitions as he fired his 20th treble since joining Real from United for a world-record $130 million fee in 2009. Have your say on the Champions League with The CNN Football Club . Ronaldo's low cross gave Karim Benzema the easiest of his 50 La Liga goals as the ball ricocheted kindly off Sevilla's Fernando Navarro, then he fired in a superb left-foot effort from outside the box in the 26th minute to make it 2-0. Just 36 seconds after the halftime break, Ronaldo was at it again as he pounced on a error to score his 11th goal in nine games against Sevilla in all competitions. The 12th was worth the price of admission as he led a counter attack from his own penalty area, and slotted home a return pass from Gonzalo Higuain. The Argentine forward departed soon after Ronaldo did -- but it left Real a player short after he received a second yellow card. Midtable Sevilla also dropped to 10 men in the 80th minute as Dutch defender Hedwiges Maduro also picked up a second booking, but Manu del Moral still managed a late consolation goal. The result left Real four points behind second-placed city rivals Atletico and 13 adrift of Barcelona, who both play on Sunday. Meanwhile, Malaga stayed fourth with a 2-1 win at Levante thanks to two goals from 20-year-old midfield star Isco, while Valencia moved up to fifth with a 1-0 win at Celta Vigo as Paraguay striker Nelson Valdez netted three minutes into time added on. England . Manchester City's Premier League title defense is in tatters after Saturday's shock 3-1 defeat by promoted team Southampton. Leaders Manchester United can move 12 points clear of second-placed City with victory in Sunday's home match against Everton. City boss Roberto Mancini had been defiant after last weekend's 2-2 draw with Liverpool, but the Italian was more downbeat about his team's chances after dropping more points. "I used to be always optimistic and want to be in this moment, but it's difficult. I think we now have 10% chance. I don't think United will drop 12 points," he told reporters . "It was a really poor performance. Southampton were better than us. We conceded two goals which I didn't think a team like us could concede. We played this game with only two or three players. Three versus 11 was really difficult." Gareth Barry gave away possession for Southampton's first goal by Jason Puncheon and also conceded an embarrassing own-goal soon after halftime to make it 3-1. Goalkeeper Joe Hart was at fault for Steven Davis' goal for 2-0, and Edin Dzeko's 12th in the league this season for City in the 39th minute did not signal the fightback it promised. It was Southampton's first win in four games since Mauricio Pochettino took over as manager, and lifted the team six points clear of the relegation zone. Chelsea won for the first time in five matches to retain third place, thrashing third-bottom Wigan 4-1 to ease the pressure on manager Rafael Benitez. Veteran midfielder Frank Lampard scored his 12th goal this season, moving closer to Bobby Tambling's club record total of 202, as the 34-year-old raised speculation that he will earn a new contract. "It is not my decision. I am trying to improve him, if that is possible, because he is a great influence," Benitez said. Chelsea stayed a point ahead of fourth-placed Tottenham, whose winger Gareth Bale scored both goals in a 2-1 win at home to Newcastle to take his tally to 13 in the league. Arsenal moved above Everton into fifth with a 1-0 win at Sunderland as Santi Cazorla scored the only goal, while Swansea went above Liverpool in seventh after beating bottom team Queens Park Rangers 4-1 thanks to two goals from Michu, who now has 15 in the EPL this season. Italy . Juventus' hopes of a second successive Serie A title were boosted after second-placed Napoli dropped points against fellow Scudetto hopefuls Lazio. Juve won 2-0 at home to Fiorentina as strikers Marko Vucinic and Alessandro Matri scored in the first half -- the latter despite losing a boot and playing on in his sock. That put the pressure on Napoli to reduce a six-point deficit, but Walter Mazzarri's team needed an 87th-minute equalizer from defender Hugo Campagnaro to come away with any reward. Striker Sergio Floccari volleyed an 11th-minute opener, but Argentina international replied in kind at the end to keep his side six points clear of the third-placed Rome team. Germany . Bayern Munich marched towards a 23rd Bundesliga title on Saturday, moving 15 points clear in the title race after a 4-0 victory at home to Schalke. With two-time defending champions Borussia Dortmund and third-placed Bayer Leverkusen dropping points earlier in the day, Jupp Heynckes' team romped to victory against a Schalke side which had won just one out of nine games. Young Austrian star David Alaba scored twice, the opener from the penalty spot after Franck Ribery was fouled. Bastian Schweinsteiger made it 2-0 with a free-kick, then after the break Mario Gomez set up the 20-year-old Alaba and then wrapped up the win with his first goal of 2013 in his first start this year. Dortmund crashed 4-1 at home to Hamburg, with South Korea forward Son Heung-Min and Latvian Artjoms Rudnevs scored twice each as both teams had a man sent off. Robert Lewandowski put the home side ahead in front of a crowd of more than 80,000 but Rudnevs and Son netted before the Poland striker was sent off. Hamburg lost defender Jeffrey Bruma after halftime following his foul on Marco Reus, but . Rudnevs headed home on 62 and 20-year-old Son' netted at the end as Hamburg moved up to fifth. Leverkusen drew 3-3 at seventh-placed Borussia Monchengladbach, for whom Patrick Herrmann scored a late equalizer.

Cristiano Ronaldo scores hat-trick in Real Madrid's 4-1 victory at home to Sevilla . Manchester City's EPL title defense in tatters after 3-1 defeat at Southampton . Juventus' Serie A lead stretches to five points as second-placed Napoli draw . Bayern Munich's rivals falter to give the Bavarians a 15-point lead in Germany .

London (CNN) -- Passengers struggling to get away for the holiday season faced further frustration and delays Tuesday, as the EU's top travel official slammed snow disruptions across the region as "unacceptable." Heavy snow caused severe disruption to train and plane schedules in a number of major cities days before Christmas, forcing thousands of people to sleep in terminals while they waited for information on their onward journey. "I am extremely concerned about the level of disruption to travel across Europe caused by severe snow. It is unacceptable and should not happen again," European Commission Vice President Siim Kallas said in a written statement. He took issue with airport infrastructure which he said was the "weak link" in the chain, and urged airports to "get serious" about planning for severe weather conditions. Have you been affected? Send photos, video . Thousands of passengers endured another frustrating day at London's Heathrow Airport Tuesday as airlines struggled to clear the backlog of passengers after two days of cancellations. Only one of the airport's two runways was operating, following cancellations during the previous two days due to heavy snow. Kylie Deegennars said she had been sleeping on the terminal floor since arriving at Heathrow late on Saturday. "We got told on that evening that if we wanted until 6 a.m. the next morning we'd get more information. We did not get a blanket or a bottle of water until 1.30 a.m. in the morning," she said. Conditions hadn't improved since then and Monday night she was still waiting for confirmation of a flight. "We're younger, we've got resistance, but there are babies, there are elderly people, and they're getting no extra treatment than anyone else. It's disgusting," she said. On Tuesday afternoon, British Airways announced that it was considering transporting passengers stranded at Heathrow by bus to other UK airports. Terminal five, it said, had been closed as staff worked to clear the backlog of people crowding the main concourse. London Heathrow is to remain open for the next 24 hours, British Airways said, adding that it was considering bringing planes back overnight to clear the load. The airline said London's Gatwick terminal was "congested but not unmanageable." Colleagues Sharon and Cathy were trying to get back to Phoenix, Arizona after suffering a two-day delay to their flights from Munich, Germany. They have been stranded at Heathrow airport since Monday. "We really felt that we were flying into the eye of the storm and it didn't make much sense to do that, but here we are. We've been told our best chance of getting out is on December 27," Sharon said. The colleagues say they are "lucky" to be put up in a hotel by their company, and expressed sympathy for others stranded in the airport with little or no information, accommodation or money. "It looks like a refugee camp. People have been staying there for days. There were guards at the doors of Terminal one not allowing other people to come in. We were a little concerned about leaving the terminal that we might not be able to get back in," Sharon said. The British government has come under fire for failing to heed warnings about the incoming inclement weather. Defending the government, UK Transport Secretary Philip Hammond said, "Nobody foresaw the really extreme temperatures that we've had." He laid the blame for chaos at Heathrow Airport firmly at the door of airport operator BAA who he said made a "bad call" on Saturday when the snow first started to present problems. "This is as a result of extreme weather conditions and also to be frank of a bad call on Saturday by the airport operator who was, as it turned out, over-optimistic about their ability to leave the airport open," he said. The government had offered military manpower to help clear runways which had been rejected, Hammond said. He added that the government was working with authorities to ensure the smooth supply of de-icing equipment and other materials to keep the airport operating. British transport expert David Quarmby, author of an independent audit on the resilience of England's transport system, said that the country could not be expected to be able to cope as well as other cities that regularly experience heavy snowfall. "We had a severe winter last winter and a bit of a winter the year before. But for eight years before that we hardly saw any snow at all," he said. "It's very difficult to justify investing in the resources that you find in airports and rail systems and highways in countries elsewhere which always have winters that are as severe as the one that we've got at the moment." The travel disruption was not limited to airports. Long queues snaked around St. Pancras International railway station in London Tuesday as Eurostar canceled 10 trains, or about 20 percent its normal service between London and Paris. "Due to the continuing bad weather, speed restrictions are in place on our high speed lines, adding up to two hours to journey times. As a result we can not operate as many trains as planned," said Eurostar spokeswoman Mary Walsh. Passengers ignored advice to turn up at the station one hour before departure. Some queued for as long as four hours in the London drizzle before stepping foot inside the terminal. During the wait, they were offered pizza, curry, coffee and tea, according to CNN's Jim Boulden. Earlier, hundreds of passengers camped at Paris train stations, including Eurostar's Paris terminal, Monday night while they waited news of the next train, French transport minister Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet told French radio Tuesday. Around 3,000 passengers on cancelled flights slept on the floor at Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport, while another 400 spent the night at Orly airport, she said. Pierre-Henri Gourgeon, CEO of Air France KLM said efforts had been made to find stranded passengers a hotel room. "We found 4,000, but we couldn't find anymore," Gourgeon told French radio. A message on the Paris airports website said air traffic was "slowly resuming" after severe snow disruptions. Passengers were advised to check whether their flights had been cancelled before traveling to the airport. Heavy snowfall halted all plane travel at Frankfurt airport in Germany for a short time Tuesday, said Thomas Uber, an airport spokesman. By mid-morning in Europe, the number of canceled flights had risen to 464, mostly due to backlogs and disruptions at other airports, an official said. About 50 flights had been canceled at Munich airport, also due to disruptions elsewhere. German Transport Minster Peter Ramsauer has asked German state authorities to allow night flights on a case-by-case basis to ease travel chaos at airports. Major German airports have restrictions on night flights usually from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. and only allow night flights on a very limited basis or in cases of emergencies. On Tuesday afternoon Belgian authorities had started putting passengers whose flights had been diverted from Heathrow Airport to Brussels on coaches and boats to London. In a statement posted on its website, the airport advised passengers bound for Frankfurt on Lufthansa flights to make their way independently by train or car. European Commission Vice President Siim Kallas said he would convene a meeting of European airport representatives in coming days to demand an explanation and assurances that they can handle future snow disruptions. "We have seen in recent years that snow in Western Europe is not such an exceptional circumstance. Better preparedness, in line with what is done in Northern Europe is not an optional extra, it must be planned for and with the necessary investment, particularly on the side of the airports," he said. The UK's Met Office says it is not expecting further snow in London Wednesday and that Heathrow and Gatwick airports "should remain dry." CNN's Laura Perez Maestro, Fred Pleitgen, Phil Han and Jim Boulden contributed to this report.

NEW: BA considering transporting passengers by bus from Heathrow to other airports . UK Transport Secretary lays blame for Heathrow chaos on "over-optimistic" operator . European Commission vice president slams disruption as "unacceptable" Thousands of passengers waiting for flights in Europe airports, rail stations .

Washington (CNN) -- "Flight" lands in theaters this weekend, but don't look for the movie on the in-flight entertainment menu the next time you're on a plane. The film opens with a catastrophic aircraft malfunction, forcing seasoned pilot Whip Whitaker (Denzel Washington) to make a crash landing. First lauded as a hero for saving nearly everyone onboard, investigators later find out Whitaker had alcohol in his system. It's just one of the nightmares played out in a host of Hollywood films you'd probably rather be on terra firma to watch. "I keep saying this was born out of my two greatest fears: drinking myself to death and dying in a plane crash," screenwriter John Gatins told CNN. "It's like, wrap those two fears together and put it in this movie." Review: Washington keeps "Flight" grounded . "I much prefer my disasters to happen in a movie than in real life," said "Flight" director Robert Zemeckis. "I'm not afraid to fly. I read the statistics, and I do believe that flying is the safest form of transportation, much safer than driving in a car." Not all of the cast share the same confidence. John Goodman, who plays Whip's best friend and enabler won't be watching "Flight" or any other airplane disaster movie while flying. "Oh, God I hope not," Goodman said. "I do better without thinking, but I've had trouble flying for a long time." Washington shrugged off any suggestion that his work on the film could make him a nervous flier. "I mean, it's just a movie," Washington said. "Well, worrying about it isn't going to change anything, so I don't worry about it." Melissa Leo, who plays a National Transportation Safety Board investigator in the film, is similarly unconcerned about life imitating art. "You know, I've done a handful of 'Law & Orders' in my day. What, am I going to worry that I'm gonna become a murderer?" she said. "As I pass the pilots in the airport, I like to feel that they're incredibly responsible people who understand the responsibility they're taking on." While flying is certainly statistically very safe, "Flight" brings to mind more than a few films that could make even the most confident passenger jittery. Here are 10 more movies that might be better to watch on the ground. "Airport" This 1970 drama takes off with a blizzard, closed runways and a suicide bomber planning to blow up a Boeing 707 so his wife can collect the insurance money. The blockbuster includes what Variety called "a cast of stars as long as a jet runway," including Dean Martin, Burt Lancaster and George Kennedy. It won an Academy Award and was nominated for nine others, including best picture. Three sequels followed, including "Airport 1975," in which a small plane slams into a 747, "Airport '77," in which a 747 crashes and sinks to the bottom of the ocean with passengers trapped aboard, and "Airport '79: The Concorde," in which the supersonic jet has to avoid attack and make an unusual emergency landing. "Airplane!" While "Airport" played terror in the sky as a serious drama, "Airplane!" (1980) , starring Leslie Nielsen, Robert Hays and Julie Hagerty plays it as farce. When the pilots are sickened by their fish dinners, it's left to Ted Striker (Robert Hays) to land the plane safely. "It is sophomoric, obvious, predictable, corny, and quite often very funny. And the reason it's funny is frequently because it's sophomoric, predictable, corny, etc.," wrote critic Roger Ebert at the time. Honorable mention: "Zero Hour," the 1957 film that took virtually the same plot seriously and contributed much of the dialogue for "Airplane!" almost verbatim. "United 93" This intense drama takes place on the flight hijacked on 9/11 that eventually crashed into a field in Pennsylvania as passengers tried to regain control. The movie, made five years after the attacks, was described in 2006 by Entertainment Weekly as "a harrowing, documentary-style reenactment, in real time, of what might have happened on the one airplane that didn't fulfill the terrorists' intended goals on Sept. 11." Included in the cast are some Federal Aviation Administration and military employees who were on duty and dealt with the hijacked plane on the day of the attacks. "Cast Away" Even if you're traveling with an anthropomorphic volleyball, the movie "Cast Away" (2000) could make you a bit jittery. A FedEx executive, played by Tom Hanks, is the only survivor of a plane crash and is forced to learn to live stranded on a deserted island with only a Wilson volleyball as a companion. "Snakes on a Plane" "All anyone really needs to know about this amusingly crude, honestly satisfying artifact is snakes + plane + Samuel L. Jackson," wrote The New York Times at the time of the 2006 release. Crate loads of hyped-up serpents start killing the cast in creative ways as Jackson's character tries to figure out how to save the aircraft and the FBI informant onboard. "Alive" This 1993 drama tells the true story of a plane crash in the icy Andes Mountains of South America. The crash is only the start of the survivors' ordeal as they are forced to live on the treacherous mountainside facing starvation, the elements and the fact that they may never be rescued. "Passenger 57" Charles Rane picks the wrong plane to hijack because of the man who happens to be passenger 57. "Wesley Snipes quips, glares, and kung fus his way through the role of John Cutter, a terrorism and hijacking expert who happens to be aboard the same plane as a terrorist hijacker," wrote Entertainment Weekly at the time of the film's 1992 release. A battle of wits ensues between Cutter and Rane on the L-1011 aircraft and in a Louisiana carnival. "Twilight Zone" A gremlin on the plane's wing at 20,000 feet could make anyone's flight a bit nerve-racking. The 1983 film (with Jon Lithgow) and the TV episode (with William Shatner) 20 years earlier both feature men who see something out to sabotage the plane on the wing but can't get anyone else to believe them. "Die Hard 2, Die Harder" In this 1990 sequel, Bruce Willis returns as John McClane to fight terrorists trying to free a captured Latin American general by taking over Dulles Airport near Washington and trying to force planes circling overhead to run out of fuel. McClane, whose wife is on one of the planes, "places first in every event, including wrestling for guns, jumping onto conveyor belts, being ejected from cockpits, leaping onto the wings of moving airplanes and fighting with the authorities," Ebert wrote. "The Terminal" If you think you are out of the woods when your plane touches down, you might want to keep "The Terminal" (2004) stowed away. The film starring Tom Hanks revolves around a man trapped in legal limbo at JFK Airport. Unable to return to his home country and unable to clear customs and enter the United States, he's forced to figure out how to survive inside the terminal. Would you watch these on a plane? What films would you add to our list?

While flying is statistically very safe, many films dramatize worst-case scenarios . The new film, "Flight," starring Denzel Washington, is probably not a film to watch on a plane . "Airplane!" turns the conventions of an in-flight nightmare upside down, playing them as comedy .

(CNN) -- Actress Mackenzie Phillips has said that she believes she had a "genetic predisposition" to the life of sex, drugs and rock and roll that have come to define her. Mackenzie Phillips tells CNN's "Larry King Live" that her father raped her in 1979. In a 1999 interview on CNN's "Larry King Live" on "Why Some Childhood Stars Crash and Burn," the former "One Day at a Time" star said she didn't blame Hollywood for the years of drug and addiction she had endured. "I think that for a lot of us, alcoholism and addiction is the root of the problem, not the fact that we were child stars," she said at the time. "Certainly, it lent to the problem, but it wasn't the root of the problem." By the time she did the interview, her well-publicized addiction to cocaine, drug arrests and stints in rehab had overshadowed an acting career once full of promise. Then, on Wednesday, the 49-year-old actress revealed on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" that she engaged in an incestuous relationship with her father, legendary musician John Phillips, for nearly 10 years. In her tell-all memoir, "High on Arrival" -- named after a song her father dedicated to her -- she claims the relationship began in 1979. She claims her father forced himself on her while they were under the influence of drugs on the night before she was to marry Jeff Sessler, a member of the Rolling Stones' entourage. She ended the relationship a decade later, when she became pregnant and realized she did not know who had fathered her child -- her husband or her own father -- and terminated the pregnancy, the actress told CNN's "Larry King Live." Watch Phillips discuss her alleged incestuous relationship with her father » . But before the incest claims -- and subsequent denials from relatives -- Mackenzie Phillips was better known as a child actor full of promise who fell from grace under the toxic guidance of her drug-addicted father. Born Laura Mackenzie Phillips in 1959 to John Phillips and Baltimore socialite Susan Adams, Phillips told People magazine in 1980 that she alternated between two wildly different worlds after her parents divorced when she was three years old. "My mother concentrated on bringing me up a proper lady," Mackenzie Phillips told the magazine. "And then on weekends at my dad's place, I would find Mick Jagger and Donovan and the Beatles hanging out. I remember crawling all over Paul McCartney." Her father taught her to roll a joint when she was 10, she tried cocaine for the first time when she was 11 and lost her virginity at age 12, she told Meredith Vieira of NBC's"Today" show. When she was 12, a talent scout for Francis Ford Coppola spotted her playing in a band with classmates on amateur night at the Troubadour, according to People.com. She eventually landed a memorable role in the 1973 hit coming-of-age flick, "American Graffiti." After filming, her mother sent her to a Swiss boarding school, but the rebellious teen didn't last long in exile. She returned to her father's home in Los Angeles under the supervision of her father's sister, Rosemary Throckmorton. When her father and stepmother left for New York in 1974 and never returned, Mackenzie, her brother Jeffrey, moved in with their aunt in "a little house behind the Hollywood Bowl which we shared with 12 cats," according to People.com. Despite her relocations, Phillips' career continued to advance. At 15, she appeared in her second movie, "Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins," with Alan Arkin. In 1975, she was offered the role of Julie Cooper on CBS' hit sitcom, "One Day at a Time," according to IMDB.com. "By the time I turned 18, I moved into a little chalet of my own and felt very grown-up," Mackenzie told People in an interview in 1980. As her star grew, so did her appetite for drugs, particularly cocaine. A few years later, just after she turned 18, Phillips was arrested when she was found collapsed on quaaludes on a street in Los Angeles. Phillips said on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" that her father's response was, "Congratulations! Now you're a real Phillips. Now you know that even though they caught you, the rules don't apply." Her weight loss and erratic behavior disrupted the show's filming and became a source of distress to her co-stars, Bonnie Franklin and Valerie Bertinelli, according to People.com. According to Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh's "The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows," Phillips missed the 1980-81 season while in rehab for addiction issues. When she went to seek treatment at Fair Oaks, a psychiatric hospital in Summit, New Jersey, in December 1980, she joined her father and stepmother, who entered the hospital after being charged with conspiracy to distribute narcotics, according to People.com. She left with a clean bill of health, but soon enough resumed using drugs even as she attempted to rebuild her career as a member of her father's new version of the Mamas & the Papas. In her memoir, she recalls arriving at a hotel room to find two packages -- one containing her father's newly published memoir and another containing an eighth of an ounce of cocaine, according to excerpts of the book published on MSNBC.com. After shooting up, she recalls reaching for the book and looking up her name in the index. "Under my name was a list of subheadings and page numbers. I scanned down the entries: . Phillips, Laura Mackenzie . acting career of... arrested on drug charges... attempts to clean out... in California... childhood of... drug use by... early childhood of... at finishing school in Switzerland... Jeff Sessler and... marriage to Jeff Sessler... Peter Asher and... rape.... shipboard romance on QE 2... "There it was, my life to date, with highlights selected, cross-referenced, and alphabetized. I had been organized and reduced to a list of sensational and mostly regrettable and/or humiliating anecdotes. Being indexed, particularly under such dubious headings, gave me a weird feeling that definitely wasn't pride. I felt like I wasn't a real person, just a list of incidents and accidents," she writes in the book. Her television career experienced a revival in the 1990s, with guest appearances on hot shows including "Beverly Hills, 90210," "Melrose Place," "Walker, Texas Ranger" and "Chicago Hope," her profile on IMDB.com states. From 1999 to 2001, she had a regular role in the Disney series, "So Weird," and several other television guest appearances followed, according to IMDB.com. She appeared to be getting her life back on track, eventually giving birth to a son, Shane. She was arrested in for drug possession in 2008 on her way to an "One Day at a Time" reunion. Since then, she says she has been drug-free, and hopes that purging herself of the secret incestuous relationship will help her recover. Yet she insists she does not hate her father for what he did. "I have to say that I loved my father, and I still do. I've been trying to come to terms with this very difficult past," Phillips told Winfrey.

Mackenzie Phillips believes she had "genetic predisposition" to substance abuse . Dad showed her how to roll joint when she was 10, she tells "Today" show . Drug abuse forced her out of role on successful CBS sitcom "One Day at a Time" Watch Mackenzie Phillips on Larry King Live, Wednesday 9 p.m. ET .

New York (CNN) -- Former pharmaceutical executive Gigi Jordan at first appeared calm as she described for a New York jury the last time she saw her son alive, those now-fuzzy final moments before she gave the 8-year-old autistic boy a lethal drug concoction. She ordered him food. She may have put on a movie for him. Little Jude Mirra's vocabulary was limited. He typed on a BlackBerry to communicate with her. "We were typing throughout some period of time. We were saying goodbye to each other," Jordan told the Manhattan jury on Thursday during her second-degree murder trial. She began to cry. "At some point, I put the pills together," she recalled. "I gave him the pills." "Which drugs did you give him more of?" defense lawyer Allan Brenner asked. "A lot more of the Ambien," she said. "I gave him more Xanax, but the Ambien is the one I gave him the most of. I gave him Hydrocodone which were large. I was drinking a vodka orange and there was a little left. I broke up the pill and put it into the juice mixed with vodka." The chilling details came during Jordan's second day on the stand. The defense team is trying to convince the jury that Jordan was a desperate mother ultimately driven to kill Jude because she felt caught between her two ex-husbands. One ex-husband had allegedly threatened to kill her, a crime that would have left Jude with her other ex, his biological father, who she believed had sexually abused the boy. The prosecution has sought to show the jury that the February 2010 killing was premeditated and that Jordan expected to survive. On the stand Thursday, Jordan, a former nurse who made millions in a home heath care company, portrayed her actions as a sort of mercy killing. Her ex-husband was threatening to kill her. "You're a dead woman," she claimed he told her. "I made the decision I was going to end my life and Jude's life," she recalled, placing her hand over her mouth. She said she checked into the luxury Peninsula Hotel in Manhattan. "Tell us about your state of mind as you crossed the threshold into the hotel?" her lawyer asked. "Numb," she responded. "Defeated. I felt like it was over. Like it was done. There was nothing else I could do." Jude and Jordan spent about six hours in the room before she gave him the pills. She said she had the boy wash down the concoction with orange juice and vodka. Jude was knocked out in 15 minutes. "Were you able to ascertain if Jude was asleep or in a coma?" Brenner asked. "Jude was covered with a blanket," she said. "I couldn't tell... I couldn't tell but I assume he had passed." Her son breathed rapidly at one point and then stopped. "At that point, what did you feel and what did you do?" "I had a big surge of adrenaline," she said. "My heart started pounding. I grabbed him off the bed and put him on the floor. I was crying and started calling Jude! Jude! Jude! and started doing CPR. I titled his head back, grabbed his nose, gave him two breaths, then gave him 15 compressions. I maybe did this 20 times." When Brenner asked why she attempted to revive her son, the judge adjourned the proceedings for the night. On Wednesday, Jordan, fighting back tears, testified that she knowingly gave herself and Jude enough drugs to kill them both. When her trial opened last month, Jordan showed no emotion as a prosecutor described to a jury a "chilling and horrifying scenario" in which Jordan allegedly forced the boy to swallow the deadly cocktail. Bruises on the boy's nose, chin and chest indicated that she got on top of him and pressed the poisonous mix of painkillers and anti-inflammatories down his throat with a syringe, the prosecutor alleged. Looking gaunt and pale, Jordan denied that scenario on the stand Wednesday. "Did you climb on top of Jude and grab his jaw and forcibly put liquid drugs down his throat," Brenner asked. "No," Jordan told the jury. "Did you knowingly give Jude and yourself enough drugs to kill yourself and him?" "Yes," she responded, tears welling in her eyes. Asked about a history of suicide in her family, Jordan said an aunt killed herself when Jordan was 12 and her mother tried three times. On Wednesday, Jordan also suggested that the boy was physically and sexually abused not only by his biological father but also by others, including the woman who took Jude to school. She testified that the boy was assaulted by "a good number of people." She testified that one night Jude started screaming, according to Jordan: " 'Dad bad. Dad bad. Dad bad.' Jude was never able to articulate the word and not clearly like he was screaming at the top of his lungs." Jordan testified that she held her son as Jude gestured at his crotch. He pulled Jordan in front of him and whispered, "Dad, butt. Finger, Finger.' He also kept saying dad, and it was clear he was talking about his dad," she told the jury. She testified that the boy had been forced to eat feces and do other "gruesome and horrible" things by his biological father. The boy's father has denied the allegations and has not been charged, CNN affiliate WCBS reported. In court, no one has disputed the unthinkable manner in which little Jude spent his final hours on February 5, 2010. Police found his cold body after they were dispatched to the hotel. The call to police came after a relative of Jordan was unable to reach her. At an autopsy, four of the painkillers and anti-inflammatories used to kill Jude were recovered undigested from his stomach, prosecutors said. "His fate was sealed," assistant district attorney Matt Bogdanos said in opening statements. "He didn't die fast. One by one, his vital organs shut down. It didn't take minutes. It took hours to die." While Jude lay dying, Bogdanos said, Jordan sent an email to a financial adviser instructing him to transfer the $125,000 trust she set up for her son to her personal account. Brenner said Jordan, believing she was ultimately protecting her son, brought the drugs to the hotel room with the intention of killing them both, but she survived the suicide attempt. Bogdanos said Jordan "went to the bank, she transferred $8 million from savings to checking. She checked in (at the hotel) without a reservation and paid cash." On the stand, Jordan said she planned on giving the money to charity before taking her life. The exact time of the boy's death could not be determined, but Jude's body temperature was 80 degrees, suggesting that when police arrived, he had been dead for 8 to 14 hours, Bogdanos said. Brenner has sought to show that Jordan acted out of love and desperation. She had been threatened by her first husband and former business partner, Brenner said. She had accused the man of raiding her bank accounts and defrauding her of millions in profits from their joint businesses. She filed a lawsuit against him in 2012, seeking damages for breach of contract and fraud. Her first husband filed a lawsuit in August 2013, claiming Jordan defamed him in interviews she gave the media in an effort to advance her defense. Jordan believed that if she died, Jude's biological father, a yoga instructor, would have gained custody, according to Brenner. Brenner said Jordan told a therapist and local authorities about the alleged abuse but no action was taken. Jordan faces 25 years to life in prison if convicted. CNN's Grace Wong contributed to this report.

Gigi Jordan: "I made the decision I was going to end my life and Jude's life" Jude Mirra, 8, who was autistic, died from painkillers, other drugs, prosecutors say . The defense says the desperate mother aimed to protect her son from a sexually abusive father . Jordan, charged with second-degree murder, faces 15 years to life in prison if convicted .

London (CNN) -- The last time I sat down to interview Julian Assange more than a year ago, he walked out on me, angered by questions about the allegations of sexual assault in Sweden. This time, holed up in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, he had nowhere to go when asked the same question. Assange has taken refuge in the embassy for five months now, refusing to submit to questioning in Sweden over those allegations. He denies doing anything wrong, and says the allegations are a ruse to get him to Sweden, which would then, he claims, extradite him to the United States. "Look ... there's an attempt to extradite me without charge, without evidence allegedly for questioning." Ecuador has granted the WikiLeaks founder asylum but the British government insists it is duty-bound to extradite Assange to Sweden. As a result, the Ecuadorian Embassy is now Assange's home. If he steps outside, British police are standing by to arrest and extradite him. But when I met him again, Assange did not seem cornered at all. He was relaxed and friendly. Rumors of ill health, that he had lost a lot of weight, did not appear to be true. He seemed at ease and, despite being confined largely to a small room in this tiny embassy, comfortable. And as if to prove there were no hard feelings, I received a warm kiss on the cheek. Embassy life like 'a space station,' Assange says . Earlier this week I received a call out of the blue: Would you like to come and interview Julian tomorrow? I was surprised, of course, but there was a good reason for it: WikiLeaks is in the process of releasing the "Detainee Files," more than 100 documents from the U.S. Department of Defense outlining the policies and procedures for such infamous prisons as Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo but others as well. So, the short answer to that question was: Yes. The reunion took place on Thursday morning. I've been following the story of WikiLeaks and Assange for sometime now, before they made global headlines with the Afghan War Diary, the Iraq War Files and the massive leak of more than 250,000 diplomatic cables from the U.S. State Department. In 2010, I had read a New Yorker article about a video, released by Wikileaks, that showed an attack on civilians by a U.S. Apache helicopter in Iraq that killed, among others, a Reuters cameraman and a father of two children who were also wounded in the attack. I was intrigued by the concept of WikiLeaks: an encrypted online platform that allowed whistleblowers to leak information anonymously. But I was also curious about the man behind WikiLeaks, Julian Assange. The article painted him as brilliant but enigmatic, staying up all night bent over a laptop receiving anonymous submissions for the WikiLeaks website. So, I thought I'd email him, on the off-chance I got a response. To my surprise, a few weeks later, I got a phone call back. When I first met Assange, I asked him what more WikiLeaks had planned. I was taken aback when he told me casually: "We're going to do something big. We're going to end a war." What I didn't know at the time was that Assange and WikiLeaks were preparing to launch the biggest leak of U.S. classified documents in recent memory. Nearly two years and a storm of controversy later, sitting in the same room where he delivered a speech to his supporters from the balcony of the Ecuadorian Embassy, he told me: "We triggered the end of the Iraq war." He quickly added: "Now, that's a rather grandiose statement. But it's true." He cited commentator Glenn Greenwald and the logic goes something like this: Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki cited documents leaked to Wikileaks as the reason to withdraw legal protection extended to U.S. soldiers in Iraq which ultimately became one of the factors leading to the U.S. troop withdrawal. For more on that, see the extended version of the interview here. Personally, I think that's overstating the impact of WikiLeaks. But he has a point that Wikileaks has changed the political landscape. Governments and institutions now live in fear that they could become the next WikiLeaks headline. Anyone with access and a flashdrive can now anonymously leak secrets to this global platform for all the world to see. Of course, WikiLeaks has plenty of critics and it has suffered due to the allegations against Assange and its financial struggles. The U.S. government has made it clear they believe WikiLeaks' publishing of classified material is illegal and are currently building a case against him. Assange has also been heavily criticized for releasing classified material completely unredacted, potentially putting diplomatic sources into danger. But he has found plenty of support as well. Nowhere more so than in the Ecuadorian Embassy, a small place of fewer than a dozen rooms. Assange occupies an office now converted into a bedroom with a bed, a desk and a treadmill for exercise. About once a week, embassy staff say he practices boxing with a friend for more rigorous exercise. The embassy has installed a shower for him but there isn't much of a kitchen, so most of the food is takeaway delivered by his friends and embassy staff. "The situation here although I'm confined in captivity to an embassy, is much better than being in solitary confinement in a prison." He told me, "So, I am able to work, I am able to speak to you. So, in that sense my mind is free." Ambassador Ana Alban says he has become part of the family. "It was difficult for us at the beginning," she told CNN. "We had a person living here 24 hours a day and we didn't know that person, his habits. How he was going to react to confinement. "What was not normal at the beginning has become normal. He is another one of us here. Somebody that we count on, we talk to, we worry about when we think something has happened to him. We have now an extended and better run family." His case has become a cause celebre, with Lady Gaga dropping by for tea and fashion designer Vivienne Westwood visiting to display her "I Am Julian Assange" T-shirt. Small things have changed since I first met him. His white hair, once chin-length has been cropped short. He has ditched his T-shirts and leather jacket for a formal suit and tie. He's far more media savvy now, at times sounding more like a politician than a former-hacker-turned-activist of global renown. But other things remain the same. He talks passionately about forcing transparency to transform and reform governments and bureaucracies, happily engaging in long debates. He still sees the world's mainstream media as utterly failing in that regard and he's still prone to making grandiose statements. He's more guarded in interviews now. But occasionally you see some of his mischievous humour peeking through. In the interview, I asked him whether he considers himself as a dissident against Western governments. Here's how he answered: "No. To be a dissident is simply to take the opposite position." He added: "You can think of WikiLeaks as simply a function of education. We are just like a library. We collect information about the way the world works. We publish historic documents. And yes, we take the hardest possible case. We look for those things which are very hard to publish and support the rights of publishers and fight for their rights. "Why do we do that? Well, because we want to live in a better world. But also because it's fun."

CNN's Atika Shubert meets again with Julian Assange in Ecuador Embassy in London . Assange holed up in embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden to face sex assault probe . Shubert: Assange did not seem cornered; in fact he was relaxed and friendly . Ecuadorian Ambassador Ana Alban says he has become part of the family .

(CNN) -- Prince Albert II may be head of state in the principality of Monaco, but when it comes to the Formula One street circuit of Monte Carlo there is only one king: Ayrton Senna. The Brazilian driver won a record six times at the legendary grand prix during a glittering career which included three world championship triumphs and 41 race victories. "As a competitor, from the point of view of all or nothing, he ranks up there at the top," fellow world champion and former on-track rival Nigel Mansell told CNN. "Sadly, as with so many other drivers in the history of the sport, he was prematurely taken away from us." Monaco: Where exhaust fumes and foie gras mix . Senna's tragic death aged 34 at the San Marino Grand Prix in 1994 devastated millions in his homeland, and his passing led to three days of national mourning. Monaco's narrow twists and turns are regarded as one of motorsport's toughest tests, but Senna seemed to relish the technical challenge and excelled when pushing his car to the absolute limit around the harbor's winding streets. He began his love affair with the track in 1984, with a dazzling display of driving talent during his rookie season with British team Toleman. Senna qualified 13th for a grand prix blighted by torrential rain in an unspectacular car. It was only his sixth race and one which would mark the first step on his ascent into F1's pantheon of greats. Ayrton Senna's greatest F1 moments . "Winning the wet races, as Ayrton did, is all part of the challenge," current McLaren driver and 2008 world champion Lewis Hamilton told British newspaper The Times in 2008. "He proved he was the best by destroying everyone ... Doing it (at Monaco) is even harder. This track does bring out the true driver and the best drivers do rise to the top." If what Hamilton said is true, then the legendary circuit unearthed its most precious jewel among the monsoon-like conditions of June 3, 1984. The downpour was laying waste to a distinguished field, with Nelson Piquet, already a double world champion, and Englishman Mansell both out of proceedings inside the first 15 laps. After Senna unleashed a ruthless surge of speed to burn past future championship winner Niki Lauda and move into second place, the 24-year-old had McLaren's race leader Alain Prost in his sights. With Senna tearing through the deluge and gaining on the Frenchman at a rate of three seconds per lap, the race officials came to Prost's rescue. The contest was brought to a premature end after 31 laps, seconds before Senna was able to overhaul Prost, and it heralded the beginning of a fierce rivalry between the two future teammates. Despite an explosive start to his Monaco career, it would be another three years until Senna secured his maiden victory on the street circuit while racing for Lotus in 1987. The South American's mastery of Monte Carlo's winding roads was coming to the fore, and the full extent of his ability was displayed during the 1988 event -- in his debut season as Prost's colleague at McLaren, when he won his first world title. "Managing two highly-motivated sportsmen such as Ayrton and Alain was always going to be a challenging task," former team principal Ron Dennis told CNN. "One of Ayrton's unique and great qualities was that he was determined, he wanted to be the best and nothing was about to stand in his way." It was Senna's infatuation with supremacy which contributed to a legendary qualifying performance, with the sport's official website claiming he "became a passenger on a surreal ride into the unknown." Despite driving identical cars, Senna was able to record a lap two seconds faster than his French teammate to clinch pole position in mesmeric fashion. "Ayrton had such an evident natural talent," said Dennis, who is now executive chairman of the McLaren group. "He was physically fit to a level that caught so many of his opponents off-guard. "He had an admirable obsession with being the best, a superiority for which he was both known and loved." Victory seemed a formality for Senna, who had built a 55-second lead over Prost with only 11 laps remaining. Determined to push himself harder and harder, the race leader lost control and smashed into the wall at the eighth turn on the track -- a corner known as Portier. "I think it is always surprising," Mansell, who also crashed out that year, told CNN of Senna's failure to win in '88. "But at Monaco the slightest mistake can turn into a big mistake, and Ayrton made a very small mistake and paid the penalty of not finishing." It gifted Prost a fourth Monaco triumph in five years, but Senna would bounce back to emphatically trump his nemesis. In 1989, aged 29, he secured a second Monte Carlo crown and began a sequence of domination which saw him claim five successive editions of the marquee race. Arguably his toughest -- and most fortuitous -- win came in 1992, when the Williams of Mansell had claimed maximum points in the year's first five races and was blazing a trail towards world championship glory. "With Piquet, Prost and Senna, as well as myself and many other drivers, it was very difficult in the late 1980s/early 1990s to win," Mansell said. "With competition being at its strongest, and having so many other committed drivers, it was a very satisfying experience when you beat them." Mansell was on course to once again defeat his rivals until disaster struck with seven laps remaining, when the world championship leader was forced into the pits. Senna took control but, on fresh, quicker tires and with a superior car, Mansell quickly closed the gap on the new leader and furiously tried to overhaul him. A dogged Senna used every inch of his McLaren to defend the Williams' onslaught and he held on to temporarily derail Mansell's championship charge. Mansell was exhausted when he took to the podium, but the 31-time race winner is not bitter when reflecting on the experience. "Incredible excitement combined with disappointment," said Mansell when asked what emotions he experienced 23 years ago. "The rules then made it incredibly exciting, and I think the last closing laps were fantastic for the fans and for F1." So what was it that made Senna a seemingly perfect match for Monaco? "At times Ayrton had a better team, a better car and reliability, which is all you need at Monaco," said Mansell. "But above all you have to have that total commitment and concentration to do the job. Any great race-car driver will tell you that driving a car on a knife edge is sometimes very difficult." Two weeks after Senna's passing at Imola, Ferrari's Michael Schumacher assumed the mantel of Monte Carlo maestro by claiming the first of his five victories on the Mediterranean coast. The German can match Senna's all-time record by guiding his Mercedes over the line in first position at this weekend's race but -- at the age of 42 -- the seven-time world champion's best days are certainly behind him. Senna's Monte Carlo achievements look set to be beyond even F1's most successful driver. Proof, if it was needed, that the Brazilian remains the king of Monaco.

Ayrton Senna won Formula One's Monaco Grand Prix a record six times . The Brazilian was second on his debut on the track in 1984, with the Toleman team . Senna's first win on the street circuit arrived in 1987, his final season with Lotus . The three-time world champion won the race five years in a row between 1989-93 .

(CNN) -- Vampires that sparkle, a human/vampire hybrid baby and something called a Volturi -- even a fan would admit that "The Twilight Saga" gets complicated toward the end. What begins as a pretty standard girl-meets-vampire love story quickly evolves into a girl/vampire/shape-shifter love triangle, one that eventually includes a memorable (as in, we're still trying to forget) at-home birth scene. All of that leads up to the final "Twilight Saga" installment, "Breaking Dawn -- Part 2." With the final chapter now in theaters, some of you might be in need of a brief refresher. You can always speed-read Stephenie Meyer's four novels or spend at least eight hours watching the first four films, but why do that when we've broken it all down for you here? Let's start with basics -- what's a Bella Swan? First, you're forgiven if you have absolutely zero firsthand knowledge about this character. Honestly, it's admirable you've been able to avoid "Twilight" for this long. Slow clap for that. Isabella "Bella" Swan (Kristen Stewart) is the heart, eyes and voice of "Twilight." At the start of the series she's a 17-year-old girl who relocates from Arizona to Forks, Washington, to live with her dad when her mom remarries. Bella is awkward and accident-prone and never really feels in step with everyone else, but these are qualities that make her endearing in the "Twilight" world. She quickly falls for .... The vampire Edward Cullen . Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) is a vampire who's been around for the past century, but he's also eternally 17. He lives with his vampire "family" that's been cultivated over the years by "Twilight's" HVIC (head vampire in charge), Dr. Carlisle Cullen (Peter Facinelli). They eat animals rather than humans -- their version of vegetarianism -- and being a vampire for them means sparkling "like diamonds" when in sunlight. Edward can also read minds, with Bella's being the exception, and Alice (Ashley Greene), gets visions about the future. Meyer certainly puts her own spin on vampire lore, but Edward's still a would-be killer, and he does want to kill Bella at first. (Romance!) When Bella figures out Edward's secret, she remains pretty calm about his vampirism -- even though he admits to thirsting for her blood, which to him basically smells like doughnuts to a dieter. Life after 'Twilight': Readers pick new teams . Bella + Edward = 4ever . Edward gets over the "I want to eat you" thing as he gets to know Bella and as she's constantly put into life-threatening situations. The ever-present vampires out to kill Bella are problematic, considering that these two say they can't live without one another. They're each other's "personal brand[s] of heroin," if you will, and they're both strung out. As best we can tell, this sentiment is established after an impromptu dinner date, some chaste sleepovers and Edward saving her from the natural -- an out-of-control car -- and the supernatural -- vampires, including his own brother at Bella's 18th birthday party. By then, Edward can't deal with endangering her all the time and he bails. Bella falls into deep despair, but soon realizes she can conjure visions of Edward rescuing her if she puts herself in dangerous situations. This leads to a cliff-jumping and near-drowning incident that causes Alice to believe that Bella's dead, and word works its way back to Edward. Share your review of 'Breaking Dawn Part 2' Enter the Volturi . The Volturi, which in the movies includes the lovely Dakota Fanning and esteemed Michael Sheen, are a group of lethal (and nattily dressed) vampires who instill a sense of order in "Twilight's" vampire universe and shield it from being exposed. Going against their laws is a great way to get killed. Since Edward can't bear living without his soulmate Bella, he goes to Volturi home base in Italy on a suicide mission, ready to expose himself as a vampire and attract the Volturi's wrath. Bella shows up in time to stop Edward, but the Volturi consider her a risk thanks to her extensive knowledge of the vampires' ways. Alice saves her life by revealing a vision that Bella will soon become a vampire, a transformation Bella's wanted since the first movie, anyway. That way she would be with Edward for eternity and never age to boot. Edward, however, is against it -- as is Jacob, the other guy. Here's where the girl/wolf/vampire triangle comes in . Jacob Black, played by the supremely sculpted Taylor Lautner, is Quileute and has a gene that causes him to shape-shift into a wolf when vampires are in town. His friendship with Bella deepened when Edward left, and his feelings turn romantic. He makes a strong case for Bella's affections, and by "Eclipse" has the girl so confused she winds up kissing him. To be fair, she was worried about what would happen to him in a standoff between the Cullens and a new army of vamps created by a vengeful Victoria. (She was out for Bella's blood ever since Edward killed her lover James in "Twilight.") But even after that, Jacob still gets second place to Edward, whom Bella agrees to marry. The birth from "Twilight" hell . Bella and Edward didn't have sex until after they got married because of Edward's old-fashioned ways (the guy's been around since 1901, after all). Plus he was worried he'd crush her to death in the heat of the moment. (Again, with the romance.) The deal was to turn Bella into a vampire after she tied the knot, but they hold off a bit so she can experience her wedding night without the distraction of unquenchable bloodthirst. After Edward swept Bella away to a family-owned island for their honeymoon, the sex "Twilight" fans devoured three books and three movies for finally happens. Bella's bruised, but satisfied ... and also pregnant. Through some technicalities that were never covered in our sex education class, Bella and Edward made a hybrid baby, which means the part-vampire fetus slowly kills her from the inside. In what some have read as an anti-abortion plotline, Bella insists on keeping her baby against the wishes of loved ones, including Edward. The majority of "Breaking Dawn -- Part I" chronicles Bella's torturous pregnancy, which demands that she drink a steady diet of blood .... even before she actually becomes a vampire. OK, you're caught up now . Giving birth to a vampire/human child is a spine-breaking horror show, one so gory that Edward had no choice but to turn Bella into a vampire to save her. But before they can be a happy, mostly vampire family with their new baby Renesmee -- who ages at a much faster rate than a human child -- the threat of the Volturi rises once again. And that's where we pick things up in "Breaking Dawn -- Part 2." The last installment has not only promised us an epic battle and a twist ending, but Bella finding out about Jacob's "imprinting," when he becomes uncontrollably attached to baby Renesmee on sight and completely devoted to her for life. Like we said -- it gets complicated.

"The Twilight Saga" gets a bit complicated toward the end . The prior four films have been building up to this weekend's "Breaking Dawn -- Part 2" Writer authors a "refresher course" for those who need to catch up .

(CNN) -- America is getting fatter, according to a new report, and bulging waistlines will rack up big health care expenditures within the next two decades. The report, from the Trust for America's Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, draws on previously published government data to make predictions about what consequences an upward obesity trend would have for individual states. It also projects that the health of the country -- and the dollars spent on the health care system -- would benefit from even a 5% reduction in the average body mass index. The report is called "F as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens America's Future 2012." The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found, in data published in August, that Mississippi is the country's leader in adult obesity, at 34.9%. That number could rise to 66.7% by 2030, the new report found. The new analysis also projected that obesity rates in 13 states could rise above 60% among adults by 2030. By that year, every state in the nation may have adult obesity rates above 44%, including 39 states with rates higher than 50%, the report said. This is consistent with a 2012 study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, which concluded that by 2030, 42% of adults will be obese. That study forecast $550 billion in health care spending from now to 2030 as a result of rising obesity rates. Just how fat? But some experts are skeptical about how accurately obesity trends can be predicted. Methods of calculating how fat Americans will be in the future vary greatly, and there's no accepted standard of determining it, said David B. Allison, director of the Nutrition Obesity Research Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, who was not involved in the new study. "I don't mean for a moment that we should not be taking steps to reduce obesity," Allison said. "If it increases in prevalence, it would be a more serious problem. And even if it decreases in prevalence, without us intentionally doing anything in the immediate term, I'd be shocked if it's going to vanish." Interventions intended to reduce obesity should take place regardless of what the projections say the numbers will be in the future, he said. The CDC data indicate that the South is the most obese region of the U.S., but that may not be entirely true either, said George Howard, professor of biostatistics at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. No one was weighed or measured in the collecting of the information; people were merely asked about their heights and weights via telephone -- so they could have lied. Howard speculates that there may be bias in the data because "there's not a social stigma attached to being fat in the South," he said. "If you ask people how fat they are, they tell you." Correlations between obesity and the South may be tied to other factors, Allison said. Certain ethnic groups, people from rural areas, and people of low socioeconomic status are more likely to be obese than others. It is not known whether there is a particular reporting bias in the South, or whether lifestyle factors influence obesity there, or if the trend has both components, Allison said. More obesity leads to more disease, and money . For making projections, the new study uses a peer-reviewed model that was used in an analysis of obesity trends in a 2011 article in The Lancet. The Lancet study used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, whereas this one used CDC data. But note that the methodology for the CDC data was different from years past. For the 2011 survey, the CDC included cell phones for the first time. That means trouble for comparisons between this year's results and surveys before it. Authors of the new report noted that in 1995, Mississippi's obesity rate, which led the nation at that time as well, was only 19.4%, and that 20 years ago, no state was above 15%. But these numbers were not determined the same way as the 2011 data. If this report's projections are correct, the disease burden as a consequence is significant. Between 2010 and 2020, new cases of Type 2 diabetes could increase tenfold; so could stroke, coronary heart disease, hypertension and arthritis. The number of cases could double again by 2030, the report said. "(If) we stay on the current track, we're going to see unacceptably high rates of obesity, and more importantly, unacceptably high rates of diabetes, heart disease, stroke, obesity-related cancers, arthritis, that will really place a huge burden on our health care system," said Jeff Levi, executive director of Trust for American Health. Other data have also suggested diabetes increases. A 2010 analysis from UnitedHealth Group's Center for Health Reform and Modernization found that more than half of Americans will have diabetes or pre-diabetes by 2020. The researchers said these diseases will account for nearly $500 billion in total health care spending. Current estimates suggest that the yearly medical cost of adult obesity today is between $147 billion and $210 billion, the study said. The report found that by 2030, an extra $48 billion to $66 billion per year may be spent treating preventable diseases associated with obesity. Interventions . But there is hope, if adults across America would reduce their body mass index, the report said. If the average body mass index were lowered by 5% by 2030, states could save billions of dollars while helping many people. That's the equivalent of a 200-pound, 6-foot-tall person losing 10 pounds. "We really are looking at two futures for America's health," Michelle Larkin, assistant vice president and deputy director for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Health Group, said at a news conference Tuesday. In this scenario, the report found, more than 100 cases of obesity-related cancer for every 100,000 people would be prevented in all states. Nearly 800,000 Californians would avoid diabetes, and about 660,000 Californians would avoid a stroke or coronary heart disease. And savings in health care costs could be between 6.5% and 7.9% in most states, the report said. The report recommends several policy interventions, such as increasing physical activity in schools, supporting healthy nutrition, putting in place new standards for school meals, and promoting preventive health care services. Larkin highlighted Philadelphia as a city that has shown a commitment to reducing obesity, and where efforts are paying off. A CDC report found that obesity among the city's public school students has declined in recent years, although only from 21.5% to 20.5%. Philadelphia has implemented several initiatives over the last decade aimed at schoolchildren, including removing all sodas and drinks sweetened with sugar from vending machines, offering free breakfast to all students, and getting rid of fryers. The Food Trust, a Philadelphia-based nonprofit group, has been bringing supermarkets to communities that need them and ensuring that food stamps can be used at farmers' markets. "The city is the first to succeed in reducing disparities in obesity rates," Larkin said. "The city achieved the greatest achievements in (body mass index) among African-American males and Hispanic females, two groups that historically have experienced higher rates of obesity and related health problems." California, Mississippi and New York City are also starting to show declines in childhood obesity rates, she said. FDA-approved diet drug Qsymia now available .

CDC: Mississippi has highest rate of adult obesity . New report: Every state may have adult obesity rates above 44% by 2030 . Some experts skeptical that it's possible to predict the future of obesity in the country .

Las Vegas (CNN) -- Some people think wearable gadgets look cool. Perhaps they rock their Google Glass while out at happy hour, or flash the latest crowd-funded smart watch at the office. While the devices are undoubtedly conversation starters, and the look may be coveted in some circles, for the most part wearable technology has a fashion problem. At the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week, wearable devices are everywhere, and some are finally trying to break out of the gadget world and into the fashion world. Wearables is a broad and fast-growing category that, as the name implies, includes any small piece of technology that can be worn. Research firm ABI estimates the wearables market will hit $6 billion by 2018. Here at CES there are "smart" glasses, watches, bracelets, brooches, visors, necklaces and even bras. Straps secure small sensors against arms, chest, head or legs. There are even wearables for dogs, cats and children. The tasks wearables accomplish are as varied as the body parts they adorn. The technology inside these devices is moving ahead while the design side stagnates. Sensors are getting smaller, cheaper and more advanced. It's possible that the technology will become so advanced that trackers could bypass the design problem altogether by shrinking down electronic elements enough that they can be invisibly embedded in regular clothing, hats, shoes and belts. But not every company sees that on the horizon. "We don't think the trackers we see today are going to go away in favor of a sensor-laden shirt or bra," said Woody Scal, the chief revenue officer at fitness tracker company Fitbit. Fitness trackers embrace the fun . The most popular wearables are fitness trackers, which use sensors to detect movement, heart rate, body temperature, breathing, sleep patterns, location and speed. In the fitness area at CES, low-profile and colorful bracelets inspired by the Nike FuelBand and Fitbit Flex and Force are the most common. There are the Garmin Vivofit and Jaybird Reign trackers, and the LG Lifeband Touch and Razer Nabu, which add in notifications from smartphones. The new Sony Core, a small stick that will fit in wrist-wear like the Sony SmartBand, acts as a fitness tracker but also branches out into life logging. It will be able to track mundane daily activities, weather, what movies you watch and what music you listen to, and notable events. It can also receive notifications from a paired smartphone, will likely cost around $135, and pops in and out of various brightly colored wrist bands. The traditional wearable look is passable for fitness gear, which is expected to be bold and sporty. Unfortunately the esthetic doesn't always translate into everyday wear. Most adults have moved beyond rocking brightly colored plastic baubles. They want sleekly designed accessories and brand names. Early stabs at jewelry . Some companies have smartly started to outsource the design process to people who know about fashion. Intel announced that it was teaming up with hipster design label Opening Ceremony on a bracelet that will be sold at Barneys, though specific design and pricing details are still unknown. Chip-maker CSR worked with jeweler Cellini to create a surprisingly nice Bluetooth pendant that has a single, customizable light for receiving notifications. On the odd side, the necklace can also be programmed to release perfume throughout the day. Fitbit announced it was dabbling in jewelry and partnering with Tory Burch on a Fitbit necklace and a bracelet. The products are still in the design stage, but drawings show decent gold jewelry that would look good even if it didn't contain a tracker. Not every company is getting outside help. Ezio makes gaudy $129 necklaces that pair with a smartphone and have stones that light up when someone calls or texts. "The whole idea here is that people -- not everyone, but lots of people, we believe -- want their fitness trackers to be even more fashionable," said Fitbit's Scal. "In the male-focused technology industry, we didn't think people were paying enough attention to women, to be honest." Everyone's making a smart watch . Appealing to women is an issue with one of the most hyped wearable categories: smart watches. Gadgets calling themselves smart watches range from regular watch faces with light-up notifications to full featured Android phones worn on the wrist. The most appealing are designed to look like everyday analog watches, while others look like touch screens with a strap tossed on. When well done, a watch with a face big enough to accommodate smart features can pass as a nice men's accessory, but the majority are still far too bulky and awkward for women. The focus on the watch form factor has been oddly intense, with rumors of an Apple smart watch swirling for the past year and major companies like Samsung pushing out glitchy, undercooked technology like the Galaxy Gear. At CES, Intel, Qualcomm and indie darling Pebble all announced new smart watches, and there was a dedicated area for the wrist wear. The Burg ($149 to $399) takes a SIM card and can make calls. The $130 Cogito Pop looks like a classic watch but adds notifications from a paired smartphone. Qualcomm's $349 Toq is similar to the Pebble but with a full color screen and fewer apps. The new Pebble Steel is a proper stainless steel smart watch for $250. The most egregiously oversized smart watch on the CES floor is the Neptune Pine, a 2.4-inch touchscreen rectangle running Android Jelly Bean that will cost between $335 and $395 when released in March. Technically, it has all the features of a fully functioning Android phone, but the cramped screen means it works better as a secondary screen for viewing notifications, paired with a regular Android smartphone stashed in your bag or large pocket. One of the more clever smart watches at CES is the Filip, a simple and sturdy phone and location tracker for kids five to 11 years old. Parents can program in five phone numbers and the child can make and receive calls from those contacts, and receive but not send texts. An accompanying iOS or Android app can be used to pinpoint the kid's location on a map. The $199 device will be sold through AT&T stores and service will cost just $10 a month without a contract. On your face but out of the way . For the most part, wearables offer a limited selection of the features already available on smartphones. The idea is to save people from the distracting task of pulling out a phone, looking at it, tapping on it and returning it safely to a pocket. At the Cogito booth, Andres Muguira said a smart watch would help wearers filter incoming notifications so they would "get to spend more time with loved ones." That's the idea behind wearable glasses, either the most or least distracting wearable depending on your point of view. There were a number of Google Glass-like products at CES. GlassUp shows e-mails, texts, tweets and other messages on a display directly in front of the eye. The GlassUp design currently resembles safety glasses, but a mockup of the final version could almost pass for a regular pair of black thick-framed specs. Epson's Moverio BT-100 glasses look like the disposable sunglasses you get after a trip to the eye doctor. The industrial Vuzix glasses don't even attempt to pass as normal glasses, looking more like a futuristic monocle, but that could change if the company decides to make a commercial product. The best outcome for smart glasses, and all other wearable tech, is blending in by looking like products people already want to wear. They could follow Google's lead. The company was reportedly talking to hip glasses company Warby Parker about possible design partnerships for future versions of Google Glass.

Smart watches, fitness trackers and jewelry that flashes notifications are plentiful at CES . The fast-growing wearables market is just starting to focus on more fashionable designs . Some companies are teaming up with fashion designers like Tory Burch .

(CNN) -- Whenever a new hotel opens, guests are quick to flock there, clamoring for its shiny new rooms and state-of-the-art features. But there's something to be said for staying at a venerable older property, like these top-rated hotels that are each celebrating their centennial this year. Some of them have survived issues like war, recession, fire and lackluster management over the past 100 years, but each has persevered and truly stands the test of time. So next time you're visiting these eight cities, consider checking in at these legendary lodgings. GROVE PARK INN, Asheville, North Carolina . Opening date: July 12, 1913 . Easily distinguishable by its granite exterior and red clay-tile roof, the Grove Park Inn has long been a favorite mountain retreat, hallowed for its sweeping views, Southern hospitality and rustic yet refined Arts and Crafts design. A recent $25 million renovation, timed by current owner KSL Resorts to coincide with its anniversary celebrations, ensures this grande dame is back to form; even the giant fireplace in the lobby is working again. 7 amazing island rentals . Famous guests: Thomas Edison, Helen Keller, Henry Ford . Historical fact: In 1930, William Howard Taft resigned from the Supreme Court in the hotel's Great Hall. HÔTEL PLAZA ATHÉNÉE, Paris, France . Opening date: April 20, 1913 . Almost immediately after it opened, this testament to French culture and style became the place to see and be seen in Paris, and it remains so to this day. Now part of the Dorchester Collection, the hotel features 191 elegantly appointed rooms and suites pairing 18th-century-style touches with modern conveniences like remote-controlled air-conditioning. And you'll not just sleep well here, but eat well, too, given that all four of its restaurants fall under the supervision of famed French-born chef Alain Ducasse. Go underground: Cave hotels . Famous guests: Marlene Dietrich, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, Jackie Kennedy . Historical fact: Legendary designer Christian Dior loved the hotel so much he opened his House of Dior on the same street, and avenue Montaigne soon became the capital of high fashion. HOTEL DU PONT, Wilmington, Delaware . Opening date: January 15, 1913 . With its elaborate woodwork, polished terrazzo floors and plush Queen Anne furnishings, the Hotel du Pont is a perfect example of the extravagance of America's Gilded Age. Additions over the years include elegant ballrooms, dozens more guestrooms, a theater substantial enough to house a Broadway show and a collection of notable artworks by the likes of N.C. and Andrew Wyeth. 6 hot resorts for adults only . Famous guests: King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, Amelia Earhart, Eleanor Roosevelt . Historical fact: The hotel was conceived by a pair of DuPont executives as a place for people to stay while visiting their Brandywine Valley headquarters, yet no expense was spared in its creation and the final bill totaled an estimated $1 million, a hefty sum at that time. FORT GARRY HOTEL, Winnipeg, Manitoba . Opening date: December 10, 1913 . The Fort Garry is one of a group of grand hotels built by the Canadian National Railway in the early 20th century to increase travel along its transcontinental routes. These château-inspired accommodations quickly grew in popularity, and while some have fallen by the wayside, the Fort Garry maintains its glitz and glamour, a fact that recently heralded it a spot on a list of the 10 most romantic spots in Canada. Famous guests: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Jack Dempsey, Liberace . Historical fact: The hotel once had its own bakery, butcher shop, heating plant, artesian well and printing press. The latter remains but is only accessible through a doorway on the roof. BENSON HOTEL, Portland, Oregon . Opening date: March 4, 1913 . The success of the Benson Hotel can be attributed to Simon Benson, an emigrant from Norway who moved to Portland and made a fortune in the lumber business. Ever the pioneer, he took a hotel that bled cash for the first 16 months of its life (it was originally called the New Oregon Hotel) and transformed it into a world-class property that now sits on the National Register of Historic Places. Managed today by Coast Hotels, it still oozes Benson's influences, from the Austrian crystal chandeliers to the Circassian walnut columns. Famous guests: Every seated president since William H. Taft . Historical fact: Back in the day, guests of the hotel were greeted each morning with a complimentary cup of hot clam nectar. Today, it's a cup of hot coffee. HOTEL SAVOY, Moscow, Russia . Opening date: March 30, 1913 . The two aren't related, but much like the Savoy Hotel in London, Moscow's Savoy is a landmark property dripping with opulence, albeit in a much smaller, more intimate setting. Designed as a haven for aristocrats visiting from Saint Petersburg and beyond, it still draws Russia's elite, who can often be found hobnobbing in the lobby bar. Another beloved feature is its location, which is just steps from top sights like the Kremlin, the Bolshoi and St. Basil's Cathedral. Famous guests: Isadora Duncan, Luciano Pavarotti, Richard Gere . Historical fact: The Hotel Savoy was built by the Salamander Fire Insurance Company, and images of salamanders can be found in the carpets, the pool and elsewhere throughout the property. GSTAAD PALACE, Gstaad, Switzerland . Opening date: December 8, 1913 . Gstaad is one of Europe's favorite winter sports destinations, but guests flock to this old-school resort year-round, enticed by the lighted tennis courts, Olympic-size swimming pool, high-end fitness center with saunas and massage rooms, and the hundreds of miles of hike and bike trails that weave through the Bernese Alps surrounding the property. One of the few family-owned and -operated hotels in Switzerland, the Gstaad Palace makes a point to treat its guests like one of their own, and the result is a boom in repeat visitors. Famous guests: Marc Chagall, Madonna, Jimmy Carter . Historical fact: Owing to the Palace's isolated mountainside location, the Swiss government found it a fitting place to stash a chunk of its gold reserves during World War II. GRANDE COLONIAL, La Jolla, California . Opening date: February 1, 1913 . Given the Grande Colonial's spectacular seaside setting in a charming suburb of San Diego, it's not hard to see how the hotel has survived for the last hundred years. Or how it could easily make it another hundred. The property has undergone multiple renovations over the decades, including an $8 million restoration completed in 2007 and a recent overhaul of the entry, lobby and adjacent public spaces, both meant to preserve the hotel's original European-style ambiance and aesthetic. Famous guests: Groucho Marx, Jane Wyatt and a couple of ghosts said to haunt the hotel's hallways . Historical fact: The pharmacist at a drugstore that became part of the hotel back in 1928 was the father of actor Gregory Peck, who grew up in the area and later co-founded the La Jolla Playhouse.

The Grove Park Inn celebrates its 100th birthday in July . Gstaad Palace in Switzerland is a family-owned hotel marking 100 years in December . The Fort Garry Hotel was built by the Canadian National Railway in the early 20th century .

Cairo (CNN) -- Egypt's ruling military council Tuesday expressed "great regret" to Egyptian women over recent attacks on female demonstrators by military police and vowed to hold accountable those responsible. Days of clashes around Cairo's Tahrir Square were stoked by the weekend beating of a woman by military police officers, prompting a "Million Women" march on Tuesday. In a statement issued on its Facebook page, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces called for calm and said it is willing to discuss any proposal "that might help in achieving stability and safety for Egypt." "The Supreme Council express its great regret to the great women of Egypt for the violations that took place during the recent events, in the demonstrations that took place at the parliament and the ministers' council, and reassure its respect and appreciation for Egyptian women and their right in protesting and their active positive participation in the political life," it said. The statement added, "All legal measures have been taken to hold accountable all those responsible for these violations." Egypt's capital remained engulfed in tension Tuesday as security forces and protesters clashed and demonstrators at the "Million Women" march railed against the regime and assaults on citizens. Meanwhile, Egypt's capital remained engulfed in tension as security forces wielding batons, firearms and tear gas attacked defiant protesters Tuesday on the fifth consecutive day of clashes the square, witnesses told CNN. Sherif Barakat, a businessman, heard machine gun fire early in the morning and saw the unrest from the balcony of his home above Tahrir Square. He saw security forces charge, firing tear gas and beating people with batons. "Both sides exchanged rock-pelting until the military withdrew," he said. "They kept the protesters at bay far from the epicenter of the clashes at Sheikh Rihan Street close to the Ministry of Interior for two hours until they reinforced the cement wall erected two days back with more blocks, then they withdrew." Nazly Hussein, an activist, said the forces stormed the square before dawn with a "startling" amount of firepower. "I noticed protesters are not too scared of the firepower," Hussein said. But at the same time, "they are terrified from getting caught and tortured." Ahmed Hamdi, a field medic, claimed that two people -- a doctor and a student -- were shot and killed. But Adel Al Dawi, a Health Ministry spokesman, could not confirm the casualties. "It usually takes several hours before we get the official casualty report from the morgues or the hospitals. I know of five people who suffered gunshot wounds during the attack and were transferred to hospitals," Al Dawi said. Demonstrators and security forces have been battling since Friday in Tahrir, the epicenter of the uprising that brought down Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak earlier this year. At least 14 deaths in the latest spate of violence were confirmed as of Monday. Several hundred women kicked off the "Million Woman" march, billed to highlight regime violence against female demonstrators. It started in Tahrir Square, moved through nearby streets and grew to as many as 1,500 to 2,000 people, both men and women outraged over the treatment of all protesters. Many held up pictures of abused people, and called for regime change. Men vigilant about assaults formed a protective ring around the female marchers. "I am here to violently condemn the attacks on Egyptian men and women by the Egyptian Army," said Ragia Omran, a human rights activist at the march. "We will not be quiet. We will not let this happen again and we will continue to voice out our anger against this military junta that is killing this country." The march occurred as shocking images of brutality that went viral across the Internet intensified the crisis in Egypt, the world's most populous Arab nation. One video that sparked outrage showed a military police officer stomping on a woman's exposed stomach over the weekend. Protesters on Tuesday held placards with images of that woman. Navi Pillay, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, released a statement Monday condemning what she called "vicious" and "brutal" assaults recorded over the weekend. "The ruthless violence being used against unarmed women protesters is especially shocking and cannot be left unpunished," Pillay said. Another video showed Islam Abdel Hafiz, a boy allegedly shot by the military. Field medics attempted to remove the bullet from his motionless bleeding body before transferring him to the hospital. Al Dawi said he visited the boy in the operating room and met his parents. "I hope he survives, as the bullet seems to have caused some serious internal damage," Al Dawi told CNN. Protesters are now demanding that the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces swiftly hand authority over to an elected civilian government. Egypt has been conducting parliamentary elections and the military has said it plans to transfer power after elections are completed next year. There have already been two rounds of voting for the lower house of Parliament, and voting for the upper house will begin at the end of January and go into early March. There are plans for the election of a president in June. Newly elected Parliament members, intellectuals and academics weighed in on the violence Monday. The 40 demonstrators held a sit-in in front of the Supreme Court. They demanded that officials involved in the killing of protesters be tried, and they called for the military to hand over authority to civilians on January 25, the anniversary of the Egyptian revolution. Meanwhile, the Egyptian Revolutionary Alliance, an opposition bloc of secular and religious parties, held a news conference to display images and testimonials about the violence, an event that served as a refutation of a Monday news briefing by the military. The alliance has not taken part in the election. "Our press conference challenges the press conference announced by the military yesterday which was an utter joke, with all the blatant lies and fabrications it contained. That presser displayed their arrogance and continued mismanagement of the interim period that has led us to the crisis of witnessing dead people everyday," said alliance member Rami Shath. The military displayed videos of young boys who confessed that they received money from men who asked them to throw Molotov cocktails and rocks at security forces and burn government buildings such as the Cabinet. Many journalists attending the news conference applauded Gen. Adel Amar after his speech. "The military fabricated these videos and forced the young boys to give these testimonials. They also invited local military correspondents loyal to the establishment that were seen clapping away after the press conference, which was broadcast live on state TV. It is a propaganda move to bury the revolution and portray us as paid thugs with no political horizon," Shath added. Activists have filed complaints about senior government officials to the Egyptian prosecutor's office. Adel Saeed, the official spokesman of the general prosecutor, told CNN that two judges from the appeals court have been appointed to investigate the "intricate details" of the clashes and file a report to the prosecutor and the Justice Ministry. "There are protesters and activists dying every day," Noor Noor, the son of presidential candidate Ayman Nour, told CNN Tuesday. The son filed a report under his own name against Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, commander-in-chief of the armed forces. "Someone has to be accountable. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces has failed to govern the interim period on both the military and political level," Noor said. Monday was the fourth day that pro-democracy demonstrators battled Egyptian security forces. The United Nations' Pillay said she believes the individuals involved in the assaults must be arrested and prosecuted. "These are life-threatening and inhuman acts that cannot possibly be justified under the guise of restoration of security or crowd control," Pillay said. She called for an impartial and independent investigation into "all instances of abuse and violent repression against protesters."

NEW: Egypt's military expresses "great regret" to women over the violence . Marchers angered at the violence stage a protest . A field medic claims two people were shot dead . The prosecutor's office is probing the violence .

(CNN) -- When Russian Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu stated that the Russian troops along Ukraine's borders were only conducting "training exercises" and have no "intention to cross Ukraine's borders or to engage in any aggressive actions," Ukrainians rolled their eyes. And when President Vladimir Putin told Ukrainians "Don't believe those who terrify you with Russia, who shout that other regions will follow Crimea. We do not want Ukraine's division. ... We want Ukraine to be a strong, sovereign, and self-sufficient state," Ukrainians shrugged. The problem is, even if Putin and Shoigu were being sincere, Moscow has lost all credibility among most Ukrainians and the international community. After three weeks of aggressive Russian behavior and the possibility of existential annihilation, Ukrainians, like Israelis, prefer to think in terms of worst-case scenarios. After all, they blithely assumed Russia would never attack -- and then Russia seized Crimea. They never imagined that Russian officials would treat their country as an object of abject scorn. They never suspected that thousands of Russians would chant anti-Ukrainian war slogans in the streets of Moscow. In each instance, Ukrainians' working assumption of a friendly Russia proved dead wrong. They also never imagined that the Yanukovych regime had so thoroughly permitted Ukraine's defensive capacity to deteriorate, by sacrificing Ukrainian security on the altar of the Yanukovych family's untrammeled accumulation of power and embezzlement of state funds. A political scientist at Kiev's elite Mohyla University has stated that he is not "not optimistic about Ukraine maintaining the integrity of even its mainland territorial borders" until the end of March and has evacuated his family from the capital. A friend in Lviv tells me that "an invasion and war are unavoidable." An American businessman in Kiev writes: "I believe we are closer to World War III than we have ever been." In many parts of the country, Ukrainians have taken to preparing little suitcases with all the necessities -- just in case they have to flee at a moment's notice. Ukrainians' jitters are perfectly understandable. Ukrainian officials say that 80,000 Russian troops and heavy armor are amassed on Ukraine's borders. Putin claims to have the right to intervene anywhere in Ukraine if and when he deems that Russian citizens are being threatened. He and myriad Russian policymakers routinely insist that Ukrainians are really Russians and that Ukraine is an artificial entity. Thus far, Moscow refuses to recognize the democratic government in Kiev and claims that it is no longer bound by the 1994 Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances. Because of Russia's occupation of Crimea and Putin's militarist rhetoric, many Ukrainians are certain that war is inevitable. Prime Minister Arsenii Yatseniuk warned Moscow on March 20 that Ukraine's response to a Russian invasion would be vigorous. Kiev has already begun improving its defensive capabilities. On March 17, the Ukrainian Parliament allocated 6.9 billion hryvnia -- about $684 million -- to defense. In the last few weeks, Ukrainian armed forces, tanks and other defensive weapons have been deployed along the country's border with Russia. The number of border guards along Ukraine's southeastern borders has also increased. Kherson province is planning to build a 20-kilometer long ditch along its border with Crimea. A National Guard has been formed, and its ranks are to consist of 20,000 troops. The Ukrainian Security Service appears also to have become more active in Ukraine's vulnerable southeastern provinces. No less important, the population is determined to resist and sales of guns have far outstripped supply. Thinking in more long-term categories, former Minister of Foreign Affairs Volodymyr Ohryzko has even suggested that Ukraine exit the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and initiate the "process of uranium enrichment." American provision of non-lethal military equipment and advisers would also go a long way to improving Ukraine's deterrent capacity. Kiev's defensive efforts may or may not be enough to stop a possible Russian attack, but they would certainly make it far more difficult, risky, and bloody -- which may be enough to deter Moscow. Alternatively, these efforts may just induce Russia to seek less frontal modes of undermining Ukraine. After all, any potential Russian assault on mainland Ukraine would rest on three pillars: an invasion by the army, the agitation by pro-Putin "fifth columns" within Ukraine, and the diversionary activities of Russian secret agents and special forces tasked with sowing panic, sabotaging transportation and communications, and attacking military bases and arms depots. Although Ukraine appears to have the capacity to neutralize internal threats, a concerted long-term Russian effort at stoking instability could lay the groundwork for a later invasion or, at the very least, divert Kiev's attention from the pressing cause of economic and political reform. While Ukraine's security may or may not be enhanced by most of these measures, the irony is that Russia's definitely will not be -- at least in the medium to long term. Putin's seizure of Crimea may have provided him with the opportunity to beat his chest before adoring Russian crowds, but it will eventually undermine Russian security. Ukraine is and will remain too weak to be a threat. And on its own, no country in Russia's "near abroad" can pose a threat. Even taken together, the non-Russians will be weaker than Russia. But Putin's land grab will make all of them inclined to regard Russia as a potentially land-grabbing foe and to promote their own security independently of Russia and outside of any Russian-led blocs or unions. Expect the Central Asians and Azerbaijanis to turn increasingly to China and Turkey, and the Georgians, Moldovans, Ukrainians, and even the Belarusians to head for the West. Also expect the Russian Federation's non-Russian autonomous republics and regions to press for greater autonomy from Moscow. If Putin could just put aside his hypernationalist neo-imperialism and think straight about what's good for Russia, he'd try to nip the problem in the bud. A sober Russia would then withdraw all the forces that are engaged in "exercises" along Ukraine's borders and agree to a significant force reduction in Crimea. A sober Russia would also explicitly state that it recognizes the Budapest Memorandum and the current Ukrainian government. That last point is essential. As long as the Kremlin insists that the Kiev government is illegitimate, it will always be able to claim that its behavior toward Ukraine's Russian minority is also illegitimate and, hence, liable to correction by means of Russian intervention. Seen in this light, annexing Crimea has to be one of Putin's worst strategic blunders. Had the province become "independent," there would still have been a theoretical possibility of finding some accommodation with Kiev. After annexation, any dialogue with the Ukrainian government -- and, thus, any resolution of the Russo-Ukrainian conflict -- becomes significantly more difficult. It's perfectly possible that Putin wants the conflict to remain unresolved, on the assumption that it will undermine Ukraine. The problem is that an unresolved conflict will also undermine Russia. As Ukraine and Russia's other non-Russian neighbors are compelled by Moscow's aggression to enhance their security, Russia may soon face a nightmare of its own creation -- non-Russian encirclement. When Russians wake up to the reality after the euphoria of Crimea's annexation wears off, Putin may very well discover that his own security and stability as President are in danger. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Alexander Motyl.

Alexander Motyl: Ukrainians don't believe Russia's assurances it will not invade . He says people are buying guns, leaving town, packing suitcases to be ready for war . Motyl: Ukraine is beefing up its decimated defense; sending troops, tanks to borders . Motyl: This may be Putin's worst strategic move, alienating other small, nearby nations .

(CNN) -- An Arizona judge declared a mistrial in the penalty phase of the Jodi Arias trial Thursday after a deadlocked jury said it couldn't decide whether to sentence her to death for the murder of her ex-boyfriend. That means a new jury will be chosen, but the first-degree murder conviction still stands. A retrial for the penalty phase will begin on July 18, Judge Sherry Stephens said. A status conference has been scheduled for June 20. Since Tuesday, jurors had been deliberating whether Arias, 32, should get a death sentence for murdering ex-boyfriend Travis Alexander in 2008. A source with knowledge of the jury's vote said there was an 8-4 split in favor of sentencing Arias to death. Jurors refused to talk to the media and immediately left the courtroom. The hung jury brought to a close a dramatic chapter in a high-profile case that has lasted for months, drawing spectators who lined up for courtroom seats and waited anxiously outside the courthouse. But the closely watched trial isn't over yet. In many states, the death penalty would be off the table if the jury couldn't agree. Not Arizona. "It's a very unusual circumstance, but it is part of Arizona statute that yes, if you get to this third phase, the penalty phase, and there is a hung jury, it means another jury comes in," said CNN's Ashleigh Banfield, who has covered the Arias trial from the outset. In a written statement, Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery said prosecutors "will proceed with the intent to retry the penalty phase." "We appreciate the jury's work in the guilt and aggravation phases of the trial and now we will assess, based upon available information, what the next steps will be," he said. Legal experts debate what's next . Speculation surged that prosecutors might consider offering Arias a plea deal rather than going through the lengthy steps necessary to find new jurors and present evidence to them. "I don't think by any means that this is a sure thing you retry the penalty phase," said Mark Geragos, a criminal defense attorney. A lot depends, he said, on exactly how many jurors were willing to go with the death penalty this time around. "If it was 11 to 1 ... for death, you can be sure the prosecutor is going to want a retrial. If it tilted the other way ... they may just decide, 'No, we're not going to do that, we'll try and cut a deal,' " he said. Another key step for prosecutors will be speaking with Alexander's family to decide whether to proceed, CNN legal analyst Sunny Hostin said. "The prosecutors have to speak to the family, because we know this family has been in the courtroom day in and day out. They were visibly shaken and upset when this hung jury came back," she said. "And so there's no question in my mind that it's premature to say this will, indeed, go to another penalty phase." CNN legal analyst Paul Callan said that prosecutors have little motivation to agree to a plea deal that offers Arias a life sentence. If the prosecution won in a retrial, he said, Arias would receive the death penalty. But even if they lost, she would probably get "the same life sentence she would obtain in a negotiated deal," he said. "The only real roadblock to a penalty retrial would be the strong request of the victim's family to accept to a plea and end the process now," he said. "I think such a request unlikely." Emotions ran high in the courtroom as the jury's inability to agree on a sentence was announced. Arias appeared to be on the verge of tears. One of Alexander's sisters sobbed. Even the normally stoic judge's voice cracked as she dismissed jurors. "Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the participants in this trial, I wish to thank you for your extraordinary service to this community," she told them. "This was not your typical trial. You were asked to perform very difficult responsibilities." An alternate juror and a juror who was on the panel cried as the verdict was being read. As the jury filed out of the courtroom, one juror said, "I'm sorry" to Alexander's family. Jurors struggle to agree . Jurors had deliberated for more than 13 hours in the penalty phase of the trial when they told the court they wouldn't be able to agree on a verdict. Earlier this month, the same jurors took less than two hours to decide that Arias was "exceptionally cruel" when she stabbed Travis Alexander 29 times, slit his neck from ear to ear and shot him in the face. They pronounced her guilty of first-degree murder on May 8 after 15 hours of deliberations. For Arias to be sentenced to death, a jury's decision must be unanimous. About an hour into its deliberations on Thursday, the jury sent out a question, but the details of its query were not revealed in court. On Wednesday morning, the jury sent out a note saying its members couldn't agree. Stephens told them to try again and ordered them back into the jury room. If Arias is given a sentence of death, she would be the fourth woman on death row in the state of Arizona. Haven't been following the trial? Read this . A plea for mercy . On Tuesday, Arias pleaded with jurors to spare her. She told them she would dedicate her time in prison to performing acts of charity from behind bars. She said she would teach people to read or to speak Spanish, start a book club and donate her hair so it could be used to make wigs for sick children. She showed jurors several pieces of her artwork. She called Alexander's murder "the worst mistake" she had ever made, "the worst thing I've ever done." She couldn't have imagined herself capable of such a grisly crime, Arias told the jury. "But I know that I was," she said. "And for that I'm going to be sorry for the rest of my life -- probably longer." A case packed with twists and turns . Arias was living in Yreka, California, when she met Alexander at a business convention in Las Vegas in September 2006. That November, he baptized Arias into the Mormon faith, a ceremony Arias said was followed by anal sex. Arias became his girlfriend two months later, she testified. They broke up in the summer of 2007, and Alexander began dating other women. In June 2008, Alexander missed two appointments, prompting friends to go to his house. They found his naked body crammed in a stand-up shower . He had been stabbed 29 times in the back and torso and shot in the head. His throat was slit. After her arrest, Arias told an elaborate lie about masked intruders breaking into Alexander's house and killing him before she narrowly escaped. Relatives who spoke with police described her as mentally unstable. The trial, which started in January, has been rife with sex, lies and digital images -- among them graphic autopsy photos that showed Alexander's body. Now, if the trial continues, some of the same gruesome details of his slaying may be presented again in court. "Because in order for a jury to actually impose the death penalty, they really need to see the cruelty," criminal defense attorney Ashleigh Merchant told HLN. "And they really need to understand the motives behind this murder and what great lengths she went to -- to actually cover this up." HLNTV.com: Friend of Arias tweeting on her behalf . CNN's Ted Rowlands, Ben Brumfield and Eliott C. McLaughlin, HLN's Anna Rhett Miller, Mike Galanos and Graham Winch and In Session's Grace Wong contributed to this report.

NEW: Legal analysts debate whether prosecutors will offer Jodi Arias a deal . A source says jurors voted 8-4 in favor of sentencing Arias to death . The victim's sister sobs and the judge's voice cracks after jurors reveal their verdict . One juror apologizes to victim Travis Alexander's family .

(CNN) -- Israeli soldiers routinely and intentionally put children in harm's way during their 22-day offensive against the Palestinians in Gaza, according to a United Nations report made public Monday. On March 6, a Palestinian boy sits on the rubble of a building destroyed during Israel's 22-day Gaza offensive. The report said a working group had documented and verified reports of violations "too numerous to list." For example, on January 15, in a town southwest of Gaza City, Israel Defense Forces soldiers ordered an 11-year-old boy to open Palestinians' packages, presumably so that the soldiers would not be hurt if they turned out to contain explosives, the 43-page report said. They then forced the boy to walk in front of them in the town, it said. When the soldiers came under fire, "the boy remained in front of the group," the report said. It said the boy was later released. Also cited were "credible reports" that accused Hamas, the militant Palestinian group that runs Gaza, of using human shields and placing civilians at risk. But it singled out the Israelis for more sweeping criticism. A spokesman for the Israeli prime minister called the report another example of the "one-sided and unfair" attitude of the U.N. Human Rights Council, which requested it. The report cited two alleged incidents from January 3. In one, it said, after a tank round struck near a house, a father and his two sons -- both younger than 11 -- emerged to look at the damage. "As they exited their home, IDF soldiers shot and killed them (at the entrance to their house), with the daughter witnessing," the report said. In the second, it said, "Israeli soldiers entered a family house in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City. Standing at the doorstep, they asked the male head of the household to come out and shot him dead, without warning, while he was holding his ID, hands raised up in the air, and then started to fire indiscriminately and without warning into the room where the rest of the family was huddled together. "The eldest son was shouting in vain the word 'Children' in Hebrew to warn the soldiers. The shooting did not stop until everyone was lying on the floor. The mother and four of the brothers, aged 2-12 years, had been wounded, one of them, aged 4, fatally." The alleged instances occurred during Operation Cast Lead, which was launched December 27 to halt rocket attacks into southern Israel from Gaza and ended January 17 with a cease-fire. The U.N. report called the response by Israel disproportionate. Of the 1,453 people estimated killed in the conflict, 1,440 were Palestinian, including 431 children and 114 women, the report said. The 13 Israelis killed included three civilians and six soldiers killed by Hamas, and four soldiers killed by friendly fire, it said. The report said the Israeli operation resulted in "a dramatic deterioration of the living conditions of the civilian population." It cited "targeted and indiscriminate" attacks on hospitals and clinics, water and sewage treatment facilities, government buildings, utilities and farming and said the offensive "intensified the already catastrophic humanitarian situation of the Palestinian people." It said Israeli strikes damaged more than 200 schools and left more than 70,000 people homeless. "There are strong and credible reports of war crimes and other violations of international norms," it said, adding that many observers have said war crimes investigations should be undertaken. "The alternative is de facto impunity," it said. It called for the end of Israel's blockade of Gaza and the free passage into the territory of food, medicine, fuel and construction supplies. Mark Regev, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, called the report "another example of the one-sided and unfair attitude of the rapporteur of the Human Rights Council, a council that has been criticized by current and previous secretaries-general for its unbalanced attitudes toward Israel." He added, "The negative fixation on Israel by the council has done a disservice to the issue of human rights internationally as has been attested to by the leading NGO's [nongovernmental organizations] on human rights." Another report issued Monday also was critical of the IDF. The report from Physicians for Human Rights said the Gaza incursion violated IDF's own code of ethics. The report by the medical group, which shared the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize, cited instances where it said IDF forces did not evacuate injured civilians for days and prevented Palestinian teams from reaching the wounded, and said some of them died as a result. It said 16 Palestinian medical personnel were killed by IDF fire and 25 were wounded during the IDF operation, and accused the IDF of attacking 34 medical centers in violation of the IDF's own "ethical code for fighting terror." In response, the IDF accused Hamas of having used medical vehicles, facilities and uniforms to conceal its members' activity. "Hamas used ambulances to 'rescue' terror activists from the battlefield and used hospitals and medical facilities as hiding places," the Israelis said in a written statement. "Despite this, throughout the fighting, IDF forces were instructed to avoid firing at ambulances, even if they were being used by armed fighters. They were instructed only to shoot if there was fire towards our forces emanating from the direction of the ambulance." Regarding the reported delays in casualty evacuations, "there existed real difficulties in evacuating the injured, due to the roadblocks, booby-trapped roads and dirt mounds placed by the Hamas as well as the considerable damage to the infrastructure," the statement said. Nevertheless, it said, an IDF investigation is ongoing and its conclusions will be made public once it is complete. But Dr. Dani Filc, PHR-Israel chairman, was skeptical that the investigation would prove useful. "There are considerable doubts that the IDF is the correct institution to investigate suspicions of these violations," he said. "The IDF's repeated promises to the High Court to look into attacks on medical teams and medical centers have gone unfulfilled, and there are suspicions concerning its seriousness and readiness to carry out the matter." The Israeli military did accept criticism Monday on another matter -- the practice of some Israeli soldiers of wearing T-shirts that appear to condone acts of violence against Palestinians. The Israeli daily Haaretz newspaper reported that Israeli soldiers who had finished basic training ordered the shirts, one of which showed a pregnant Arab in the crosshairs of a gun sight with a caption reading "1 Shot 2 Kills." Another showing a small child in a gun's sight was captioned, "The smaller they are, the harder it is." "The examples presented by The Haaretz reporter are not in accordance with IDF values and are simply tasteless," the Israeli military said in a written statement. "This type of humor is unbecoming and should be condemned." Israeli soldiers said last week that Palestinian civilians were killed and Palestinian property intentionally destroyed during Israel's military campaign in Gaza, according to Haaretz. The IDF has said it is investigating the claims, but its top general expressed skepticism Monday. "I don't believe that soldiers serving in the IDF hurt civilians in cold blood, but we shall wait for the results of the investigation," Lt. Gen. Ashkenazi, the chief of staff, said in a speech. "I tell you that this is a moral and ideological army." He blamed Hamas for choosing "to fight in heavily populated areas. "It (was) a complex atmosphere that includes civilians and we took every measure possible to reduce harm of the innocent," he said, according to an IDF statement.

Israel: U.N. Human Rights Council has "one-sided and unfair" attitude . Report says Israeli soldiers intentionally put children in harm's way during offensive . U.N. report also said there was credible evidence Hamas used human shields . Report called the Israeli response to Hamas rocket attacks disproportionate .

Salt Lake City, Utah (CNN) -- Elizabeth Smart will continue her testimony Tuesday in the federal kidnapping trial of Brian David Mitchell. Mitchell told Smart he wanted her from the moment he first saw her, Smart told a captivated jury Monday. He said he planned for months how he would snatch her so she could join him and his wife in a "celestial" plural marriage, Smart testified. "He said they had been preparing for me since he saw me," she said. It was the fall of 2001, and he was panhandling outside a mall in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah. Smart said she was with her mother and five brothers and sisters, shopping for school clothes. "My mother gave gave him five bucks," Smart told told the jury. Mitchell was hired by her mother to fix a leaky skylight and rake leaves. Smart saw him around the house that fall but never spoke to him, she said. Before dawn on June 2, 2002, she awoke to the sound of a man's voice and a cold sharp blade against her throat. "I remember him saying, 'I have a knife to your neck. Don't make a sound. Get out of bed and come with me or I will kill you and your family,'" Smart testified. He led her in her red silk pajamas up a trail into the rugged back country and over a ridge, hiking what she estimated to be three to five hours to a crude campsite. There, she said, he "sealed" her to him as his wife and raped her. She said she begged him to stop, pleading, "I'm just a little girl." She struggled, but she said at age 14 she was no match for a grown man. Afterward, she cried herself to sleep. The next day, as she cried again, he told her she was "lucky," Smart testified. He said he was a prophet and that God had chosen her to be by his side as he prepared for the second coming of Jesus Christ. She said she didn't feel lucky at all. "I felt like I had a burden the size of a mountain to carry around with me the rest of my life," Smart said. Now 23 and living in Paris, France, Smart spent much of the day on the witness stand Monday, beginning a detailed description of her nine months of captivity with Mitchell and his wife, Wanda Barzee. She spoke of being raped "daily at the very least," tethered between two trees "like an animal," and forced to watch and participate in sex acts she found repugnant. She said she was forced to smoke cigarettes and drink wine and "hard liquor." She did not have to face her alleged abductor on Monday. Mitchell, 57, loudly sings hymns whenever he is in court. He had been ejected, as usual, from the courtroom and was watching the trial from another room. He is charged with kidnapping and taking a minor across state lines for sex. If convicted, he faces life in prison. Mitchell's attorneys do not dispute what happened but say their client was insane at the time of the alleged abduction, and therefore not responsible for his actions. "You'll have to ferret out not only what happened, but why it happened," attorney Parker Douglas told jurors earlier Monday. "We're asking you to determine what was in someone's mind. This is made difficult with a crazy mind. The easy explanation is not always the correct one." He described his client as "a crazy person who comes in the middle of the night" -- exactly what we are taught to fear as children, he said. Smart told the jury she thought about running away that first morning, despite the threats against her life and her family. "I didn't want to spend another day with him. I never wanted to see him again," she said. "I'd seen what he had done to me. I'd seen how he had come in and taken me from my the bed, the place I thought was the safest place in the world, in my home, with my sister beside me." She continued, "I felt that because of what he had done to me, I was marked. I wasn't the same. My personal value had dropped. I was nothing. Another person could never love me and and I felt, yeah, I could take the risk of trying to escape and being killed." Later, after the shock began to wear off, she said she thought about her parents and the life she had before. "I decided my parents would always love me despite what he did to me," she told the jury. "I hadn't changed. I was still a person of worth ... I decided to live." After that, she began to go along with what Mitchell told her to do. She was compliant. She listened, and even began to mimic his speech and his ways. As she stepped off the witness stand, Smart walked over to her parents, Ed and Lois, who embraced her. Earlier Monday, Smart testified about the night of her abduction. "I thought I was having a nightmare," she said of being led away by a bearded man in dark clothing and a stocking cap. "It was indescribable fear." Smart's younger sister Mary Katherine, who witnessed the abduction, testified about awakening her parents with the words: "Elizabeth is gone." Also testifying Monday was the Smarts' mother, Lois. She spent less than an hour on the witness stand, recalling how the family hired Mitchell -- who then called himself Immanuel -- to do odd jobs. But most of her testimony focused on hearing the news that her daughter had been taken. "(Mary Katherine) said that a man had taken Elizabeth with a gun and we wouldn't find her," Lois Smart testified. "He took her either for ransom or for a hostage." As her husband, Ed, searched the house, Lois Smart said, she ran downstairs, turned on the lights, and saw that the kitchen window was open, its screen cut. She testified she had opened the window the previous evening when she burned some potatoes while making dinner. "My heart sank and I called out to Ed, 'Call 9-1-1,'" she testified. "It was utter terror. It was the worst feeling, knowing that I didn't know where my child was. I was helpless." As her family frantically searched the house, Elizabeth testified, she was being led at knife point on the strenuous hours-long hike to a hillside encampment. "I remember asking him if he realized what he was doing, and he said he did," she said. "And I remember saying that if he let me go right now, we wouldn't press charges on him. And he said he knew exactly what he was doing and he understood the consequences of his actions." Suddenly, she recognized his face, she testified, and the name Immanuel came to her. She said she asked why he would do this. "My parents had only tried to help him," she said. "He told me he was going to hold me for ransom, and I told him my parents would pay any amount to have me back." Smart was found nine months after her abduction, walking on a street in the suburb of Sandy, Utah, in the company of Mitchell and Barzee. Barzee, 64, pleaded guilty in November 2009 to kidnapping and unlawful transportation of a minor in federal court and was sentenced in May to 15 years in federal prison. She also pleaded guilty but mentally ill in state court to conspiracy to commit aggravated kidnapping in an attempt to kidnap Smart's cousin a month after Smart was kidnapped. She was given a sentence of one to 15 years, to be served concurrently with the federal sentence, and given credit for the seven years she had spent in custody. As part of her plea agreement, Barzee agreed to cooperate in the state and federal cases against her husband. In Session's Jean Casarez and Lena Jakobsson contributed to this report.

Brian David Mitchell is accused of abducting then-14-year-old Elizabeth Smart in 2002 . Defense attorneys claim Mitchell is insane . "It was indescribable fear," Smart testifies of her nighttime abduction . Smart was held captive for nine months .

(CNN) -- Ayat Al-Qassab carefully slipped the beaded satin wedding gown over her small frame. She peered at herself in the rusted mirror and cautiously smiled. For a moment, her war-torn world was transformed and she was a beautiful bride -- free, safe and happy. Boom! A mortar shell exploded somewhere near her Syrian home in Homs, waking her from a daydream. She quickly wrapped a white headscarf tightly around her hair and prepared to leave for her wedding. Only a week earlier, Al-Qassab met her husband-to-be, Mohammad Jumbaz. Their families had coordinated the introduction. He was a pastry chef and part-time fighter for the rebel Free Syrian Army which wants to oust President Bashar al-Assad. She was 18 and from a family who didn't like the al-Assad government. They took no lingering looks across the room, and time didn't stand still when their eyes met. They simply chatted as Syria's nearly 20-month-old civil war rumbled in the background. "I had a feeling in my heart," Jumbaz said, recalling that day. "I cannot describe it to you." During the interview, a shell boomed in the distance. "In a time when we are under siege and there are sounds like this, I told my mother I decided to fulfill half my religion and to get married," he said, "and without ever even seeing my bride, everything went perfect." Al-Qassab agrees. "We saw each other and we liked each other," she said, "and in just one week we were married to each other." Marriage as revolution . Homs has borne the brunt of the Syrian military's wrath since violence broke out nearly two years ago in the nation. Many who live in the city consider it to be the unbowed guardian of the Syrian revolt. A massacre in the spring killed scores of women and children. There, even marriage is an act of revolution. "We must get married. Our lives must continue," Jumbaz said defiantly. "We have not surrendered, and we will not surrender. This is a promise. A promise we will keep, God willing." Out of respect for the dead, the couple held a small ceremony in the family apartment rather than a traditional large and noisy Syrian wedding. "It was not appropriate to dance and play music," Jumbaz said. "We recently received the body of my martyred brother, and many other families have martyrs as well. So it was a small family affair." Speaking via Skype, the couple seems to have little interest in chatting about romance or the frivolities of weddings. Instead, both are enthralled with their love for revolution and an ancient country that appears lost to war and strife. "I wore a white dress, but we did not have a traditional wedding because of this animal in power," Al-Qassab said. "We hope once the regime falls we can have a wedding, because our happiness is the end of this government." The couple spent their honeymoon at home, struggling to survive as al-Assad's forces relentlessly shelled Homs. But Al-Qassab said she is very happy to stay. "Here, we have our pride and we are defending our nation," she said. "I would prefer my honeymoon to be here amid the bombs and shells then for me to abandon my nation." In the Middle East, where arranged marriages are common, there is an Arabic word for love after marriage: "ashra." It means the love from living life together. It is emotion based on mutual respect, understanding and a need for a partner to survive all life's struggles. "I am not upset that I got married under these circumstances," Al-Qassab said. "The opposite. I am proud that I married one of the revolutionaries, and I am proud to be here in old Homs defending my nation and my dignity." Now, after more than a year and a half of violence, living life amid the constant killing and dying is the greatest form of rebellion for the couple. "I took this step, because I am a man who has faith in God and destiny," Jumbaz said. "The days that passed were very hard on us. I still thank God for everything, but I felt something was missing in my life. I do not know how to describe it. "Every day was a struggle, but something was missing." A baker becomes a fighter . Before the Syrian civil war turned Homs into a conflict zone, Jumbaz owned a baked-sweets business, selling cakes and candy to the mainly pro-government Allawi and Christian districts near his native neighborhood in Homs' Old District. "When my brother was killed, I decided to return to my community and support my people, because what was happening was unjust," he said. "Seventy percent of my friends have been killed in this and that massacre. This is an unbearable level of injustice." Al-Assad must be tried for war crimes, he believes. Jumbaz joined the rebel Free Syrian Army and fought alongside other members of the armed opposition to liberate an opposition enclave in Homs. While the Old District remains under siege and constantly sustains shelling and mortar fire, Syrian troops remain outside the neighborhood, stationed along the outskirts of the suburb. "There are enough Free Syrian Army troops to protect us now, but I noticed how difficult the situation is around us," Jumbaz said. Now, Jumbaz spends his days kneading rations of flour and bits of butter into dough, creating sweet, creamy Syrian desserts. "The kids wanted sweets and many of the women were craving desserts, so I am trying to bake sweets again," he said. Faithful and not afraid . Al-Qassab said she visits her parents and relatives every day to help with household duties, and she checks on the well-being of her neighbors until the evening, when her new husband returns home. "I am not afraid of anything happening to him, and I thank God. We are all willing to sacrifice our lives for Syria," Al-Qassad said. "I thank God above all else." Another single loud explosion thundered in the background as they spoke. The couple didn't even flinch. "I pray no one is hurt" Jumbaz calmly said. He turned to his wife, who wore a faded purple coat and tight black headscarf. "Please, go ahead," he said, kindly signaling her to speak. "We will not surrender, God willing," she said. "We are walking along the righteous path. My cousins, my neighbors, the children of my neighbors all died, and many more have lost their lives. But I am not sad. We will be victorious in this life and the afterlife." Al-Qassab looks older than her 18 years, and she speaks with impenetrable courage and bravery that generally masks any semblance of a giggling blushing bride only a few weeks into her marriage. "We were married September 13, 2011," she said before finally cracking a smile and beginning to laugh. "I mean 2012." She turns to her husband, blushing and embarrassed. He looks down to hide that he is laughing, too, instead mumbling to correct her: "2012." Nothing it seems but sheer faith in God moves the newlyweds and inspires them to love, and to fight and resist forces in Syria they feel must end. After nearly every sentence, they defiantly say "Alhamdulillah," a common Muslim phrase meaning "I thank God." "My only hope is that this monster will be removed from power so we can live in peace and our children can live in peace," Al-Qassab starts. "And if not our kids, then the children of our community even if we die," her husband adds. "Alhamdulillah."

Many Syrians are determined to live their lives despite a war ravaging their nation . Ayat Al-Qassab and Mohammad Jumbaz survived artillery shelling during their honeymoon . Their marriage is a symbol of the resistance against Bashar al-Assad . "We will not surrender, God willing," they say .

(CNN) -- Lawyers painted opposing pictures of South African athlete Oscar Pistorius in their final arguments Friday before his sentencing -- one side depicting him as a broken man who's suffered enough, while the other said he must pay for taking his girlfriend's life. Pistorius, 27, is due to be sentenced for culpable homicide, or negligent killing, as well as one weapons-related charge, after a hearing lasting several days. After both sides' final arguments concluded Friday, Masipa said the court would reconvene Tuesday for sentencing. Defense lawyer Barry Roux appealed to the judge to remember that he reacted as a vulnerable disabled man when he shot Reeva Steenkamp dead. The evidence presented in court demonstrated that as a double amputee, Pistorius' negligent actions in the shooting could not be seen outside the context of his disability, he said. He did not act unlawfully, but out of fear, Roux said. There is no reason to doubt that Pistorius believed there was an intruder in the bathroom who posed a threat to him and to Steenkamp when he fired the fatal shots through the toilet door, Roux said. "Whatever way you see it, the accused's actions were in some way dominated by vulnerability and anxiety," he said. "It's a compromised person doing that." A sentence of imprisonment should be a last resort, and a combination of other options should be considered, he argued. "It can never be a suitable punishment," he said of a prison term. Whatever punishment is handed down, the athlete could not suffer more than in the past 18 months, when he was denigrated, shamed and blamed, on top of losing the woman he loved, Roux said. Pistorius is now a "broken man," he said, who has lost everything he once had. The athlete at times appeared emotional as he sat with his head bowed while the arguments were made over his fate. Steenkamp's parents, Barry and June, listened impassively in the benches nearby. Pistorius' sentence -- whether imprisonment or not -- will be decided by Judge Thokozile Masipa, who also presided over his trial. Prosecutor: 'He's not a victim' State Prosecutor Gerrie Nel, famed for his bulldog tenacity in cross-examinations during the trial, called for a minimum prison sentence of 10 years in his final arguments. This, he said, would be "the minimum term that society will be happy with." "This is a serious matter," he said. "The negligence borders on intent. Ten years is the minimum." He recalled the testimony of Steenkamp's cousin, Kim Martin, who made an emotional appeal for the court to make Pistorius pay with prison for what he did to Reeva and her family. His disabilities had already been taken into account in deciding the verdict, Nel said. He said it was right that the court was shown a bloody photograph of what happened to Steenkamp when she was hit by three of the four bullets fired from Pistorius' high-powered handgun. "It's not an accused that had a gun with normal ammunition that every other person had, it was devastating, damaging Black Talon ammunition," he said. A reasonable man would have known the consequences of firing that ammunition into a small toilet cubicle, he said, recalling that the judge found in her verdict that Pistorius acted negligently, too hastily and with excessive force. Pistorius wanted to use the firearm, he said. "He's not a victim," he said of the athlete. "He cannot be a victim -- he caused it." The victims in the case are Steenkamp and her parents, who had to receive a phone call with the news any parent would dread, he said. Says correctional supervision not appropriate . Nel told the court that the sentence of correctional supervision -- as suggested by the defense -- is not appropriate in this case. He said it would not be fair if Pistorius were to live in a luxurious house, get to run track, go to the doctor and then do two days a month of community service. This would be shockingly disproportionate to the crime, he said. He read from case law that said society might lose its trust in the system if a lenient sentence is given. And he accused the defense of "only paying lip service" to the gravity of the offense in asking for correctional supervision. If Pistorius had not acted as he did, Steenkamp would be alive today, he said. Pistorius did not have railings in his shower at home, Nel said, as he rejected defense arguments that the accused could not be accommodated properly in prison. He suggested that Pistorius was using his disability "on call." Nel also dismissed Pistorius' offers of financial aid to Steenkamp's family. June Steenkamp referred to that money as "blood money," he reminded the court. The court this week heard that the athlete had offered the money to Steenkamp's parents, but they had decided to reject it. They will also pay back a monthly payment he had been making to them. Nel also suggested that any appeal for mercy by Pistorius was undeserved. The interests of the victims far outweigh the personal circumstances of the accused, he said, as he scoffed at the fact that Pistorius could have made millions were it not for the shooting. 'He's lost everything' By contrast, in his final arguments, Roux presented a picture of a "broken man" who has already suffered enough. Roux said Pistorius should never have been accused of premeditated murder, a charge of which he was cleared at trial. After the charge, Pistorius was subjected to a trial by media, he said. Roux also argued that he should not have been shown that gruesome picture of the woman he loved while in court. "He never, ever even considered that it was Steenkamp behind that door," Roux said. The athlete has fully accepted the court's verdict and shown remorse, he said. "He's lost everything. He was an icon in the eyes of South Africans," Roux said. "On what he has done, what he has achieved, he was denigrated to such an extent that all that was left was a raged killer, a cold-blooded killer, a liar and everything that's horrible. "He lost all his sponsors, he lost all his money. He has nothing, my lady. He hasn't even money to pay for legal expenses. He has nothing left." He sold his last asset, his car, not to try to get a better sentence but to try to make good by helping the Steenkamp family, Roux said, also citing Pistorius' past charitable work. Roux reminded the court that the Steenkamps have said they are neutral as far as sentencing is concerned and do not seek vengeance. Roux said the testimony of Acting National Commissioner of Correctional Services Zach Modise that Pistorius' disability could be accommodated in the hospital section of a prison did not make it an appropriate place for him to be held. Judge to decide sentence . There is no legal minimum sentence for culpable homicide in South African law, so it will be down to the judge's discretion. A typical sentence is five to eight years. But it is a principle of South African law that the sentence should be tailored to the culprit as a whole person, as opposed to the crime. That makes predicting a sentence difficult, said Kelly Phelps, a CNN legal analyst. The judge also found Pistorius guilty of one weapons-related charge involving a shooting at a restaurant. The maximum penalty for that is five years behind bars. But he could get a lesser sentence, such as a fine or the loss of his gun license.

NEW: Judge Thokozile Masipa says court will reconvene for sentencing Tuesday . NEW: Prosecutor Gerrie Nel says Pistorius should be sent to prison for at least 10 years . Defense attorney Barry Roux says other options besides prison should be considered . Pistorius is a "broken man," says Roux, who has "lost everything"

You've heard of CNN, but unless you pay close attention to photo and video credits on news sites, you've probably never heard of the Syrian group SNN. The Shaam News Network is one of several groups that aggregates photos and videos taken by citizen journalists in Syria and tries to show them to the world. Most recently, the group came into the news on Friday after it played a role in distributing images from a U.N.-condemned massacre in the village of Houla, which left 108 people dead, including some children who reportedly were axed to death. YouTube, meanwhile, put a collection of 10 videos from Houla on its homepage on Saturday in an effort to raise awareness about the bloodshed there. Of all the content, one particular photo -- of a tile room lined with bodies wrapped in white cloth -- became the de facto symbol of the violence in Houla. It has been run by numerous news websites, including this one, with credit attributed to Shaam News. Photos: Images paint horrific scene in Houla . The photo and the group highlight a crucial trend as the government of Bashar al-Assad continues to crack down on protestors and rebels: Activists and everyday people have taken it upon themselves to record violence against themselves and their neighbors and to distribute it online. And they do so at great risk to themselves. "Perhaps the single most important way that people are telling their stories is through clips uploaded through YouTube," Ausama Monajed, a member of Syria's opposition group, said during a recent talk at the Oslo Freedom Forum, according to a live blog of the event that was posted online. "And activist have learned that for this information to be credible, it must be properly dated and documented. And they are hoping that one day, these videos may be used to bring the regime to justice. "If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video is worth a thousand times more." Should the U.S. 'airdrop' millions of phones into Syria? Networks like SNN have become aggregators and, in a sense, gatekeepers to the videos uploaded by citizen journalists. Syrians often will upload controversial videos to YouTube anonymously and without any information about the content, said David Clinch, editorial director at Storyful, a company that verifies and distributes videos from citizen journalists to news organizations. The videographers then text information to aggregators like SNN, which adds details and distributes the videos more widely. The division of labor is intended to make the process of uploading information safer for all those involved, he said. And in a place where it's difficult or sometimes impossible for journalists to report on the news, these images have become all the more important, said Clinch, who is a former CNN employee. "It's hugely significant," he said. "As far as I can tell there were no international journalists anywhere near Houla when this happened and so the only original video from when the immediate aftermath -- not just of the bodies but of the shelling and everything else -- was provided by what you could call citizen journalists." He added: "By the time the U.N. got there the next day and shot video themselves, any number of things could have been changed or moved and manipulated." CNN cannot verify the authenticity of all photos and video submitted by citizen journalists in Syria, in part because the government restricts the movement of journalists in the country. Clinch said aggregators like Shaam are somewhat helpful at attempting to verify the authenticity of this kind of media, but they don't always get it right. As The Atlantic's Max Fisher wrote on Monday, at least one fake image from the massacre in Syria made it onto a major news website. The mistake, made by the BBC, "seems like an innocent one, and is in some ways an inevitable result of the changing ways in which international media cover conflict zones," he wrote. Shaam was founded in 2011, after the conflict began, by a man named Abulhassan Abazeed, according to an e-mail from a man who identified himself as Jafar Alkheer, and who is acting as a spokesman for the organization. Even he does not know how many people contribute to Shaam News. "There's no specific number of activities as some of them have been arrested, killed, or wounded the remaining volunteers are not dedicated to reporting to the network," he said. The group's goal is to counteract misinformation from the Syrian regime. He added: "We don't have any kind of protection from any organization, we are always in danger." According to its website and Facebook page, Shaam is headquartered in Damascus, the Syrian capital. Anas Qtiesh, a Syrian activist based in San Francisco, said SNN has been a "prime source" for videos and grassroots information coming out of Syria. The group has become so closely watched that fake SNN accounts have popped up on Facebook and YouTube, Qtiesh said, with similar logs but wildly different information. "They are really valuable," he said. "It's just very tricky to verify it sometimes because the regime often fakes activist videos just to discredit them." He added: "Videos spread like wildfire once they're out so it's very important that they be verified before they're uploaded." Qtiesh pointed to a Facebook page for "Shaaam News," with too many A's in its name, and three YouTube channels -- shaamnews2, shaamnews6 and shaamnews10 -- as fakes that are likely operated by people loyal to the al-Assad regime in Syria. YouTube, the Google-owned video site, is working with Storyful to try to verify activist videos from Syria and distribute them via its website. The company has created a Human Rights channel and a CitizenTube channel to highlight the verified videos. YouTube appears to be making efforts to keep content that has high news value on its platform, even if the content could be deemed objectionable or graphic. The video channel occasionally marks clips as graphic or requires users to sign in to prove that they are older than 18 before watching videos that are violent or gruesome. Jillian York, director of international freedom of expression at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said in an e-mail that YouTube and Facebook generally are doing a good job of making sure videos from Syrian activists surface on their platforms. "YouTube has been great about keeping content up, even recently creating a human rights channel with the organization Witness," she said. "Their policy is, explicitly, to keep up violent content if it is educational or documentarian in nature." A YouTube spokeswoman declined to comment on the record for this story. Getting the videos from Syria to the Internet is, of course, a major challenge. Clinch, from Storyful, said many Syrian activists upload videos via proxy servers, which are located in other countries, so that it's more difficult for the government to track them. They also may scramble their communications or run small hard drives or camera cards across the border to neighboring countries so that they can be uploaded, he said. The Syrian government, meanwhile, has been tracking their efforts with some success. According to a report from CNN's Ben Brumfield: "Supporters of dictator Bashar al-Assad first steal the identities of opposition activists, then impersonate them in online chats, said software engineer Dlshad Othman. They gain the trust of other users, pass out Trojan horse viruses and encourage people to open them." Clinch said dozens of YouTube videos still are uploaded from Syria every day. Watching these clips, from SNN and many others, is perhaps the best and fastest way, he said, to get a sense of what's really going on inside the country right now. Four journalists have been killed in Syria since the conflict began, according to the activist group Reporters Without Borders. U.N. officials say more than 9,000 people have died in the conflict, which began in March 2011. Opposition groups put the number at more than 11,000.

Shaam News Network or SNN helps distribute amateur videos from Syria . The information is increasingly important as it's difficult for journalists to report there . A photo credited to SNN came to represent Friday's massacre in Houla . 108 people died in the massacre, according to reports .

(CNN) -- Standing tall in a sport once dubbed "boxing with rackets," Nicol David has a better analogy to define the particular rigors of squash. She calls it "physical chess" -- a test of body and mind in equal measure which the 29-year-old has mastered like no other female player since 2005. The Malaysian has deployed that magical mix of physical prowess and tactical awareness to win seven of the last eight world championships, becoming the undisputed queen of her sport despite her slight stature. "Squash is all about dimensions," says David, who is only 1.63 meters tall and weighs in at just 50 kilograms. "You are sharing the same space as your opponent, and not many racket sports have that element in their game, it's really like you and your opponent being in a gladiator ring," she told CNN's Human to Hero series. "It's all about taking your space and control and using the space as well as you can, like physical chess." Top-level squash is played in a glass walled arena of just under 50 square meters of floor space and there is nowhere to hide. It adds to the sense of the theater for the spectators, but is a daunting prospect for the players. "Going in to the glass door and getting ready for battle, it's very, very intense," David says. Despite her small frame, she packs the punch of a heavyweight as opponents are dispatched in double quick time -- and has earned the nickname of "the Duracell Bunny." It's easy to see why. On the court she is the epitome of perpetual motion and, like the figure advertising the long-lasting battery, she never seems to run out of power. But it is also her mental strength that has helped her win the world title every year since 2008. "It has really helped me in the last few years, all the visualization we do, and also setting a game plan that makes me certain that on court you just need to be ready for anything and stay on top of things straight away," she says. Dream fulfilled . David was set on the course for squash stardom from an early age, playing her first games in the city of Penang when she was just five, encouraged by a sporting father and two elder sisters -- Lianne and Cheryl -- who both played to national standard. From her early teens, David was recognized as a prodigious talent and her first world junior title in 1999 signaled a further breakthrough. But the step up to the senior level proved a testing time and in 2003 she moved to the Dutch capital Amsterdam to work fulltime with Australia's former world No. 2 Liz Irving. It has proved a formidable partnership, and David is quick to recognize the part Irving has played in her incredible success. "I've learned some much from her, she's just been a true mentor for me to show me what's it like to be at the top." Under Irving's guidance, success at world senior level first came in Hong Kong in 2005. "It's everyone's dream to be world champion and when it actually did happen, I was just standing speechless. I could hardly imagine my dreams had been fulfilled," David said. "I still have that same exact feeling when I won that world title because it just means so much to me." To have stayed at the summit of her game since then underlines David's incredible appetite for success. "If you are technically sound and really fit and strong and mentally strong, you can be a top squash player," she said. Intense training . David makes it sound easy, but hours and hours of intense training are required along with the right balance of rest and recuperation. "Squash is really, really brutal to your body -- your joints especially your knees and hips and your back -- so we really need to stay on top of things and be careful with over training," she said. David again underlined her dominance by winning the World Series Finals title in London to start 2013, but the fact she was unable to display her incredible talents in the British capital at last year's Olympic Games remains a source of continued frustration. She has gone on record as saying that she would trade all her world titles for one Olympic gold medal, and squash's failure to gain inclusion for the 2016 Games in Rio was a major disappointment, with golf and rugby sevens instead being included. David is an integral part of the 2020 Back the Bid campaign for squash, which was unveiled at the World Series Finals earlier this month. It is also supported by supported by Greg Searle and Victoria Pendleton, gold medal winners in rowing and cycling for Britain last year. "Squash pretty much has the whole package on what an Olympic sport should be and we have proven ourselves time and time again that our game has so much to offer. We are the complete sport," David said. Olympic bid . "Our last two campaigns, where we missed London and Rio, we've learned a lot and we are ready to take up our case for 2020." David would be in her late 30s by the time of the 2020 Games, but she will try to extend her career if squash finally convinces the International Olympic Committee that it should be included. "I would do my best to stay in the game and to play the Olympics for the very first time, but if I can't make it then, at least I was part of the campaign," she said. For the moment, David savors her involvement in the 2004 Athens Games, when she was one of five Malaysian sports personalities chosen to run with the Olympic torch on its worldwide tour. "It was truly special," she remembers. She has represented her country in major events, winning four gold medals at the Asian Games since 1998 in Bangkok when she was only 15. Gold medal success in the Commonwealth Games eluded David until she won the singles title in Delhi in 2010. Going into the 2006 edition in Melbourne, Australia, David was reigning world champion and favorite, but was beaten by her great rival Natalie Grinham in the semifinals. Revenge for that defeat came in the World Open in Northern Ireland at the end of the year, where she beat the Australian -- who is now a Dutch citizen -- in an epic final, considered one of the greatest in women's squash history. Total domination . For David, it was a victory that set the foundation for her near total domination until the current day. "It was just the turning point when I won that second world title, it just proved the point -- this is where I'm at, I'm ready to move forward. It just gave me the assurance I could do still more." Grinham and her sister Rachael continued to prove a thorn in David's side, contesting the 2007 World Open title to break her winning streak, but she has since claimed five straight global crowns. Setbacks have proved few and far between, going through 2010 unbeaten with her Commonwealth gold in India a particular highlight. Whether David can withstand the sport's constant physical demands to extend her career for a possible shot at 2020 Olympic glory remains to be seen, but few would deny her the opportunity. The decision on the hosts for the 2020 Games will be made by the IOC in September 2013, when the delegates will also add one more sport to the program. Squash will be battling it out with the likes of softball, roller sports and wakeboarding to gain admission, representing the last chance for David to fulfill her golden dream. "Anybody involved with squash wants to see the sport get there, everybody thinks it's already in there and just assume we are part of the Games," she said. "It's very heartbreaking when we are just not part of it."

Nicol David has dominated women's squash since 2005 . The 29-year-old Malaysian is a seven-time world champion . Squash is one of the most demanding sports in the world . It is bidding for Olympic recognition for 2020 Games .

Longmont, Colorado (CNN) -- Food and water are running low in some of the Colorado communities cut off by epic flooding, but well-organized residents are holding their own while awaiting rescue, officials said Monday. "Within the communities, all of these people are helping one another out," deputy incident commander Chuck Russell told reporters in Larimer County. "They're being very resourceful." Helicopters from the U.S. Army and Colorado and Wyoming National Guards took to the air Monday morning, fanning out across the region to rescue people stranded across hundreds of square miles of Colorado flooded when intense rainfall last week pushed streams out of their banks and sent walls of water crashing down mountain canyons. "Our birds are up and flying," the Wyoming National Guard tweeted. "If (you're) in trouble, we will find you! We will get you to safety!" Among those cut off were 15 Colorado National Guard members and other emergency workers stranded Sunday when rising floodwater forced them to abandon efforts to evacuate residents from flooded areas near Lyons, a National Guard spokeswoman said. U.S. Army helicopters rescued the civilian evacuees and some of the National Guard troops and emergency workers, Colorado Air National Guard Master Sgt. Cheresa Theiral said. A local family offered shelter to the stranded Guard members Sunday night, and on Monday the Guard rescuers went back to work with a door-to-door evacuation of some 18 houses in the area, according to Guard Lt. James Goff. Goff added that on Sunday, more than 90 residents in Boulder County were rescued by Guard members. While rescue flights resumed Monday, hundreds of civilians stranded by the flooding face a similar plight -- and a potentially long wait with so many needing to be rescued. More than 1,000 people in Larimer County alone were cut off and in need of rescue, officials said Monday. If they remain cut off by ground and military crews can't find a way to land helicopters for rescues, authorities will drop food and water to keep people going until rescues are possible, Russell said. More than 600 people remained unaccounted for in Boulder and Larimer counties alone, officials said Monday. More than 1,200 had been reported unaccounted statewide as of Sunday night. But while authorities said the presumed death toll of six could rise, most of the people on the unaccounted list are likely alive and well but have failed to check in with authorities to let them know, officials said Monday. Lessons from Vermont's epic flood . Huge rescue effort . Despite bad weather that kept helicopters grounded much of the weekend, crews from the Colorado and Wyoming National Guards and U.S. Army had used helicopters to rescue more than 700 people as of Saturday night, a National Guard official said. More than 2,100 people and more than 500 pets had been rescued by air and ground as of late Sunday, according to the National Guard. Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Craig Fugate said Monday that FEMA teams were on the ground in Colorado to provide emergency assistance. "We've already had 3,000 families register" since Sunday for FEMA aid, Fugate said, emphasizing that federal assistance will be granted based on need. The air efforts may be the largest such evacuation in the country since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, National Guard Lt. Col. Mitch Utterback said Saturday. In some cases, pilots had been flying night missions using night-vision goggles to rescue people, he said. Among the rescues: Saturday's recovery of 78 children who got stranded while on a field trip. "The helicopters -- those were the best," said 10-year-old Luca Voeller, one of the students on a field trip to a high-elevation camp when the flooding began. Colorado floods: Stories of grief, generosity and gratitude . Death and destruction . Eight people across the state have died, according to the Colorado Office of Emergency Management. Four of those deaths include a man and a woman, both 19, who were swept away after leaving their car Thursday in Boulder County. Authorities said the woman left the car first, and the man jumped out to try to save her. Another body was found in a collapsed home in Jamestown in the same county. Rescuers recovered a fourth body on a roadway in Colorado Springs in El Paso County. Details were not given on all the deaths. Earlier Monday, CNN reported that there were two others presumed dead -- a 60-year-old woman and an 80-year-old woman, both in Larimer County. As of late Monday afternoon, it was unclear whether those people were indeed among those officially counted as fatalities by emergency management. The flooding has washed out or damaged dozens of roads, damaged nearly 18,000 homes and destroyed 1,500 homes, according to the state. Larimer County Sheriff's Office Executive Officer Nick Christensen said Monday that 1,500 homes may have been destroyed in his county, but it wasn't clear if that number was in addition to the state figure. He also said some 200 businesses may have been destroyed, with 500 damaged in what was a once-in-a-1,000-years flood in some parts of Larimer County. Boulder County alone will need an estimated $150 million to repair 100 to 150 miles of roadway and 20 to 30 bridges, county transportation director George Gerstle said. The repair bill will be "10 to 15 times our annual budget," he said. Adding to what is already an unpleasant experience for thousands, residents who have been able to remain in their homes in some towns have been ordered to limit water use and to not flush toilets to avoid sewer backups and other problems. The latest town to issue such an order was Sterling on Monday. In Firestone, some residents were having to rely on bottled water after two of the city's three water supply lines were destroyed in the flooding, a police department spokeswoman said. Boulder Mayor Matthew Appelbaum told CNN's "New Day" on Monday that the city will be dealing with the aftermath of flooding for years to come. "There is a huge amount of damage and a huge amount of repair and a huge amount of cleanup around town that people will be dealing with for a long time," he said. President Barack Obama signed a major disaster declaration for Colorado on Sunday and ordered federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts in Boulder County. Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper said he spoke by phone with U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, who "was adamant that the $5 million that was released Friday was just the beginning" of federal assistance. At a news conference Monday, Hickenlooper said efforts continued to be focused on "search and recovery." The situation is "surreal," CNN iReporter Erich Toll said. "I have never seen anything like it," Toll said Sunday. "There are raging rivers in many places where there have never been rivers -- or even water -- before. There are huge swaths of boulder fields where there used to be parks." Matthew O'Rourke, an iReporter, said he's fearful of Coal Creek in Lafayette, which threatened to take out his business as it overflowed. "The currents in the river -- they are impossible to describe how violent and diverse and angry they were and are right now," he said Sunday. "There is no way any human could survive if they were swept into this." How to help . Michael Pearson reported and wrote from Atlanta; George Howell reported from Longmont. CNN's Elwyn Lopez, Barbara Starr, Jareen Imam, AnneClaire Stapleton and David Simpson also contributed to this report.

NEW: State raises death toll by one, to a total of eight . More than 3,000 families register for FEMA help, agency head says . Some communities run low on food, water, officials say . As many as 1,500 homes destroyed in one county, officials say .

Los Angeles (CNN) -- Coroner's investigator Elissa Fleak returned to the stand in the eighth day of the trial of Michael Jackson's doctor Thursday morning to continue her testimony about what she found in searches of the pop icon's bedroom. The pathologist who conducted the autopsy on Michael Jackson and ruled his death a homicide could testify later Thursday or Friday in the involuntary manslaughter trial of Dr. Conrad Murray. Jurors should also soon hear the two-hour interview Murray gave to police two days after Jackson's June 25, 2009, death of what the coroner concluded was the result of "acute propofol intoxication" in combination with sedatives. Los Angeles Police Det. Orlando Martinez, who questioned Murray, is expected to testify Thursday or Friday that Murray told him he had been administering propofol to Jackson regularly for two months to help him sleep. Deputy District Attorney David Walgren covered a table with drug vials and medical paraphernalia taken in Fleak's searches, a visual display of Murray's in-home treatment of Jackson. Fleak identified a saline bag that was cut open and an empty 100 milliliter propofol bottle inside. The prosecution alleges Murray used it as a makeshift IV drip to administer propofol to Jackson. The defense contends Murray gave Jackson just 25 milliliters of the surgical anesthetic and used a syringe to push it in. Twelve bottles of propofol were found in the bedroom during her first search the day Jackson died, including an empty vial found on the floor next to the bed, Fleak said. Seven bottles of medications were on a nightstand next to the bed, including one with lorazepam pills prescribed by Murray to Jackson. Murray's defense lawyers say Jackson caused his own death by swallowing eight lorazepam pills and orally ingesting propofol while Murray was out of the room. Although crucial to prove that Murray is criminally responsible for the pop icon's death, Thursday's forensic testimony is not likely to match Wednesday's emotional drama when jurors heard Jackson's slurred voice telling his doctor "I hurt, you know, I hurt." A photograph of Jackson lying dead on a hospital gurney was later projected onto a large screen in the courtroom, a vivid reminder to jurors of why they will listen to a least a month of testimony. While the court camera feed focused on the disturbing image for just five seconds -- the result of an earlier decision to minimize public exposure to such shocking images -- it was displayed on a large screen in front of the jury for about two minutes. Forensic computer expert Stephen Marx, who found the Jackson audio file on Murray's iPhone, said it was recorded on May 10, 2009, when Jackson was preparing for his "This Is It" concerts set for London two months later. Prosecutors, who played a clip of the stunning audio in their opening statement last week, let the jury hear the entire recording in Murray's involuntary manslaughter trial Wednesday. "Elvis didn't do it. Beatles didn't do it. We have to be phenomenal," Jackson said. "When people leave this show, when people leave my show, I want them to say, 'I've never seen nothing like this in my life. Go. Go. I've never seen nothing like this. Go. It's amazing. He's the greatest entertainer in the world.' I'm taking that money, a million children, children's hospital, the biggest in the world, Michael Jackson Children's Hospital. Going to have a movie theater, game room." In the portion never before heard in court, Jackson talked about his life and concern for children: . "Children are depressed. The -- in those hospitals, no game room, no movie theater. They're sick because they're depressed. Their mind is depressing them. I want to give them that. I care about them, them angels. God wants me to do it. God wants me to do it. I'm going to do it, Conrad." Another voice, which the prosecutor said was Murray's, is heard saying, "I know you would." "Don't have enough hope, no more hope," Jackson said. "That's the next generation that's going to save our planet, starting with -- we'll talk about it. United States, Europe, Prague, my babies. They walk around with no mother. They drop them off, they leave -- a psychological degradation of that. They reach out to me: 'Please take me with you.'" At the end, Jackson said he was "going to do that for them." "That will be remembered more than my performances. My performances will be up there helping my children and always be my dream. I love them. I love them because I didn't have a childhood. I had no childhood. I feel their pain. I feel their hurt. I can deal with it. 'Heal the World,' 'We Are the World,' 'Will You Be There,' 'The Lost Children.' These are the songs I've written because I hurt, you know, I hurt." At the end, Jackson told the doctor, "I am asleep." His brother Jermaine Jackson wiped tears from his eyes as he listened in court. Prosecutor Walgren said in his opening statement that Jackson was "highly under the influences of unknown agents" when Murray recorded Jackson. Another recording found on Murray's phone and played in court Wednesday was a voice mail from Frank Dileo, who was Jackson's last manager. Dileo's message to Murray, left five days before Jackson's death, suggested that he "get a blood test" from Jackson because "we've got to see what he's doing." He referred to "an episode" Jackson had at a rehearsal the night before. "He's sick," Dileo said. Concert producer Kenny Ortega testified about Jackson's illness in the first day of the trial, which he wrote about in an e-mail sent about the same time Dileo was leaving his phone message. "He appeared quite week (sic) and fatigued this evening," Ortega wrote. "He had a terrible case of the chills, was trembling, rambling and obsessing. Everything in me says he should be psychologically evaluated." Murray's iPhone also contained e-mail attachments that appeared to be Jackson's medical records sent by Murray's office assistant to the doctor, who was gathering them for a British insurance agent who was arranging cancellation insurance for Jackson's London concerts. The insurers were concerned about news reports that Jackson was seen "at various times using a wheelchair" and that he suffered a back injury, lupus, emphysema and cancer, according to an e-mail from the agent to the doctor. Jackson refused to authorize the release of his medical records to the insurance company, Murray wrote back, but he added concerning the news reports of illnesses, "let me say they're all fallicious (sic) to the best of my knowledge." One record shown in court, kept under the alias "Omar Arnold," indicated that in September 2008, Murray diagnosed Jackson with insomnia and anxiety. It showed he treated him with valium and Xanax. Files from the phone suggest Murray was dealing with the insurance agent's request around the same time he said he was struggling to help Jackson go to sleep with sedatives. The prosecution wants to show jurors that Murray was distracted by a long list of phone calls and e-mails, causing him to neglect Jackson, who stopped breathing and died. Prosecutors argue that Murray, who was Jackson's personal doctor as he prepared for planned comeback concerts, is criminally responsible for the singer's death because of medical negligence and his reckless use of the propofol to help Jackson sleep. If convicted of involuntary manslaughter, Murray could spend four years in a California prison and lose his medical license.

Dr. Conrad Murray's police interview to be played in court . The doctor who did Jackson's autopsy should testify soon . Jurors hear Jackson's voice telling doctor, "I hurt" "I didn't have a childhood," Jackson says in drugged recording .

(CNN) -- A proposed mosque and Islamic center in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, is dividing the city about 35 miles southeast of Nashville, Tennessee. Residents are battling about whether the center should exist, and if not, why not. The Islamic Center of Murfreesboro currently resides in the southwest part of town. The center purchased a new 15-acre site just a few miles to the east in November for $320,000, according to its website, with plans to build on the property. Proponents of the mosque allege the opponents are displaying religious intolerance, while people fighting the mosque say zoning concerns and worries about Islamic radicalism are their chief concerns. Several hundred opponents marching from a middle school to a courthouse faced off against roughly the same number of counter-protesters Wednesday. The rhetoric was heated. Protesters bore signs with slogans such as "MOSQUE LEADERS SUPPORT KILLING CONVERTS." "In Islam, a mosque means 'We have conquered this country,'" one man told CNN affiliate WTVF. "And where are they? They're in the center of Tennessee. They're going to say, 'We have conquered Tennessee.'" Despite the polarizing debate, the march was nonviolent. Murfreesboro Police spokesman Kyle Evans said Thursday that "no reports of any kind" were filed. Kevin Fisher, who led the protest, said opponents are "going to contend every brick that's laid." "We're going to keep marching, attending meetings," Fisher said. "There may be legal stuff coming down the road at some point." Fisher said he's mainly concerned about water quality, soil contamination and traffic flow on the nearby Bradyville Pike, which he says is a dangerous highway. "This has nothing to do with racism or religious intolerance at all. It's about a difference of opinion, and in America that's OK," said Fisher, an African-American who said he has experienced racial intolerance in his life. "Religion. Race. These are just code words ... used to distract from the real issues," he said. "If Home Depot was burying bodies in the water supply ... I would be equally concerned." The water and soil concerns stem from the Islamic center's burying a body on the new property "without a casket or proper embalming," Fisher said. Doug Demosi, the Rutherford County Regional Planning Commission Director, said Thursday the center had permission before interring the body and it doesn't appear any state regulations were violated. "Generally, religious organizations are exempt from some rules," Demosi said. The center does not have approval for future burials and the planning commission has no plans to allow a cemetery on the grounds, Demosi added. Claire Rogers, the spokeswoman for the group that organized Wednesday's counter-protest, Middle Tennesseans for Religious Freedom, disputed Fisher's assertions. "No one marches to a courthouse to deliver a petition based on traffic concerns," she said. The Facebook page for Rogers' group says, "We, as tolerant and loving community members, come together to defend the right of any member of our community to worship and express his, her, or their faith no matter the religion. We will not stand idly by while Muslim people in our community are represented falsely and assaulted on a psychological level." While some of the marchers may have been inspired to protest by the water, soil and traffic concerns, "from signs being held and things supporters said, it was evident that was not the driving force. It's a result of Islamaphobia and misinformation about local Islamic community," Rogers said. Fisher said his "group of concerned citizens" is focused on stopping the new facility from being built. He has filed a grievance against the Rutherford County Regional Planning Commission, claiming that commission failed to provide adequate public notice on the internet when it was considering the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro's site plans. Demosi said the commission has been cleared of any violation of open meeting requirements. Demosi said that since the Islamic Center offered site plans for approval that didn't involve rezoning, the commission only was legally bound to post a notice in a general circulation newspaper, which it placed in the Murfreesboro Post. The commission has placed its notices in the Murfreesboro Post for the past two years, after years of posting them in Murfreesboro's larger Daily News Journal, Demosi said. He said the change was made in an effort to save taxpayer dollars. Demosi admitted the commission didn't make any mention on its website of plans to discuss the Islamic Center at its May 24 hearing, and said he wasn't sure why that information was never posted online. But he said internet postings are a "courtesy we haven't been doing all that long," not a legal requirement. "We followed our protocols and feel that we did it according to the letter of the law," Demosi said. But Jay Heine, campaign manager for Republican Congressional candidate Lou Ann Zelenik, said that the commission didn't do its due diligence scrutinizing the Islamic center's funding and ties, rushing the process through. Earlier this week, Zelenik called for a "clean accounting and thorough investigation" of individuals involved with funding the proposed Islamic center and expressed concerns that one of the center's board members had hate speech on his MySpace page and supports Hamas, which the United States has designated a terrorist group. CNN affiliate WTVF reported that Islamic leaders said a board member has been suspended while they investigate the hate-speech claims. "Lou Ann was on the planning commission until she ran for Congress. These are things she herself would have looked into more," Heine said. Zelenik is running in the August 6 primary. On the Democratic side, candidate Ben Leming, a U.S. Marine and veteran of the Iraq war, has criticized Zelenik's position on the mosque, saying she and other local leaders are using fear to divide the community. "What do we have to be afraid of? During my deployments around the world, I have worked, trained, and broken bread with Muslims. ... The people that want to build a house of worship in Murfreesboro are not the enemy," he was quoted as saying in a June 18 story published in the Daily News Journal. Repeated calls to the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro were not immediately returned Thursday. A statement on the center's website said that 95 percent of the money for the project was raised locally, in middle Tennessee, in a three-month period. "This is the first step in multistage endeavor process that may last up to several year[s] based on our community's growth and the fundraising," the website said. The long-term plans for the new Islamic Center call for a buildout to 52,000 to 53,000 square feet, but the first phase would be less than 10,000 square feet, Demosi said. He said that because of the relatively small initial size of the center, he didn't believe traffic impact would be as bad as Fisher expected, but added, "In 20 to 25 years it may be worse and we can re-assess." Murfreesboro's population has spiked in recent years. It grew about 33 percent, from 68,816 people to 92,559, between 2000 and 2006, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In 2000, about 5 percent of Murfreesboro's populace was foreign-born -- almost twice the average in the state of Tennessee, the Census Bureau said. Rogers said the population influx may have sparked some xenophobia on the part of some residents, but she said it "helps enrich" the college town. Murfreesboro is home to Middle Tennessee State University, which has an enrollment of 25,188, according to the university website.

Islamic Center of Murfreesboro wants to change location, build a mosque . Proponents of the mosque say opponents are displaying religious intolerance . People fighting the mosque cite zoning concerns, worries about radicalism .

(CNN) -- Search teams looking for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 are investigating a number of sounds detected by ships in the southern Indian Ocean, authorities said Sunday, but it's not yet clear if any of them are from the missing plane's so-called black box. A British Royal Navy vessel is on its way to an area where a Chinese ship reported picking up electronic signals twice, once on Friday and again on Saturday, said Angus Houston, the head of the Australian agency coordinating search operations. And the Australian naval ship Ocean Shield, which has highly sophisticated equipment, is pursuing "an acoustic noise" that it detected in a different area, Houston said at a news conference. He said the detections were "an important and encouraging lead," but he cautioned that they be treated "carefully" as they haven't been verified as being related to Flight 370. Fevered search . Searchers are desperately seeking any clue about the location of the airliner that disappeared nearly a month ago with 239 people on board. Up to 10 military planes, two civil aircraft and 13 ships will assist in Sunday's search for the airline. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) plans to search three separate areas Sunday about 2,000 kilometers (about 1,240 miles) northwest of Perth. That area totals about 216,000 square kilometers (83,000 square miles). Australian planes are being deployed to the area where the Chinese ship, Haixun 01, picked up signals that would be consistent with those emitted by an aircraft's flight recorders, said Houston, the chief coordinator of Australia's Joint Agency Coordination Centre. A number of white objects were sighted about 56 miles (90 kilometers) away from where the sound was detected, he said. But he stressed that were was so far no confirmation that the signals and objects are related to Flight 370. "In the days, weeks and possibly months ahead, there may be leads such as the one I'm reporting to you this morning on a regular basis," Houston, a retired air chief marshal, said. Handheld hydrophone . Video on Chinese state-run CCTV shot Saturday shows crew members from the Haixun 01 boarding a small yellow dinghy and using what appears to be a handheld hydrophone. The three men on board lower the device into the water on a pole. The handheld ping-locating technology used by the Chinese ship is not as versatile as a U.S. Navy towed locator, which goes as deep as 20,000 feet, far from surface noise, according to experts. The U.S. Navy hydrophone -- or underwater microphone, is on board the Australian ship Ocean Shield, which recently joined the search for Flight 370. The state-run Chinese news agency, Xinhua, said a detector deployed by the Haixun 01 patrol ship picked up the signal around 25 degrees south latitude and 101 degrees east longitude. That puts it about 1,020 miles (1,640 kilometers) west-northwest of Perth, Australia, between current and previous search zones, and about 220 miles (354 kilometers) south of the closest of the three areas searched Saturday, said Judson Jones, a meteorologist with CNN International. Houston said Sunday that the sounds were detected "in the high probability area." White objects spotted . Also found Saturday -- spotted by a Chinese air force search plane -- were white objects floating near the search area. Investigators have failed to link any of the many previous sightings of debris to the missing plane. But the proximity of the two finds raised hopes that this time might be different. The ship first detected a signal Friday but couldn't record it because the signal stopped abruptly, a Shanghai-based Communist Party newspaper said. The signal detected Saturday, the Jiefang Daily said, occurred at 3:57 p.m. Beijing time (3:57 a.m. ET) and lasted about a minute and a half. It was not clear whether the signal had anything to do with the missing plane. A China Central Television correspondent aboard the Haixun-01 (pronounced "high shuen") reported that the 37.5 kHz signal was detected for a minute and a half. Fleeting acoustic . Houston confirmed the two separate detections and said they showed "some promise." But the signals picked up by the Chinese searchers were "fleeting acoustic events," he said. "It's not a continuous transmission. If you get close to the device, we should be receiving it for a longer period of time." The signal "is the standard beacon frequency" for the plane's cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder, said Anish Patel, president of pinger manufacturer Dukane Seacom. "They're identical." The frequency was chosen for use in the recorders "to give that standout quality that does not get interfered with by the background noise that readily occurs in the ocean." But he said he would like to see more evidence. "I'd like to see some additional assets on site quickly -- maybe some sonobuoys," he said, referring to 5-inch-long sonar systems that are dropped from aircraft or ships. And he said he was puzzled that only one signal had been detected, since each of the recorders was equipped with a pinger, which is also called a beacon. No confirmation . Other experts cautioned that no confirmation had been made that the signal was linked to the missing plane. "It ought to be easy to rule it in or rule it out, and they ought to go do it," said Mary Schiavo, a CNN aviation analyst and a former inspector general for the U.S. Department of Transportation. Saturday's leads came as concern was rising that the batteries powering the missing Boeing 777's locator pingers would soon go dead. The plane disappeared on March 8; its batteries were guaranteed to work for 30 days underwater, and are predicted to die slowly over the following days. Monday marks day 30. The batteries on Flight 370's black boxes were due to be replaced in June, the Malaysia Airlines chief executive said Saturday. "We can confirm there is a maintenance program. Batteries are replaced prior to expiration," Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said. Relative reacts . The tentative nature of the first report of an acoustic signal was not lost on one Chinese relative of one of those aboard. "There is not confirmation, and we are all waiting patiently," the relative told CNN Producer Judy Kwon in a text message. Still, Malaysia's acting transport minister, Hishammuddin Hussein, was sanguine: "Another night of hope-praying hard," he tweeted in response to the initial detection. "We've had a lot of red herrings, hyperbole on this whole search," said oceanographer Simon Boxall, a lecturer in ocean and earth science at the University of Southampton. "I'd really like to see this data confirmed." If this proves to be what investigators have been searching for, "then the possibility of recovering the plane -- or at least the black boxes -- goes from being one in a million to almost certain," he said. But, he added, "It could be a false signal." CNN aviation analyst David Soucie was less skeptical. "This is a pinger," the airplane accident investigator said. "I've been doing this a lot of years, and I can't think of anything else it could be." CNN's Tom Watkins, Laura Smith-Spark, Tom Cohen, Miles O'Brien, Pam Boykoff, David Molko, Will Ripley, Ingrid Formanek, Kevin Wang, Ben Brumfield, Pam Brown and Elizabeth Joseph contributed to this report.

NEW: A Chinese ship picked up a signal on Friday and Saturday, authorities say . NEW: An Australian naval vessel is pursuing a more recent detection in a separate location . NEW: An official calls the sounds "an important and encouraging lead" but urges caution . Up to 10 military planes, two civil aircraft,13 ships will assist in Sunday's search .

(CNN) -- He was an outstanding talent who never made it in the NBA, before he established himself as one of the most famous American players in European basketball history. But basketball is just one of the many talents in Darryl Middleton's locker. He's a co-owner of a Spanish restaurant where he also cooks. Middleton has come a long way since he had a dream of becoming a U.S. basketball star. As he puts it: "Everybody wants to go to the NBA." In 1988, drafted in the third round by the Atlanta Hawks with the 68th overall pick, Middleton appeared to have the world at his feet. But those feet could not dance their way past his new teammates -- the way was blocked. "I knew it would be difficult because the team that drafted me had too many good players," Middleton told CNN's Human to Hero series. Nicknamed 'Future' So Middleton packed his bags, left the U.S. and headed for Turkey to begin a 25-year odyssey where he would change clubs 15 times and play in five different countries. One of the most successful Americans to ever play in Europe, he was the MVP in the Spanish league in 1992, 1993 and 2000 and won the Euroleague with Greek side Panathinaikos in 2002. Not bad for a man who didn't pick up a basketball until the age of 15. "When I first started I was playing as if I had two left feet," he said. "I had to learn because everyone else my age was already playing. "I would stand on the side and dribble the ball by myself while everybody else was dunking and jumping. It was embarrassing." That embarrassment was the driving force behind Middleton's determination to succeed. Instead of moping on the sideline, he began an intensive program of training to help propel him towards the top of the roster. He started to tape NBA games and take notes on the way players moved, which foot they jumped off and then tried to replicate those steps in training. Each day he would get up and go to the park in the summer and play in the morning or practice by himself, sometimes playing for five different teams around New York. His extra work did not go unnoticed. Nicknamed 'Future' by his high school coach, who clearly believed his student had talent, Middleton began to fulfill his promise. Uzi machine guns . He won a scholarship to Baylor University and his draft to the Hawks followed almost expectantly -- but that's where it all began to unravel and he headed to Europe. Forget that he couldn't even pronounce the names of half the teams his agent was suggesting -- he boarded a plane for Turkey to embark on an adventure he's still living. Middleton readily admits he didn't know that they even played basketball in Turkey, and when he touched down to be greeted by armed guards wielding Uzi machine guns, he realized that he was entering a very different world. Not that it seemed to bother him on the court. Playing in Mersin, a large city and a port on the Mediterranean coast of southern Turkey, he was voted MVP in 1988 and began to enjoy life after adapting to life away from home. "I had never left the States and being in Turkey at that time was strange," said Middleton. "The people was good to me but still, I was away from home, the food was different, they spoke another language, and I didn't know what they were saying. "The coach helped me a lot. He took care of me, treated me like family and that helped. Normally that doesn't happen in New York -- the coaches just bring you into the team and you're on your own." Mersin was the first stop on a tour which would take in Italy, Spain, Greece and Russia. It was in Greece with Panathinaikos where Middleton won the Euroleague in 2002 on top of four Greek league titles and two domestic cups. Master chef . Further success followed in Spain with Girona where he won the FIBA EuroCup in 2007 some 12 years after helping FC Barcelona win two league titles. Voted MVP in the Spanish league three times during his career, it's no real surprise that Middleton chose to remain in Europe than return to the U.S. He considers himself European, speaks Spanish and while he continues to play at the age of 47, he has turned his hand to a new love of his -- cooking. Middleton co-owns a restaurant in Alicante on the Mediterranean coast, where he produces some impressive tasting cuisine. He can make a mean dessert and his big hands so used to the shape of a ball have become more delicate in their approach to rolling cannelloni. It was only when he arrived in Barcelona in the 1990s that he discovered he was just as capable of creating souffles as the was netting three-pointers. "My plan was never to be a chef or to cook but you need something else, you need a hobby," he said. "That was a good hobby for me. I love to cook, I always cooked for my players. I go home to the U.S. and cook all the time so I ended up just loving it. "Every year, I go back to cookery school whenever I can and just try different things. "I'm at the restaurant 10 hours a day and it's good to see people come, eat something and love it. That's a good feeling. "It's like basketball -- people come to the game, you play, you do well and then after that, they congratulate you. It's kind of the same. Putting a smile on someone's face." Hoop mentor . Now 47, Middleton knows he won't be putting smiles on people's faces for much longer with a basketball. After an adventure which began in Turkey over two decade ago, he is more likely to be found perfecting his apple pie or cheesecake rather than shooting hoops. Not that he's retired -- not yet. He still trains three days a week with Benidorm, a team which plays outside of the top league. Now he finds himself giving advice to the next generation, just as he did with Marc Gasol, a former teammate who plays for Memphis Grizzlies in the NBA. Voted an NBA all-star in 2012 and awarded the best defensive player of the year gong in 2013, Gasol first met Middleton at Girona. "When Marc first came to play with us he was overweight," jokes Middleton. "But he definitely had something. "He came to our team in Girona and I liked him. He worked hard every day and I worked with him. "I beat him up every day, sometimes I hit him. He was about to fight me because I just love competing. "I love to make a guy get better and better and Marc was of those players I helped. I was very proud of him when he want to the NBA - he's one of the best centers there." While Gasol has gone on to establish himself as one of basketball's biggest names in the U.S. Middleton has no desire to return across the Atlantic. Now a 'grandpa' figure to those he plays with, he is happy to spend the rest of his time by the tranquil waters of the Mediterranean while basking in the Spanish sun. "This is a great life," he says. "The food is great, the food in the States, I'm not too much crazy for anymore. "I don't eat fried foods or fast foods. I'm more European now - even the way I dress or talk. I just love it here." Raise a glass of Rioja -- this is one odyssey which won't be ending any time soon.

Darryl Middleton is one of the USA's most successful basketball players outside the NBA . Has played for 15 different European clubs in five countries over past 25 years . Helped Marc Gasol become one of the NBA's top stars . One of the oldest active players playing outside of the U.S.

(CNN) -- "My friends think just because we live in Hawaii, we live in paradise. We're all just out here sipping mai tais, shaking our hips and catching waves. Are they insane?" While an Oscar-nominated picture requires the kind of conflict that George Clooney's character implies with this line from "The Descendants," your vacation getaway doesn't. So leave the plot-twisting drama at home while you sink into the stunning scenery of some of this year's best picture picks, from the lush jungles of Kauai to England's wild moorlands to the heart of the Mississippi Delta. "The Descendants" -- Kauai, Hawaii . The Garden Isle's resplendent green cliffs and lush tropical landscapes have served as a backdrop for dozens of movies in addition to this year's Academy Award nominee. The oldest of all the main Hawaiian Islands, Kauai is known for its secluded beaches, scenic waterfalls and jungle hikes. More than 90% of the island cannot be reached by road, so bring your walking shoes. In Central Kauai, the 4.2-mile-round-trip Kuilau Trail winds through a diversity of flora before opening to a view of Kapehua'ala, the highest peak of the Makaleha Mountains. A moderately difficult hike, this former road also offers a glimpse of Mount Waialeale, the wettest place on Earth. The only way to view the breathtaking waterfalls hidden in the island's remote valleys is by helicopter tour. Make sure yours includes a view of the "weeping wall" in the Waialeale Crater. And if you're looking for killer snorkeling, Tunnels Beach is the place. Wondering where to stay? Visitors rave about the Hanalei Surfboard House, just across the street from surfers' paradise, Hanalei Bay. The courtyard features a fountain, tropical flowers and quirky sculptures, along with the inn's namesake fence, lined with vintage surfboards. Choose between the Elvis and Cowgirl rooms, decorated with thematic Americana, each with a private entrance and patio as well as an outdoor shower. "War Horse" -- Dartmoor, England . Explore the "abundance of natural beauty" that so captivated director Steven Spielberg during the shooting of "War Horse" at Dartmoor, in Devon. Dartmoor National Park is the largest and wildest area of open country in southern England. With rolling green fields, grazing sheep, rock outcroppings and blue rivers, the 368-square-mile park offers a guided walk about the movie filming as well as opportunities for cycling, hiking and climbing. Visit the ruins of Okehampton Castle, then picnic at River Okement. Trek to Lydford Gorge with its turquoise lagoons, or take a class with the professional chefs at the nearby Ashburton Cookery School. Stay at the Hotel Endsleigh (where Spielberg himself is rumored to have roomed) and schedule your own equine adventure, riding horseback on the hotel's 108-acre grounds, or a fishing trip along eight miles of the Tamar, lauded as the best salmon and sea trout river in England. Furnished with antiques, the hotel embraces the spirit of the Regency period while the dining room features local and regional foods prepared according to traditional English recipes. If it was nice enough for Spielberg ... "Moneyball" -- Oakland, California . Have a budding baseball fan in the family? How about a trip to Oakland to see Stomper the elephant, the official A's mascot, at a real, live A's game? Purchase a Kids Club membership and receive an A's drawstring bag, water bottle, lanyard and coupon booklet, featuring discounts at places like the Oakland Zoo. Take advantage of that coupon to see the more than 660 native and exotic animals. Other kid-friendly Oakland options include the Chabot Space & Science Center, with a planetarium and interactive exhibits about space and earth sciences, the Museum of Children's Art, which offers hands-on workshops and "Drop-In Art" sessions for children to explore using paint, papier-mâché, clay, fabrics, feathers and other materials, and Children's Fairyland, a 10-acre park on the shores of Lake Merritt where children's literature comes to life through storybook sets, rides, animals and puppet shows. Continue the family fun at the historic Claremont Hotel, which, in addition to luxuries parents will enjoy, offers on-site craft activities, toys and games. Plan to top off "game day" night with a sundae at Fentons Creamery, the century-old ice cream parlor and restaurant featured in the movie "UP!," and be sure to wear Oakland A's colors for a discount. "The Help" -- Greenwood, Mississippi . When "The Help" filmmakers went looking for stately Southern buildings and "modern" homes to stand in for 1960s-era Jackson, Mississippi, they discovered Greenwood, a historic Delta town 90 miles away. Though much of the shooting took place on private property, the local visitors' bureau provides a map, and CivilRightsTravel.com has compiled a list of a dozen sites to see. For some historical context, take advantage of Greenwood's other "true Delta" experiences. View the eclectic collection at the Museum of the Mississippi Delta, which includes regional art as well as artifacts related to agriculture, Native American and local military history. Venture out to nearby spots on the Mississippi Blues Trail, including Baptist Town, one of Greenwood's oldest African-American neighborhoods, said to have been a safe haven for musicians looking to escape work in the cotton fields. Then, journey 10 miles north to Money to glimpse what remains of Bryant's Grocery and Meat Market, where in 1955, 14-year-old Emmett Till allegedly whistled at a white woman. After he was beaten and murdered two days later, photographs of his mutilated body spurred the public outrage that sparked the civil rights movement. Following your day of history, take refuge at The Alluvian, the boutique hotel that several "Help" stars called home during filming. Enjoy the award-winning design, the Mississippi art on the walls and dinner at Giardina's, the on-site restaurant founded in 1936. "Midnight in Paris" -- Historic Paris . If you needed inspiration to visit Paris, Woody Allen's latest flick provides it. Kick off your historic Parisian adventure with a Paris Underbelly Discovery Tour of sites featured in the film that "capture the lively and quintessential spirit of Paris from the past." Depending on which tour you choose, you'll see Monet's "Waterlilies," visit the Rodin sculpture garden, sip cocktails in one of the swank hotels featured in the film, or pop in at one of Ernest Hemingway's favorite haunts for jazz and spirits. By the 1920s, Paris had become a rich cultural center, a world capital for the artistic and intellectual vanguard. Catch a glimpse of this period at La Coupole, the brasserie that hosted a convergence of writers, artists and musicians including Man Ray, Pablo Picasso, Josephine Baker, Henry Miller and Jean-Paul Sartre. Over dinner, ogle at the Cubist-inspired pillars covered with imitation-marble mosaics and the brightly colored Art Deco dome. For a glamorous finish to your day, splurge on a night at the opulent Le Meurice hotel where "Midnight" scenes were shot, and surrealist Salvador Dali once stayed.

Visit the filming sites of five of this year's best picture nominees . Subtract the drama of "The Descendants" and relax on location in Kauai . Create a kid-friendly getaway around "Moneyball" and the Oakland A's .

(CNN) -- The emergence of a purported statement from al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden about U.S. policy in Pakistan as the U.S. president embarks on a major trip to Muslim countries is no coincidence, the White House spokesman and a counterterrorism official say. Osama bin Laden is seen in an image taken from a videotape that aired on Al-Jazeera in September 2003. "I think the reports we've seen are consistent with messages we've seen in the past from al Qaeda threatening the U.S. and other countries that are involved in counter-terrorism efforts," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters Wednesday. "But I don't think it's surprising that al Qaeda would want to shift attention away from the president's historic efforts and continued efforts to reach out and have an open dialogue with the Muslim world." A U.S. counterterrorism official, asked about the statement, said bin Laden "has timed the release of tapes to major events so it is not surprising that he picked this particular week." Al Jazeera, the Arabic-language TV network that aired the message on Wednesday, said the statement was "a voice recording by bin Laden." As for the tape's authenticity, a CNN analysis said the voice does indeed sound like the leader of the terrorist network that attacked the United States on September 11, 2001. The counterterrorism official said "there has never been a fake Bin Laden tape." The message comes as Obama begins his trip to the Middle East, visiting Saudi Arabia on Wednesday and, in Egypt on Thursday, making a major speech to the Muslim world. Zeroing in on the conflict in Pakistan's Swat Valley, where Pakistan's troops are taking on Taliban militants, the message asserts that Obama is proving that he is "walking the same road of his predecessors to build enmity against Muslims and increasing the number of fighters, and establishing more lasting wars." The message said U.S. policy in Pakistan has generated "new seeds of hatred and revenge against America." The remarks -- which would be bin Laden's first assessment of Obama's policy -- were believed to have been recorded several weeks ago at the start of a mass civilian exodus because of fighting in northwestern Pakistan. The speaker cites strikes, destruction, and Obama's "order" to Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari "to prevent the people of Swat from implementing sharia law." "All this led to the displacement of about a million Muslim elders, women and children from their villages and homes. They became refugees in tents after they were honored in their own homes," the message says. "This basically means that Obama and his administration put new seeds of hatred and revenge against America. The number of these seeds is the same as the number of those victims and refugees in Swat and the tribal area in northern and southern Waziristan." And, the message says, "the American people need to prepare to only gain what those seeds bring up." Watch what the speaker says on the tape » . The speaker also says Zardari and Pakistan's military chief, Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, continue to divert the army's main role from protecting the nation to fighting Islam and its followers. He says the war is also hurting Pakistan's economy, endangering the country's religion and security and "fulfilling an American, Jewish and Indian plot." "Most of the Pakistani people reject this unjust war. Zardari did this in response to the ones paying him in the White House -- not 10 percent but multiple folds of that," the message says. The message points to India's aspirations, saying it is "easy for India to subject the disassembled territories of Pakistan, one after another, for its own benefit, like the case of eastern Pakistan before, or even worse." "This way, America eases its worry towards Pakistan's nuclear weapons," the message says. Eastern Pakistan is a reference to Bangladesh, which had been part of Pakistan until it became an independent country in 1971. Pakistan and India have also been at odds over the disputed territory of Kashmir, and pro-bin Laden jihadis have opposed Indian rule there. Richard Holbrooke, the Obama administration's special envoy to Pakistan and India, said he hadn't listened to the message but commented on what he had heard about it. "The idea that anyone is responsible for the refugee crisis other than al Qaeda and the Taliban and the other people who have caused such tragedy in western Pakistan is ludicrous," he said. "This entire problem begins with al Qaeda and its associates, and everybody in the world knows that, and it's silly to even respond to such a ludicrous charge." Al Jazeera aired three separate segments totaling just over four minutes long from what it said is a new bin Laden audiotape aired over an old still picture of the terrorist leader. The network's anchors took part in describing each of the segments before they ran them. Since the message was not posted on the radical Islamist Web sites that usually carry statements from al Qaeda, it is believed that this latest message was hand-delivered to the TV network, based in Doha, Qatar. In other purported bin Laden messages issued in March, he called for Somalia's new president to be overthrown and called Israel's recent offensive in Gaza a "holocaust." Bin Laden has delivered many messages over the years, but the last video message from him was in early September 2007. In that video message, he criticized U.S. Democrats for failing to stop the war in Iraq; spoke of the anniversary of the U.S. bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II; the troop surge in Iraq; and world leaders such as French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. On that tape, bin Laden's appearance was artificially changed for the first time. He dyed his beard from grayish white to black, leading analysts to believe that he has switched to sending only audio messages because he is altering his looks and doesn't want people to know what he looks like. Analysts also believe that bin Laden hasn't made videos lately because they are more labor-intensive to produce. There have been gaps between videos from bin Laden, with many audio messages in between, each time prompting analysts to theorize he might be dead. The last two videos of bin Laden himself delivering an address were the 2007 tape and another in 2004. See a timeline of bin Laden messages » . The U.S. counterterrorism official said of the latest purported bin Laden tape that "while the words are different" from other messages, this statement "recycles the broad themes of messages past." "While we are still looking at the message closely, there is no reason to believe any specific or credible threat is contained in it," the official said. Al Qaeda's second in command issued an audio statement Tuesday saying Obama is not welcome in Egypt. Ayman al-Zawahiri said relations with the United States cannot be mended so long as the administration maintains its alliance with Israel. In a message called "Tyrants of Egypt and America's agents welcome Obama" that was posted on Islamist Web sites, al-Zawahiri once again lashed out at the United States. Obama's message to the Muslim world, he said, has already been delivered with his support for "Zionist aggression." In the 10-minute audio message, al-Zawahiri said Obama had already made himself an enemy of Muslims by sending more soldiers to Afghanistan, ordering bombings in the tribal areas of Pakistan and administering a "bloody campaign against Muslims" in Pakistan's Swat Valley. CNN's Octavia Nasr and Jeanne Meserve contributed to this report.

NEW: White House says timing of tape is not a coincidence . Analysis of tape indicates that voice sounds like Osama bin Laden's . Purported tape from terror leader surfaces as President Obama visits Mideast . Message says U.S. policy on Pakistan has generated "seeds of hatred"

(CNN) -- These quirky museums, theme parks and circus acts feed our collective cat obsession. Stephanie Harwin, who writes the cat-obsessed blog Catsparella, will go to great lengths to get her feline fix. On her quest to fulfill a lifelong dream, visiting Japan's Hello Kitty theme park, Harwin endured a bout of severe food poisoning, a language barrier and a long journey to reach her happy place. Japan is the ultimate travel destination for cat enthusiasts and Hello Kitty is just the beginning. Tokyo has become famous for its cat cafés, where you can hang out with the furry creatures, and each February brings the celebration of "Nyan Nyan Nyan Day" (a name inspired by the sound cats make). Meet Grumpy Cat . While the Japanese have the highest per capita cat ownership in the world, there are people crazy for cats everywhere. London's Zoological Society even created a global cat map that allows you to plot the location of your own pet and upload its photo. All this cat love has resulted in some strangely charming places where travelers can stop to pay tribute. These vacation ideas are the cat's meow. Cat Cafés, Tokyo . Japan's obsession with all things feline is well documented. After all, this is the homeland of YouTube star Maru, a Scottish fold whose antics have amassed more than 200 million views. Tokyo itself counts more than a hundred "neko" or cat cafés, where patrons come to sip lattes and socialize with numerous cats, who lounge around on chairs, sofas, baskets and occasionally the laps of their human fans. Some of the more popular: Shimokitazawa's Cateriam, Nekobukuro in Ikebukuro, Curl Up Café in Haramachi, and Nyafe Melange. There's even a handy map to locate them. Festival of the Cats, Ypres, Belgium . The Kattenstoet (Festival of the Cats) is held every three years on the second Sunday of May; the next is scheduled for 2015. It celebrates the noble feline with a street parade of floats, music, stilt walkers and costumed townsfolk, many of whom dress as cats, witches or mice. The festival culminates with a performance in which a jester tosses children's toy cats from the Cloth Hall belfry down to the crowd—a tradition that harks back to the harsh Middle Ages practice of throwing actual cats from the belfry in the spring. (Not to worry: no kitties are harmed in the modern reenactments.) Travel + Leisure: Coolest vacations for dog lovers . Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum, Key West, Florida . Cat fanatics who are also Hemingway fans will find nirvana at the writer's former Key West home. The grand, plantation-style limestone house is the domain of around 50 cats descended from Papa's original Maine coon, Snowball, who was given to him by a ship's captain. The cats are polydactyl (six-toed), which lends them their distinctive appearance—some say it looks like the cats are wearing mittens. Hemingway named many of his cats after famous people, and the estate carries on the tradition today; look for Lionel Barrymore and Hairy Truman. Moscow Cats Theatre . This second-generation Russian theater, founded by Yuri Kuklachev and his son Dmitri in 1990, performs in Moscow when the troupe—which includes around 120 cats—isn't touring the world. Shows feature a revolving series of madcap acts with names like Catnappers, Cat Clowns and Love, and Cats from the Universe. Expect to see the Kuklachevs' furry stars performing stunts: walking a tightrope, teetering on a rocking horse and posing on top of a mirror ball. Kuching Cat Museum, Malaysia . Cats are considered lucky in Malaysia, as in many Asian cultures, and the Kuching Cat Museum in Sarawak pays respectful, if slightly wacky, homage to these fortune-bestowing felines. For starters, you enter the UFO-style building through a giant cat face. Inside await exhibitions, artifacts, artworks and ephemera dedicated to cats. The pièce de résistance: a 1,000-year-old mummified Egyptian kitty. The museum is on a hill, with great views of the city of Kuching, which translates as "cat city." Travel + Leisure: Outrageous hotel perks for pets . The Supreme Cat Show, Birmingham, UK . At the UK's largest and most prestigious cat show, held each November at the National Exhibition Centre near Birmingham, you can watch cats relax in their pens and be judged in the ring, and browse for every cat product imaginable at an array of stands. Each cat gets a large double pen, decorated by its owner with brightly colored drapes or more creative trappings based on a given theme. In 2012, it was "Diamonds are forever." Torre Argentina Cat Sanctuary, Rome . The mission of this sanctuary is to "work together to raise the quality of life of Rome's abandoned cats"—and it welcomes volunteers. Expect to perform duties such as cleaning cages and distributing food to some of the 300-odd cat residents; if you're living in Rome you can volunteer as a "foster parent" for young kittens in your own home. The site, which contains ancient ruins, has a glamorous pedigree: while filming at the nearby Teatro Argentina, Italian actress Anna Magnani famously spent her breaks here feeding the cats. Dominique and His Flying House Cats, Key West, Florida . Dominique LeFort is one of the more idiosyncratic locals—and in Margaritaville, that's really saying something. The performer and his troupe of trained house cats entertain regularly at Sunset Celebration, a nightly arts festival at Mallory Square Dock. The shaggy-haired Frenchman ushers his nonchalant cats across tightropes and through flaming hoops, all while keeping up a madcap banter with the audience (including his catchphrase, "Clap, clap, clap!"), a shtick that has earned the act a cult following. Travel + Leisure: World's Strangest statues . Poezenboot, Amsterdam, the Netherlands . Cats and water don't usually mix well, yet this floating cat sanctuary on Amsterdam's Herengracht canal has proven a grand success. Founded in 1966 by a local legend named Henriette van Weelde—who took in stray cats and eventually moved them onto a houseboat in the canal—the floating barge has become a tourist attraction, drawing cat lovers and the curious alike. Visitors can volunteer, donate or adopt. Hello Kitty theme park, Tokyo . A pilgrimage to Tokyo's Hello Kitty theme park, known officially as Sanrio Puroland, is a must for fans of the cult cat character (a Japanese white bobtail). The park attracts 1.5 million annual visitors of all ages, who come from far and wide to watch Hello Kitty-themed musicals, take a spin on cat-tastic rides and visit Hello Kitty's house, which features portraits of the famous cat's family and a bathtub shaped like her face. There's also a boat ride in which another Sanrio character, Cinnamoroll, leads visitors on a trip to Hello Kitty's party. See More Places for Cat Lovers at Travel + Leisure. Planning a getaway? Don't miss Travel + Leisure's guide to the World's Best Hotels . Copyright 2012 American Express Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.

Cat fans who love Hemingway should visit his Key West home . Head to Tokyo to play with real cats at cat cafes or visit the city's Hello Kitty theme park . A floating cat sanctuary in Amsterdam welcomes visitors and potential cat parents .

(CNN) -- The Hong Kong Sevens rugby tournament is universally acclaimed as the premier event of its kind and if you've been lucky enough to attend, you'll know why. Arguably the biggest event on the Hong Kong sports and social calendar, the tournament is renowned for the standard of rugby and also for the vibrant, carefree ambiance in the stands. Hong Kong Stadium hosts the event every spring and the 40,000 seats are always sold out. It was founded by the Hong Kong Football Club in 1976 and for the first six years the event was played at a more modest venue, tucked inside the racehorse track at Happy Valley. The tournament's pioneers were way ahead of their time. Back in the '70s, rugby was an amateur sport but this was one of the first tournaments to attract major sponsorship. It was an international, cosmopolitan, rugby competition, played more than a decade before the sport's first World Cup. These days, the football club's main involvement with the sevens weekend is to provide hundreds of fans who'll drink up the action . But on the eve of the tournament, their home ground at Happy Valley plays host to a more sombre occasion, one borne from the tragedy of Hong Kong rugby's darkest hour. PT McGee used to be a prop forward for the club and he now proudly serves as a committee member. "Usually the worst thing that happens on a tour is an arrest or maybe a broken bone," he told CNN, "but something happened to this club that hasn't happened to any other rugby club in the history of the sport." In 2002, HKFC's touring side "The Vandals" was playing in a social tournament in Indonesia, the Bali 10s. Having competed in the opening day of the tournament, the team -- and many other players -- headed to the popular nightspot of Kuta for refreshment. It was October 12, exactly one year, one month and one day after the 9/11 attacks in the United States. Unbeknown to the rugby players, a violent Islamic group -- Jemaah Islamiyah -- had targeted the tourist district for another major atrocity. Anson Bailey had also traveled from Hong Kong for the 10s. He was playing for "The Pot Bellied Pigs," an invitational touring team made up of players from various sides including Kowloon rugby club. He was walking towards the Sari Club when he heard a bang. "Within a minute there was another explosion, a really painful blast that stopped you in your tracks," he said. Bailey will never forget what he then experienced. "The sound wave came up the street, smashing the shop windows and buckling shutters. Up ahead was a huge orange mushroom cloud, hysterical people were running towards us." Anson ran away too, but he soon realized that he needed to help, not least because he knew that many of his friends would have already been at the scene of the blast. When he returned, he found the blackened figure of Andy Douglas, a player that Bailey knew from the Singapore Cricket Club. "He was black from head-to-toe, his clothes were burnt, his skin was peeling, his ears were bleeding." Douglas thinks he was knocked unconscious by the first blast in Paddy's Bar and was wondering why all his friends had left him when the second fireball erupted outside. He later learned that eight teammates had died. "My first thought was that I had to get out of here, everything's on fire. I have to get to the beach because I know that can't burn down." Carnage . Douglas was fortunate to run into Bailey, who vowed to care for him on that fateful night. Together, they toured the island's medical facilities in a taxi, trying to find help. Bailey vividly recalls the driver apologizing profusely for the carnage. They waded through pools of blood on white tiled floors, they found friends with horrific shrapnel wounds, everywhere they witnessed death. Douglas has made a remarkable recovery since then and is eternally grateful. "I will forever be indebted to Anson for saving my life, he gave me the courage to pull through in the first 24 hours. We'll always have a special bond. He's a great man." They were the lucky ones. In all, 202 people were killed by the bombs and in some cases their remains were unidentifiable. Four different rugby teams were in the path of the carnage, clubs from Taiwan, Indonesia, Singapore and Hong Kong were devastated, losing 27 players and supporters between them. The HKFC spent the next few weeks mourning 11 of their own. Twelve years later, those clubs are very different. Many of the players involved at the time of Bali have finished playing or moved on to other cities. But the tragedy will never be forgotten. McGee estimates that only 20% of the players remain from 2002, but the tragedy is embedded in the club's DNA. "For every new member, it is instilled upon them that Bali is a part of our legacy. We deal with it and honor it every year, at the time of the anniversary and throughout the season as well." It wasn't just the HKFC that was scarred by Bali. Two other teams from Hong Kong, who narrowly avoided the carnage, spent the days afterward assisting with the search for survivors and ultimately the grim task of identifying the dead; players from rival teams but friends from the tight-knit rugby community. On the eve of the sevens in Hong Kong, these sides commemorate the tragedy with a memorial game. Last Friday, Bailey and Douglas lined up alongside each other in the bright colors of Bailey's team, "The Pot Bellied Pigs." It has become an annual occasion. Bali proved to be a life-changing experience for Bailey. "I'd like to think that I'm a better person because I had a second chance and I was damn sure that I was going to make the most of it." Since the attack, he's spent some of his time organizing the annual "Fatboy 10s" tournament in the Philippines, a benevolent event which has been well supported by some of the biggest names in the rugby community. The HKFC also tours annually with an altruistic purpose, previously visiting Nepal and Kolkata and this month, Laos. Sean Purdie -- a teammate of those lost in Bali -- is the driving force behind it. "We certainly wanted to keep the name of 'The Vandals' going," he said. "It was the name of the team which represented the football club in Bali. We continued touring, but we thought about doing a bit more." Purdie is credited by others at his club for lifting some of the gloom in the wake of the disaster and the annual tours have become one of the most popular events in the calendar. It may only be for a brief amount of time, but the tours have a big impact on everyone involved. Senseless act . Fundraising activities benefit the under-privileged communities being visited, fatherless children are exposed to positive male role models and for some of the players, it is an enlightening experience. Purdie said some of the players return home as changed men, vowing to do more to improve the world around them. Rugby players have always believed their game can make a difference, but for those touched by the tragedy of Bali, it has now become very clear. "If they [the terrorists] had embraced the spirit of the game, they would never have committed such a senseless act," said Douglas. "It's a game of togetherness in which you embrace your opponent as much as your teammate at the end of the game." As Bailey put it: "There's a lot of compassion, there's a lot of heart. We all try to do the right thing."

The Bali bombings of October 12, 2002 claimed the lives of 202 people . "The Vandals" rugby team from Hong Kong was on the island playing in a tournament . Four separate rugby teams from Taiwan, Indonesia, Singapore and Hong Kong lost 27 players . The Vandals hold an annual memorial to honor the players who died that day .

(CNN) -- When Bob Bergdahl was formally introduced to America in the White House Rose Garden beside the President, he was startling to see and hear at first: He was wearing a long beard and even speaking Pashto. The transformation of the former UPS delivery man was five years in the making in the mountain valleys of Idaho, sparked when his son, Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, was captured by the Taliban in Afghanistan in June 2009. In the half-decade that he and wife crusaded for their son's release -- finally won this past weekend -- Bergdahl journeyed deep into the meaning of his son's captivity and war itself, according to media accounts. He immersed himself in books about Afghanistan and its Pashto language, to speak to his son's captors if only from afar. When it was over, he emerged as someone apparently transformed by his odyssey to save his son. "I am your father, Bowe. To the people of Afghanistan, the same," Bergdahl said during the Rose Garden announcement of his son's release. His immersion into the Afghan mindset, however, hasn't gone unquestioned. His Twitter account posted a message expressing his intent to help free prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. Bowe Bergdahl's release was secured after the Obama administration traded five terrorism detainees from Guantanamo in exchange for the U.S. soldier, which Republican leaders and others have criticized as negotiating with terrorists. Does Bergdahl swap set precedent? The tweet on May 28 was subsequently deleted. A military spokesman for the family, Col. Timothy Marsano, told CNN that the Bergdahls had no comment on the tweet and would not confirm or deny its authenticity. CNN has no way of independently confirming the authenticity of the tweet. Back in Hailey, Idaho, where the Bergdahls raised and home-schooled their son and daughter, residents strongly support the family and dismiss the anger over the prisoner exchange. The community has long maintained a yellow-ribbon vigil for the return of Bowe Bergdahl. "I think that people need to take a little bit more time to stop and listen and understand the situation before they make snap judgments," said Minna Casser, 55, a caregiver and artist who has been living in Hailey for 15 years. In the past five years, Bob and Jani Bergdahl have been holding rallies, maintaining a website and lobbying congressmen in a campaign to win their son's freedom. In May 2011, almost two years into his son's captivity, Bergdahl made a YouTube appeal to his son's captors. The father had a long beard, but he didn't speak much Pashto at that time: "We ask that your nation diligently help our son be freed from his captivity. I pray this video may be shown to our only son," he told Pakistani armed forces, apparently because his son's captors were moving him between Afghanistan and Pakistan at that time. "We've been quiet in public, but we haven't been quiet behind the scenes," As recently as last January, Bob Bergdahl also spoke Pashto at a rally in Hailey. "May the peace of God and blessings of God be upon you," he said in Pashto. "After 12 years, let there be peace. Can we push this forward and make this happen?" Bergdahl then spoke in English, delivering a message to his only son that revealed a mutual trial of the spirit. "Bowe, my son, if you can hear me ... you are part of the peace process. You are part of ending the Afghan war. Have faith. Do good works. Tell the truth, and have the patience that can only come from God. We are being tested." Bergdahl, 54, who retired from UPS after working there for 28 years, recently built a campsite with a tent and a wood-burning stove in the same birch forest in the mountains where his son used to play as a child, according to a recent videotaped interview with the U.K.'s Guardian newspaper. To reach the campsite, Bergdahl hiked in snowshoes with a backpack through the wintry summits. He's hoping his son will use the isolation of the camp to recover. "I wake up each morning, and my first thought is, my son is still a prisoner of war in Afghanistan, and I need to do something about that," the father told the Guardian. Back at home, the family kitchen features a small shrine to their son, with a framed photograph of him in uniform along with a U.S. flag. Elsewhere in the home are stacks of books including one entitled "Pashto" and another called "War Is a Lie," according to the Guardian. "I'm trying to learn a little Pashto so that I can speak to people," he said in the newspaper interview. "I'm trying to write or read the language. I probably spend four hours a day reading on the region and the history." Stefanie O'Neill, a Bergdahl family friend, said those are the thoughts of a father fighting for his son's life. "Wouldn't you try and connect with the people that had your child? Bob and Jani did everything possible they could to ensure Bowe's safety. And if Bob was trying to connect with them, it was to keep his son safe, I'm sure," O'Neill said. The family home sits high in the crystalline air of the Rocky Mountains down the road from the resort town of Sun Valley, a famous tourist and celebrity getaway for skiing and fresh air. Outside the house, Bergdahl rides a quarterhorse in the snow without a saddle. "I don't think anybody can relate to the prisoners in Guantanamo more -- I don't think -- than our family because it's the same thing. My son is a prisoner of war, and wars end with reconciliation and negotiations with the enemy, and prisoners of war should be part of that dialogue, and I insist that it will be," Bergdahl told the UK news outlet. Bowe Bergdahl was officially classified by the military as missing/captured. Bob Bergdahl taught his son ethics from the classics. He and his wife moved to Idaho from California and built a two-bedroom house on mountain valley farmland near Hailey, the family told Rolling Stone magazine in 2012. There, the couple raised Bowe and daughter Sky. The parents are devout Calvinists who home-schooled their children six hours a day and taught them the theologies of Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine. "Ethics and morality would be constant verbiage in our conversations," Bergdahl told the magazine. "Bowe was definitely instilled with truth. He was very philosophical about perceiving ethics." His son's upbringing in mountainous Hailey may have helped the young man during captivity, Bergdahl told Time magazine in an interview two years ago. "Idaho is so much like Afghanistan," Bergdahl told the magazine, citing the mountains of both. "The similarities will help him. We hope that will be what sustains him." It apparently did, though the captivity has taken a toll on the son, the father said. His son, too, became immersed in the language of his captors and now has trouble speaking English. The son's recovery will certainly take a long time, the father said. Bowe Bergdahl's return to the United States -- and reunion with his family and hometown -- have not been announced by U.S. officials. Opinion: Bergdahl still has a hard road home . CNN's Ed Lavandera and Jason Morris contributed to this report from Idaho.

Bob Bergdahl, father of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, grew a beard like an Afghan villager's . He learned Pashto to speak to his son's captors from afar . Each morning, "my first thought is, my son is still a prisoner of war," he tells outlet . His immersion into the Afghan mindset, however, has raised questions .

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Apparently in Hollywood, the hair's the hardest. Not styling it, but creating it, in this case on the back of an imaginary mammoth. Roland Emmerich grins and bears it as he poses for photographers with the stars of "10,000 BC." "At the beginning of every movie," Roland Emmerich explains, "I talk to my visual effects supervisor. She always reads the script, then she comes running into my office and says: 'It's impossible Roland, we can not do this.'" "She explained to me: 'Every hair is like a one of a million, it has to react to the other hair, and then there is the wind, and the movement of the animal, it's just a mathematical nightmare'. So I said: 'Great, let's do it.'" The results speak for themselves. A herd of thundering mammoths takes a starring role in one of the trailers for "10,000 BC." They look realistic enough; certainly more realistic than the one positioned on the red carpet for the film's world premiere in Berlin. see pictures of the world premiere » . It stands -- after some considerable effort -- at the entrance to CineStar theater in Berlin's Potsdamer Platz, the location for the first big public screening of Roland Emmerich's new film. see the mammoth going up.. and down » . He's nervous. For a Hollywood director who's renowned for outrageous concepts and over-the-top effects, he's not very fond of fanfare. "It's good for the movie. We want to promote the movie. That's the only reason why I do it," Emmerich says. He's speaking at the Regent Hotel in Berlin on the morning of the worldwide premiere of "10,000 BC." There's a long day ahead; eight or so hours of interviews with the world's media and film critics, then the film premiere and the premiere party. The Interviews . Warner Brothers, the film's distributors, have booked every room in Berlin's Regent Hotel. Nothing is left to chance. "The coordinating central office where all of the press gathers for the press credentials and just to make sure that the timing is right because the schedule is quite intricate," says the film's producer Michael Wimer, as he leads Revealed on a tour of the hotel. Upstairs there are the interview rooms, make-up rooms "to make sure that our people look as beautiful as possible", and the all important "monitor room." Inside the monitor room is a row of television screens showing live feeds of interviews taking place down the hall. "People get to stay in here and look and see if there's a consistency of information, to see if the interviews are going well or not," Wimer explains, "and basically just to make sure that everything is going the way we want it to." Revealed: "Have you noticed any mistakes?" Wimer: "No... so far. So far we have professionals, which is pretty important because some of our actors are pretty young and for them to be doing this at such a high level, such a professional level, says a lot about how they've been prepared. I think this is going to be a good day for us." The premiere . Hundreds of people line up three-deep along the temporary barriers outside the CineStar theater in Berlin's Potsdamer Platz, as photographers provide the familiar sparkle of camera flashes that greet every world premiere. Roland Emmerich arrives in suit and trainers and immediately bounds over to a group of fans who are waving books and photos. This is one premiere that's more about the film maker than the stars. "I think it's interesting because you know normally it's about the stars, about the main characters," says Steven Gaetjen, a German television presenter who'll be compering the event. "But he's the person that invented the story; he's the man who made the movie." "Anything that happens in Berlin attracts a huge crowd but tonight is very special because it's a world premiere and sort of like a lost son has returned to Germany." And that lost son has brought people with him; a group of South African extras who played the mammoth hunters. Michael Wimer: "Somewhere around the end of the shoot, Roland said to these guys: 'Well, the next part of it, after of course a year of production, is the premiere.'" "He said: 'If we have the premiere in Europe I promise I'll fly you guys up.' And Roland, true to his word, contacted them about two months ago and said: 'Hey guys, we're doing the premiere, in Berlin and I'm sending down some tickets and we'll take care of the hotel rooms.'" "They just got here day before yesterday and it's just the most fun thing to see the whole group getting back together again," Wimer says. "It's a little odd that we call them the mammoth hunters when we're walking around Berlin, but it's pretty charming and we hope they're going to have a blast tonight on the red carpet." The Film . A twittering spreads through the audience as the lights dim and the curtains open. What follows is an 109 minute love story set in prehistoric times. A young mammoth hunter, D'Leh (Steven Strait), falls in love with a beautiful village girl, Evolet (Camilla Belle). When she's abducted by a gang of mysterious horseman, D'Leh embarks on a journey across unchartered territory to rescue her. Along the way, he and his band of followers discover unknown civilizations. Gradually their small band turns into an army. After fending off saber tooth tigers and vicious terror birds, they confront their final challenge -- to overthrown a tyrannical God who has enslaved his people. Viewers' verdict . After the premiere, guests file up a smaller red carpet to the premiere party at Goya nightclub in Berlin. It is time to relax and share their thoughts on the film. Revealed went into the public area and asked the general public what they thought. Have you seen the film? What did you think? "I think the action was great but the story was a little too thin," said one woman, a view shared by a couple of film-goers. "The pictures were great, really, really great, but for me it was a bit too simple." "No, I'm sorry, it's not my type of movie, but it was fun. We had some drinks and some nachos." Other comments ranged from the mildly enthusiastic... "It took a long time, two and a half years for this, but it was quite amusing. I enjoyed it yes. I liked 'Independence Day' and I liked the Patriot. This one wouldn't be one of my favorites." To the exuberant... "It was very exciting and it was very enormous with the big mammoths and stuff. I think it's a big success for the film, hopefully for Emmerich. It's the 3rd film I've seen from him and I am of course a big fan." "I was amazing; it was a Roland Emmerich film. All the special effects he made, all the ideas he has... great, great." As for Roland himself, he's put the dilemma of creating realistic mammoth hair behind him and is focusing on his next film. "By the time the movie's out there, you have seen it probably a thousand times," he says, "and you cannot watch it anymore. Because you would, like, go crazy." "So, I don't watch anything anymore and I don't read any reviews. I just avoid that this movie exists and concentrate on the next one."

Woolly mammoth on red carpet for world premiere of Emmerich's "10,000 BC" Film premiered in Berlin on Feb. 26 after grueling schedule of media interviews . Mammoth hunters from South Africa joined stars at Potsdamer Platz . Viewers' opinion of film mixed: "Action was great but the story was too thin"

(CNN) -- President Obama attracted a lot of attention when he went on "Between Two Ferns," going mano-a-mano with comedian Zach Galifianakis. The President handled Galifianakis' barbs well, throwing some back at the comedian (ridiculing his film "Hangover 3," for example) and successfully stoking interest in his health care program, based on the uptick in traffic that followed. The show was condemned by some who saw it as disrespectful of the office of the presidency; others said the president performed brilliantly, doing what presidents need to do in this day and age, by appearing on a hip and edgy popular culture outlet. Reaching young people any way he can is particularly urgent with the March 31 deadline for health coverage enrollment under the Affordable Care Act. The administration has not made its sign-up targets, and evidence suggests balance between young and healthy versus old and infirm is not what the President wanted. But while gimmicks like the "Ferns" appearance may produce some quick-hit results, they won't go far in re-energizing young people about Obama's presidency. In the case of the health care program, for example, it seems that many young people have not been convinced the program is in their best interest. A good part of this has to do with the failure of the administration to explain this complex program to the public since its inception. If President Obama -- or politicians from either party -- really want to engage younger Americans and reignite the energy of 2008, they will need to do much more. Americans in their late teens and early 20s who are just starting to vote are not so gullible or pliable. They are looking for help in tough times. They want their government to offer real solutions to real problems that they see, not just cool appearances that might make them laugh a bit. Like all the other Americans who are struggling in the modern economy, younger voters want job security. Too many leave college without any good job prospects and those who do succeed often find jobs with meager benefits and limited long-term stability. This is a far cry from the 1950s and 1960s, the era when young Americans who finished their high school education and went to college could expect to enter careers that would bring them financial security and allow them to do better than their parents. As Sarah Ayers of the Center for American Progress noted, the unemployment crisis for young Americans includes "high school students who are having a harder time finding after-school jobs, twenty-somethings who are increasingly stuck in unpaid internships instead of paying jobs, and college students who are settling for low-wage, low-skill jobs such as waiting tables or serving coffee." Many younger Americans exiting college work multiple jobs to make ends meet or find work in transitory positions without benefits. According to the New York Fed, unemployment is at its worst rate in two years for recent college graduates and many fortunate to have employment are in jobs that don't require their degrees. President Obama has not been able to do much about this situation. While he worked hard to push a stimulus bill that would move the nation out of recession in 2009, long-term investment in jobs has not been a big part of his record. In his stimulus bill, passed at the height of his influence, the President focused too much on tax cuts and not enough on the kinds of public jobs that would have been attractive to younger Americans struggling to find a place in the workforce. The cost of using his political capital on health care, moreover, was to diminish the possibility for greater public investments in growing areas of the job market. Neither has the President figured out how to halt the flight of jobs to other countries. What's more, young people also see a Washington that is broken, a city gridlocked in partisan conflict as decisions revolve around powerful single-issue lobbyists who gain influence by throwing money at candidates. When Obama originally ran for the presidency, he promised to promote a different kind of politics. He took the political process seriously, and argued that without campaign finance, lobbying and other kinds of government reforms, politics would never get better. Yet after taking office he abandoned many of those efforts in order to focus on immediate economic and foreign policy crises. The decision to leave government reform behind has had long-term costs, among them a loss of trust among younger Americans in the basic character of the political process. The institutions of government seem as broken in 2014 as they did in 2008. President Obama also lost many millennials by continuing to uphold and expand aspects of President Bush's War on Terrorism that trampled on civil liberties. While young people, like all Americans, agree that the federal government needs to protect the nation from terrorist threats, they also don't like all the revelations about how the National Security Agency has conducted intensive surveillance into telephone conversations, texting and Internet traffic. For millennial Americans who distrust so many institutions, the freedom and right to communicate through the Internet has defined much of their lives. This has been the realm through which they experience the world. As they have learned how President Obama's administration oversaw data logging efforts that undermined some of the very freedom they desired, he has continued to lose some of their trust. According to a poll by Harvard University's Institute of Politics in December 2013, many Americans between 19 and 29 years of age think the surveillance programs go too far. Nor has President Obama been able to make much progress on an issue that matters very much to younger Americans, one that will affect them much more than seniors who have greater political clout: climate change. Younger Americans have grown up learning about the disastrous consequences of human decisions on the environment and observing frightening swings in the weather that portend greater dangers. A bipartisan poll in 2013 found strong support among younger voters for a climate change bill. Yet despite bold words of support for climate change legislation, the President has been unable to move Congress on this issue and, by many accounts, he has not made this a real priority in his administration. For many younger Americans this has been a great disappointment. The activism surrounding the President's upcoming decision on the Keystone pipeline has highlighted this. To be sure, the President has faced intractable opposition from Republicans in Congress who have refused to move on this issue and have stifled one of the initiatives that could have been hugely attractive to younger Americans. Even his biggest policy accomplishment for younger Americans—allowing people to stay on their parent's health insurance policies until age 26—has been blunted by the unpopularity of the individual mandate many of them will be subjected to, as well as the failure to impose tougher cost controls, which may mean higher prices for those who do buy insurance. Going on fun entertainment shows is certainly an interesting and probably effective way to reach young Americans on the Affordable Care Act, but after all the disappointment and heartbreak they have experienced since he took office, that's about as far as it can go. In the near future, the administration must do a better job to explain how the particulars of the health care program benefit younger Americans and to at least try to make progress—even if through executive power—on issues like climate change. It must be clear to young voters, if Democrats can overcome this political problem, that the GOP rather than the President's lack of interest is to blame for the lack of progress. With Keystone, the decision is in Obama's control. The President should also continue to work on smaller programs, such as student loans, where he has been able to deliver tangible results to this population. Obama and other politicians, in both parties, must remember: To excite disenchanted voters distrustful of all institutions, you must show that you can make progress on the policy issues that matter to them and to do so through a stronger political process that leads them to believe in politics once again. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Julian Zelizer.

Julian Zelizer: Obama used turn on Galifianakis show to draw young people to Obamacare . It helped get health care signups, but to draw millennials, Obama needs more, he says . He says young people disenchanted with Obama on jobs, climate, surveillance . Zelizer: Obama must show these are his priorities, to regain support, trust of young people .

(CNN) -- A year ago, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a key section of the Defense of Marriage Act or DOMA, a 1996 law that recognized legal marriage as being between a man and a woman. The June 26, 2013, ruling in Windsor v. United States afforded equal federal rights and protections to married same-sex couples. The ruling made a huge difference for binational gay couples. With DOMA gone, U.S. citizens and permanent residents could sponsor their same-sex spouses for residency in the United States. Before, many same-sex couples had to make an agonizing choice between love and country when a temporary visa for one of the partners expired. CNN spoke with four such couples before and after the historic ruling. Read how they are doing a year later: . Love wins in gay couple's 40-year immigration fight . D-Day . Early last June, Satyam Barakoti, 37, and Tonja Holder, 47, were pondering their options: Start a new life in Barakoti's native Nepal. Or maybe Thailand or closer to home in Canada. But they couldn't stay in Atlanta and raise their child as a legally married couple. They counted down to February 20, 2014, the day Barakoti's U.S. visa was set to expire and she'd have to leave the country. The date hung like a thundercloud over their heads. "It was D-Day for us," Barakoti says. But a year ago on June 26, things brightened. Not long after the Supreme Court ruling, Barakoti and Holder got married in Washington, D.C. They immediately filed a petition with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services for permanent residency or a green card for Barakoti. Barakoti gave birth to a daughter in November and no longer fears being separated from Holder. "There's no reason it should not go through," Holder says of their petition. "I've changed enough dirty diapers to know how real a family we are." The couple runs a small business that helps nonprofits with fundraising and grant writing. After the DOMA ruling, they breathed a sigh of relief and were able to devote more time and energy to building their company and raising their daughter. "It pretty much changed everything for us," Holder says. Barakoti no longer looks at a calendar with dread, and February 20 came and went without fanfare. In fact, they didn't even notice. Coming home . Brandon Perlberg, 36, abandoned his law career in New York and moved to London to be with his fiance, Benn Storey, so they could remain together. Storey, 32, is British and his temporary U.S. work visa had expired. Perlberg grew angry that he had to leave his own country to be with the one he loved. He says he was forced into exile because he is gay. "As an American I felt torn," he says. "On the one hand I love my country dearly, but on the other I deeply resented that we were pushed out rather than afforded the dignity we deserve." The Supreme Court ruling came more than two years after they left New York. Perlberg and Storey are getting married in October. After that, they can think about moving back to America. "For the first time in almost 10 years of us being together, we're finally in control of our own destiny," Perlberg says. They are planning a trip to New York in July and will test how it feels to be back in America together. Then, they will have to decide where they want to live out their lives. "Making those decisions won't be easy," he says. "But we're grateful that for once, the decisions most meaningful to us get to be ours to make." 'Persons non-grata' no more . Like Perlberg, Melanie Servetas, 48, left home to be with her love. She once worked as an executive for Wells Fargo, drove a Jaguar and lived in a three-bedroom house in sunny southern California. She gave it all up so that she could live with her wife, Claudia Amaral, 46. The two were married in Amaral's native Brazil. It took them almost a year, but the two moved back to America in late May. At the Dallas airport, they faced an immigration officer they'd encountered on a previous occasion, when they'd taken off their rings and walked through not as a family, but as individuals. They had always been afraid that because Amaral only had a temporary tourist visa, immigration authorities might suspect her as someone who might overstay her visa to be with her American partner. But this time, they proudly wore their weddings rings and presented their passports as a married couple. "Thank God for Ms. Windsor," Servetas says of Edie Windsor, the plaintiff in the DOMA case the Supreme Court heard. "The ruling validated us as people, which is ridiculous because who needs to be validated by anybody?" Servetas says. "Until that day last year, we were second-class citizens. We were persons non-grata. Now we have the same rights as anyone else." Servetas and Amaral have been staying with relatives in Arizona, but they plan to return to Rancho Cucamonga, California, and pick up the life Servetas so loved. The Supreme Court also invalidated California's 2008 voter-approved constitutional ban on gay marriage, otherwise known as Proposition 8. So Servetas and Amaral will be recognized as legally married by the state as well. Last week, the couple found out that the tenant in Servetas' house is leaving sooner than anticipated. Servetas and Amaral got married last year on June 26, the day of the DOMA ruling. They hope to move back into their house on Thursday -- exactly a year later -- when they will be celebrating a double anniversary. Married but single . The week after the DOMA ruling, Ryan Wilson and Shehan Welihindha left for their honeymoon. They chose California. Wilson, 30, and Welihindha, 31, live in Columbia, South Carolina. But they were among the first seven couples to get married in Wilson's native Maryland after the state voted to allow same-sex marriage in late 2012. On their honeymoon, they visited San Francisco and witnessed the first same-sex marriages taking place after Proposition 8 was no more. Then they went on to Napa Valley and Monterey. A hotel where they stayed had champagne waiting for them. That's something most straight newlyweds expect, but for Wilson and Welihindha, it was a new gesture. Back in South Carolina, their marriage is not recognized. At tax time, they found themselves in a dilemma. "By state standards we are single. By federal standards we are married," Wilson says. The returns became complicated. Beyond the headache came the issue of the signature on the state return. How could they say that all the information they had listed was accurate when they felt they were lying about their marital status? "I signed it as a single," Wilson says. "But that's not true. So for me, it was a difficult ethical question. I did lie on the form because the state required me to." On the upside, like all other binational same-sex couples, Wilson and Welihindha no longer have to consider Canada as an option after Welihindha's student visa expires. He is Sri Lankan, and after he gains permanent residency as a spouse, he will be able to obtain a job here. The best thing, they say, is they can live like any other couple. Not yet in South Carolina, but somewhere in the 19 states that now recognize same-sex marriages. Follow CNN's Moni Basu on Twitter .

A year ago, the Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act . That opened doors for binational same-sex couples to say in the United States . Some dreaded visa expiry dates; others were forced to leave America to stay together . With DOMA gone, they no longer have to make difficult choices .

Mexico City, Mexico (CNN) -- Authorities believe assassins targeted a pregnant woman and two other people connected with a U.S. consulate who were killed in drive-by shootings over the weekend, Ciudad Juarez Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz said Monday. The killings were carried out by a local gang, known as Los Aztecas, that is allied with the Juarez Cartel, Reyes told CNN. No arrests had been made by Monday afternoon. "We know that the U.S. citizens were targeted," Reyes told CNN, saying a police officer saw gunfire from a car directed at the Americans' car. "We know they were chasing them. We know they wanted to kill them." Two of the victims were a four-months-pregnant employee of the consulate in Juarez and her U.S. citizen husband who was a jailer in nearby El Paso, Texas, U.S. and Mexican officials said. The couple's 10-month-old child, who was in the vehicle, was not injured, Reyes and other officials said. The child has been turned over to U.S. consular officials, Reyes said. The couple lived in El Paso, the State Department said. The third victim, found dead in a separate vehicle, was identified as the husband of a Mexican employee of the consulate. His wife was not traveling with him, but two of their children in the car were wounded, officials said. All the victims had left a birthday party at the consulate Saturday before they were attacked, Reyes and State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Monday. The slain couple, Arthur Redelfs, 34, and Lesley Ann Enriquez, 35, were on their way home to El Paso, Crowley said. Redelfs was a 10-year veteran of the El Paso County Sheriff's Office, according to Jesse Tovar, a spokesman for the department. Reyes said the attackers may have been confused because both groups of victims were traveling in similar-looking vehicles. Redelfs and his wife were in a white late-model Toyota RAV4 SUV. The third victim, Jorge Alberto Salcido Ceniceros, was driving a late-model white Honda Pilot, the mayor said. Salcido, 37, was a state police officer who was married to a Mexican employee at the U.S. consulate, Reyes said. His two children, ages 4 and 7, were wounded and transported to a hospital, the attorney general's office said. Salcido's wife was traveling in another vehicle, which was not attacked, Reyes said. In Washington, President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed their anger. "The president is deeply saddened and outraged by the news of the brutal murders of three people associated with the United States Consulate General in Ciudad Juarez," National Security Council spokesman Mike Hammer said in a statement Sunday. "He extends his condolences to the families and condemns these attacks on consular and diplomatic personnel serving at our foreign missions. In concert with Mexican authorities, we will work tirelessly to bring their killers to justice." Clinton said the "safety and security of our personnel and their families in Mexico and at posts around the world is always our highest priority." "I have spoken with our ambassador in Mexico, and we are working with the government of Mexico to do everything necessary to protect our people and to ensure that the perpetrators of these horrendous acts are brought to justice," she said. In response to the shootings, the U.S. State Department authorized the temporary relocation of employees' families working in border-area consulates. "These appalling assaults on members of our own State Department family are, sadly, part of a growing tragedy besetting many communities in Mexico," Clinton said in a statement Sunday night. "They underscore the imperative of our continued commitment to work closely with the Government of [Mexican] President [Felipe] Calderon to cripple the influence of trafficking organizations at work in Mexico." The families of employees at U.S. consulates in Tijuana, Nogales, Ciudad Juarez, Nuevo Laredo, Monterrey and Matamoros are allowed to leave for 30 days "in response to an increase in violence along the Mexican side of its border with the U.S.," State Department spokesman Fred Lash told CNN. The authorization can be renewed after 30 days, depending on a review, Lash said, adding that this was not a mandatory evacuation. The announcement was part of a warning to U.S. citizens regarding travel to Mexico. The warning urges U.S. citizens to delay nonessential travel to parts of the states of Durango, Coahuila and Chihuahua, where Juarez is located, because of "recent violent attacks." U.S. government employees are restricted from traveling to all or parts of these three states. Attacks include the kidnapping and killing of two resident U.S. citizens in Chihuahua, the warning states. "Some recent confrontations between Mexican authorities and drug cartel members have resembled small-unit combat, with cartels employing automatic weapons and grenades," the warning says. "During some of these incidents, U.S. citizens have been trapped and temporarily prevented from leaving the area." Reyes, who received a death threat last week, said the shootings highlight a problem shared by both countries along their 2,000-mile border. "It is not just a Mexican problem -- it's is a U.S.-Mexico problem," Reyes said. "I'm very glad that the U.S. has taken that position." He said that he supported the State Department's authorization to consular families and that "it is important they feel safe." Mexico said Sunday that it was committed to protecting all people, citizens and visitors alike, diplomats or not. "The Mexican government deeply laments the killings of three people linked to the U.S. Consulate in Ciudad Juarez," Mexico's foreign ministry said in a statement. "The Mexican authorities are working with determination to clear up the facts surrounding the crime scene and put those responsible before the law." Juarez is one of the front lines in Mexico's war against the drug cartels that operate in its territory. More than 2,600 people were killed in Juarez in 2009. The city has become a focal point of Calderon's anti-drug efforts after the January 31 killings of 15 people there, most of whom were students with no ties to organized crime. The incident sparked outrage across Mexico. But the violence is not restricted to Juarez. In the western state of Guerrero, at least 25 people were killed Saturday, state officials said. The bodies of 14 people, including nine civilians and five police officers, were found in various parts of the resort city of Acapulco, the official Notimex news agency reported, citing Guerrero Public Security Secretary Juan Heriberto Salinas. In the small city of Ajuchitlan del Progreso, 10 civilians and one soldier were killed in two shootouts that started when federal officials tried to execute search warrants at two locations, Salinas said. Police in the state were on a heightened security alert, he said. The government has not released official figures, but national media say 7,600 Mexicans lost their lives in the war on drugs in 2009. Calderon said last year that 6,500 Mexicans died in drug violence in 2008. Unofficial tallies this year say more than 16,000 people have been killed since Calderon declared war on the cartels after assuming office in December 2006. CNN's Arthur Brice, Mariano Castillo and Jamie Crawford contributed to this report.

Gang connected to drug cartel carried out 3 weekend killings, Ciudad Juarez mayor says . Drive-by shootings killed U.S. employee at consulate and 2 others . "We know that the U.S. citizens were targeted," Reyes told CNN . State Department warns Americans of danger of traveling to parts of three Mexican states .

Tokyo (CNN) -- Engineers will need six to nine months to bring the damaged nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant to heel, the plant's owners said Sunday in their first public timetable for ending the crisis. It will take three months to reduce the levels of radioactivity in the plant and restore normal cooling systems in the reactors and spent fuel pools, the Tokyo Electric Power Company announced. Another three to six months will be needed before the reactors are fully shut down and new shells are built around their damaged housings, the company said. Meanwhile, Japan's government said it would try to decontaminate "the widest possible area" in that period before deciding whether the tens of thousands who have been forced to flee their homes will be allowed to return, said Goshi Hosono, an adviser to Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan. "We have to go step by step in order to resolve the problems one by one," Hosono said. The timetable was released five days after Kan called for Tokyo Electric to show Japanese a pathway to ending the worst nuclear accident since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. A day earlier, the company would not comment on an industry group's estimate that restoring normal cooling would take two to three months -- a period comparable to the first stage of Sunday's plan. Tokyo Electric spokesman Hiro Hasegawa acknowledged that public pressure helped speed the company's decision to release a plan and warned that the outline remained tentative -- "but we will do our best" to stick to it, he said. Because of the still-unknown volume of highly irradiated water flooding the basements of units 1-3, where the cooling equipment is normally housed, the utility is working toward building a separate cooling system. That system would remove heat from the water being pumped through the reactors and decontaminate it before circulating it back through them. Currently, engineers have improvised by pumping roughly 170 metric tons (45,000 gallons) of water a day into each reactor, an unknown portion of which is leaking out. The leaking water comes out full of such particles as radioactive iodine and cesium, the byproducts of the reactors. At the plant on Sunday, workers used remote-controlled robots to record radiation, water and temperature data in the building that houses reactor No. 3. Photos released by the utility showed the devices, provided by the U.S. company iRobot, opening the inner door to the reactor and entering the darkened building. "Everything is a high-radiation area inside the reactor buildings," Hasegawa told reporters at a briefing for international news outlets -- another first for a company that has been sharply criticized for its handling of the crisis. Meanwhile, Tokyo Electric Chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata fended off nearly a dozen questions from Japanese reporters about whether he or other top executives planned to resign as a result of the disaster. "At this point, we do not have any decisions or discussions about resigning, as all our efforts is towards resolving the situation," Katsumata said. "We are not sure if resigning is the best way to take the responsibility or to stay in position to resolve the situation." Any decisions may wait until the company's general shareholders meeting in June, he said. The 5-week-old crisis began March 11, when the plant was swamped by the tsunami that followed northern Japan's historic earthquake. The 14- to 15-meter (45- to 48-foot) wave knocked out the plant's coolant systems, causing the three reactors operating at the time to overheat. The results included two spectacular explosions that blew apart the housings of the No. 1 and No. 3 reactors and the release of a massive amount of radioactivity that has shrunk considerably, but continued Sunday. The wild card in the utility's plan may be reactor No. 2, where another suspected buildup of hydrogen is believed to have ruptured the suppression pool -- a doughnut-shaped reservoir at the base of the reactor. That may make it more difficult to carry out one of the first stages of their planned cooling process, filling the concrete primary containment shell around the reactor pressure vessel with water, Hasegawa said. Unless that damage is repaired somehow, that part of the plan may be unsuccessful, he said. Tokyo Electric also plans to build a new structure to support the No. 4 unit's spent nuclear fuel pool, around which fires -- the cause of which has yet to be determined -- severely damaged a nearby building. Hosono said there is no indication this pool is compromised or leaking highly radioactive water or fumes, calling the planned structure a protective measure given concerns about considerable damage to the main No. 4 nuclear reactor building. Japan's government declared Fukushima Daiichi a top-scale nuclear disaster last week, warning residents of several towns outside the current 30-kilometer (19-mile) danger zone around the plant to evacuate or prepare to leave their homes. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano visited the stricken area Sunday, including a brief trip into the 20-kilometer radius from which all residents have been ordered out. Clad in a white protective suit and face mask, Edano got within about 15 kilometers of the plant as he met with police who are still searching the area for victims of the March disaster. "Ensuring people's livelihoods and security is our foremost priority," Edano said after meeting with the governor of Fukushima Prefecture, Yuhei Sato. Radiation levels in the area are not high enough to cause immediate health effects, but prolonged exposure could cause an increased risk of cancer, according to government data and reports from outside researchers. In Iitate, a village Edano visited Sunday, government figures released Sunday show cumulative doses of radiation since the accident are already more than half the 20-millisievert limit the government . set for long-term evacuations. Iitate is about 40 kilometers northwest of the plant, outside the danger zones drawn in the early days of the crisis. Hosono said the government does not yet know how much of the contaminated areas can be cleaned up, but added, "We will try to decontaminate as much of an area as possible." Workers stopped a severe leak of contaminated water into the Pacific Ocean on April 6, but elevated levels of the short-lived nuclear waste iodine-131 recorded over the weekend could indicate a new problem, a Japanese safety official announced Saturday. Iodine concentrations sampled Saturday around the No. 2 water intake were 6,000 times Japan's legal standards, up from 1,100 times on Thursday and down slightly from Friday's figure of 6,500 times. That number is far below the levels recorded when the earlier leak was spewing radioactive iodine into the ocean at 7.5 million times the limit. Authorities have built a silt and placed steel plates around the intake fence to corral the contamination since April 6. Iodine-131 has a radioactive half-life of eight days, and the increase could be either from a fresh leak or from sediment stirred up while placing steel panels around the intakes, said Hidehiko Nishiyama, the top spokesman for Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency. "They will continue to monitor this carefully," Nishiyama said. "At this point, they have not visually found any leakage of any water into the ocean, and it is hard to check the conditions around (reactor) No. 2 due to high radiation levels." Susan Olson, Hiroo Saso, Yuki Arakawa, Asuka Murao and CNN's Junko Ogura contributed to this report for CNN.

NEW: Tokyo Electric plans a new structure to support the No. 4 unit's spent nuclear fuel pool . Robots probe darkened reactor No. 3 . Radiation readings in one town are halfway to the government's evacuation threshold . Tokyo Electric says it will take 6 to 9 months to wind down the nuclear crisis .

(CNN) -- Airstrikes against ISIS militants are a "psychological operation," not a military one, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told CNN's Christiane Amanpour in an interview that aired Friday. "It is a common threat for all of us," he said. "And this requires a unison effort from all of us." "We need a vast campaign of operations ... the aerial bombardment campaign is mostly, I would say, a form of theater, rather than a serious battle against terrorism." Iran and the United States have found their foreign policies surprisingly aligned in the past several months, as both try to beat back the advance of the Sunni extremists that have gained a foothold in Iraq and war-torn Syria. While the United States has limited itself thus far to airstrikes in those two countries, Iran has sent Revolutionary Guard units into Iraq; the head of the Revolutionary Guard's Quds Force, Qassem Suleimani, has even been photographed on the ground in Iraq. Five Gulf countries, traditional adversaries of Shiite Iran, joined with the United States in a rare coalition to strike ISIS in Syria. However, Rouhani said he'd like to distance himself "from the word 'coalition' because some countries haven't come together under the umbrella of this coalition." The question of Syria . Many of the countries participating in the coalition have long pushed for the ouster of Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad, as the Emir of Qatar told Amanpour on Thursday in his first-ever interview. Iran, on the other hand, is al-Assad's most fervent backer; most military analysts agree that the regime would have fallen long ago were it not for Iran's 2012 intervention in the conflict. "How do you feel," Amanpour asked Rouhani, "as the president of Iran, as the main military backer of a regime, the Assad regime, that the United Nations has said has killed 200,000 of its own people -- tortured people, executed people. Why does Iran want to be associated with that kind of genocidal barbarism?" "The army of that country was carrying out a battle against the terrorists," Rouhani replied. "They kept saying that these are opposition members and we will keep asking who are these opposition members who have preferred to take up arms so swiftly and so savagely and violent, reasons rather than resorting to talks and negotiations?" Amanpour countered that "it all started when (the Syrian people) wanted a little bit of reform and the government of that nation responded in a way that the United Nations now says has caused the death of 200,000 civilians." "If the army of the Syrian people, the Syrian government, had not stood up and fought against terrorism," Rouhani said, "who do you think would have been the victor today? Let's assume no one would have rendered assistance. The victor would have been the same people that everyone is recognizing as terrorists today." 'Justice will be employed' Amanpour also asked the Iranian leader about the detainment this summer of a high-profile journalist for the Washington Post, Jason Rezaian, and his wife, Yeganeh Salehi. Would Rouhani, as a gesture of goodwill, release them from custody, along with several others who have been detained, including an English-Iranian woman, Ghoncheh Ghavami, and the American Amir Hekmati, Amanpour asked. "We never wish for any individuals, Iranian or non-Iranians, be it in Iran or in other countries, to be imprisoned or detained or be put on trial," he said. "If they do go to trial, the trial will be fairly executed for them to have access to every legal defense allowed under the law, proper defensive representation through qualified attorneys, and we do hope that their families can gain the certainty that fairness and justice will be employed towards the cases and case files of their loved ones." The President also noted that Iran does not recognize dual citizenship, so anyone with an Iranian passport is considered Iranian only by the government. "I do not believe that an individual would be detained or put in prison for being a journalist. An individual can be a reporter, a journalist, and have committed a crime. But that crime is not necessarily always related to their profession, to the profession that they're practicing." "My personal opinion is, and I've announced it several times when I've spoken on different occasions, we believe that the general behavior towards reporters and journalists and those who carry the heavy weight of informing our citizenry, must be quite flexible." "The truth of the matter is that I cannot have the time nor the inclination nor access to every single case file. But what I must... be assured of as the chief executive of my branch is that the constitution and the laws and the civil rights are being respected to the letter." Nuclear negotiations . Iran continues to be part of intense negotiations with the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany over its nuclear program. In an effort to reach a permanent deal that would trade nuclear guarantees for the reduction of sanctions, world powers agreed earlier this year to extend the interim agreement that provided the framework for negotiations. That interim deal, Rouhani said, is "concrete proof that talks and negotiations succeed." "We must all accept that there is only one way and that's the way of dialogue and talks and negotiations," he told Amanpour. "This means that sanctions are an inappropriate tool. That means that threats are the wrong path." Both Iran and its negotiating partners are discussing the issues with the "utmost seriousness," he said. "There are still differences of opinion. Some of these differences of opinion can be quite significant. But at the end of the day, we must all strive to find a solution and resolve this." Right now there's a November deadline to reach a permanent solution, after which the temporary sanctions relief and enrichment freezes would be lifted. Rouhani said that for now, Iran is only thinking about reaching that deal, not about another extension. Even if a deal is agreed upon, various legislative bodies -- most importantly the U.S. Congress -- would still have to approve the lifting of sanctions. Amanpour asked whether it had been fully made clear to him how difficult that process could be. "That's their own business, quite frankly," the President said. "I do think that if the agreement is reached, it can immediately cease and melt away -- take away these sanctions." 'Our people realize... we have taken steps forward' Rouhani, through his office, is a prolific user of Twitter. But the platform remains off-limits to most Iranians, who must use technical workarounds to access the service. In an interview with Amanpour last year, Rouhani said that all of his efforts were "geared to ensure that the people of Iran will comfortably be able to access all information globally and to use it." As the Iranian President spoke at the U.N. General Assembly in New York, the CEO of Twitter, Dick Costello, sent out a tweet. "Mr. President, enjoying your Tweets from the UN," Costello wrote. "We would love the Iranian people to enjoy them as well. When will that be?" Amanpour asked Rouhani for his reaction. "It is correct we have not yet reached a point in which we feel completely comfortable in what our people intended during the elections and voted for." "But our people realize that we have taken steps forward. And our people are fully aware that in such matters, we must have a coordination with other branches of the government -- with the judiciary, with the parliament, with the legislatures" -- a seeming reference to the fact that others in the Iranian government may not be as keen to open up the Internet as he is. "What is important to keep in mind is that we've had sustainable movement forward throughout the past 12-plus months."

Iran has sent Revolutionary Guards to Iraq to fight against ISIS . President Hassan Rouhani insists Syria's government has battled terrorists . He says Washington Post journalist detained in Iran and others will have fair trials .

(CNN) -- Many Google users probably didn't notice this month that they can now display their search tips in the Hawaiian language. Hawaiian is one of more than 125 "interface languages" now available on Google. Wedged between Hausa and Hebrew, Hawaiian is one of more than 125 "interface languages" now available on Google. The list also includes some humorous twists on English, including "pirate," "Klingon" and "Elmer Fudd." But for Hawaiian educators, the addition of Hawaiian is a small step toward legitimizing a language that is considered "critically endangered" by the United Nations. "It's the capstone of a lot of work," said Keola Donaghy, an assistant professor of Hawaiian studies at the University of Hawaii-Hilo. "We've been doing this work for 18 years, simply trying to make it easier for people who speak Hawaiian to use these kinds of technologies." It marks the first native American language available through the "Google in Your Language" program. Getting started . It took Donaghy several years to get the project off the ground through the "Google in Your Language" program, which was launched by the California-based company not long after it was founded in 1998. "The idea was to enable users worldwide to be able to access Google in the language of their choice, and if it wasn't available, to enable users to help make it so," Google spokesman Nate Tyler said. "Why limit users to a set of dominant languages if they were willing to help make Google their own?" The results of the search are still in English, although the user can select a preference for Web pages written in more than 40 other main languages. Google works with linguists like Donaghy who are interested in translating search instructions into their language. "Volunteers sign up on their own to provide translation," Tyler explained. "They simply sign themselves up, declare a language proficiency, and then start translating or reviewing the products that are available for volunteer translation. "When the translations are completed, we make the product(s) available in that language. Recent other languages like this include Maori language." It was the Maori project, launched last year, that actually helped get Donaghy's initiative off the ground. Three years ago, Donaghy started e-mailing and calling Google about a Hawaiian language project, but he got no response. He put the project on hold until last year. "When I heard the Maori version came out, I asked Google about it," Donaghy said. "Apparently the original (language) coordinator had gone and as soon as a new coordinator was brought online, they set up the system." Donaghy began working on the massive translation project sometime late last year. "It was whenever I could find an hour or two in between teaching or other duties," he said. "It was a combination of personal and work time." He spent more than 100 hours translating the search terms that appear on the Google page into Hawaiian through the program. "I did the actual translation from beginning to end, and then I consulted with my colleagues at the university who have worked on these projects in the past," Donaghy said. "I wanted to be very consistent -- such as how you say 'Go to this menu and select this' -- or people may become confused." What's Hawaiian for 'browsing' the Web'? Some of the Hawaiian words for terms such as "links" or "Web browser" had already been established when Donaghy and others worked on translating the Netscape Navigator search engine in 1997. "Over the years, we usually face the debate of do we want to 'Hawaiianize' an English word, or take an old Hawaiian word and give it a new meaning," he said. He explained some of the challenges in translating terms, such as "browsing" or "surfing," into Hawaiian. "People use the term 'surf the Internet' and they'll say 'he'e nalu' which is literally surfing the ocean out on a board," he explained. "But we use 'kele,' which is what you do when you're steering a canoe. So we chose that as you're navigating the net." Donaghy finished the translation project in April, but there were issues with the code for the search engine that would not activate the Hawaiian language interface. The Hawaiian language interface actually launched on Apple's Safari browser first because Donaghy had worked with Apple to ensure that the language's diacritical marks and characters were available on the company's computers. "Now, it comes with every computer that they ship," he said. See and hear phrases in Hawaiian » . Some Apple computer users who had selected Hawaiian as their primary language for other programs noticed a couple of weeks ago that Google's search terms started appearing in Hawaiian, too. "People started calling me and asking, 'Did you hack into my computer? My Google is in Hawaiian,'" Donaghy said. "And that was the point I said, 'OK, word is getting out about this' and I put out a news release. I was afraid someone was going to start freaking out, 'Why is my computer in Hawaiian?'" Important milestone for Hawaii's culture . The initiative is an important milestone for Hawaiian linguists and cultural educators who have pushed to have their native language taught in schools alongside English. It wasn't until the 1980s that the law banning the Hawaiian language from being taught in schools was overturned. The law was established in the late 19th century as a prerequisite to Hawaii becoming a U.S. territory. Today, more and more Hawaiians are studying and majoring in Hawaiian language programs. There are Hawaiian language immersion programs in which English is taught as a second language. Mona Wood, a Hawaiian speaker and owner of a public relations firm in Honolulu, said there has been a kind of Hawaiian language "renaissance" in the state since the late 1970s. "Even tourism has been learning and growing and realizing that our 'host culture' must be added to the visitor experience," Wood said. "There are many more programs available at hotels and shopping malls that weren't there 20 years ago." Wood said that when she studied Hawaiian in college, it was under the foreign languages department. "It has been so wonderful to see so many of our youth embrace the native culture and see the programs expand to the point where there is an entire Hawaiian Studies Department," she said. "One can now get a B.A. (Bachelor of Arts) and M.A. (Master of Arts) in Hawaiian language." Wood -- who owns Ikaika Communications, which represents local officials, local and national companies and celebrities including Duane "Dog the Bounty Hunter" Chapman -- said that when she was growing up, "Our culture was dying in every way." "Learning my roots came through my own curiosity -- choosing to take hula lessons when my mom wanted me to take piano," she said. "Then I went to the Hawaiian High School, Kamehameha, and continued with some Hawaiian classes and joined a club at UH (University of Hawaii). "Seeing Hawaiian knowledge becoming an asset over the years has been truly satisfying," she said. Donaghy hopes the Google initiative is another step toward giving Hawaiian "the same status as English and other major European and Asian languages" -- particularly in the fast-moving sector of technology. "To me personally it's very important that we are giving the opportunity to have as many things in Hawaiian as in English," he said. "So if we had not begun to address technology in the early 1990s, we would be telling people that this is a place where Hawaiian doesn't belong. You have to revert to English. "We didn't want to send that kind of message so we've worked to make the language more accessible."

Google search terms now available in Hawaiian . Keola Donaghy spent 100 hours translating for "Google in Your Language" program . Hawaiian is considered a "critically endangered" language by the U.N. It is the only native American language available in Google search preferences .

(CNN) -- With July Fourth upon us, many are pausing to ask why America is special -- and how we see that reflected in our politics. The Hollywood screenwriter Aaron Sorkin kicked off the debate early with his first episode of HBO's "The Newsroom." In a scene that has generated a lot of buzz, a young woman rises from a college audience to ask the protagonist (played by Jeff Daniels) what makes America the greatest nation on Earth. He shrugs her off: "The New York Jets." Pressed by the moderator to give a real answer, he dodges again. Eventually the protagonist breaks -- and delivers a jeremiad, declaring that America is no longer the greatest country in the world, that it is losing its soul, but that it used to be great and, yes, can still right itself. Some critics tore into Sorkin, arguing that the show crossed the line into petulance and preachiness (one of us, Mike, is in this camp). Others found the scene inspiring and wondered why today's presidential candidates don't speak to the country like that (David is in this camp). So, the question lingers this July Fourth: What makes America special? Strikingly, Barack Obama and Mitt Romney have different takes on American exceptionalism -- and indeed, on what values are most important. Each is on record calling America the greatest nation on Earth, but they seem to believe so for different reasons, in different ways. News: We're No. 1! We're No. 1! We're ... uh ... not? Romney takes an old-fashioned, Main Street view: Like the young woman in "The Newsroom," he makes no secret that he thinks America is the greatest nation in history. For him, Americans are a chosen people who continue to live out the view of the Puritan John Winthrop that we should be as a city upon a hill, an experiment in democracy and liberty that inspires the world. Almost every recent president has evoked that image, no one more so than Ronald Reagan. President Obama, back in 2009, found himself in hot water for giving voice to a different version of American exceptionalism: "I believe in American exceptionalism, just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism." (Obama went on to say: "I am enormously proud of my country and its role and history in the world...[a]nd I think that we have a core set of values that are enshrined in our Constitution, in our body of law, in our democratic practices, in our belief in free speech and equality that, though imperfect, are exceptional.") Belief: The power of American exceptionalism . Romney (along with other GOP hopefuls) has seized on comments like that to make pride in America a centerpiece of his campaign (slogan: "Believe in America"). Firing up Wisconsin voters in advance of the state's GOP primary in March, he told them: "Our president doesn't have the same feelings about American exceptionalism that we do." Many of Romney's stump and victory speeches have attacked Obama as an apologist and offered paeans to the nation (including, in Florida, memorably bursting into song with "America the Beautiful.") Obama's account, by contrast, is grounded in the approach taken toward American exceptionalism on many campuses today. Seymour Martin Lipset, a world-class sociologist and no liberal (he was closely associated with the American Enterprise Institute), advanced the argument most cogently some years ago. America, he insisted, is not exceptional because it is better than everyone else; it is exceptional because it is different, an outlier embracing a unique set of values. As the British philosopher G.K. Chesteron once wrote: "America is the only nation in the world that is founded on a creed." What comprises that creed is open to some debate, but Lipset hypothesized that Americans espouse five core values, stemming from key historical experiences, that distinguish us from other Western nations: liberty, egalitarianism, individualism, populism and laissez-faire. Lipset illustrated his point by recalling how the governments of Canada and the United States at virtually the same time announced that their nations would convert to the metric system. The Canadians, who tend to respect authority, soon complied. But the Americans? Individualist to their core, always less respecting of authority, thumbed their noses. As John Wayne might have said, we won this country inch by inch -- we weren't about to give it away kilometer by kilometer. Photos: Faces of citizenship . Whatever they think about exceptionalism, academics and politicians today tend to accept these five as core American values. Yet as Lipset and others have argued, these values can be in serious tension with each other. Those who believe foremost in egalitarianism, for example, run in very different directions from stout defenders of laissez-faire. In politics, nowhere does this tension between core values play out more starkly than in debates over liberty versus equality. Republicans have traditionally argued that a free society allows everyone to do better, while Democrats have objected that without basic fairness, society as a whole is held back. In that spirit, Romney ardently defends liberty and just as ardently, Obama defends social equity. On taxes, for example, Romney believes that affluent Americans have been taxed enough -- to do more would limit their freedom; Obama believes that they should pay more so that the playing field is more level. Similarly, Republicans attack Obamacare as an infringement upon liberty, while Democrats see it as necessary to extend a basic protection to all Americans. On this July Fourth, then, we have an America where many, including our leading politicians, disagree on what makes the country special -- and on what values should take precedence. There is nothing inherently wrong with such disagreements: Indeed, a competition of ideas is healthy for the republic. But, as has become painfully obvious, the differences in perspective have become so sharp and deep that we are tearing ourselves apart. That's why this July Fourth should not only be an occasion for wondering what makes America special, but also for pondering how we can build bridges across the divide. In the divide over liberty versus equality, there does seem one basic value that both sides hold in common: a belief in equality of opportunity -- that everyone in America should have a chance to succeed on his or her merits. Romney talks of "rebuilding the foundation of an opportunity society," and it was Obama who first rocketed to national fame in 2004 by proclaiming that in no other country on Earth would his story have been possible: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal." That belief in the importance of equality of opportunity is widely held across the country, even as our politics appear ever more divided. For our money, the winner of the 2012 election won't be the one who makes a stronger argument for egalitarianism over liberty or liberty over egalitarianism, but the candidate who joins the two, persuading voters he is best equipped to lift floors as well as ceilings, ensuring every American has an honest shot in life. As for the debate over exceptionalism, the candidates ought to study that scene from "The Newsroom." While they will want to steer clear of petulance and sanctimony, surely there is much good to come from being straight with people (if perhaps a bit more optimistic). We have been special in history and we have also been different, but we have, in many respects, lost our way, and it is long past time to reclaim our souls. "America," Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote, "is a poem in our eyes." We are still writing its words. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the writers.

David Gergen, Michael Zuckerman: How is America's specialness reflected in politics? They say Romney's take on America's exceptionalism: Americans are a chosen people . Obama's take: America is special because it's different, an outlier with unique set of values . Writers: The candidate who will win in 2012 will show he can join liberty, egalitarianism .

(CNN) -- The United Nations declared a famine Wednesday in parts of southern Somalia and warned that the suffering could rapidly spread without a massive and immediate international response. "Nearly 3.7 million people are now in crisis," said U.N Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. "We need donor support to address current needs and prevent a further deterioration of the crisis." The crisis in Somalia -- a failing state mired in internal conflict and suffering the worst drought in half a century -- has been escalating steadily for months as aid agencies have pleaded for the international community to intervene. Wednesday, the humanitarian agency Oxfam blamed international donors for the potentially catastrophic situation at hand. "Several rich governments are guilty of willful neglect as the aid effort to avert catastrophe in East Africa limps along due to an $800 million shortfall," an Oxfam statement said. Thousands of Somalis have fled the country in search of food and water, trekking for days under scorching sun toward refugee camps in neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia. "If we don't act now, famine will spread to all eight regions of southern Somalia within two months, due to poor harvests and infectious disease outbreaks," Mark Bowden, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Somalia, told reporters from Nairobi, Kenya. "It is likely that tens of thousands of people have already died -- the majority of these being children." He said nearly half the people in Somalia are in crisis and roughly $300 million in aid is needed in the next two months. Aid workers call it the worst food crisis since a famine in Ethiopia in the mid-1980s that killed about 1 million people. "Every day of delay in assistance is literally a matter of life or death for children and their families in the famine-affected areas," Bowden said. The United Nations uses a five-stage scale to measure hunger. Stage 5, or famine, means that acute malnutrition rates are 30% or more, people do not have adequate calorie or water intake and mortality rates are greater than two adults or four children per day per 10,000 people. Think of it this way, said Lawrence Haddad, director of the U.K.-based Institute of Development Studies: If famine were declared in the United States, 3,000 or more children would be dying every day from lack of food and water. "This is big," he said. "We have to act quickly, now." Oxfam defines famine as a cocktail of causes: A "triple failure of food production, people's ability to access food and, finally and most crucially, in the political response by governments and international donors. Crop failure and poverty leave people vulnerable to starvation -- but famine only occurs with political failure." Famine used to be a term equated solely with a large-scale shortage of food. But the term slipped out of the official lexicon after it came to encompass a variety of factors that add up to a complex emergency, said Patrick Webb, an expert in food security at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University. "Actually, a lot of famine happens when there is food in the market," he said. "It's about people's inability to acquire that food. Famine represents a catastrophic failure of all the systems that people rely on to survive." That includes the deaths of livestock, displacement of people and conflict. And that is what has happened in southern Somalia, where people have had to make heart-wrenching choices simply to stay alive. A mother might have to decide whether to keep her baby alive or split her money to feed all her children. A family may take down their thatched roof, the only shelter they have, to make sure a precious cow can eat. Grandparents might forgo their share of a meal to ensure survival for the youngest generation. Webb said many Americans stung by the recession have had to make difficult life choices. Multiply that by many times to get an idea of what it means to be Somali right now. "The thing about food is that you have to have it every day," he said. "It's not like buying a car or clothes. It's where the rubber meets the road." After Wednesday's declaration of famine, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced $28 million in additional funding for the crisis. "We have already responded with over $431 million in food and nonfood emergency assistance this year alone," Clinton said in a statement. "But it is not enough -- the need is only expected to increase and more must be done by the United States and the international community." Part of the problem with donations is that it's politically difficult to give money for an event that has not happened yet, Haddad said. He understood Oxfam's position and the frustration of aid workers on the frontlines who are bearing witness to immense human suffering. But how do you justify millions for a catastrophe that "might" happen, he asked. About 10 million people are at risk of famine in the Horn of Africa. Somalia, wracked by years of internal violence and insecurity, is the worst affected. Many Somalis have fled to the Dadaab camp, a refugee complex in Kenya intended to house 90,000 but now bursting with 400,000 people. Internal strife has exacerbated drought-caused food shortages and livestock deaths. The nation has not had an effective government for two decades and government forces have been battling Al-Shabaab militants in the capital, Mogadishu. Humanitarian agencies have not been able to reach famine-affected areas, said Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. "Al-Shabaab is principally responsible for exacerbating the consequences of the drought situation by preventing its own people from being able to access critically needed assistance," she said. Al-Shabaab, a group of Islamist insurgents with affiliations with al-Qaeda, controls large portions of Mogadishu and parts of southern and central Somalia. The militants had accused Western humanitarians of being anti-Muslim. But earlier this month, the al Qaeda-linked group pledged to allow aid groups access to areas under its control, reversing an earlier decision banning them. "President Obama and Secretary Clinton have aggressively worked to and asked us to test Al-Shabaab," said Dr. Rajiv Shah, chief administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, in an interview from the Dadaab refugee camp. "If they're going to provide humanitarian access, we're going to stand with the United Nations and other partners to make sure that humanitarian organizations can get in and can reach the most affected people. It's no coincidence that the precise geography that have been labeled a famine and have met the technical designation of famine are precisely those areas where Shabaab has limited access, has harassed aid workers and has made it difficult for people to eke out a basic standard of living and existence." Humanitarian agencies have welcomed the pledge by Al-Shabaab, but said the earlier ban intensified the crisis. U.N. officials were able to airlift emergency supplies to southern Somalia last week after the Islamist militants promised to lift the ban. The south is home to about 80% of the nation's malnourished children, the U.N. Children's Fund said. "More than ever, Somali people need and deserve our full attention," Bowden said. "At this time of crisis, we must make exceptional efforts to support Somalis wherever they are in need and expect that all parties will do the same." CNN's David McKenzie, Matthew Vann and Faith Karimi contributed to this report.

NEW: "Nearly 3.7 million people are now in crisis," U.N. secretary-general says . The United Nations warns that the crisis could spread . About half the Somali population is affected . U.S. announces $28 million in additional funding to help Somalis .

Paris (CNN) -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton lambasted Russia and China on Friday for blocking efforts to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who has lost a key general to defection. Speaking at the Friends of Syria conference in Paris, Clinton called on Russia and China to "get off the sidelines" and accused them of "standing up for" al-Assad's regime. She urged the other 100 or so nations and organizations represented at the summit to "make it clear that Russia and China will pay a price" for that position. "I ask you to reach out to Russia and China and not only ask but demand that they get off the sidelines," she said. "I don't think Russia and China believe they are paying any price at all, nothing at all, for standing with (the) Assad regime." High-ranking general defects from Syrian military . But it was unclear whether those two nations would reverse their long-standing opposition to forcing al-Assad from power. The two trade partners of Syria have vetoed previous efforts by the U.N. Security Council to condemn the violence in Syria and oust al-Assad. Neither Russia nor China was represented at the Paris meeting. Western and Arab nations started the Friends of Syria initiative because China and Russia posed diplomatic obstacles to tackling the Syrian crisis. The United States and others said they were hoping that Friday's meeting could lead to stricter economic sanctions and more support for the opposition. Speaking after the meeting concluded, Clinton argued for additional sanctions to be backed by a Security Council resolution under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter. Chapter 7 could ultimately authorize the use of force. "No transition plan can progress as long as the regime's brutal assaults continue," she said. "That's why the entire world is looking at those few nations who have influence in Damascus." Clinton warned allies of al-Assad within Syria that evidence of abuses is being collected and that they should "get on the right side of history." She added: "Let me say to the soldiers and officials still supporting the Syrian regime -- the Syrian people will remember the choices you make in the coming days." Clinton's comments came as a Western diplomat said that Brig. Gen. Manaf Tlas of Syria's Republican Guards has abandoned the regime. Tlas, the son of a former Syrian defense minister, defected over the killing of Sunnis, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity. The official was not authorized to speak to the media. "He's an inside confidant of Assad," the official said. "So it counts that even an insider thinks it's time to go." The defector's father and the rest of his family are in Paris, the official said. Western officials told CNN that Tlas was en route to Paris. It was not immediately known if he had joined the Syrian opposition. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, speaking at the end of the Friends of Syria meeting, called the defection of someone close to al-Assad a "hard blow" for the regime. "We are told of the defection of someone quite important in the regime, very close to Bashar al-Assad, which means that his close entourage is starting to understand that the regime is unsustainable," he said. Fabius said he did not know what the final destination would be for the defector, whom he did not identify by name but said was a member of the Republican Guard and a longtime friend of al-Assad. Asked about the defection, Clinton did not name Tlas, but said an "increasing stream of military defectors" is leaving Syria. "Regime insiders and the military establishment are starting to vote with their feet," she said. "Those who have the closest knowledge of Assad's actions and crimes are moving away, and we think that's a very promising development. And it also raises questions for those who remain in Damascus." Friends of Syria meeting in Paris . The defection is one more setback for al-Assad, who Clinton said has been feeling the bite of economic sanctions. The Syrian leader's "currency and foreign reserves have collapsed," she said, curbing his ability to continue his crackdown. But she said challenges remain. Al-Assad was being kept afloat by "money from Iran and assistance from Russia and the failure of countries here" at the conference to tighten economic sanctions. "None of us is satisfied or comfortable with what is going on in Syria," she said. But since the Friends of Syria met in Tunis in February, "there has been a steady march toward ending this regime," Clinton said. Fabius said Friday's meeting showed that the international community is uniting to voice support for the opposition, promise increased humanitarian aid for the Syrian people and back sanctions against the regime. "Today was not a good day for the regime," he said. The Paris meeting comes less than a week after a conference of foreign ministers, which included China and Russia, met in Geneva, Switzerland, and called for a transitional government body as a step toward ending the Syrian crisis. That emergency meeting, called by former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, raised hopes that Russia was easing its position. But even as Russia appeared to agree that a key step in the peace process would be the establishment of a transitional government, the country's foreign minister said it should not be viewed as outside powers imposing a transitional government on Syrians. Senior U.S. officials said the United States and its European and Arab partners will move to impose global sanctions if Syria doesn't quickly implement the transition plan that includes the appointment of a new government. Diplomats at the United Nations are working on a document that would demand restrictions on oil and other commercial business with the Syrian regime if it refuses to implement the Annan peace plan for a cease-fire and a transitional government. A Security Council resolution under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter could be introduced next week, the officials said. Clinton's marathon trip tackles a range of U.S. foreign policy issues . The officials said the Russian and Chinese willingness to discuss a political transition plan in Syria and sign on to that plan last week in Geneva could boost the effort to impose sanctions. The absence of the two nations from the Paris conference, however, could reflect the difficulties ahead in persuading Moscow and Beijing to back the resolution. Clinton praised the Syrian opposition's six-page "vision" for a Syrian transition that was unveiled last week at its meeting in Cairo, Egypt. The United States hopes the document, which has details on a new parliament and constitution, will allay fears of Alawites and other minority groups that the Sunnis leading the fight against al-Assad will grab all of the power and take revenge on al-Assad's supporters. The regime is dominated by Alawites, an offshoot of Shiite Islam, and the opposition is largely Sunni. French President François Hollande also called for al-Assad's departure Friday, saying a political transition is the only way to end 16 months of violence in the Middle East nation. Members of the Syrian opposition attended the Paris meeting, and many are pushing for the imposition of a no-fly zone in Syria. Opposition groups reported dozens of deaths on Friday. The Local Coordination Committees of Syria counted at least 89 people. Meanwhile, a Turkish foreign ministry official told CNN that two children were killed and six Syrian refugees were injured when a gas canister exploded Friday at the Yayladagi refugee camp in southeastern Turkey. CNN cannot independently confirm reports of violence or casualties as Syria has limited access by international journalists. WikiLeaks releasing 2.4 million Syria e-mails . CNN's Ben Brumfield, Ivan Watson, Laura Smith-Spark, Joe Sterling and Chelsea Carter contributed to this report.

Dozens of people were killed Friday in Syria, an opposition groups say . Western officials: Bashar al-Assad ally Manaf Tlas has defected . Hillary Clinton says an "increasing stream of military defectors" is leaving Syria . France's foreign minister says the defection of a regime insider is a "hard blow" to al-Assad .

(CNN) -- 7:00am: You wake up to a gentle vibration on your arm, you look down and see your wrist-mounted Lark Pro alarm throbbing silently. It is 7 o'clock, Friday April 25, 2015 -- time to get up to go to work. Lark Pro is a vibrating alarm that allows people to slip out of bed quietly without waking their partner. It also helps optimize sleep patterns by waking you at the right moment in your sleep cycle. Sleep optimizing technologies are designed to help insomniacs improve their resting patterns by waking them during their lightest sleep phase. Monisha Perkash, a wearable technology inventor, says she uses her wrist alarm for this reason, to help "optimize my sleep schedule and track sleep patterns so you know you have the best night's rest." 7:10am: Before making breakfast you run your forearm across an ultraviolet reader on your wall to check your glucose levels. Your "nano-tattoo" shines back a reading that shows you are in the healthy blood-sugar range. As a diabetic, you used to have to prick your finger and take a blood sample to find out how your blood sugar was, but with the development of a nano-tattoo you now simply have to place your invisible tattoo under an ultraviolet reader. Heather Clark, inventor of nano-tattoos and an associate professor of pharmaceutical sciences in Northeastern University's Bouvé College of Health Sciences in Boston, explains that such technology "could be very user friendly, because once the sensor 'tattoo' was inserted, it would be easy and painless to take a reading using just light through the skin." Nano-tattoos are still a long way off but Clark estimates that, if they do become commercially available, they would be very cheap. Read more: 12 amazing designs from the past 100 years . 7:15am: Still half asleep you go downstairs to the kitchen and look through your cupboards for breakfast. Your Vuzix M100 assesses the nutritional value of each of the cereals on offer, and you finally decide on a mixed grain muesli, which you hope will set you up for the day with slow release energy. You eat your breakfast with a HAPIspoon, which monitors your food intake to ensure you don't eat too quickly. 7:30am: After breakfast, you go up to the bathroom to brush your teeth with a smart toothbrush, which assesses your brushing habits. Smart dental tools such as the Beam Brush send the results of your brushing directly to your smartphone. Tomorrow, you tell yourself, you will spend a few more minutes on your teeth and do a slightly better job. Sonny Vu, CEO of Misfit Wearables, says he is a committed Beam user, and that using a smart toothbrush "helps me keep my dental premiums down." 7:40am: You open your wardrobe to decide what to wear. You go past your Diffus UV dress, which measures how much sunlight you are exposed to, but as today is a cloudy day you aren't really worried about getting burnt. You also pass over your shark-proof wetsuit, which you wore on a recent holiday to the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. Finally, you settle on your Sensoree mood sweater, which, as you slip it over your head, emits a clear blue light to indicate that you are feeling calm and relaxed. In moments of stress the lights shifts to a vibrant mauve; when you are feeling angry it glows bright red. According to its creators, the mood sweater uses the same technology behind a classic lie detector test. Its sensors read your excitement levels and translate the data into a spectrum of colors. Read more: Technology of tomorrow . 8:30am: Before getting on to your bike for the ride to work, you put your protective Hovding hood around your neck, rather than a conventional helmet, because you don't want to mess up your hair. The Hovding is worn as a collar and only expands into a full helmet if you have an accident. Syuzi Pakhchyan, a Fashion Technologist and wearable technology expert, says that "the beauty of the Hovding is that the technology is invisible. It simply disappears in the pleats of the decorative fabric shell, protecting the wearer by allowing the technology to get out of the way." 9am to 1pm: Throughout the day you connect to your Dekko-powered augmented reality device, which overlays your vision with a broad range of information and entertainment. While many of the products the US software company is proposing are currently still fairly conceptual, Dekko hopes to find ways to integrate an extra layer of visual information into every part of daily life. Dekko is one of the companies supplying software to Google Glass, the wearable computer that gives users information through a spectacle-like visual display. Matt Miesnieks, CEO of Dekko, says that he believes "the power of wearables comes from connecting our senses to sensors." Miesnieks says that in the future, software such as Dekko may allow people to "'see inside' buildings as we walk past them. Connecting online services and the real-time data about people and locations to our sense of sight ... We'll be able to look at something and get a search result back telling us all about it (who's in there right now? Is there inventory in-stock? What's the history of the place?)." 1pm: During your lunch break you go for a run wearing your latest high-tech sportswear. Designs such as miCoach training shirts, developed by US sportswear brand Adidas, track your performance and feed your results instantly to your smartphone. Qaizar Hassonjee, vice president of innovation at Adidas Wearable Sports Electronics, says: "in the near future, I see this combination of apparel and smartphones working together seamlessly and making wearable tech ubiquitous and part of our daily lives." Michael Durwin, a user experience consultant and Google Glass tester says that fitness has a large role to play in wearable technologies. "If I were an exercising type -- which I'm definitely not -- I'd use something like Nike+ to track my running in the morning. Or if I really wanted to monitor my health I'd wear a FitBit Flex throughout the day, checking it around 6pm to see if I've burned off enough calories to justify a slice of cheesecake." 6pm: After finishing up at work, you get back on your bike and ride home. Before you begin your ride, you tap on your Misfit Shine necklace. Before you start your ride, it displays 8 out of 12 dots, indicating that you are 65% of the way through your daily activity goal. After you arrive home you tap it again, and it shows 12 full dots -- you have reached your exercise target for the day. 6:30pm: When you arrive home, you quickly clean up your house with your Foki vacuum shoes, which gather dust as you walk. 7pm: You finish cleaning, jump in the shower and then change into your outfit for the evening. Tonight is not quite the right night for your Intimacy dress that goes transparent when you get excited. Instead you opt for your CuteCircuit K-Dress, which is powered by hundreds of LED lights embroidered onto a layer of fabric. Pakhchyan notes that "with illuminated fashion, there is a fine line between gimmick and innovation, (but) Cute Circuit's K-dress is sophisticated yet playful." Before you head out the door, you decide to switch off all your other wearable devices. Tonight is just about you, your partner and the night... Oh yeah, and a couple of hundred brightly flashing LED lights.

Two major conferences in the U.S. discuss the future of wearable technology . Nano-tattoos, sleep optimization and augmented reality devices could become part of our daily lives . Health and fitness monitors to play a large role in the future of wearable technologies .

(CNN) -- John Cossman's friends call him cancer's iron man. He's had more than 90 radiation treatments and 200 chemo treatments since being diagnosed with head and neck cancer eight years ago. The cancer has spread to his right lung, his right arm and his brain. Four years ago, he ran out of treatment options -- every available form of chemo had been used. If he wanted to live, he'd have to enter clinical trials. "How long do I have here?" he asked his doctor. "With treatment, two years," the doctor responded. "Without treatment, six months." Now, Cossman, 61, is sitting in a doctor's office, ready to undergo a CT scan that will determine if his cancer is being kept in check. He's on his fourth clinical trial. Three times, he's heard bad news. He tries not to think about that as he slides into the giant machine that envelopes his body. He thinks instead of his wife and 13-year-old daughter, adopted from China. Life offers too much to give in. "I will know when there's not a whole helluva lot of time left. And I don't feel that way right now. ... If what I'm doing can help somebody down the line, then it's worthwhile." Holding disease at bay . Cossman is one of 16 patients with progressive forms of cancer currently taking part in a study of a developmental drug by the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Cerulean Pharma. The company hopes to add another 20 patients to the trial in laboratories in Arizona, California and New Mexico. The test drug is in the second phase of a three-phase process that takes years before the Food and Drug Administration even considers whether to bring the drug to market. Cossman is one of the tens of thousands of people worldwide enrolled in drug trials. According to ClinicalTrials.gov, there are more than 96,500 trials under way in 174 countries. Cossman learned of drug trials through his oncologist --"otherwise, I'd know nothing about them." He wants to make others "aware of head and neck cancer, and that clinical trials are available," he says. "People need to be aware, though, that they are rolling the dice." In this case, the chemotherapy drug, known as CRLX101, is placed inside nanoparticles -- tiny particles just slightly bigger than molecules -- that are delivered intravenously every two weeks to patients. The hope is that the nanoparticles target the cancer and release chemotherapy inside the tumors while shielding healthy tissue from the toxicity of chemo, says Oliver Fetzer, the president and CEO of Cerulean. By doing that, the drug homes in on the tumors and, at the same time, patients can maintain a decent quality of life. "You want to see how long you can actually hold the disease at bay," Fetzer says. Adds John Ryan, Cerulean's chief medical officer: "The true measure of success in oncology is extending the length of time someone stays alive." Yet this drug is far from market. The FDA can put a stop to a clinical trial at any moment if unexpected safety issues arise. "We keep in touch with the FDA constantly throughout the clinical trial," Ryan says. "There's a constant interchange with the FDA, particularly with respect to the safety of the drug and anything unexpected." It takes about nine years for an oncology drug to go through the necessary clinical studies to FDA approval, said Dr. Kenneth Kaitin, director of The Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development, an independent nonprofit research group. According to a 2007 study by the center, a drug company spends about $1.3 billion per approved product, a figure that includes costs of failed test drugs. When the test drug is for cancer, the patients have very aggressive forms. Success is often measured in small steps. "What you're normally looking at in this patient population, if you can keep it at bay for two months, you are actually doing quite well, because the patients are so far along" with cancer, says Fetzer. "It's a rule of thumb at best, because every disease is different, every patient is different." 'I went through every type of chemo' It started with a lump in his throat eight years ago. Cossman thought it would go away. His doctor diagnosed it as head and neck cancer -- a surprise to Cossman because he's never been a heavy drinker or smoker. He underwent 36 radiation and chemo treatments over 2½ months. He survived on a feeding tube for six months. The next three years would be cancer free. But in June 2005, a tumor popped up in his right lower lung. Chemo and radiation began again. The tumor was eliminated, yet a spot showed up again about a year later. "You get to a point where they can't radiate the lung any more." He still has breathing problems from the radiation to his lung. One chemo treatment clogged up his tear ducts. Another created a rash all over his body. "By June 2006," he says, "I went through every type of chemo that's been approved for head and neck cancer. The chemo would either stop working or the side effects would be more detrimental to my health." His option: Die or enter clinical trials. The first study kept his tumors -- by that time he had four -- in check for about five months. To remain in a trial, tumor growth has to be limited to 20 percent. A scan showed 22 percent growth. "You can't immediately go from one study to another. You have to be washed out for 30 days of chemicals and radiation." In his second study, he developed a tumor on his right arm. He soon was having vision problems and started losing his hair. The man who had already endured so much was diagnosed with a brain tumor. In December, he underwent surgery to remove it. His third study earlier this year did not work. "You hold your breath, hoping that it's working. Then, when the CT scan comes back and it shows the tumors are growing, it's really frustrating." "Do I get depressed? Yes. But do I want to give up? No," he says. So Cossman entered his fourth study this summer, the trial by Cerulean Pharma. Fighting on . Dressed in a medical gown, Cossman awaits the CT scan. He's gently glided into the large tube. The tests take just a few minutes. He doesn't look for sympathy. He has no complaints about what he's been dealt. In fact, he celebrates life because "it's been good to me." His little girl was 5 when he was diagnosed. She's now 13. He says far too few cancer patients who could be eligible for trials are aware of them. He wants others who are suffering to be more proactive -- to ask their doctors about all their options. Slowly, he emerges from his CT scan. The waiting for results begins. He heads home. He tries not to get his hopes up. His phone rings after a few hours. On the other end of the line, his doctor delivers the best news he's had in more than a year. His cancer has grown at a rate of 11 percent, enough to remain on the study. Yet the good news is only temporary. A few weeks later, blood shows up in Cossman's bladder and a new tumor is found on his back. His doctor advises getting him off the study. Cossman hopes to enter a new one soon. "You're always on a roller-coaster when you have cancer. You have some successes and a lot of failures." Does he still have the fight to live? "Definitely," he says. CNN's Jarrett Bellini contributed to this report.

John Cossman has been battling cancer for eight years . He turned to clinical trials to stay alive after regular treatment options ran out . He underwent his fourth clinical study this summer; he's one of 16 people in the study . Before FDA approval, a drug goes through yearslong testing .

Washington (CNN) -- What's the most emotional and divisive issue in American politics? Abortion, right? Just this weekend, former Republican front-runner Rick Perry used the abortion issue to slam current Republican front-runner Herman Cain at the Iowa Faith and Freedom forum. Perry said: . "It is a liberal canard to say I am personally pro-life, but government should stay out of that decision. If that is your view, you are not pro-life, you are pro having-your-cake-and-eating-it-too." Over the previous week, Herman Cain had alarmed anti-abortion voters with a series of verbal miscues, indicating both that abortion must be stopped but also that the decision should be left to the individual woman, with no role for government. At the Faith and Freedom forum, Cain over-corrected for his week of stumbles: "No abortions. No exceptions." That new position goes far beyond the usual pro-life policy, which allows exceptions for rape, child abuse, and to save the life of the mother. Pro-life activists must unhappily confront the probability that many of the leading candidates for the GOP nomination in 2012 - while all professedly pro-life - in reality neither care very much nor think very much about the abortion issue. But now look at the world from the politicians' point of view. They must hold together a coalition that is sliced apart by the abortion issue. Pro-choice Republicans do not hold forums. But they exist, and they have power. With the result that while you can't get nominated for president by the GOP if you are pro-choice (see Giuliani, Rudy), you also can't get nominated if you oppose abortion too much (see Huckabee, Mike). For the politicians, it's all baffling and vexing. And yet -- incredible as it sounds now -- there is reason to expect that the abortion issue may someday just vanish from national politics. After all, that's what happened to the last great moral issue to rattle the American party system: alcohol prohibition. For 70 years from the end of the Civil War to the Great Depression, a human lifetime, the "drys" and the "wets" mustered all the passion, commitment, and moralism of the pro-life and pro-choice movements of our day. "It is my opinion that the saloonkeeper is worse than a thief and a murderer. The ordinary thief steals only your money, but the saloonkeeper steals your honor and your character. The ordinary murderer takes your life, but the saloonkeeper murders your soul." That's from the famous "booze sermon" of Billy Sunday, the great popular preacher of the 1910s and 1920s. Thousands of such passionate speeches -- millions more passionate words -- were uttered by names now brown with history: William Jennings Bryan, Carrie Nation, Elizabeth Cady Stanton. It was not all talk. Ferocious legislative battles were bought to prohibit alcohol at the county, state and then ultimately national level. The great scholar of American politics, Judith Shklar, estimated to her graduate students that through the long run of American history, more elections at more levels of government have turned on alcohol than any other issue, including slavery. Politicians hated the alcohol issue for the same reason they now dislike the abortion issue: It sliced apart the existing party structure. The Republicans could not win a national majority without the support of Protestant immigrants from Germany in cities like Milwaukee and St. Louis. The Democrats could not win without the enthusiastic support of Irish Catholics in New York and New England. City-dwelling Germans and Irish intensely resented attempts of their country-dwelling neighbors to regulate their behavior for them. "If they don't feel like takin' a glass of beer on Sunday, we must abstain," a contemporary Irish-American politician bitterly complained. "If they have not got any amusements up in their backwoods, we mustn't have none." National politicians responded to Prohibition then in the same way they respond to abortion now: by looking for ways to avoid and de-escalate a destabilizing issue. "Questions based upon temperance, religion, morality, in all their multiplied forms, ought not to be the basis of politics," declared Senator John Sherman of Ohio in 1873. "We don't want to alienate anybody!" complained a Michigan Republican leader of the 1880s as quoted in a contemporary newspaper. As Richard Jensen observes in his classic history, "The Winning of the Midwest", "Very few prominent Republican politicians were abstainers ... The politicians were not less likely to be churchgoers (many voters, after all, attended church), but they had developed their own standards of personal morality." Then as now! And yet a century later ... the issue is dead. Vanished. Forgotten. What happened? Three things. 1. Alcohol prohibition did finally get a national trial, from 1919-1933 and was universally experienced even by former supporters as a disaster. 2. The problem addressed by prohibition has dwindled away. While it's difficult to know with any precision how much people drank in the years after the Civil War, it's almost certain that 19th Century Americans drank much more than they do today. (For that matter, Americans today drink nearly 20% less than they did as recently as 1980.) 3. And maybe most important, drinking and non-drinking are no longer so intimately associated with other ethno-cultural divisions within American life. As alcohol ceased to be a cultural symbol, the appropriate regulation of alcohol ceased to be an ideological issue. When alcohol regulation flared up again in the 1980s, during the debate over stricter punishments for drunk driving, the debate never turned into a culture war because "alcohol" was not code (as it had been a century before) for a dozen other identities and grievances. Can we imagine such a fate for the abortion issue? Condition number one could well happen, and would be revolutionary. But even in its absence, condition number two is beginning to obtain in the United States. In the early 1980s, there were some 29 abortions per 1,000 women of child-bearing age. Today that rate has declined to about 19 abortions per 1,000 women. The rate will never reach zero, but we may expect that it will continue to decline as contraceptives improve and attitudes to out-of-wedlock birth become more accepting, and as younger generations increasingly reject abortion as an acceptable resolution of a pregnancy. What about condition three? Alcohol became central to American politics at a time when Americans were arguing whether the country should be rural or urban, a farm economy or industrial, and whether Catholics could ever become good Americans. As those arguments lost their intensity, so did the alcohol issue. Abortion became central to modern politics at exactly the same time as Americans were arguing over sexuality generally, over the status of women and the rights of gays. I think it's a good guess that if we come to a new consensus about the status of women -- absorbing and digesting the sexual revolution of the 1960s and the feminist revolution of the 1970s into a new dispensation more comfortable with both women's equality to men and their differences from men -- disagreements over abortion will come to matter less. Such disagreements won't disappear, any more than we've seen the end of debates about whether bars should open on Sundays. But the disagreements won't matter so furiously much as they now seem to do. Too bad for Herman Cain that day still seems at least a couple of decades remote. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of David Frum.

Herman Cain's comments on abortion brought him heavy criticism . David Frum says abortion may be the hottest social issue, but it may not always be so . He says American politics was riven by debate over alcohol for generations . Changing social views and behavior may greatly lessen abortion issue, he says .

Washington (CNN) -- While the Senate passed legislation barring workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity with a significant bipartisan vote on Thursday, the bill faces major hurdles to even start moving through the GOP-led House, and there's almost no chance it will come up for a vote this year. House Speaker John Boehner opposes the Employment Non Discrimination Act, known as ENDA, and believes protections for employees already exist under other laws. Senate passes LGBT anti-discrimination bill . "The Speaker believes this legislation will increase frivolous litigation and cost American jobs, especially small business jobs," Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said this week. And Rory Cooper, spokesman for House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, told CNN "the bill is currently not scheduled" for consideration. Instead, Cooper insisted the Senate should be doing other work. "I hope (Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid) soon addresses the dozens of House-passed bills that have been ignored in the Senate that create jobs, improve education and create opportunity while Americans struggle to find a good-paying job." But Rep. Richard Hanna of New York, one of the five GOP co-sponsors of the House version ENDA, pointed to his party's loss in the Virginia governor's race on Tuesday as a reason why the House needs to consider the measure. "Certainly what we see in Virginia is a difficulty with women and minorities and that's something the party needs to reconcile and look broadly and think about," Hanna told CNN on Thursday. Hanna's message to the GOP was "we need to understand that standing on our own principles is part of this, but the world is a pluralistic place and we represent a broad cross section of Americans of different races, generations, sexual orientations, and everyone has rights." Sutter: It's 'way past time' for gay rights law . The Republican National Committee found after last year's loss in the presidential election that younger Americans, who voted disproportionately for Barack Obama, weigh their support for a political party based on its tolerance and inclusiveness, including on the issue of gay rights. 10 Republican Senators vote with Dems . Advocates of ENDA also point to national polls that show a majority of Republicans now support legislation protects gays and lesbians from job discrimination. On Thursday 10 GOP senators joined with Senate Democrats to pass the measure. Several senior House Republican congressional aides acknowledge the political climate has shifted some since the House last considered ENDA in 2007, but they also believe most House GOP members would oppose it now. They say members aren't hearing much about it from their constituents, so there's little pressure to vote on it this year. Pennsylvania Rep. Charlie Dent, a five-term Republican whose district has been targeted regularly by Democrats, is another Republican who is pushing for a House vote. Dent told CNN the party's loss to Obama is a key reason why it should get behind the bill. "I do believe that we have to learn some lessons from the 2012 election, and to me this is one of them. This legislation, ENDA, is one way to reach out to the LGBT community in a way that is fair and reasonable and speaks to our shared values. I think we all agree we should not tolerate this type of discrimination in any form," Dent said. Sexual orientation and ENDA: How we got here . Dent also said passing the measure "would be an upside to the party, particularly with young voters." Outside advocacy groups spent the past year targeting states with GOP Senators to secure votes to pass the bill in the Senate. Little pressure on House GOP . But House districts were redrawn in 2010 to make them more solidly red or blue so there are fewer "swing" districts like those Dent and Hanna represent, reducing leverage for supporters. "As far as specific House races are concerned, I can't see it being a main issue," one of the House GOP sources said in predicting that the issue "will kind of fade by Friday" without any real push by members for a vote. Even gay rights advocates who sought to pressure GOP Senators aren't sugar coating prospects in the House. "It's an uphill climb. It's Mount Kilimanjaro," Fred Sainz, vice president of communications at the Human Rights Campaign, told CNN. The House Education and the Workforce Committee, which has jurisdiction over the issue, has yet to announce a hearing on the bill, and doesn't plan any action on ENDA at this point, according to a spokeswoman for the panel. One place where a House Republican could face blowback for lack of action is in upstate New York. Second-term GOP Rep. Chris Gibson is running against an openly gay Democratic candidate, Sean Eldridge, who has worked as an advocate for same-sex marriage. Gibson recently signed on as a co-sponsor of the House ENDA bill. Obamacare still a focus . But GOP aides believe that highlighting problems with the online rollout of Obamacare and focusing on economic issues should remain their top priorities, and say there is little pressure from GOP rank and file to move ENDA, because they largely oppose the bill. Supporters believe the 2007 House vote, when 35 House Republicans backed the legislation, could be a marker of how many GOP members could vote for the bill now. But of that group only a dozen still serve in the House. Among those who supported that measure was 2012 GOP vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin. But that version of ENDA was drafted more narrowly and Ryan's spokesman says the Congressman is opposed to the Senate bill at this point. "Congressman Ryan does not believe someone should be fired because of their sexual orientation. That said, any legislation to address this concern should be narrowly crafted to guard against unintended consequences," Kevin Seifert told CNN. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said Boehner's move to avoid a vote is part of a pattern, criticizing his decision to spend money backing a court challenge to uphold a ban on same-sex marriage, which the Supreme Court overruled. Fighting a losing battle in the House . Democrats might try to force a vote through a procedural maneuver but know it probably won't happen. Sainz told CNN the effort to pass the bill will take some time, but the Human Rights Campaign is working to get at least 25 of the 35 House Republicans they believe would vote for the bill to publicly endorse it. He said ENDA should fit into the House Republican's economic agenda since it promotes employees keeping their jobs. Supporters are also looking for other ways to get it to the House floor. One option is attaching the measure to next year's defense authorization bill in the Senate and sending that to the House. By tucking the measure into a must-pass bill that House Republicans support, any effort to oppose ENDA would mean adopting an amendment to strip it out. Advocates believe they could muster the votes to block that. This strategy was used to move another contentious issue involving gay rights -- the repeal of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy barring service in the military. Dent believes outside advocates need to do some legwork to educate House Republicans, many of whom didn't serve in Congress the last time the issue came up for a vote. But he notes this session of Congress doesn't wrap up until the end of 2014 so "they'll be time over the next 14 to 15 months to make progress in the House." Sainz said he is prepared for the challenge and predicts the same constituents who moved the Senate to act will do the same in the House. "There are gay people in every single member of Congress' district who we will mobilize," he said.

Senate passes Employment Non Discrimination Act with help of 10 Republicans . House Speaker John Boehner has said he opposes other laws that already cover the issue . House congressional aides say they aren't hearing from constituents on the issue . Democrats might try to force a vote in the House but know it probably won't happen .

(CNN) -- Those who knew Maya Angelou and others inspired by her life, wisdom and words were remembering her Wednesday. "Phenomenal Woman" -- the title of Angelou's poem celebrating the strength of women -- quickly trended worldwide on Twitter. Celebrity tweets also included "true inspiration," "hero" and "national treasure." Others needed more than Twitter's 140 characters to express their personal loss. Legendary author Maya Angelou dies at age 86 . -- Oprah Winfrey called Angelou her "mentor, mother/sister, and friend since my 20's." "She was there for me always, guiding me through some of the most important years of my life," Winfrey said. "The world knows her as a poet but at the heart of her, she was a teacher.  'When you learn, teach.  When you get, give' is one of my best lessons from her." "She won three Grammys, spoke six languages and was the second poet in history to recite a poem at a presidential inauguration. But what stands out to me most about Maya Angelou is not what she has done or written or spoken, it's how she lived her life. She moved through the world with unshakeable calm, confidence and a fierce grace  I loved her and I know she loved me. I will profoundly miss her.  She will always be the rainbow in my clouds." -- President Barack Obama called Angelou "one of the brightest lights of our time -- a brilliant writer, a fierce friend, and a truly phenomenal woman." "Over the course of her remarkable life, Maya was many things -- an author, poet, civil rights activist, playwright, actress, director, composer, singer and dancer," Obama said.  "But above all, she was a storyteller -- and her greatest stories were true.  A childhood of suffering and abuse actually drove her to stop speaking -- but the voice she found helped generations of Americans find their rainbow amidst the clouds, and inspired the rest of us to be our best selves.  In fact, she inspired my own mother to name my sister Maya." -- President Bill Clinton said "America has lost a national treasure." "The poems and stories she wrote and read to us in her commanding voice were gifts of wisdom and wit, courage and grace," the former president said. "I will always be grateful for her electrifying reading of 'On the Pulse of Morning' at my first inaugural, and even more for all the years of friendship that followed." "Now she sings the songs the Creator gave to her when the river 'and the tree and the stone were one.'" -- President George W. Bush said Angelou was "among the most talented writers of our time." "Her words inspired peace and equality and enriched the culture of our country. We are grateful for the work she leaves behind, and we wish her the peace she always sought." -- Filmmaker Tyler Perry said Angelou was one of "a handful of people in my life who have moved me, inspired me, encouraged me, and helped mold the man I am today." "Her words and her spirit are too powerful to leave this earth with her passing. Her legacy and poems will take wings, forever landing at the foundation of anything that betters humanity. Dr. Maya Angelou will live on in all of us who called her a phenomenal woman, phenomenally." -- Music producer Quincy Jones, who collaborated with Angelou on two songs for the soundtrack of the 1968 film "For Love of Ivy," said this: "As an author and poet, Maya Angelou's ability to channel God's voice and express the feelings deep within all of humanity will never be matched by another.  She gave us words when we could find none, and helped us to see clearly when the light was dimmest." -- Jim Caldwell, head coach of the NFL's Detroit Lions, knew Angelou from the days he coached football at Wake Forest, where she was a professor: "She was extremely impactful. You look at just the body of her work and what a difference that made for our society from a cultural standpoint, and from a social standpoint as well. She influenced a number of students and folks, like myself, who worked there at the university, who had the great fortune of coming into contact with her." -- Civil rights activist and former U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young called Angelou "an activist poet." "She was one of the most positive people on this planet-through her life, her wisdom, her poetry and prose she lifted the aspirations and nurtured the spirits of everyone she touched. She worked for Martin Luther King in the early days of the civil rights movement. She was a friend and confidante to Nelson Mandela and to me. Maya inspired young girls to grow into 'Phenomenal Women.' She walked with Kings, Presidents and Nobel Prize winners and never lost the common touch." -- Major League Baseball executive Frank Robinson said the league would honor Angelou with its 2014 Beacon of Life Award this Friday. "All of us at Major League Baseball mourn the loss of the incomparable Dr. Maya Angelou, who led a full and accomplished life and left an indelible impact on our society. Today we have lost one of our greatest voices, but Dr. Angelou's words will live on and will continue to inspire generations to come. With a heavy heart, the National Pastime will honor Dr. Angelou at this weekend's Civil Rights Game in a manner befitting her remarkable legacy." Opinion: How Maya Angelou gave me life . Celebrity Twitter reactions . Rihanna: "Angel. #RIPMayaAngelou The first book I read as a teenager, "I know why the caged bird sings". Felt like we knew her" Ellen DeGeneres: "Today the world lost one of it's greatest gifts. I'm sending love to the friends and family of Maya Angelou." Pharrell Williams: "Saddened by the news of Maya Angelou's passing. A brilliant woman who contributed so much to the world. Her light will be sorely missed." J.K. Rowling: "If you are always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be." Maya Angelou - who was utterly amazing." Common: "I was thinking about her lately. GOD Bless the Soul of one if my heroes. Dr Maya Angelou" Steve Harvey: "Sad to hear the news of Maya Angelou passing. She is a true inspiration and will be missed." Eva Longoria: "The world lost an incredible woman today who inspired me and millions of others. #RIP Maya Angelou" Terry McMillan: "We were fortunate to have Maya Angelou embrace our sense of self and humanity when many of us were losing or had lost faith." Lenny Kravitz: "There are no words..." Pitbull: "The first time someone shows you who they are, believe them." Omar Epps: "RIP Maya Angelou! Thank you for sharing your gifts." Kellie Pickler: "RIP Maya Angelou - A woman of Grace, Wisdom, Kindness & Love...we can all learn from your beautiful..." Erik Estrada: "RIP Maya Angelou. Your words have changed peoples thinking & sometimes their behavior. Thank you for sharing your life with so many." Olivia Wilde: "RIP Maya Angelou, a badass woman who saw the impossible as merely a dare." Maria Shriver: "God bless @DrMayaAngelou. A woman who used her voice to raise up, inspire and educate. Her words will live on in everyone who reads them." Opinion: Maya Angelou: The definition of a phenomenal woman . Some of Angelou's most powerful speeches . Opinion: Food, friends and freedom: Nikki Giovanni remembers Maya Angelou .

Oprah Winfrey: "She was there for me always, guiding me" President Obama: Angelou "one of the brightest lights of our time" President Bush: "Her words inspired peace and equality and enriched the culture of our country" Erik Estrada: "Your words have changed peoples thinking & sometimes their behavior"

(CNN) -- Syrian rebel fighters said Friday they have captured a strategic northern military base used by the government to bomb opposition strongholds. Rebel fighters and militants from various Islamic groups, including the jihadist al-Nusra Front, took part in the offensive, an opposition spokesman said. They've seized control of buildings, ammunition and military equipment at the base in Idlib province, the opposition said, signaling a major blow to President Bashar al-Assad's forces. "They are taking credit now for having taken the air base," U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters Friday. "And, as you know, we consider this significant on two fronts. "First of all, to ground some of the air assets of the Assad regime that they've been using against civilians. And, secondly, to break their ability to resupply in the north." Read more: Pentagon weighs how to secure Syria's chemical weapons . The strategic base has been used by government forces to send explosives to areas in the north, according to the opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. In addition to housing about government 400 soldiers, the group said, warplanes that attack the region were taking off from there. "The Taftanaz air base has been completely liberated," said Hamza Abu Hussam, a spokesman for the Binnish Coordination Committee, a local opposition group. "I went down to see with my own eyes and was able to get in." Read more: Terrorist group fills power vacuum among Syria rebels . In a video posted on YouTube, opposition forces from various groups cheer and chant "God is great," purportedly after they took over the military airport. CNN cannot independently verify the authenticity of the video. Brahimi: No military solution . The U.N. and Arab League special envoy to Syria stressed Friday that there is "no military solution" to the brutal civil war being fought in the Arab nation. Lakhdar Brahimi made the remark after meeting with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State William Burns at the United Nations offices in Geneva, Switzerland. "We are all very, very deeply aware of the immense suffering of the Syrian people which has gone for far too long. And we all stressed the need for a speedy end to bloodshed, the destruction, and all forms violence in Syria," he said. "We stressed again, in our view, there is no military solution to this conflict." Syria accused Brahimi of bias Thursday, casting a shadow on efforts to end a war that, according to the United Nations, has killed more than 60,000 people in nearly two years. Brahimi has "deviated from the essence of his mission and clearly unveiled his bias to circles known for conspiring against Syria and the interests of the Syrian people," Syrian state media reported. The statement from Damascus was a response to a BBC interview in which Brahimi in effect called on al-Assad to resign. He said the president would have no place in the transition to a post-conflict Syria. "I think what people are saying is, a family ruling for 40 years is a little bit too long," Brahimi said, according to the interview Thursday. Al-Assad took over from his late father, who seized power in 1970 and ruled for three decades. Brahimi said both the United States and Russia want to help end the war and forge a future. The United States long has called for al-Assad to resign. Russia, which historically has had close ties with Syria, has blocked tough action against the government in the U.N. Security Council. "I'm absolutely certain the Russians are as preoccupied as I am, as Americans are, by the bad situation that exists in Syria and its continuing deterioration, and I'm absolutely certain they would like to contribute to its solution," he said. He cited the "absolute necessity" for pushing for a peaceful solution. "It is the wider international community," he said, particularly Security Council members, who "can really create the opening that is necessary to start effectively solving the problem." Securing chemical weapons . The escalating conflict and the president's efforts to retain his grip on power have sparked a push to ensure that chemical weapons are secure. U.S. officials say they are working with nations in the Middle East to secure Syria's chemical and biological weapons sites. "We're not talking about ground troops, but it depends on what ... happens in a transition," Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Thursday. Asked whether he had ruled out putting U.S. troops in Syria to secure such weapons, Panetta said: "You always have to keep the possibility that, if there is a peaceful transition and international organizations get involved, that they might ask for assistance in that situation. But in a hostile situation, we're not planning to ask for that." Russian navy holding exercises off Syria's coast . Ships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet are heading to the eastern Mediterranean for exercises, the Russian Defense Ministry said. A tactical group of Black Sea Fleet warships, headed by the cruiser Moskva, will undertake exercises in the eastern sector of the Mediterranean Sea. The tanker Ivan Bubnov has fueled the ships, and emergency drills have been carried out for the upcoming exercises. The tanker filled up on fuel and water Thursday at the Cyprus port of Larnaka. A Baltic Fleet group consisting of the patrol vessel Yaroslav Mudry and tanker Lena will head for the eastern Mediterranean, where the two ships will practice stores transfers at sea. The patrol vessel will carry out anti-submarine warfare drills. Russia has a maintenance naval base at Tartus on the coast. No let-up in refugee flight . The United Nations said Friday that more than 612,000 people have been registered as Syrian refugees or are "being assisted as such." There were 194,769 in Lebanon, 176,569 in Jordan, 153,163 in Turkey, 69,282 in Iraq, 13,292 in Egypt and 5,059 elsewhere in North Africa, the U.N. refugee agency said. "Even with the winter preparation work that has been done in recent months, many refugees in both camp and noncamp situations are facing particularly cold and damp conditions. At the same time, there has been no let-up in the numbers of people fleeing Syria into neighboring countries," the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said. Mia Farrow to meet refugees . Actress and UNICEF goodwill ambassador Mia Farrow will visit Lebanon next week to meet with Syrian refugees, the organization said Friday. "As part of her mission she will appeal for additional international assistance as the needs and numbers of those fleeing Syria continue to rise," UNICEF said. Farrow will travel to two locations near the Syrian border to meet with refugees and host families. "Ms. Farrow will also help distribute winter clothing while there as many of the refugees fled Syria with very few belongings." Brutal winter weather is making dire conditions even more so in parts of the Middle East, especially for thousands of Syrian refugees enduring frigid temperatures in tents. More deaths . The Syrian crisis started in March 2011, when peaceful protesters demanding democracy and reforms were met by a fierce government crackdown, which spiraled into an armed opposition movement and a civil war. At least 106 people were killed Friday, the opposition Local Coordination Committees of Syria said. Among them were 40 people killed in shelling by artillery and jet fighters in Hasaka province, in the northeastern part of the country. Read more: By the numbers: Syria deaths . CNN's Joe Sterling and Saad Abedine reported from Atlanta. CNN's Alla Eshchenko in Moscow and Faith Karimi in Atlanta contributed to this report.

NEW: 106 killed, opposition says . United Nations says there are more than 612,000 Syrian refugees . The rebel claim of capturing the base is called 'significant' by the U.S. As the civil war rages, world leaders push to ensure chemical weapons are secure .

(CNN) -- Andy Murray's impressive defense of his Wimbledon title continued Monday as he dispatched 20th seed Kevin Anderson in straight sets in their fourth round match on Centre Court. It was always going to be a tall order for the 6 foot 8 inch South Africa to overcome the Scot who once again looked fit and focused in front of an expectant crowd. Murray engineered a break of serve in the third game of the match before serving out a competitive first set 6-4. Murray stormed into a 3-0 lead in the second before the heavens opened and the players left the court while the roof was closed. When they resumed, it was Anderson who began more brightly earning two break points on the Murray serve. He saved the first but could do nothing with the second as an Anderson pile driver took a heavy net cord with the Scot unable to get up to the ball. No bother. Murray was still a break up and in no mood to slip up again. Games went with serve up until the ninth when Anderson, serving to stay in the set, lost four points in succession to give Murray a two-set lead. Anderson's booming 130 mph-plus serve had delivered 63 aces in the first three rounds but he could only manage a further nine on Monday. The third set was tighter. Murray earned five break points in the eighth game but couldn't close out and with the chance gone the set went to a tiebreak. Like the set, it was nip and tuck with Anderson earning the first set point at 6-5 only for Murray to save it, win the next point and earn his first match point. Another competitive rally ended when Murray swiped a cross-court backhand winner and seal victory 6-4 6-3 7-6 (8/6). "When it was outdoors, I played very well and was in a good position. When we came back indoors, he started to strike the ball a bit better, he started serving better," Murray said afterwards. "It's a good win because he was playing well at the end and making it very tough for me. It's good to get through in straight sets." The 11th seed Grigor Dimitrov awaits the world No. 5 in the quarterfinals. The Bulgarian, who won the Queen's Club event prior to Wimbledon, was also a straight sets winner defeating Argentina's Leonardo Mayer 6-4 7-6 (8/6) 6-2. No. 1 seed Novak Djokovic is also safely through to the last eight after negotiating a potentially tricky tie with France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Djokokic won in straight sets with the almost identical scoreline to Murray, who he followed onto Centre Court. The Serb's 6-3 6-4 7-6 (7/5) victory -- his 13th in total over Tsonga -- puts him through to face Croatia's Marin Cilic who beat France's Jeremy Chardy 7-6 (10/8) 6-4 6-4. Bouchard bounds on . Eugenie Bouchard has already won one Wimbledon title -- now she's targeting the real deal. The 20-year-old Canadian, a junior champion at the All England Club in 2012, booked her place in the quarterfinals Monday following a straight sets win over France's Alize Cornet. Bouchard, who prevailed 7-6 7-5, will face either Maria Sharapova or Germany's Angelique Kerber for a place in the semifinals. The 13th seed has reached the last four of the previous two grand slams and is confident following her victory over Cornet, who had defeated World No.1 Serena Williams in the previous round. "I'm really excited. I'm proud of the way I fought out there," Bouchard told the tournament's official website. "Alize is a really great player. It was tough (under the roof), but it was the same for both of us. I need to focus on one match at a time, so that is my focus. This is what I've worked for, but I want to keep winning matches." Elsewhere, Caroline Wozniacki's Wimbledon dream came to shuddering halt after she was dumped out in the fourth round Monday. The former World No.1 was beaten 6-2 7-5 by the Czech Republic's Barbora Zahlova Strycova, who qualified for her first ever grand slam quarterfinal. World No. 43 Strycova, who defeated Australian Open champion Li Na in the previous round, will now face either fellow Czech and 2011 champion Petra Kvitova for a place in the last four. "Even when I had some opportunities I made some stupid mistakes or didn't play the balls properly. You know, it was kind of, I guess, one of those matches," Wozniacki, the Dane, seeded 16 at Wimbledon, told reporters. "Of course I am a little disappointed sitting here. Obviously I would have loved to have been further. "The fourth round has been the furthest I have got here, where I feel like I should have gone further some years, but, you know, I guess sometimes that happens. "You just have to get yourself back up and keep working and come back next time." Another Czech to reach the quarterfinals is Lucie Safarova who booked her place in the last eight following a comfortable 6-0 6-2 over compatriot Tereza Smitkova. Qualifier Smitkova, ranked 175th in the world, was dispatched in 48 minutes to set up a clash with either Agnieszka Radwanska or Ekaterina Makarova of Russia for a place in the last four. There was disappointment for Madison Keys, the final U.S. woman in the singles draw after she was forced to withdraw from her third round tie against Kazakhstan's Yaroslava Shvedova with injury. The 19-year-old, who won the Eastbourne tournament in the lead-up to Wimbledon, failed to recover from a thigh problem which she suffered on Saturday while trailing 6-7 6-6. "I have a muscle strain in my abductor. It's not terrible, not really a long recovery time," Keys told reporters. "But they were warning me it could get worse, make recovery time even longer." Keys' injury means that Shvedova moves into the last 16 where she will play Germany's Sabine Lisicki. Lisicki, who reached the final last year, overcame Serbia's Ana Ivanovic 6-4 3-6 6-1. While rain prevented several matches from starting on time, there were some who managed to beat the clouds. In the men's draw, Australian Open champion Stanislas Wawrinka reached the fourth round for the first time since 2009 following a straight sets win over Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin. The Swiss ace, ranked fifth, eased to a 6-3 6-3 6-4 win to finish off the rain-affected match which had originally been scheduled for Saturday. Also into the fourth round is Japan's Kei Nishikori who overcame Italy's Simone Bolelli in a five-set thriller. The 10th seed triumphed 3-6 6-3 3-6 7-6 6-4 to make it through to the fourth round for the first time in his career. Nishikori's next opponent will be Canadian eighth seed Milos Raonic.

Andy Murray beats big serving Kevin Anderson to book quarterfinal against Dimitrov . Canada's Eugenie Bouchard beats Alize Cornet to progress to last eight . Sabine Lisicki sees off Ana Ivanovic; Caroline Wozniacki beaten in fourth round . Stanislas Wawrinka through to last 16 .

Washington (CNN) -- They are the numbers we've all been waiting for and House Republicans have unsuccessfully tried to get out of the Obama administration. This week, the Department of Health and Human Services will reveal how many people purchased policies on the federal Obamacare exchange website. Technical failures have plagued HealthCare.gov since its October 1 launch, although officials say it's slowly getting better. White House spokesman Jay Carney says enrollment numbers "will be lower than we hoped and we anticipated." Democrats losing patience with Obamacare . Just how low and what effect all of those online roadblocks had on enrollment remain to be seen. But what will the numbers mean about the health of Obamacare? Q: How many people need to enroll? The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that 24 million people will purchase insurance through an exchange by 2023, but just seven million will enroll during the initial sign-up window ending March 31. CBO's estimate includes customers on both state-based and federally run insurance exchanges, but not individuals who enroll in Medicaid. If that number is spread evenly over the course of the open enrollment period, 1.16 million people would need to purchase insurance each month in order for the administration to be on pace to reach the seven million figure in six months. But officials both in and out of government are quick to point out that enrollment is unlikely to occur at an even pace. Pro-Obamacare group raises $27 million for outreach . To make that case, President Barack Obama recently traveled to Massachusetts where then-Gov. Mitt Romney enacted similar health care reforms in 2006. "Enrollment was extremely slow, within a month only about a hundred people had signed up," the President told a crowd in Boston in late October, recounting data from the state's first open-enrollment period. "But then, 2,000 had signed up, and then a few more thousand after that. And by the end of the year, 36,000 people had signed up." On CNN the day after the President's trip, MIT economist Jon Gruber, a former health care adviser to both Romney and Obama, argued that the first month's numbers aren't that useful in estimating the pace of enrollment. "The key deadline here is March 31, that's when people have to have insurance to avoid the individual mandate," Gruber said of the deadline for avoiding a financial penalty for not having any health coverage. "That's still months away." A consumer behavior expert said the slow pace of enrollment early could be attributed to buying habits. Michael McCall, consumer psychology professor at Ithaca College, compared it to paying rent or a mortgage when it's due, rather than before a bill is received. Until payment is submitted, the door remains open to back out or make changes. "Once I pay, I've kind of made that commitment," McCall added. Arguably more important than the overall enrollment number is the diversity of the new customer pool. The administration is working to ensure that 40% of those on the new exchanges are relatively healthy between 18 and 35. "Part of the challenge is to make sure that the exchanges are able to attract a broad cross section of people, sick people and healthier young people so that the coverage is affordable," said Drew Altman, president and CEO of the Kaiser Family Foundation. An unbalanced insurance pool could cause insurers to increase monthly premiums or pull out of the exchanges altogether in future years. Clinton: Obama should honor commitments on keeping health plans . What about Medicaid enrollees? Customers whose income falls below a certain threshold are automatically referred to their state's Medicaid program. The Affordable Care Act offers subsidies to states to increase Medicaid qualification to 138% of the federal poverty level, and 25 states and the District of Columbia have taken up the federal offer so far. If your state has opted to expand Medicaid, you'll likely be referred to your state's welfare agency if you make less than $15,800 and are seeking coverage as an individual, or $32,500 if you're seeking it for a family of four. The CBO estimates that nine million people will enroll in Medicaid and its partner initiative for children, the Children's Health Insurance Program, by 2014. According to this estimate, that number will increase to 13 million by 2023. Media report: Fewer than 50,000 signed up for Obamacare . What if my state didn't expand Medicaid? The authors of the ACA intended Medicaid expansion to be mandatory, but a Supreme Court decision in 2010 ruled the federal government couldn't require expansion of a state-run program. This decision led 25 states to opt out. If you make less than the federal poverty level, you will be referred to your state Medicaid agency to see if you qualify for benefits under the current law, regardless of whether your state has expanded Medicaid or not. According to a study by the Kaiser Foundation, only four states that didn't expand Medicaid offer benefits to parents with incomes up to the federal poverty level, and only Wisconsin offers benefits to adults without children. If your state chose not to expand its Medicaid program, you can still purchase insurance on the exchange, but you might not qualify for a premium subsidy. Federal subsidies kick in for those with income above 100% of the federal poverty level. Due to the Supreme Court decision and the structure of the law, a large group of low-income Americans won't qualify for Medicaid in their state, but will earn less than the federal poverty level, meaning they won't qualify for any federal subsidies. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, roughly five million people will fall into this Medicaid coverage gap. What does "enroll" mean, anyway? Regardless of whether you're signing up on HealthCare.gov or one of the state-run exchanges, there are several steps in the enrollment process. You must first create an account and enter in some personal information, including your Social Security number and an estimate of your annual income. This information is then verified through the federal data hub with various government agencies, such as the Social Security Administration and the Internal Revenue Service. Then you'll either be presented with the plans available in your coverage area and an estimate for what those plans will cost after any federal subsidy is factored in, or you'll be told you qualify for Medicaid and referred to your state's Medicaid agency. If you're eligible to purchase a plan on the exchange, you can compare the plans available to find one that best fits your budget and coverage needs. Many insurance companies and state-based exchanges don't classify customers as officially enrolled until they've paid their first premium. Others will count people as enrolled once they've selected a plan. A spokeswoman for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services confirmed Tuesday that the numbers the government plans to announce will reveal how many consumers have completed an application and selected a plan, not necessarily how many have paid. Consumers have until December 15 to pay if they want coverage beginning on January 1, or until March 31 if they simply want to avoid paying the penalty for not having insurance. According to CNN's tally, at least 54,700 people have paid for insurance on the state-based exchanges, but many more have made it partially through the process, completing an application and selecting a plan. Various news outlets have reported that fewer than 50,000 people have signed up and paid for new private insurance plans through the federal marketplace, HealthCare.gov. Neither the Department of Health and Human Services nor officials at CMS would confirm those numbers.

An unbalanced insurance pool could lead to higher premiums, insurers pulling out . CBO estimates nine million people will enroll in Medicaid or partner program for children . 2010 Supreme Court decision overturned mandatory plan for states to expand Medicaid . Many insurers and state-based exchanges don't consider customers enrolled until they pay first .

(CNN) -- On the surface, Zack Hix is like many 18-year-olds. The Simpsonville, South Carolina, teen's favorite foods are cheeseburgers and pizza. He listens to rock and punk music. He loves to race mountain bikes, play video games, watch Georgia Bulldogs football with his dad and -- perhaps most importantly -- draw. But Zack also suffers from a laundry list of mental health issues, including both intermittent explosive- and obsessive-compulsive disorders, which make him different from other kids his age and threaten to inhibit his ability to function as an independent adult. Zack is diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety and depression, in addition to the IED and OCD. He also has Tourette syndrome and tics that are the result of a Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infection in the fifth grade. Artistic self-expression through drawing helps to balance Zack's struggles. Together, the Hix family is on a journey to turn a series of Zack's characters into a career as a cartoonist. "If we can make a go of this and he can work for himself doing what he loves to do -- chances are he is not going to be able to work in a traditional setting; they're so up and down with how they function -- maybe he can support himself after high school and not have to sit back and collect disability as a person who cannot hold a job," his mother, Kim Hix, said. The Good Boy Roy crew -- including Roy, Zman and Rocker Rick -- are charismatic, athletic and musically talented. They are likenesses of Zack and those close to him. Life's joys and tribulations also inspire Zack's art, whether it's expressing his faith in God, standing up to bullies or maintaining a positive outlook on life. "The images come to my head," he says. "I just capture them and put them on paper." 'I know that it is the illness' Kim Hix, 46, is the president of Good Boy Roy, in addition to her roles as part-time personal trainer, an advocate for children in court proceedings and, of course, full-time mother. "When Zack does awful things, I know that is the illness," she says. "He is so loving and sweet and thinks of others." She knew early on that Zack was different, she says. He wouldn't sleep alone, screamed to the point where she thought he was going to hurt himself and had trouble processing the reasons he was disciplined. The family had no history of mental disorders, so Kim Hix started taking Zack to doctors. "We didn't know what to think," she says. "We were kind of bewildered." Zack's father, Doug Hix, says it sometimes feels like they are isolated and on an island, but points out that many people have it worse. Kim Hix says Zack's struggles continue to affect the family, especially Kelsie, 14. "None of this is in your control really," says Kim. "You can't fix these things. If it's a bad day, if it's chaotic, you pray a lot and when you wake up you hope the next day is better." No broad brush on his symptoms . Zack has seen psychiatrist Dr. Robert Richards since elementary school. Richards doesn't use a broad brush to describe Zack's symptoms, he says, because the disorders manifest themselves differently according to the individual, the responsiveness to treatment and the resources available. But Richards did classify Zack's problems as severe. Still, the teen has a "high-level of sensitivity and intuitiveness," Richards said. His drawings could be a way for him to express his view that people should be treated with kindness. "If you look at other aspects of personality growth and development, he has a strong capacity for empathy," says Richards. Dr. Ken Duckworth, a psychiatrist and the medical director for the National Alliance on Mental Illness, says the two most important variables in treating mental disorders and illness are family support and the patient's willingness to accept help from loved ones. Kim says Zack is family-oriented, always wanting to be near and spend time with his parents. "I can't tell them how much I love them in words," says Zack. Doug Hix, who has been married to Kim for 21 years, works for an engineering company. At times, his work puts him on the road for two or three weeks a month. When he is home, Doug says he makes spending time with his children a priority. He and Zack race mountain bikes, follow the Atlanta Braves and never miss a University of Georgia football game. "When he's at a calm state, when he's the Zack that we know and love, he's a great kid," Doug Hix says. "If his med levels are where they need to be, he can focus. Interaction with faculty and student body, it's spot on. You'd never expect anything." It's those other times -- when he can't remain calm -- that trouble his parents. Zack's OCD can cause him to grasp onto single thoughts. He'll want to do things perfectly and not being able to can sometimes propel him into a rage that can last for hours, his mother says. The episodes have occurred since Zack was a child. Enter Good Boy Roy . Zack has drawn pictures since he was old enough to hold a pen. He has always gravitated toward cartoons, Japanimation characters and superheroes, his parents say. Drawing seems to provide Zack the context his compulsions won't allow, and his mother says he's always used artistic expression to apologize after acting out. The characters are based on Zack and those close to him. Volleyball Girl was inspired by his younger sister, Kelsie, and Handsome Hen takes after the man who introduced Zack to "The Simpsons," his uncle Henry. In 2009, Zack took a stack of Good Boy Roy drawings to his mother and asked what she thought. She liked them enough to have one printed on a red T-shirt, his favorite color. Zack wore the shirt everywhere. Kim Hix had already considered making Good Boy Roy a business, but when she saw how proud the T-shirt made Zack, she wondered if it might be a way for Zack to support himself after high school if his mental health issues prove to be barriers to employment. "I have always been a fixer," she said. "That has been my job since Zack was born, trying to get him help and get him the resources that can help him progress." Since 2010, Zack's mother says he has made about $12,000 from merchandise and custom design sales, so the business is very much part-time. He has also illustrated a children's book, "A World Without Circles." The book's publisher has asked Zack to work on a children's book about bullying, something he experienced during middle school related to his Tourette's syndrome, his mother says. Zack plans to graduate from high school in 2014 and hopes to continue spreading Good Boy Roy's message. He wants Roy, Zman and Rocker Rick to be known worldwide so they can inspire others with disabilities to find work. Meanwhile, Kim Hix is learning how to juggle building a business with her own career and being a mother and wife. It's still very much a work in progress, but she hopes Good Boy Roy will reach other families dealing with mental health disorders and let them know they're not alone. "Good Boy Roy, the business and brand, was launched to share with the world this story of hope, determination and overcoming challenges; [to] reach parents of children like Zack, to let them know they are not alone in their heartache and uncertainty; [to] let the kids know that anything is possible, and being different is OK."

Zack Hix is the creator of the cartoon characters in Good Boy Roy . He is diagnosed with a laundry list of mental health disorders . Art has always been his avenue for self-expression . His family wants to turn his artwork into a career so he can support himself .

(CNN) -- When I teach psychiatry to medical residents, the first thing I tell them is that patients' stories always make sense. No matter how bizarre a person's symptoms might be, our lives follow a human logic, and they follow a medical logic. When a story doesn't make sense, it means you don't know the real story. Medical stories that don't make sense are often big news makers, precisely because they don't make sense. Sometimes, they titillate our hunger for the unexplained. Sometimes, they capture our attention because the medical uncertainty frightens us. A current and highly publicized example of this phenomenon can be seen in the case of a group of teenagers attending a single school in Le Roy, New York, who have developed strange movement disorders in rapid succession. Out of the blue, previously normal young people have had their lives devastated by uncontrollable tics, gesticulations and embarrassing verbal outbursts. And no one can find a medical explanation for this horrible state of affairs. N.Y. town still baffled by teens' mysterious tics . If ever there were a story that doesn't make sense, this is it. So what should a psychiatrist -- or any other type of doctor for that matter -- do if a story doesn't make sense? Continue to gather information until the real story emerges. How do you know that the real story has finally emerged? Because it makes sense. Let's apply that logic to the situation of the afflicted young people of Le Roy. Their symptoms most closely resemble a neurological condition called Tourette 's syndrome. Patients suffering with Tourette's are bedeviled by a wide variety of nonsensical movements or speech acts that occur involuntarily, and that are called tics. Tics are involuntary but can usually be briefly controlled if a patient concentrates. If you ask a someone with Tourette's why he or she engages in such odd behavior, you will be told about an intense sense of internal discomfort that is only relieved by doing the tic, and then only briefly. At first glance, Tourette's syndrome is an attractive explanation for the Le Roy tic epidemic. It occurs in young people. It causes very similar symptoms. And despite its often catastrophic effect on people's lives, it is not associated with any easily identifiable abnormalities in the brain or body that provide an easy diagnostic test for doctors. It can be diagnosed only by its symptoms. But I can assure you that the young people of Le Roy do not have Tourette's for one simple reason: It is a rare condition and it is a solitary disorder. Genetic risks for the disorder exist, including a vulnerability to develop a subtle autoimmune condition of the brain following a streptococcal infection in childhood. But Tourette's is not contagious. It never occurs in an epidemic form such as the mystery illness in New York state. So if the young people of Le Roy don't have Tourette's what do they have? To answer this, we have to ask a follow-up question: What are the most frequent causes of illnesses that occur in groups of people, especially in groups of people in close physical contact? The answer is clear. Disease epidemics are usually caused by infectious agents, such as viruses or bacteria. If all the people afflicted with an illness live in the same environment, the other possibility is that something in that environment is making them sick. So whenever a doctor hears about a group of people living close to each other in the same location who develop the same disease, his or her first thought should be that the illness has either an infectious or environmental cause. Could toxic chemical be source of tics in NY town? This fact explains a good deal of why people are so worried about the current tic outbreak. If it has an environmental cause, then other people in the area are at risk. If it has an infectious cause, then we could all be at risk. So why is it almost certainly impossible for the Tourette's-like outbreak among the young people of Le Roy to be the result of either an infection or the local environment? Let's consider the infectious possibility first. Even if you didn't know that all blood tests in the affected young people have been normal, you could effectively rule out infection for one very simple reason: All but one of the people who have developed tics are female, and all but one are teenagers. Have you ever heard of a virus, bacteria or parasite that, in essence, infects only teenage girls? (Or more exactly, that only causes illness in teenage girls.) Why is an environmental cause also not likely? The school district has conducted fairly rigorous tests of the school environment and found nothing abnormal. That doesn't overly impress me, however, because it is always possible to miss a poison that is currently not well understood. Moreover, as the environmental activist Erin Brockovich has made public knowledge, a toxic chemical spill occurred in the area surrounding the school many years ago. But the problem with an environmental explanation is similar to the problem with an infectious one. Why would a poison in the environment almost exclusively target female teenagers? And unless the poison was brand new in the environment, why would so many people get so terribly sick so quickly? Why would a toxic spill that occurred years ago only now cause illness, and do it so quickly in such a select population? When the mystery illness is examined in this way, it becomes apparent why doctors have ascribed it to a psychological condition called conversion disorder. But does this explanation hold up better than infectious or environmental ones? Surprisingly, the answer is yes. Although we don't understand what causes conversion disorders, the fact that they exist is indisputable. I've seen hundreds of them over the years. Taking the 'mystery' out of conversion disorder . The essence of a conversion disorder is the development of a neurological symptom -- such as the tics seen in the young people of Le Roy -- for which no neural abnormality can be found. Typically, a simple neurological exam will confirm that the symptom doesn't result from any type of brain or nerve damage. And yet patients with conversion disorder have no conscious sense that the symptom is a production of their brains. That is, they are not manufacturing the problem. They are truly afflicted, and it can be horrible. Only someone who has hypnotized people paralyzed for months and had them hop out of bed and run around the hospital room, or who has conducted "truth serum" interviews of people unable to speak, only to have them erupt into King's English, would believe that such bizarre conditions exist. But having conducted these interventions, and more, I can assure you that people can be completely incapacitated by symptoms with no obvious medical cause. There is another reason why conversion disorder is a plausible explanation for the tics of Le Roy. People can catch these conditions from each other. While uncommon, it has been documented many times in history. If this seems strange, consider the fact that we are affected by each other's thoughts and emotions all the time. Ever had your day ruined by the bad mood of your spouse or your child? The type of psychogenic contagion that most likely underlies the tic epidemic is far more extreme than these commonplace examples, but falls along the same spectrum. No one likes conversion disorder as an explanation for the tic epidemic. Patients feel insulted, stigmatized and dismissed. Their parents feel dismissed and terrified that something medical has been missed. Everyone involved feels that they are being blamed for the problem. And what doctor worth his or her salt would be truly satisfied with an explanation that tells us nothing about the cause of the disease or how to specifically treat it? I don't think anyone has good answers for these questions. Certainly, I don't. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Charles Raison.

Charles Raison: To untangle the mystery of teenagers' tics, try to make the symptoms make sense . Tourette's syndrome can be ruled out, since it's a rare and solitary disorder, he says . He says environmental poisons, infection aren't causes because tics affected well-defined group . Raison: That leaves psychological cause as most reasonable explanation .

Washington (CNN) -- President Barack Obama on Wednesday proposed a package of measures intended to reduce gun violence in the wake of the Newtown school massacre last month. Some of the steps have been tried before and others are expansions of laws and policies already in place. Some face high hurdles in Congress. Will they work? Here's a look at some of the key measures: . Ban on assault weapons . The Federal Assault Weapons ban, a provision of anti-crime legislation President Bill Clinton signed into law in 1994, outlawed military style semiautomatic weapons that fire one round per trigger pull and automatically eject the shell casing and reload the chamber. In addition to these weapons, the ban also limited semiautomatic rifles, semiautomatic pistols and semiautomatic shotguns that can accept a detachable magazine and have at least two military style features. Congress allowed the prohibition to expire in 2004. Sen. Dianne Feinstein said in December that she would introduce a bill to ban assault weapons. Did it work?: Two studies point to too little evidence or too little time having passed to calculate the impact of the ban. A provision in the 1994 law required the attorney general to deliver a report to Congress within 30 months of the ban evaluating its effects. The summary of that report, conducted by the National Institute of Justice, said that "the public safety benefits of the 1994 ban have not been demonstrated." The authors of the study suggested further tests of enforcement techniques, including "strategic crackdowns on 'hotspots' for gun crime and strategic crackdowns on perpetrators of gun violence. The authors suggested these techniques might be "more immediately effective, and certainly less controversial, than regulatory approaches alone." A June 2004 University of Pennsylvania study found that the ban succeeded in reducing crimes involving assault weapons. But the benefits at the time were outweighed by increased use of non-semiautomatic weapons, which the study said were used more frequently in crime. The researchers could not credit the ban with a drop in overall gun violence over the same period. The study did point out that since assault weapons were used no more than "8% of gun crimes, even before the ban," its impact was likely too small to reliably measure. Obama-backed gun bills considered a long shot in Congress . High-capacity magazines . The same 1994 anti-crime bill also banned magazines that held more than 10 rounds of ammunition. But it, too, expired after 10 years. Following a 2011 attack in Arizona that killed six people and seriously wounded former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, congressional leaders called for a ban on high-capacity magazines. The shooter in that attack used a semi-automatic pistol with a 33-round magazine. Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-New Jersey, announced a proposal to limit high-capacity magazines. No legislation was enacted. After the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Lautenberg announced plans to re-introduce legislation to ban high-capacity magazines. Other legislators are pursuing requirements for background checks on the purchase of ammunition as well as seeking to ban the online sale of ammunition. California Rep. Mike Thompson told CNN on Tuesday that a ban on high-capacity magazines could garner Republican support, but a full-scale prohibition on assault weapons would be difficult to get through the GOP-controlled House. Did it work?: The 2004 University of Pennsylvania study noted that guns with high-capacity magazines were used in up to 25% of gun crimes, but it was not clear how often the outcome of the attack depended on the capacity of the magazine. The study did note that since the rate of a shooter hitting intended victims is low in gun crimes, the ability to fire more shots more quickly increases the likelihood of a target being hit. A Washington Post analysis also found that during the10-year ban on high-capacity magazines, those seized by police in Virginia dropped during that span. When the ban was lifted in 2004, the seizures rose "sharply." Researchers interviewed by the Post note that the ban could have helped limit the availability of the magazines. But the Post analysis also notes that the impact of the ban is "hard to measure." A look at U.S. gun laws . Universal background checks . Sen. Charles Schumer, the chief supporter of legislation to impose universal background checks, calls them the "sweet spot" for curbing gun violence and the likelihood of getting legislation passed. U.S. law requires that any time someone buys a gun from a federally licensed gun dealer, the dealer is required to run a check on the potential buyer for possible criminal and mental issues. Records are kept by state and federal agencies. Convicted felons, people convicted of violent domestic crimes and those determined by courts to be dangerously mentally ill are prohibited by federal law from buying firearms. However, federal law does not require background checks for what are considered private transactions. And there are gaps in the existing system -- many states don't report the names of people who have been labeled dangerously mentally ill. And there are huge gaps in the database. For instance, the Virginia Tech shooter who killed 33 people in 2007 passed two background checks when buying guns because Virginia didn't submit his mentally ill status to the database. Would they work: Achieving this goal will take a combination of the executive action the president took on Wednesday and legislation to change existing laws on the requirement of background checks. Obama said Wednesday that he has taken action to address legal barriers to states sharing relevant information to the database and other measures like ensuring that physicians can ask patients about guns in their homes. The legislation Schumer is considering would encourage states to comply with sharing relevant information to the database by withholding federal funds for their law enforcement initiatives -- the federal government can't require the states to comply, but it can make it worth their while. It would also make it a crime for someone to sell a firearm without taking the buyer to a place where a background check can be performed. Enforcement would be an issue though -- it could be difficult to prove whether a firearm already on the market was sold before or after the requirement was implemented. Across the country, more than a million people failed background checks to buy guns during the past 14 years because of criminal records, drug use or mental health issues, according to FBI figures. That figure, however, is a small fraction of overall gun sales. Mental illness measures . Four of the 23 executive actions that Obama announced on Wednesday address access to mental health care through Medicare and Obamacare. Medicare is the largest provider of mental health care in the country and the Affordable Care Act opens access to millions of other Americans covered by the federal government. Another executive action was to open a national dialogue on mental health led by Health Secretary Kathleen Sibelius and Education Secretary Arne Duncan. Obama also clarified that a provision in Obamacare does not prohibit doctors from asking their patients about guns in their homes. A number of mass shootings have been committed by people known to have struggled with mental illness which has renewed calls to address mental illness in a more comprehensive manner. Federal legislation restricting access to guns for the mentally ill was firs enacted in 1968. Would it help?: A number of mental health advocacy groups came out in support of the president's announcement. The National Alliance on Mental Illness released a statement applauding the initiatives put forth from Vice President Joe Biden's task force, calling it the chance to fix the broken health care system, "an opportunity that comes only once in a generation." The group also supported that the president "correctly noted" that many of the mentally ill were not violent. NAMI expressed its hope that the attention could help fill gaps in the mental health system. FBI statistics showed about 1 percent of applicants who failed a background check were turned down for reasons related to mental health. Read Obama's proposals .

A federal assault weapons ban and ban on high-capacity magazines expired in 2004 . Research looking at the impact of the assault weapons ban is inconclusive . A 2007 law strengthened background checks for the mentally ill . Universal background checks would close loopholes but could be difficult to enforce .

(CNN) -- Cannes has been a hotbed of controversy since the beginning. The first festival, organized by the French in 1939 as a response to the Venice Film Festival -- then a vehicle for Nazi propaganda movies -- had to be canceled after it launched on the day WWII broke out. The festival returned in 1946 and has since been a fertile ground for taboo-breaking films, wannabes disrobing for a shot at fame, public spats between directors and critics and publicity stunts gone wrong. The latest rumpus surrounds "Grace of Monaco," a biopic of Grace Kelly, the Oscar-winning American actress who subsequently became the princess of Monaco. The film has been criticized by the Monaco royal family who said it contains "major historical untruths and a series of purely fictional scenes." The festival would not comment on whether Prince Albert and his sisters, Caroline and Stéphanie would attend the gala premiere. Altercations, scandals and stunts are arguably as much the lifeblood of Cannes as the films and here, in no particular order, are some of the greatest. Robert Mitchum and the topless starlet . Publicity-hungry starlet Simone Silva took her top off during a photo shoot with Hollywood star Robert Mitchum and briefly made global headlines during an infamous incident at the 1954 festival. The British B-movie actress and glamor model turned up on the Croisette looking for exposure and was quickly crowned "Miss Festival" by organizers who set the photo shoot up for her on the beach. "The photographers got down on their knees to plead with me to take the top off," she was quoted as saying in Ohio newspaper, The Daily Reporter. She did, removing her flimsy scarf top and cuddling up to Robert Mitchum, in just a grass skirt and covering her breasts with her hands. In the ensuing scrum three photographers fell into the Mediterranean, a fourth broke his ankle and another suffered a fractured elbow. Silva left the festival a few days later, after being asked to leave, but remained defiant: "As long as sex is box office and I keep my figure, I'm out to be the sexiest thing on, oh, two legs." Dead pigeon gag gone wrong . There are some things you just know are a bad idea, right? Apparently not if you are the upstart cast of a hot Brit-flick. In 2001, actors from "24 Hour Party People," which tells the story of the Manchester music scene in the late '80s, attacked each other with dead pigeons on a private Cannes beach splattering diners at an exclusive restaurant with fake blood, feathers and worse. Security guards threatened the actors with mace and they were unceremoniously ejected from the beach along with the film crew and entourage of British journalists who had been watching gleefully. Actor Danny Cunningham, who played Shaun Ryder the wild lead singer of Manchester indie band Happy Mondays came up with the ill-judged publicity stunt. He said it was inspired by an alleged incident from Ryder's youth shown in the film where he poisoned 3,000 Manchester pigeons with crack cocaine. The actors brought stuffed pigeons as props for the stunt. Cunningham, who received a cut to the head in the scuffle, told the BBC: "I think Shaun would have been proud of us. We came to Cannes to be wild and now we are going home." See: Movies to watch out for at Cannes 2014 . New Wave on the beach . It was May 1968 and revolution was in the air. Students were marching in the streets and workers were participating in the biggest strike France has ever seen. It was, perhaps, inevitable that some of that fever would infiltrate the rarefied movie theaters of Cannes. Politics burst into the festival when a group of filmmakers led by New Wave directors Jean-Luc Godard and Francois Truffaut demanded it close in solidarity with the strikes. "We're talking solidarity with students and workers and you are talking dolly shots and close-ups," Godard memorably shouted from behind a pair of Ray-Bans. "You're assholes!" Godard and Truffaut stopped the next screening by hanging off the curtain as it was being pulled back and the festival was canceled shortly after, five days before its scheduled end. No prizes were handed out. Over the next few years, counterculture also invaded the content of the festival with films like "Easy Rider" and "M*A*S*H." Vincent Gallo vs Roger Ebert . When cult film director and actor Vincent Gallo turned up to Cannes in 2003 with "The Brown Bunny," an incoherent road movie with a graphic, unsimulated oral sex scene, the critics booed in boredom and disgust and Roger Ebert called it "the worst film in the history of the festival." A humiliated Gallo returned to the U.S. and began a new edit of the film but found the time to embark on a vicious war of words with Ebert, calling him "a fat pig," who "had the physique of a slave trader," topping it off by putting a hex on his colon and saying he hoped he got cancer. Ebert retorted, tartly: "I had a colonoscopy once, and they let me watch it on TV. It was more entertaining than "The Brown Bunny." And added, in a twist on late UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill's immortal line: "It is true that I am fat, but one day I will be thin, and he will still be the director of 'The Brown Bunny.'" Amazingly, the spat ended in a truce. Gallo finished his re-edit and showed "The Brown Bunny" at Toronto where Ebert saw it again, this time awarding it three out of a possible four stars. Lars von Trier: 'Ok, I'm a Nazi' In 2011, famously eccentric Danish director Lars von Trier told onlookers at a press conference that he was a Nazi, that he understood Hitler and that his next film could be The Final Solution. "I understand Hitler. I think he did some wrong things, yes absolutely, but I can see him sitting in his bunker in the end. I think I understand the man," said Von Trier while Kirsten Dunst and Charlotte Gainsbourg, stars of his sci-fi drama "Melancholia," looked on in helpless disbelief. "How do I get out of this? Ok, I'm a Nazi," he added shortly after in what could kindly be described as an ill-judged joke. Festival officials condemned his statements, which he retracted shortly after, but officials still took unusual step of banning him from the festival. Von Trier has been a one-man scandal factory since he started showing films at Cannes in the '80s. Incensed at being passed over for the top prize in 1991, he called Jury President Roman Polanski a "midget," while Icelandic musician Bjork, who won Best Actress for her starring role in his 2000 film "Dancer in the Dark" said she would never act again. But perhaps his greatest scandal (apart from the Nazi joke) was in 2009 when there were reports that some audience members fainted from shock after watching a scene in his grotesque art-horror "Antichrist" in which Charlotte Gainsbourg mutilates her genitals. The ecumenical jury at Cannes called it "misogynistic" and awarded it a special anti-prize. 2014 Cannes Film Festival: The red carpet .

Since its inception, Cannes has attracted protests, spats and stunts . CNN looks at some of the greatest scandals to have rocked the festival . Among them: Danish director Lars von Trier says he is a Nazi and is banned . '50s starlet strips on beach and photographer breaks ankle in scrum for photos .

(CNN) -- When Vanessa Hudgens' naked photos hit the Internet, the "High School Musical" star quickly apologized. But sending nude or seminude pictures, a phenomenon known as sexting, is a fast-growing trend among teens. Phillip Alpert is a registered sex offender as a result of sending a nude photograph of his 16-year-old girlfriend. The National Campaign to Prevent Teen & Unplanned Pregnancy, a private nonprofit group whose mission is to protect children, and CosmoGirl.com, surveyed nearly 1,300 teens about sex and technology. The result: 1 in 5 teens say they've sexted even though the majority know it could be a crime. Phillip Alpert found out the hard way. He had just turned 18 when he sent a naked photo of his 16-year-old girlfriend, a photo she had taken and sent him, to dozens of her friends and family after an argument. The high school sweethearts had been dating for almost 2½ years. "It was a stupid thing I did because I was upset and tired and it was the middle of the night and I was an immature kid," says Alpert. Orlando, Florida, police didn't see it that way. Alpert was arrested and charged with sending child pornography, a felony to which he pleaded no contest but was later convicted. He was sentenced to five years probation and required by Florida law to register as a sex offender. "You will find me on the registered sex offender list next to people who have raped children, molested kids, things like that, because I sent child pornography," says Alpert in disbelief, explaining, "You think child pornography, you think 6-year-old, 3-year-old little kids who can't think for themselves, who are taken advantage of. That really wasn't the case." Alpert's attorney Larry Walters agrees and he's fighting to get Alpert removed from Florida's sex offender registry. The law lags behind the technology, he says. "Sexting is treated as child pornography in almost every state and it catches teens completely offguard because this is a fairly natural and normal thing for them to do. It is surprising to us as parents, but for teens it's part of their culture." In many states, like Florida, if a person is convicted of a crime against children, it automatically triggers registration to the sex offender registry. Thirty-eight states include juvenile sex offenders in their sex offender registries. Alaska, Florida and Maine will register juveniles only if they are tried as adults. Indiana registers juveniles age 14 and older. South Dakota registers juveniles age 15 and older. Most states allow public access to sex offender registries via the Internet and anyone with a computer can locate registered sex offenders in their neighborhoods. Watch a report on the 'sexting' trend and how police are now getting involved » . A number of states have elected not to provide Internet access to registries; Florida is not one of them. There is no hiding for Alpert, whose neighbors, he says, all know. "I am a sex offender. If you type my name into the search engine online, you will find me." As sexting incidents pop up around the country, prosecutors are trying to come to terms with how these cases should be handled. George Skumanick Jr., a district attorney from Wyoming County, Pennsylvania, took a novel approach when 20 students from Tunkhannock High School were caught allegedly sexting. He gave them a choice: probation and re-education classes or be charged with sexual abuse of a minor. "An adult would go to prison for this," says Skumanick, adding, "If you take the photo, you've committed a crime. If you send the photo, you've committed a different crime, but essentially the same crime." Critics, however, say child pornography laws on the possession or dissemination of graphic images were never meant to apply to teen sexting and that these teenagers usually have no criminal intent when they send pictures to each other. amFIX: Should teens be prosecuted for "sexting"? Fifteen-year-old Marissa Miller of northeastern Pennsylvania was 12 when she and a friend snapped themselves wearing training bras. "I wasn't trying to be sexual," she says, "I was having fun with my friends at a sleepover, taking pictures, dancing to music." The picture recently surfaced on a student's cell phone and Marissa's mom, MaryJo Miller, was contacted by Skumanick. "He told me that he had a full nude photo of my daughter," says MaryJo Miller, who calls the picture innocent. Rather than force her daughter to take the classes, which would have required she write a report explaining why what she did was wrong, Miller and two other families ­-- with the help of the ACLU -- are suing the district attorney to stop him from filing charges. "We believe she was the victim and that she did nothing wrong," says Miller. "How can I ask her to compromise her values and write this essay, when she didn't do anything?" Although the district attorney maintains the program is voluntary, the letter he sent to parents notes, "Charges will be filed against those who do not participate." Seventeen of the 20 students caught in the sexting incidents have completed the 14 hours of classes. Skumanick won't comment on the Miller case, but says, "You can't call committing a crime fun or a prank. If you do that, you can rob a bank because you think it's fun." In the majority of sexting cases, it's usually girls sending pictures to boys, who then send them to their friends. Though teens may think it's funny and a way to flirt or even seek revenge after a breakup, there can be dangerous consequences. Last year, Jessica Logan, a Cincinnati, Ohio, teen, hanged herself after her nude photo, meant for her boyfriend, was sent to teenagers at several high schools. For months after, her father says, she was the subject of ridicule and taunts. "Everyone knew about that photo," Bert Logan says. "She could not live it down." On July 3, his wife found her. "She had been getting dressed to go out. The curling iron was still warm. It was so unexpected," Logan says. "I heard my wife scream, I ran up to Jessie's room, but it was too late." No charges had been filed against Jessica's 19-year-old boyfriend, who disseminated the photo, nor had the school taken any action, Logan says. He says he and his wife want to warn parents and students of the dangers of sexting. The Logans are fighting to raise awareness nationally and to advocate for laws that address sexting and cyber-bullying. As for Alpert, life is not easy as a registered sex offender, a label he will carry until the age of 43. He's been kicked out of college, he cannot travel out of the county without making prior arrangements with his probation officer, he has lost many friends and is having trouble finding a job because of his status as a convicted felon. He says he feels terrible about sending the photo of his ex-girlfriend, especially since they were once so close. At the same time, Alpert says, "I'm being punished for the rest of my life for something that took two minutes or less to do." Says attorney Walters, "Some judges have the good sense and reasonableness to treat this as a social problem and others are more zealous in their efforts to put everybody away and I think it's time as a society that we step back a little bit and avoid this temptation to lock up our children."

Phillip Alpert, now a registered sex offender, sent pictures of his 16-year-old girlfriend . Marissa Miller was 12 when she took cell phone photos of herself in a bra . Her mother, MaryJo, is suing the DA to prevent him from filing charges . Jessica Logan committed suicide after her nude photo was sent to several teens .

(CNN) -- "Benjamin Button" received more life, but Batman ended up in the dark. "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" scored a best actor nomination for Brad Pitt, here with Cate Blanchett. The nominations for the 81st annual Academy Awards were announced Thursday morning, and to nobody's surprise, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" did well, nabbing 13 nods to lead all films. The movie, about a man who ages in reverse, is a big film (almost three hours long) with big themes (death and love) and earned nominations for best picture, best director (David Fincher), best actor (Brad Pitt), best supporting actress (Taraji P. Henson) and best adapted screenplay along with eight nominations in other categories. "This is a great honor for the movie, and I'm especially happy for David Fincher, for without him there would be no Ben Button," said Pitt in a statement. The film, based on an F. Scott Fitzgerald short story, has been a project of Fincher's for years. Gallery: The major Oscar nominees » . However, despite eight Oscar nominations, "The Dark Knight" -- 2008's box-office king -- only picked up one in a major category, that for Heath Ledger's performance as the villainous Joker. The late actor, who died exactly one year ago Thursday, is nominated for best supporting actor, the same award he won posthumously at the Golden Globes almost two weeks ago. Commentary: CNN.com film critic Tom Charity rates the Oscar nominations . "The Dark Knight" had made the short lists for the producers', directors' and writers' guilds, but those honors weren't enough to qualify it for a best picture Oscar nomination. What do you think of the nominations? Send us an iReport . "Slumdog Millionaire," the sleeper hit about a Mumbai orphan who seeks fame and love through the Indian version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?", earned 10 nominations, including best picture, best director (Danny Boyle) and best adapted screenplay. The film, which struggled to find a U.S. theatrical distributor after its initial studio folded, has dominated the awards season thus far and is considered the front-runner for best picture. Watch star Anil Kapoor talk about the reaction the film has gotten » . "I'm ecstatic," Boyle said in a statement from Mumbai, where the film premiered Thursday. "Thank you to the Academy from the cast and crew here in Mumbai where the film was made. ... It feels like you've given us a billion nominations." In a mild surprise, "The Reader," based on the best-selling novel about a postwar German boy who has an affair with an older woman with a Holocaust-related secret, took home nominations for best picture, best actress (Kate Winslet) and best director (Stephen Daldry). "The Reader" comes from the Weinstein Co. -- the studio headed by producer and master Oscar player Harvey Weinstein. "I'm extremely happy to have been nominated. And very fortunate. Playing Hanna Schmitz will always remain one of the biggest challenges I've ever been blessed with," Winslet said in a statement. The other best picture nominees are "Frost/Nixon" and "Milk." Watch a rundown of the major nominations » . The Oscar nominations included a handful of other surprises. "Revolutionary Road," featuring the heavyweight trio of Winslet, Leonardo DiCaprio and director Sam Mendes ("American Beauty"), picked up just one major nomination -- a best supporting actor nod for Michael Shannon's portrayal of a troubled savant. Woody Allen, whose "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" was widely praised, didn't receive his usual original screenplay nomination. He can take solace in his previous 21 Oscar nominations, including three wins. One of "Barcelona's" performers, Penelope Cruz, received a nomination for best supporting actress. iReport.com: Deliver your acceptance speech . And Oscar favorite Clint Eastwood, who many believed would pick up an acting or directing nomination for his "Gran Torino," received neither. However, Angelina Jolie, who starred in Eastwood's "Changeling," earned a best actress nomination. The nominations also highlighted some lesser-known talent. Character actor Richard Jenkins, best known for his role as the deceased patriarch on the TV series "Six Feet Under," received a best actor nomination for "The Visitor." Melissa Leo, an actress who has had roles in such TV series as "Law & Order," "CSI" and "The L Word" (as well as a regular role on "Homicide: Life on the Street"), earned a best actress nomination for her performance in "Frozen River." "Frozen River" also earned a best original screenplay nomination. Two comeback stories received nominations: Robert Downey Jr., who battled back from drug abuse and incarceration to star in two 2008 hits, "Iron Man" and "Tropic Thunder," earned a best supporting actor nomination for the latter. And Mickey Rourke, who has received raves for his performance as a struggling fighter in "The Wrestler," got a best actor nomination. iReport.com: Who do you think will win? "Milk," the biopic about pioneering gay politician Harvey Milk, earned nominations for star Sean Penn, director Gus Van Sant and its original screenplay as well as a best picture nod. "Frost/Nixon," about the 1977 interviews between David Frost and Richard Nixon, also received best picture, actor (Frank Langella) and director (Ron Howard) nominations as well as a nod for its adapted screenplay. Josh Brolin, who was overlooked by Oscar for last year's "No Country for Old Men," received his first Oscar nomination. Brolin played Dan White, Milk's assassin, in "Milk." "To me, to question how a decent guy could resort to such a monstrous act ... It's just my fascination with that kind of behavior," Brolin told CNN.com Live of his reasons for taking the role. As for his competition, "I couldn't be happier to be in this group of people," he said. Watch Brolin discuss the complexity of the role » . Meryl Streep, nominated for "Doubt," received her 15th nomination, a record for a performer. The other major performers in "Doubt" -- Amy Adams, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Viola Davis -- also were nominated in supporting categories. Israel's controversial "Waltz With Bashir," an animated film about a soldier's memories of the 1982 war in Lebanon, received a nomination for best foreign-language film. The category's other nominees are "The Baader-Meinhof Complex" (Germany), "The Class" (France), "Departures" (Japan) and "Revanche" (Austria). The nominees for best animated feature are "WALL-E," "Kung Fu Panda" and "Bolt." "WALL-E" also earned a best song nomination for Peter Gabriel's "Down to Earth." It will compete against two songs from "Slumdog Millionaire." Bruce Springsteen's "The Wrestler" was left out of the category. The Oscars will be presented February 22 from Hollywood's Kodak Theatre. The broadcast will air on ABC. Hugh Jackman is scheduled to host.

"Benjamin Button" scores 13 Oscar nominations, including best picture, actor . "Slumdog Millionaire," nominated for best picture, considered Oscar front-runner . Heath Ledger, who died exactly one year ago, up for best supporting actor . "The Reader" does surprisingly well; "Revolutionary Road" mostly snubbed .

(CNN) -- Cyclist Lance Armstrong was part of "the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen," the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency said Wednesday in releasing more than 1,000 pages of evidence in the case. The evidence involving the U.S. Postal Service-sponsored cycling team encompasses "direct documentary evidence including financial payments, e-mails, scientific data and laboratory test results that further prove the use, possession and distribution of performance-enhancing drugs by Lance Armstrong," the agency said. Armstrong lawyer Tim Herman dismissed what he called a "one-sided hatchet job" and a "government-funded witch hunt" against the seven-time Tour de France winner, who has consistently denied doping accusations. Armstrong teammates recount dodging, tricking drug testers . But the USADA said 11 riders came forward to acknowledge their use of banned performance-enhancing drugs while on the team. Among them is George Hincapie, Armstrong's close teammate during his winning Tour de France runs. "I'm not suggesting that they are all lying, but I am suggesting that each witness needs to have confrontation and cross examination to test the accuracy of their recollection," Herman said. The USADA is sending its "reasoned decision" to the international governing body of cycling, the Union Cycliste Internationale, as well as the World Anti-Doping Agency and the World Triathlon Corporation, which runs Ironman competitions. Highlights of the Armstrong report . In the past, Armstrong argued that he has taken more than 500 drug tests and never failed. In its 202-page report, the USADA said it had tested Armstrong less than 60 times and the UCI conducted about 215 tests. "Thus the number of actual controls on Mr. Armstrong over the years appears to have been considerably fewer than the number claimed by Armstrong and his lawyers," the USADA said. The agency didn't say that Armstrong ever failed one of those tests, only that his former teammates testified as to how they beat tests or avoided the test administrators altogether. Several riders also said team officials seemed to know when random drug tests were coming, the report said. The agency also said it had a professor compare Armstrong's red cell and plasma levels from blood samples taken late in his career, and they showed levels that wouldn't be expected of an athlete competing in a three-week endurance event like the Tour de France. What's behind the Armstrong headlines . Hincapie publicly admitted for the first time Wednesday that he took drugs. "Early in my professional career, it became clear to me that, given the widespread use of performance-enhancing drugs by cyclists at the top of the profession, it was not possible to compete at the highest level without them," Hincapie said in a written statement. "I deeply regret that choice and sincerely apologize to my family, teammates and fans." Hincapie testified, the report said, that he was aware of Armstrong's use of the drug EPO, or erythropoietin, which boosts the number of red blood cells, which carry oxygen to the muscles, and his use of blood transfusions. He also testified Armstrong dropped out of a race in 2000 to avoid a positive drug test, according to the report, which was accompanied by hundred of pages of supporting documents like Hincapie's 16-page affidavit. Three members of the Postal Service team, which changed sponsors in 2005, will contest the accusations, the agency said. They are team director Johan Bruyneel, team doctor Pedro Celaya and team trainer Jose "Pepe" Marti. Each will get a hearing before an independent judge, according to the agency. The agency compiled the evidence as part of its investigation into doping allegations that have dogged Armstrong and the Postal Service team for years. The organization is not a governmental agency but is designated by Congress as the country's official anti-doping organization for Olympic sports. In August, four days after a federal judge dismissed Armstrong's lawsuit seeking to block the agency's investigation, Armstrong announced he would no longer fight the accusations. The agency then announced it would ban Armstrong from the sport for life and strip him of his results dating from 1998. "When Mr. Armstrong refused to confront the evidence against him in a hearing before neutral arbitrators, he confirmed the judgment that the era in professional cycling which he dominated as the patron of the peloton was the dirtiest ever," the USADA writes in its decision. "Peloton" refers to the main group of riders in a bike race. Armstrong: It's time to move forward . The agency praised the 11 riders who came forward to document the widespread use of banned substances by the team. But in a statement issued Wednesday afternoon, attorney Herman called the expected USADA report "a taxpayer-funded tabloid piece rehashing old, disproved, unreliable allegations, based largely on axe-grinders, serial perjurers, coerced testimony, sweetheart deals and threat-induced stories." In addition to Hincapie, the agency identified the cyclists who came forward as Frankie Andreu, Michael Barry, Tom Danielson, Tyler Hamilton, Floyd Landis, Levi Leipheimer, Stephen Swart, Christian Vande Velde, Jonathan Vaughters and David Zabriskie. The agency said those riders would receive various punishments, including suspensions and disqualifications. The scope of evidence against the team is "overwhelming," according to the agency. "The USPS Team doping conspiracy was professionally designed to groom and pressure athletes to use dangerous drugs, to evade detection, to ensure its secrecy and ultimately gain an unfair competitive advantage through superior doping practices," the agency said. Your Armstrong questions answered . Armstrong became a household name not only in Europe, where cycling is wildly popular, but also in the United States, where the sport traditionally attracted little attention before he embarked on a remarkable stretch between 1999 and 2005 and won seven consecutive Tour de France titles. Persistent accusations that he used performance-enhancing drugs grew as he won more Tours. Author and cycling journalist Bill Strickland compared the case to baseball's "Black Sox" scandal, when eight Chicago White Sox players conspired with gamblers to throw the 1919 World Series. But he said Armstrong is "not interested in ever admitting to his guilt, and he just wants to move on right now." "Despite this evidence and despite all the evidence that has come out, he's got a strong core of people who believe in him and will always believe in him because of his link to fighting cancer," said Strickland, who chronicled Armstrong's 2009 return to the Tour de France in a 2011 book. Opinion: Armstrong and the tenuous nature of heroism . But how Armstrong might move on is unclear. "Certainly, he's not going to be able to move on within the sport," Strickland told CNN. "It seems likely that all of his Tour victories will be stripped. He won't be allowed to participate in any sports that are signatories of WADA, the World Anti-Doping Agency. But he's found a few triathlons to do in the meantime." And he said the allegations could lead to the reopening of a criminal case against Armstrong that federal prosecutors closed without charges in February. "What's next is years and years of fighting if the criminal case is reopened," Strickland said. The USADA opened its own case, which does not carry criminal penalties, in June. Armstrong's cancer foundation still strong .

NEW: Armstrong's lawyer says witnesses should have been cross examined . Armstrong has long denied using performance-enhancing drugs . Former teammate testified Armstrong use a drug called EPO, report says . Other teammates said they were shown how to avoid positive drug tests .

(CNN) -- A top U.S. diplomat known for her expertise in genocide arrived in the violence-wracked Central African Republic on Thursday to gauge the growing sectarian unrest there between Christians and Muslims. Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, is leading a delegation to Africa, first visiting the Central African Republic, and then off to Nigeria and Chad. She will be inquiring into whether crimes against humanity have been committed, she told CNN's Christiane Amanpour from the capital, Bangui. "I don't think we even yet ... know the full scale of what has happened here in recent days, weeks and months," she said. "But I certainly agree that what appear to be crimes against humanity have been committed." Power cited how both sides of the conflict are responsible for the violence: the Muslim Seleka militias that overthrew the president earlier this year and the rival Christian groups that sprung up in retaliation. "We met with one 20-year-old woman today who watched her husband get stabbed to death right in front of her," she said. He was "then covered with kerosene and then lit on fire -- literally burned to a crisp before her very eyes." That happened, she said, just last Thursday. Though the situation has calmed somewhat, Power still senses "palpable fear on the ground and palpable mistrust," she said. An expert on the issue of U.S. politics and genocide, Power is well-positioned to understand and respond to the outbreak in violence. She authored " 'A Problem from Hell,' America and the Age of Genocide." That 2002 book examines the U.S. reactions to genocides. The Central African Republic has seen violence and chaos since the Muslim-backed Seleka militia and other rebel groups from the marginalized northeast seized the capital, Bangui, in March. President Francios Bozize fled to Cameroon, and Michel Djotodia, who had been one of the Seleka leaders, made himself President. The U.S. mission at the United Nations said Power is meeting with government, U.N., French and other officials "to assess and support recent efforts of African Union and French forces to protect civilians, stabilize the country and restore humanitarian access." In Nigeria and Chad, she'll be meeting with officials "to discuss cooperation on a range of issues from promoting human rights and good governance to coordinating on regional security." Nigeria and Chad are joining the U.N. Security Council as nonpermanent members in 2014. Power's delegation includes Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Linda Thomas-Greenfield. France has sent 1,600 troops under a U.N. mandate into Central African Republic to assist African troops. The United States, though not contributing troops, is using its airplanes to ferry in troops from across Africa. Former French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner offered an impassioned plea for intervention. "Were we supposed to let them die? We were facing an eventual or the beginning of a bloodbath," he told CNN on Tuesday. "I agree," Power said. "It really could have descended very, very quickly into a bloodbath." "One of the reasons that the president asked me to take the trip here is to assess the situation up front, to try to look ahead and see what will be needed," Power said. It is important, Power added, that "we walk and chew gum at the same time." In other words, "deal with the crisis at hand" but also make sure that if "it was deemed necessary to bring in a peacekeeping mission, that we be in a position to do that more quickly than otherwise," she said. A group of independent U.N. human rights experts urged all parties "to pull back from the brink of all-out war with the terrible consequences that this entails and to establish an immediate truce to enable dialogue and peace talks to begin," they said in a statement. "The current shocking violence in the Central African Republic threatens to descend into a full-scale sectarian conflict between Christian and Muslim communities, but it can and must be halted now," said the special rapporteurs, which are honorary, unpaid positions appointed by the U.N. Human Rights Council. The surge of sectarian violence has been well-documented, and rights activists are urging quick and tough action to stop the violence. War crimes reported . Amnesty International said former rebels in the Central African Republic killed almost 1,000 people in a two-day rampage this month. War crimes and crimes against humanity are being committed in the country, Amnesty International said. "Crimes that have been committed include extrajudicial executions, mutilation of bodies, intentional destruction of religious buildings such as mosques, and the forced displacement of massive numbers of people," said Christian Mukosa, Amnesty International's Central Africa expert. Djotodia later officially disbanded the Seleka, but as many as 15,000 kept their arms and instead continued to wreak havoc in Bangui and elsewhere. They mainly targeted Christian communities, which in turn formed their own vigilante group, the anti-balaka (literally "anti-machete"). Anti-balaka forces staged an early morning attack in the capital on December 5, going door to door in some neighborhoods and killing approximately 60 Muslim men, Amnesty International said. De facto government forces, known as ex-Seleka, retaliated against Christians, killing nearly 1,000 men over a two-day period, according to the rights group. A small number of women and children also were killed. In a statement, Amnesty International called for the deployment of a "robust" U.N. peacekeeping force, with a mandate to protect civilians, and enough resources to do so effectively. "The continuing violence, the extensive destruction of property, and the forced displacement of the population in Bangui are feeding enormous anger, hostility and mistrust," said Mukosa. "There can be no prospect of ending the cycle of violence until the militias are disarmed and there is proper and effective protection for the thousands of civilians at risk in the country. Residential neighborhoods must be made safe as an urgent priority in order to allow people to go back to their homes and resume their normal lives." Violence in Bossangoa . In a separate report, Human Rights Watch cited a surge in violence around the northern town of Bossangoa since September, adding that concerned countries should immediately bolster the African Union peacekeeping force in the country and support efforts by France to protect civilians. In the report, Human Rights Watch said Christian militias attacked Muslim communities, cutting the throats of children while forcing parents to watch. Muslim groups retaliated, setting fire to Christian homes and killing their occupants with the apparent approval of commanders present, Human Rights Watch said. The recent violence has created a humanitarian crisis. Both sides have burned down large swaths of villages in the northern Ouham province, the rights group said, adding that relief workers have found it difficult to provide help, particularly emergency medical aid, as aid workers have also been the targets of attacks. "The brutal killings in the Central African Republic are creating a cycle of murder and reprisal that threatens to spin out of control," said Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director at Human Rights Watch and author of the report. "The UN Security Council needs to act quickly to bring this evolving catastrophe to a halt." The Central African Republic is about the size of France and is rich in resources, including diamonds, gold, timber and ivory. The former French colony has rarely seen political stability or economic growth in the 53 years since it gained independence. CNN's Susanna Capelouto, Dana Ford, Nana Karikari-apau and Michael Martinez contributed to this report.

"I don't think we even yet ... know the full scale" of violence, Power says . Former French minister urges an international intervention . Human rights experts urges parties "to pull back from the brink of all-out war" Samantha Power authored a book about the U.S. response to genocides .

Hong Kong (CNN) -- The wave of anti-Japanese protests currently sweeping across China has its roots in history but more recently can be traced back to April, when the firebrand governor of Tokyo announced plans to buy a group of islands claimed by Japan, China and Taiwan. He did so without the apparent knowledge or approval of the Japanese government. Spying an opportunity to assert Japanese control over the Senkaku islands, or Diaoyu as they're known in China, Governor Shintaro Ishihara launched an online appeal fund to buy them from their private owners. Donations poured in, prompting a sharp rebuke from China and forcing the Japanese government to wade into the dispute with its own offer for the contested land. Who is Shintaro Ishihara? Ishihara has a long history of making inflammatory comments about China, so much so that in 1999, when he was appointed Tokyo governor, Japan's then chief cabinet secretary, Hiromu Nonaka, sought to reassure China that relations would remain "friendly." Before taking office, Ishihara was a well-known author whose name became famous in his early twenties after writing "A Season of the Sun," which won Japan's most prestigious literary prize. He's an outspoken nationalist who in the past has cast doubt on historians' account of the 1937 Rape of Nanking, in which hundreds of thousands of Chinese were killed by Japanese troops. After launching the fund, Ishihara likened China's claim to the islands as like "a burglar in Japan's house." What was China's reaction? Back in June, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin dismissed Ishihara's attempt to buy the islands as "irresponsible," and repeated China's ownership claim. "The Diaoyu Islands are China's territory since ancient times," he said. "The willful talk and action of some Japanese politicians is irresponsible and tarnish and smears Japan's reputation." When did the Japanese government step in? Faced with the prospect of the islands falling under the jurisdiction of the Tokyo metropolitan government, the Japanese government stepped in with its own bid for the disputed islands. On September 11, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura confirmed that the government had approved the islands' purchase from private owners for 2.05 billion yen (US$26.2 million). In an interview with CNN, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda claimed there was no territorial dispute within China and the only question of ownership emanated from within Japan. "The Senkaku Islands are an inherent part of Japanese territory, historically as well as under international law, so there's no territorial claim issue between the two countries," he said. "Right now, it is the ownership issue -- whether the individual owns these islands, or the Tokyo metropolitan government or the state. And I think we have to clearly and solidly explain these stances to the Chinese side." China responded by dispatching six patrol ships to the surrounding waters, ignoring a warning from the Japanese coastguard not to approach. They entered the disputed waters for a short time before leaving, Japan's coast guard reported. At a press conference, Ishihara said of the Chinese patrols: "We'd better shoo off those who walked into someone's home in dirty shoes, we should shoo them away." "I think China has gone crazy. We can't put up with their attitude like Mine is mine, but yours is mine too," he added, in quotes that appeared on the Tokyo Metropolitan government website. Citing a government statement, state-run news agency Xinhua said the patrols were "aimed to demonstrate China's jurisdiction over the Diaoyu Islands," while the Japanese prime minister said the government would "take all possible measures to ensure security" around the islands. How a war of words turned into protests . While the verbal sparring between the Chinese and Japanese governments has played out in a series of statements, protesters from both sides have been taking direct action to assert their countries' control over the islands. In late August, Japan deported 14 Chinese protesters who were arrested after five swam ashore the Diaoyu/Senkaku islands and waved the flags of China and Taiwan. Nine others aboard the waiting vessel were also detained. Days later after the Chinese landing, Japanese activists also made the journey to the remote islets to raise the Japanese flag, prompting China to lodge "solemn representations to the Japanese ambassador," according to Xinhua. The Japanese landing sparked protests by thousands of people in a number of Chinese cities, including Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Shenyang, Hangzhou, Harbin and Qingdao, according to Xinhua. That was on August 19, almost one month before violent anti-Japanese protests erupted across dozens of Chinese cities, forcing the temporary closure of operations at three plants belonging to Japanese electronics company Panasonic. Background to the dispute . China says its claim extends back hundreds of years. Japan says it saw no trace of Chinese control of the islands in an 1885 survey, so formally recognized them as Japanese sovereign territory in 1895. Japan then sold the islands in 1932 to descendants of the original settlers. The Japanese surrender at the end of World War II in 1945 only served to cloud the issue further. The islands were administered by the U.S. occupation force after the war. But in 1972, Washington returned them to Japan as part of its withdrawal from Okinawa. Analysts say China's policy on the islands has been maintaining the status quo. According to Xinhua, "both sides agreed in 1978 to put the issue aside and solve it in the future, using a guideline described as 'laying aside disputes and engaging in joint exploitation' to solve territorial issues with neighboring countries." "China's proposal is that we should maintain status quo, neither side should take action to escalate the differences. Regrettably the Japanese government has disrespected the Chinese proposal," said Shen Dingli, the Executive Dean of the Institute of International Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai, in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Why are the islands considered valuable? Aside from a strong sense of nationalism, a 1969 United Nations report provided added incentive for countries to claim ownership of the islands. The report, by the U.N. Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East (ECAFE), indicated the possibility of large oil reserves in the vicinity, according to Globalsecurity.org. The islands are close to strategically important shipping lanes and their legal owners would also have the right to fish surrounding waters. What happens now? The Chinese government has been calling for restraint and "rational patriotism" when it comes to public protests. The United States has also weighed in on the issue with U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta urging "calm and restraint on all sides." As Panetta spoke, Noda was telling senior government officials to stay on their guard in dealing with mass anti-Japanese protests, according to Japanese news agency Kyodo. Meanwhile, the prospect of economic sanctions has been raised in a strongly worded opinion piece in the state-controlled China Daily newspaper. Jin Baisong wrote that World Trade Organization rules could be used to limit export of "important materials" to Japan. "The global financial crisis increased Japan's reliance on China for its economic well-being. So it's clear that China can deal a heavy blow to the Japanese economy without hurting itself too much by resorting to sanctions," said Jin, deputy director of the department of Chinese trade studies at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, which is affiliated to the Ministry of Commerce.

Latest dispute sparked by Governor of Tokyo's attempts to raise public funds for purchase . Japanese government stepped in with its own offer to effectively "nationalize" the islands . The move sparked anti-Japanese protests across dozens of Chinese cities . China calls for "rational patriotism," Japan's PM briefs senior government officials .

(CNN) -- Iraq is on the edge of the precipice as a consequence of the standoff between Shia Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi, with the former accusing the latter of engaging in terrorism and the latter accusing the former of dictatorial ambitions. This crisis involves all three major sectarian and ethnic groups in Iraq, with al-Hashimi taking refuge in the autonomous Kurdish region of Iraq as a guest of Iraq's Kurdish President Jalal Talabani. What happens over the next couple of weeks will determine whether Iraq will continue to exist as a unified state or begin to irretrievably unravel in sectarian strife. Two realities stand out in the midst of all the noise and fury currently surrounding the debate in and over Iraq. First, it is clear that the American venture in Iraq has ended in abject failure at the cost of 4,500 American lives and between 100,000 and 200,000 Iraqi lives. No weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq, nor was any link established between the Saddam Hussein regime and al Qaeda. Furthermore, as the events of the past few days demonstrate, the United States has been largely unsuccessful in establishing an inclusive, democratic order in Iraq, another objective touted by Washington to justify the invasion of Iraq in 2003. What the American invasion ended up doing was creating unprecedented sectarian strife and totally debilitating Iraqi capabilities, thus tilting the regional balance of power in the energy-rich Persian Gulf substantially in favor of Iran. Second, it is only Iran that can now prevent Iraq from sliding into the abyss of chaos and disintegration. This argument has a simple logic. Iran is the country with the greatest leverage with the Shia-dominated al-Maliki government. In fact, al-Maliki would not have been able to put together a coalition after haggling for nine months, and become prime minister for a second time after the last elections, had Iran not weighed in on his behalf. Iran is also the state with the greatest stake in keeping Iraq unified and ensuring its sovereignty, because Iraq's disintegration could adversely affect Iran's national integrity and its aspirations to become a regional leader in the Middle East. While the major Shia parties in Iraq -- the Dawa Party, the Sadrists, and the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq -- are not Iranian creations per se, all of them are beholden to Iran in multiple ways. Their leaders lived in exile in Iran during Hussein's rule, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps trained their militias. Their links with the IRGC and the militias' dependence on Iranian training and weaponry continue to exist. Whenever the going gets tough for any Iraqi Shia faction, its leaders take refuge in Iran, as Muqtada al-Sadr did time and again over the past few years. Iraqi dependence on Iran is bound to grow now that the Americans -- who had tended to favor the Shia over the Sunni in Iraq -- have departed the shores. The al-Maliki government, its current bombast notwithstanding, will soon realize -- if it has not done so already -- that it is surrounded by a host of latently hostile Sunni Arab neighbors, from Saudi Arabia and Jordan to Egypt and potentially Syria. Iran is its only dependable ally and one which it cannot afford to alienate. Iran also forms the lifeline of the Iraqi economy, especially in the predominantly Shia south. Iranian pilgrims flock to the Shia holy cities of Najaf and Karbala, providing livelihood to thousands of Iraqi citizens. Cheap Iranian manufactured products flood the Iraqi market, and Iranian contractors are involved in infrastructure projects such as power, health and housing. Iran is now Iraq's second largest trading partner after Turkey, which has a near monopoly on trade with Iraqi Kurdistan. Additionally, Iranian financial support keeps many Iraqi Shia institutions, parties, and leaders afloat. In short, the Iraqi government's dependence on Iran in political and economic terms is of a very high order. This provides Tehran with enormous leverage that it can use, if it so desires, to compel the al-Maliki government to undertake a radical course correction and return to the model of a more inclusive political system rather than one based simply on Shia demographic strength. Shiites constitute approximately 60% of the Iraqi population, with Sunni Arabs and predominantly Sunni Kurds each accounting for about 20%. There is every reason to believe that such a course correction is in Iran's long-term interest for a number of reasons. First, if the Iraqi state disintegrates as a result of al-Maliki's policies, Iraqi Kurdistan, currently an autonomous entity, will be emboldened to declare itself a sovereign, independent state. This would run contrary to Iranian state interests, since Iran is also home to a restive Kurdish minority whose demands for autonomy border on independence. An independent Kurdish state next to Iranian Kurdistan would not only be a bad example (from the perspective of the Iranian state) for Iranian Kurds, it would also become a center for Kurdish irredentism, stoking demands for pan-Kurdish unity that would have deleterious consequences for both Iran and Turkey. Second, Iran has regional ambitions not only in the Persian Gulf, but also in the broader Middle East region. The Iranian regime is fully aware of the fact that one of the major hurdles in its path toward regional pre-eminence is its Shia character. Much of the rest of the Middle East is predominantly Sunni Muslim. This was a major, if not the primary, reason that Iran's post-revolution leaders emphasized the "Islamic" rather than the Shia nature of the Iranian revolution, thus enhancing its appeal among the Sunni majority in the Middle East. Iran's support to Muslim causes -- the Palestinian cause foremost among them -- regardless of the sectarian composition of the affected Muslim populations has added greatly to the popularity of the Islamic Republic, particularly among the Arab public. Al-Maliki's sectarian policy is bound to hurt not only Iraqi interests, but also the image of Iran in the Middle East, and adversely affect its ambitions to act as a major player in the region, especially since Iran is perceived as the principal supporter of the al-Maliki government. It is, therefore, in Iran's interest to rein in al-Maliki's sectarian proclivities and to maneuver to have him replaced as Iraq's leader if he is not amenable to Tehran's advice. Muqtada al-Sadr can be used by Iran to pull the rug from under al-Maliki's feet, since al-Maliki is now dependent upon the 40-member Sadrist group in Parliament to keep him in office. (The Iraqiya -- the coalition of Sunni and secular Shia groups to which al-Hashimi belongs -- withdrew its support from the governing coalition.) That the Sadrists, one of the three main Shia groups in the Iraqi Parliament, may be contemplating such a move themselves is indicated by their demand on Monday that Parliament be dissolved and new elections held. The Sadrist agenda may, in fact, coincide better with the Iranian one, given al-Sadr's visceral anti-Americanism, which stands in sharp contrast to al-Maliki's ambivalence toward the United States. But regardless of this fact, it is becoming increasingly evident that al-Maliki's current policy runs contrary to Iran's interests. It is also clear that only Iran is in a position to force him to reverse course and thus to save Iraq from disintegration and civil war. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Mohammed Ayoob.

Iraq is facing a sectarian crisis with Shia, Sunni and Kurd factions . Mohammed Ayoob: Iran has the most influence over Iraq's government . He says it's strongly in Iran's interest to keep Iraq as a single nation . Ayoob: The next several weeks could determine the fate of Iraq .

(CNN) -- Three hostages were rescued from the headquarters of the Discovery Channel in Silver Spring, Maryland, Wednesday afternoon after police shot and killed the man who was holding them, officials said. The hostages were unharmed, said Police Chief J. Thomas Manger of the Montgomery County Police Department. The suspect, identified by a law enforcement official as James Lee, earlier was in communication with authorities. A number of devices in backpacks that Lee held have to be rendered safe, Manger added. Manger said hostage negotiators negotiated for almost four hours by phone with Lee while police officers watched and listened to Lee on the building's surveillance system. "At times during the negotiations, he was calm, but I wouldn't call him lucid. The conversation was indicative to me he was dealing with some mental issues," he said. iReport: Are you there? Send us news, videos . Manger said the three hostages were lying on the ground, but were not otherwise constrained. He said Lee mainly dealt with the hostage negotiators and did not communicate with the hostages. "He stayed on point with his issues with Discovery," Manger said. At one point, one of the hostages moved, drawing Lee's attention, Manger said. Lee pulled his gun and aimed it at the hostages, and it was at that point that a sniper inside the building took the shot that killed Lee, he said. Another police official, Capt. Paul Starks, said the decision to shoot the gunman was made after authorities heard a gunshot or explosion go off in the area. As the police moved in, the hostages were running out, he said. Police believe, at least initially, that Lee was acting alone, Starks said. During the negotiations, Lee exhibited a "range of emotions," Manger said. At times he was agitated and at times he was calm, but he never strayed far from his grievance against Discovery, he said. According to a police spokesman, the suspect entered the building's main entrance "wearing what appeared to be metallic canister devices on his front and back. He also pulled a handgun out and was waving a handgun." According to Manger, Lee may have fired a shot when he entered the building. The three hostages held inside were a security guard and two other males, he said. iReports: On the scene | More photos . Discovery Channel spokesman David Leavy said company officials were familiar with Lee, who had protested at the network in 2008, but the company "did not take his threats or demands seriously." During the standoff, fewer than 10 Discovery Channel employees remained in the building "for a while, to assist law enforcement on navigating the building and the infrastructure and then we were all evacuated about an hour, 90 minutes into it," Leavy said. He added, "Our hope and expectation is that tomorrow morning we will be open for business and we will be making great TV again." Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Battalion Chief Kevin Frazier said that before employees return to the building, authorities would search it for possible bombs. Lee was linked to a manifesto that was posted on the internet, a source close to the investigation told CNN. The angry manifesto repeatedly refers to humans as "filth" and demands that the Discovery Channel "stop encouraging the birth of any more parasitic human infants." "Civilization must be exposed for the filth it is," the 1,149-word statement says. Starks said during the situation that Lee was making some demands, and that the suspect had "concerns" with Discovery Communications. A person at One Discovery Place, the channel's headquarters, called police about 1 p.m. to report a man with a gun and possible explosives, said Angela Cruz, a police spokeswoman. The area was evacuated, she said. A day care center inside One Discovery Place was emptied, and the children were moved temporarily to a nearby McDonald's restaurant, authorities said. Witnesses said some of the children were in cribs on wheels, and that people pushed the cribs out of the building to safety. iReport: Photos of cribs being moved . Most of the 1,900 employees of the building were evacuated, but "a few" apparently remained on the upper floors, Manger said during the standoff. Lori Rorke told CNN that she was on the second floor when she and her co-workers heard about the man. "When we first heard the news, we heard that the gunman was mobile and we were told to go into locked offices," she said. "We were really panicking, then trying to keep it under control." But, she said, fellow workers carrying BlackBerry devices seemed to know what to do, and led her out of the building via a route that avoided the lobby. Street view of Discovery Channel headquarters . Lee was linked to the online screed, which said in part, "Humans are the most destructive, filthy, pollutive creatures around and are wrecking what's left of the planet with their false morals and breeding culture." The writer blasted immigration, farming, weapons of mass destruction, automotive pollution, "and the whole blasted human economy." He demanded that the Discovery Channel broadcast daily prime-time shows devoted to "solutions to save the planet," perhaps in a game-show format, insisting, "Make it interesting so people watch and apply solutions!!!!" Many of the writer's comments were directed at "the media," saying, "You can reach enough people. It's your responsibility because you reach so many minds!!!" Who is James Lee? "The world needs TV shows that DEVELOP solutions to the problems that humans are causing, not stupify the people into destroying the world. Not encouraging them to breed more environmentally harmful humans," the manifesto says. "These are the demands and sayings of Lee," the manifesto concludes. Aaron Morrissey, the editor-in-chief of the web publication DCist, said he came across James Lee's anti-Discovery Channel manifesto in 2008, when Lee was planning to hold a protest against the channel. Discovery programming and the hostage incident . The 2008 protest, he said, "was not that well attended." A month or so later, Lee was arrested near the building on littering and disorderly conduct charges, Morrissey said. The littering charge stemmed from Lee's throwing money into the air, he said. According to court records, a man with the same name and age as Lee was found guilty in 2008 of disorderly conduct. James Lee was acquitted of littering in the same case, according to Montgomery County, Maryland, Circuit Court records, said Eric Nee, a senior assistant state's attorney. Lee's two-year supervised probation ended August 18, records show. Because of the 2008 incident, a judge had warned Lee that year not to come within 500 feet of Discovery Communications, according to Maryland's Gazette newspaper. More coverage from CNN affiliate WJLA . Lee spent nearly two weeks in jail following his arrest and several days being evaluated by state psychiatrists, he said. ''I told them my idea of saving the planet," Lee was quoted in the Gazette. ''They couldn't find anything wrong with me." Lee said he began his crusade to save the planet after being laid off from his job in San Diego and reading ''Ishmael," a novel by Daniel Quinn about a gorilla that tells a man what it is like to live in captivity in a world where humans exploit natural resources. More coverage from CNN affiliate WUSA . Lee said he then felt an ''awakening," watched former Vice President Al Gore's documentary ''An Inconvenient Truth," and decided he had been doing too little to protect the environment. CNN's Mike Ahlers, Charley Keyes, Carol Cratty and Brianna Keiler contributed to this report.

A police sniper shoots James Lee after Lee aims a gun at hostages, police say . Three hostages are unharmed, officials say . Devices in backpacks held by Lee have to be rendered safe, police say . A Discovery spokesman says the company knew of Lee, did not take his threats seriously .

Washington (CNN) -- It was a speech that Barack Obama -- a war-stopping, Nobel Peace Prize-winning President -- never wanted to give. A year after he pulled back from threatened military attacks on Syria over chemical weapons, Obama told America he now would launch airstrikes against ISIS targets in the country wracked by civil war. The nationally televised address on Wednesday night, which lasted less than 15 minutes, promised far-reaching impact that could embroil the nation in another Middle East conflict. "This was a very difficult speech for him," CNN chief political analyst Gloria Borger said of a President who campaigned on ending wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. "He's inserted us into the middle of a Syrian civil war." 5 takeaways from Obama's ISIS speech . "Tremendous turnaround" The plan to "dismantle and ultimately destroy" the Sunni jihadists who have taunted America by beheading two captive U.S. journalists calls for what CNN chief national security correspondent Jim Sciutto described as a "tremendous turnaround" in Obama's previous policies in the region. After previously rejecting calls from top advisers to arm and train some of the Syrian rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad and ISIS, Obama now seeks specific congressional approval to do so. He also threatened airstrikes on ISIS targets in a major expansion of a campaign in Iraq previously limited to protecting U.S. advisers working with Iraqi forces and preventing the slaughter of minority groups by the extremists also known as ISIL and the Islamic State. "I have made it clear that we will hunt down terrorists who threaten our country, wherever they are," Obama said. "That means I will not hesitate to take action against ISIL in Syria, as well as Iraq. This is a core principle of my presidency: if you threaten America, you will find no safe haven." In addition, 475 more U.S. military advisers are headed to Iraq, raising the total of American forces there to 1,700 for a mission originally described as limited. Mission creep . "This is mission creep," Sciutto said. The broad campaign against the ISIS extremists who have rampaged from Syria across northern Iraq includes building an international coalition to support Iraqi ground forces and perhaps troops from other allies. It answered calls from a growing number of U.S. politicians for such a step, with increasing public support for expanded airstrikes against ISIS targets. At the same time, Obama made clear the strategy differed from all-out war again in Iraq less than three years after he withdrew combat forces from the country. "It will not involve American combat troops fighting on foreign soil," Obama said. Noting the formation of a new Iraqi government, which his administration has demanded, Obama announced that "America will lead a broad coalition to roll back this terrorist threat." Did Obama sell his ISIS strategy? Objective: "degrade and ultimately destroy" ISIS . "Our objective is clear: We will degrade, and ultimately destroy, ISIL through a comprehensive and sustained counterterrorism strategy," he said. Senior administration officials who briefed reporters before the speech on condition of not being identified said airstrikes against ISIS targets in Syria would occur "at a time and place of our choosing." "We're not going to telegraph our punches by being specific about the time and nature of the targets," one official said, adding that "we will do that as necessary as we develop targets." Also Wednesday, Obama shifted $25 million in military aid to Iraqi forces, including Kurdish fighters in the north combating the ISIS extremists. The aid could include ammunition, small arms and vehicles, as well as military education and training, State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said. U.S. diplomatic efforts this week seek to solidify the coalition. Secretary of State John Kerry left Tuesday to push Sunni leaders in Jordan and Saudi Arabia to join the United States and its allies in combating ISIS, while Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Lisa Monaco, the homeland security adviser, also will be in the region. Saudis part of coalition . "The Saudis made very clear that they support this mission, they will join us in this mission," a senior administration official said. "We are joined by very important Arab partners as well." Obama has been criticized by conservatives and some Democrats for what they call a timid response so far to the threat by ISIS fighters. The videotaped beheadings of journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff by ISIS raised public awareness of the extremists and the threat they pose. "We can't erase every trace of evil from the world, and small groups of killers have the capacity to do great harm. That was the case before 9/11, and that remains true today," Obama said in depicting ISIS as a threat to the Middle East, including the people of Iraq and Syria, rather than the U.S. homeland. "If left unchecked," he added, "these terrorists could pose a growing threat beyond that region, including to the United States." Conservative Republicans who have railed against Obama's foreign policy sounded relieved by what they heard. Syrian opposition groups, which have been battling the terror group, welcomed Obama's speech. "Airstrikes on ISIS strongholds in Syria are a much needed element to degrade the extremist group's capabilities," said Hadi Al Bahra, president of the Syrian National Coalition. He said training opposition fighters on the ground will boost the effectiveness of the airstrikes. "We therefore welcome the commitment to intensify the train and equip program to enable the Free Syrian Army, to eradicate ISIS and other forms of terror in Syria, including the (President Bashar) al-Assad regime," Bahra said in a statement. GOP says Obama is facing reality . "The President's plan announced this evening is an encouraging step in the right direction," said GOP Rep. Mike Rogers, who chairs the House Intelligence Committee and has been a harsh Obama critic. "Success will depend on the details of its implementation." His Republican colleague, Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, said: "Tonight the President seemed to have faced reality." Leading Democrats such as Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California and Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York praised the speech, as expected, while Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey said the Foreign Relations Committee he chairs would begin drafting legislation to provide Obama with specific authority under the War Powers Resolution to continue to extend military operations against ISIS. Meanwhile, the anti-war liberal caucus in the House signaled possible opposition by calling for a vote on authorizing expanded military action. Congressional authority . Obama has insisted he has the authority to ratchet up airstrikes against ISIS under war powers granted more than a decade ago to fight al Qaeda. ISIS formed from some al Qaeda affiliates but is separate from the central leadership of the terrorist organization behind the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. Obama to Congress: No vote needed on ISIS strategy . This week, Obama asked Congress for additional authority to arm and train moderate Syrian rebels to fight the ISIS extremists, effectively shifting a covert operation by the CIA to a mission led by the Defense Department. Such authority comes under Title 10 of the U.S. code, which deals with military powers, and Congress could vote on granting it next week. Approval also would allow the United States to accept money from other countries for backing the Syrian opposition forces. Most voices in Congress back strong U.S. action against the ISIS fighters. However, any vote on military action can be risky, especially with congressional elections less than two months off. CNN's Chelsea J. Carter, Dana Bash, Faith Karimi, Josh Levs, Jim Acosta, Diane Ruggiero, Elise Labott and Kevin Liptak contributed to this report.

President Obama expands airstrikes against ISIS to Syria . He announces more military advisers to Iraq in a nationally televised address . CNN's Jim Sciutto says the President reverses previous stances . "A very difficult speech for him," CNN's Gloria Borger says .

Rome (CNN) -- A boat carrying as many as 500 people capsized and caught fire off the Italian island of Lampedusa, the nation's coast guard told CNN on Thursday. At least 110 people died, a doctor with the local health department said. Antonio Candela said that 154 people had been rescued in the ongoing operation. Lampedusa's boat people: One man's story . Lampedusa, not far from Sicily and the closest Italian island to Africa, has become a destination for tens of thousands of refugees seeking to enter European Union countries -- and such deadly shipwrecks are all too common. The latest boat to sink is thought to have been carrying up to 500 people. Those aboard include Eritreans, Somalis and Ghanaians, the coast guard said, and the boat is believed to have launched from Libya's coast. CNN forecasters said there were some gusting winds and showers Thursday morning in the region but no weather conditions significant enough to be likely to sink a boat. According to Italian media reports, the vessel sank near Rabbit Beach, also known as Rabbit Island, which was recently voted one of the best beaches in the world by Trip Advisor. The survivors are being taken to Lampedusa's main port, where authorities have the facilities to help them. The bodies of those who didn't make it are also being moved there. Images from the scene showed some lined up in body bags on a quayside. The head of the U.N. refugee agency, Antonio Guterres, praised the efforts of the Italian coast guard but said he was "dismayed at the rising global phenomenon of migrants and people fleeing conflict or persecution and perishing at sea." Another 13 men drowned off Italy's southern coast Monday when they attempted to swim ashore, the U.N agency said in a statement. It is working with countries in the region to find "effective alternatives" so people don't risk their lives trying to make perilous journeys by sea, it said. Migrant ship sinks in Mediterranean killing 10 . Dehydrated, burned . Last week, the Italian coast guard rescued a ship bound for Lampedusa from Tunisia that had 398 Syrian refugees on board. There is generally a spike in migrants coming to the island -- which has 6,000 full-time residents -- in the summer because the seas are calmer. Migrants who spoke to CNN's Eric Marrapodi last week in Lampedusa said they typically spent a day or two at sea in boats that are barely seaworthy. Those who arrive generally have no papers and seek asylum in Italy. They spend anywhere from a day to a week on Lampedusa before moving to another city on the mainland. At the detention center where they first take the migrants, the coast guard said, they had 1,250 migrants in a space designed for 250. A Navy doctor said that typically those who arrive are treated for dehydration, sun exposure, and gasoline burns, because they're so packed into the boats the fuel splashes and burns the skin. A Navy commander said the service has been working with Thuraya, a satellite phone company, to try to make sure that it gets the coordinates of migrants sent out on boats by traffickers before they come to harm. 12 Chinese fishermen rescued, 58 still missing after typhoon sinks boat . Overcrowded boats . Just under 115 kilometers (70 miles) from Tunisia, the island has been the first point of entry to Europe for more than 200,000 refugees and irregular migrants who have passed through the island since 1999. But boats carrying migrants often are in peril at sea. In recent years, the Italian Coast Guard says it has been involved in the rescue of more than 30,000 refugees around the island. Izabella Cooper, a spokeswoman for the European Union's border control agency, Frontex, told CNN that migrants are often sent to sea in overcrowded vessels without the engine power to make such a long and dangerous journey. Since the start of the year, Frontex -- which supports the efforts of individual EU member states -- has helped save more than 16,000 lives in search-and-rescue operations, she said. While Italy is the current focus of efforts by migrants and asylum-seekers hoping to enter the European Union, Cooper said, that has not always been the case. "Seven years ago it was the Canary Islands, then the pressure moved to the central Mediterranean, then it moved to Greece -- then with the Arab Spring, it moved back to Italy," she said. "There are definitely too many lives lost and definitely too many tragedies in the Mediterranean." Rights group Amnesty International called for both Italy and the European Union to do more to safeguard the thousands who risk their lives each year in the hope of protection or a better life. "It is high time the Italian authorities and the EU increase their search-and-rescue capacity and co-operation in the Mediterranean Sea, rather than concentrating resources on closing off the borders," said Jezerca Tigani, deputy director of Amnesty International's Europe and Central Asia Program. "More must be done to prevent further loss of life in the future." Risk for a better life ends in death for 22 people near Indonesia . Pope's prayers . Pope Francis, who visited the tiny island near Sicily this summer to pray for refugees and migrants lost at sea, echoed that call. During his visit to Lampedusa in July, Pope Francis criticized what he called "global indifference" to the island's refugee crisis. And in a statement issued by the Vatican Thursday, Francis called for concerted action to prevent more tragedies like the Lampedusa shipwreck. "It is a disgrace!" he said. "Let's pray together with God for those who have lost their lives: men, women, children and for the families of all the refugees. Let's bring our forces together so tragedies like these ones don't happen again." A risky journey . According to a briefing published by the U.N. refugee agency in July, the peak crossing period for migrants and asylum-seekers runs from May to September. The agency estimates that 8,400 migrants and asylum-seekers landed on the coasts of Italy and Malta in the first six months of this year, all but 600 of them in Italy. Most departed from North Africa, principally Libya, for the perilous journey across the Mediterranean, one of the busiest seaways in the world. The migrants and asylum seekers chiefly come from countries in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly Somalia and Eritrea, it said. Others originate from Syria, Egypt or Pakistan, and smaller numbers from Gambia, Mali and Afghanistan. The U.N. refugee agency recorded some 40 deaths in the first six months of 2013, a figure based on interviews with survivors of the crossing. For 2012 as a whole, some 15,000 migrants and asylum-seekers reached Italy and Malta -- and almost 500 people were reported dead or missing at sea, it said. The U.N. agency credits the efforts of the Italian coast guard and Maltese armed forces for a reduction in migrant deaths in the first half of 2013 compared with the previous year. More than 100 missing after illegal migrant boat sinks off Bangladesh . CNN's Hada Messia and Ben Wedeman reported in Rome and Laura Smith-Spark wrote in London. CNN's Eric Marrapodi contributed reporting from Lampedusa. CNN's Nina Dos Santos, Kirsten Dewar and Saskya Vandoorne also contributed to this report.

NEW: 154 people have been rescued after boat capsizes and burns, a doctor says . Pope Francis calls for concerted action to prevent future tragedies like this . Lampedusa is a major destination for refugees seeking to enter the EU from Africa .

(CNN) -- Family and close friends will say goodbye to Whitney Houston with a private funeral and burial Saturday in her native New Jersey, trying to come to grips with grief that the pastor of her childhood church called "very deep." "We are all hurting," Pastor Joe Carter of New Hope Baptist Church in Newark told CNN's Jason Carroll on Tuesday. "That voice is silenced. But she left us with so much." Earlier in the day, Carolyn Whigham -- the owner of Whigham Funeral Home in the northern New Jersey city -- said that Houston's funeral will start at noon Saturday at that church. Carter said that he'll officiate what he described as a "small ... invite-only service." The church seats a maximum of 1,500 people, and the pastor said he expects "all these empty pews to be filled with people whose hearts are broken." "She was able to leave us with so many wonderful memories of that God-given gift," he said. "That's what we are celebrating on Saturday." At the request of the late singer's mother Cissy Houston, the eulogy will be given by Marvin Winans, a gospel singer and pastor at Detroit's Perfecting Church, Carter later told CNN's Erin Burnett. Winans officiated Houston's 1992 marriage ceremony to R&B singer Bobby Brown. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie told reporters Tuesday that he planned to issue an executive order so that flags at government buildings throughout the late entertainer's native state would fly at half-staff on the day of her funeral. There will be no large-scale public memorial in Newark in the immediate aftermath of Houston's death, city spokeswoman Anne Torres said. The funeral director at the Whigham Funeral Home told city officials that the family did not want a big memorial, according to Torres. Carter, the New Hope pastor, said organizers hope to set up a large screen outside his church, so people who cannot get inside can see the funeral proceedings. The pop superstar's body was flown to New Jersey's Teterboro Airport from California on a private plane belonging to filmmaker Tyler Perry, according to a law enforcement source with knowledge of the situation. Late Monday, her body arrived at the Whigham Funeral Home -- borne by a hearse and escorted by police -- as a large crowd looked on. Cissy Houston, the late singer's mother, was waiting inside, police said. New Hope's pastor described Cissy Houston -- herself a well-known gospel singer who was active at the church -- as a "strong, strong woman." "Her heart is broken: Nobody expects to bury her child," Carter said. "But she is managing it with miraculous strength. She is so grateful for prayers and thoughts, and that's holding her together." Whitney Houston, 48, was found dead Saturday in her suite at the upscale Beverly Hilton, just hours before she was scheduled to attend a pre-Grammy bash at the hotel. Why she died remains a mystery. Despite widespread media speculation, a Los Angeles County coroner official Monday downplayed the suspicion that drugs played a major role. Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter said that "not many prescription bottles" were found in the singer's room after her death. The amount of medications recovered by investigators was less than what is usually present in deaths attributed to overdoses, Winter said. "I know there are reports that she maybe was drowned or did she overdose, but we won't make a final determination until all the tests are in," he said. Winter ruled out foul play and said there were no injuries to Houston's body. The singer's soaring voice and impressive talent had taken a back seat in recent years to her struggles with drug addiction. However, a close family friend who was also at the funeral home told CNN's Deb Feyerick on Tuesday that Houston was "no longer an addict," meaning she was no longer using "hard drugs." The friend said Houston was taking medication for a throat infection and Xanax for anxiety and to help her sleep. And it was not uncommon for her to have a drink when she went out, he said. The friend asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the situation. "She had let it go," he said. "And we were proud of her." He said he had seen Houston about two weeks ago in New Jersey, and she told him, "I'm at a comfortable place in my life." The friend said Houston had been "clean" from hard drugs for three years and had not used cocaine or marijuana, and added that her family is upset by media coverage focusing on her history of drug problems. "In her life, she made some bad decisions, but let's not forget the good ones," he said, recalling how she returned to Newark at Christmas and gave to those in need. "... She took care of foster children, and children with AIDS." And a singer who participated in an impromptu duet with Houston at a party Thursday night said Houston was not behaving erratically. "I didn't see someone who was high," Kelly Price told CNN's "Starting Point" on Monday. During the party, Houston took the stage unexpectedly and sang a hoarse rendition of "Jesus Loves Me" with Price. Whitney Houston: A mother, a daughter, a friend . Houston's body was released to her family Monday, a day after an autopsy was conducted in Los Angeles. Winter, from the coroner's office, said that results of toxicology tests could take six to eight weeks, though Beverly Hills police Lt. Mark Rosen said Tuesday that the coroner's report is expected to be finished sooner -- in two to three weeks. That report's conclusions into what Rosen now describes as an "unattended, unexpected death" will drive what investigators do next, the police spokesman said. Beverly Hills police have requested a "security hold" on the coroner's report, a common practice in high-profile cases that limits what can be revealed about an investigation while it is ongoing. Reverend: The Whitney I knew . Asked how long Houston had been dead before she was found, Winter said she only that she was seen alive within an hour of her death. Houston's body was found by her assistant, Mary Jones, who was often called "Aunt Mary," a family source said Tuesday. Earlier, Winter had confirmed reports that the songstress was found in the bathtub of her hotel room. Houston's 18-year-old daughter, Bobbi Kristina, was in the care of her grandmother Cissy and her father, Bobby Brown, the close family friend said Tuesday. Houston and Brown divorced in 2007. Brown released a statement Tuesday saying his daughter, after a "visit with doctors at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles on Saturday," is now "with my family, including her (half-) siblings." "Obviously, the death of her mother is affecting her," said Brown, known as a member of the group New Edition. "However we will get through this tragedy as a family." LZ Granderson: Sad, but no shock . On Monday night, Aretha Franklin -- the singer known as the "Queen of Soul" and Houston's godmother -- honored her at a concert in Charlotte, North Carolina, according to CNN affiliate WSOC. Franklin called Houston "one of the greatest singers that has ever stood before a microphone," and sang Houston's smash hit song, "I Will Always Love You," the station said. CNN's Raelyn Johnson, Jason Kessler, Ashley Hayes, Denise Quan, Sheila Steffen and Alan Duke, as well as HLN's Natisha Lance, contributed to this report.

NEW: A police spokesman says the coroner's report could be done in 2 to 3 weeks . Marvin Winans, a gospel singer and Detroit pastor, will give the eulogy, a pastor says . The invitatiton-only service will be held at the late singer's childhood church in Newark . Its pastor says that the singer's "voice is silenced, but she left us with so much"

Washington (CNN) -- In a graphic example of election-year politics at work, a defense bill that would repeal the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy got blocked Tuesday in the U.S. Senate by a Republican-led filibuster. The bill stalled on a 56-43 vote, four short of the 60 votes needed to overcome the Republican opposition. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, changed his vote to "no" as a tactical move, allowing him to bring the measure up later. Reid and other Democrats accused Republicans of stalling the National Defense Authorization Act, which traditionally passes with bipartisan support, to undermine the "don't ask, don't tell" repeal and an immigration provision offering a path to citizenship for students and soldiers who are children of illegal immigrants. Republicans countered that Democrats were trying to use defense policy act that authorizes $725 billion in military spending to force through provisions popular with their political base ahead of the November 2 congressional elections. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs expressed disappointment at the vote but said "we'll keep trying" to get Congress to approve the repeal of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy barring openly gay and lesbian soldiers from the military. A federal judge recently ruled that the "don't ask, don't tell" policy was unconstitutional, and the uncertainty of congressional action after Tuesday's vote further complicated the issue . What's your take on "don't ask, don't tell"? The Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights advocacy group, said in response to the vote that the Justice Department should let the court ruling stand instead of filing an appeal. "We still have a fighting chance to repeal DADT through congressional action, but in the meantime, the best interests of our men and women in uniform -- as well as the country -- are served by doing everything we can do to get rid of this discriminatory law," said Joe Solmonese, the group's president. Debate on the defense bill was rancorous in the run-up to the vote. Republicans accused Reid of trying to prevent them from proposing amendments to the bill and criticized his plan to tack on the immigration provision, known as the DREAM Act. "I've never seen such a cynical use of the needs of the men and women of the military," said GOP Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the top Republican on the Armed Services Committee, calling the expanded bill "a cynical act for political reasons as the election nears to try to salvage what appears to be a losing campaign." Reid countered that the Republican opposition was a blow to gay and lesbian Americans, as well as those born to illegal immigrants, who want to serve their country. "The Defense Department¹s strategic plan explicitly states that passage of the DREAM Act is critical to helping the military shape and maintain a mission-ready all-volunteer force," Reid said in a statement. McCain and other Republicans "should know better than anyone that patriots who step up to serve our grateful nation should be offered a path to citizenship, and that anyone who volunteers to serve should be welcomed regardless of their sexual orientation," Reid's statement said. Republican opponents included some GOP senators who favor lifting the Pentagon's requirement that gays and lesbians keep their sexuality a secret. However, they expressed concern that Democratic leaders could limit GOP amendments to the broader National Defense Authorization Act that includes the "don't ask, don't tell" provision. Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the chamber's top Republican, proposed an agreement for the chamber to consider 20 amendments on a rotating basis, but none could include adding the DREAM Act to the bill. Reid rejected the proposal, saying such an agreement was too great a departure from how the Senate normally conducted its business. Another of the chamber's Democratic leaders, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, said McConnell's proposal was intended to "stop the DREAM Act." With 59 seats in the chamber, Senate Democrats and their allies needed at least one Republican vote to reach the 60 needed to overcome a GOP filibuster. However, none of the moderate Republicans who in the past have voted with Democrats crossed the aisle this time. "I find myself on the horns of a dilemma," Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said before the vote. Collins explained that she supported repeal of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy but "cannot vote to proceed to this bill under a situation that is going to shut down debate and preclude Republican amendments." She called for an agreement that guarantees "full and open debate," adding: "Now is not the time to play politics simply because an election is looming in a few weeks." On Monday, pop star Lady Gaga held a rally to call on both Collins and fellow Maine Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe to join Democrats in overcoming the expected GOP filibuster attempt. Both Snowe and Collins oppose the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, and Collins was the sole Republican vote in the Senate Armed Services Committee in support of getting rid of it. However, both joined the GOP filibuster after Reid refused to change his approach. Reid had said he wanted the Senate to take up the bill now, but no final vote would take place until after the November 2 elections. He rejected the GOP calls for an agreement on how the amendment process would proceed, citing what he called a pattern of Republicans obstructing debate on important policies. The legislation, which is a broad defense policy bill, would rescind "don't ask, don't tell" after the Pentagon completes a review of the repeal's impact on the military. The review is due in December and would serve as the basis for certification by the president, defense secretary and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff that the military could handle repealing the policy. On Tuesday, the general nominated to head the Marine Corps told a Senate committee that he believes responses from Marines on repealing the "don't ask, don't tell" policy have been mostly negative so far. Gen. James Amos said he had heard that at Marine bases and in Marines' responses to an online survey, the feeling "is predominantly negative." He added, however, "I don't know that as a fact." In written answers to the Senate Armed Services Committee, Amos said he opposes repeal of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy now because it could disrupt cohesion due to "significant change during a period of extended combat operations." At the same time, Amos made clear that he would oversee a repeal if ordered to do so. "The Marine Corps is probably one of the most faithful services you have in our country," Amos said. "And if the law is changed by Congress and signed by the president of the United States, the Marine Corps will get in step and do it smartly." Many Republicans complain that Congress should not step in until after that military review is completed. McCain, the top Republican on the Armed Services Committee, said that approving a repeal provision before finishing the review process would amount to an insult to military personnel. "The most fundamental thing we could do to honor the sacrifice of our troops is to take the time to hear their views," McCain said Tuesday. McCain also cited statements by the heads of the four military branches opposing congressional action on the issue before the review process is completed. Democrats noted that Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, the Joint Chiefs chairman, have said publicly that they support repealing "don't ask, don't tell." The military has working groups looking at how to implement the change if ordered. The groups are looking at issues such as housing to entitlements and even personal displays of affection. CNN's Chris Lawrence, Matt Smith and Tom Cohen contributed to this report.

NEW: McCain accuses Democrats of cynical stance on defense bill . NEW: Durbin says Republicans wanted to kill immigration provision . Defense bill that would repeal the "don't ask, don't tell" military policy is blocked . White House disappointed but says "we'll keep trying"

HOUSTON, Texas (CNN) -- On the tape, Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al Nahyan appears to burn with rage. Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al Nahyan, pictured here, allegedly tortured a business associate on videotape. Believing he was cheated in a business deal, the member of the United Arab Emirates ruling family was trying to extract a confession from an Afghan grain dealer. With a private security officer assisting, Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al Nahyan is seen stuffing sand in the Afghan's mouth. As the grain dealer pleads and whimpers, he is beaten with a nailed board, burned in the genitals with a cigarette lighter, shocked with a cattle prod, and led to believe he would be shot. Salt is poured on his wounds. In the end, the victim can muster up only weak moans as an SUV is repeatedly driven over him. The 45 minutes of torture appears on a nearly three-hour-long videotape shot in late 2004 in the desert outside Abu Dhabi, one of the United Arab Emirates in the Persian Gulf region. It was made at the direction of the sheikh himself. The tape has been viewed by CNN. Now the tape has surfaced as a piece of evidence in a federal civil suit filed in Houston, Texas, against the sheikh by his former business partner, Bassam Nabulsi. As media, U.S. governmental and human rights questions and concerns emerged, Abu Dhabi's government on Tuesday issued a statement saying it deplored the contents of the video and plans an immediate and comprehensive review of it. Nabulsi, a Lebanese-born U.S. citizen living in Houston, says he met Sheikh Issa when the royal came to Houston for medical care in 1994. Watch portions of the tape and Nabulsi tell his story » . According to Nabulsi, the men became friends and business partners, and Sheikh Issa eventually recruited Nabulsi to move to Abu Dhabi to work for him. "We were buddies," said Nabulsi, who met with CNN journalists in Houston. "He gave me his personal vow. He swore to look after my family in case something happened to me." The sheikh, who holds no official government position, is the half-brother of the country's ruler. In the lawsuit, Nabulsi says was disturbed by the sheikh's "increasingly bizarre behavior" after the November 2004 death of his father, UAE ruler Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al Nahyan. Nabulsi's lawsuit says that Sheikh Issa's father "kept tight control over Sheikh Issa" but after the father's death, he "apparently no longer felt constrained." Nabulsi claims he confronted his business partner about the Afghan's treatment, telling him that to do such a thing he "must not be a God-fearing person." Nabulsi says his boldness prompted the sheikh to turn on him. Later, Nabulsi was arrested on drug charges. Security officers working for the sheikh ransacked his home and demanded the torture video, Nabulsi claimed. By this point, the tape -- shot by Nabulsi's brother at the order of the sheikh -- had been smuggled out of the country. According to an affidavit, Nabulsi's brother worked for Sheikh Issa as a personal assistant. In 2005, Nabulsi was arrested, jailed and ultimately convicted on drug charges. And, he said, he was tortured and humiliated by UAE police, who demanded he return the tape. "It was a lot of humiliation," Nabulsi told CNN. "And I really don't like to talk about it." Nabulsi was fined and deported. Darryl Bristow, the sheikh's Houston attorney, argued in court papers that American courts have no jurisdiction over his client. In a statement to CNN, Bristow said Nabulsi is using the videotape of a third party, Nabulsi's brother, to influence the court over a business dispute. "The public should know that the man behind the camera was Bassam Nabulsi's brother and that Bassam Nabulsi kept the video from the media while his lawyer was asking for money. What do you call that where you come from?" Bristow asked. Nabulsi's attorney denied wrongdoing. The Houston case languished in the U.S. court system after it was filed in 2006 but it eventually moved forward when the sheikh's personal assistant was served with court papers last year. Nabulsi's attorney, Anthony Buzbee, said he has deposed the sheikh, but the deposition is under seal. The case was filed in Houston because the Sheikh Issa-Nabulsi business partnership was formed and focused in Texas and "claims at issue in this case arose out of contacts within Texas." Nabulsi claims breaches of contract and fiduciary duty. He wants $80 million he says is owed to him from their business relationship. He also wants to be awarded punitive damages for torture, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and malicious prosecution. Initially, the UAE Interior Ministry said Sheikh Issa "does not hold any official position" in the government and that Nabulsi's lawsuit is "a private dispute." Asked about the torture allegations, the UAE said it investigated and found "...all rules, policies and procedures were followed correctly by the police department. The review also concluded that the incidents depicted in the videotapes were not part of a pattern of behavior." The shocking case has made waves recently as news organizations asked about the tape. U.S. senior officials familiar with the case say the administration is holding off sending a nuclear deal with the United Arab Emirates to Congress for ratification because they fear a fallout from the torture story. Congress has to ratify the civil nuclear agreement signed in January between the Bush administration and the UAE. Those senior U.S. officials said the agreement was supposed to be sent to the Senate, but Secretary of State Hillary Clinton held off doing so because of the story's sensitivity. One American lawmaker, Rep. James McGovern, D-Massachusetts, asked Clinton to investigate and that all "expenditures of funds, training, sales or transfers of equipment or technology, including nuclear" to the UAE be put on hold until the matter is reviewed. He also wants the United States to deny any visas for travel by Sheikh Issa or his immediate family. "I think we have an obligation to say we want to step back a bit and look at this a little more closely," said McGovern, co-chairman of the congressional human rights commission. He promised hearings on the issue, probing the case and how the U.S. Embassy in the UAE handled it. "I am not going to let it go away," McGovern said. Human Rights Watch, the humanitarian watchdog group, is calling for the United Arab Emirates to "investigate and prosecute" the grain dealer's torture. With media questions about the tape mounting, Abu Dhabi said on Wednesday it decided to renew its inquiries -- more than four years after the incident. As for the grain dealer, UAE officials say he survived the ordeal, and said the sheikh and the grain dealer settled the matter privately by agreeing not to bring formal charges against the other. How much money was the grain dealer accused of stealing from the sheikh? "It's nothing," Nabulsi said. "No more than about $5,000." CNN's Scott Bronstein, Drew Griffin, Stan Grant, Elise Labott, Octavia Nasr, and Joe Sterling contributed to this report.

Former business partner of Sheikh Issa of Abu Dhabi suing royal . Bassam Nabulsi's tape shows sheikh severely torturing grain merchant . Nabulsi, of Houston, says he himself was tortured in jail, sheikh owes him $80M . U.S. senior officials say case is holding up a U.S. nuclear deal with the UAE .

(CNN)His voice became hauntingly familiar as the masked man with a British accent who appeared repeatedly in brutal beheading videos from ISIS. But the identity of "Jihadi John" remained a mystery -- until Thursday, when two U.S. officials and two U.S. congressional sources confirmed it. The man, the officials said, is Mohammed Emwazi, a Kuwaiti-born Londoner. The officials, who've been briefed on the matter, spoke to CNN after a Washington Post report first revealed Emwazi's identity. Emwazi is believed to have traveled to Syria in 2012, according to the newspaper, and later to have joined ISIS there. Even with a name and face for the man behind the mask, uncertainty still swirled Thursday. London police and British officials declined to confirm his identity. Officials from a London-based human rights and Muslim advocacy organization who've interacted with Emwazi said they couldn't be 100% certain it was him. And a key question remained unanswered: What inspired him to join ISIS? The answer depends on who you ask. Some terrorism experts said Emwazi's history shows someone who'd been on a path toward extremism for years. But CAGE, the London advocacy group that worked with him, said if he is the man who's appeared in ISIS videos, it's a sign that British authorities' tactics pushed him to radicalize. Emwazi was born in Kuwait in 1988 and moved to the United Kingdom when he was 6 years old, CAGE said on its website. He studied at the University of Westminster in London and graduated in 2009 with a degree in computer programming, the group said. Emwazi, according to CAGE, "hoped that with this degree, he could build a successful career in Arab countries, as he was fluent in Arabic, English and had a British accent." Did something change to send him on a different path? According to the Washington Post, friends of Emwazi said they believed his path to radicalization began when he went on a trip to the East African nation of Tanzania in 2009. He was supposed to be going on safari there, but was reportedly detained on arrival, held overnight and then deported. He was also detained by counterterrorism officials in Britain in 2010, the Post said. Authorities haven't provided any reasons behind those reported detentions. London police declined to confirm the reported identity. "We have previously asked media outlets not to speculate about the details of our investigation on the basis that life is at risk," said Cmdr. Richard Walton of the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Command. "We are not going to confirm the identity of anyone at this stage or give an update on the progress of this live counter-terrorism investigation." A UK Foreign Office spokeswoman told CNN: "We will neither confirm nor deny the current reporting as to the identity of Jihadi John." There are "striking similarities" between Emwazi and the man known as "Jihadi John," according to Asim Qureshi, CAGE's research director. Qureshi told reporters Thursday that he couldn't be 100% certain that Emwazi is Jihadi John because the man's face is covered in the videos. But Qureshi said the man he knew was very different than the merciless figure from ISIS videos. Emwazi was a "polite" and "beautiful young man" who would drop into the CAGE office with treats to thank the group for helping him. Emwazi came to CAGE in 2009 looking for support when he felt that British authorities were -- in Qureshi's words -- "harassing" him. If Emwazi is indeed Jihadi John, Qureshi said, that makes him sad. But in some ways, he said, it's not surprising. "It's hard to imagine the trajectory, but it's not a trajectory that's unfamiliar," he said. Many Muslims feel alienated in their society, like Emwazi did, he said. "When are we going to finally learn if we treat people as if they're outsiders ... they will look for belonging elsewhere?" Qureshi said. "Our entire national security strategy for the last 13 years has only increased alienation." The Washington Post's report includes emails Emwazi purportedly wrote after British counterterrorism officials detained him and stopped him from flying to Kuwait. "I had a job waiting for me and marriage to get started," he wrote in a June 2010 email to Qureshi, the Post reported. But now "I feel like a prisoner, only not in a cage, in London. A person imprisoned & controlled by security service men, stopping me from living my new life in my birthplace & country, Kuwait," the email said. CAGE points the finger at British security services, who they say have "systematically engaged in the harassment of young Muslims, rendering their lives impossible and leaving them with no legal avenue to redress their situation." Haras Rafiq, managing director of the Quilliam Foundation, a UK-based counter-extremism think tank, said the advocacy group was pointing the finger in the wrong direction. It's clear Emwazi had been radicalized before 2010, he said. And, according to Rafiq, intelligence agencies who stopped Emwazi traveling to Tanzania believed there was evidence that he intended to join the extremist group Al-Shabaab in Somalia. Haras added that it was "very upsetting that an organization like CAGE would spin this in the way that they've done," by blaming intelligence agencies. Former CIA counterterrorism analyst Philip Mudd told CNN that blaming radicalization on alienation was oversimplifying Emwazi's story. "We're only seeing half of this story," he said. "The government doesn't spend the resources and take the risk, the legal risk of pulling somebody aside, preventing them from traveling, searching through their luggage, just because somebody looks funny. There is something else going on here in terms of whatever triggered the government to undertake this investigation that we're missing here." The masked, black-clad figure believed to be Jihadi John appeared to be the ISIS militant shown in a video last month demanding a $200 million ransom to spare the lives of two Japanese journalists. A similar figure appeared in at least five previous hostage videos. U.S. and British officials have previously said they believed they knew who the man was, but weren't disclosing the information publicly. That could be because Western intelligence agencies believed they had more to gain from keeping quiet, Aki Peritz, a former CIA officer, told CNN last month. "They can put pressure on his family, put pressure on his friends," he told CNN. "Maybe they have a line to him. Maybe they know who his cousins are who are going to Syria who can identify him. However, if you publicly tell everybody who he is, his real identity, then maybe he'll go to ground and he'll disappear." The man's reported background gives some clues as to why he might have been recruited, said Sajjan Gohel, director of international security at the Asia Pacific Foundation. "We know that ISIS recruits a lot of Westerners who are skilled in new media, understanding of the Internet, because they use that as their platform as an oxygen of publicity," he said. But by not revealing his name for operational reasons, one expert said, officials may have created another problem. "It created more speculation in the media," he said. "In some ways, the nom de guerre of Jihadi John gave this individual a form of notorious celebrity." Opinion: Why 'Jihadi John' is so worrying . CNN's Evan Perez, Pamela Brown, Dana Bash and Alexander Felton and Damien Ward contributed to this report.

Officials: Militant known as Jihadi John is Mohammed Emwazi . Advocacy group CAGE says it had contact with Emwazi . London's Metropolitan Police declines to confirm his reported identity .

(CNN) -- Sheikh Dr. Tahir ul-Qadri: At a news conference in London, England, on Tuesday, the renowned Islamic scholar issued a fatwa -- a religious ruling -- condemning suicide bombers as destined for hell, removing extremists' certainty of earning paradise after death. The 600-page fatwa is arguably the most comprehensive theological refutation of Islamist terrorism to date. Qadri said his aim was to set an important precedent that might allow other scholars to similarly condemn the ideas behind terrorism. London's The Independent newspaper reports that the imam told fellow Muslims: "Terrorism is terrorism, violence is violence and it has no place in Islamic teaching and no justification can be provided for it, or any kind of excuses of ifs and buts. The world needs an absolute, unconditional, unqualified and total condemnation of terrorism." According to his online biography, Qadri was born in Pakistan in 1951 and was raised believing that he would become a religious leader, "since his birth had been foretold through a spiritual dream to his father." The former law professor says he has written some 1,000 books, 360 of which are already in print. The Independent: Sheikh issues fatwa against all terrorists . Minhaj-ul-Quran: Profile of Dr. Qadri . Diane Ravitch: The influential education historian, who served as assistant secretary of education under President George H. W. Bush, "is in the final stages of an astonishing, slow motion about-face on almost every stand she once took on American schooling," reports Sam Dillon in today's New York Times. He writes that Ravitch is now criticizing approaches she once supported -- standardized testing, charter schools and free markets to improve schools -- as fads that undermine public education. She is critical of No Child Left Behind legislation, saying it pushes essential subjects from classrooms. The Times reports that she addressed a meeting of school superintendents last month in Phoenix, Arizona, and pointed to the standards set by such countries as Finland and Japan. She said, "They make sure that all their students study the arts, history, literature, geography, civics, foreign languages, the sciences and other subjects. They do this because this is the way to ensure good education. We're on the wrong track." New York Times: Scholar's school reform U-turn shakes up debate . Jaime Escalante: The 80-year-old former Los Angeles, California, math teacher is fighting cancer, and KTLA-TV reports that his family members say they don't have the money to pay all of his medical bills. The 1988 movie "Stand and Deliver" tells Escalante's inspirational story: When some call his students at Garfield High School in East Los Angeles "unteachable," Escalante decides to teach them calculus. When all of his students pass a national advanced placement calculus exam, the testing company questions their high scores and invalidates some of them. When Escalante protests and his students take the test again -- with one day of preparation -- they pass. True story. Actor Edward James Olmos portrayed Escalante, known affectionately as "Kimo" in the movie, and now he's raising money for him. On his Web site, Olmos writes, "The genius that he awakened in the 'unteachable' commanded the attention of the entire world. It caused countless educators to reconsider what their students might really be capable of if, like Kimo, they could awaken the 'ganas' [desire] in them. Jaime didn't just teach math. Like all great teachers, he changed lives. Gang members became aerospace engineers. Kids who had spent their youth convinced their lives didn't matter discovered they were leaders." KTLA: 'Stand and Deliver' teacher battling cancer . Web site of Edward James Olmos . Nick Schuyler: On March 2, 2009, the former University of South Florida football player was rescued by the Coast Guard from his overturned boat in the Gulf of Mexico. He had gone fishing on two days before with another former South Florida football player, Will Bleakley, 25, and NFL players Marquis Cooper, 26, and Corey Smith, 29. Some 70 miles from shore, the boat flipped over. The men tried to support and save each other. In a book released this week, "Not Without Hope," written with New York Times sportswriter Jere Longman, Schuyler tells the harrowing story: "We began to huddle together, cuddling almost, trying to stay warm as the night went on. I thought for a moment that it was weird, four grown men clustered together like puppies or kittens, but it was necessary if we were going to maintain any body heat. I could feel everybody shivering and hear their teeth chattering. Once, when it was quiet, knowing how desperate our situation was, I said, 'I love you guys.'" All three of Schulyer's companions -- after fighting hypothermia and hallucinations -- died, but he writes that they all fought to stay alive. St. Petersburg Times: Lone survivor of doomed fishing trip tells all . Irene Folstrom: "Tiger Woods was my boyfriend for a year and a half while we were both undergraduates at Stanford. I've never spoken to the press about him; I'm not coming forward now for money or to advance any pathetic showbiz aspirations, but merely to stick up for a friend." So writes Folstrom in a Sports Illustrated Golf Group exclusive essay. "This may surprise some people, but Tiger was a great boyfriend." She notes that she hasn't seen Woods since the late '90s, but she remembers his "amazing metabolism" and all the time they spent eating together. Folstrom, 35, grew up on an Indian reservation in Minnesota and is an advocate for Native American causes. She was the first person in her family to earn a college degree. "Our relationship ended when Tiger turned pro after his sophomore year," she writes, "I wasn't willing to give up my studies to follow him. Like everyone else, I was shocked by the revelations about his infidelities. The Tiger I knew was loyal, devoted and self-­controlled." Folstrom also says that she and Woods "enjoyed a normal sexual relationship." Golf.com: Tiger's college girlfriend speaks out . What makes a person intriguing? There are people who enter the news cycle every day because their actions or decisions are new, important or different. Others are in the news because they are the ones those decisions affect. And there are a number of people who are so famous or controversial that anything they say or do becomes news. Some of these people do what we expect of them: They run for office, pass legislation, start a business, get hired or fired, commit a crime, make an arrest, get in accidents, hit a home run, overthrow a government, fight wars, sue an opponent, put out fires, prepare for hurricanes and cavort with people other than their spouses. They do make news, but the action is usually more important than who is involved in the story. But every day, there are a number of people who become fascinating to us -- by virtue of their character, how they reached their decision, how they behaved under pressure or because of the remarkable circumstances surrounding the event they are involved in. They arouse our curiosity. We hear about them and want to know more. What they have done or said stimulates conversations across the country. At times, there is even a mystery about them. What they have done may be unique, heroic, cowardly or ghastly, but they capture our imaginations. We want to know what makes them tick, why they believe what they do, and why they did what they did. They intrigue us.

Renowned Muslim scholar condemns all terrorism . Education historian changes mind, says No Child Left Behind is wrong approach . Tiger Woods' college girlfriend remembers him as "loyal, devoted and self-­controlled"

(CNN) -- Former President Bill Clinton acknowledges he got "very close" to helping achieve peace in the Middle East shortly before ending his eight years in office. Over a two-week period in 2000, Clinton played host at Camp David to then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat. The summit ultimately ended without agreement. Two U.S. presidents later, the conflict rages on. Now, Clinton is less optimistic Middle East negotiators will get that close again, telling CNN's Anna Coren that peace between Israel and the Palestinians is impossible until Hamas renounces violence. "There is no way the Israelis are going to give up the West Bank and agree to a state unless Hamas agrees to give up violence and recognizes Israel's right to exist," he said in the interview airing Monday on "New Day." "They won't do it so that's a non-starter and I think it should be. You can't just have a one-way peace. Both sides have got to give up what the other side most objects to." There's still hope for peace in the Middle East . Israeli-Palestinian relations are at a low point. Israeli military forces began a ground offensive into Gaza on Thursday, inflicting heavy casualties. More than 400 Palestinians have been killed since the latest outbreak of violence. At least 13 Israeli soldiers were killed in fighting in Gaza on Sunday, the Israeli military said. Nevertheless, Clinton said he's not giving up hope for peace in the region. "We dance around the bush so many times and sooner or later someone will jump off the merry go round and do the right thing," he said. "We got very close in 2000." Clinton was interviewed by Coren during stops on the former President's eight-day tour of Southeast Asia, which included a visit to an AIDS orphanage in Vietnam ahead of the International AIDS Conference in Melbourne. The conference opened Sunday on a somber note -- at least six delegates traveling to the event were killed Thursday when Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 exploded over eastern Ukraine. Clinton is scheduled to give a keynote address at the conference on Wednesday. "They're really, in a way, martyrs to the cause we are going to Australia to talk about," Clinton said of the researchers who died when unknown attackers shot their plane down over a rebel-controlled area of eastern Ukraine. "Thinking about those people being knocked out of the sky, it's pretty tough." On the crash of the Boeing 777 itself, Clinton was careful not to draw immediate conclusions on who was responsible for the downing of the jet, which he called "sickening." "We need to wait to make any definitive statements until we know exactly what happened, but it was sickening and I hope they will know and I hope they will know soon," he said. Since leaving office, Clinton started the Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative (now called the Clinton Health Access Initiative) in an effort to get treatment to HIV/AIDS patients in the developing world. The initiative has brought access to HIV/AIDS treatment to 8.2 million people since it was founded in 2002, according to the Clinton Foundation. "I like it because it's personal flesh and blood," he says of his second career in public service through his foundation. "You're not just talking in abstract policy terms. You actually see the lives of people change. ... I loved my life in politics. I loved it. But the difference now is I can see the personal human implications of the decisions we are making and I can work on, you know, how do we get the right policy? How do we make it work? And then you see the results." Clinton touched on a number of other issues in the wide-ranging interview, among them: . Aid for migrant children a good step . President Barack Obama's pitch to Congress for billions of dollars to handle the cases of tens of thousands of children from Central America who are illegally crossing the border is a step in the right direction, Clinton said. "I hope that he will get this money he has asked for, because some of these kids may be eligible to stay under our laws because of the circumstances they face back home," Clinton said. "And we don't want to deny the ones who are eligible the right to stay even as we send the other ones back." Since October, officials say more than 57,500 unaccompanied minors have been apprehended at the southwest U.S. border. The Obama administration has labeled the situation a humanitarian crisis, and has asked for emergency funding to deal with it. "The system he has proposed to put in place, if he gets the money for it, will give all the ones who aren't immediately sent back ... quicker hearings, so if they are entitled to stay, they can stay," Clinton said. Ukraine wants independence, not war with Russia . "The Ukrainians don't really want a hostile relationship with Russia. ... What they want is to be independent," Clinton said of the political conflict between Ukraine and Russia. Tensions have been high between Ukraine and Russia since street protests forced former pro-Moscow President Viktor Yanukovych from power in February. Russia subsequently annexed Ukraine's southeastern Crimea region, and a pro-Russian separatist rebellion has been raging in Ukraine's eastern Luhansk and Donetsk regions. Ukraine wants "to be a bridge to Europe, between Europe and Russia. And if done properly it would be good for Ukraine but also be very good for Russia and good for Europe. So we have a clash there about what the 21st Century ought to be like. Is it important for all of us to divide up and hide behind our walls? Or can we find a way to work together?" U.S. should help Iraq, which needs to help itself . "I wouldn't rule out the United States doing more in Iraq if the Iraqis do what's necessary to help themselves," Clinton said of the worsening humanitarian situation in the country. The violent militant group Islamic State in Iraq and Syria has taken over large swaths of land in Iraq and aims to establish a hardline Islamic state. At least 2,400 Iraqis died in violence in June, according to the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq. Of those, the United Nations said more than 1,500 were civilians. "We have got to be helping an entity committed to inclusive government for the next 20 or 30 years -- people who don't want the forces of destruction to prevail are going to have to prove they can do inclusive government and inclusive economics," Clinton said. Settle China's territorial claims internationally . China's territorial claims over nearby bodies of water have caused tensions to escalate with neighboring countries. Conflict between Vietnam and China flared in May when a Chinese oil corporation moved a drilling rig to an area claimed by both countries in the South China Sea. And last November, China declared an air defense identification zone over the East China Sea, imposing air traffic restrictions over an area disputed with Japan. China's moves have made other Asian countries nervous over its expanding military and more assertive foreign policy. And Clinton says the United States has a different take than China on how to solve the disputes. "One of the big differences is the United States believes that we should have these issues involving natural resource claims in the south and east China seas resolved in a multinational forum where the small countries are not disadvantaged by being smaller than China," Clinton said. "And the Chinese believe that all these things should be subject to what they call bilateral resolution, where the small countries believe they wouldn't have a chance trying to negotiate against China, just one country against the Chinese." CNN's Catherine E. Shoichet and Holly Yan contributed to this report. Watch New Day weekdays at 6am-9am ET. For the latest on New Day click here .

"It was sickening," ex-President tells CNN's Anna Coren of the MH17 crash in Ukraine . Clinton calls AIDS activists killed in the crash "martyrs to the cause" He thinks Ukraine wants to be "a bridge" between Europe and Russia .

(CNN) -- The Ebola epidemic now raging across three countries in West Africa is three-fold larger than any other outbreak ever recorded for this terrible disease; the only one to have occurred in urban areas and to cross national borders; and officially urgent and serious. At least 1,090 people have contracted the awful disease this year, though the epidemic's true scope is unknown because of widespread opposition to health authorities in afflicted Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. This week, 39-year-old physician Sheik Umar Khan -- labeled the country's hero for his brave leadership of the epidemic fight -- died from Ebola, adding yet another public fear: that even the doctors cannot escape the disease. But as terrifying as Ebola is, the virus has been controlled in the past, and can be again. The current crisis, which threatens an 11-nation region of Africa that includes the continent's giant, Nigeria, is not a biological or medical one so much as it is political. The three nations in Ebola's thrall need technical support from outsiders but will not succeed in stopping the virus until each nation's leaders embrace effective governance. As was the case in Kikwit, Zaire, in 1995 -- an Ebola outbreak I personally was in as a journalist -- there is no vaccine or cure for the disease. The key to stopping its spread is rapid identification of the sick; removal of the ailing and deceased from their homes; and quarantine and high hygiene measures to prevent transmission of the virus to family members and health care workers. In the absence of such measures, Ebola will kill upwards of 70% of those it infects, as the virus punches holes in veins, causing massive internal hemorrhaging and bleeding from the eyes, ears, mouth and all other orifices. Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone are among the poorest, least governed states in the world. About half of the nations' adults are illiterate. The 11.75 million people of Guinea have a per capita annual income of merely $527, and their combined male/female life expectancy is 58 years. In 2011, the government of President Alpha Conde spent $7 on average per capita on health. Life is no better for the 4.2 million people living in neighboring Liberia, where per capita income is $454, life expectancy is 62 years and the government of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf spends $18 per capita on health. In Sierra Leone, the 6 million residents have a per capita income of $809 per year, life expectancy is merely 46 years, and the government of the President, Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma, spent $13 per capita last year on health. Since Ebola first broke out in March in Guinea, fear has gripped the region, coupled with suspicion and wild rumors. Some have proclaimed the epidemic "divine retribution" for past sins. In April, Guinean health officials failed to quarantine an Ebola patient who reportedly spread the virus from a remote area to the capital -- a lapse that undermined government credibility. In April, a mob claiming that foreigners were spreading diseases attacked a Doctors Without Borders clinic in rural Guinea and forced the Nobel Peace Prize-winning group to abandon its mission. The charity returned only after it had negotiated its safety with local religious leaders. In the capital city of Conakry, families have been hiding their ailing relatives. Even the local Red Cross was forced to abandon a part of the country after men brandishing knives surrounded them. And in one district, police fired tear gas at a mob that was trying to raid the morgue in order to give their loved ones proper burials, despite the risk of contagion. As the epidemic spread to Sierra Leone in May, brought in by a traditional healer who tended to ailing Guineans and then returned home, similar problems surfaced. Family members defied a local quarantine, thereby spreading infection. By the end of May, authorities were losing track of Ebola sufferers amid widespread fleeing from health facilities; the toll of missing patients approached 60 by June. Some local leaders spread rumors that "the white people" were conducting experiments, infecting Sierra Leonians or cutting off people's limbs. Doctors Without Borders warned that widespread belief that Ebola does not exist threatened to spread the disease regionally. Today the word "Ebola" carries so much stigma that few ailing individuals even seek diagnosis. By the end of June, the epidemic was exploding in Liberia, fueled by the same sorts of denial and wild rumors that were rampant in Sierra Leone and Guinea. In one county, men with weapons chased off government health workers. Today, the World Health Organization is officially loath to say so, but under these circumstances, this epidemic is beyond anybody's control. Nobody, in any culture, relishes having their ailing loved ones removed from a family's care, or their bodies hauled off to ignominious mass graves. But the violent reaction to such measures in West Africa is far more extreme than anything that has occurred in other Ebola crises since the virus's first appearance in Zaire in 1976. This should come as no surprise to anybody with a modicum of knowledge of recent history. The nations of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone have a shared, brutal history of civil wars that since 1989 have left more than 400,000 people dead, displaced half a million people from their traditional homes, seen rape used as a weapon against tens of thousands of girls and women, and put Liberia's former President behind bars as a war criminal. One of the most heinous features of the 1989-to-2005 wars was public amputation, typically carried out by child soldiers. The violence began in 1980 when Samuel Doe killed President William Tolbert and then tyrannized Liberia for a decade, growing rich off its diamond trade. In 1990, rebels invaded the country from Ivory Coast, captured Doe, tortured him, dragged him naked through the streets of Monrovia, and then executed him. Charles Taylor took over the nation, running it until 2003. Taylor, in turn, helped his comrade Foday Sankoh seize control of Sierra Leone, and they systematically exploited their nations' mines, leading to the United Nations term "blood diamonds." What you need to know about the deadliest ever outbreak . With help from Guinea, a second civil war started in 1999 in Liberia, eventually engaging multiple warring factions, each more brutal than the other. It spilled over into Sierra Leone and was egged on by military elements in Nigeria. By 2000, all three of the now-Ebola-torn countries were embroiled. Taylor fled into exile in Nigeria in 2003, and both he and Sankoh faced U.N. war crimes trials. Sankoh died of a heart attack before his trial; Taylor is now imprisoned. In these three nations, few families have not experienced murders, rapes, torture, maiming, loss of homes and death. Fear, suspicion, poverty, pain and superstition are the norm, the noise that everybody lives with, every minute of their lives. Ebola is simply a new scream heard above that terrible background din. The challenge today in these barely functioning states is to find ways to lower the overall noise, focus on stopping the Ebola virus, and bring governance and peace to three countries that have rarely experienced either.

Laurie Garrett: Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia worst ever, could be controlled . She says poor governance, ignorance, hysteria have stoked opposition to health care . She says key doctor in Ebola fight now stricken, adding new fear that no one can escape . Garrett: Lacking governance, desperately poor citizens superstitious, avoid treatment .

United Nations (CNN) -- As international anger grows over reports of mass carnage at the hands of the Syrian regime, a U.N. Security Council draft resolution condemning Syria failed to be adopted Saturday after veto-wielding members Russia and China voted against it. Ambassadors from the other permanent members of the council -- the United States, France, and the United Kingdom -- said they were furious at Russia and China for failing to halt the worsening, bloody violence that has consumed the Middle Eastern nation. Thirteen Security Council members voted in favor of the resolution. The vote was a major diplomatic setback for countries hoping to send a unified message to embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and also for opposition groups that look toward the United Nations for support. "Those that have blocked potentially the last effort to resolve this peacefully ... will have any future blood spill on their hands," U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice told CNN. "The people of Syria have yet again been abandoned by this Council and by the international community." Some Syrians have cried out for international action to stop attacks on civilians, more so after opposition groups said at least 321 civilians were killed and hundreds wounded in the city of Homs in the past two days. The opposition Syrian National Council blamed government forces for the attack in Homs, calling it one of the most "horrific massacres" since the start of the Syrian uprising. Residential buildings and homes were "randomly and heavily bombed," the group said. The Local Coordination Committees (LCC), a Syrian opposition group, said 90 people had been killed in Syria on Saturday, including 61 in Homs, 10 in Idlib, and 19 in a Damascus suburb. In a bid to pressure the government, the group called for a two-day civil strike to start on Sunday. Another opposition group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, reported that 48 people were killed across Syria on Saturday, including six army defectors and 18 members of the Syrian security forces. CNN cannot independently confirm opposition or government reports from Syria because the government has restricted journalists' access to the country. Some residents accused the international community of sitting idle as bodies mount in the streets, and predicted worsening violence in the wake of the vote. "We've been expected the U.N. to help us ... and they just left us like this," said an activist identified as Danny. "Now this regime is going to hit us harder." Syria's U.N. ambassador, Bashar Jaafari, said his country has been "targeted by some powers seeking to punish it." Jaafari called the crisis "manufactured" and said there is a media campaign to make the Syrian regime look bad. Following the vote, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said that diplomatic efforts are ongoing. France, its European and Arab partners are in talks to create a "Group of Friends for the Syrian People," he said. In a strongly-worded statement before the vote, U.S. President Barack Obama said Syrian President al-Assad has lost all legitimacy and that the international community "must work to protect the Syrian people from this abhorrent brutality." He pointed the finger directly at al-Assad and what he called his "killing machine." On Saturday, funerals were held in Homs and residents worked to free bodies trapped under the rubble, said resident Abu Abdo Alhomsy. Snipers remained perched throughout the city, he said, complicating efforts. "The blood of our children is not a game," Alhomsy said. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the vote was a lost opportunity to halt the violence. The resolution would have demanded that al-Assad stop the killing and answer international calls aimed at finding a Syrian-led solution to the crisis. U.S. Ambassador Rice said the United States was "disgusted" at the veto by Russia and China. Referring to Russia, she said, "This intransigence is even more shameful when you consider that one of these members continues to deliver weapons to Assad." The Russian foreign minister has spoken in defense of Russian arm sales to Syria, saying they did not affect the regional balance of power. Russia, which counts Syria as a major weapons client, has made clear that it will not accept an arms embargo or economic sanctions. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is scheduled to visit Damascus on Tuesday to meet with al-Assad, according to his ministry. British Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant said the United Kingdom was "appalled" at the veto. "Those who blocked the council action today must ask themselves how many more deaths they will be prepared to tolerate," Lyall Grant said. It effectively means Russia and China "support tyranny rather than the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people," he said. British Foreign Secretary William Hague said the resolution supported Arab League efforts to resolve the crisis in Syria. "It did not impose any sanctions, nor did it authorize military action," Hague said. "There was nothing in the draft to warrant opposition." Jaafari said such statements "fan the flames of escalation of the violence and bloodshed" and "betray the true hostile, genuine intentions against Syria, the people of Syria, and the government of Syria." All along, he said, "the tone of their statements was not diplomatic ... when they describe the government of Syria as a 'regime' and addressed the president of the state of Syria with inappropriate language." Speaking after the vote, ambassadors from both Russia and China said they do support an end to the violence but felt the resolution did not address the crisis properly. Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said the text "did not adequately reflect the real state of affairs and sent an unbalanced signal" to the various sides in Syria. He noted that the minister for foreign affairs will visit Damascus to hold a meeting with al-Assad in three days. Chinese Ambassador Li Baodong called on all parties in Syria to stop the violence and restore order as soon as possible. But he said the text would have served only to "complicate the issue" and would "prejudge the result of dialogue." China and Russia vetoed another Security Council resolution in October that would have called for an immediate halt to the crackdown, which United Nations officials have said has resulted in an estimated 6,000 deaths since protests began nearly a year ago. The LCC estimates that at least 7,339 people have been killed. "Since these two members last vetoed a resolution on Syria, an estimated 3,000 more civilians have been killed," Rice said Saturday. Earlier Saturday, Tunisia said it would expel the Syrian ambassador from Tunis in response to the killings in Homs, while British Foreign Secretary Hague and his French counterpart Alain Juppe condemned the violence. Obama noted the violence in Homs came as the Syrian people were celebrating the birth of the Prophet Mohammed and marking 30 years since al-Assad's father oversaw a massacre in the city of Hama. The resolution voted on Saturday had dropped demands from an Arab League plan for Syria to form a unity government and for al-Assad to delegate power to his deputy. U.N. diplomats said the changes reflected a big concession to Russia, which had been reluctant to sign on to any plan that could be seen as a mandate for regime change in Damascus. Reports of the violence in Homs led to protests breaking out at Syrian embassies in Cairo, Berlin, Washington, Kuwait and London on Friday and Saturday. CNN's Yousuf Basil, Becky Brittain, Pierre Meilhan, Richard Roth, Mick Krever, Elise Labott, Salma Abdelaziz and Amir Ahmed, and journalist Mohamed Fadel Fahmy contributed to this report.

NEW: Russian foreign minister is scheduled to meet with al-Assad this week . An activist predicts worsening violence in response to the vote . French President Nicolas Sarkozy says diplomatic efforts are ongoing . Syria says the country has been targeted and the crisis is manufactured .

Chardon, Ohio (CNN) -- The cafeteria table where the deadly Ohio high school shooting began became a somber memorial for grief-stricken students returning for Friday first full day of classes since the incident. A boy at Chardon High opened fire on Monday and killed three classmates. Two other students were hospitalized and another was grazed by gunfire. The shooting rocked the school and the community of 5,100 people located 30 miles east of Cleveland. Teens heading back to their daily routines noticed some changes designed to reassure and calm them. Senior Garrett Szalay told CNN the lunchroom table where the shooting began hasn't been moved. Flowers and stuffed animals are sitting on top of it, he said. The cafeteria was repainted and tables were rearranged to give the room a different look. The table, with its fake woodgrain top, chrome legs and bench seats, sits perpendicular in the cafeteria, a counterpoint to the way the other tables are arranged. Grief counselors and police were on hand, and the principal led a moment of silence, Szalay said . "Everyone is here for each other," Szalay said. "But a lot of us are moving on." The person who authorities say is responsible, 17-year-old T.J. Lane, was charged Thursday afternoon with three counts of aggravated murder, two of attempted aggravated murder and one of felonious assault, the latter related to the student who was "nicked in the ear" by a bullet, according to Geauga County Prosecuting Attorney David Joyce. Friday marked the first full school day since the incident, a return that administrators and staff touted as key to helping people through the healing process. School superintendent Joseph Bergant said that staff spent two days working on the transition, expressing confidence that they'll be ready to provide comfort and support to those still trying to make sense of this week's carnage. Some students were with their parents in the school on Thursday and counseling has been made available at various locales since the shooting. "I watched families walk through the school holding hands, I watched people helping each other come back into the school," said Geauga County Sheriff Dan McClelland of the scene inside the school Thursday. "It was an incredible spirit of Chardon. I'll never forget that. This is why we live here." Frank Hall, an assistant football coach and study hall teacher who chased the gunman from the school, said Thursday it was important that students and staff return -- if for no other reason than to "show that terror and evil do not win out." Coach deflects "hero" label . "I'm here to tell you that tomorrow our schools will be open, our teachers will be there, our administration will be there, our parents and community, but more important our children will be there," said Hall. Meanwhile, the legal process continues. Joyce, the prosecuting attorney, filed charges against Lane around 3:40 p.m. Thursday in juvenile court. The defendant's next court appearance will be March 6. A hearing scheduled for March 19 will discuss a motion to transfer his case to an adult court. The murder charges state that the teenager "purposely and with prior calculation and design" fatally shot three people while at Chardon High. The prosecutor has said that the sophomore confessed that he took a .22-caliber gun and a knife into the school Monday morning and fired 10 rounds as frightened students and some teachers ran for cover. By the time the bloodshed ended, three were killed: Daniel Parmertor, 16, who died Monday; Demetrius Hewlin, 16, who died Tuesday morning; and Russell King Jr., 17, who was declared brain dead Tuesday. This is not Lane's first brush with the law, according to juvenile records released by authorities this week. When he was 15, Lane was charged with juvenile assault for putting his uncle in a choke hold and punching him in the face, according to an incident report from the Geauga County Sheriff's Office. The report stated that Lane's aunt called 911 in December 2009 to report the boy and his uncle "were physically fighting" -- and, at one point, the teen teamed up with his then-16-year-old brother, who himself was later charged with simple assault. Two sheriff's deputies arrived to find the uncle "bleeding from the mouth and ... on the kitchen floor." Lane pleaded "true," the equivalent of guilty, to lesser charges of disorderly conduct. He was sentenced to up to 30 days in a detention center, fined and ordered to complete 24 hours of community service, according to court documents. At the time, Lane was in his grandparents' custody, according to the complaint. Lane's driver's license was recently suspended for two and a half months after he was ticketed for "failure to control" a vehicle. The license was reinstated in early February upon his completion of a mandatory driver improvement program, records show. Lane's friends have said that the teen had a troubled childhood. His parents had both been charged with domestic violence against each other, according to court documents. His father also served prison time for assaulting a police officer and was charged with holding a different woman under running water and bashing her head into a wall. "I think there's a lot of kids that go through things like that. That doesn't give them the right to kill other people," said Bob Parmertor, Daniel Parmertor's grandfather. "There are five families, including ours, that have been affected by this. No one has the right to shoot other people because they've had a rough life." At an earlier news conference Thursday, relatives of two of the slain children described what the boys were like . "My brother was the happiest kid on the planet," Dominic Parmertor said of Daniel. "He never got mad at anybody. He just loved to have fun. And when he was happy, other people were happy." "He would never do anything bad to anybody," Dominic Parmertor added. "He was going to change the world. He was an amazing individual." Phyllis Ferguson, mother of Demetrius Hewlin, said her son donated his organs. His death was "not in vain," she said. "For his one life, he gets to change eight lives." She described her son as a "computer nerd" and "health nut" who loved football and worked out regularly. "Most of all, I'm gonna miss his hugs and kisses," she said. Ferguson had a message for parents: "No matter what you're going through ... you grab your children, you kiss them and tell them you love them." Ferguson said she didn't do that on Monday, because Demetrius was running late. Both Daniel and Demetrius were shot in the head, their relatives said. The mother of one of the wounded children spoke as well. Holly Walczak's son Nick was wounded in his arm, neck and back, "which created a spinal shock," she said, adding that he is in serious condition but doctors are optimistic for his recovery. If a teacher had not pulled him to a safer place, it is likely Nick would have died as well, she said. Ron Parmertor, Daniel's uncle, called on young people to watch out for potential signs on social media that someone they know may be troubled. If something posted on a social network "doesn't look right, tell your mom and dad, tell the police, tell a counselor, tell a neighbor, tell a friend. Just tell somebody," he said. And, he added, to anyone who is having trouble dealing with the tragedy: "Please talk to somebody." CNN's Laura Dolan, Martin Savidge, Josh Levs and Kristina Sgueglia contributed to this report.

Grief counselors and police are at the school on Friday . Staff have spent two days preparing for the students' return, the superintendent says . Three students died in the Monday shooting in Chardon, Ohio . T.J. Lane was charged Thursday with three counts of aggravated murder .

Port au Prince, (CNN) -- The guard wearing a Haitian Football Federation T-shirt paces nervously in front of the heavy, blue steel door, his pump-action shotgun held tightly in his right hand. He presses his finger against the trigger when anyone bangs loudly on the metal to enter the Stad Sylvio Cator in downtown Port au Prince, pulling the door slowly open and gingerly peering his head out to see who it is. Usually they are met with a firm volley of abuse in Creole, but this time it is the guests he has been expecting. The Haitian national football team bus has arrived for training the day before one of the most important matches in the team's history: a 2014 World Cup qualifier against the minnows of the U.S. Virgin Islands. It is also the country's first home football match since as many as 300,000 people were killed when a massive 7.0 earthquake reduced much of the city to rubble. "It's 46 degrees on the pitch, we just measured it," lamented the team's Brazilian coach Edson Tavares. It is three in the afternoon, the same time the match is due to be played 24-hours later. "It's crazy. FIFA [football's world governing body] agreed to move the match to this time. CONCACAF [the governing body for the Caribbean] said no. What do they know? They work out of New York and know nothing about the heat in the Caribbean." But the change in time was a necessity as much for the Haitians as anyone else. Electricity is scarce in the city, too scarce for the expensive but impotent flood lights that had been installed. Soccer salvation: How Haiti is healing after its earthquake . Haitian football, like virtually every aspect of Haitian society, was almost terminally injured when the earthquake hit in January 2010. The Haitian Football Federation's headquarters were leveled, killing more than 30 of its staff. Its president, Yves Jean Bart, was one of only two survivors. The stadium itself had become, like any other scrap of spare space in Port au Prince, a makeshift camp. Hundreds of families lived here until being moved out in July when a new pitch was laid. A torn blue ribbon of despair still surrounds it. Workers busily paint the steps inside blue, yellow and red -- the colors of the Haitian flag -- to erase the memory of its temporary incarnation. The smell is of paint, excrement from the nearby open sewers and burning trash. The HFF president, knowing that the game has such a place in Haiti's heart, went on to rebuild the federation and hired Tavares to achieve the dream of emulating Haiti's golden generation who qualified for the 1974 World Cup. "My first impression was to take my flight back to Brazil," Tavares explains a few hours before traveling to the stadium. "The country was completely devastated. Today is a paradise compared. If you compare with last year ... you could be walking the street and find the [severed] legs of people, the arms of people." Tavares began by paying for his own flight to Europe, where he hired a car and visited the professional players of Haitian descent who play on the continent. "I rented a car to travel to five countries to persuade the players to play for his original country. Only one refused. We contacted 20 players. And they are here. Most of them don't speak Creole. One only speaks Italian. One only German." The squad for the U.S. Virgin Islands' game was full of talented new professionals gleaned from the diaspora, like Jean-Eudes Maurice who is on Paris Saint-Germain's books and goalkeeper Steward Ceus, a New Yorker born and raised who plays for the Colorado Rapids. "I was in college when I heard a buzz about Haiti being interested in seeing me," explains Ceus, whose grandmother used to be a baker for the former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Soccer storm in the Caribbean: How diplomacy faltered over football . "Coming here left me speechless. The fans come after training, before training, crowding around the bus. My passion for soccer has always been there and I always wished that the people around me shared that passion. For the first time I found the passion I've been looking for." Yet sometimes passion isn't enough and Tavares hopes that the professionalism of his new team will rub off on the local players, who he believes are some of the most talented in the world. "I have never seen a country with so many talents as here," he says. "If you put these guys in Manchester United and Barcelona, they would be great player[s]. The problem is to be a great player you need good food and a good environment. Here is nothing." On the morning of the match the country's president Michel Martelly, a former singer known as "Sweet Micky", arrives to meet the players. He shakes each by the hand, presents them with a flag and sings the national anthem together. "I believe there's a new movement. There's a new will to show a new face of Haiti," he says. "Haiti is ready to show that new face. In the past we talk about our problems and issues. But today is a chance to prove that today Haiti can be a great nation and can be victorious. I couldn't express in words what Haiti would be like if ... when, not if, we qualify for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil." As kick off approaches 10,000 Haitians, maybe more, try and fail to crush through the single open door into the stadium at the same time. A police blockade had been thrown around the stadium. Creole rap music is played at ear-splitting level. The crowd push forward in the hope of getting in, the police use shields and clubs to beat them back. It's chaos, but such is the passion for football in Haiti, that a match against a tiny team like the U.S. Virgin Islands brings the country to a standstill. "I am very happy, we will have our victory. This will be a victory for all of Haiti," explains Johnny, a 28-year-old engineer and translator waiting in line behind the crowd, which had by now threatened to get out of control. But then the rain comes, just in time to dampen the anger as the fans run to take cover. "Life is very hard here," Johnny adds. "With God everything is possible. But this is the reason why football can change something. I hope Haiti scores ten goals." Haiti tear the U.S. Virgin Islands apart. Six goals are scored, the post is hit three times, sending the crowd delirious. Ceus is a virtual spectator until the final whistle. "I did touch the ball once," he says with a wink as he comes off the pitch. "But not with my hands." There is a long way to go. Tougher tests lie ahead. On Tuesday they play Curacao. Next, perhaps Jamaica or Mexico or the dream ticket: USA. But, for now, Les Grenadiers brought something to Haiti that has been in short supply for so long: hope. "I feel so happy to see what happened in the country and to see all the Haitians come to the game. It was incredible," says James Marcelin, the Portland Timbers player who scored in the rout. "We only have one thing left, and that's football. You can play and all the world is watching you. The flag can fly everywhere because of football. It's the one thing that people live for now."

Haiti prepare for the 2014 World Cup qualifier against minnows U.S. Virgin Islands . Country's first home match since 300, 000 people were killed in a 7.0 earthquake . The earthquake leveled the Haitian Football Federation's headquarters killing more than 30 of its staff .

Kathmandu, Nepal (CNN) -- To see her playing with her friends, Maya Lama seems much like any other child. But until last year, the 12-year-old Nepalese girl led a very different existence, forced to work grueling 16-hour shifts in a carpet factory in Nepal's capital, Kathmandu. Maya's ordeal began in 2011 when, as a 10 year old, she came to the city for a visit with her uncle. Little did she know he would force her into becoming one of the country's estimated 1.6 million child laborers, putting her to work in exchange for money to give her parents. For the next year, instead of going to school, she said she was made to work from 4 a.m. to 8 p.m. everyday, with barely any breaks. Like Maya, Yangzee Sherpa from Taplejung in northeastern Nepal was also coerced to join the workforce at an early age. She said her grandfather brought her to the capital to work because the family needed money. "My father was an alcoholic and my mother couldn't take care of me," said the 12 year old. "I don't know why they sent me to work while my two brothers went to school." Nepal's underage workers . Though child labor is illegal in Nepal, an estimated 1.6 million children between the ages of five and 17 years are in the work force, according to the National Child Labor Report. About three-quarters of them are under the age of 14, and most are girls. Child workers are a frequent sight on Kathmandu's streets, whether cleaning dishes in local restaurants or making a living as conductors on the city's public transport. Many are employed in the carpet, brick and garment industries, or in private homes as domestic workers. Employers typically see the relationship as a mutually beneficial arrangement, providing the children accommodation and education, as well as a salary that supports their families, said Krishna Hari Pushkar, director general of Nepal's Department of Labor. Though working as underage domestic help is defined as child labor, there is a mutual agreement between the children, their parents and the employers, Pushkar said, referring to it as "social adoption." Rescued from forced labor . Thousands of children continue to work as breadwinners for their families. Maya and Yangzee are some of the lucky ones. They were rescued by Nepal Goodweave Foundation, a local non-governmental organization that works to eradicate child labor within the carpet industry. Today, they live with more than 30 other children, all under 14, at the foundation's transit home in Kathmandu. A regular day at this hostel-like facility is filled with children chattering, playing and attending classes. But when they sit and share their past, an eerie hush falls over the room. While Nepal's Interim Constitution of 2007 guarantees the rights of children, and the country has signed major international conventions against child labor, enforcement is weak. Under its National Master Plan on Child Labor, the country has identified the worst forms of child labor -- bonded labor, domestic child labor and carpet weaving among them -- and aims to eliminate them by 2016. It hopes to eliminate all other forms of child labor by 2020. In a recent address during World Day Against Child Labour, Hanaa Singer, country representative of the United Nations Children's Fund to Nepal, said that addressing the issue should be a priority. However, she said the country lacks the number of labor inspectors necessary to effectively monitor child labor practices in illegal factories, or in residential situations where children are often employed as domestic helpers. Recently, protests rocked Nepal's capital following the death of a 12-year-old girl who was working as a domestic helper in the neighboring district of Lalitpur. Srijana Chaudary, a former kamlari or bonded laborer, self-immolated in March because of her perceived academic failures, according to her employers' testimony to the police. While police ruled her death a suicide, activists argued that the girl was ill-treated and her employers should be held accountable for her death. In response to the public outcry, the government agreed to form a committee to investigate the case. Its report is still to be released. The modern problem of kamlari . While forms of bonded labor have existed in Nepal for centuries, the contemporary kamlari issue stems from the 1950s, when the eradication of malaria in the country's Terai region led migrants from other parts of the country to move in and occupy land traditionally owned by the Tharu ethnic community. With no legal records of their traditional land ownership, the Tharus were forced to become agricultural laborers for their new landlords and many were forced into debt. Many Tharu girls as young as five were sold into indentured domestic servitude by their families as a way of repaying the debts, where they could experience years of unpaid menial labor, violence and abuse, according to Shanta Chaudhary, herself a former kamlari. When Nepal officially banned the practice in 2000, an estimated 200,000 bonded laborers from 37,000 households were emancipated, according to the survey statistics from the Backward Society Education, a non-governmental organization working to eradicate the practice. But with the government ban focusing largely on men working in the farms, girls working as child slaves for their landlords were mostly overlooked, said Man Bahadur Chhetri from the Kamlari Abolition Project, a part of the U.S.-based non-profit Nepal Youth Foundation. According to Chhetri, some 12,000 kamlaris have since been rescued. However, he said, more than 500 girls, especially in Kailai and Kanchanpur districts in far-western Nepal, are still working as child domestic workers. A family tradition . Shanta was among those rescued following the 2006 decision by Nepal's Supreme Court to make the kamlari practice illegal. "I was born into a family of bonded laborers," said Shanta, now an activist and former Constitutional Assembly member in Nepal's interim parliament. "I was expected and forced to work since I was eight." For the next 18 years, Shanta said she toiled under harsh circumstances as a domestic worker, serving her landlord in Dang in mid-west Nepal. She was freed when she was 26. Now 32, she has taught herself to read and write, entered politics and successfully contested the 2008 general election. Despite government efforts, Shanta thinks while poverty continues to exist in Nepal, so will child labor. "It might be minimized but not completely eradicated," she said. According to the United Nations Development Program's International Human Development Indicator, 44.2% of Nepal's population lives under the poverty line. In extreme cases, some parents send children to work. Sometimes, children themselves run away in search of a better life. While many Nepalese children are still trapped in this abysmal situation, the ones rescued share optimism for a better future -- their traumatic past has not killed these children's dreams. "I want to study and become a counselor so I can help children like myself when I grow up," Maya said. Yangzee, on the other hand, said she wants to continue the alpine legacy of her community. "I'm going to climb a mountain someday," she said. "It'll be Everest."

Though child labor is illegal in Nepal, an estimated 1.6 million aged between five and 17 work . About three-quarters of child laborers are under the age of 14, and most are girls . Many are employed in the carpet, brick and garment industries . The country hopes to eliminate the practice by 2020, but former child laborers are skeptical .

(CNN)One military wife recalls staying up all night and deleting every Facebook picture of her children, every post that mentioned them or where they went to school. She Googled herself, trying to figure out how easy it would be to find where the family lived. In the morning, she went to her car and scraped the military decal off the front window. As the spouse of a Special Forces soldier, she's always tried to be conscious of how much she advertises that she and her three young children are a military family. "It's hard because I am so proud of what my husband does, but lately so many spouses that I know are actually scared that they could be targets of ISIS or someone who sympathizes with ISIS," she said, asking that CNN keep her name out of the story for that reason. This week brought the latest in a string of attacks that members of military families say has spooked them into quietly changing the way they operate online and in real life. The U.S. military's Central Command Twitter account was hacked. In all caps, this message: "AMERICAN SOLDIERS, WE ARE COMING. WATCH YOUR BACK. ISIS." The tweet included a link to a statement that said, in part, "We won't stop! We know everything about you, your wives and children. U.S. soldiers! We're watching you!" The hacker managed to post other threatening messages, propaganda videos and some military documents until the accounts were disabled. Central Command quickly assured that it was relatively easy to hack Twitter, no serious security details were revealed and it would find who was behind the hack. Army wife Ashley Broadway-Mack said the messages just amplified the anxiety she already feels after recent terror attacks targeting military personnel, law enforcement officers and civilians. She and other family members told CNN this week that they first began to think about the possibility in May 2013 when a uniformed British soldier in London was murdered by two men who shouted "Allahu akbar," or "God is great." Others started to fear the possibility of their service members or themselves being targeted after the killing of a Canadian soldier during an October attack on the country's Parliament. Attacks and plots in Australia have them concerned, too, they said. In September, the Australian prime minister said a plot to kidnap a member of the public, behead the victim and then drape him or her in an ISIS flag had been thwarted. In December, a self-styled Muslim cleric held hostages in a Sydney cafe for 17 hours, a drama that ended with the deaths of two hostages. The gunman, who was known for sending hate mail to military families, was killed. The slayings in Paris, for which al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has taken responsibility, have prompted Broadway-Mack to think about security at North Carolina's Fort Bragg. "Before the incident in Canada, I honestly didn't think ISIS was a threat to our family or other military families," she said. "I worry about the hundreds, thousands of folks going to and from work in uniform. They, too, could be targets. I think of other areas around the country where there's a large military presence -- an attack, ambush, lone terrorist is something I fear. "I hate to say it, but I honestly no longer think if, but when and where," she said. "I think it's only a matter of time." In late November, the FBI issued a warning to U.S. military members that ISIS was calling for attacks against them, a law enforcement source told CNN. The source said that "overseas based individuals are looking for like-minded individuals in the U.S. to carry out these attacks." The warning asked members of the military to "review their online social media presence for any information that might attract the attention of violent extremists." The bulletin also said authorities were concerned that ISIS members were "spotting and assessing" individuals in the United States who may be interested in carrying out attacks inside the country against members of the military, a U.S. counterterror official told CNN. Lori Volkman, who is married to a commanding officer, said she knows military members and spouses who have stopped openly carrying their uniforms to their car after a visit to the dry cleaners. Some have stopped wearing clothing with military insignia and are more careful when they open their wallet to avoid showing military IDs or payment cards. The small, simple changes don't mean military family members are running scared, Volkman said. But it was difficult when her young daughter was watching television this week and saw the news about the Centcom hack and the threat that ISIS was coming for soldiers. "She turned and looked at me and you could see it registering -- we're soldiers. She had a very worried look," Volkman said. "But kids are comforted by whatever their parents tell them. We can't live our lives in fear and we try to reassure them." A blogger and communications firm CEO, Volkman wonders how she would even begin to scrub her online presence. Angela McCormick Ricketts says she's thrown her hands up. Her memoir, "No Man's War" is a critical success. She's done a lot of press and is omnipresent online. "I'm probably screwed if ISIS starts targeting yappy military spouses, so it's too late now! There's also a part of me that thinks that's what they want -- to make us always looking over our shoulders. So no. No to all of it," she said. It's a matter of principle, she and others said. Why should families bend to fear and stop sharing online when social media has helped many of them get through 14 years of nonstop war? Though the military has at times struggled with how much freedom its members should have on social media, relatives have wholeheartedly embraced it. Military families appear to use social media at higher rates than civilians, according to data from the Pew Research Center. Social media as we now know it wasn't even around when the Afghanistan war began. Facebook launched in 2004, almost exactly a year after the United States invaded Iraq. Now, dozens of military spouses have blogs and Facebook caters to the community. A 2014 survey by military advocacy group Blue Star Families found that 75% of 6,200 respondents considered the use of social media to be very important. Beyond using it to get practical information like, say, what's happening on a base, social platforms opened up a military culture that has historically discouraged displays of emotion. Social media has offered a safe space to reveal trauma and heartache. It's brought more comfort and less isolation. A spouse in Montana who was gripped by depression during a third deployment can find a spouse in New York who was going through the same thing, and they can help each other in a way that no traditional therapy could. Marine Corps. spouse Liz Snell relies on her new non-profit's website Military Spouses of Strength to be a conduit to family members who have suffered from depression and the general wrung-out feeling of enduring years of war. Her husband has been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan five times. "I see being online as a way to stay honest, to stay healthy, to help," she said. "I don't want that to be hurt because of some threats that are just some dumb hacker. I don't want to let them win that way." Amy Bushatz agrees. The Army wife writes the SpouseBuzz column for military.com, which has 10 million members. "Being a military family is a vulnerable experience, period. If you live in a military town, this is the norm," she said. "Is there more cautiousness now? Sure, but that's not a bad thing. (There won't) be a victory for anyone who thinks they can frighten us." CNN's Pamela Brown and Jim Sciutto contributed to this report.

After recent terror attacks and Twitter hack, some military spouses say they're changing behavior . Some are trying to scrub their online presence and change how they advertise they're military . Central Command Twitter account hacked with message: "American soldiers, we are coming. ISIS"

(CNN) -- The death toll mounted Thursday as survivors struggled to regain a semblance of the normalcy that Superstorm Sandy swept away this week when it struck the Northeast. In some cases, tempers grew short. "We're gonna die down here!" wailed Donna Solli to Sen. Chuck Schumer as he toured her waterlogged neighborhood in New York's Staten Island with a group of reporters. "When is the government coming?" Solli said residents needed gas, food and clothes. "We're gonna freeze," she said on a day when the 50-degree temperature was predicted to drop to the low 40s. "We've got 90-year-old people!" The Democratic senator from New York said he understood and hugged her. Solli said her basement was flooded and her refrigerator was upside down. "I stayed here because I have an elderly dog," she told a reporter. "We nearly drowned." Solli added that she had had little to eat. "One slice of pizza in 48 hours." As he surveyed the damage in the neighborhood, the politician told a reporter, "This is the worst thing I've ever seen, and it's killing me what these people have to go through. We'll get whatever federal help we can, that's for sure." Afterward, a senior administration official told CNN that a convoy of 10 Red Cross trucks filled with food, water and medicine arrived Thursday evening on Staten Island. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and FEMA Deputy Administrator Richard Serino were to travel Friday to Staten Island to meet with state and local officials and view the response and recovery efforts, the White House said. Some people were not complaining. About 90 miles north of Staten Island, the mayor of Danbury, Connecticut, Mark D. Boughton, was visiting a special-needs shelter on Wednesday night when he met a 106-year-old woman who had cancer and was in hospice. "She's happy to be alive," he tweeted. "Every day is a gift." Contacted by telephone, Boughton said the cheerfulness of the lifelong resident of Danbury had inspired him. "The essence of it was, look, you gotta make each day count," he said. "You don't know when your time comes." In Sandy's wake, at least 157 people died, at least 88 of them in the United States, two in Canada and 67 in the Caribbean. Among them were two children whose bodies were found Thursday. The boys, ages 2 and 4, had been riding with their mother, Glenda Moore, on Staten Island when the storm surge swamped their SUV, authorities said. Police said Moore gave them this account: When her Ford Explorer was blown into a hole, she got out, took out her children and carried them to a nearby tree. There, she held on to the boys, Brandon and Connor, as rain poured and hurricane-strength winds gusted. After hours, she walked with her children to a nearby house to seek help. A man opened the door but refused to let them in. Desperate, she went to his back porch and threw a flower pot at the window in an attempt to get inside. But she was not able to do so. Meanwhile, her children were swept away. Their bodies were found nearby on Thursday. Relatives said Moore was too distraught to speak with CNN. The owner of the house, who asked that he not be identified, disputed Moore's account, saying he saw only a man. "He didn't come to the door, he came on the stairs at the back of the house, and he was standing at the bottom of the stairs," said the man. "He took a concrete flower pot and threw it through the door." The man at the door, he said, didn't ask to enter the house, but instead asked the owner of the house to leave it in order to help. "What could I do to help him?" he asked. "I'm wearing the same clothes ... the same shorts and flip-flops I had that night. And I was going to come out?" The man told CNN he sat up for the rest of the night, with his back against the door in the kitchen. He said the deaths were a tragedy, but that the woman was at fault. "She shouldn't have been out," he continued. "She shouldn't have been out on the road." There was nothing he could have done, he added. "I'm not a rescue worker ... If I would have been outside, I would have been dead." Interactive: Remembering the victims . Sandy claimed at least 37 lives in New York City, Mayor Michael Bloomberg told reporters Thursday. Victims fall to Mother Nature's wrath . Authorities in nine states worked to restore basic services such as public transit and electricity. In New York City, nearly 500,000 customers were without power. In Manhattan, many of the 220,000 customers without electricity were south of Midtown's 34th Street. Parts of Queens and Staten Island also had no electricity Thursday. "Restoring power will take a lot of time," the mayor said. Gov. Andrew Cuomo, in a letter to utilities, warned of consequences if authorities discover that they failed to prepare properly. "Under such circumstances, I would direct the Public Service Commission to commence a proceeding to revoke your certificates," he wrote. That message was not lost on its intended targets. "We're doing our damnedest to get our power back as quickly as possible," said John Miksad, senior vice president of electric operations at Con Ed. New York's vast transit network remains hobbled. The Metropolitan Transit Authority said 14 of the city's 23 subway lines were running and a flotilla of 4,000 buses was attempting to take up the slack. For some, Thursday's commute into Manhattan from the outer boroughs took five hours. Bloomberg predicted that would ease as tunnels are cleared of water, power is restored to subway lines and ferries resume service. Electricity or not: Tale of two cities . Getting water out of the tunnels is "one of the main orders of business right now," Cuomo said. Broadway theaters reopened Thursday, and organizers vowed to hold the New York City Marathon as scheduled on Sunday. Event organizer Mary Wittenberg said the race wouldn't divert resources from the recovery. Sandy's effects, state by state . Three days after Sandy barreled ashore in southern New Jersey, search-and-rescue crews were going door-to-door in some neighborhoods looking for people, particularly the elderly, who may have been stranded by the power outages, the debris and remaining floodwater. Sandy killed at least six people in New Jersey, said Gov. Chris Christie, who had warned people in low-lying areas to evacuate. Dangling crane secure, engineers say . Christie asked for patience as crews worked to restore electricity to more than 2 million power company customers. The federal government shipped 1 million meals Thursday to New York, where National Guard troops were distributing them to people in need, Cuomo told reporters. Mobile networks team up to help . The storm dumped up to 3 feet of snow in West Virginia and Maryland, leaving thousands without power. Nearly 3.5 million customers across the eastern United States were still in the dark Thursday, down from nearly 8 million in its immediate aftermath. How to help . By Thursday, Sandy's remnants had headed into Canada. The National Weather Service predicted a nor'easter next week from the mid-Atlantic states into New England. But the forecast said the storm would be far weaker than Sandy. CNN's Chelsea J. Carter, Tom Watkins, Joe Sterling and Melissa Gray contributed to this report.

Superstorm Sandy deaths reach 157 overall, including at least 88 in the U.S. Nearly a half-million New York City customers are still without power . The New York City Marathon is still scheduled for Sunday . Despite hobbled transit, commuters go to work .

(CNN) -- The Yankee soldier, who had meager possessions, must have been proud of his ring and its distinctive diamond-shaped centerpiece. Somehow, the size-11 ring was lost, discarded or left behind, only to be swallowed by the earth on a rise near Millen, Georgia. Untouched by human hands for nearly 150 years, the ring recently was discovered by archaeology students who have unearthed more artifacts at the site of Camp Lawton, a Civil War stockade and prison. The Georgia Southern University team is finding personal items that will help tell the desperate story of Union soldiers who tried to stay alive while food was scarce and disease rampant. "The camp is as rich in information as we thought it was," said Kevin Chapman, a graduate student who last spring found the first of what promises to be an astounding yield of artifacts. The university in Statesboro Thursday unveiled more than a dozen of the 60 to 70 items uncovered last month. The school's museum also has acquired what's believed to be the only surviving letter from a prisoner at the short-lived camp. The recent finds include a pocketknife, buckle, a Michigan-made token used for trading and a couple of keys. The man's ring and a uniform or cap badge were found within 10 feet of each other, according to Chapman. The badge also includes a diamond feature. The Georgia Southern team believes the diamonds may represent the Union's III Corps, which saw action in numerous battles, including Fredericksburg and Gettysburg, before a reorganization in March 1864 saw it merged with other units. The corps used a diamond on its flags and insignia. "They were so proud of their service they wore badges long after it disbanded," Chapman said of the III Corps veterans. Chapman says if that portion of the camp is shown to have housed veterans of the III Corps, descendants may one day be able to gaze at the precise spot where an ancestor lived. "You can touch that ground and connect to 150 years before," he told CNN. Chapman found the precise location of the slave-built stockade last year and, in the soil beneath tall pine trees, the first of nearly 300 artifacts recovered at the site of the Confederacy's largest prison. The first find was detailed this time last year by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and Georgia Southern University. The prisoner artifacts were located on federal property -- the Bo Ginn National Fish Hatchery. The camp's location also extends into state property, the adjoining Magnolia Springs State Park, where the Confederate commissary, hospital and commander quarters existed. Only archaeologists and other officials are allowed on the fenced-in dig site on the hatchery grounds. This discovery of so many Civil War-era items -- including a smoking pipe, uniform buttons, a picture frame, coins, utensils, bullets and objects fashioned by Union prisoners -- is unparalleled for many reasons, archaeologists said. Civil War prisoner's letter: 'Hopeing the scene may soon change' With the exception of a farmer's plow 100 years ago, the 42 acres about 80 miles northwest of Savannah have been largely untouched. That includes being missed by relic hunters and looters who, federal officials say, "are both thieves of time." Over the years, people have picked clean known Civil War sites, including the notorious Andersonville prison site in west-central Georgia. Camp Lawton was built to help ease Andersonville's overcrowding. The site's remote location and maps describing it as brushy and overgrown likely saved it from relic hunters, archaeologists said. Some of the artifacts are on display at the Georgia Southern University Museum in Statesboro, about 40 miles south of the camp. The university museum recently purchased a letter written by Cpl. Charles H. Knox to his wife in Schroon Lake, New York. Knox, a member of the 1st Connecticut Cavalry, wrote it only eight days before the camp was evacuated when Union forces approached. Knox expresses hope that he will be part of a prisoner exchange between Union and Confederate forces and advises his wife, Frances, to consider selling the family cow to raise money. "I am here & shall get out some time & hope that will be soon, but don't know," Knox wrote. The horseman was shipped back to Andersonville and not paroled until late February 1865, near war's end. Using modern technology along with shovels, prisoner drawings and topographic maps, Chapman pinpointed the prisoner site and found a U.S. cent of a type that was last manufactured in 1858, six years before Camp Lawton opened. Nails and other items showed that the sloped camp was the living area for nearly 10,000 men who built shelters and lean-tos near Magnolia Springs. Having just survived the scorching 1864 summer, they dug into the earth to shelter them from a cold winter, which included a November snowfall. Then, suddenly, in late November 1864, the camp was abandoned. The prisoners were taken to other camps, including back to Andersonville, as the Yankees approached during the famous March to the Sea. Archaeologists think that prisoners may have been taken to the depot in Millen in the middle of the night, and were forced to leave behind their camp belongings and thousands of keepsakes from their homes up north. Between 725 and 1,330 men died at the prison camp in the six weeks it existed. Officials said they know the "general vicinity" of soldier graves, but have no plans to disturb them. Conditions in Northern POW camps often weren't much better. About 3,000 imprisoned Confederates, for example, died in Elmira, New York. "Some of the saddest part of our history was the handling of prisoners on both sides," John Derden, professor emeritus of history at East Georgia College in Swainsboro, told CNN last year. There are no known photos of Camp Lawton and few details of the stockade, but a Union mapmaker painted watercolors of the prison. He also kept a 5,000-page journal that included descriptions of the misery at the camp. "The weather has been rainy and cold at nights," Pvt. Robert Knox Sneden, who was previously imprisoned at Andersonville, wrote in his diary on November 1. "Many prisoners have died from exposure, as not more than half of us have any shelter but a blanket propped upon sticks. ... Our rations have grown smaller in bulk too, and we have the same hunger as of old." The land slipped into obscurity for about 70 years, when some of it became part of Magnolia Springs State Park. Until last year, a few entrenchments were the only signs of Camp Lawton. That began to change in late June 2010, when federal officials erected a locked and guarded fence to safeguard the artifacts found at its hatchery. They are working with their Georgia counterparts to ensure the site is not touch by unauthorized individuals. Some coins, tokens and other objects that have been found were made in Europe, and indicate Union regiments made up of soldiers with Irish and German ancestry, Chapman, 37, said last year. Chapman said the team wants to learn about daily life for Union prisoners and their Confederate keepers. "Right now we are estimating the limits of the encampment and the prisoner occupation area," he said Wednesday. "We are going to continue exploring the Confederate side." He estimated less than 1% of the site occupied by prisoners has been surveyed. "We are just getting our feet in the door," said Chapman. "This is once in a lifetime."

Nearly 300 artifacts have been found in early archaeological investigations . The site is unusual in that it has not been picked over by relic hunters . Some of the items are on display at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro .

(CNN)Whether you think spying on your kids is acceptable in today's digital age or a breach of trust seems to really depend on how you define "spying" in the first place. In conversations over email with parents across the country, it's clear that people have dramatically different views about the definition and whether it's an appropriate behavior to help keep children safe. "I don't call it spying. I call it parenting," said Amanda Rodriguez, a mom of three boys in Frederick, Maryland, which is pretty much how I feel as well. Rodriguez says her sons know she will have the passwords to all their social media and email accounts until they're 18 and that she regularly reads the texts of her oldest son, who's now 13. "I'm not sitting around listening on the other handset when he's on the phone or wearing a disguise to the school dance, but ... were I to become suspicious about his actions or fearful of his safety, I would totally get out my fake mustache and crash a dance," said Rodriguez, founder of the blog Dude Mom. John Furjanic, who has a 7-year-old daughter, says spying may sound bad, but it can save a child's life. "When Elsa was an infant, I spied on her all the time. She had no choice in the matter. We even had a baby monitor," said Furjanic. "As children get older, the risks they will run into grow." On the other side are parents such as Lori Day, an educational psychologist and mom of a daughter in graduate school, who considers spying "an invasion of privacy and a violation of trust." "I think spying on kids is wrong," said Day, author of "Her Next Chapter," a book about mother-daughter book clubs. "It's a good way of sabotaging your relationship with your child if you get caught." That is along the lines of what happened to another mom, who didn't want to give her name for fear of throwing her own mother under the bus by talking publicly about an incident when she was younger. "When I was a young teen, I caught my mother reading my diary, and to this day, I haven't forgiven her for it. I don't want my children to feel the same way about me," she said, adding that she will try her hardest to respect her children's privacy when they get older. 'Brutally Honest': What if you don't like your kids' friends? Change the word "spy" to "monitor with a child's knowledge" and you get more agreement on the part of parents that it's an entirely appropriate thing to do when kids are spending much of their free time on social media. Some 43% of parents with children younger than 18 who have smartphones said their kids know they monitor their phone activity, according a poll conducted near the end of 2013. Cherylyn Harley LeBon, a mother of two, said she reads her children's texts and has controls on their computer so she knows what sites they are visiting. "I would prefer to call it 'oversight,' which is what my parents employed when my siblings and I were growing up in our small town in western New York when there were fewer issues requiring oversight, namely no Internet, no texting, no issues with young girls meeting young boys/men online and then meeting them in person," said Harley LeBon, a writer, strategist and former senior counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Janeane Davis also says she checks her children's text messages and Internet history and even reviews criminal records to keep tabs on her daughter who goes to college out of state. "I have not found problems yet, but I plan to continue to spy on them as long as I am responsible for them," said Davis, a mom of four who blogs at Janeane's World. "Just as it is my duty to feed, clothe and shelter them, it is my duty to monitor their behavior and protect them from potential harm." The rule in Rhonda Woods' house is that all passwords and login codes for all apps and devices must be known by her and her husband, or the devices are taken away. "I will periodically ask my kids to unlock their devices and walk me through their apps, etc. I always explain why I want to see their devices and if I'm looking for something in particular," said Woods, a real estate agent in New Milford, Connecticut, and mother of three, ages 20, 13 and 13. Amy Tara Koch also believes in monitoring her 12-year-old daughter's social media accounts but decided to let texts remain private. "I really believe in establishing a high level of trust," said Koch, an author, journalist and style expert. "In order to have access to a phone ... my daughter had to prove that she could follow rules (my husband had her write an essay!) and commit to limits on phone/social media use. She has really followed through, so I do not read her texts." The key to keeping kids safe and keeping their trust at the same time is making sure your children are aware you are monitoring them, says family therapist and parenting strategist Tricia Ferrara. "Be clear and candid that you will have access to any and all accounts until the child has been consistent with accountability and judgment offline as well as online," said Ferrara, author of "Parenting 2.0: Think in the Future, Act in the Now." 'Brutally Honest': Mean girls are getting younger . For parents such as Jennifer Alsip, a mom of two girls, 18 and 22, it was the threat alone of spying that eliminated the need to ever snoop on her children. "I never spied on my two daughters, but I always threatened them that I would if they ever gave me reason to not trust them," said Alsip, of Robinson, Texas. "I think the threat and them knowing I would actually do it if I needed to kept them honest." Terry Greenwald, a father of three grown children, also never spied on his kids when they were growing up. He recalls one incident where spying might have changed the outcome but said it would have altered the trust between him and his kids. "I believe mistakes are one way children learn to listen to parents and a part of growing up," said Greenwald. "I realize that allowing them the room to make mistakes is becoming more and more dangerous, but this is the world we live in." But it is precisely the new world we live, where everything you say online could be used against you at some point, that makes parents such as Nancy Friedman, founder of the video sharing site for tweens KidzVuz, believe it is important for parents to spy on their children's online lives. Chances are, your teen has sexted . "If you want privacy, the Internet is not the place to find it," said Friedman, who has twins in middle school. "Better for kids to find that out from their parents learning something about them the kid didn't want them to know than for it to be a college admission officer, potential employer or some ill-intentioned stranger getting closer than they'd like." Sharon Kennedy, a mom of two girls near Denver, has mixed feelings about the issue and probably sums up how a lot of parents reading this might feel. Sure, there are probably instances where some form of spying or monitoring is warranted, she says, especially when technology is such a huge part of everyday life, but aren't there other steps parents can put in place, she asks, such as banning computers and phones from the bedroom during evenings and trying to have family dinners together when possible? "I truly believe that being present has the most positive effect on our kids," said Kennedy. "More presence = the need for less spying (hopefully!)" Do you think it's OK to spy on your kids? Share your thoughts with Kelly Wallace on Twitter or CNN Living on Facebook.

In "Brutally Honest" video series, Kelly Wallace tackles provocative parenting questions . Parents are very divided about whether it's OK to snoop on kids in today's digital age . Poll: 43% of parents say they monitor their kids' smartphone activity .

(CNN) -- Violence swept across Syria on Friday, with at least 43 people reported killed in another bloody day of confrontation between government forces and demonstrators calling for political change. Reliable numbers were difficult to come by. CNN bases its figures on reports from witnesses. Amnesty International, citing local human rights activists, reported that at least 75 people were killed in Friday's protests. The Syrian government does not permit CNN to report from inside the country. The killings occurred in several flashpoint regions as thousands of Syrian protesters defiantly marched after Muslims' weekly prayers in a display of mass discontent toward the government. Violence ripped through the Damascus suburbs of Douma, Moademy, and Zamalka, and other cities -- Homs, Harasta, and Izraa. The state-run news agency reported demonstrations and clashes, citing injuries but no deaths. Human rights groups and witnesses told a different story. "Today, they have killed so many people. There are so many people injured and people have been kidnapped," Wissam Tarif, a human rights activist, told CNN. "They are acting as an armed gang, not as security forces." The violence prompted international condemnation, with British Foreign Secretary William Hague calling the killings "unacceptable," and calling on Syrian security forces "to exercise restraint instead of repression, and on the Syrian authorities to respect the Syrian people's right to peaceful protest." Before Friday's marches, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said the death toll had exceeded 200 since the demonstrations began in mid-March. Human rights groups had been urging the government to refrain from cracking down on peaceful turnouts during the Facebook-inspired outpouring dubbed "Great Friday." A witness in Douma said eight people died and approximately 25 were wounded when security forces fired on several thousand protesters. Riot police and secret police comprised the security forces and a sniper on a hospital roof was seen taking shots at people. Pellets and lethal rounds were used, the witness said, as people chanted for the downfall of the regime. A doctor in the Damascus suburb of Moadamy said six people were killed and dozens wounded when security forces fired in an "indiscriminate and disproportionate manner" on thousands of demonstrators. The doctor, a pediatrician, said it was difficult taking the wounded to the hospital. Syrian security forces had set up checkpoints across the area and were preventing anyone from entering or leaving the suburb. Five people were killed in the Damascus suburb of Zamalka, a witness said. An opposition leader in Homs said 12 people died and dozens were wounded when security forces fired on demonstrators. Protesters raced from the main streets for cover in smaller streets and alleys where they waited for the situation to calm. A witness said one of the dead was a 41-year-old demonstrator who was shot in the neck. Tarif said security forces fired on demonstrators from the southern city of Izraa who were trying to join protesters in nearby Daraa, killing nine and wounding others. Two people in Izraa reported seeing an assault on demonstrators and many casualties. An activist in Harasta in the south said 2,000 to 3,000 people met with a fierce crackdown by security forces, and heavy gunfire could be heard over the phone as the witness spoke. Three people have been killed and nine wounded, the source said. In protest, demonstrators burned down a police station. In Daraa, where the protests got their start last month, people shouted "dignity and freedom!" Activist Razan Zaitouneh in Damascus said security forces in the suburb of Sit Zainab fired on demonstrators who were tearing down a statue of Hafez al-Assad, the president's late father and the former ruler of Syria. She said three people were wounded when security forces opened fire in Hasaka in the northeast. Witnesses reported demonstrations in the capital, Damascus, where people chanted slogans and tear gas was fired amid a moderate security presence. Amateur video obtained by CNN purportedly shows demonstrations in Homs, Damascus, Banias, Kiswah, and Qamlishi. CNN cannot independently confirm the authenticity of the material. The Syrian Arab News Agency said a "limited number of demonstrators" came out on Friday in the Damascus area, Hama, Deir Ezzour, Hasaka, Daraa, and Banias. It said security forces settled "scuffles that erupted between demonstrators and citizens" in Hama, Harasta, al-Hajar al-Aswad, and Hasaka. Demonstrations have been a daily occurrence across Syria for weeks and huge rallies have been common in the authoritarian state after Friday prayers across the predominantly Muslim nation. As people gathered to express their grievances toward the government, they've frequently been greeted with force from police. Friday's turnouts came a day after President Bashar al-Assad lifted the country's 48-year-old state of emergency and abolished the state security court, both of which were key demands of the demonstrators. The emergency law permitted the government to make preventive arrests and override constitutional and penal code statutes. The security court was a special body that prosecuted people regarded as challenging the government. Al-Assad's decrees on Thursday included recognizing and regulating the right to peaceful protest. They also extended the period that security forces can hold suspects in certain crimes. But Human Rights Watch says the decrees don't "address the extensive immunity that Syrian law provides to members of its security services." It urged al-Assad to undertake more change, such as releasing political prisoners and those arrested for participating in peaceful protests, order probes in security force violations, ensure detainees gain "prompt access to a lawyer," and amend repressive provisions of the penal code. It said the government, which is controlled by the Baath Party, should "enact a political parties' law in compliance with international human rights norms." Such a law would allow the establishment of independent political parties. Hague urged the government to address the citizenry's "legitimate demands." "Political reforms should be brought forward and implemented without delay," he said. "The Emergency Law should be lifted in practice, not just in word." Tarif also said that "lifting the emergency law is a big joke while the security forces have impunity. "This is going to become worse. Remember, tomorrow are the funerals," he said. U.S. President Barack Obama issued a statement in which he condemned "in the strongest possible terms" the use of force by the Syrian government against demonstrators. "This outrageous use of violence to quell protests must come to an end now," he said. "The Syrian people have called for the freedoms that all individuals around the world should enjoy: freedom of expression, association, peaceful assembly, and the ability to freely choose their leaders. President Assad and the Syrian authorities have repeatedly rejected their calls and chosen the path of repression." He accused Assad of "blaming outsiders while seeking Iranian assistance in repressing Syria's citizens through the same brutal tactics that have been used by his Iranian allies." Obama added, "The United States will continue to stand up for democracy and the universal rights that all human beings deserve, in Syria and around the world." In separate statements, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the spokesman for France's Ministry of European and Foreign Affairs condemned the violence. CNN's Joe Sterling, Arwa Damon, Nada Husseini and Salma Abdelaziz contributed to this report .

NEW: U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon joins chorus of international condemnation . "This is going to become worse," a human rights official predicts . "Great Friday" deaths reported in Homs, Izraa, Harasta and Damascus suburbs . Human rights groups have urged Syria not to use violence to suppress protests .

London (CNN) -- The year is 1962 and at Bromley Technical High School in London the lad who will become David Bowie is about to announce his musical intentions. Read review of David Bowie's new album . As the line of schoolboys shuffles into the makeshift careers office, the boy steps forward. His friend George Underwood takes up the story. "I was right behind David and the careers officer said 'So Mr. David Jones, what is it you are planning to do when you leave school?' And David said, 'Well I wanna be a saxophonist in a modern jazz quartet!' I laughed my head off after that because they didn't know how to pigeon hole people and they went down the category of music careers and he said 'I've got an interview for a job at a harp factory in Bromley' -- that's the nearest thing they had to music which I thought was hilarious." Music had already brought the two boys together as friends through a common interest in skiffle ("the punk music of its time" offers George) and membership of a church choir. Their vocal harmonies continued at school, singing Everly Brothers and Buddy Holly songs in the reverb-rich stairwell outside the art block, encouraged by their charismatic art master, Owen Frampton. Why we're just glad to have Bowie back . Frampton's son Peter joined the school three years after George and David and was soon in search of musical companions. "I asked my father who was head of the art department at the school, who was into music," says Frampton, " and he said well there's this David Jones character -- he seems to play guitar and sax." "So it was the three of us exchanging licks really -- they taught me Buddy Holly numbers and I showed them what I knew on guitar --so that's when our friendship started on those stone steps." Underwood and Jones formed a firm friendship, which led to an uncanny coincidence. "David's mother and my mother -- who didn't know each other -- were both knitting jumpers for us and lo and behold it was the same pattern and we were walking down Bromley High Street with the same jumpers like we were trying to pull birds!" David's fondness for American radio led to an interest in American football results. "No one at that time was into American football in those days. But David liked the image of the big shoulder pads and there was a certain glamor about the way they looked and he thought I'll get into American football." When Jones wrote to the U.S. Embassy in London about his enthusiasm the two boys were invited to visit and try on the equipment, the shoulder pads seeming like an inspiration for the wardrobe of the future Ziggy Stardust. But even best friends can have disagreements -- particularly when they are teenage boys trying to date the same girl. "I managed to chat her up and arranged to meet her a couple of days later in this club. And David was rather annoyed and said, 'Actually Carol doesn't want to go out with you she wants to go out with me and she didn't have the heart to tell you.'" George says David convinced him that the girl wouldn't turn up for the meeting. "I was upset but I decided to go down to the club an hour and a half later and her mate said she had waited for me for an hour and David had made me look like a right prat." Next day George couldn't contain himself when he heard David saying he had won George's girl. "I just saw red and I don't go around hitting people I promise you that -- honest -- I wasn't that type. I knew David wouldn't fight me and I was so annoyed I just went like that." (he makes a punching gesture). Peter Frampton takes up the story. "I remember the day because my father came home very agitated and told the story of one of his pupils hit the other one and there was a fight or something and I heard that Jones had to be taken to hospital but that's all I knew I didn't actually see it happen. But the unfortunate thing is that as well as teaching art my dad also taught boxing and George was in his class so I think my father felt rather responsible!" The incident left David with a frozen pupil, giving the effect that he has eyes of different colors, which contributed to the other-worldly look which became synonymous with the image of Bowie. "Oh God my stomach was turning," says Underwood. "That was the last thing I wanted. But anyway we made up and years later he told me I did him a favor so I don't feel so bad about it now!" All three boys dreamed of becoming pop stars. George and David played together in bands such as The Kon-rads and The King Bees but it was George who scored the first hit recording under the name Calvin James. Peter left school early at 16 to join hit-making bands The Herd and Humble Pie. That's when David Jones -- now performing as David Bowie -- took his first big step towards stardom. "When we were on the roads together David's first single 'Space Oddity' went to number 1" says Frampton. "He was number 1 in Europe and Humble Pie we were number 2 with 'Natural Born Boogie.'" The Bromley Tech alumni had arrived. George quit music to focus on art and David asked him to work on three of his most famous album covers -- "David Bowie," "Hunky Dory" and "Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars." He was invited along on the "Ziggy Stardust" tour to America, crossing the Atlantic on the QE2 liner, where David astonished other diners by turning up for dinner in full Ziggy costume. Underwood recalls the reaction of the fans on that pivotal tour. "The audience were just standing with their mouths open looking at him thinking, 'What am I seeing here?' It was interesting seeing that from the ground floor every night." After achieving huge success as a solo artist -- "Frampton Comes Alive" remains one of the best-selling live albums in music history -- Peter Frampton suffered a series of setbacks which left his career in tatters, until David invited him to record and tour with him in the 1980s. "I can't thank him enough for asking me. There are so many other people he could have asked. But he was very aware of what had happened to me as far as my musical credibility disappearing because of the pop icon deal that happened to me. It was very special of him to see that and take me back to places that I couldn't fill any more ... those kind of venues and take me around the world and reintroduce me as the guitar player and I still owe him." Peter went on to win a Grammy for his 2006 album "Fingerprints" while George has developed a career in painting which has included exhibitions at London's prestigious Royal Academy. All three remain firm friends today and plan to download the new album. Underwood says he wasn't concerned about Bowie's 10-year absence from recording. "I'm sure he'd let me know if there was anything wrong. There's all this speculation about his health but don't worry folks, he's fine -- the album proves it doesn't it?" "A lot of people have copied what he has done, in terms of re-inventing himself all the time, just when you think he's got him figured out," says Frampton. "He's an actor, he's a musician, he's an artist and he puts them all together and does what he wishes when he wishes and he's very confident about what he does. But he's the same guy I went to school with."

Peter Frampton and George Underwood recall their long friendship with David Bowie . David Bowie's new album, "The Next Day" was released on March 8 . All three friends played in school bands with bands, and remain friends . Frampton, says Bowie is healthy: "He's the same guy I went to school with"

(CNN) -- He's no longer the No. 1 golfer in the world, but there's no question that the sport of golf still revolves around Tiger Woods. And Woods remains a key player in the video game world, as well. This year marks the 15th anniversary of Electronic Arts' bestselling Tiger Woods PGA TOUR franchise. The new PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 games ship March 27, just before The Masters. Of late, Woods has shown a sense of humor when it comes to promoting Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 13, the first game to incorporate Kinect voice commands and controller-free gameplay into the franchise. In this exclusive interview, Woods talks about his love of video games, how his new game compares to playing the Masters and teaming up with future NBA Hall of Famer Shaquille O'Neal in the kung fu viral video, "Duel of the Masters." What video games did you play growing up? The first video game I played was Pong. It was fun because I grew up on Atari 2600, and that was the game console at the time and it became the 5200 and then I think Nintendo came out with theirs and kind of moved on from there. What are your thoughts on how far games have come since then? Oh, my god. The real awesome game at the time was Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, and Space Invaders, or games of that nature. And to see the realism that they have now and the facial recognition is just amazing, the body language and the movements. They're so lifelike. How have you seen games advance just during the course of time that you've worked on these Tiger Woods video games? This is my 15th year doing it and to see from the early days before mo-cap (motion-capture), where it was just a swing that they put on, to the mo-cap, to now in the game where there's actual facial movements that we have to do. The swing is identical to ours, and now with the whole Kinect, now we're actually moving our bodies. Now the body is the remote (controller). It's not just our thumbs. I think that's amazing to see how far gaming has come in such a short span of time. As someone who's played games your whole life, what have you learned about game development from working on these games? Well, it's just the man hours. I'm certainly no computer programmer, that's for darn sure, but I understand how complicated it really is. When you're a gamer as a kid, you just play it. You never really understand why. You don't care why. But now being a part of the game and representing EA, it's incredible to see the man hours that it takes and the detail that we have to put into it to make the game better each and every year. How involved are you when it comes to the development of these games each year? Quite a bit, because I try and make suggestions on how we can make the game better, how can we make the game more realistic, how can we make it so that it's what we see, what we play on real golf courses. How they're going to lay out the golf courses within 6 millimeters of Augusta National is quite phenomenal because I have all the greens charted in my books that I use each and every year. And to hit putts at Augusta and then go on to the game and hit the same putt, and I know it breaks three inches, and it breaks three inches in the game is just phenomenal. They're able to create that type of realism. Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 13 introduces voice commands. What's it like for you to actually talk to the Kinect in this game? It's pretty trippy. It really is. You can change clubs and ask for caddy advice ... all these different things that are now a part of it. It's just amazing as to how fast this has all come about in the last few years. What was it like working with Shaq on that new kung fu viral video? Man, he's a big dude. I've seen him around because I used to live in Orlando and he's actually a member of the same club that I used to live at and see him around, but I haven't seen him in a little bit and you just forget how big he is. He's a phenomenal athlete, as we all know. He's probably one of the greatest centers that ever played the game and to have him do the moves that he did for the game at that size is quite remarkable to see. He's so athletic, and what people don't realize about that spot is that he broke a TV on set. He was just messing around, doing all his moves and happened to do a side kick and kicked a monitor, which was an expensive mistake. Did you guys have time during the shoot to play any video games? No, we were basically messing with each other. We were giving each other a quite a bit of grief the entire time and it was fun to catch up. What's your favorite gadget that you can't live without? I've got to say iPhone or iPad. It's just amazing that you can have something that small to be able to do so many different functions and have it user-friendly and that my 3-year-old can pick up my iPhone or iPad and type in my code and go to what game he wants to play and what app he wants to use. It's pretty amazing. How big into technology are you? I wouldn't say I'm completely into it, but I certainly enjoy the laziness of new technology and always have. And with Tiger Woods games expanding to Facebook and to mobile devices do you play those versions? Yeah. Yeah. We run all that. I absolutely run through all those things. When you're not playing Tiger Woods Golf, what video game do you like to play? I usually play first-person shooter games, which is something I enjoy. Is there a particular one that you've played lately that you enjoyed? I enjoyed Medal of Honor quite a bit. Did you check out Medal of Honor: Warfighter yet? Yeah, I saw that (trailer). I'm excited. Are you kidding me? Do you ever go online and play against people in Medal of Honor? Playing online, they cheat. It's no fun. They're professionals, or they just cheat. That's how I look at it. That's my way of making myself feel better. Speaking of professionals, what are your thoughts about the fact that there are actual professional video game players out there today? You know, there really are. I met a guy a number of years ago who played my game for a living and he made 150 grand for a year playing my game. That's interesting because most of the pro gamers play games like Halo, Call of Duty and StarCraft II. Well, we brought in one of these guys from Australia. He had a whole book on certain wins. You have to hit the ball this hard and aim here and it's going to do this on the green, and he had this down to an absolute science. He had this huge notebook, and we brought him in as -- I guess -- a preventative hacker, you can say that. It was phenomenal. Have you checked out the new PS Vita? Yes, but I've never played or used it. So I'm excited about some time doing that. What are the challenges each year of adding new content to the Tiger Woods game franchise? That's the challenge. It's trying to give all the gamers out there something new, something challenging, but also keep it fun at the same time. [We] try and make it as real as we possibly can without losing the fun value in it.

This year marks the 15th Anniversary of EA's "Tiger Woods PGA TOUR" franchise . Tiger Woods says the first video game he played was "Pong" When he's not playing Tiger Woods Golf, he's usually playing first-person shooter games .

(CNN) -- They're not just constant characters on a television screen, these candidates who every four years seek the presidency. They're not present only to give us something to talk about for months on end. "What you feel like on certain days is a slow-moving target," said George Herbert Walker Bush, reflecting on the unsuccessful campaign when he sought reelection to the White House. They grin and wave at crowds, asking for our votes while implying eternal sunniness. To reveal that they are vulnerable to hurt would seem to be an admission of weakness. "I didn't like it," Gerald Ford said, speaking of being defeated when he ran on his own for president. "I was sad. But I never let my feelings be reflected publicly. ... Inwardly, inwardly. I never let it out. It's not my nature." The candidates know that only one person can win a presidential election, and that the loser, no matter how accomplished, will forever be associated with the fact of his defeat. Sometimes it is the incumbent; sometimes it is a challenger. The feeling of emptiness is the same, although the men who have lived in the White House and have then been denied a second term understand especially well just what it is they will be leaving behind. News: Polling center--down to the wire . "I think when I lost the reelection campaign for the presidency," Jimmy Carter said, "I think I did my best, and although Rosalynn was pretty -- well, bitter -- after the loss, I was not. I had to spend a long time assuaging her disappointment -- I'm sure she would agree with this if she was here in the room right now -- and I said to her, 'Rosalynn, we have a good life ahead of us.'" In my conversations over the decades with men who have served as president of the United States and who have had to leave office before they wanted to, we have spent significant time talking about the emotions that accompany the leave-taking. These are men who have reached a pinnacle the rest of us will never come close to achieving. Yet when they are turned away, their past accomplishments cannot fully soothe the sting. On Tuesday night, two men of considerable talent, soaring ambition and lifetimes full of triumphs will find out which one of them has been selected for a job they each covet, and which one has been rejected. Either Barack Obama or Mitt Romney is certain to be wounded to his core, even while the other man is celebrating to wild cheers. News: If Obama wins a second term... Very few people have known what it is like, on that highest of levels, to be seen as having failed. "If I had feelings," Richard Nixon said, "I probably wouldn't have even survived." His own final leave-taking, of course, was different from an election-night defeat. He had lost the presidency on a November night in 1960, then won it on November nights in 1968 and 1972. He might well have assumed that the defeats of his life were all past tense. And then came the resignation at the height of the Watergate crisis in August of 1974. He was defiant -- proudly so -- in not wanting to be seen as actively seeking sympathy. "I never wanted to be buddy-buddy," he said. "Not only with the press. Even with close friends. I don't believe in letting your hair down, confessing this and that and the other thing -- saying, 'Gee, I couldn't sleep, because I was worrying about this or that.' I believe you should keep your troubles to yourself. News: If Romney wins... "That's just the way I am. Some people are different. Some people think it's good therapy to sit with a close friend and, you know, just spill your guts ... so perhaps the younger generation should go in every time they are asked how they feel about this or that, and they should reveal their inner psyche -- whether they were breast-fed, or bottle-fed. "Not me. No way." The first President Bush, in talking about the pain of losing to Bill Clinton in 1992, also bristled at the memory of being expected to reveal to the public his private feelings: "I didn't feel comfortable with all this 'Larry King Live' and MTV," he said. He imitated the voice of a hard-bitten political adviser: "'Everybody else has been on MTV, you gotta show 'em you can communicate with the youth.' I kept being told ... " He let his voice trail off. Carter, recalling his 1980 loss to Ronald Reagan, told me: "So, yeah -- I think there is a lot of misapprehension about who a person is, even when he's being looked at all the time. ... A lot of the reporters who almost sort of condemned everything I'd done and said, and they were insinuating that I didn't have any intelligence, I didn't have any judgment, I didn't have any moral convictions ... I mean, it wasn't unanimous, but it was there. And even the reporters who were most negative about me, in my post-presidential years they have said, 'Wow, this guy has finally listened to what I said about him as president, and he's changed his ways now, he's got a little bit of sense, a little bit of judgment. ...'" Opinion: Stand up for centrist candidates . Carter laughed, with more than a hint of harshness. "I don't think I've changed," he said. On Tuesday night, the man who loses will have to assure his supporters that he and his family will be just fine. Betty Ford told me that her husband, after his defeat, did his level best to give that impression. "He really did try to be very stoic in his face," she said. "He told us that there always has to be a winner and there always has to be a loser, and that you shouldn't be in politics if you aren't aware of that. We didn't talk a lot about it, because there was no sense in dwelling on it. We both felt pretty terrible. But we couldn't change it." The real anguish Tuesday night will take place behind closed doors. Few will bear witness. In the 1972 election, George McGovern, who died last month at the age of 90, was wiped out by Richard Nixon. McGovern's press secretary, a novelist and former Los Angeles Times reporter named Dick Dougherty, later recalled what it was like to be in McGovern's hotel room that evening as McGovern was, line by line, editing his concession speech: . "His eyes welled over and a tear fell that was so large it splashed when it struck the top of his hand. A terrible sound came from him that was like a giggle except that it was as much a sob as a giggle. He got up. He said: 'I don't know why I do that when I'm sad -- why I laugh.' He moved quickly toward the bathroom. [McGovern's wife] Eleanor, beginning to cry again, said: 'George always does that. He always laughs when he feels most badly. ...'" They are not just names and moving images on millions upon millions of smart phone screens, these people who ask us to make them our president. And one of them, on one November night every four years, finds out what it is like to be told: Sorry. We've decided to go with someone else. Opinion: Crowley -- It's the losing campaigns I remember most . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Bob Greene.

Bob Greene: Candidates who lose a presidential race have deep, if unexpressed, feelings . He says many challengers lose, but losing incumbents he's talked to also had complex emotions . Ford said it wasn't his nature to outwardly lament defeat; Nixon defiant, not seeking sympathy . Greene: Someone wins, someone loses; it's painful to be told by voters: you're not the one .

(CNN) -- Celebrity business magnate Donald Trump endorsed Mitt Romney for president Thursday, telling reporters he will not mount an independent campaign if Romney is the Republican nominee. Trump, who has repeatedly flirted with the possibility of his own White House bid, revealed his decision in Las Vegas two days before Nevada's Saturday caucuses. "It's my honor, real honor, to endorse Mitt Romney," Trump said, with Romney and his wife standing nearby. Calling Romney "tough" and "smart," Trump said, "he's not going to continue to allow bad things to happen to this country." Romney responded by praising Trump for "an extraordinary ability to understand how our economy works and to create jobs" and for being "one of the few who has stood up to say China is cheating" in international trade. It was unclear whether Trump's decision will have any impact on the Republican race. A Pew survey last month found that 64% of definite and likely GOP voters said an endorsement from the reality television star would make no difference to them. In the survey, 13% said it would make them more likely to back a candidate, while 20% said it would actually make them less likely. "Endorsements rarely sway voters," Republican strategist Alex Castellanos said. But "the Trump endorsement undermines (Newt) Gingrich's argument that it is just the Washington establishment that is out to stop him and nominate Romney. Trump is the ultimate outsider." Trump was not always so positive regarding Romney's record. During an interview on CNN's "State of the Union" in April, Trump criticized Romney for eliminating jobs while in the private sector. "He'd buy companies. He'd close companies. He'd get rid of jobs," Trump told CNN Chief Political Correspondent Candy Crowley. "I've built a great company. My net worth is many many times Mitt Romney." Asked what changed since then to bring his endorsement of Romney, Trump told CNN later Thursday that his past comments were "political talk." "That was a long time prior to my getting to know him," Trump said of Romney. "But I have gotten to know him and he's a terrific guy. I don't know if he really comes out like he really is in person. He's a warm, smart, tough cookie and that's what this country needs. We need somebody that's tough, that will stop China and OPEC and all these other nations from just ripping us up. And i think he can do it." Perhaps in reference to Trump's earlier comments, Romney said Thursday after thanking Trump for the endorsement, "I spent my life in the private sector, not quite as successful as this guy but successful nonetheless." News of Trump's endorsement of the Republican front-runner came as the GOP candidates stumped for votes across Nevada and Romney continued to wrestle with fallout from a CNN interview in which the former Massachusetts governor said he wasn't "concerned about the very poor." Poll: Romney's big lead in Nevada . "We have a safety net" for the very poor, Romney told CNN's Soledad O'Brien on Wednesday. "If it needs repair, I'll fix it. I'm not concerned about the very rich; they're doing just fine. I'm concerned about the very heart of America, the 90%, 95% of Americans right now who are struggling, and I'll continue to take that message across the nation." Pressed by O'Brien, Romney noted that the poorest Americans have access to food stamps, Medicaid and housing vouchers. "You can choose where to focus," he said. "You can focus on the rich; that's not my focus. You can focus on the very poor; that's not my focus. My focus is on middle-income Americans." Romney later insisted that his words were taken out of context and reiterated the full context of the quote, which was meant to stress his focus on the middle class. "You've got to take the whole sentence, (or else) it sounds very different," he said. "We have a safety net for the poor. ... If there are people that are falling through the cracks, I want to fix that." The comment, however, sparked a new round of debate over an emerging narrative of Romney as a plutocrat unaware of the needs and concerns of ordinary Americans. It also evoked memories of previous controversial Romney statements, such as when he said he likes firing people who provide poor service. Gingrich hammers Romney over 'poor' comment . Romney is "reinforcing the image of the national party that is elite (and) out of touch," said Mark McKinnon, a former campaign adviser to George W. Bush and John McCain. "That's why he's having such problems with independent voters. ... Unless the Republicans turn that around, they cannot win this election." Gingrich, the former House speaker, has blasted Romney for the remark over the past two days, declaring Wednesday that he is "fed up with politicians in either party dividing Americans against each other." On Thursday, Gingrich said that "we should care about the very poor -- unlike Governor Romney. But I believe that we should care differently than Barack Obama. Both Governor Romney and Barack Obama seem to believe that a 'safety net' is all the poor need. I don't believe that. What the poor need is a trampoline so they can spring up and quit being poor." Gingrich press secretary fights off Trump questions . Regardless of the extent of Romney's verbal miscue, the former governor is now the clear Republican front-runner. A national poll released Wednesday showed an immediate benefit for Romney, putting him in first place at 31% compared to 26% for Gingrich, 16% for Santorum and 11% for Paul. The Gallup daily tracking poll had Gingrich ahead of Romney after the former speaker won the January 21 South Carolina primary. Romney cemented his status as the GOP leader with an overwhelming victory in Tuesday's Florida primary. Romney won the primary with 46% of the vote, compared with 32% for Gingrich, 13% for Rick Santorum and 7% for Ron Paul, according to the Florida Department of State. The victory gave Romney all 50 of Florida's convention delegates and, more important, new momentum heading into a series of caucuses and primaries building up to Super Tuesday on March 6, when 10 states will hold nominating contests. Zakaria: Why I can't wait for the Republican convention . Gingrich's campaign asked the Republican Party on Thursday to allocate the 50 Florida delegates on a proportional basis, rather than the winner-take-all format that gave them to Romney. In a letter to the Republican National Committee, the Gingrich campaign argued that an RNC rule says early primaries and caucuses must award delegates proportionally. However, party rules say the issue can be addressed only at the August nominating convention in Tampa, Florida. Santorum also has expressed support for Florida to change its system, but the Florida Republican Party chairman, Lenny Curry, said in a statement Thursday that won't happen. "Florida was winner-take-all before election day, we were winner-take-all on election day, we will remain winner-take-all," Curry's statement said, adding: "It is a shame when the loser of a contest agrees to the rules before, then cries foul after losing." CNN's Tom Cohen, Jim Acosta, Paul Steinhauser and Alyssa McLendon contributed to this report.

NEW: Trump said he previously criticized Romney before getting to know him . The value of a Donald Trump endorsement of Mitt Romney is unclear . Rick Santorum agrees with Newt Gingrich that Florida delegates should be proportional . The Republican candidates are campaigning in Nevada, which holds its caucuses Saturday .