Klaus Honal/Naturfoto Honal/CORBIS

 Mention creationism, and many scientists think of the United States, where efforts to limit the teaching of evolution have made headway in a couple of states1. But the successes are modest compared with those in South Korea, where the anti-evolution sentiment seems to be winning its battle with mainstream science.

 A petition to remove references to evolution from high-school textbooks claimed victory last month after the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST) revealed that many of the publishers would produce revised editions that exclude examples of the evolution of the horse or of avian ancestor Archaeopteryx. The move has alarmed biologists, who say that they were not consulted. “The ministry just sent the petition out to the publishing companies and let them judge,” says Dayk Jang, an evolutionary scientist at Seoul National University.

 The campaign was led by the Society for Textbook Revise (STR), which aims to delete the “error” of evolution from textbooks to “correct” students’ views of the world, according to the society’s website. The society says that its members include professors of biology and high-school science teachers.

 The STR is also campaigning to remove content about “the evolution of humans” and “the adaptation of finch beaks based on habitat and mode of sustenance”, a reference to one of the most famous observations in Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species. To back its campaign, the group highlights recent discoveries that Archaeopteryx is one of many feathered dinosaurs, and not necessarily an ancestor of all birds2. Exploiting such debates over the lineage of species “is a typical strategy of creation scientists to attack the teaching of evolution itself”, says Joonghwan Jeon, an evolutionary psychologist at Kyung Hee University in Yongin.

 The STR is an independent offshoot of the Korea Association for Creation Research (KACR), according to KACR spokesman Jungyeol Han. Thanks in part to the KACR’s efforts, creation science — which seeks to provide evidence in support of the creation myth described in the Book of Genesis — has had a growing influence in South Korea, although the STR itself has distanced itself from such doctrines. In early 2008, the KACR scored a hit with a successful exhibition at Seoul Land, one of the country’s leading amusement parks. According to the group, the exhibition attracted more than 116,000 visitors in three months, and the park is now in talks to create a year-long exhibition.

 Even the nation’s leading science institute — the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology — has a creation science display on campus. “The exhibition was set up by scientists who believed in creation science back in 1993,” says Gab-duk Jang, a pastor of the campus church. The institute also has a thriving Research Association for Creation Science, run by professors and students, he adds.

 Antipathy to evolution

 In a 2009 survey conducted for the South Korean documentary The Era of God and Darwin, almost one-third of the respondents didn’t believe in evolution. Of those, 41% said that there was insufficient scientific evidence to support it; 39% said that it contradicted their religious beliefs; and 17% did not understand the theory. The numbers approach those in the United States, where a survey by the research firm Gallup has shown that around 40% of Americans do not believe that humans evolved from less advanced forms of life.

 “The ministry just sent the petition out to the publishing companies and let them judge.”

 The roots of the South Korean antipathy to evolution are unclear, although Jeon suggests that they are partly “due to strong Christianity in the country”. About half of South Korea’s citizens practice a religion, mostly split between Christianity and Buddhism.

 However, a survey of trainee teachers in the country concluded that religious belief was not a strong determinant of their acceptance of evolution3. It also found that 40% of biology teachers agreed with the statement that “much of the scientific community doubts if evolution occurs”; and half disagreed that “modern humans are the product of evolutionary processes”.

 Until now, says Dayk Jang, the scientific community has done little to combat the anti-evolution sentiment. “The biggest problem is that there are only 5–10 evolutionary scientists in the country who teach the theory of evolution in undergraduate and graduate schools,” he says. Having seen the fierce debates over evolution in the United States, he adds, some scientists also worry that engaging with creationists might give creationist views more credibility among the public.

 Silence is not the answer, says Dayk Jang. He is now organizing a group of experts, including evolutionary scientists and theologians who believe in evolution, to counter the STR’s campaign by working to improve the teaching of evolution in the classroom, and in broader public life. ||||| It appears that the United States is not the only country having a hard time accepting evolution. According to a report in Nature, a South Korean creationist campaign has achieved victory in its efforts to see specific examples of evolution removed from high school text books. Their breakthrough is part of a larger campaign to see evolutionary theory removed as much as possible from educational materials.

 The campaign, which was led by the Society for Textbook Revise (STR), is aiming to delete the "error" of evolution from textbooks in order to "correct" students' views of the world. The group started a petition to remove references to

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 evolution from high school textbooks and it now appears that this strategy has worked. The South Korean Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST) announced that textbook publishers will revise editions that exclude examples of the evolution of the horse and the Archaeopteryx, which is an ancestor of modern day birds.

 The announcement has shocked a number of biologists who complain that they were not consulted. According to Dayk Jan, an evolutionary scientist as Seoul National University, the South Korean ministry sent the petition directly to the publishing companies where they judged it for themselves. In its defense, STR claims that its group includes professors of biology and high-school science teachers.

 Moreover, the creationist-minded group is looking to take the issue even further. According to the report in Nature:

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 The STR is also campaigning to remove content about "the evolution of humans" and "the adaptation of finch beaks based on habitat and mode of sustenance", a reference to one of the most famous observations in Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species. To back its campaign, the group highlights recent discoveries that Archaeopteryx is one of many feathered dinosaurs, and not necessarily an ancestor of all birds. Exploiting such debates over the lineage of species "is a typical strategy of creation scientists to attack the teaching of evolution itself", says Joonghwan Jeon, an evolutionary psychologist at Kyung Hee University in Yongin. The STR is an independent offshoot of the Korea Association for Creation Research (KACR), according to KACR spokesman Jungyeol Han. Thanks in part to the KACR's efforts, creation science - which seeks to provide evidence in support of the creation myth described in the Book of Genesis - has had a growing influence in South Korea, although the STR itself has distanced itself from such doctrines. In early 2008, the KACR scored a hit with a successful exhibition at Seoul Land, one of the country's leading amusement parks. According to the group, the exhibition attracted more than 116,000 visitors in three months, and the park is now in talks to create a year-long exhibition.

 South Korea's strong creationist sentiment is apparently due in part to its large Christian population. When it comes to evolutionary skepticism, surveys show that South Korea's numbers are comparable to those of the United States. Nearly one-third of South Koreans don't believe in evolution, claiming that there isn't enough scientific evidence to support it, or that it contradicted their religious beliefs. Others simply stated that they didn't understand the theory — an indication that evolutionary biology is insufficiently taught in that country. In fact, there are only 5-10 evolutionary scientists in South Korea who teach the theory of evolution in undergraduate and graduate schools.

 A recent gallup poll in the United States indicated that around 40% of Americans do not believe that humans evolved from less advanced forms of life. That contrasts to 59% acceptance in Canada, and upwards of 80% in some European countries.

 To counter the work of SRT, Dayk Jang is now organizing a group of experts, including evolutionary biologists and theologians who believe in evolution. Their ultimate goal is to improve the teaching of evolution in the classroom and in broader public life.

 Image via Shutterstock / Maridav. Body image via Wikipedia |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– A group opposed to the teaching of evolution has won a major victory in the Deep South—of the Korean peninsula. A creationist group has successfully petitioned South Korean publishers to remove several references to evolution from high school textbooks, Nature reports. The group—set up by the US Institute for Creation Research in the '80s as Christianity spread across South Korea—says it wants the "error" of evolution removed from textbooks to "correct" students' view of the world. Biologists complain that the government did not consult them on the issue, but merely forwarded the group's petition to publishers. "When something like this comes to fruition, the scientific community can be caught flat-footed," a director at the National Center for Science Education tells the New York Daily News. "Scientists are not by their nature political." Polls show that some 40% of South Koreans don't accept the theory of evolution, about the same proportion as in the US, but much greater than in Canada and in many European countries, io9 notes.


Write an article based on this summary:

– You'd think a DUI arrest would be a wake-up call. Apparently not for everyone. Pennsylvania State Police say they arrested 47-year-old Michele Leonard for driving under the influence on Saturday after Leonard crashed her car near an intersection in Somerset County, per KDKA. She was then released, but instead of heading home, Leonard paid a stranger $3 to drive her back to her vehicle, police tell WTAE. Was she just going to pick up her purse? Um, no. Police say Leonard got behind the wheel and starting driving down the road before she lost control again, sideswiped a parked car, and crashed into a man's shed around 6pm. "I looked out my window and saw a car fly down my driveway, past my truck, heard a big crash ... She slammed into my shed," says Stanley Fisher. "She tried to back up. I stopped her, took her keys from her. She said, 'I can't get another DUI.' I said, 'What do you mean?' She said, 'I already have one today.'" Police have charged Leonard over the second incident; her blood-alcohol test results are pending. (This guy was arrested for DUI in a motorized wheelchair.)

Pennsylvania State police said they arrested a woman for two different drunken-driving crashes in the same day.

 Troopers from Somerset said Michele Leonard, 47, of Somerset, crashed her car about 5 p.m. Saturday. She was arrested, tested for blood-alcohol levels and then released. The news release wasn't clear about to whom she was released, and the trooper investigating the case was off Monday.

 VIDEO: Watch Ashlie Hardway's report

 Police said that after her release from the state police barracks, Leonard offered a stranger $3 for a ride back to her crashed vehicle, which she entered and began driving.

 Police said Leonard again lost control of the car and sideswiped a parked car in Somerset Township about 6 p.m., then crashed into a shed belonging to Stanley Fisher.

 "I looked out my window and saw a car fly down my driveway, past my truck, heard a big crash and looked out -- she slammed into my shed," Fisher said. "She tried to back up. I stopped her, took her keys from her. She said, 'I can't get another DUI.' I said, 'What do you mean?' She said, 'I already have one today.'"

 Charges for both instances are pending against Leonard once police receive blood-alcohol test results.

 Fisher said most of the costly tools in his shed were destroyed, as was the shed itself. Crews were on his property Monday moving what was salvageable from the shed to a truck where the items will be put into a storage unit, which Fisher will have to pay for until a new shed is built.

 "It's something no one should have to go through. She should have never been driving the second time," Fisher said.

 Reached at her home less than a mile from Fisher's house, Leonard said she had no comment. ||||| SOMERSET TOWNSHIP (KDKA)- A woman in Somerset County was arrested for driving under the influence two times in one night. Michele Leonard crashed her vehicle on two-separate occasions that night as well.

 Police were called to an accident scene near the intersection of Waterlevel and Lowry Roads in Somerset Township around 5:58 p.m. Saturday.

 When police arrived, they learned that the Leonard had been arrested an hour earlier for crashing her car while driving under the influence.

 When she was released from State Police, Leonard paid a stranger $3 for a ride back to the original crash site to continue driving her car.

 As Leonard was driving her vehicle for a second time, she lost control, traveled off the roadway and sideswiped a parked vehicle.

 She continued traveling off the roadway and crashed into a garage. Leonard was then arrested for a second time for driving under the influence.

 Join The Conversation On The KDKA Facebook Page

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Article:
The iPad is breaking out in a very mainstream fashion: An ad for the Apple device just aired during the Oscars.

 The ad explains why Apple CEO Steve Jobs was spotted on the red carpet earlier. We've got a screenshot and we'll post video as soon as it comes in (update: video added below).

 Apple iPad Commercial During the Oscars

 Steve Jobs on the Oscars Red Carpet

 [img credit: TheFullM0nty

 [img credit: Wayne Sutton ||||| iPad ad debuts during 2010 Oscars

 BY MARK W. SMITH

 FREE PRESS WEB EDITOR

 Apple debuted its new iPad commercial during last night's 2010 Academy Awards telecast, sparking immediate buzz on Twitter and leading tech blogs.

 The iPad ad isn't a departure from Apple's established creative style and doesn't show off any features we haven't already seen.

 You have to wonder if the computer maker has some more tricks up its sleeve as the iPad's April 3 release nears.

 Tech blog Mashable posted a picture from earlier in the evening showing Apple CEO Steve Jobs on the red carpet Sunday at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood.

 Jobs is a board member at Walt Disney, which owns Pixar -- the studio that produced last night's animation Oscar-winner "Up."

 What do you think of the commercial? Will you be getting an iPad?

 Contact MARK W. SMITH: msmith@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter: @markdubya or follow a feed of blog updates at @browserblog. |||||Summary:

– The Apple iPad made its television debut last night with a 30-second commercial on the Academy Awards telecast, which you can view above. The keen eyes at Mashable caught CEO Steve Jobs on the red carpet, and the spot "explains" why he was there. Alternatively, the Detroit Free Press reports, the Disney board member could merely have been supporting subsidiary Pixar's Up, a best picture nominee.


Article:
A day after a Florida jury acquitted George Zimmerman over the death of Trayvon Martin, a Republican House member said Sunday that President Obama had politicized the case.

 "The president engaged in this and turned it into a political issue that should have been handled exclusively with law and order," said Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, on Fox News Sunday.

 Though local authorities prosecuted the case in Florida, King told Fox, "The evidence didn't support prosecution, and the Justice Department engaged in this."

 NEWS: George Zimmerman found not guilty

 The president spoke of Trayvon's family at a news conference on March 23, 2012:

 "I can only imagine what these parents are going through. And when I think about this boy, I think about my own kids.

 "You know, if I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon. And, you know, I think they are right to expect that all of us, as Americans, are going to take this with the seriousness it deserves and that we're going to get to the bottom of exactly what happened."

 Obama has not commented on Saturday's verdict.

 Critics of the jury's decision are calling on Obama's Justice Department to pursue a civil rights case against Zimmerman.

 "There is reason to be concerned that race was a factor in why he targeted young Trayvon," said NAACP President and CEO Ben Jealous on CNN's State of the Union. ||||| Carol Medina, left, and her cousin Blanca Zavala attend a rally following the George Zimmerman verdict in the Leimert Park neighborhood of Los Angeles.

 Carol Medina, left, and her cousin Blanca Zavala attend a rally following the George Zimmerman verdict in the Leimert Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. Jason Redmond/Reuters

 George Zimmerman, a former neighborhood watch volunteer, has been found not guilty in the shooting death of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin last year in Sanford, Fla.

 George Zimmerman, a former neighborhood watch volunteer, has been found not guilty in the shooting death of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin last year in Sanford, Fla.

 George Zimmerman’s acquittal Saturday night on all charges in the killing of a black teenager, Trayvon Martin, sparked deep emotional reactions across the country Sunday, resurrecting an intense national debate about the role of race and racism in American life.

 President Obama declared Martin’s killing an American tragedy but called for calm.

 From church pews to street corners to the sprawling social-media universe, Americans expressed outrage, disgust and, in some cases, relief at the verdict. Rallies and vigils were held in Washington, San Francisco, Chicago, New York and Los Angeles as well as in Sanford, Fla., where the killing and the trial took place. Others were scheduled in Boston, Detroit and Baltimore.

 “I grew up in Georgia, and what happened to Trayvon would be the norm for any black man in Georgia,” said James Ealey, 73, recalling an earlier, more segregated nation. “That was the way it was. We are going backwards. We are not in a post-racial America just because of Barack Obama,” he said after Sunday services at Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church in Washington.

 The White House issued a statement in which Obama characterized Martin’s death as “a tragedy . . . not just for his family . . . but for America.” The president acknowledged that “passions may be running ever higher” in the wake of the verdict but urged citizens to remember that a jury had spoken.

 “I now ask every American to respect the call for calm reflection from two parents who lost their young son,” Obama said. “And as we do, we should ask ourselves if we’re doing all we can to widen the circle of compassion and understanding in our own communities . . . if we’re doing all we can to stem the tide of gun violence that claims too many lives across this country on a daily basis. . . . That’s the way to honor Trayvon Martin.”

 The verdict did little to close the stark divisions the case opened up among Americans along the jagged fissures of race and personal safety — starting when Martin was shot about 18 months ago.

 A Zimmerman attorney argued throughout the case that race had little bearing on the initial confrontation or the outcome. But the case has played out against a racially charged backdrop since Zimmerman followed the unarmed Martin as he walked through his central Florida neighborhood and later said a confrontation led him to shoot Martin in self-defense.

 As one side sees it, a racially biased criminal justice system was slow to charge Zimmerman and quick to believe a white man’s version of events. The other side sees in Zimmerman a law-abiding citizen who tried to protect his neighborhood and properly claimed his right to carry a weapon in self-defense.

 Protesters across the country decried what they called the injustice of Zimmerman’s acquittal. They insisted that something must change in a court system and body of law that would allow an armed and self-appointed neighborhood watchman to pursue a black teenager, based on the suspicion that he was up to no good, and kill him.

 A group called the Coalition for Justice for Trayvon hosted a rally Sunday afternoon at the Seminole County courthouse, where a jury of six women acquitted Zimmerman of second-degree murder. In Washington, critics of the verdict were pumping fists and chanting along the U Street corridor early Sunday morning. Among the placards they carried were these two messages: “Stop criminalizing black men” and “Only White Life is Protected in America.”

 The NAACP began circulating a petition late Saturday asking Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to take action in the case as the group held its annual conference in Orlando.

 “It is time for the Department of Justice to act,” the petition says. “The most fundamental of civil rights — the right to life — was violated the night George Zimmerman stalked and then took the life of Trayvon Martin.”

 During a vigil Sunday night at Howard University, students, community members and alumni honored Martin with a moment of silence and the hymn “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing.” Then Taylor Davis, a Howard student who is president of the school’s NAACP chapter, delivered a rousing address that had the crowd shouting in affirmation.

 “We will honor the voice of the jury, but we will put ourselves in a position where they will honor our voices as well. Make noise,” she said. She urged her listeners to sign the petition and to register to vote so that they can cast ballots against lawmakers who support legislation like the “stand your ground” law that protected Zimmerman.

 Although some people criticized the verdict, many argued that state investigators should have never prosecuted Zimmerman, because there was simply not enough evidence to prove who was the aggressor. Even legal analysts who said they strongly suspected that Martin was an innocent victim agreed that evidence proving so beyond a reasonable doubt — the standard that must be met for a guilty verdict — did not exist in this case.

 Ultimately, there were no living witnesses other than Zimmerman.

 Zimmerman said Martin punched him and threw him to the ground. A few neighbors testified that they heard yelps and saw an altercation but not who was doing the harm. A friend of Martin’s said he had called her on her cellphone minutes before his death, complaining that he was afraid of a “creepy-ass cracker” following him.

 Attorneys for Zimmerman said at a post-verdict news conference that they were ecstatic at the decision and praised the jurors, saying they weighed the evidence carefully. But defense attorney Mark O’Mara complained that some in the public and the media turned Zimmerman into a civil rights cause — and a monster.

 “If only those who decided to condemn Mr. Zimmerman as quickly and as viciously as they did would have taken just a little bit of time to find out who it was that they were condemning, it would never have happened,” O’Mara said.

 Added another defense attorney, Don West: “I think the prosecution of George Zimmerman was disgraceful. . . . It makes me sad, too, that it took this long, under these circumstances, to finally get justice.”

 The Justice Department opened a civil rights investigation of Martin’s death shortly after his shooting. A department spokesman said Sunday that the investigation remains open and that officials are looking at whether there is enough evidence to pursue a civil rights case.

 But for many Americans furious with the jury’s decision, Sunday was a day to look to their religious faith for comfort and understanding.

 Among them was Martin’s mother, Sybrina Fulton, who tweeted about her deep faith and quoted Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”

 She also tweeted: “Lord during my darkest hour I lean on you. You are all that I have. At the end of the day, GOD is still in control. Thank you all for your prayers and support. I will love you forever Trayvon!!! In the name of Jesus!!!”

 Martin’s parents and relatives were “in church this morning, praying and turning to God, a higher authority, to make sense of it all,” family attorney Benjamin Crump said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week With George Stephanopoulos.” The family cannot believe the verdict, Crump said.

 They don’t fault the prosecutors, he said, but they are trying to make sense of the jury’s decision while continuing to mourn the 17-year-old’s death. Family members are trying to decide what to do next and will look into filing a civil lawsuit. They have set up a foundation in Martin’s memory and pledge to fight gun violence.

 In sermons Sunday, many pastors mentioned the verdict and the pain it had caused their flocks. At some churches, members wore hooded sweatshirts in Martin’s honor to bring attention to racial stereotypes about young black men who wear such attire.

 But Sunday was a day of celebration for supporters of Zimmerman, who believed he had properly defended himself from a threat and should never have been prosecuted.

 His brother, Robert Zimmerman Jr., tweeted early in the day: “Message from Dad: ‘Our whole family is relieved’. Today . . . I’m proud to be an American. God Bless America! Thank you for your prayers!”

 Manuel Roig-Franza in Sanford, Fla., and Hamil R. Harris, Sari Horwitz and Julie Zauzmer in Washington contributed to this report. ||||| 4 years ago

 Washington (CNN) - President Barack Obama called on Sunday for "calm reflection" following the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin.

 The president, in a statement, acknowledged an emotionally charged climate but concluded that "we are a nation of laws, and a jury has spoken." |||||Summary:

– As the aftermath of George Zimmerman's acquittal continues to unfold—the Washington Post reports protests across the nation with more planned for the future—Obama has issued a statement, asking for Americans to "respect the call for calm reflection from two parents who lost their young son," but also to ask themselves "if we’re doing all we can to stem the tide of gun violence." The full statement, per CNN: "The death of Trayvon Martin was a tragedy. Not just for his family, or for any one community, but for America. I know this case has elicited strong passions. And in the wake of the verdict, I know those passions may be running even higher. But we are a nation of laws, and a jury has spoken. I now ask every American to respect the call for calm reflection from two parents who lost their young son. And as we do, we should ask ourselves if we’re doing all we can to widen the circle of compassion and understanding in our own communities. We should ask ourselves if we’re doing all we can to stem the tide of gun violence that claims too many lives across this country on a daily basis. We should ask ourselves, as individuals and as a society, how we can prevent future tragedies like this. As citizens, that’s a job for all of us. That’s the way to honor Trayvon Martin." Earlier today, Republican Rep. Steve King accused Obama of politicizing the case on Fox News Sunday. "The president engaged in this and turned it into a political issue that should have been handled exclusively with law and order," he said, USA Today reports. But others are asking the Justice Department to get even more involved.


Article:
Story highlights Driver provides his account of Boston-area carjacking

 He details behavior of the Tsarnaev brothers

 Older brother asked Danny about his heritage

 Incident followed Boston Marathon bombings

 During the 90-minute ride of terror, Tamerlan Tsarnaev kept talking.

 He barked out orders, detailed his hatred of Americans and asked his carjacking victim to remain calm.

 Tsarnaev kept asking about the 26-year-old driver's heritage and family.

 "If you cooperate, I won't kill you," said Tsarnaev, who, along with his younger brother, was a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings and the killing of a police officer.

 The Massachusetts driver, whom CNN is identifying only as Danny because of privacy and safety concerns, gave his account of the April 18 incident and described the very different behavior of Tsarnaev and his younger brother, Dzhokhar.

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 While the talkative Tamerlan was the ringleader during the carjacking, the quiet Dzhokhar responded to multiple orders, such as getting money from an ATM.

 The only question Dzhokhar asked was how much Danny paid for his Mercedes SUV.

 After the Chinese entrepreneur eventually escaped, police caught up with the brothers and engaged in a gun battle that left Tamerlan Tsarnaev dead.

 From fear to cheers: The final 24 hours that paralyzed Boston

 Dzhokhar, wounded, was found later and is in police custody.

 Hours after authorities released images of the two bombing suspects, the brothers spontaneously decided to go to New York's Times Square to blow up their six remaining explosives, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev told investigators. His account was outlined by New York's police commissioner.

 Before forcing their way into Danny's vehicle three days after the bombings, the brothers fatally shot a campus police officer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, police said.

 Tamerlan Tsarnaev said right after he got in the vehicle that he was responsible for the bombings and the officer's death, according to Danny.

 "This is like something you see in a movie, isn't it?" Tamerlan Tsarnaev said at one point during the carjacking.

 Danny, who first spoke with The Boston Globe, gave CNN this account of the carjacking in a more than hourlong conversation off-camera.

 -- Danny had stopped his vehicle to send a text when Tamerlan walked up and tapped on the window. The suspect, allegedly carrying a handgun, opened the door and got into the passenger seat.

 -- Dzhokhar followed in another vehicle.

 -- Under questioning by Tamerlan, Danny played up being Chinese and tried to humanize himself by talking about cell phones and family. Danny told CNN he felt being Chinese helped save his life.

 -- Eventually, Dzhokhar abandoned his vehicle and the three rode in Danny's SUV. Tamerlan started driving, using back streets in the Boston area, trying to avoid police and searching for an open gas station.

 -- Danny heard the word "Manhattan" at one point and thought the brothers were going to drive to New York, kill him on the way and dump his body under the bridge.

 -- When they stopped to refuel at a Shell gas station, Danny managed to slip away. He could feel Tamerlan grab him and heard him yell an expletive. Danny ran to a Mobil gas station, where he told an employee there what happened.

 Danny told CNN the fact that his car was low on gas helped save his life.

 During the carjacking, Danny thought about a girl in New York whom he really liked.

 He thought he'd never see her again. ||||| Boston suspects' carjacking victim describes terrifying night

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 (CBS News) You are about to hear, for the first time, from a man who got caught up in the terror in Boston two weeks ago and helped bring it to an end.

 An immigrant from China, he was carjacked by the suspects, but escaped and tipped off the police.

 This 26-year-old Chinese entrepreneur, who calls himself "Danny," had just pulled over in his new Mercedes on a Boston street to send a text message when a man jumped in.

 (At left, watch "Danny" describe how the incident began)

 In his first television interview, he tells his story. At his request, CBS News is concealing his identity and has altered his voice.

 "I thought it was just a robbery, you know?" Danny said. "He took out his gun, pointed to me. He told me that 'You know I am serious. Don't be stupid.'"

 But Danny quickly learned it was more than just a robbery.

 "He asked me a question, like, 'Do you know the Boston explosion on Monday?' I said, 'yes.' He said, you know, 'I did that. And I just killed a policeman in Cambridge.'"

 (At left, "Danny" gives a detailed account of what happened in the car after the suspects took control.)

 The gunman was Tamerlan Tsarneav. His younger brother, Dzhokhar, was trailing behind in another car. When they pulled over, the two suspects loaded the remaining bombs into the back of Danny's car. Tamerlan and his brother spoke to each other in Russian.

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 Danny said he didn't understand much of their conversation.

 "I only heard one word. It's Manhattan," he said.

 "It seemed like they were going to New York because they asked me a lot of questions."

 En route to a gas station, Danny's phone rang. It was his roommate, who wondered why he wasn't at home. Tamerlan pulled a gun out.

 "If you don't want me to pick up the phone, I won't pick it up. I won't say anything," Danny remembers telling Tamerlan. "He told me that you have to answer the phone. But if you use any single world in Chinese, I will kill you."

 When Danny's roommate heard him speaking in English, he responded in Chinese, saying "Why are you speaking in English? Are you okay?"

 (At left, "Danny" describes how the Tsarnaev brothers threatened to kill him if he spoke Chinese on a phone call with his roommate.)

 "I just told him I'm going to sleep over at a friend's place tonight," Danny said. "So after, I hang up the phone. Tamerlan was very happy. He said, 'Good job. Good boy.'"

 Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev

 At some point, he started thinking about his exit strategy. "I have a lot of things to do," he said he remembered thinking. "I have to unlock the door. I have to unfasten my seatbelt. I have to pull the handle on the door."

 Finally, at a gas station Dzhokhar left the car to pay inside. Tamerlan was fiddling with the GPS. Danny knew this might be his last chance.

 "I was counting," Danny said. "I was counting. I was just, 'one two, three, four.' And I just do it. And I did it. I can feel Tamerlan trying to grab me ... I was just running as fast as I can and I never look back."

 (At left, "Danny" describes how he managed to get away.)

 He ran across the street to a Mobil gas station, pleading with the clerk on duty to call 911.

 "Car-jacking occurred at Rich & Shell, 1-0-0-1 Cambridge Street," the police scanner said. "The victim fled the car at the Mobil on Memorial Drive."

 Danny said he doesn't think he's a hero.

 "What I was doing was trying to save myself. The police, they are the hero. They exchange gunfire with the bad guys. I think they are the heroes."

 Danny felt lucky to get out of it alive and in one piece. His car, the 2013 Mercedes SUV was not so lucky. Police used its GPS to track it to where they cornered the Tsarnaev brothers in the shootout. It sustained 32 bullet holes, so the Daimler Leasing Company says a month-and-a-half into the deal, Danny's car is a total loss.

 You know what? He's okay with that. |||||Summary:

– As the Boston carjacking victim known only as "Danny" continues to recount his story of what happened during his encounter with the Tsarnaev brothers, CNN has what might be the strangest detail of all. Danny says that while Tamerlan made threats, blustered about his hatred of Americans, and generally acted as ringleader, Dzhokhar asked only one question the whole time: He wanted to know how much Danny paid for the Mercedes SUV they were riding in. At another point, the Chinese immigrant tells CBS that his phone rang. "If you don't want me to pick up the phone, I won't pick it up," he told Tamerlan. "I won't say anything." Tamerlan "told me that you have to answer the phone. But if you use any single word in Chinese, I will kill you." Danny complied, and when he hung up Tamerlan said, "Good job. Good boy."


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– Plenty of words of praise have been offered for the four Marines shot to death in Chattanooga yesterday, but it's a veteran's silent tribute that is resonating online. Ben Kinsey stood on a South Carolina bridge for four hours yesterday with an American flag, an hour for each victim, reports CBS News. He wasn't looking to call attention to the salute: It just so happened that Noah Smith saw Kinsey on the I-20 overpass and stopped to ask what was going on. His subsequent Facebook post has been shared more than 40,000 times. Smith writes that he parked his car and walked to Kinsey, saying, "'Sir this is really awesome of you but why are you doing this? He replies with 'I'm standing out here for the four Marines killed today in TN. You know they can survive combat and come home during a peaceful time and get killed.'" Kinsey tells CBS that he shows up on the bridge every Sept. 11 for an 11-hour tribute.

Notice

 You must log in to continue. ||||| Every year, Ben Kinsey waves an American flag on a South Carolina bridge for 11 hours to honor victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

 On Thursday, the veteran was seen standing alone on the bridge once again, but he was two months early.

 This time he was honoring the four U.S. Marines killed by a gunman who attacked two military facilities in Chattanooga, Tenn.

 South Carolina resident Noah Smith was driving home from work when he spotted Kinsey on the I-20 overpass and snapped a photo. Afterward, he shared the man's story on Facebook, and it quickly went viral.

 "I wonder what he was doing turned around, parked my car got out and walked up to him and said, 'Sir this is really awesome of you but why are you doing this?'" the North August resident shared in the Facebook post. "He replies with 'I'm standing out here for the four Marines killed today in TN. You know they can survive combat and come home during a peaceful time and get killed.'"

 The man told Smith he planned on staying on the bridge for four hours -- one for each Marine killed in the shootings.

 "For the past three years, on 9/11, I've been standing on the bridge," Kinsey told CBS affiliate WRDW on Friday. "I try to do 11 hours to remember the folks who died on 9/11."

 Dozens of Facebook users, including Whitney Degnan, say this isn't the first time they've seen Kinsey on the bridge.

 Last year, Degnan was driving under the bridge on Sept. 11 when she saw him with a flag and pulled over to see if he was alright. He explained that he had spent time in the U.S. Marine Corp. and he would spend time on the bridge in remembrance of 9/11 "every year until he was dead."

 That's why Degnan wasn't surprised to see Kinsey on the bridge again.

 "I was surprised, but the same time I wasn't," Degnan told CBS News. "I saw the picture and automatically knew it was the same man. I was in awe because he is well over the age to be standing on a bridge in 100-degree weather, but he did and all for four people and the other thousands that he doesn't even know."

 Hundreds of people on Facebook said they would like to stand with him next year.

 "I will stand with him, any one else?" one user commented.

 "Think everyone that agrees with and supports this man should go stand in that bridge? I'm down," another said.

 Degnan said she plans on visiting him again this year.

 "[With] all these horrible things are happening around us, he will be the reminder that our country will forever stand tall," she said. |||||


Article:
WASHINGTON—The deadly attack earlier this month at a U.S. consulate in Libya was "deliberate and organized," the top U.S. spy's office said Friday.

 The revised assessment by the Director of National Intelligence, the office that heads up the various U.S. spy agencies including the Central Intelligence Agency, is the most declarative U.S. statement yet that the Sept. 11 assault on U.S. diplomatic sites in Benghazi, Libya—which left four Americans dead, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens—was a coordinated terrorist attack. It contrasts with some early administration statements that the siege grew out of a spontaneous protest over an anti-Islam video.

 Enlarge Image Close Associated Press The U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, after the attack there on Sept. 11, which U.S. intelligence officials now say was a coordinated terrorist strike.

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 The DNI underscored Friday that its latest assessment reflects an evolution in the information emerging from investigations into the attack. The assessment also doesn't yet answer the question at the heart of a growing political controversy: whether the assault was a premeditated attack that the administration should have known about.

 Some Republican critics have implied that the Obama administration knew that the attack was preplanned by terrorist groups but hid that fact to avoid exposing security failures. White House officials say that isn't the case and that they have conveyed what facts they knew at the time.

 The U.S. has ramped up its probe. The CIA has sent operatives to Libya to assist with it, according to a former U.S. official.

 The chain of events that began when protesters stormed the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, and ended with the four Americans' deaths in a succession of firefights in eastern Libya, have posed an unexpected challenge to President Barack Obama's foreign policy record just weeks before the November election.

 How the Attack Unfolded View Graphics

 Evidence shortly after the attacks had "led us to assess that the attack began spontaneously following protests earlier that day at our embassy in Cairo," DNI spokesman Shawn Turner said Friday.

 "As we learned more about the attack, we revised our initial assessment to reflect new information indicating that it was a deliberate and organized terrorist attack carried out by extremists," Mr. Turner said.

 It still isn't clear, he added, "if any group or person exercised overall command and control of the attack, and if extremist group leaders directed their members to participate." He added that "some of those involved were linked to groups affiliated with, or sympathetic to al Qaeda."

 Republicans have accused the White House of conveying mixed messages.

 "I think it's increasingly clear—if now not definitively pointed out—that this was a terrorist attack against our diplomats," Republican nominee Mitt Romney told reporters Friday. "There was a great deal of confusion about that from the very beginning on the part of the administration, and whether that was something that they were trying to paper over or whether it was just confusion given the uncertain intelligence reports—time will tell."

 In the first days after the attack, top administration officials said it was too early to say what precipitated it. Five days after, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, blamed the assault mainly on an anti-Islamic video circulating on the Internet.

 On Sept. 19, however, the top U.S. counterterrorism official said the assault had connections to terrorists, including al Qaeda's North African affiliate. After that, more administration officials, including White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, have labeled it a terrorist attack. President Obama indirectly referred to the assault as an act of "terror" on Sept. 12 but has refrained from using the term since.

 Rep. Peter King (R., N.Y.), a frequent administration critic, called Friday for Ms. Rice's resignation for misleading the public about the nature of the attack.

 Mr. Turner of the DNI's office said intelligence officials provided public officials with "evolving" information about the attacks, beginning with the early assessments.

 "We provided that initial assessment to executive branch officials and members of Congress, who used that information to discuss the attack publicly and provide updates as they became available," he said. "Throughout our investigation, we continued to emphasize that information gathered was preliminary and evolving."

 Friday's statement was an effort to explain "early reports are often wrong or incomplete," he said. "But our intelligence community continues to work around the clock to gather details and understand exactly what happened in Benghazi."

 Still unanswered is whether the attack was planned in advance. In recent days, a consensus among intelligence officials has emerged that the assault was highly organized and involved al Qaeda's affiliate in North Africa, but that the specific attack was planned on the fly on the day of world-wide protests against American installations.

 "The attack's execution was not necessarily indicative of extensive planning," Mr. Turner said, saying there still were "unanswered questions."

 "The degree to which there was some level of planning is one we continue to look at," he said.

 Republicans in Congress, adding to the political pressure, said they have received briefings that counter the White House version of events and indicate the attacks had been "preplanned."

 Eight Republicans wrote to Mr. Obama this week to voice frustration that the administration has left many unanswered questions about the attack. A bipartisan group of senators, including Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D., Mass.), is also requesting more information from the administration.

 The crime scene in Benghazi, abandoned after the U.S. evacuation and subject to looters for days, has posed security problems for the U.S. investigators. However, a U.S. law-enforcement official played down the value of the site, given that it is tainted more than two weeks after the attack. Federal agents are using intelligence and analyzing intercepts, and some are doing interviews in Tripoli.

 Intelligence agencies have stepped up their reporting on Libyan terror groups, said a congressional aide, who said shortly after the attacks the counterterrorism-related U.S. intelligence reports on Libya increased at least fivefold.

 —Julian E. Barnes and Evan Perez contributed to this article.

 Write to Siobhan Gorman at siobhan.gorman@wsj.com and Carol E. Lee at carol.lee@wsj.com ||||| The office of the nation’s spy chief, James R. Clapper Jr., issued a statement Friday defending the Obama administration’s accounts of the siege of U.S. missions in Libya. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

 The office of the nation’s spy chief issued a statement Friday defending the Obama administration’s accounts of the siege on a U.S. mission in Libya, saying it became clear only in the aftermath that it was “a deliberate and organized terrorist attack.”

 The statement appeared aimed at quieting criticism, mostly from Republicans, of the administration’s shifting characterizations of a Sept. 11 assault that killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other Americans. Officials initially described the attack as spontaneous but in recent days have said it was an act of terrorism with links to al-Qaeda.

 The release from the office of Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. came as lawmakers sought more details about the siege in Benghazi. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee sent a letter to the State Department on Thursday posing questions about intelligence in the period leading up to the attack and the adequacy of the security at U.S. compounds.

 Shawn Turner, a spokesman for Clapper, said U.S. agencies have altered their assessments based on intelligence that has emerged through an ongoing investigation.

 “In the immediate aftermath, there was information that led us to assess that the attack began spontaneously following protests earlier that day at our embassy in Cairo,” Turner said. That information was conveyed to administration officials as well as members of Congress.

 1 of 35 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad × Anti-U.S. protests across the globe View Photos The protests that started outside the U.S. Embassy in Cairo have spread as far as India. Caption The protests that started outside the U.S. Embassy in Cairo have spread as far as India. Sept. 24, 2012 Muslim demonstrators hold their shoes up to a portrait of Florida pastor Terry Jones during a protest against the anti-Islamic You Tube video in Quetta, Pakistan. More than 50 people have died around the world in violence linked to the low-budget video, which mocks Islam and the prophet Muhammad, since the first demonstrations erupted in Cairo on Sept. 11. Banaras Khan/AFP/Getty Images Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue.

 But analysts have since “revised our initial assessments to reflect new information indicating that it was a deliberate and organized terrorist attack carried out by extremists,” Turner said. “Some of those involved were linked to groups affiliated with, or sympathetic to al-Qaeda.”

 The release marks a rare instance in which the intelligence director’s office has weighed in through a public statement on details of an event overseas, let alone one that remains under investigation during a presidential campaign. In an e-mail, Turner indicated that the director’s office, while seeking to stay out of the political fray, became convinced that it should clarify the intelligence community’s position.

 “I put out the message because I think it’s important that people understand that early reports are often wrong or incomplete, but our intelligence community continues to work around the clock to gather details and understand exactly what happened in Benghazi,” Turner said.

 The evolving intelligence picture may explain why administration officials — including Susan E. Rice, ambassador to the United Nations — seemed adamant early on that the attack was part of a spontaneous protest triggered by an anti-Islamic video produced in the United States. It wasn’t until Sept. 20 that the head of the National Counterterrorism Center described the assault as a terrorist attack — a description echoed by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton this week.

 Republicans have accused the administration of seeking to play down terrorist links at a time when President Obama has emphasized the degradation of al-Qaeda as a signature foreign policy success.

 Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee and an administration ally, has deflected Republican demands that the State Department submit a report on the attack to Congress within 30 days. Instead, the panel submitted a letter seeking answers as a State Department review led by former U.S. ambassador Tom Pickering gets underway. ||||| WASHINGTON — The Obama administration’s shifting accounts of the fatal attack on the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, have left President Obama suddenly exposed on national security and foreign policy, a field where he had enjoyed a seemingly unassailable advantage over Mitt Romney in the presidential race.

 After first describing the attack as a spontaneous demonstration run amok, administration officials now describe it as a terrorist act with possible involvement by Al Qaeda. The changing accounts prompted the spokesman for the nation’s top intelligence official, James R. Clapper Jr., to issue a statement on Friday acknowledging that American intelligence agencies “revised our initial assessment to reflect new information indicating that it was a deliberate and organized terrorist attack carried out by extremists.”

 The unusual statement was not solicited by the White House, according to Shawn Turner, the spokesman for Mr. Clapper, the director of national intelligence, but it seemed calculated to relieve some of the pressure on the White House for the contradictory accounts given in the two and a half weeks since the attack. It is unlikely to stop questions from the Romney campaign, which senses an opportunity.

 “This incident is a hinge event in the campaign because it opens up the opportunity to talk more broadly about Obama’s foreign policy,” said Richard S. Williamson, a former diplomat and an adviser to Mr. Romney.

 But the questions are likely to come not just from partisan Republicans. The Benghazi attack calls into question the accuracy of intelligence-gathering and whether vulnerable American personnel overseas are receiving adequate protection. Even allies of the president like Senator John Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat and the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, have petitioned the White House for more information about how the government protects diplomatic installations abroad.

 Almost since the smoke cleared in Benghazi, Republicans have accused Mr. Obama’s aides of deliberately playing down the attack. Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, condemned the administration’s initial account of the attack as “disgraceful,” saying on CBS that it “shows a fundamental misunderstanding not only of warfare, but of what’s going on in that part of the world.”

 The White House maintains that its account changed as intelligence agencies gathered more details about the attack, not from any desire to diminish its gravity. Mr. Obama, his aides point out, labeled the assault an “act of terror” in his first public response, in the Rose Garden, a day after it happened.

 “In any situation like this, you know more one week later than you did the day after, and more two weeks later than you did one week after,” said Benjamin J. Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser. “Given the demand for information, we feel there is a responsibility to provide the facts as we understand them.”

 For the White House, the latest intelligence is helpful in one regard: It indicates that the attack, while carried out in an organized manner, mainly by a local extremist group in eastern Libya, Ansar al-Shariah, was probably not planned months or weeks in advance.

 After poring over intercepted electronic communications, informant reports and photographs and video from the scene, American intelligence and counterterrorism officials have concluded that a small number of the local Libyan militia members probably have ties to Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, the Qaeda affiliate in North Africa. But analysts say they have not found any evidence to indicate that the affiliate ordered or planned the attack.

 In his statement, Mr. Turner said that it was unclear who had directed the attack, but that “we do assess that some of those involved were linked to groups affiliated with, or sympathetic to, Al Qaeda.”

 At the same time, further details about the attack could lay bare lapses in security that could damage the administration. CNN has reported, from a diary belonging to J. Christopher Stevens, the American ambassador killed in the attack, that he harbored worries about his security. Mr. Williamson, who served as special envoy to Sudan under President George W. Bush, said it was unlikely that Mr. Stevens would not have relayed those concerns to the State Department.

 Mr. Romney has been cautious in his public comments about the attack since his initial response, which was criticized by Mr. Obama and Republicans for being premature and unseemly in the face of a tragedy. But Mr. Romney has singled out the administration for its conflicting accounts, and has begun questioning whether it heeded warnings of anti-American attacks in the region, timed to the anniversary of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. |||||Summary:

– The nation's spy chief took the unusual step yesterday of issuing a statement to defend the shifting US position on the Libya consulate attack, reports the Washington Post. Yes, said national intelligence director James Clapper, the assault initially seemed to be a spontaneous response to that anti-Islam movie, but we “revised our initial assessments to reflect new information indicating that it was a deliberate and organized terrorist attack carried out by extremists. Some of those involved were linked to groups affiliated with, or sympathetic to al-Qaeda." The New York Times thinks it's an attempt to take pressure off the White House as Republicans zero in on a potential miscue on national security—if it was a planned attack, why didn't we know about it?—and foreign policy. The Wall Street Journal notes that Mitt Romney kept up the pressure yesterday on the campaign trail: "There was a great deal of confusion about that from the very beginning on the part of the administration, and whether that was something that they were trying to paper over or whether it was just confusion given the uncertain intelligence reports—time will tell." Frequent White House critic Peter King called for the resignation of Susan Rice, the US ambassador to the UN, who stated repeatedly in the days after the attack that it was spontaneous. "Somebody has to pay the price for this," the GOP congressman told CNN.


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– The most recent Planet of the Apes trilogy started with a bang. It's going out the same way. Critics are raving about War for the Planet of the Apes, directed and co-written by Matt Reeves; it currently has an impressive 94% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Here's what they're saying: It's a "consistently intelligent, morally thoughtful and often beautiful picture" with a "coherent and credible" story that's just as impressive as the action, writes Charles Taylor at Newsweek. He adds the "special effects are used to support the story rather than supplant it." One downside: each scene featuring Woody Harrelson's colonel "feels strained, not least because this usually terrific actor has been saddled with one of the film's few caricatures." But Brian Lowry says Harrelson "is at his wild-eyed best" in what he calls "the summer's best sequel," and "a stirring, soulful conclusion to a trilogy that has brilliantly evolved from its original source." This is "one of those rare instances of a movie billed as a 'climactic chapter' that actually possesses the feeling and majesty of one," he writes at CNN, also commending Andy Serkis' intense portrayal of the ape Caesar. Serkis is not only "brilliant" but his appearance is "so lifelike that you forget you're looking at a visual-effects triumph," writes Chris Klimek at NPR. The film itself, wrapping up a "shockingly good series of prequels," is "suspenseful, mournful, grand," with "gravitas and commitment" that give it "a place of pride in our current apocalyptic renaissance," Klimek adds. Sara Stewart feels "the imagery and the nonstop horror are a little too heavy-handed." But the flick still shines with "an epic and heartbreaking second half that broadly references the Holocaust, internment camps, refugees and even the Bible," she writes at the New York Post. "Apologies to Charlton Heston loyalists, but War for the Planet of the Apes is a good example of how today's movies sometimes beat the hell out of the oldies," she adds. "It seems wrong to even group them in the same franchise."

(CNN) Those prone to lament the creative trajectory of movie franchises can take heart in "War For the Planet of the Apes" -- a stirring, soulful conclusion to a trilogy that has brilliantly evolved from its original source, claiming the admittedly not-very-competitive crown as the summer's best sequel.

 Reprising his directing role after "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes," Matt Reeves (who wrote the script with Mark Bomback) has cleverly synthesized old and new, providing graceful callbacks to the kitsch-y "Apes" films that began in the 1960s while carving out the movie's own rich mythology.

 Perhaps foremost, at a time when reliance on computer-generated characters to carry the action often produces mixed results, the chimp leader Caesar (performed and voiced by Andy Serkis) and his posse quickly overcome those obstacles, drawing the audience into a story whose resonance and references extend from internment camps to the biblical.

 Picking up not long after the last movie ended, Caesar is leading his community of intelligent apes, hoping to peacefully coexist with the remaining human population. An attack on their forest home by military forces under a renegade leader, the Colonel (Woody Harrelson, at his wild-eyed best), quickly obliterates those plans, prompting Caesar to pursue vengeance, to the chagrin of his more levelheaded orangutan pal Maurice (Karin Konoval).

 The apes are eventually captured, moving the film from a war footing to something on the order of "The Great Escape." There is also ample brutality inflicted by the humans toward their simian prisoners, with the saving grace for humanity coming in the form of a young girl (Amiah Miller) who the apes rather grudgingly take in.

 Read More ||||| War is hell, and so is humankind, in this darkest chapter of the “Planet of the Apes” prequels. The last in the trilogy and the first told solely from the apes’ perspective, it follows simian ruler Caesar (the endlessly talented Andy Serkis) on a rage-fueled revenge mission that threatens his standing as the apes’ diplomatic leader.

 Apologies to Charlton Heston loyalists, but “War for the Planet of the Apes” is a good example of how today’s movies sometimes beat the hell out of the oldies. The sophisticated characters and wrenching emotions created with motion-capture technology so eclipse those rubber ape masks in the originals that it seems wrong to even group them in the same franchise. That said, director Matt Reeves (“Dawn of the Planet of the Apes”) certainly pays homage to a number of classic war films here; look no further than the opening scene for a hint of “Apocalypse Now.”

 The film begins as soldiers with slogan-painted helmets — “Monkey Killer,” “Bedtime for Bonzo” — wend their way through thick and ominous greenery. Their commander, Colonel McCullough (Woody Harrelson), is essentially the film’s Kurtz. He’s on a “purity” quest to rid the world of both apes and virus-infected people who’ve lost the power of speech, in the latest iteration of the simian flu that killed off most of the human population. But his army isn’t above using renegade gorillas, followers of Caesar’s late enemy Koba, as grunts: The humans call them “donkeys” and make them do the heavy lifting.

 Following a tragic battle in the apes’ habitat, Caesar sets off to confront the Colonel at his military base, accompanied by a few comrades. They include Maurice (Karin Konoval), the orangutan whose wide, gentle face was so memorable in the last two films, and whose power of speech is apparently still developing. Along the way, they pick up two additional travelers: a mute, orphaned little girl (Amiah Miller), adopted as a daughter figure by the group, and a timorous chimp (Steve Zahn) who calls himself “Bad Ape” from his years living in a zoo. Bad Ape is the closest the film comes to lightheartedness: He’s a childlike soul who looks comical in the human clothes he favors, but he’s also deeply traumatized: “Humans got sick. Apes got smart. Humans kill apes,” he says, watery-eyed.

 Once Caesar reaches the military base and realizes his tribe has been captured and imprisoned there, it’s an epic and heartbreaking second half that broadly references the Holocaust, internment camps, refugees and even the Bible: At one point, Caesar is strung up on crisscrossed wooden planks and left for dead. Reeves also works in more topical commentary with a hulking structure the Colonel has the apes laboring to build: “His wall is madness,” one chimp observes. “It won’t save him.” Yes, the imagery and the nonstop horror are a little too heavy-handed. Also, the film’s basically devoid of any sympathetic humans within the base. It’s not as if we don’t know who we’re rooting for here, but would it have killed them to give a single soldier a moment of pause before gunning down a row of fleeing chimpanzees? He might as well have subtitled the thing: “Who are the real savages here?”

 At one point, the Colonel and Caesar have a riveting one-on-one discussion about the enduring conflict and its possible outcomes. “You’re impressive,” the Colonel keeps saying, as if unable to grasp that Caesar is really sentient. Relatedly, there were some in my screening audience who giggled throughout the entire thing, as if seeing chimps riding horses, or wearing manacles and breaking rocks with pickaxs, was simply a series of zany animal-show stunts. They couldn’t have done a better job of proving the film’s point: People can be willfully blind to the humanity in any species but their own. ||||| In War for the Planet of the Apes, the third chapter of the critically acclaimed blockbuster franchise, Caesar and his apes are forced into a deadly conflict with an army of humans led by a ruthless Colonel. After the apes suffer unimaginable losses, Caesar wrestles with his darker instincts and begins his own mythic quest to avenge his kind. As the journey finally brings them face to face, Caesar and the Colonel are pitted against each other in an epic battle that will determine the fate of both their species and the future of the planet. ||||| Even when it threatens to turn into Apocalypse Now in a wobbly stretch near the end, War for the Planet of the Apes never ceases to be a movie, never turns into a product. That’s to say that the filmmakers have conceived it as a dramatic and emotional experience and not just the scheme of a studio marketing department, the craven and transparent impulse that hobbles so many big summer movies. In fact, they have made a consistently intelligent, morally thoughtful and often beautiful picture.

 Matt Reeves, who helmed the second film in the franchise, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, directed and co-wrote the script with Mark Bomback. Together they have created a story that is coherent and credible, and with character motivation fully thought out. Equally impressive, the physical action remains clear; in small skirmishes and big battles, there isn’t a moment where you can’t tell where the warring factions—or the characters within those factions—are in physical relation to each other. The editing is steady rather than manic, and since this is a movie unafraid of scenes of characters talking to one another, special effects are used to support the story rather than supplant it.

 In what appears to be the concluding entry of this trilogy, Koba, the rebel ape who started a war against humans in the second film, has been killed by Caesar (Andy Serkis)—the super-intelligent chimp who got this party started in 2011, with Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and is now the spiritual and strategic leader of the simians. While the humans are still dealing with the aftereffects of a virus that nearly wiped them out, the apes are hiding in the forest. When they have a chance to escape to new territory, Caesar sends them off, remaining with a small army to hunt down the sadistic renegade army colonel (Woody Harrelson) who has caused him a tragic loss.

 Caesar is the classic leader figure caught between his nobler instincts and his desire for revenge, and that conflict, so easily the stuff of silent-man clichés, instead gives the movie weight. In a scene in which he must kill an old friend turned traitor, there is no triumph in the moment. The violence in this film is never just a thrill, the effects of brutal acts are always taken seriously, and war is not ennobling.

 If the movie is morally sure-footed, politically it can veer into stridency. Every scene with Harrelson’s madman colonel—he’s building a wall to keep out his enemies (get it?)—feels strained, not least because this usually terrific actor has been saddled with one of the film’s few caricatures. It doesn’t do the movie in, though, and there are lovely touches, like the huge ape Luca adorning a little girl’s hair with a sprig of cherry blossoms (and her later return of the favor), or the poignancy in the performance of Steve Zahn, who plays a former zoo ape that has lived in isolation. And the climax has true emotional sweep.

 War for the Planet of the Apes is one franchise blockbuster that treats you like an adult. What’s more, you can walk out feeling like a moviegoer rather than a mark. |||||


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Image copyright AP

 Nigeria's police have offered a $300,000 (£180,000) reward to anyone who can help locate and rescue more than 200 abducted schoolgirls.

 They were kidnapped more than three weeks ago by Islamist Boko Haram militants from their boarding school in the north-eastern state of Borno.

 The militants have been blamed for another attack on a town in the state on Monday, a busy market day.

 A senator from the remote area said some 300 people had died in the raid.

 Ahmed Zanna said the gunmen arrived in a convoy of vans in Gamboru Ngala, near the border with Cameroon.

 They stole food and motorbikes, burning hundreds of cars and buildings during their rampage, the politician told the BBC's Hausa service.

 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai: "If we remain silent this will spread"

 Mr Zanna and several residents said the gunmen had used a diversionary tactic to get the security forces out of Gamboru Ngala by spreading rumours that the abducted schoolgirls had been spotted somewhere else.

 The security forces then left, leaving residents at the mercy of the attackers, they said.

 Boko Haram's leader admitted earlier this week that his fighters had abducted the girls from their school in the town of Chibok on 14 April.

 Abubakar Shekau threatened to "sell" the students, saying they should not have been in school in the first place, but rather should get married.

 Image copyright AFP Image caption Boko Haram's leader has threatened to "sell" the students

 Image copyright AP Image caption For the past week there have been daily protests countrywide calling for more to be done to find the girls

 The group, whose name means "Western education is forbidden" in the local Hausa language, began its insurgency in 2009.

 Global campaign The man behind the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls echoes that sentiment. "What's important is that the hashtag is raising awareness," Abdullahi told BBC Trending. "The intention of all who tweeted it was to bring this barbaric act to the attention of the world and to rescue the girls, as the hashtag says #BringBackOurGirls." First of a million tweets

 An estimated 1,000 people have died in the violence and security crackdown this year alone.

 A statement from the police said the 50m naira reward would be given to anyone who "volunteers credible information that will lead to the location and rescue of the female students".

 Six telephone numbers are provided, calling on the general public to be "part of the solution to the present security challenge" and promising confidentiality.

 Another 11 girls were kidnapped on Sunday night after two villages were attacked near the militants' forest hideout.

 The abductions have prompted widespread criticism of the Nigerian government and demonstrations countrywide.

 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Former UN chief Kofi Annan says security forces should be used to free the kidnapped girls

 The BBC's Mansur Liman in the capital, Abuja, says many are questioning why it has taken so long for such a reward to be offered.

 The girls are mostly aged between 16 and 18 and were taking their final year exams.

 The governments of Chad and Cameroon have denied suggestions that the abducted girls may have already been smuggled over Nigeria's porous borders into their territory.

 'Mass burials'

 A resident of Gamboru Ngala told the BBC 310 people had been buried on Tuesday and Wednesday, following Monday's attack.

 "At the big cemetery of Gamboru Ngala, I recorded 165 buried. At the small graveyard, I recorded 145 graves. But we are still picking corpses from the main market. Many people locked themselves up in the market when the attacks started so they got burnt in their shops," he said.

 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Boko Haram means "Western education is forbidden" in Hausa

 The militants had locked up whole families in their homes, and then would enter and spray them with bullets, another resident said.

 The gunmen were shouting "Allahu Akbar [God is great]", as they stormed the remote town in Borno state, the resident added.

 Correspondents say it often takes time for news of such attacks to spread as mobile phone networks can be affected by the security crackdown in the region.

 On Tuesday, US President Barack Obama said he hoped the kidnapping might galvanise the international community to take action against Boko Haram.

 The US has despatched a team of experts to Nigeria.

 On Thursday, the UK said it was also sending a small team to provide the government with planning and co-ordination advice. The team should be on the ground within days.

 Security has been tightened for the World Economic Forum for Africa, in Abuja, where two recent attacks have been blamed on Boko Haram. ||||| LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Islamic militants killed hundreds of people in an attack on a border town in Nigeria's remote northeast, a state government official said Thursday.

 Shops and homes were set ablaze and razed in the attack Monday night on Gamboru Ngala, on Nigeria's border with Cameroon, Borno state information commissioner Mohammed Bulama told The Associated Press by telephone.

 He said the fatality "figures are high — hundreds — but we are still awaiting details from the military authorities."

 As many as 300 people were killed in the attack, according to local newspapers. The militants sprayed gunfire into the crowds of people at a busy market that is open at night when temperatures cool in the semi-desert region, reported ThisDay newspaper.

 Nigerian federal Senator Ahmed Zannah said the attack lasted about 12 hours, according to the newspaper. The insurgents set homes on fire and gunned down residents who tried to escape from the flames, reported the paper.

 Zannah blamed fighters of Nigeria's homegrown Boko Haram terrorist network that has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of 276 teenage girls and is threatening to sell them into slavery.

 Boko Haram's five-year-old Islamic uprising has claimed the lives of thousands of Muslims and Christians. More than 1,500 people have died in their attacks so far this year. The insurgents say Western influences are corrupting and they want to impose an Islamic state in Nigeria, a country of 170 million of whom half are Christian. ||||| Story highlights China offers satellite and intelligence assistance in the search for girls

 Boko Haram militants attacked Gamboru Ngala, killing at least 150 people

 United States and Britain are sending teams to help Nigerian forces

 Nigerian authorities offer a reward for information leading to the girls' rescue

 Boko Haram launched a grisly attack on a Nigerian village in an area that troops had been using as a base in the search for hundreds of schoolgirls abducted by the militant group, witnesses told CNN on Wednesday.

 The hourslong assault on Gamboru Ngala that left at least 150 people dead, some of whom were burned alive, is the latest in a series of brazen attacks and abductions by Boko Haram, raising concern about whether the Nigerian government can retake control of the region from the entrenched terror group.

 Word of the attack follows news that President Goodluck Jonathan, who has been under fire for his handling of the mass abduction, accepted U.S., British and Chinese offers of assistance to find the schoolgirls, officials with those governments said.

 It's unclear what impact the latest attack could have on the international response to Nigeria's fight with Boko Haram, which so far has concentrated on helping the government rescue 276 schoolgirls abducted on April 14.

 The assault on the village came after military troops deployed to the area were called to the border area near Chad, where reports -- later determined to be false -- surfaced that the schoolgirls had been found with Boko Haram militants, witnesses and local officials said.

 CNN cannot independently confirm the report, and attempts Wednesday to contact Nigeria's military for comment were unsuccessful.

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 Indiscriminate killing

 Witnesses described a well-coordinated attack that began shortly after 1:30 p.m. local time Monday at a busy outdoor market in Gamboru Ngala.

 Wearing military uniforms, the militants arrived with three armored personnel carriers, they said.

 They shouted "Allahu Akbar" -- "God is great" -- and opened up on the market, firing rocket-propelled grenades and tossing improvised explosive devices, witnesses said.

 Some marketgoers tried to take shelter in shops only to be burned alive when the gunmen set fire to a number of the businesses, the witnesses said.

 A few Nigerian soldiers who had been left behind at the village could not hold off the assault and were forced to flee, they said. Many sought safe haven in nearby Cameroon, they said.

 The fighters also attacked the police station during the 12-hour assault, initially facing stiff resistance. They eventually used explosives to blow the roof off the building, witnesses said. Fourteen police officers were found dead inside, they said.

 The final death toll could be closer to 300, Nigerian Sen. Ahmed Zanna told CNN.

 Monday's bloody attack by Boko Haram militants, some of whom U.S. officials say have been trained by al Qaeda, follows a pattern of seeking revenge against anybody who is perceived to have provided aid to the Nigerian government.

 International aid taking shape

 News of the attack came as U.S. officials pressed ahead with plans to provide Nigeria with law enforcement assistance and military consultations, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.

 "Obviously, this is in the interest of the Nigerian government to accept every aspect of our assistance," she told reporters during a briefing Wednesday. "They conveyed that they were willing to do that yesterday and it continues to be in their interest to be as cooperative as possible."

 U.S. officials will establish a joint coordination cell at the U.S. Embassy in Abuja where the goal will be to provide intelligence, investigations and hostage negotiation expertise, Psaki said. The cell will include U.S. military personnel, who are expected to arrive in Nigeria in the coming days, she said.

 The Pentagon has started planning for how it can help Nigeria, a senior U.S. military official told CNN. It's unlikely at this point that U.S. troops would be involved in operations, the officials said.

 Map: Where the girls were kidnapped

 Photos: Photos: Nigerians protest over kidnapped girls Photos: Photos: Nigerians protest over kidnapped girls Nigerians protest over kidnapped schoolgirls – Police in riot gear block a route in Abuja, Nigeria, on Tuesday, October 14, during a demonstration calling on the Nigerian government to rescue schoolgirls kidnapped by the Islamist militant group Boko Haram. In April, more than 200 girls were abducted from their boarding school in northeastern Nigeria, officials and witnesses said. Hide Caption 1 of 19 Photos: Photos: Nigerians protest over kidnapped girls Nigerians protest over kidnapped schoolgirls – Women in Abuja hold a candlelight vigil on Wednesday, May 14, one month after the schoolgirls were kidnapped. Hide Caption 2 of 19 Photos: Photos: Nigerians protest over kidnapped girls Nigerians protest over kidnapped schoolgirls – People march in Lagos, Nigeria, on Monday, May 12, to demand the release of the kidnapped schoolgirls. Hide Caption 3 of 19 Photos: Photos: Nigerians protest over kidnapped girls Nigerians protest over kidnapped schoolgirls – Catholic faithful in Abuja take Holy Communion and pray for the safety of the kidnapped schoolgirls on Sunday, May 11. Hide Caption 4 of 19 Photos: Photos: Nigerians protest over kidnapped girls Nigerians protest over kidnapped schoolgirls – Catholic faithful attend a morning Mass in honor of the kidnapped schoolgirls in Abuja on May 11. Hide Caption 5 of 19 Photos: Photos: Nigerians protest over kidnapped girls Nigerians protest over kidnapped schoolgirls – Catholics nuns pray in Abuja on May 11. Hide Caption 6 of 19 Photos: Photos: Nigerians protest over kidnapped girls Nigerians protest over kidnapped schoolgirls – A woman attends a demonstration Tuesday, May 6, that called for the Nigerian government to rescue the girls. Hide Caption 7 of 19 Photos: Photos: Nigerians protest over kidnapped girls Nigerians protest over kidnapped schoolgirls – Community leader Hosea Sambido speaks during a May 6 rally in Abuja. Hide Caption 8 of 19 Photos: Photos: Nigerians protest over kidnapped girls Nigerians protest over kidnapped schoolgirls – Brig. Gen. Chris Olukolade, Nigeria's top military spokesman, speaks to people at a demonstration May 6 in Abuja. Hide Caption 9 of 19 Photos: Photos: Nigerians protest over kidnapped girls Nigerians protest over kidnapped schoolgirls – Women march Monday, May 5, in Chibok, Nigeria. Hide Caption 10 of 19 Photos: Photos: Nigerians protest over kidnapped girls Nigerians protest over kidnapped schoolgirls – People rally in Lagos on Thursday, May 1. Hide Caption 11 of 19 Photos: Photos: Nigerians protest over kidnapped girls Nigerians protest over kidnapped schoolgirls – Police stand guard during a demonstration in Lagos on May 1. Hide Caption 12 of 19 Photos: Photos: Nigerians protest over kidnapped girls Nigerians protest over kidnapped schoolgirls – Protesters take part in a "million-woman march" Wednesday, April 30, in Abuja. Hide Caption 13 of 19 Photos: Photos: Nigerians protest over kidnapped girls Nigerians protest over kidnapped schoolgirls – Obiageli Ezekwesili, former Nigerian education minister and vice president of the World Bank's Africa division, leads a march of women in Abuja on April 30. Hide Caption 14 of 19 Photos: Photos: Nigerians protest over kidnapped girls Nigerians protest over kidnapped schoolgirls – A woman cries out during a demonstration in Abuja on Tuesday, April 29, along with other mothers whose daughters have been kidnapped. Hide Caption 15 of 19 Photos: Photos: Nigerians protest over kidnapped girls Nigerians protest over kidnapped schoolgirls – A man weeps as he joins parents of the kidnapped girls during a meeting with the Borno state governor in Chibok on Tuesday, April 22. Hide Caption 16 of 19 Photos: Photos: Nigerians protest over kidnapped girls Nigerians protest over kidnapped schoolgirls – Mothers weep April 22 during a meeting with the Borno state governor in Chibok. Hide Caption 17 of 19 Photos: Photos: Nigerians protest over kidnapped girls Nigerians protest over kidnapped schoolgirls – Four female students who were abducted by gunmen and reunited with their families walk in Chibok on Monday, April 21. Hide Caption 18 of 19 Photos: Photos: Nigerians protest over kidnapped girls Nigerians protest over kidnapped schoolgirls – Borno state Gov. Kashim Shettima, center, visits the girls' school in Chibok on April 21. Hide Caption 19 of 19

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 Britain is sending a small team of experts to complement the U.S. team, a spokesman for Prime Minister David Cameron said Wednesday. The spokesman didn't specify the nature of the team's expertise.

 On behalf of China, Premier Li Keqiang offered satellite and intelligence services to aid in the search.

 Meanwhile, Nigerian authorities offered a reward of about $310,000 on Wednesday for information leading to the rescue of the girls.

 "While calling on the general public to be part of the solution to the present security challenge, the Police High Command also reassures all citizens that any information given would be treated anonymously and with utmost confidentiality," the Nigeria Police Force said in a statement.

 According to accounts, armed members of Boko Haram overpowered security guards at an all-girls school in Chibok, yanked the girls out of bed and forced them into trucks. The convoy of trucks then disappeared into the dense forest bordering Cameroon.

 The reward offer comes amid international outcry over the mass kidnapping in mid-April. The #BringBackOurGirls campaign initially began on Twitter. It quickly spread, with demonstrators taking to the streets over the weekend in major cities around the world to demand action.

 Defending the response

 Nigeria's President has been under enormous international pressure to step up efforts to rescue the girls after come after waiting three weeks to publicly acknowledge the kidnappings.

 His administration, however, is defending its response -- even as details emerged this about a second mass kidnapping. At least eight girls between the ages of 12 and 15 were snatched Sunday night from the village of Warabe by Boko Haram, villagers said.

 "The President and the government (are) not taking this as easy as people all over the world think," presidential spokesman Doyin Okupe said, adding that helicopters and airplanes have searched for the girls in 250 locations. More troops, he said, are on the way.

 Despite the flurry of activity, the father of two of the schoolgirls taken by Boko Haram scoffed at the Nigerian government's response.

 "We have never seen any military man there," said the father, who is not being identified for fear of reprisals by the government or Boko Haram.

 "Had it been military men who went into the bush to rescue our daughters, we would have seen them."

 Members of the U.S. Congress called for action, former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan called the abductions "abominable" and Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani children's rights activist shot in the head by the Taliban, spoke out, too.

 "The girls in Nigeria are my sisters and it is my responsibility that I speak up for my sisters," Yousafzai told CNN's "Amanpour."

 The U.S. first lady, Michelle Obama, was among the latest high-profile figures to take to Twitter about the girls' plight, tweeting a photo of herself holding a sign that read: #BringBackOurGirls.

 "Our prayers are with the missing Nigerian girls and their families," she said in the post.

 'I abducted your girls'

 Boko Haram translates to "Western education is sin" in the local Hausa language, and the group has said its aim is to impose a stricter enforcement of Sharia law across Africa's most populous nation, which is split between a majority Muslim north and a mostly Christian south.

 The United States has branded Boko Haram a terror organization and has put a $7 million bounty on the group's elusive leader, Abubakar Shekau.

 A man claiming to be Shekau appeared in a video announcing he would sell his victims. The video was first obtained Monday by Agence-France Presse.

 "I abducted your girls. I will sell them in the market, by Allah," he said. "There is a market for selling humans. Allah says I should sell. He commands me to sell. I will sell women. I sell women." |||||

– Nigeria is apparently feeling the international pressure over its kidnapped girls, with the national police offering a $300,000 reward today for information that leads to their rescue, reports the BBC. (The move comes a day after President Obama promised that a US team would help the cause.) But Boko Haram, the group that kidnapped the girls and vows to sell them, remains as defiant and brutal as ever. A new attack in the town of Gamboru Ngala, near the border with Cameroon, massacred at least 150 villagers, reports CNN. Local media reports say militants opened fire on a crowd of people in a busy marketplace, set homes on fire, and shot residents trying to flee the flames over a span of 12 hours, reports the AP. A Nigerian senator says the death toll is "high—hundreds—but we are still awaiting details from the military authorities." (Click to read about one girl's description of how she escaped Boko Haram.)