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CLOSE With the World Series tied at 1-1, USA TODAY Sports' Steve Gardner tells you how the Cubs got the victory in Game 2 over the Indians. USA TODAY Sports

 Cubs player Kyle Schwarber hits an RBI single against the Indians in the fifth inning of Game 2. (Photo: Charles LeClaire, USA TODAY Sports)

 CLEVELAND — It no longer defies imagination, but assaults the senses, wondering how sheer and utter fantasy could become reality.

 How in the world could a baseball player spend six months just learning to walk again after a devastating knee injury, not playing in a single game, and lead the Chicago Cubs to their first World Series victory since 1945, with a 5-1 victory over the Cleveland Indians, evening the Series at 1-game apiece?

 "It’s the 'Legend of Kyle Schwarber,' " catcher David Ross said.

 And the way this narrative is playing out, Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant predicts, it will soon be coming to a movie theater near you.

 "I can’t even describe what he’s doing right now," said left fielder Ben Zobrist, who’s hitting .625 this series and is like a back-drop to center stage. "No one’s ever seen anything like it."

 There has never been a position player in baseball history whose first hit of the season was in the World Series until Schwarber came along. He doubled off Cleveland ace Corey Kluber in Game 1, and then went 2-for-4 with two RBI and a walk in Wednesday’s victory.

 "He better not take one single swing in the offseason," first baseman Anthony Rizzo said.

 Indeed, the dude is making a total mockery out of spring training, let alone rehab assignments.

 This is a guy who had no hits in four at-bats in April before he blew out his left knee. He had one hit in eight at-bats in the Arizona Fall League. Now, on baseball’s greatest stage, he is hitting .429, reaching base five times in nine at-bats, with a double, two singles and two RBI.

 If he keeps this up, and Schwarber leads the Cubs to their first World Series title since 1908, there will be generations of Schwarbers who will never have to pay for a drink or adult beverage in their lifetimes in the city of Chicago.

 "If we win three more," Rizzo said, "he doesn’t have to take another swing in his life. Take your time, and enjoy your life."

 Considering that Schwarber has all of four months of baseball experience on his bubble-gum card, and is baseball’s ultimate gym rat, there’s a better chance of him conducting hitting lessons when he’s 80 than ever giving up this gig.

 "He’s just a dirt bag," Rizzo said. "He’s always around the field. He’s always watching baseball. Always watching film. Sometimes, too much.

 "When he was on the DL, he’s there watching film, studying scouting reports, and I would yell at him, 'What are you doing? What are you doing?' "

 Who realized all along that Schwarber was secretly plotting his comeback?

 "Baseball’s a crazy game," Schwarber said. "It will do crazy things to you."

 So crazy, that he went along with the Cubs’ narrative, that he would be out for the season. When you tear two knee ligaments, no one expects to see you until next season. If he had only sustained the injury earlier, maybe in spring training, he’d have a chance, but not during the season.

 And even if he was physically able to return before the end of the season, there would be no time for a minor-league rehab assignment, no time to get down his timing, no time to see major-league pitching.

 "That’s why we’re calling it 'The Legend of Kyle Schwarber,' " Ross said. "That’s who does this. It just blows my mind what he’s doing. He’s doing things that are unheard of."

 Yet, on baseball’s biggest stage, in front of millions on national TV, Schwarber is turning the World Series into his own reality TV show.

 Watch Schwarber become the Cubs’ first DH in World Series history. Watch Schwarber hit. Watch Schwarber run. Watch Schwarber drive in two runs.

 Oh, and if you need to tug at the heartstrings too, watch Schwarber become emotional talking about his 10-year-old friend, Campbell Faulkner of Queen Creek, Ariz.

 Faulkner, diagnosed with a rare form of mitochondrial disease, has a team of 13 doctors. He struggles to stand and walk for extended periods of time. He needs two feeding tubes in his stomach just to provide him with nutrition. He missed nearly 100 days of school last year because of his illness and doctor appointments.

 Schwarber met him in spring training and saw him last weekend before meeting the Cubs in the World Series. Faulkner is his friend, and Schwarber wears a bright green wristband in his honor to make those aware of the disease.

 "Really young, smart kid, and he’s just always got a big smile on his face," Schwarber said. "You know, that draws your attention to him. He’s living life to his fullest, even though he’s got something to overcome.

 "He’s just a good kid. How could you not like him?"

 It’s all part of the legend of Schwarber, the 23-year-old who became the Cubs’ all-time postseason home run leader last year by hitting five homers in just 27 at-bats, and now is doing what no one can possibly believe they’re seeing.

 "For a guy to be able to do something like this," winning pitcher Jake Arrieta said. "is just ... I’m kind of speechless."

 In the words of Cleveland manager Terry Francona, who suffered his first World Series loss a manager in 10 games: "I can see why Theo (Epstein) sent a plane for him. I would too. That’s a lot to ask, but special players can do special things."

 Epstein, president of the Cubs, was stunned when the six-month medical reports last week revealed Schwarber was a month ahead of schedule. Schwarber was so excited, he asked for permission to go to the Arizona Fall League, to see how he looked. He played two games, did all the agility drills, ran the bases, slid, and with Epstein watching the video of him on his computer, took the gamble. He sent a private plane for him Monday, and on Tuesday, was in the starting lineup batting fifth.

 Now, the question an inquiring, starving, championship-drought fan base wants to know: Could the Cubs dare put him in the field this weekend against the Indians? They are going back to National League rules. There will be no DH at Wrigley Field. Can he possibly play the field when he hasn’t played the outfield since tearing two knee ligaments on April 7?

 "He may be catching for all we know," Rizzo said.

 Well, it’s safe to say he won’t be catching until next spring, but considering the way he’s running the bases every time he’s aboard, there’s a certain manager who will be pushing for the cause.

 "I'm waiting to hear from our guys from our medical side," Cubs manager Joe Maddon said, "because obviously he looks good. He looks good at the plate. Running the bases, he looks pretty good so far.

 "There's nothing about watching him that tells me that he's inhibited right now.

 "He’s a different cat, he absolutely is."

 It’s one thing if there had been the scintilla of discussion that Schwarber could possibly be ready for the playoffs, even privately among the Cubs’ front office. Or even if Schwarber had told a few teammates that this was his secret plan all along. But nothing. Absolutely nothing.

 Sure, there were times during the season when Schwarber would tease his teammates, saying he’d be back for that day-night doubleheader in August against the Milwaukee Brewers, and everyone would laugh. It was a running joke all season. The laughter stopped when Rizzo was having dinner with strength coach Tim Buss before Game 3 of the NLCS in Los Angeles.

 "I said, 'What?' " Rizzo said. " 'Seriously? For real?' I couldn’t believe it."

 The Cubs still can’t.

 "I just took it day by day," Schwarber said. "There were days I just wasn’t feeling it. My teammates picked me up and I had some guys come over and say to me, 'World Series, you’re coming back.’ I’d just laugh it off.

 "Then, when it came to reality, it was a shock."

 Imagine how the rest of us feel.

 "The Legend of Kyle Schwarber," Ross slowly said again.

 Stay tuned. The sequel is Friday, the first World Series night game in Wrigley Field history.

 "They are going to go nuts," Ross said.

 Follow Nightengale on Twitter and Facebook

 Gallery: Cubs, Indians clash in World Series ||||| CLEVELAND — “They’re going to make a movie about him,” Kris Bryant said.

 Bryant might be right. But even after two jaw-dropping performances, the climax of “Legend: The Amazing Comeback of Kyle Schwarber,” lies ahead.

 Yes, the word, “legend,” is admittedly lofty for a player who is only 23, but that’s the description several of his teammates chose, not me.

 Filming resumes Friday night at Wrigley Field, in Game 3 of the World Series, with the Cubs and Indians tied at one game each.

 The next plot twist — “Will Schwarbs be in left field?” — likely will not be a twist at all. He will be in left. He will receive a standing ovation for the ages. He will hit a ball into Lake Michigan, and then ride a chariot down Michigan Avenue, woe to any billy goat that stands in the way.

 The Cubs, according to president of baseball operations Theo Epstein, have yet to decide whether Schwarber will be in the outfield. Doctors initially cleared him only to hit and run the bases, serve as a DH. But the Cubs will talk to the doctors again on Friday.

 The team does not intend to put Schwarber in jeopardy. But Epstein and others say they view him as healed from the surgery he underwent to repair two damaged ligaments a little more than six months ago.

 “He’s got tremendous strength and flexibility in the knee, as demonstrated by what he’s done out there,” Epstein said, referring to Schwarber’s double and walk in Game 1, his two RBI singles and walk in Game 2, the quality of his at-bats overall.

 “We’ll see. If he does end up playing out there, we’ll make sure he’s smart about it. If he doesn’t, we’ll put him in a big spot (as a pinch-hitter) to take one of the most important at-bats of the game."

 Three days ago, a lot of people thought the Cubs were nuts to even consider giving Schwarber his first start since April 7 in Game 1 of the World Series. Now, many of those same people are saying, “How can the Cubs not keep playing him?”

 There is risk. There is always risk. At some point, this becomes a question of protecting Schwarber from himself. “He’ll run through a wall. He’ll do anything,” Cubs general manager Jed Hoyer said. “But that’s on us to make sure we check all the right boxes.”

 Schwarber prepared for the Series by tracking 1,300 pitches from a pitching machine at the Cubs’ spring-training facility in Mesa, Az. He did not, however, track 1,300 flyballs. And he was a below-average outfielder even before he got injured in a collision with center fielder Dexter Fowler.

 Still, as Epstein indicated, the Cubs can proceed with relative caution. Replace Schwarber for defense if they get a lead. Use him off the bench in Games 4 and 5, when two flyball pitchers, John Lackey and Jon Lester, are scheduled to pitch.

 Heck, the Cubs will benefit even if Schwarber cannot play the field and is limited to one at-bat per game. In Game 1, Schwarber hit a double off a dominant Corey Kluber and drew a walk off the hellacious Andrew Miller. In Game 2, he drilled one RBI single off Trevor Bauer on a 3-0 count, the other off reliever Bryan Shaw after falling behind 0-2.

 He has seen 40 pitches in nine plate appearances, a rate that would nearly have led the majors if sustained over a full season. He is hitting as if he missed no time, taking pitches inches off the plate, repeating his short, powerful swing with seemingly no effort. You hear baseball people talk about players who can roll out of bed and hit. Schwarber practically did.

 “The professional at-bats just blow my mind,” catcher David Ross said. “The eye he has at the plate, taking pitches, taking walks. There is not a more impressive thing that I’ve seen in a long time than the Andrew Miller at-bat (Tuesday). I thought (manager) Joe (Maddon) might pinch-hit for him. Who’s the idiot? Me.”

 Yet, the Cubs are the people least surprised by all this. They understand that Schwarber possesses rare offensive gifts. They know how much he cares about the club. And they saw how hard he worked to return.

 “This guy has been running in pools, doing rehab stuff the entire summer, hoping somehow he could contribute,” Hoyer said. “We let him rehab in Chicago because he was such a big part of it, so great to be around.

 “A lot of guys we wouldn’t have allowed to stay here. But with him, he’s such a good teammate, he wants it so badly. If he had any possibility he was going to come back and help us, he was going to do it.”

 Most players, Ross said, would have “checked out” after suffering such a major injury; they would have gone home, done their rehab, played with their kids and prepared for the following season.

 Schwarber was different. Schwarber always was part of the team.

 “All of this was for these guys in the clubhouse and our organization,” he said. “It wasn’t for me.”

 The players could not help but notice.

 “He stayed locked in when he was hurt,” Ross said. “Mentally, he’s been competing in his mind for a long time with us.

 “Our new weight room has all mirrors. You look in there and he was in a full sweat by the time I get to the field. He’s got his day in before we start and he stays, does all his rehab, stays for the game, grinds out the game with us, cheering guys on, watching video, doing scouting reports. He’s a baseball rat.”

 Call Hollywood. Hold Wrigley. And if the doctors say OK, clear out left field.

 Lights! Schwarber! Action! |||||

– Even those not paying close attention to the World Series might be hearing the name Kyle Schwarber being thrown around a lot after the first two games. As in, "The Legend of Kyle Schwarber" as the Chicago Cubs catcher puts it, per USA Today. The 23-year-old suffered a devastating knee injury in the third game of the season on April 7 and sat out the rest of the year. In a surprise move, the Cubs put him back in the lineup for the World Series as a designated hitter. After doubling in Game 1—one of the few bright spots for the Cubs that game, which came after TV analyst Pete Rose predicted he'd strike out three times—Schwarber had two RBI singles in the Cubs' Game 2 victory and scored another run himself. He's batting .429 with two walks. "They're going to make movies about him," says teammate Kris Bryant. No position player has ever recorded his first hit of the season in the World Series. And his "eye" at the plate is astonishing his teammates, notes the Chicago Tribune. The problem for the Cubs is that Schwarber is not medically cleared to play the outfield, but that could change before Friday's game in Chicago, where no designated hitter is allowed. But "the next plot twist— “Will Schwarbs be in left field?'—likely will not be a twist at all," writes Ken Rosenthal at Fox Sports. "He will be in left. He will receive a standing ovation for the ages. He will hit a ball into Lake Michigan, and then ride a chariot down Michigan Avenue, woe to any billy goat that stands in the way."


– Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. stepped up its retreat from China yesterday with the sale of a controlling interest in three TV channels to a government-backed fund. The company insists that it plans to maintain a strong presence in China but analysts believe the move signals that News Corp., frustrated by interference from Beijing, has finally given up on its hopes of building a broadcasting business in the country, the Independent reports. News Corp. Asia and Europe CEO James Murdoch, Rupert's son, "doesn’t believe that they can build a business in China," an industry executive tells the Financial Times. "This is a clear sign that they aren’t interested in China anymore, but they can’t say that.”

Expand this summary.

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp is to sell control of its three Chinese television channels to a local state-controlled private equity fund in a recognition that its ambitious plan to build and control a broadcasting business in China has failed.

 The sale is the most decisive step so far in what has been a gradual retreat by News Corp over the past four years from a media market where the government insists on maintaining tight controls.

 China Media Capital, a fund backed by Shanghai Media Group and China Development Bank, both state-owned, has agreed to acquire a controlling stake in Xing Kong, Xing Kong International, Channel [V] Mainland China and its Fortune Start Chinese film library, News Corp and CMC said.

 The sale comes a year after News Corp reorganised its pan-Asia Star TV business into separate Star India and Star Greater China units, and also ceded management of Star’s English-language content to Fox International Channels.

 “They unemotionally realise that their media business there has the best opportunity to grow and profit in the control of local hands – from a regulatory and commercial perspective,” said Vivek Couto, executive director at Media Partners Asia.

 An industry executive said: “James Murdoch [Mr Murdoch’s son] doesn’t believe that they can build a business in China – this is a clear sign that they aren’t interested in China any more, but they can’t say that.”

 Analysts said CMC’s main interest was in gaining access to the overseas distribution channels that could help Chinese media groups internationalise.

 Beijing is seeking to make its media industry more commercially viable while retaining political control by building select groups into companies that could project China’s voice outside of the country.

 The deal with News Corp fits that policy, as it includes the Fortune library and its globally popular content, such as Jackie Chan movies and access to Xing Kong International which broadcasts in Hong Kong and Singapore.

 The two companies did not announce financial details of the deal but executives said News Corp would hold on to close to 50 per cent of the assets.

 The combined assets of the three channels and the film library are valued at $300m, making the deal worth about $160m, sources said. ||||| By Nick Clark

 Rupert Murdoch has sold a majority stake in three of his Chinese TV channels to a private equity fund backed by the government in Beijing.

 The decision marks a shift in News Corporation's strategy in the country and fuelled speculation yesterday that the media mogul could retreat from China, where his company has struggled to break through despite a long-standing commitment to the market.

 News Corp announced yesterday that it had agreed to sell a controlling stake in the television assets to China Media Capital (CMC), the country's first buyout fund specifically focused on the media industry. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

 News Corp said it would retain "a significant stake" in the business but the company would not reveal how much. It added: "Both partners aim to develop the business by exploring new growth opportunities."

 Mr Murdoch's decision to cede full control prompted speculation that News Corp has become frustrated with the control the Chinese authorities continue to exert on the country's media, despite encouraging commercialisation. There have also been suggestions that Mr Murdoch's son James, an increasingly powerful force within the company, is not convinced that News Corp's efforts in China will bear fruit in the near future.

 However, insiders at the business rejected suggestions that the sale of the TV stakes signalled News Corp's retreat from China. Alongside the remaining holding in its Star TV business, News Corp also has a 17.6 per cent holding in Phoenix Satellite Television, which runs three channels, as well as the Chinese operations of subsidiaries Dow Jones and MySpace. One possibility is that partnering with local state-owned operators may accelerate its expansion. A source close to News Corp said the move would help "open up the region".

 Jack Gao, the chief executive of Star China, will take over as head of the joint venture, which will be based in Beijing, and have offices in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Guangzhou and Chongqing. The company's entire staff of 70 is moving with him.

 James Murdoch, who is chairman and chief executive of News Corp in Europe and Asia, said: "The agreement with CMC recognises the value we have created in Star China and enables us to continue to grow it for the future."

 Rupert Murdoch bought Star TV in 1993 and has been forced to make a series of concessions to the Chinese government, including barring the BBC from his satellite platform broadcasting in the region.

 The state has consistently turned down his requests to make and broadcast programmes in the country.

 Mr Murdoch has recently expressed frustration about his operations in China. In October last year, he gave an address in the country calling for a more open media industry.

 A year ago, he restructured News Corp's Asian business, getting rid of almost a third of the company's staff in Hong Kong to focus on the Indian market. At the time, 75 per cent of Star TV sales came from India.

 Yesterday's deal will see CMC take control of News Corp's two general entertainment channels, Xing Kong and Xing Kong International, as well as Channel Mainland China, a music channel aimed at young people. The move also includes the Fortune Star Chinese movie library, which has a total of 757 Chinese-language titles.

 Li Ruigang, chairman of CMC, said: "This is an extension of our long-term co-operation with News Corporation." |||||


– Is the grass always greener on the other side of the fence? If you find yourself plagued by the question, thank the lateral frontal pole behind each of your eyebrows, says Oxford researcher Matthew Rushworth. The lateral frontal pole is a newly identified part of your brain which, scientists believe, helps us recognize when we've made poor decisions. "There are a few brain areas that monitor how good our choices are, and that is a very sensible thing to have. But this region monitors how good the choices are that we didn't take," notes Rushworth. Researchers zeroed in on the lateral front pole by scanning 25 people's brains using two imaging techniques. Putting the scans together helped the scientists learn about connections between the ventrolateral frontal cortex—which deals with language and cognition—and the rest of the brain, the Guardian reports. From there, the experts divided the ventrolateral frontal cortex into 12 regions, and then scanned monkeys' brains looking for those same regions. The scans indicate that monkeys have 11 of them—but only humans have the lateral frontal pole, Science 2.0 reports. In other words, the site notes, it's part of "what makes us human." (More brain news: Older brains aren't weaker.)

Expand this summary.

What separates us from other primates?

 The psychologists behind a new MRI study say it is key components in the ventrolateral frontal cortex area of the human brain, and how these components were connected up with other brain areas. When compared to equivalent MRI data from 25 macaque monkeys, the authors determined that it is unlike anything in the brains of some of our closest evolutionary relatives.

 The ventrolateral frontal cortex area of the brain is involved in many of the highest aspects of cognition and language, and is only present in humans and other primates. Some parts are implicated in psychiatric conditions like ADHD, drug addiction or compulsive behavior disorders. Language is affected when other parts are damaged after stroke or neurodegenerative disease. A better understanding of the neural connections and networks involved should help the understanding of changes in the brain that go along with these conditions.

 "We tend to think that being able to plan into the future, be flexible in our approach and learn from others are things that are particularly impressive about humans. We've identified an area of the brain that appears to be uniquely human and is likely to have something to do with these cognitive powers," says senior researcher Professor Matthew Rushworth of Oxford University's Department of Experimental Psychology.The brain is a mosaic of interlinked areas. We wanted to look at this very important region of the frontal part of the brain and see how many tiles there are and where they are placed.

 "We also looked at the connections of each tile – how they are wired up to the rest of the brain – as it is these connections that determine the information that can reach that component part and the influence that part can have on other brain regions."

 From the MRI data, the researchers were able to divide the human ventrolateral frontal cortex into 12 areas that were consistent across all the individuals.

 "Each of these 12 areas has its own pattern of connections with the rest of the brain, a sort of "neural fingerprint", telling us it is doing something unique," says Professor Rushworth.

 The researchers were then able to compare the 12 areas in the human brain region with the organization of the monkey prefrontal cortex. Overall, they were very similar with 11 of the 12 areas being found in both species and being connected up to other brain areas in very similar ways.

 However, one area of the human ventrolateral frontal cortex had no equivalent in the macaque – an area called the lateral frontal pole prefrontal cortex.

 "We have established an area in human frontal cortex which does not seem to have an equivalent in the monkey at all,' says first author Franz-Xaver Neubert of Oxford University. 'This area has been identified with strategic planning and decision making as well as "multi-tasking"."

 The Oxford research group also found that the auditory parts of the brain were very well connected with the human prefrontal cortex, but much less so in the macaque. The researchers suggest this may be critical for our ability to understand and generate speech.

 Published in Neuron. Source: University of Oxford ||||| Ball of tissue named lateral frontal pole found to be crucial in analysing alternative decisions – and may be unique to humans

 A new brain region that appears to help humans identify whether they have made bad decisions has been discovered by researchers.

 The size and shape of a large Brussels sprout, the ball of neural tissue seems to be crucial for the kind of flexible thought that allows us to consider switching to a more promising course of action.

 While other brain parts keep track of how well, or not, our decisions are working for us, the new structure is more outward-looking, and mulls over what we might have done instead.

 Scientists spotted the region, named the lateral frontal pole, after scanning the brains of healthy humans in two different ways. Further scans failed to find any comparable region in monkeys, suggesting the area is exclusive to humans.

 "We know there are differences between humans and monkeys. But it is surprising how many similarities there can be, and how a couple of differences can mean our behaviour is so far removed from them," said Matthew Rushworth, a professor of cognitive neuroscience, who led the study at Oxford University.

 "There are a few brain areas that monitor how good our choices are, and that is a very sensible thing to have. But this region monitors how good the choices are that we didn't take. It tells us how green the grass is on the other side of the fence."

 The remarkable finding highlights how much scientists have to learn about the human brain and how cutting-edge lab techniques are redrawing the map of the most complex organ in the known universe.

 One expert who spoke to the Guardian said the work was "stunning" and could pave the way for fresh advances in understanding psychiatric diseases. Details of the work are published in the Neuron journal.

 The Oxford team recruited 25 healthy people for the study and scanned each person twice. One scan, called diffusion-weighted MRI, revealed the neural pathways that connect different parts of the brain. The other, called functional MRI (fMRI), showed which areas of the brain were most active when the patients were resting.

 The combination of scans allowed the scientists to work out in exquisite detail how each part of the ventrolateral frontal cortex (vlFC), a region crucial for language and cognitive flexibility, was connected with any other part of the brain. From this, they identified 12 distinct areas of the vlFC that worked in different ways.

 For the next stage of the study, the researchers took fMRI scans of the ventrolateral frontal cortex in macaques. These revealed 11 regions that closely matched those seen in humans. But the lateral frontal pole was missing. Humans have two, one above and behind each eyebrow.

 "It might seem a bit pointless, but one of the ways to do something effectively is to monitor the other ways you could be doing something. People who have a bigger signal in this area are better at switching tack," said Rushworth.

 Overall, the brain scans from humans and monkeys showed remarkable similarities. But another key difference was seen in the auditory areas of the brain. In humans, parts of the brain that help us understand spoken words were strongly connected to the vlFC. In monkeys, the same areas were connected to the part of the brain that deals with social and emotional responses. The difference may go some way to explaining why humans speak and monkeys don't.

 "This is stunning work," said Karl Zilles, a neuroscientist at the Institute for Neuroscience and Medicine in Jülich, Germany. "It is the first time that modern MRI techniques have been combined to study differences in these parts of the brain in monkeys and humans."

 "I am quite sure that this will turn out to be of great importance in studying psychiatric disease. What we understand now is the connectivity within the brain. We know the cables and the connections. What we have to do now is combine all this with how information is processed in the different brain areas," he added. |||||


Apple is expected to announce soon a new subscription plan for newspapers, which hope tablets like the iPad will eventually provide a new source of profit as media companies struggle with declining print circulation and advertising revenue.

 Apple did not respond to a request for comment. But Roger Fidler, head of digital publishing at the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute in Columbia, Mo., said Apple probably will take a 30 percent cut of all subscriptions sold through the company's online App Store, and as much as 40 percent of the advertising revenue from publications' apps.

 The Cupertino company has agreed to provide an opt-in function for subscribers to allow Apple to share with publishers their information, which includes vital data that news organizations use to attract advertisers, industry sources say.

 Publishers "want the data of their customers so they can integrate it into their circulation database so they know who their customers are," said Fidler, who works with many newspapers.

 While a handful of national papers already offer app subscriptions to iPad users, major metropolitan papers across the country are getting ready to roll out their own publication apps and have been in discussions with Apple. Industry leaders hope tablet devices and subscription-based digital editions can help newspapers stem, if not reverse, losses incurred after they began offering content online for free years ago.

 "Newspapers are seriously trying to re-create the traditional print model in digital editions for tablets and e-readers," Fidler said.

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 Publishers wanted to pay Apple a fee rather than a cut of subscription and advertising revenue and are not happy with Apple's terms, he said. They had hoped to offer app editions as part of subscription bundles that include print versions of the paper. Instead, they must use Apple as an intermediary with subscribers.

 While the leap into the digital tablet market comes with short-term problems for newspapers, the iPad and future tablets will provide a new digital palette for publications to create sophisticated and lucrative ads, said Needham & Co. analyst Charles Wolf.

 "I would say it's a risk, but I would argue it's a short-term risk," Wolf said. "If you can put animation and multimedia into ads, that will greatly enhance reader views. I am certain of that."

 That could benefit Apple, as well.

 "Obviously, Steve Jobs sees this as a significant revenue stream for Apple in the future," Fidler said.

 Apple is expected to dominate the consumer tablet market for at least a couple of years. However, analysts expect high-quality tablets based on Google's Android operating system to eventually challenge Apple's lead. This will give publications more leverage in future negotiations, Fidler added, though Google does not yet offer subscriptions through the Android Market.

 While newspapers are anxious to get subscriber-based content onto tablets, there is some concern readers could drop print editions for app versions too quickly.

 "Most publishers don't want to see a rapid migration to apps without a comparable growth in advertisement revenue from tablet editions," Fidler said. "That would be disastrous."

 Contact John Boudreau at 408-278-3496. ||||| I’ve criticized press coverage of Apple quite a bit.

 But I have to acknowledge something: The company’s NSA-like secrecy makes it a bear to cover, and readers really want to read about Apple (me, too!). Those factors don’t excuse weak coverage, but they complicate providing good coverage.

 Today, as an example, we have this San Jose Mercury News story reporting that Apple is about to launch a digital newspaper-subscription service.

 First, the sourcing is thin and unclear. There’s nothing but the old passive-voice attribution in the lede:

 Apple is expected to announce soon a new subscription plan for newspapers, which hope tablets like the iPad will eventually provide a new source of profits as media companies struggle with declining print circulation and advertising revenue.

 And the second paragraph makes us doubt the accuracy of the first, relying as it does on speculation (at least as far as we know) from an outsider.

 Apple did not respond to a request for comment. But Roger Fidler, head of digital publishing at the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute in Columbia, Mo., said Apple probably will take a 30 percent cut of all subscriptions sold through the company’s online App Store, and as much as 40 percent of the advertising revenue from publications’ apps.

 Finally, in the third graph we get some sourcing for the actual news:

 The Cupertino company has agreed to provide an opt-in function for subscribers to allow Apple to share with publishers their information, which includes vital data that news organizations use to attract advertisers, industry sources say.

 Anonymous sourcing is fine here. It’s either that or nothing. But it’s the only time any of the news angle is sourced in the whole story, and the only piece of news that looks solid. Look at the weasel words in the first two graphs—all at critical places: “is expected to… soon… probably… as much as…”

 Again, it’s extremely tough to cover this company, but this isn’t good enough. Look at some of the headlines of the blog rewrites on Google News:

 — Rumor: Apple will announce newspaper subscription plan

 — Rumor: Apple to announce newspaper subscription service

 — Rumor Alert! Apple Reaches Newspaper Subscription Deal

 Those are three of the 165 news results so far. The market is so starved for any nugget of news or “news” about Apple that when a scrap appears, it gets rewritten and repackaged almost immediately by hundreds of online outlets. Pageviews soar.

 So let’s be honest here, that—rather than the difficulty of reporting around Steve Jobs & Co.—is what causes news organizations to forego their standards when it comes to Apple (although in this case it doesn’t hurt that everybody assumes that Apple is going to do some deal with newspapers anyway).

 Otherwise they’d rather be scooped than have their work labeled “rumor,” accurately, by a bunch of bloggers who know it when they see it.

 And if you want my guess (pure speculation—labeled as such!) I’d say newspapers won’t give Steve Jobs 30 percent cut. Far be it from me to overestimate the business prowess and intelligence of newspaper executives, but surely they’re not so dumb as to give him nearly a third of a recurring revenue stream.

 — Further Reading:

 The Press in the Reality Distortion Field: Gossip, rumor, rank speculation—all on the table if it’s an Apple product

 Steve Jobs, Holy Moses. Did you hear the one about the most-anticipated tablet since the Ten Commandments? Yes. Over and over and over…

 The Dead Go On the Record in The Wall Street Journal: The paper held Apple director’s newsmaking comments until after his death.

 Advertising for Apple: We’re not even talking about the crush of breathless stories and live blogs that accompany its pronouncements.

 Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today

 Ryan Chittum is a former Wall Street Journal reporter, and deputy editor of The Audit, CJR's business section. If you see notable business journalism, give him a heads-up at rc2538@columbia.edu. Follow him on Twitter at @ryanchittum. |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– Apple is working out a deal with newspaper publishers for a digital subscription service on its various i-gadgets, industry sources tell the San Jose Mercury News. Apple, as usual, isn't saying anything, but the Mercury News talks to one industry observer who predicts that Steve Jobs would take a 30% cut from subscriptions, plus 40% from any ads generated by the newspaper apps. And remember this is all speculation, warns the Columbia Journalism Review. Because of Apple's obsession with security, we have to rely on thinly sourced stories like this one to get our fix of company news. "And if you want my guess (pure speculation—labeled as such!) I’d say newspapers won’t give Steve Jobs 30% cut," writes Ryan Chittum. "Far be it from me to overestimate the business prowess and intelligence of newspaper executives, but surely they’re not so dumb as to give him nearly a third of a recurring revenue stream." (For more iPad doings, click here.)


Write an article based on this summary:

– For your average big city mayor, admitting that you bought illegal drugs while in office would be the most damaging thing to happen in a day—but Rob Ford's not your average mayor. Soon after a press conference in which the crack-smoking, binge-drinking Toronto mayor claimed his closet was empty of skeletons, a judge released evidence from witnesses—mainly Ford staffers—who alleged he had abused drugs including cocaine and OxyContin, partied with prostitutes at City Hall, racially abused a taxi driver, and attacked several staff members, reports the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, and the National Post. Among the partially redacted allegations included in a huge police dossier on Ford's activities: Ford staffers worried about how their boss often drove drunk, sometimes in school zones. One staffer told police he was in the car with Ford when the mayor downed a 12-ounce bottle of vodka in a few swigs, chasing it with Gatorade. He says Ford was frequently so drunk he was "rambling and incoherent"—and he and other junior staff members were often sent to buy alcohol. Staff members told police that some women came to the mayor's office saying Ford had told them they could have a job after they smoked joints with him outside of bars. St. Patrick's Day last year appears to have been a wild night even by Rob Ford standards, the police documents reveal. During celebrations, staffers say Ford drank heavily from a bottle of vodka and was seen at City Hall with a woman believed to be an escort. Against staffers' advice, Ford—who talked about "going out then getting laid"—then took a taxi to a bar, calling the driver a "Paki" and throwing a handful of business cards at him. He later moved on to a second bar, where a waiter says he saw Ford and an unknown woman apparently snorting cocaine. After an intoxicated Ford stormed the dance floor, he was asked to leave. He then returned to City Hall, where he continued to drink, attacked two staffers, and made lewd remarks to a female security guard before staffers managed to get him into a taxi home, according to witness statements. Upon arrival at the residence, a staffer who accompanied Ford says the drunken mayor got in his own car and sped off. Toronto's city council has voted 37 to 5 to ask Ford to step down, at least temporarily, but the increasingly isolated mayor is adamant about staying on. Meanwhile, Ford Motor Co. has told the mayor and his supporters to stop using its logo on T-shirts and other items, reports the Detroit News, and organizers of this year's Santa Claus Parade have asked Ford to stay away. Click for a stroll through some of Hizzoner's lowlights.

Ford Motor Co., the second-largest U.S. automaker, said it will protect its Ford script and oval logo from use by supporters of embattled Toronto Mayor Rob Ford.

 Rob Ford, 44, yesterday signed shirts emblazoned with �Ford Nation� incorporating the automaker�s logo at a United Way charity event, the National Post newspaper reported. The mayor said for the first time Wednesday he bought illegal drugs while in office after admitting last week to using crack cocaine and being drunk in public.

 �Ford did not grant permission for use of its logo,� Jay Cooney, a company spokesman, said Wednesday by telephone. �We view it as an unauthorized use of our trademark and have asked it to be stopped.�

 Ford reclaimed control of its blue oval logo last year after using it and other assets as collateral to borrow $23.4 billion in 2006 which allowed the company to weather the global financial crisis. The Dearborn-based company regained control after Moody�s Investors Service became the second major ratings company to upgrade the carmaker to investment grade.

 Rob Ford�s revelation Wednesday that he purchased illegal drugs while in office came amid questioning at a city hall meeting in which a majority of city councilors asked him to take a leave of absence to address his �challenges.�

 Ford rose 2.3 percent to $17.10 at the close in New York. The shares have surged 32 percent this year, compared with a 25 percent gain for the Standard & Poor�s 500 Index. ||||| Booze. Crack cocaine. Calling a taxi driver “Paki.” Violence. Drinking and driving. A hooker visiting City Hall. Showing up impaired at a military charity ball for injured soldiers. Connections to criminals.

 The Toronto Police Service has built a huge file of allegations on Mayor Rob Ford’s improper activities, new court documents reveal. Much of it coming from Ford staffers who bought the mayor booze, say they knew of his substance abuse problems and stood by while the mayor lied to the city, saying he had no problems and there was no crack video.

 Those same staffers knew the mayor avoided “ethnic events” he was asked to attend, and kept light hours, typically working 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., and frequently disappeared for lengthy stretches of time, the document states. An earlier Star story revealed police surveillance caught Ford calling or meeting an alleged drug dealer and his pals many times during regular business hours.

 And, tucked amidst a sad collection of binge drinking and repulsive behaviour (Ford, married with two children, allegedly told a young female security guard at city hall he “was going to eat her box”) is a window into the world of Rob and Doug, the brothers Ford, who police learned have an intense rivalry with each other.

 “Doug Ford and Mayor Ford have a very interesting relationship,” detectives were told when they interviewed Mark Towhey, the mayor’s former chief of staff. “Doug Ford believes that Mayor Ford owes everything he has to him and vice versa.”

 As Ford defended himself at city hall Wednesday, Justice Ian Nordheimer released a second batch of allegations against Ford, contained in a search warrant application used in the police case against Ford friend and occasional driver Alexander “Sandro” Lisi. Lisi, who was previously convicted of threatening to kill a woman, is facing charges of drug trafficking and extortion, the latter in connection with an alleged attempt to retrieve the crack video. None of the allegations have been proven in court and the mayor has not been charged. The documents — parts are still blacked out — do not say who allegedly instructed Lisi to retrieve the video of Ford smoking crack cocaine and making racial and homophobic slurs.

 The newly revealed documents raised the temperature of the Fords, already warmed by a day that saw fellow city politicians urge the mayor to take a leave of absence. “Be very careful on what you write,” Mayor Ford warned reporters repeatedly as the day drew to a close.

 Long before the May 16 news of the crack video’s existence, Ford staffers had allegedly endured physical violence and abuse from Mayor Ford, and witnessed a municipal politician more at home drinking vodka in a schoolyard than attending committee meetings at city hall.

 When detectives, following revelations in the Star and on Gawker.com, went on the hunt for Ford information they quickly learned that staffers had a serious concern that Ford was drinking and driving, sometimes in a school zone. One former staffer, Chris Fickel, told police he frequently had to buy vodka — it was always the Iceberg brand — for Ford. Fickel said other staffers including Nico Fidani, Kia Nejatian, Michael Prempeh, Amin Massoudi and Isaac Shirokoff also purchased vodka for Ford when the mayor asked.

 Fickel said on one occasion, in the fall of 2012, he was a passenger in Ford’s Escalade and the mayor was driving and talking football. On hand was Payman Aboodowleh, a friend and assistant football coach on Ford’s team. Aboodowleh has a criminal record for theft and assaulting a police officer. According to Fickel, “the mayor pulled his car over (likely at a high school, was Fickel’s recollection) and grabbed an LCBO paper bag from in front of the passenger seat which contained a fresh bottle of vodka and drank the 11 or 12 oz. mickey in one-two minutes going back and forth with a Gatorade.”

 Fickel said he got out of the Escalade soon after and Ford kept driving. Fickel noted to detectives that Ford quickly became “rambling and incoherent” after drinking. There is no indication that any of these staffers contacted police with concerns Ford was drinking and driving.

 In two videos the Toronto Star has seen — the video where Ford rants he is going to kill someone and the crack video — Ford is incoherent and rambling.

 The police document has numerous references to times when Ford appeared severely impaired. There are other points when, usually at a time when Ford is under the influence of something (staff are never sure what, but in interviews with police some say it may be cocaine) Ford allegedly tries to hurt one of his young staffers. These alleged assaults have been the subject of police inquiry, but no charges have been laid.

 One night at a strip club, the police document states, “the Mayor assaulted (Isaac) Shirokoff,” a special assistant to Ford who is now a graduate student at Queen’s University. “This happened one night when they were out at a strip club and the mayor was doing cocaine.” The information was relayed to police by former staffer Chris Fickel. Shirokoff has been asked to comment on this allegation previously, but has denied it to the Star. Shirokoff refused to give a statement to police.

 Other people allegedly assaulted by Ford include current chief of staff Earl Provost and former staffer Brooks Barnett, according to the police document, which records the allegations but does not say if they are pursuing charges.

 In one section, the document describes how Ford called three staffers “Liberal bitches” and “Liberal hacks” and how he pushed one of them, roughly into the wall at city hall. That night, the now infamous Bier Markt night that included a drunken romp at city hall, Ford drank heavily from a 40 ounce bottle of vodka, the police document states. A woman present that night at city hall was rumoured to be a prostitute that Ford had previously been seen with at a stag.

 The account of the night, as told to detectives, includes a description of how a drunken Ford began crying about his father. Ford crying is mentioned several times in the document, with staffers saying Ford cried when he lost his job coaching Don Bosco’s football team, and was at his father’s grave (his late father was a provincial MPP) late one night, sounding impaired, and calling them in tears from his cellular phone.

 The document paints a picture of a mayor’s office out of control, mostly staffed by young, inexperienced people drawn, from time to time, from Ford’s football world. Among the few older people were Dave Price, Ford’s former football coach from high school days, George Christopoulos, once a public relations officer for the Toronto police and Towhey, who had a military and consulting background. The youngsters ran errands, buying vodka for the mayor or picking up his drycleaning. One former staffer, Jennifer Dwyer, had serious concerns that Ford was driving impaired, police were told.

 Dwyer and fellow staffer Kia Nejatian had arrived in the spring of 2012 to collect Ford from his house and take him to an event. “Ford appeared to be under the influence and impaired. He looked red faced, sweating and was talking quickly,” Nejatian told police. Ford told Dwyer, a young woman, to hop in his Escalade and they drove off. Nejatian told police that Dwyer was concerned because Ford seemed to be driving impaired and because he made her accompany him to a “rough neighbourhood” to give money to a football player Ford knew.

 Some of the frustration the detectives on the case have faced is clear. When detectives went to talk to Dwyer, she did not corroborate Nejatian’s story.

 On the Bier Markt night in 2012, St. Patrick’s Day, Ford was intent on going out on the town, Ford took a taxi with some of his staffers. According to what staffers later told police investigating allegations involving Ford, the mayor “started calling the taxi driver a “Paki,” threw business cards at him and made mocking fake language sounds.

 The Bier Markt incident included, staff told police, a woman they believed was a prostitute or “escort” who knew Ford. She is described by staff as young, petite, and blonde. The woman knew Ford from a stag he had attended and Ford was concerned that his staff be “discreet” around her. Former staffer Isaac Ransom told police there have long been “rumours” that Ford uses “escorts or prostitutes.” That night, which included a visit from Ford friend and former TTC employee Peter Kordas, Ford said he wanted to “get laid” and smoke hashish or marijuana, according to the police document. In one section it describes Ford allegedly doing a “bump” of cocaine off his own wrist.

 The document also sheds more light on the Garrison Ball in 2013, a story reported by the Star prior to the crack video story.

 According to the police document, Ford had been away on vacation and was returning to attend the military ball. Staffers told police Ford showed up with his kids and he was “out of it.” At one point, detectives were told, Ford tried to put chief of staff Mark Towhey in a “headlock.”

 Prior to the ball, Towhey was trying to reach Ford and called Ford friend Lisi, which led to him speaking with the mayor by phone. Lisi was driving, police were told.

 According to the police document: “The mayor was talking very quickly and was almost incoherent. He had his children with him. Towhey did not feel the mayor was in a presentable state so he told him to not bother attending.”

 But Ford was determined to attend. Towhey, the police document states, warned Ford it would not go well for him if he attended, telling him if he attended impaired “his career as a politician would be over.”

 Ford did attend, driven by Lisi, with friend Bruno Bellissimo, a crack addict, in the Escalade with the Ford children. A Ford staffer was delegated to take the two young children to McDonald’s while Ford, stumbling, made his way around the important military ball. After the ball (the Star has reported that Ford was asked to leave) Towhey took all evening events off the calendar for Ford.

 The document also describes Ford’s response on May 17, the day a front page story in the Star detailed the crack video.

 Towhey told police he advised Ford to take one of three suggested courses of action: Fight and try and “bulldoze” his way through the controversy; Resign; or take a leave of absence.

 Shortly after he presented these options, Ford fired Towhey. Staffers told police that Ford enjoyed when staffers who left his employ had to do the “walk of shame” as they publicly left the office.

 According to former press secretary Christopoulos, who spoke to police, Ford came up with his own unscripted response.

 “I do not do crack cocaine, I do not do this and the Star sucks,” Christopolous told detectives. |||||


Summarize this article:

Some of the reports describe Pakistani intelligence working alongside Al Qaeda to plan attacks. Experts cautioned that although Pakistan’s militant groups and Al Qaeda work together, directly linking the Pakistani spy agency, the Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI, with Al Qaeda is difficult.

 The records also contain firsthand accounts of American anger at Pakistan’s unwillingness to confront insurgents who launched attacks near Pakistani border posts, moved openly by the truckload across the frontier, and retreated to Pakistani territory for safety.

 The behind-the-scenes frustrations of soldiers on the ground and glimpses of what appear to be Pakistani skullduggery contrast sharply with the frequently rosy public pronouncements of Pakistan as an ally by American officials, looking to sustain a drone campaign over parts of Pakistani territory to strike at Qaeda havens. Administration officials also want to keep nuclear-armed Pakistan on their side to safeguard NATO supplies flowing on routes that cross Pakistan to Afghanistan.

 This month, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, in one of the frequent visits by American officials to Islamabad, announced $500 million in assistance and called the United States and Pakistan “partners joined in common cause.”

 The reports suggest, however, that the Pakistani military has acted as both ally and enemy, as its spy agency runs what American officials have long suspected is a double game — appeasing certain American demands for cooperation while angling to exert influence in Afghanistan through many of the same insurgent networks that the Americans are fighting to eliminate.

 Behind the scenes, both Bush and Obama administration officials as well as top American commanders have confronted top Pakistani military officers with accusations of ISI complicity in attacks in Afghanistan, and even presented top Pakistani officials with lists of ISI and military operatives believed to be working with militants.

 Benjamin Rhodes, deputy national security adviser for strategic communications, said that Pakistan had been an important ally in the battle against militant groups, and that Pakistani soldiers and intelligence officials had worked alongside the United States to capture or kill Qaeda and Taliban leaders.

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 Still, he said that the “status quo is not acceptable,” and that the havens for militants in Pakistan “pose an intolerable threat” that Pakistan must do more to address.

 “The Pakistani government — and Pakistan’s military and intelligence services — must continue their strategic shift against violent extremist groups within their borders,” he said. American military support to Pakistan would continue, he said.

 Several Congressional officials said that despite repeated requests over the years for information about Pakistani support for militant groups, they usually receive vague and inconclusive briefings from the Pentagon and C.I.A.

 Nonetheless, senior lawmakers say they have no doubt that Pakistan is aiding insurgent groups. “The burden of proof is on the government of Pakistan and the ISI to show they don’t have ongoing contacts,” said Senator Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat on the Armed Services Committee who visited Pakistan this month and said he and Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, the committee chairman, confronted Pakistan’s prime minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani, yet again over the allegations.

 Such accusations are usually met with angry denials, particularly by the Pakistani military, which insists that the ISI severed its remaining ties to the groups years ago. An ISI spokesman in Islamabad said Sunday that the agency would have no comment until it saw the documents. Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States, Husain Haqqani, said, “The documents circulated by WikiLeaks do not reflect the current on-ground realities.”

 The man the United States has depended on for cooperation in fighting the militants and who holds most power in Pakistan, the head of the army, Gen. Parvez Ashfaq Kayani, ran the ISI from 2004 to 2007, a period from which many of the reports are drawn. American officials have frequently praised General Kayani for what they say are his efforts to purge the military of officers with ties to militants.

 American officials have described Pakistan’s spy service as a rigidly hierarchical organization that has little tolerance for “rogue” activity. But Pakistani military officials give the spy service’s “S Wing” — which runs external operations against the Afghan government and India — broad autonomy, a buffer that allows top military officials deniability.

 American officials have rarely uncovered definitive evidence of direct ISI involvement in a major attack. But in July 2008, the C.I.A.’s deputy director, Stephen R. Kappes, confronted Pakistani officials with evidence that the ISI helped plan the deadly suicide bombing of India’s Embassy in Kabul.

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 From the current trove, one report shows that Polish intelligence warned of a complex attack against the Indian Embassy a week before that bombing, though the attackers and their methods differed. The ISI was not named in the report warning of the attack.

 Another, dated August 2008, identifies a colonel in the ISI plotting with a Taliban official to assassinate President Hamid Karzai. The report says there was no information about how or when this would be carried out. The account could not be verified.

 General Linked to Militants

 Lt. Gen. Hamid Gul ran the ISI from 1987 to 1989, a time when Pakistani spies and the C.I.A. joined forces to run guns and money to Afghan militias who were battling Soviet troops in Afghanistan. After the fighting stopped, he maintained his contacts with the former mujahedeen, who would eventually transform themselves into the Taliban.

 And more than two decades later, it appears that General Gul is still at work. The documents indicate that he has worked tirelessly to reactivate his old networks, employing familiar allies like Jaluluddin Haqqani and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, whose networks of thousands of fighters are responsible for waves of violence in Afghanistan.

 General Gul is mentioned so many times in the reports, if they are to be believed, that it seems unlikely that Pakistan’s current military and intelligence officials could not know of at least some of his wide-ranging activities.

 For example, one intelligence report describes him meeting with a group of militants in Wana, the capital of South Waziristan, in January 2009. There, he met with three senior Afghan insurgent commanders and three “older” Arab men, presumably representatives of Al Qaeda, who the report suggests were important “because they had a large security contingent with them.”

 The gathering was designed to hatch a plan to avenge the death of “Zamarai,” the nom de guerre of Osama al-Kini, who had been killed days earlier by a C.I.A. drone attack. Mr. Kini had directed Qaeda operations in Pakistan and had spearheaded some of the group’s most devastating attacks.

 The plot hatched in Wana that day, according to the report, involved driving a dark blue Mazda truck rigged with explosives from South Waziristan to Afghanistan’s Paktika Province, a route well known to be used by the insurgents to move weapons, suicide bombers and fighters from Pakistan.

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 In a show of strength, the Taliban leaders approved a plan to send 50 Arab and 50 Waziri fighters to Ghazni Province in Afghanistan, the report said.

 General Gul urged the Taliban commanders to focus their operations inside Afghanistan in exchange for Pakistan turning “a blind eye” to their presence in Pakistan’s tribal areas. It was unclear whether the attack was ever executed.

 Photo

 The United States has pushed the United Nations to put General Gul on a list of international terrorists, and top American officials said they believed he was an important link between active-duty Pakistani officers and militant groups.

 General Gul, who says he is retired and lives on his pension, dismissed the allegations as “absolute nonsense,” speaking by telephone from his home in Rawalpindi, where the Pakistani Army keeps its headquarters. “I have had no hand in it.” He added, “American intelligence is pulling cotton wool over your eyes.”

 Senior Pakistani officials consistently deny that General Gul still works at the ISI’s behest, though several years ago, after mounting American complaints, Pakistan’s president at the time, Pervez Musharraf, was forced publicly to acknowledge the possibility that former ISI officials were assisting the Afghan insurgency. Despite his denials, General Gul keeps close ties to his former employers. When a reporter visited General Gul this spring for an interview at his home, the former spy master canceled the appointment. According to his son, he had to attend meetings at army headquarters.

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 Suicide Bomber Network

 The reports also chronicle efforts by ISI officers to run the networks of suicide bombers that emerged as a sudden, terrible force in Afghanistan in 2006.

 The detailed reports indicate that American officials had a relatively clear understanding of how the suicide networks presumably functioned, even if some of the threats did not materialize. It is impossible to know why the attacks never came off — either they were thwarted, the attackers shifted targets, or the reports were deliberately planted as Taliban disinformation.

 One report, from Dec. 18, 2006, describes a cyclical process to develop the suicide bombers. First, the suicide attacker is recruited and trained in Pakistan. Then, reconnaissance and operational planning gets under way, including scouting to find a place for “hosting” the suicide bomber near the target before carrying out the attack. The network, it says, receives help from the Afghan police and the Ministry of Interior.

 In many cases, the reports are complete with names and ages of bombers, as well as license plate numbers, but the Americans gathering the intelligence struggle to accurately portray many other details, introducing sometimes comical renderings of places and Taliban commanders.

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 In one case, a report rated by the American military as credible states that a gray Toyota Corolla had been loaded with explosives between the Afghan border and Landik Hotel, in Pakistan, apparently a mangled reference to Landi Kotal, in Pakistan’s tribal areas. The target of the plot, however, is a real hotel in downtown Kabul, the Ariana.

 “It is likely that ISI may be involved as supporter of this attack,” reads a comment in the report.

 Several of the reports describe current and former ISI operatives, including General Gul, visiting madrasas near the city of Peshawar, a gateway to the tribal areas, to recruit new fodder for suicide bombings.

 One report, labeled a “real threat warning” because of its detail and the reliability of its source, described how commanders of Mr. Hekmatyar’s insurgent group, Hezb-i-Islami, ordered the delivery of a suicide bomber from the Hashimiye madrasa, run by Afghans.

 The boy was to be used in an attack on American or NATO vehicles in Kabul during the Muslim Festival of Sacrifices that opened Dec. 31, 2006. According to the report, the boy was taken to the Afghan city of Jalalabad to buy a car for the bombing, and was later brought to Kabul. It was unclear whether the attack took place.

 The documents indicate that these types of activities continued throughout last year. From July to October 2009, nine threat reports detailed movements by suicide bombers from Pakistan into populated areas of Afghanistan, including Kandahar, Kunduz and Kabul.

 Some of the bombers were sent to disrupt Afghanistan’s presidential elections, held last August. In other instances, American intelligence learned that the Haqqani network sent bombers at the ISI’s behest to strike Indian officials, development workers and engineers in Afghanistan. Other plots were aimed at the Afghan government.

 Sometimes the intelligence documents twin seemingly credible detail with plots that seem fantastical or utterly implausible assertions. For instance, one report describes an ISI plan to use a remote-controlled bomb disguised as a golden Koran to assassinate Afghan government officials. Another report documents an alleged plot by the ISI and Taliban to ship poisoned alcoholic beverages to Afghanistan to kill American troops.

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 But the reports also charge that the ISI directly helped organize Taliban offensives at key junctures of the war. On June 19, 2006, ISI operatives allegedly met with the Taliban leaders in Quetta, the city in southern Pakistan where American and other Western officials have long believed top Taliban leaders have been given refuge by the Pakistani authorities. At the meeting, according to the report, they pressed the Taliban to mount attacks on Maruf, a district of Kandahar that lies along the Pakistani border.

 The planned offensive would be carried out primarily by Arabs and Pakistanis, the report said, and a Taliban commander, “Akhtar Mansoor,” warned that the men should be prepared for heavy losses. “The foreigners agreed to this operation and have assembled 20 4x4 trucks to carry the fighters into areas in question,” it said.

 While the specifics about the foreign fighters and the ISI are difficult to verify, the Taliban did indeed mount an offensive to seize control in Maruf in 2006.

 Afghan government officials and Taliban fighters have widely acknowledged that the offensive was led by the Taliban commander Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour, who was then the Taliban shadow governor of Kandahar.

 Mullah Mansour tried to claw out a base for himself inside Afghanistan, but just as the report quotes him predicting, the Taliban suffered heavy losses and eventually pulled back.

 Another report goes on to describe detailed plans for a large-scale assault, timed for September 2007, aimed at the American forward operating base in Managi, in Kunar Province.

 “It will be a five-pronged attack consisting of 83-millimeter artillery, rockets, foot soldiers, and multiple suicide bombers,” it says.

 It is not clear that the attack ever came off, but its planning foreshadowed another, seminal attack that came months later, in July 2008. At that time, about 200 Taliban insurgents nearly overran an American base in Wanat, in Nuristan, killing nine American soldiers. For the Americans, it was one of the highest single-day tolls of the war.

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 Tensions With Pakistan

 The flood of reports of Pakistani complicity in the insurgency has at times led to barely disguised tensions between American and Pakistani officers on the ground.

 Meetings at border outposts set up to develop common strategies to seal the frontier and disrupt Taliban movements reveal deep distrust among the Americans of their Pakistani counterparts.

 On Feb. 7, 2007, American officers met with Pakistani troops on a dry riverbed to discuss the borderlands surrounding Afghanistan’s Khost Province.

 According to notes from the meeting, the Pakistanis portrayed their soldiers as conducting around-the-clock patrols. Asked if he expected a violent spring, a man identified in the report as Lt. Col. Bilal, the Pakistani officer in charge, said no. His troops were in firm control.

 The Americans were incredulous. Their record noted that there had been a 300 percent increase in militant activity in Khost before the meeting.

 “This comment alone shows how disconnected this particular group of leadership is from what is going on in reality,” the notes said.

 The Pakistanis told the Americans to contact them if they spotted insurgent activity along the border. “I doubt this would do any good,” the American author of the report wrote, “because PAKMIL/ISI is likely involved with the border crossings.” “PAKMIL” refers to the Pakistani military.

 A year earlier, the Americans became so frustrated at the increase in roadside bombs in Afghanistan that they hand-delivered folders with names, locations, aerial photographs and map coordinates to help the Pakistani military hunt down the militants the Americans believed were responsible.

 Nothing happened, wrote Col. Barry Shapiro, an American military liaison officer with experience in both Afghanistan and Pakistan, after an Oct. 13, 2006, meeting. “Despite the number of reports and information detailing the concerns,” Colonel Shapiro wrote, “we continue to see no change in the cross-border activity and continue to see little to no initiative along the PAK border” by Pakistan troops. The Pakistani Army “will only react when asked to do so by U.S. forces,” he concluded. ||||| A huge cache of secret US military files today provides a devastating portrait of the failing war in Afghanistan, revealing how coalition forces have killed hundreds of civilians in unreported incidents, Taliban attacks have soared and Nato commanders fear neighbouring Pakistan and Iran are fuelling the insurgency.

 The disclosures come from more than 90,000 records of incidents and intelligence reports about the conflict obtained by the whistleblowers' website WikiLeaks in one of the biggest leaks in US military history. The files, which were made available to the Guardian, the New York Times and the German weekly Der Spiegel, give a blow-by-blow account of the fighting over the last six years, which has so far cost the lives of more than 320 British and more than 1,000 US troops.

 Their publication comes amid mounting concern that Barack Obama's "surge" strategy is failing and as coalition troops hunt for two US naval personnel captured by the Taliban south of Kabul on Friday.

 The war logs also detail:

 • How a secret "black" unit of special forces hunts down Taliban leaders for "kill or capture" without trial.

 • How the US covered up evidence that the Taliban have acquired deadly surface-to-air missiles.

 • How the coalition is increasingly using deadly Reaper drones to hunt and kill Taliban targets by remote control from a base in Nevada.

 • How the Taliban have caused growing carnage with a massive escalation of their roadside bombing campaign, which has killed more than 2,000 civilians to date.

 In a statement, the White House said the chaotic picture painted by the logs was the result of "under-resourcing" under Obama's predecessor, saying: "It is important to note that the time period reflected in the documents is January 2004 to December 2009."

 The White House also criticised the publication of the files by WikiLeaks: "We strongly condemn the disclosure of classified information by individuals and organisations, which puts the lives of the US and partner service members at risk and threatens our national security. WikiLeaks made no effort to contact the US government about these documents, which may contain information that endanger the lives of Americans, our partners, and local populations who co-operate with us."

 The logs detail, in sometimes harrowing vignettes, the toll on civilians exacted by coalition forces: events termed "blue on white" in military jargon. The logs reveal 144 such incidents.

 Some of these casualties come from the controversial air strikes that have led to Afghan government protests, but a large number of previously unknown incidents also appear to be the result of troops shooting unarmed drivers or motorcyclists out of a determination to protect themselves from suicide bombers.

 At least 195 civilians are admitted to have been killed and 174 wounded in total, but this is likely to be an underestimate as many disputed incidents are omitted from the daily snapshots reported by troops on the ground and then collated, sometimes erratically, by military intelligence analysts.

 Bloody errors at civilians' expense, as recorded in the logs, include the day French troops strafed a bus full of children in 2008, wounding eight. A US patrol similarly machine-gunned a bus, wounding or killing 15 of its passengers, and in 2007 Polish troops mortared a village, killing a wedding party including a pregnant woman, in an apparent revenge attack.

 Questionable shootings of civilians by UK troops also figure. The US compilers detail an unusual cluster of four British shootings in Kabul in the space of barely a month, in October/November 2007, culminating in the death of the son of an Afghan general. Of one shooting, they wrote: "Investigation controlled by the British. We are not able to get [sic] complete story."

 A second cluster of similar shootings, all involving Royal Marine commandos in Helmand province, took place in a six-month period at the end of 2008, according to the log entries. Asked by the Guardian about these allegations, the Ministry of Defence said: "We have been unable to corroborate these claims in the short time available and it would be inappropriate to speculate on specific cases without further verification of the alleged actions."

 Rachel Reid, who investigates civilian casualty incidents in Afghanistan for Human Rights Watch, said: "These files bring to light what's been a consistent trend by US and Nato forces: the concealment of civilian casualties. Despite numerous tactical directives ordering transparent investigations when civilians are killed, there have been incidents I've investigated in recent months where this is still not happening.

 Accountability is not just something you do when you are caught. It should be part of the way the US and Nato do business in Afghanistan every time they kill or harm civilians." The reports, many of which the Guardian is publishing in full online, present an unvarnished and often compelling account of the reality of modern war.

 Most of the material, though classified "secret" at the time, is no longer militarily sensitive. A small amount of information has been withheld from publication because it might endanger local informants or give away genuine military secrets. WikiLeaks, whose founder, Julian Assange, obtained the material in circumstances he will not discuss, said it would redact harmful material before posting the bulk of the data on its "uncensorable" servers.

 WikiLeaks published in April this year a previously suppressed classified video of US Apache helicopters killing two Reuters cameramen on the streets of Baghdad, which gained international attention. A 22-year-old intelligence analyst, Bradley Manning, was arrested in Iraq and charged with leaking the video, but not with leaking the latest material. The Pentagon's criminal investigations department continues to try to trace the leaks and recently unsuccessfully asked Assange, he says, to meet them outside the US to help them. Assange allowed the Guardian to examine the logs at our request. No fee was involved and WikiLeaks was not involved in the preparation of the Guardian's articles. |||||

– Covert operations, hidden civilian victims of the Afghanistan War and US suspicions that Pakistan is aiding the Taliban are among the shocking secrets bared in some 92,000 leaked American military documents posted yesterday on Wikileaks. The New York Times, the Guardian and Der Spiegel were given early access to the documents, and all three publications are running huge front-page stories on the leaked information today. Among major civilian casualties never before reported to the American public were 7 children, killed in 2007 during a raid by a secret special American operations unit called Task Force 373, according to the records. The documents also reveal that US officials fear that even as Pakistan collects some $1 billion in US aid to combat militants members of its intelligence community secretly meet with the Taliban to help organize networks of militants to fight American soldiers, reports the Times. National Security Adviser James Jones blasted Wikileaks' disclosure of classified information—one of the biggest leaks in US military history—saying it endangers the lives of American servicemen and threatens US security. The Times said in a statement to readers that it took care "not to publish information that would harm national security interests."


Manti Te'o has already tried to explain how his heartwarming story of playing through adversity was a lie he wasn't responsible for, how he was the victim of a cruel hoax about a dead girlfriend who never existed.

 FILE - In this Jan. 5, 2013, file photo, Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o answers a question during media day for the BCS national championship NCAA college football game in Miami. The wrenching story... (Associated Press)

 FILE - In this Oct. 20, 2012, file photo, Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o chases the action during the second half of an NCAA college football game against BYU in South Bend, Ind. The wrenching story... (Associated Press)

 FILE - In this Nov. 17, 2012, file photo, Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o takes the field during senior day before an NCAA college football game against Wake Forest in South Bend, Ind. The wrenching... (Associated Press)

 People walk in front of the Notre Dame administration building, known as the Golden Dome, Thursday Jan. 17, 2013 on the campus of the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind. In a shocking announcement,... (Associated Press)

 FILE - In this Aug. 16, 2012, file photo, Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o answers a question during NCAA college football media day in South Bend, Ind. The wrenching story of Te'o's girlfriend dying... (Associated Press)

 Manti Te'o's family home appears, Thursday, Jan. 17, 2013, in Laie, Hawaii. People in Te'o's hometown stood firmly behind the Notre Dame linebacker after the story of his girlfriend and her death from... (Associated Press)

 He still has questions to answer, with many wondering whether he was a victim or participant in the scam. Those doubts even extended to his own campus, where he is one of the most popular players in Notre Dame's storied history.

 "Whenever Manti decides to speak I'll bet the entire campus will stop what they're doing and watch what he has to say," Notre Dame student body president Brett Rocheleau said Thursday. "I think the majority of students believe in Manti. They just want to hear him answer these final few questions and hear the story from his point of view."

 When Te'o will do that, like so much else about this story, is still a mystery.

 An Associated Press review of news coverage found that Te'o talked about his doomed love in a Web interview on Dec. 8 and again in a newspaper interview published Dec. 10. He and the university said he learned on Dec. 6 that it was all a hoax _ not only was she not dead, she wasn't real.

 On Thursday, a day after the bizarre news broke, there were questions about whether he really was duped, as he claimed, or whether he and the university were complicit in the hoax and misled the public, perhaps to improve his chances of winning the Heisman. He came in second, propelled by one of the most compelling plot lines of the season.

 Yahoo sports columnist Dan Wetzel said the case has "left everyone wondering whether this was really the case of a na??ve football player done wrong by friends or a fabrication that has yet to play to its conclusion."

 Gregg Doyel, national columnist for CBSSports.com, was more direct.

 "Nothing about this story has been comprehensible, or logical, and that extends to what happens next," he wrote. "I cannot comprehend Manti Te'o saying anything that could make me believe he was a victim."

 On Wednesday, Te'o and Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick said the player was drawn into a virtual romance with a woman who used the phony name Lennay Kekua, and was fooled into believing she died of leukemia in September. They said his only contact with the woman was via the Internet and telephone. Te'o was not at the news conference; the school released a 225-word statement from him.

 Te'o also lost his grandmother _ for real _ the same day his girlfriend supposedly died, and his role in leading Notre Dame to its best season in decades endeared him to fans and put him at the center of one of college football's feel-good stories of the year.

 Relying on information provided by Te'o's family members, the South Bend Tribune reported in October that Te'o and Kekua first met, in person, in 2009, and that the two had also gotten together in Hawaii, where Te'o grew up.

 Sports Illustrated posted a previously unpublished transcript of a one-on-one interview with Te'o from Sept. 23. In it, he goes into great detail about his relationship with Kekua and her physical ailments. He also mentioned meeting her for the first time after a game in California.

 "We met just, ummmm, just she knew my cousin. And kind of saw me there so. Just kind of regular," he told SI.

 Among the outstanding questions: Why didn't Te'o ever clarify the nature of his relationship as the story took on a life of its own?

 Te'o's agent, Tom Condon, said the athlete had no plans to make any public statements in Bradenton, Fla., where he has been training with other NFL hopefuls at the IMG Academy.

 Notre Dame said Te'o found out that Kekua was not a real person through a phone call he received at an awards ceremony in Orlando, Fla., on Dec. 6. He told Notre Dame coaches about the situation on Dec. 26.

 The AP's media review turned up two instances during that gap when the football star mentioned Kekua in public.

 Te'o was in New York for the Heisman presentation on Dec. 8 and, during an interview before the ceremony that ran on the WSBT.com, the website for a South Bend TV station, Te'o said: "I mean, I don't like cancer at all. I lost both my grandparents and my girlfriend to cancer. So I've really tried to go to children's hospitals and see, you know, children."

 In a column that first ran in The Los Angeles Times, on Dec. 10, Te'o recounted why he played a few days after he found out Kekua died in September, and the day she was supposedly buried.

 "She made me promise, when it happened, that I would stay and play," he said on Dec. 9 while attending a ceremony in Newport Beach, Calif., for the Lott Impact Awards.

 On Wednesday, when Deadspin.com broke the story, Swarbrick said Notre Dame did not go public with its findings sooner because it expected the Te'o family to come forward first.

 Asked if the NCAA was monitoring the Te'o story for possible rules violations, NCAA President Mark Emmert said:

 "We don't know anything more than you do," he told reporters at the organization's convention in Dallas. "We're learning about this through the stories just the same as you are. But we have to wait and see what really transpired there. It's obviously (a) very disturbing story and it's hard to tell where the facts lie at this point.

 "But Notre Dame is obviously looking into it and there will be a lot more to come forward. Right now, it just looks ... well, we don't know what the facts are, so I shouldn't comment beyond that."

 ___

 AP Sports Writers Ralph Russo and Tim Reynolds contributed to this report. ||||| Story highlights Manti Te'o is a hoax victim, Notre Dame says, but questions continue to pop up

 A sportswriter thinks Te'o may have embellished his relationship

 An NFL football player says he has met a woman he thought was Kekua

 In a little more than three months, Manti Te'o probably will be drafted by an NFL team and sign a multimillion dollar deal.

 Before teams sink that much money into players, they have questions.

 With the revelation that the football feel-good story of the year centered on the Notre Dame linebacker's love for a woman who never existed, many people have questions for Te'o -- a lot of questions.

 And as each question in the saga gets answered -- none publicly by Te'o --- it seems another one, or two, or three, crop up.

 For instance, why did Te'o tell reporters before the Heisman Trophy presentation on December 8 that he "lost both my grandparents and my girlfriend to cancer," when two days earlier the woman he thought was dead called him on his cellphone?

 JUST WATCHED How the Te'o girlfriend hoax began Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH How the Te'o girlfriend hoax began 04:10 PLAY VIDEO

 JUST WATCHED Notre Dame stands behind Te'o Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Notre Dame stands behind Te'o 02:55 PLAY VIDEO

 JUST WATCHED Deadspin shares how it broke Te'o story Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Deadspin shares how it broke Te'o story 03:16 PLAY VIDEO

 JUST WATCHED Manti Te'o: My girlfriend never existed Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Manti Te'o: My girlfriend never existed 08:28 PLAY VIDEO

 Why did he tell a Sports Illustrated reporter in October that Kekua came to one of his games then issue a statement this week that he never met her?

 Who is now behind the one of the Twitter accounts associated with Lennay Kekua, a woman who apparently never lived, let alone died, in September before Te'o, who called her his girlfriend, played one of the biggest games of the young season?

 The Te'o hoax in 30 posts

 A tweet Thursday purportedly from the fictional girlfriend promised she would have a big announcement that would help sort out details of the story, but the tweet was merely a joke about Te'o.

 Two other tweets on the page were retweets from the verified account of Te'o.

 "@LennayKay I miss you!" a November 6 tweet from Te'o said.

 On September 12, Te'o tweeted "@LennayKay you will always be with me wherever I go!"

 It was unclear Thursday whether the person Te'o tweeted to in September used it again after reports broke of a hoax or whether someone created a new account with the same user name.

 The airing of the bizarre story began Wednesday, when sports website Deadspin published a piece dismissing as a hoax the existence of Te'o's girlfriend -- the one who he said died around the same time as his grandmother while his team marched toward the BCS National Championship Game.

 Then Wednesday, the university held a news conference saying Te'o was the victim of a "elaborate hoax." And Te'o, the Heisman Trophy runner-up, released a statement saying he was embarrassed that he was the victim of a "sick joke."

 The bizarre developments left many wondering if they, instead of Te'o, were led on.

 "Te'o's story that he is completely innocent in this does not really ring true to us," Timothy Burke, co-author of the Deadspin article, told CNN's Anderson Cooper on Wednesday night.

 Pete Thamel, the Sports Illustrated writer who published a transcript of his interview with Te'o, said he thinks the star linebacker was duped.

 "If he was acting he deserves an Oscar nomination," Thamel said. "The depth and the detail of this scam is mindboggling, but I do think Te'o ... he caught the wave of this story, maybe exaggerated the depths of their relationship a little. But at the end of the day, we need to hear from Manti Te'o."

 JUST WATCHED Writer: Reporters didn't check Te'o hoax Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Writer: Reporters didn't check Te'o hoax 02:55 PLAY VIDEO

 JUST WATCHED Burke: Three people may be in on hoax Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Burke: Three people may be in on hoax 04:57 PLAY VIDEO

 JUST WATCHED Journalists missed truth about Te'o Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Journalists missed truth about Te'o 03:13 PLAY VIDEO

 Doubters wonder if Heisman Trophy a factor in hoax

 The hoax

 The story of the girlfriend came to light in September as Notre Dame continued its improbable undefeated season, and Te'o, a relentless tackler, was beginning to emerge as a front-runner for the prestigous Heisman Trophy.

 He led the Fighting Irish, amassing double-digit tackle games and becoming the face of one of the best defenses in the nation.

 In September and October, Te'o told interviewers that his girlfriend and grandmother had died within hours of each other. The girlfriend, a 22-year-old Stanford University student, died of leukemia, he said.

 The twin losses inspired him to honor them with sterling play on the field, Te'o said. He led his team to a 20-3 routing of Michigan State after he heard the news.

 "I miss 'em, but I know that I'll see them again one day," he told ESPN.

 Opinion: Te'o tale a mirror to our gullibility?

 It was indeed a gripping interest story of determination. And the media ran with it.

 No one bothered to seek out Kekua's family until Deadspin, acting on an anonymous e-mail received last week, started poking around.

 "What do you do when you first want to know something? You Google it, right?" Burke said on CNN. "And Google searches for 'Lennay Kekua' only showed up articles about her dying, and inspiring Manti Te'o.

 "There's no evidence of her existing in any way, other than, you know, after she had allegedly died. And we thought that was a little weird."

 Te'o's grandmother died in September, Deadspin said.

 But there was no Social Security Administration record of Kekua's death. The Birth and Death Registration Office in Orange County, California, told CNN it had no record of Kekua, nor does the county coroner.

 Deadspin called mortuaries and funeral homes in Carson, California, where Kekua was reportedly buried -- but came up empty.

 The website sought out the person whose picture had been presented as that of Kekua and tracked her down.

 Timeline: How the story unfolded

 She was alive, didn't have leukemia and had never met Te'o.

 "That sort of opened everything up," Burke said.

 The revelation prompted the Notre Dame athletics director to call a news conference Wednesday. There was no way for Te'o to know the relationship was a hoax because it had been conducted strictly online and on the phone, said director Jack Swarbrick.

 The pair had set up several meetings, including in Hawaii, where Te'o grew up -- but Kekua never showed, Swarbrick said.

 The university said it did not know how many people were in on the ruse.

 According to Swarbrick, Te'o received a call from a woman claiming to be his girlfriend on December 6, telling him she was not dead. Those calls continued, but Te'o did not answer, he said.

 The Heisman Trophy was awarded two days later, and Te'o made comments about losing relatives to cancer before he finished second in the award voting to quarterback Johnny Manziel of Texas A & M.

 The Stanford University registrar's office told CNN that it has never had a student registered in Kekua's name or using an alternate spelling.

 "Outside of a few Twitter and Instagram accounts, there's no online evidence that Lennay Kekua ever existed," Deadspin contends. "There was no Lennay Kekua."

 Te'o in his own words

 Her 'soulful eyes'

 So, how did the two fall in love?

 According to the South Bend Tribune in Indiana -- the newspaper of Notre Dame's hometown, the two met -- yes, met -- after a football game in Palo Alto, California, in 2009.

 "Their stares got pleasantly tangled, then Manti Te'o extended his hand to the stranger with a warm smile and soulful eyes," the paper gushed. "They could have just as easily brushed past each other and into separate sunsets. Te'o had plenty to preoccupy himself that November weekend in Palo Alto, Calif., back in 2009."

 The article went on to say: "Lennay Kekua was a Stanford student and Cardinal football fan when the two exchanged glances, handshakes and phone numbers that fateful weekend three seasons ago."

 Te'o's father, Brian, was quoted in the article: "They started out as just friends. Every once in a while, she would travel to Hawaii, and that happened to be the time Manti was home, so he would meet with her there. But within the last year, they became a couple."

 The newspaper said Wednesday it based Teo's story on information from the linebacker, his family members and coaches -- and moved the story to its archives.

 But as Thamel reported Thursday, Te'o said they met through a cousin.

 "The only time he didn't speak with confidence was when I asked how they met," he wrote. I didn't press him, as it was clearly something he didn't want to share. I suspected they may have met online, understood he wouldn't have wanted that public and moved on."

 Media reports indicate the parents never met Kekua.

 Social media jump all over story

 Te'o was in Florida training for the NFL Scouting Combine, where draft prospects showcase their abilities for teams. He didn't meet with reporters or answer phone calls to his room on Thursday.

 He tried to clear things up with a statement Wednesday saying he "developed an emotional relationship with a woman I met online."

 "We maintained what I thought to be an authentic relationship by communicating frequently online and on the phone, and I grew to care deeply about her," he said in the statement.

 "To realize that I was the victim of what was apparently someone's sick joke and constant lies was, and is, painful and humiliating," the statement continued. "It further pains me that the grief I felt and the sympathies expressed to me at the time of my grandmother's death in September were in any way deepened by what I believed to be another significant loss in my life."

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 Who's who on the Internet? Who knows |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– If Manti Te'o really was an innocent dupe, tricked into believing he had a girlfriend with a tragic story, he's going to have some explaining to do, reports the AP. Two holes in Te'o's story so far: Even though Te'o says he learned on Dec. 6 that "Lennay Kekua" never existed, he perpetuated the story at least twice after that in interviews. Te'o claimed to have met Kekua in person, including once in a September interview with Sports Illustrated. "We met just, ummmm, just she knew my cousin," he said of their first supposed encounter. "And kind of saw me there so. Just kind of regular." As for who "Lennay Kekua" really was, the New York Post reports that the woman seen in the fake Twitter account is Diane O’Meara, a 23-year-old marketing rep from California. “Somebody stole her identity,” a relative says. O'Meara is lawyered up and keeping quiet at the moment. "Te'o's story that he is completely innocent in this does not really ring true to us," said Timothy Burke, the Deadspin editor who co-wrote the original story, on CNN.