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(CNN) -- World champions South Africa held off a second-half rally from New Zealand to win their Tri-Nations opener 28-19 in Bloemfontein on Saturday. Morne Steyn goes on a run for the Springboks in their Tri Nations win. The All Blacks were trailing 17-3 early in the second half and got within four points before the Springboks sealed victory when Jaque Fourie went over eight minutes from time. All Blacks took the lead through Stephen Donald's early penalty, but South Africa hit back with 17 points without answer. Frans Steyn and Ruan Pienaar kicked penalties before the latter went over for the first try. Pienaar missed the conversion and carrying a slight injury passed the kicking duties back to Steyn who made a penalty to put them 14-3 up. Morne Steyn took over the kicking in the second half and he was successful with his first attempt to make it 17-3. The All Blacks then burst into action as Conrad Smith ran through for a superb try which was converted by Donald who then landed a penalty. Steyne and Donald shared penalties before Piri Weepu's wayward pass was recovered by the Springboks and Fourie went over to punish the error. The conversion was missed to complete a day of wayward kicking by the home side, but after a penalty by Donald, Steyn made no mistake the next time, with his kick three minutes from time finally ending the All Black challenge. South Africa go into the Tri-Nations off the back of a thrilling 2-1 series victory over the British and Irish Lions.

South Africa beat New Zealand 28-19 in Tri-Nations opener in Bloemfontein . Jaque Fourie and Ruan Pienaar crossed for tries for the Springboks . All Blacks hit back from 17-3 down to set up thrilling finale .

(CNN) -- World number two Novak Djokovic beat John Isner in a grueling four hour 16 minute encounter to secure Serbia's passage into the quarterfinals of the Davis Cup on Sunday. Serbia led the United States 2-1 overnight in Belgrade with Djokovic favored to beat the giant Isner to clinch the tie, but he was given an almighty scare before winning 7-5 3-6 6-3 6-7 6-4. They will now play Croatia at home on July 9-11 in the quarterfinals of the premier team event in tennis after their first-ever victory in the World Group. Djjokovic, urged on by a partisan home crowd, looked headed for a routine win as he took the opening set, but he was broken twice in the second as Isner leveled. Djokovic returned the compliment in the third set to lead two sets to one, but he could not force home the advantage and he lost a fourth set tiebreak 8-6 as Isner set up a decider. A single break in the first game gave Djokovic a crucial advantage, but his American opponent proceeded to save six match points before finally netting a forehand, the home hero sinking to his knees after an exhausting ordeal. The defeat means Patrick McEnroe's U.S. team face a relegation playoff later this year to maintain their record of playing in the World Group every year. In other ties, defending champions Spain shrugged off the absence of the injured Rafael Nadal to beat Switzerland 4-1 to set-up a quarterfinal clash with France. Russia edged out India 3-2 and will face Argentina who defeated Sweden 3-2 in Stockholm. Returning from injury David Nalbandian was Argentina's match winner in Stockholm as he beat Andreas Vinciguerra 7-5 6-3 4-6 6-4 in the deciding rubber after Swedish number one Robin Soderling had drawn them level with a straight sets win over Leonardo Mayer. 2005 champions Croatia, last year's runners-up Czech Republic and France sealed their quarterfinal places on Saturday against Ecuador, Belgium and Germany respectively. France's home clash with Spain is already whetting the appetite of tennis fans. "It'll be like a final, it's the kind of thing you dream about," France captain Guy Forget told the official Davis Cup Web site www.daviscup.com.

Novak Djokovic beats John Isner in five-set marathon as Serbia beat USA in Davis Cup tie . Serbia reach quarterfinals of the World Group for the first time . Defending champions Spain will play France in pick of the last eight ties .

(CNN) -- World number two Roger Federer stepped up his preparations for the Australian Open with an easy win over Spaniard Carlos Moya in the Kooyong Classic in Melbourne on Wednesday. Federer plays a backhand during his straight sets win over Moya in Melbourne. Federer, who will be looking to tie Pete Sampras with his 14th grand slam, opened with a 6-2 6-3 win in the eight-man invitational tournament. The Swiss has begun the year with successive defeats to world number four Andy Murray in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, but made no mistake against former French Open champion Moya. He needed just 57 minutes to progress at the former home of the Australian Open. "I was a little rusty in the beginning, missed quite a few forehands, but I thought it was a good match overall," he told the Press Association. "There were a few gusts of wind, which makes it not easy to play, but I felt like I was playing OK." Earlier, Federer's compatriot Stanislas Wawrinka also had an easy win over Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis 6-2 6-2. Federer's next opponent will be Spanish Davis Cup hero Fernando Verdasco, who swept past young Croatian star Marin Cilic 6-2 7-5. Second seed Fernando Gonzalez of Chile also went through as he beat Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia 6-4 6-3.

Roger Federer wins his opening match at the Kooyong Classic in Melbourne . The world number two sweeps past Carlo Moya of Spain in straight sets . Fernando Verdasco of Spain and Fernando Gonzalez of Chile also go through .

(CNN) -- [Updated 3 p.m. ET, Monday, August 29] These beachgoers are enjoying themselves on Isola dei Conigli ("Rabbit Island") in Lampedusa, Italy. Lampedusa is the southernmost part of Italy, in the Mediterranean Sea between the Sicilian mainland and North Africa. Since the Arab unrest began earlier this year, thousands of people from Libya and other parts of North Africa have sought refuge there. Contrary to its name, Rabbit Island is probably more renowned for turtles. It is one of the last remaining egg-laying sites in Italy for the endangered loggerhead sea turtle. Nobody answered Rabbit Island in our photo challenge this week, but there were some close guesses of Sardinia, Italy, as well as some generic guesses of the Mediterranean. [Original post] Do you know where this photo was taken? If you think you know the answer -- or if you just want to take a wild guess -- post it in the comments area below. Later in the day, we'll reveal where the photo was taken and give credit to those who figured it out first. (The more detail, the better!) Each Monday morning, we'll post a new photo and challenge you to tell us its origin. The photo might be related to a prominent news story or theme -- or it might just be something that caught our eye. Good luck! Check out a previous example

Do you know where this photo was taken? CNN will post a new photo each Monday morning and reveal the answer later that day . The photo might be related to a recent story -- or it could just be something unusual we found .

(CNN) -- More than 5,000 patients of a South Dakota urology clinic may have been exposed to hepatitis and HIV when the facility reused single-use medical products, state health officials said Friday. Clinic workers told inspectors they've been reusing products since the clinic opened its doors in 2002. The Siouxland Urology Center in Dakota Dunes has been ordered to contact nearly 5,700 former patients treated there since 2002. A routine inspection found the facility was reusing sterile saline bags, tubing and other medical supplies from cystoscopies -- a diagnostic procedure that looks at the lower urinary tract. "We witnessed the practice while we were in the facility," during a January inspection, said Barb Buhler of the South Dakota Health Department. Siouxland Urology has since been put under a provisional license and has been very cooperative, according to state officials. "Siouxland Urology Center informed certain of its patients by U.S. mail that a prior cystoscopy procedure could have potentially exposed them to an infectious disease," the facility's Web site said. It added that "the risk of infection from our past procedure is very minimal and we are unaware of any blood infections in our patients caused by the cystoscopy practice." The clinic, which primarily serves clients from South Dakota, Iowa and Nebraska, is offering free blood tests to those possibly affected to rule out the presence of viruses .Watch more on the possible exposure of urology patients » On January 21, South Dakota Department of Health inspectors entered an examining room where a cystoscopy was about to take place, and noticed that a saline bag, which was hanging on a pole, was dated January 19, said Bob Stahl, of the South Dakota Department of Health. The inspectors, who are registered nurses, questioned the clinic staff. The clinic staff said they routinely reused saline bags and tubing, although both are clearly marked "for single use only," Stahl said. "They used the bags and tubing on multiple patients," Stahl said. He said the workers at the clinic told the inspectors they'd been reusing bags and tubing since the clinic opened in 2002. They said they didn't see anything wrong with the practice, Stahl said. "It was their standard operating procedure," Stahl said. "They told the inspectors that this was a common practice all over the country. We disagreed and told them this was not a common practice." He said that the clinic had been inspected seven times since it opened, and no one had noticed that the clinic was reusing equipment. "It was just by chance that this saline bag was hanging there. We run across these things by luck at times," Stahl said. "We're fortunate that the team was able to identify this." Fluids from patients can retreat into saline bags and tubing while the equipment is used, and reusing the tubing or saline bags could put patients at risk for contacting diseases from previous patients. A 1-liter bag of saline and tubing costs about $4, according to Mary Jo Lallis, account manager for PSS World Medical, Inc., a medical supply company. CNN's Greg Morrison and Elizabeth Cohen contributed to this report.

Thousands of patients of a urology clinic possibly exposed to hepatitis and HIV . Clinic routinely reused single-use saline bags and tubing . Staff told inspectors it was "common practice" everywhere; inspectors disagreed . Nearly 5,700 former patients will be contacted, offered free blood tests .

(CNN) -- Come out and join CNN's Fit Nation! Our tour is coming to your city with a digital interactive experience, free Fit Nation gear and a chance for you to be on CNN TV with chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta. The Fit Nation bus will criss-cross the country starting in July to connect with people who are on ready to commit to a healthy lifestyle. Check the list of scheduled stops below to find out when the tour is coming to a city near you. Upcoming Tour Dates - July 11-13: Taste of Dallas, Dallas, Texas - July 18-20: Bite of Seattle, Seattle, Washington - July 26: Aquatennial River Blast Minneapolis, Minnesota - August 1-3: Ohio State Fair in Columbus, Ohio Do you have a weight loss success story you'd like to share? Send us your story, photos and video.

CNN's Fit Nation launches it's great American road trip this summer . Meet Dr. Sanjay Gupta and take part in a digital interactive experience .

(CNN) -- Connie and Donald McCracken were watching CNN one evening last week when they learned of the tragic death of actress Natasha Richardson from a head injury. Immediately, their minds turned to their 7-year-old daughter, Morgan, who was upstairs getting ready for bed. An injured Morgan McCracken has benefited from awareness after Natasha Richardson's death. Two days earlier, Morgan, her father, and brother had been playing baseball in the yard of their Mentor, Ohio, home when her father hit a line drive that landed just above Morgan's left temple. A lump formed, but the McCrackens iced it down and the swelling subsided within an hour. "For the next two days, she was perfectly fine," Donald McCracken says. "She had no symptoms. She went to school both days and got an A on her spelling test as usual. There were no issues whatsoever." But after hearing about Richardson's death, the McCrackens wondered if Morgan was really as OK as she seemed. After all, Richardson had been talking and lucid immediately after her fatal injury. When they went upstairs to kiss Morgan good night, she complained of a headache. "Because of Natasha, we called the pediatrician immediately. And by the time I got off the phone with him, Morgan was sobbing, her head hurt so much," McCracken says. The McCrackens took Morgan to the emergency room at LakeWest Hospital in neighboring Willoughby, where doctors ordered a CT scan and immediately put Morgan on a helicopter to Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital in Cleveland, with her father by her side. "I knew it was bad when she had to get there by helicopter in six minutes, instead of the 30 minutes it would have taken to get to Cleveland in an ambulance," McCracken said. When the helicopter arrived at Rainbow, the McCrackens were greeted by Dr. Alan Cohen, the hospital's chief of pediatric neurosurgery. He whisked Morgan into the operating room, pausing for a moment to tell McCracken that his daughter had the same injury as Richardson: an epidural hematoma. McCracken remembers standing in the emergency room, feeling like the life had just been sucked out of him. "My heart sank," he says. "It just sank." Unlike Richardson's, Morgan's story has a happy ending. After surgery and five days in the hospital, she's at home and doing fine. "Dr. Cohen told us that if we hadn't brought her in Thursday night, she never would have woken up," McCracken says. Now the McCrackens sometimes wonder if they waited too long to get Morgan to a doctor. After hearing about Richardson's death, many people are asking themselves the same question: Do all head injuries need attention, even ones that seem minor? "Sometimes there's a gray zone, and there's no right answer," Cohen says. Watch for tips on when to go to the ER » In most cases, it's pretty clear when someone needs medical attention after a head injury, says Greg Ayotte, a spokesperson for the Brain Injury Association of America and a cognitive rehabilitation therapist. "They're confused, they're agitated, or they might be dizzy or unresponsive," he says. But then there's what doctors call the "talk and die" scenario, where someone seems fine, only to die hours, or sometimes even days later. "Talk and die" can happen with several different kinds of brain injuries. In the case of epidural hematomas, the injury Richardson and Morgan had, blood pools in the area between the lining of the brain and the skull. "Fluid is building up in a contained space, creating pressure. Something's got to give, and that something is the brain," Ayotte says. If you don't get to the hospital to have surgery to drain the fluid, "the deterioration can happen very quickly." Here, from Ayotte and other experts, is a list of what to do after someone has suffered a head injury. 1. Be vigilant

Richardson's death raises question: When should you go to ER after head injury? Dizziness, vomiting, headache and confusion are all red flags . Take special care if person is on blood thinners or is elderly . Doc: "Sometimes there's a gray zone, and there's no right answer."

(CNN) -- Global activist and U2 frontman Bono attended the United Nations General Assembly in New York to push world leaders to join his ONE campaign in fighting disease, poverty, and hunger. He talked to CNN's John Roberts on "American Morning" about recent successes and what's next. Bono said politicians who love signing checks but not cashing hurt plans to help the world's poor. ROBERTS: All this talk has been about the economy collapsing, $700 billion bailout. Congress is absolutely absorbed with that. Did that in any way affect what you were trying to do this week? Are people more focused on this economy than in helping out developing nations? BONO: We got good news this week. I know normally I'm on your program with bad news -- the whingeing rock star -- but it's great. There's a disease, malaria -- it's 3,000 African kids die every day of mosquito bites. Sounds mad, but it's true. And people have committed and it looks like the funds are on the table so that that disease will be no more by 2015. That makes people like me punch the air and everyone who wears a ONE T-shirt and all our white band campaigners on college campuses all over the country -- it was a great day for them yesterday so we're celebrating that. I know it's extraordinary, that while you're having this meltdown on the markets, that people could even concentrate on this stuff, but I'm really grateful that they did. We had both [presidential] candidates make very powerful statements about the necessity for nonmilitary tools, for instance, in foreign policy. This is an America that both candidates want to show to the rest of the world -- the greatness of America. ROBERTS: So you're hearing what you want to hear from these candidates? BONO: Yeah. And you couldn't imagine a few years ago that you would have candidates so close to an election talking about this stuff, so yeah. Watch Bono say how he uses his star status on politicians » ROBERTS: You were talking to Christine Romans outside the studio, who just did that piece for us a few minutes ago on what else could you do with $700 billion. What could you do with $700 billion? BONO: We wouldn't be asking for that kind of money. These are serious matters, people have lost their jobs. But I think the bill for the whole world -- so America would be like a third of it -- for $25 billion you could absolutely change the world. You could put kids in school, most kids in school. You could eradicate diseases like malaria, as we're saying. We could change the water supplies. But what's important is that people who want to change the world, want to see their country, they see it as a patriotic act to show the world innovation of America, technology of America, pharmacology of America. ROBERTS: For $25 billion, you could put every kid who's out of school in the world into school? That seems like a lot of people for $25 billion. Pretty good return on your investment. BONO: It's a great return on investment. You heard me on your program before talking about debt cancellation. Strangely Americans don't know that because of debt cancellation there are already an extra 29 million African children in school. That's incredible. Because people got out on the streets on the (RED) campaign and stuff like that, there's now 2.5 million Africans on AIDS drugs, which are expensive. So your country is turning for me in the right direction on these issues. ROBERTS: So you're hearing some of what you want to hear, particularly on the malaria issues. But the European Union had promised to increase aid by $50 billion between 2005 and 2010. It looks like they're going to fall $40 billion short. BONO: They are, but they're still ahead of America. That's the bad news. You don't want to get me into the ring.

Bono says he's "punching the air" after plan to eradicate malaria won funding . Global activist says you can change the world with $25 billion investment . Campaigning is "most inspiring" work, but pop star also still loves playing with band .

(CNN) -- He performed to a watching audience of millions at the closing ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games, but conducting the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra has been the most nerve-wracking thing the American-Chinese pop star Wang Leehom has undertaken for some time. From the Olympics to holding the baton himself, Leehom has tackled a variety of projects. "I think I always throw myself in these impossible situations and then see if I can scramble out of them and gain something from these experiences," he told CNN during rehearsals for the December performances. "Standing in front of the orchestra was intimidating at times, but I think we got through it, and I think we made some exciting waves in town. We definitely got the crowd excited about it." Leehom has certainly made waves with his Mandarin-language pop music, having sold around 15 million records, but as his recent foray in classical music confirms, he's more than just another voice with an interesting haircut. Growing up in the U.S. to a family of doctors, he excelled at school but decided to take a different path to his parents. After shunning the opportunity to study at an Ivy League university, he spent some time at Williams College of liberal arts before getting his big break in pop in Taiwan in 1995. At that time he admits he knew nothing about Chinese music and didn't speak Mandarin. Learning Mandarin was just another challenge Leehom rose to meet and he believes that having Chinese as a second language has been to his advantage, and his interest in the linguistics of the language has led to some of his more innovative work. "I always think for artists to take their shortcomings and turn them around and make them into what define them as an artist is a real trick," he told CNN. "I think it's a wonderful thing for people to understand how language can be transformed and mutilated for musical reasons and actually bring out something special orally," he said. Musically he's often been put in the same box as Mando-pop sensation Jay Chou, and has similarly has been the subject of rumor about ever aspect of his life, from his school grades to his sexuality. Watch Wang Leehom talk about his rivalry with Jay Chou ». Adding his face to a number of endorsements, the pressures of being in the public eye have made him become increasingly protective of his privacy. "It's definitely changed me. It's like some defense mechanism I guess, to just be private, to keep things to myself, to protect myself or my loved ones. I am the same person, but just a different way of life," he said. However it hasn't stopped him from branching out and taking on an acting career. He made his big screen debut in 2000 in the Hong Kong action flick "China Strike", but it was his role in Ang Lee's international success "Lust, Caution" that brought him wider international attention. As for taking on new projects in the future, be they film, singing or even holding the baton once again, Leehom will stay true to his policy of challenging himself with different ventures. "Sometimes it gives me a lot of trouble, sometimes it ends up launching a career which has been very good for me," he said.

Wang Leehom is a multi-million-album selling American-Chinese pop star . Sings in Mandarin despite it being his second language . Has a successful acting career, appearing in Ang Lee's "Lust, caution" Web exclusive: Watch Wang Leehom talk about his rivalry with Jay Chou .

(CNN) -- Known for building skate parks and shaping the skateboarding scene in New York, Andy Kessler, 48, died this week after an allergic reaction to an insect sting, friends and family told news media. Andy Kessler, seen in 2005, reportedly died this week after suffering an allergic reaction to an insect sting. Kessler's death is a reminder that stings can be deadly for those with an allergy to certain insects, the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology said Friday. At least 40 people in the United States die each year as the result of insect stings, the academy said. As many as 5 percent of Americans are at risk for a severe, potentially life-threatening allergic reaction from insect stings, according to the organization. In a typical week in the emergency room, doctors at Emory University Hospital Midtown in Atlanta, Georgia, see about six or fewer cases of people with allergic reactions to insects, said Dr. James P. Capes, director of the emergency department. "It's common, but not incredibly common," he said. Typically, when stung by an insect, a person will have no reaction or a mild local reaction, such as redness, swelling or itching at the site of the sting. However, some people experience a more widespread reaction, such as a drop in blood pressure, lightheadedness or hives all over. iReport.com: Send us your allergy stories In the most serious cases, a person can go into anaphylaxis, a condition in which he or she may have difficulty breathing. Other symptoms include swelling of the mouth or throat, itchy skin, wheezing, cough and localized pain, said Dr. Clifford Bassett, medical director of Allergy and Asthma Care of New York. Capes advises people who experience a systemic reaction to call 911 and wait for an ambulance, because it will have medicine to treat the reaction immediately. An antihistamine such as Benadryl will be given and, in severe cases, a shot of epinephrine. Even if the reaction is not severe, Benadryl will help with normal symptoms of insect stings, Capes said. Those who have had allergic reactions to insects should always carry an antihistamine and an epinephrine auto-injector for emergencies, experts said. Insect allergies may be harder to control than some food allergies because it's not always possible to predict when bees, wasps and other stinging bugs are around, Capes said. Severe reactions don't usually happen the very first time a person gets stung, Capes said. "The thing about allergic reactions that is interesting, or scary, is that we never know what the next allergic reaction is going to be," he said. For those who have a history of anaphylactic reactions to insects, vaccines are available for yellow jackets, wasps, honey bees and fire ants, Bassett said. The immunization process takes three to five years, he said. There are also blood and skin tests that people can take to determine whether they are sensitive to these insects, he said. Besides anaphylaxis, people may experience other kinds of reactions, Bassett said. If a person is stung hundreds of times at once, he or she may need emergency care, as the venom may lead to seizures, shock and even death, he said. There is also a rare reaction called serum sickness that includes joint pain and flu-like illness that may result from insect stings, and has allergy-like symptoms, Bassett said. In rare cases, even mosquito bites can lead to anaphylaxis, Bassett said. There is no treatment for mosquito allergies, but there is a diagnostic test, he said. Bassett offers the following tips to reduce the danger of insects: • Stay away from stinging insect nests when possible. • Consider wearing closed-toed shoes in an area where there may be many stinging insects. • Remain calm and quiet around a stinging insect, and move slowly away from it. • Avoid brightly colored clothing, as well as perfumes and scented hair products and lotions. • Avoid loose-fitting clothing, which can accidentally

At least 40 people in the U.S. die each year as the result of insect stings . Insect allergies may be harder to control than food allergies . If you are allergic to insects, carry antihistamine and an epinephrine auto-injector . In rare cases, even mosquito bites can lead to anaphylaxis .

(CNN) -- Much has been made of the electric car driving to the rescue of ailing automobile manufacturers and saving the planet at the same time. But what if that eco-savior came on two wheels instead of four? Lean, green electric machine: KLD is hoping to kickstart the electric scooter industry with its new engine. A high price tag, a limited range, sluggish performance and the tendency not to work when they get wet, have meant that electric scooters are a rare sight on the roads. However, KLD Energy Technologies, an electric engine company based in Texas, believes that its new electric motor can overcome all these problems and kick-start the sector. It's teaming up with Vietnamese motorbike manufacturer Sufat to produce an affordable electric-powered scooter that has a performance just as good as a normal petrol-powered bike. "We chose Vietnam [to launch the bike] because there are 22 million scooters in a country of 85 million people. That's a lot of people riding scooters in a contained area and the pollution is a concern. All governments in southeast Asia are looking for solutions [to pollution problems], but so far there hasn't been one. We believe that we've found that solution," Christian Okonsky, founder of KLD Energy Technologies told CNN. Rather than looking at making batteries more efficient, KLD has improved the performance of the engine itself. The company has built an engine using nano-crystalline composite materials, which it believes is 10 times more efficient than traditional iron core motors, giving an output of 2500 hertz. Together with a computerized motor control, the KLD engine is compatible with any type of battery. Top speed of the KLD scooter is about 55 mph, which is almost double that of many electric scooters and delivers twice as much torque, accelerating from 0 to 50 mph in ten seconds. The engine also doesn't require a transmission. The range on a full charge depends on the type of battery used, although in tests KLD says that its motor system extends the distance a battery can go before a charge is required by 40 percent. Cost-efficiency of components and years of technological development have created the engine KLD has the sole license to produce. "The nano-crystalline material was developed 20 years ago, but it was incredibly expensive and people couldn't figure out how to use it in a motor. Even 10 years ago a computer, to run this kind of high frequency engine, would have been more like the size of a desk top computer. The magnets we use today that cost 20 cents 10 years ago would have cost $4 to $5," said Okonsky. Vectrix Electrics is another company that has been developing electric scooters, so far selling only in North America and Europe. While the performance of its scooters is comparable to KLD's, their models sell at a much higher price tag around $11,000. Earlier this month Vectrix reported financial difficulties and has been forced to make staff cuts. Okonsky, however, remains positive that the KLD scooter engine will be successful and that there is a market for electric-powered scooters. By the end of the year KLD is aiming for 2,000 scooters a month to be produced by Sufat with its electric engine. The projected retail price is around $1500, only slightly more than Sufat's existing bikes that sell in Vietnam for between $800 and $1250. "Among two-wheelers a scooter is the best for electric drive," auto industry analyst John Wormald of Autopolis told CNN. "A motorcycle is too performance-driven, so it's not really suitable, but a scooter would be. For many electric bikes with very limited battery capacity, the power is just an assist and the battery can be heavy which isn't great, if you're cycling." Yet the market for electric bikes -- the pedal variety with a battery pack -- has been booming, particularly in China. According to the China Bicycle Association, sales of electric bikes in China stood at 58,000 in 1998, compared with the 20 million recorded just

Electric scooter developed with same price and performance as petrol models . Engine's developers say it is much more effectual than other electric motors . Huge scope for electric scooters, primarily in Asian cities, if made affordable .

(CNN) -- On Friday afternoon, Robin Meade, HLN anchor of "Morning Express with Robin Meade," sky-dived just before former President George Herbert Walker Bush, who was commemorating his 85th birthday. HLN Anchor Robin Meade chats with former president George H.W. Bush on his 85th birthday. In recent years, Bush's jumps have been about fun and celebration, but he first parachuted out of a plane when he was a naval aviator shot down over the Pacific Ocean during World War II. On Friday, Meade and Bush were each strapped to a member of the Army's Golden Knights parachute team. They made their jumps over Kennebunkport, Maine. Before the jumps, Meade sat down with Bush to learn more about why he sky-dives. Plus, the former president weighed in on his and his son's legacies, Supreme Court justice nominee Sonia Sotomayor, and his view on the country's most pressing problems. This is an edited transcript of the interview. Robin Meade: Thank you for making time for us to talk to you today. George H.W. Bush: Oh, no, listen, I'm so glad you're here. Meade: Happy birthday -- 85. Bush: I thought you didn't know. Meade: Everybody knows, right? Bush: I know. It's exciting. It really is wonderful. Meade: What's with your penchant for jumping still? Bush: Well, two reasons. One, it still feels good. You still get a charge out of it. Not easy to do at 85, but ... Meade: I don't think it's easy to do at any age. Watch Bush talk about why he still sky-dives » Bush: And secondly, just because you're old, that doesn't mean you can't do fun stuff. And you don't want to sit around drooling in the corner. And so it's a wonderful release. And you know, because I was president, it sends a message all around. You can go out and get something going. Old guys can still have fun and still do stuff. And so, those are the two reasons. ... Meade: You know, I'm thinking about, too, last Saturday we had the 65th anniversary of D-Day, and that was the first time, in World War II, that you jumped, because you had to ditch your plane. Bush: Yes. Meade: Being back with service members up in a plane and getting ready to jump, does that kind of rekindle your feelings of connection? Bush: A little bit of deja vu. A little bit, but not that much anymore. But yes, that's one of the reasons I made the first controlled jump, is because I did the first jump -- or had to get out of the plane. And that was kind of ugly. I pulled the ripcord too early and hit my head on the tail of the plane going by. I was just lucky I'm still alive. And the parachute hung up for a minute on the tail of the plane. It's all kind of war stories. If I start telling you that, then you'll tell me about your father's war stories or something, or grandfather's. And so it wouldn't be fair. But I wanted to do it right. And I did it wrong then. It did save my life, but I did it wrong. So then I've been out with the Golden Knights and I made several solo jumps. And now it's tandem. I think they hope the old boy will remember to push. Meade: Did I read somewhere that you asked President Clinton to jump once? And he hasn't jumped with you. Bush: I may have asked him. I can't remember. Maybe I did, but I have a good relationship with him, a very good one. Watch Bush leave plane, land » Meade: Now that you're 85, are you

HLN Anchor Robin Meade sat down to interview George H.W. Bush . Later, the two went sky-diving to celebrate former president's 85th birthday . Bush talks to Meade about how he stays young, and what his legacy will be . See more at the Morning Express blog and showpage .

(CNN) -- The World Health Organization announced Tuesday it is still considering increasing its pandemic alert level to phase 6 because of growing worldwide cases of the H1N1 virus, or swine flu. WHO considers raising the pandemic alert level to 6 as cases of H1N1 increase worldwide. "Globally, we are at phase 5, but we are nearing phase 6," said Dr. Keiji Fukuda, WHO's Assistant Director General. "As this continues to spread internationally, some countries are moving from isolated to sustained community spread." Phase 6 is a declaration that many member countries have long feared could mean economic disaster. It is the highest on the WHO's pandemic alert system, and is described by the organization as a global pandemic. Fukuda was quick to remind journalists that the designation does not reflect the severity of the disease, but how widespread it is. "Our overall assessment of severity is moderate," he said, "because although the overall number of serious and fatal cases is relatively limited ... we really don't have a full handle on the number of people with serious illness." Fukuda said nearly 19,000 cases of the H1N1 virus have been reported in 64 countries, resulting in 117 deaths.

World Health Organization considers increasing pandemic alert level to phase 6 . Designation does not reflect the severity of the disease, but how widespread it is . Phase 6 is highest on pandemic alert system and means global pandemic .

(CNN) -- The death of boxing champion Mike Tyson's 4-year-old daughter after a treadmill accident highlights the issue of hidden dangers in the home. Exercise equipment injures more than 25,000 children each year according to one safety organization. While most parents know enough about covering outlets and keeping poisonous household cleaning products locked away from the reach of their small children, most homes still have less obvious safety hazards that can have disastrous results for curious tots. "Parents often overestimate their child's intelligence, and underestimate their abilities," explains Chrissy Cianflone, Director of Program Operations at Safe Kids USA, a nonprofit organization focused on preventing accidental childhood injury. Case in point: falls from windows. Though a parent might not regularly open windows in the house, it does not mean a child can't or won't. Placing furniture close to windows is a commonly overlooked safety hazard; it allows children to easily climb up and out of the opening. Relying on screens to protect against falls is an inadequate solution, since most screens can't hold the weight of a child. Window guards are a safe choice: they offer protection and cost less than $30 each on average. Window treatment cords are another common, hidden pitfall. To prevent accidents, parents should tie up any cords from blinds or curtains, high enough out of a child's reach, and make sure there is no furniture placed close by that would invite little ones to climb. Cianflone warns against unwittingly placing changing tables and cribs within reach of the window coverings. Dr. Gupta: Watch more on hidden dangers in the home » Power cords are a source of manifold dangers. They can cause electrical burns, strangulation, tripping, and serious head trauma from appliances being pulled down by little hands or feet. Parents should unplug and secure power cords whenever possible, and move appliances out of the way. With respect to home gyms, more than 25,000 children each year are injured from exercise equipment, including stationary bicycles, treadmills and stair climbers, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Many of those injuries are related to power cords. Police in Phoenix, Arizona, say that Exodus Tyson was injured and later died after being strangled by a cord connected to the treadmill, possibly while playing with the machine. Her mother performed CPR after the accident but Exodus was in need of life support by the time authorities arrived. Since it's usually impractical to unplug a piece of exercise equipment after every use, parental supervision is the primary means of avoiding accidents. Cianflone warns that if you have a home gym, "make sure to limit your child's access to that room. Keep the door shut and locked if you can, and if you have to leave the room, take the child with you." Furniture tip-overs are another major unsuspected hazard. A 17-year study published in May 2009 by the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children's Hospital found that capsized furniture sent an average of 15,000 children a year to the emergency room. The most commonly toppled furniture pieces are dressers and flat-screen television sets. Pulling out one or more dresser drawers decreases the stability of the piece if it isn't attached to the wall. Inexpensive wall mounting kits, available at hardware and baby stores, can secure up to 400 pounds of weight. Similarly, flat-screen TVs -- lighter and less stable than their predecessors -- should be mounted to a wall when possible. If that's not an option, Cianflone recommends positioning the set far back on a stand, enough so that a child climbing the stand would still be unable to reach it. Parents should also keep tabs on toy and product recalls, in case any purchases are found to be potential hazards. A simple method to stay aware is to sign up for recall alerts via email from the Consumer Product Safety Commission. A child's ability to get into certain types of trouble varies with the age and developmental stage of each individual child. For general guidelines, parents can go to Safe Kids for an age-based breakdown of hazards. Most critical

Death of Exodus Tyson puts spotlight on hidden household hazards . Police: Mike Tyson's 4-year-old was accidentally strangled with treadmill cord . Falls from windows, furniture and flat screens that tip over cause many injuries . Parents need to be aware of their own child's abilities and level of curiosity .

(CNN) -- The owners of a cruise ship that ran aground in Marguerite Bay, Antarctica, are hoping high tide will dislodge the ship Wednesday, a company statement said. The Ocean Nova, seen on a previous voyage, has a total of 106 people on board. Connecticut-based Quark Expeditions said the M/V Ocean Nova became stranded Tuesday in the bay not far from an Argentine research base. Marguerite Bay is about 900 miles south of the tip of South America. The ship is carrying 65 passengers and 41 crew members, Quark Expeditions said. All those aboard the vessel "remain safe and calm," the company statement said. The ship's captain is awaiting high tide to make another attempt to move the vessel. "The midnight operation will occur in daylight, as the ship is below the Antarctic Circle, where the sun never sets during February. We anticipate a positive outcome," Quark Expeditions president Patrick Shaw said. The captain is also waiting for divers from the Spanish naval ship the Hespérides to inspect the hull of the Nova to make sure it's not damaged, the statement said.

All 65 passengers and 41 crew are safe, company reports . MV Ocean Nova stranded in Marguerite Bay, about 900 miles from South America .

(CNN) -- A man accused of shooting two students at a Littleton, Colorado, middle school last week was formally charged Tuesday in the incident, according to a spokeswoman for the Jefferson County district attorney's office. Bruco Strongeagle Eastwood, 32, appeared via video link before Judge Thomas Vance to hear the 15 charges against him, which include attempted first-degree murder, first-degree assault, child abuse resulting in bodily injury and possession of a weapon on school grounds, district attorney spokeswoman Pam Russell said. He is being held with bond set at $1 million. Authorities accuse Eastwood of shooting at students outside Deer Creek Middle School on February 23 shortly after classes let out for the day. Police say he wounded two eighth-graders before being subdued by a teacher. One student, Reagan Weber, was treated and released from Littleton Adventist Hospital, according to CNN affiliate KUSA. The other, Matthew Thieu, sustained more serious injuries and was hospitalized at Denver's Children's Hospital. He has since been released, the hospital said Tuesday. An attorney was appointed for Eastwood, and the attorney has until March 12 to schedule a preliminary hearing, Russell said. Deer Creek is just two miles from Columbine High School, site of one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history, where 12 students and one teacher were gunned down in 1999. The two gunmen, both Columbine students, then turned their guns on themselves. CNN's Sarah Aarthun contributed to this report.

Man, 32, accused of shooting two students February 23 at middle school in Littleton . Charges against Bruco Strongeagle Eastwood include attempted murder . The two wounded students have been released from hospitals . Shooting took place two miles from Columbine High School, scene of 1999 rampage .

(CNN) -- I spoke at TED in 2006, the year they started to put the talks online. I'm told that since then, the talk has been downloaded more than 3.5 million times in more than 200 countries. The number of people who've seen it may be 20 times that or more. I have a stream of e-mails, tweets and blog posts round the world from young people, parents, students, teachers, cultural activists and business leaders of all sorts. They tell me how deeply they relate to the talk and often that they've seen or shown it many times at meetings, conferences, workshops and retreats. Parents tell me they've shown it to their children; young people tell me they've shown it to their parents. They say they've laughed and sometimes cried together and had a different sort of conversation as a result. Changing the conversation is one of the primary purposes of TED. Why has this talk had such an impact? I think there are several reasons. To begin with, the talk is short. The 18-minute talk is part of the genius of TED. In a world of instant messaging, rampant data and overspecialization, brevity is a virtue. (Even so, I've seen blogs that strongly recommend the talk but warn that it's almost 20 minutes long.) A second factor is that, based on the audience's reaction, the talk is entertaining and funny at times, which always helps. And I'd just had my hair cut. We may never know how much that simple act contributed to the global appeal of the talk. But the real reason for its impact is that what I'm saying clearly resonates deeply with people of all ages and across many different cultures. I believe that the argument is becoming more urgent by the day. What is the argument? In a nutshell, it's that we're all born with immense natural talents but our institutions, especially education, tend to stifle many of them and as a result we are fomenting a human and an economic disaster. In education, this vast waste of talent involves a combination of factors. They include a narrow emphasis on certain sorts of academic work; the exile of arts, humanities and physical education programs from schools; arid approaches to teaching math and sciences; an obsessive culture of standardized testing and tight financial pressures to teach to the tests. The result is a disastrous waste of talent among students and their teachers. To sense the scale of this disaster, you only have to look at the alarming rates of turnover among faculty and the levels of drop out, disaffection, stress and prescription drug use among students. Even for students who stay the course and do well in education, the rules of success have changed irrevocably. Just look at the plummeting value of college degrees. The waste of talent in education is not deliberate. Teachers are as anxious about this as everyone else, but many of them feel trapped in the awkward groping of national reform policies, many of which misunderstand the problems as well as the solutions. The waste of talent isn't deliberate, but it is systematic. It happens in part because the dominant systems of education are rooted in the values and demands of industrialism: they are linear, mechanistic and focused on conformity and standardization. Nowadays, they're buttressed by major commercial interests in mass testing and by the indiscriminate use of prescription drugs that keep students' minds from wandering to things they naturally find more interesting. The tragedy is that meeting the many social, economic, spiritual and environmental challenges we now face depends absolutely on the very capacities of insight, creativity and innovation that these systems are systematically suppressing in yet another generation of young people. Reforming these systems is not enough. The truth is that we are caught up in a cultural and economic revolution. This revolution is global in scale and unpredictable in nature. To meet it, we need a revolution in the culture of education. This new culture has to emerge from a richer sense of human ability. To shape it, I believe we have to leave behind

Sir Ken Robinson: We're born with great natural talents . He says schools systematically suppress many of those innate talents . Schools use testing and other systems to narrowly assess students, he says . He says they devalue forms of creativity that don't fit in academic contexts .

(CNN) -- There's a lot of head-scratching at the CIA over an article in Vanity Fair magazine that dubs Erik Prince, the founder of the notorious private military contractor Blackwater, a "tycoon, contractor, soldier, spy." In the piece, he comes across as so entrenched with the CIA that the agency needs him to perform the most sensitive secret missions, including those involving hunting down and taking out al Qaeda operatives. It's true that Prince, as the sole owner of one of the most well-connected private military contractors in modern history, is in a position of enormous trust within the government. So why is it that he's lashing out publicly at that same government? Prince, a 40-year-old former Navy SEAL, inherited what he called a sizable amount of money when his father died in the late '90s. He's used that money to help climb to the top of an industry that has mushroomed since the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. He built Blackwater, now operating under the name Xe, from the ground up, into a sprawling complex with enough tanks, planes and ammunition to launch a small war of its own. When President Obama addressed the nation and talked about his Afghanistan strategy, he didn't talk about the shadow army already employed there. There are more private contractors in Afghanistan on the U.S. payroll than there are U.S. troops. While Prince is a huge beneficiary of U.S. contract dollars, he has long been frustrated by two things. First, he doesn't like the reputation his company has gained, with his men painted as ruthless cowboys -- which some are, but some aren't. Second, he believes some people in the government just don't appreciate him the way they should. Prince uses the Vanity Fair article to re-air a lot of his complaints, but the story contains a great deal of classified information, with details about covert programs that involved him. So does that mean that when convenient, he uses that information to help express his frustration? Prince unabashedly criticizes parts of the government he doesn't like. And some current and former government sources question whether that's a smart move. They ask whether, as a man who benefits financially from those contracts, he should really go public with his criticisms of the same government that signs his checks. Although the CIA has never publicly confirmed Prince's involvement -- it has become common knowledge in the industry he disclosed details of that relationship to me, among many other things, in the book I wrote on him that was published earlier this year. A lot of those details came up again in this latest article, but Prince went even further this time. The Vanity Fair article reports that Prince is "privately and secretly doing the CIA's bidding, helping to craft, fund and execute operations ranging from inserting personnel into "denied areas," places U.S. intelligence has trouble penetrating, to assembling hit teams targeting al Qaeda members and their allies." Some former CIA officials are, quite frankly, annoyed. Not only do they believe that Prince is overplaying any role he may have had or still has with the agency, but they believe he is exploiting it for personal gain. Few of the sources I talked with wanted their names associated with Prince or his company, but when asked about the Vanity Fair article, CIA spokesman Paul Gimigliano told me the agency has never "talked about what role contractors may or may not have played in ... initiatives over the years. But what no one should forget or overlook is the fact that this agency has the talent, tools, and authorities to go after terrorists, and has done so successfully." In other words: We can do our own jobs just fine, thank you very much, Mr. Prince. Another source with former ties to the CIA was outraged by the article, saying that Prince was putting a target on the backs of his own men by alluding to a close relationship between Blackwater and the agency. He fears that all around the world, Blackwater contractors

CIA dealing with revelations by Erik Prince, founder of military contractor Blackwater . He paints himself in magazine article as entrenched in sensitive CIA secret missions . Suzanne Simons says many are annoyed Prince complains about government that pays him well . She says military contractors have more people in Afghanistan than U.S. troops there .

(CNN) -- "A calculated, cold-blooded predator." That was how Connecticut Judge James Bentivegna described a then 22-year-old Joshua Komisarjevsky on December 20, 2002, when the defendant was sentenced after being convicted on 12 counts of burglary. Today, Komisarjevsky -- now 31 -- sits in a Connecticut courtroom, where a jury will weigh his guilt on murder charges, and potentially pave the way for a death sentence. Prosecutors say that on July 23, 2007, Komisarjevsky and an accomplice, Steven Hayes, invaded the home of Dr. William Petit, raped and strangled his wife, Jennifer Hawke-Petit, molested one of their daughters, and set the house on fire before attempting to flee. Hawke-Petit and her daughters -- 17-year-old Hayley Petit and 11-year-old Michaela Petit -- died in the invasion of their Cheshire, Connecticut, home. Dr. William Petit, although severely beaten, managed to escape and crawl to a neighbor's residence. Hayes was sentenced to death in December, after being convicted of 16 out of the 17 charges related to the three deaths. Both suspects had lengthy criminal records when they were arrested for the Petit invasion. Komisarjevsky's long rap sheet, in particular, suggest that he was a troubled young man with a penchant for nighttime burglary and crystal meth. Officials with the Connecticut Board of Pardons and Paroles declined to speak with CNN, citing a gag order in the case. But over 200 pages of Komisarjevsky's parole records have been released, which -- along with previous court testimony -- help paint a picture of the accused. One of his former attorneys, William Gerace, said that Komisarjevsky came from a close, religious family. But at the age of 14, he began using drugs -- the same year, he claims, that he found out that he was adopted. By 18, Komisarjevsky had found his drugs of choice: crystal meth and cocaine. He told the parole board that he stole money and electronics from upscale homes to feed his drug habit. Yet a transcript from his 2002 sentencing paints Komisarjevsky as more than just the average thief. According to a police statement read aloud in court that day, Komisarjevsky admitted that he broke into his first house when he was 14 years old. "I always wore gloves, with the exception of one incident when I was 14. I always acted alone. Approximately a year and a half ago, I acquired night vision goggles... I used the night-vision equipment during the burglaries (over) the past year," he said, according to the transcript. Gerace, who was Komisarjevsky's defense attorney at the time, stressed that a need for money, to pay for drugs, drove his client. But he admitted that the way he went about it was unusual. "Ninety-nine percent of burglaries are (committed by) junkies -- there's nothing romantic about what they do," said Gerace. "That was the first time I'd seen something as exotic as that." Komisarjevsky confessed that he only broke into homes at night and never during the day -- a point stressed by prosecutors in the 2002 trial. They said his affinity for breaking into people's homes at night showed that he wanted a confrontation, since that was the time when the residents were the most likely to be at home. Speaking during his December 2002 sentencing, Komisarjevsky appeared repentant. He addressed the court saying, "I've turned my back on my faith in God and my family. And in doing so, I fell flat on my face and deep into hard drugs...the crimes I committed was weighing so heavily on my shoulders." But the judge was not moved by Komisarjevsky's show of remorse, sentencing him to nine years in prison plus six years of special parole, which has greater restrictions than typical probation. In April 2007, he was paroled. And three months later, Komisarjevsky was arrested for the Petit home invasion and murders. What happened then, and what may have driven Komisarjevsky, remains a mystery to Gerace, his former attorney.

Joshua Komisarjevsky was convicted in 2002 on 12 counts of burglary . Five years later, after being released on parole, he was accused of murder . Prosecutors say he killed a Connecticut woman and set a fire that killed her daughters .

(CNN) -- "A gruesome scene" is how one investigator described the aftermath of five killings in Tennessee. A sixth body was found in Alabama. Police gather outside one of the scenes of mutliple slayings in Fayetteville, Tennessee, on Saturday. Kristin Helm of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation told CNN on Saturday that authorities have Jacob Shafer in custody in connection with the deaths. She added that authorities are not looking for additional suspects. Huntsville, Alabama, Police Sgt. Mickey Allen said Tennessee authorities told him a man confessed to a slaying in Huntsville, Alabama, and to five other killings in Fayetteville, Tennessee. Allen didn't identify the man. Shafer has been questioned by the TBI and is expected to face murder charges, Helm said. Sheriff Murray Blackwelder, who held an afternoon news conference, called the slayings "one of the worst crimes Lincoln County has ever seen." He didn't describe how the Lincoln County, Tennessee, victims died. Dr. Bruce Levy, medical examiner for Tennessee, was working to identify the bodies found in that state, Helm said. Fayetteville police responded to a call to South Lincoln Road about 10 a.m. (11 a.m. ET), Blackwelder said. Police found three crime scenes and five bodies on that street, he said. The five victims, some of whom were related, were found in two homes, Helm said. Investigators think the killings occurred either Friday night or early Saturday, she said. The sixth body was found at a business in Huntsville, Sheriff Allen said. He said he is unsure of the connection between the crime scenes in Tennessee and Alabama. Huntsville is about 30 miles from Fayetteville. "We have no clue yet as to what unfolded there and how it relates to here," Allen said. CNN's Mayra Cuevas-Nazario contributed to this report.

NEW: Man taken in custody by Tennessee authorities in six slayings . NEW: Suspect identified as Jacob Lee Shafer, who faces murder charges, TBI says . NEW: Authorities say an undientified man has confessed to the killings . Five bodies were found at two homes in Tennessee; one victim in Alabama .

(CNN) -- "All politics is local." That four-word statement, originally uttered by former Democratic House Speaker Tip O'Neill, is one of the favorite clichés of political pundits everywhere. But it's seldom respected when it matters most. Consider, for instance, the special election in New York's 23rd Congressional District, which conservative Democrat Bill Owens won in spite of partisan and nonpartisan polling that had shown Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman with a solid lead. Almost overnight, Hoffman became a sort of folk hero among conservative activists around the country, a decidedly ordinary-looking man who seemed poised to take an extraordinary path into Washington. Some 95 percent of his fundraising came from outside the district. Hoffman, indeed, had some initial success. The original Republican nominee, Dede Scozzafava, dropped out of the race after polling showed her trailing both Hoffman and Owens. But when push came to shove, Hoffman lost. Why? Because those activists -- however well-meaning they might have been -- misunderstood the district. The 23rd is a Republican district, but it is not a particularly conservative one, having split its vote between Barack Obama and the moderate Republican John McHugh last November. If Nancy Pelosi is regarded suspiciously in the 23rd, so are Sarah Palin and Fred Thompson, who cut commercials and robocalls on behalf of Hoffman. What the voters there wanted was a candidate who understood them. Owens -- superior to Hoffman in his command of local issues -- provided the best approximation. Alternatively, consider the outcome in New Jersey, where Republican Chris Christie knocked off incumbent Gov. Jon Corzine. This election is being touted as a referendum on Obama, who took a risk -- a bad one, indeed -- by campaigning on behalf of Corzine. But Obama was the least of Corzine's problems: Voters in Tuesday's election approved of Obama's performance 57 percent to 43 percent, according to exit polling. It was Corzine they didn't like; 27 percent of the voters who approved of Obama nevertheless found someone other than the Democratic incumbent to vote for. Corzine, for his part, ran a polarizing campaign; every time Christie's name appeared in one of his commercials, it came with a scarlet (R) -- for Republican -- attached. Republicans are not popular in New Jersey, but local issues drove the race. Whereas three-quarters of Corzine's voters cited a national issue -- health care or the economy -- as their primary reason for voting for him, two-thirds of Christie's picked a local one (property taxes and corruption). There is a much stronger case that national factors were in play in Virginia. The voters who turned out there Tuesday were more likely to have supported John McCain than Obama last year. Obama carried the state by 6 percentage points last year. But exit polls found that 51 percent of this year's voters in Virginia were people who had voted for McCain. Even a strong Democratic candidate would have struggled under the circumstances. But Democrats also made a mistake in thinking that Creigh Deeds, who hails from rural Bath County on the West Virginia border and wears his upbringing on his sleeve, would be the best candidate to represent them in the state. In many other states -- Ohio, say -- it's the rural, working-class vote that swings elections. But that's not the case in Virginia, which is one of the wealthiest and most suburban states in the country. There, suburban moderates such as Mark Warner tend to do better. Deeds might have been the right candidate -- but he was in the wrong state. State-level politics, indeed, routinely differ from national ones. That's why you have Democratic governors in red states such as Oklahoma and Wyoming, but Republican ones in blue states such as Vermont and Hawaii. That does not mean that local elections can't tell us anything about national trends -- the White House would be feeling better, certainly, if Democrats had won New Jersey, and likewise Republicans if they'd won NY-23. But usually the party that applies a one-size-fits-

This year's elections more about local concerns than national ones, says Nate Silver . Special election in New York in a district that isn't particularly conservative, Silver says . New Jersey voters rejected Gov. Jon Corzine for local reasons, Silver says . Silver: In Virginia, Democrats had candidate who didn't appeal statewide .

(CNN) -- "American Idol" viewers had a clear choice when it came down to the final decision: the low-key but sincere Kris Allen or the flamboyant and powerful Adam Lambert. "American Idol" winner Kris Allen, left, and runner-up Adam Lambert say they're good friends. The vote went for Allen, and Lambert told Ryan Seacrest on CNN's "Larry King Live" that the outcome didn't surprise him. There are no hard feelings, though. Allen, Lambert, Danny Gokey and the other seven finalists spoke of their friendship and camaraderie on "Larry King Live." Here is an edited transcript of the interview. Ryan Seacrest: I think the first thing you said [after being announced as the winner] was "Adam's great." Actually on the air, you were complimenting him at the moment you should be complimenting yourself. Kris Allen: I think that's kind of how I am. Seriously, we're really good friends and he's amazing. He's been probably the most consistent performer this year, and just overall probably one of the best performers that's ever been on the "Idol" stage. Watch Kris Allen heap praise on Adam Lambert » Seacrest: So aside from getting more votes, why do you think you won? Allen: I don't know. I think it was a combination of a lot of stuff. It was maybe, probably, a little bit of personality, a little bit of -- hopefully it was about the music, as well. I know that's not always the case on "American Idol." That's what I care about the most: the music and how I portray it. Seacrest: It's no secret that you're a man of faith, that you referred to the "Christian thing," as it were. You didn't rely on the Christian vote. Do you think that played a part in your win, though? Allen: I hope it didn't. Because I guess me and Adam were doing an interview before the show: "Kris, do you think you're going to get the Christian vote now that Danny's gone?" And that was rough, that was kind of upsetting, because the show's not about religion. We're not running for president. We are there to do music and there to sing, and hopefully people vote on that. Seacrest: I've seen the show 300-plus episodes, and I know that you have to develop some sort of strategy. So what was yours? Allen: I think my strategy throughout the whole thing was, 'don't steer away from what you know how to do.' And that's just go out there and be yourself. I went out there and I played my type of music. And I really wanted to change stuff up a little bit and be kind of bold in my music choices, and just do what I believed in. Seacrest: You guys have been through it. The question everyone wants an answer to, finally I get to ask you. What kind of guy-liner do you wear? Adam Lambert: I don't know, whatever the make-up artist puts on me, you know. Seacrest: In that beat before I [announced the winner], what were you thinking? Lambert: I kind of figured, OK, it's anyone's game at this point. I knew it was going to be a close race. And actually in my head, believe it or not, I went, that's so Kris, it's so going to be Kris. I felt it. Seacrest: You're human, so you had to be let down a little bit. Lambert: You know what? I honestly mentally prepared myself for any possibility. And we kind of kept telling each other, you know, it's such an honor to be here. We had so much fun last night. And tonight we got to sing with Queen. The point is not a title.

Winner Kris Allen calls runner-up one of the best performers ever on show . Finalist Adam Lambert says he had a feeling Allen was going to win . Allen says he hopes fan support was because of his music, not his faith . Lambert says questions about his sexuality may have helped him stand out .

(CNN) -- "An unconditional right to say what one pleases about public affairs is what I consider to be the minimum guarantee of the First Amendment." -- U.S. Supreme Court Justice Hugo L. Black, New York Times Co. vs. Sullivan, 1964 It's downright disgusting to listen to conservative and Republican lawmakers, presidential candidates, business owners and media commentators use such vitriol to describe the Occupy Wall Street protesters as hell-bent on destroying America. How in the world can anyone even form their lips to say such a thing when this very country was founded on the basis of dissent? Self-professed rodeo clown Glenn Beck castigates the Occupy Wall Street protesters, but he's always running off at the mouth about the Founding Fathers and how brilliant they were. Without dissent and protest, there is no United States of America! It's as if these folks never picked up a history book to understand how this nation was formed. The very notion of a United States of America started with someone saying, writing and screaming, "Enough is enough!" And when more and more of the early settlers became enraged at the heavy-handed actions of the British, that's when we were on our path to the American Revolution. Do any of these so-called strict constructionists even read the very U.S. Constitution they love to wave in the faces of their critics? Every American, no matter if you're young or old; rich or poor; red state or blue state; Black, white, Asian, Hispanic, Native American; has the freedom to assemble and freedom of speech, which is at the heart of these protests. In this same space, I praised the tea party for not sitting around and complaining. Instead, they organized and mobilized to affect the political discourse in the Republican Party and have definitely had their voices heard. I may disagree with a number of things the tea party advocates, but there is no way I would condemn them for doing it. As Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas said, "The right to revolt has sources deep in our history." It's increasingly clear that some Americans love to talk a good game about protests, yet hate it when someone who opposes their views decides to stand up and be heard. Remember all of those political voices championing the people of Iran taking to the streets to protest? How about Tunisia? Egypt? Libya? Bahrain? What would this world be without protest? We would have never seen freedom in Eastern Europe were it not without the people there, in the words of civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer, being "sick and tired of being sick and tired." Praise God that the children of South Africa, led by the African National Congress, didn't ignore the calls of history. If so, Nelson Mandela would be dying in jail and freedom would have never ended apartheid. This nation would not have been forced to make real the very principles cited in the Declaration of Independence, or treat every human being as an equal, were it not for the civil rights movement. Those brave men, women and children chose not to accept the status quo, and this nation and the world are much better off because they did. As a supporter of Occupy Wall Street, I understand fully the sentiment that is being expressed. The massive corporate greed that has devastated the wages of the common worker, and seen the pay of a bunch on Wall Street go through the stratosphere for literally making nothing tangible, has been immoral and obscene. Wall Street and their protectors in Washington -- Democrat and Republican -- say nothing is wrong with making a profit. That is absolutely true. But what is shameful and outlandish is to watch the American taxpayer save the jobs (and big bonuses) of these financial miscreants, only to see them jack up fees left and right. Without the American people they would have had to pack up their belongings and hit the pavement. Instead, they refuse to work with homeowners struggling to meet the big mortgage payments that Wall Street helped underwrite; then sell in exotic transactions that wrecked

Without dissent and protest, there is no United States, Roland S. Martin says . Characterizing Occupy Wall Street protesters as anti-American is disgusting, he says . Martin: It's not an assault on capitalism, but a call for decency in in the financial industry .

(CNN) -- "At this time, we need a leader." "I would try to stop the war in Iraq because I think they should have a talk with them, not a big war." Trevor Dougherty is too young to vote, but is doing everything he can to make sure others do. "I'd probably go for the drilling in Alaska. Nuclear power, I'd keep that in mind." These Americans sounding off on the issues and the 2008 presidential election have a lot to say, but they won't be saying it at the ballot box -- they're all too young to vote. In fact, most won't be voting for quite a few years. But that doesn't mean that they have no interest in the race for the White House between Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain. As evidenced in videos posted at iReport.com, they care a great deal. Several of these videos were put together by school classes, like Matt MacFarlane's 7th and 8th graders at Templeton Middle School in Templeton, California, who made a short video on the importance of voting. The students called for a "person with integrity who knows right from wrong", "a person of vision who not only knows what is but also what can be," "a person with a moral compass to help [set] a course for our nation," and "a person who has the ability to unite and inspire us as we face challenging times." MacFarlane's students urged voters to consider their decisions carefully on November 4. "What's at stake in this election?" asked one student. "Everything. We're counting on you." iReport.com: Watch the full video from Mr. MacFarlane's class Some children took to portraying the candidates, complete with clothes and wigs, like the students of Cabot Middle School in Cabot, Arkansas. All of the presidential and vice presidential "candidates" gave speeches, with Secret Service, prospective first ladies and family members in tow. Most members of Gov. Sarah Palin's family were present, including a baby doll portraying Trig. This video was just a part of their learning experience about presidential elections. Library media specialist Jill Weir, who submitted the video to iReport.com, said that the students also participated in mock-campaigning, voter registrations, precincts and exit polling. iReport.com: The 'candidates' speak A church youth group in Winter Haven, Florida, took a more humorous approach, putting together campaign ads from "John McHinkle" and "Barack Yo Mama," featuring cameos from "Sarah Mailin'" and "Joe Hidin'". It was still a learning experience, though, said Pastor James Blewett, who posted two videos to iReport.com in which the pretend candidates teach lessons about dating and parental conflicts. iReport.com: Watch the campaign ad spoofs Some iReporters decided to ask children directly what they thought about the election. "I have a 6-year-old and he watches the debates with me," Vijay Sureshkumar of Seattle, Washington, said. "He's interested in what's going on and that's what triggered me. Why don't I go around the neighborhood and ask the kids?" The responses he got were both funny and thought-provoking. Some children saw the war as a major issue, one wanted more funding for education, and another said he was in favor of drilling for oil in Alaska. Some children seemed to be in favor of Obama, some for McCain, at least one liked both, and two of them started yelling at each other over which candidate was better. When asked about the candidates' families, one boy could easily name Obama's wife and daughters' names. When asked about McCain, he was a little fuzzier. "He's been around for a long time. Like he's been around, [since] like 1966." iReport.com: Kids sound off on the election Tony Stampalia of Utica, New York, had a similar idea, asking students in an elementary school class whom they would

iReports show how interested young Americans are in the campaign . iReports range from serious issues to silly spoofs . Does your kid have something to say about the election? Tell us at iReport.com .

(CNN) -- "Battlestar Galactica," the TV series that has held up a mirror to post-9/11 politics and paranoia for the past four seasons, comes to an end Friday. "Battlestar Galactica" drew consistent praise from the critics, but never attracted huge audiences. The show's legions of fans may be in mourning, but executive producer David Eick finds the looming finale bittersweet. "It's a combination of deep sadness and a little bit of relief," he told CNN by phone from Los Angeles. Eick and his producing partner Ronald D. Moore revived -- or, as they like to say, "reimagined" -- a campy late-1970s space opera about a ragtag group of survivors from an attack that wiped out most of humanity, making it a gritty, tense, and morally ambiguous drama. Echoes of the traumas that shaped contemporary America are inescapable, from a shot in opening credits that looks like Manhattan before the attacks of September 11, 2001, to questions about curtailing civil liberties in wartime. Eick says the show is a reflection of its times. The show "went into development very shortly after the attacks -- December of 2001. Not only were we post-9/11, but the wounds were so extremely fresh, there was still a great deal of shock," he said. Some of the imagery and themes of the show derived directly from the attacks, he said, such as a "wall of grief" where people place pictures of dead comrades. The show's central conflict has a religious dimension: The show's villains, the mechanical yet human-looking Cylons, believe in one god; the humans believe in many. "The antagonists are motivated by a belief that they are operating with the blessing, the permission of an all-powerful god. To the extent that religion and spiritual beliefs were chief motivations for the antagonists, that had resonance with al Qaeda," Eick said. But, he said, the writers fought to keep the show from becoming morally simplistic. "Sci-fi has always been a safe haven because we're not talking about al Qaeda, we're talking about the Cylons," he said. "We went to great lengths to try to see things from the opponents' point of view, to make the audience ask if they are rooting for the right side," he said. In fact, the Cylons become increasingly complicated characters as the series goes on, ultimately warring among themselves -- as do the humans. "The intention of 'Battlestar Galactica' was to present flawed heroes, who fought among themselves as much as the enemy," Eick said. "We are drawn to heroes who succeed in spite of themselves." "Growing discontent with the [Bush] administration allowed us to deepen many of those flaws in those characters," he said, even as he denied the show was designed to reflect the headlines. "Rarely do I recall saying: 'Let's do Abu Ghraib,' " said Eick, referring to the notorious prison in Iraq. The series does include an interrogation episode with a clear reference to waterboarding. The show drew consistent praise from the critics, but never attracted huge audiences from its home on the Sci-Fi channel, a cable network. Nielsen figures suggest the miniseries that launched the show drew about 4 million viewers, but audiences dipped to about half that in the third season before rebounding slightly as the fourth and final season began last year. Eick said he did not watch the original "Battlestar Galactica" series, which ran from 1978 to 1980 -- another gloomy era in America. But he knew he did not want his protagonist to be like the hero of that show, even if they shared the same name. "In the original incarnation, the main character of Adama was the picture of perfection, a military genius and a family man and a diplomat and a great orator, and and and... We were in an age where it didn't seem plausible that one person could have all the answers," he said. "The

Show featured group of survivors from an attack that wiped out most of humanity . It went into development shortly after the September 11, 2001, attacks . Executive producer: Some of the themes of the show derived directly from the attacks . Original "Battlestar Galactica" series ran from 1978 to 1980 .

(CNN) -- "Benjamin Button" received more life, but Batman ended up in the dark. "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" scored a best actor nomination for Brad Pitt, here with Cate Blanchett. The nominations for the 81st annual Academy Awards were announced Thursday morning, and to nobody's surprise, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" did well, nabbing 13 nods to lead all films. The movie, about a man who ages in reverse, is a big film (almost three hours long) with big themes (death and love) and earned nominations for best picture, best director (David Fincher), best actor (Brad Pitt), best supporting actress (Taraji P. Henson) and best adapted screenplay along with eight nominations in other categories. "This is a great honor for the movie, and I'm especially happy for David Fincher, for without him there would be no Ben Button," said Pitt in a statement. The film, based on an F. Scott Fitzgerald short story, has been a project of Fincher's for years. Gallery: The major Oscar nominees » However, despite eight Oscar nominations, "The Dark Knight" -- 2008's box-office king -- only picked up one in a major category, that for Heath Ledger's performance as the villainous Joker. The late actor, who died exactly one year ago Thursday, is nominated for best supporting actor, the same award he won posthumously at the Golden Globes almost two weeks ago. Commentary: CNN.com film critic Tom Charity rates the Oscar nominations "The Dark Knight" had made the short lists for the producers', directors' and writers' guilds, but those honors weren't enough to qualify it for a best picture Oscar nomination. What do you think of the nominations? Send us an iReport "Slumdog Millionaire," the sleeper hit about a Mumbai orphan who seeks fame and love through the Indian version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?", earned 10 nominations, including best picture, best director (Danny Boyle) and best adapted screenplay. The film, which struggled to find a U.S. theatrical distributor after its initial studio folded, has dominated the awards season thus far and is considered the front-runner for best picture. Watch star Anil Kapoor talk about the reaction the film has gotten » "I'm ecstatic," Boyle said in a statement from Mumbai, where the film premiered Thursday. "Thank you to the Academy from the cast and crew here in Mumbai where the film was made. ... It feels like you've given us a billion nominations." In a mild surprise, "The Reader," based on the best-selling novel about a postwar German boy who has an affair with an older woman with a Holocaust-related secret, took home nominations for best picture, best actress (Kate Winslet) and best director (Stephen Daldry). "The Reader" comes from the Weinstein Co. -- the studio headed by producer and master Oscar player Harvey Weinstein. "I'm extremely happy to have been nominated. And very fortunate. Playing Hanna Schmitz will always remain one of the biggest challenges I've ever been blessed with," Winslet said in a statement. The other best picture nominees are "Frost/Nixon" and "Milk." Watch a rundown of the major nominations » The Oscar nominations included a handful of other surprises. "Revolutionary Road," featuring the heavyweight trio of Winslet, Leonardo DiCaprio and director Sam Mendes ("American Beauty"), picked up just one major nomination -- a best supporting actor nod for Michael Shannon's portrayal of a troubled savant. Woody Allen, whose "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" was widely praised, didn't receive his usual original screenplay nomination. He can take solace in his previous 21 Oscar nominations, including three wins. One of "Barcelona's" performers, Penelope Cruz, received a nomination for best supporting actress. iReport.com: Deliver your acceptance speech And Oscar favorite Clint Eastwood, who many believed would pick up an acting or directing nomination for his

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

(CNN) -- "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3" continues the franchise's tradition of high action, detailed fighting and a highly competitive multiplayer mode while still trying to let players play the way they want. The latest in the wildly successful series hits all the right notes in both its cinematic single-player campaign and its intense multiplayer mode. They also bring back the "Special Ops" mode from "Modern Warfare 2," combining the best of both. The single-player campaign, while short, takes you hopping around the globe to major cities in the world's most powerful countries. Instead of battling in traditional hotspots (i.e., locales like Afghanistan), the story puts the player in Manhattan, London and Berlin to name a few. Each city is richly detailed and the combat, against opponents run by a smart artificial-intelligence program, is intense. The pacing from city to city varies based on mission and storyline presented in each location. One city will be frantic while another city might be a bit slower. But all are engaging. There are some unexpected, and tragic, moments played out in the single-player campaign's story. But they combine to bring the "Modern Warfare" story to a satisfying end. I wish it would have lasted longer, but the plot flowed nicely. The "Special Ops" mode takes the intense AI from the single-player game and adds elements that are usually found in multiplayer action. Creative strategist Robert Bowling said the development team wanted to give people who normally only tackle the single-player campaign the opportunity to experience some of the rewards only found during online multiplayer play. "We noticed there were a lot of experiences that you were missing out on if you only played single player or, vice versa, you only played multiplayer," Bowling said. "We wanted to find a platform that allowed the type of player from each of those to have those shared experiences rather than missing out because it wasn't their style of play." Sixteen missions tie in to the campaign. Along the way, players earn credit for achievements like kill streaks and customizing weapons. There's a progressive ranking system that lets even the most "lone wolf" player climb up the leaderboard. The Survival mode is particularly grueling, with wave after wave of opponents coming after you. The core of the multiplayer action stays pretty true to the franchise's roots. Huge battles, lots of action and an experience-point system keep players involved and interested. Most of the modes remain the same with one new additional mode. Collecting tags from dead bodies adds a cool twist to straightforward killing of an opponent and actually promotes teamwork, something that's lacking from time to time in multiplayer action. There are 16 new maps to set the scene of your victories. Bowling said there are 30 million players who have played "Call of Duty" online and a new Elite program will help provide stats, tips and bring together the franchise community without dividing them among consoles. He also tweeted on Day One that the game's makers have already had to ban gamers from leaderboards -- and from playing altogether -- for trying to play unfairly or artificially boost their rankings. While the multiplayer mode hasn't changed much, it never really needed to. The "Modern Warfare" franchise has a great track record of addictive online play that remains enjoyable and exciting. Fast and furious multiplayer action, a cinematic single-player campaign and a Special Ops mode offering the experience of both takes "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3" to the top of the class. At least until the next one comes out. "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3" is available now for the PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It is rated M for mature due to blood and gore, drug references, intense violence and strong language. This review was done using the Xbox 360 version.

The single player campaign puts you in places such as Manhattan, London and Berlin . Special Ops mode takes the AI from single player, adds elements from multiplayer action . There are 16 new maps to set the scene during multipayer action .

(CNN) -- "Carlos the Jackal," once among the world's most wanted fugitives, has been sentenced to life in prison for his role in a series of fatal bombings in the 1980s, a French court said. The 62-year-old, whose real name is Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, was on trial for his role in the attacks on two trains, a train station and a newspaper office in France in 1982 and 1983. The bombings killed 11 and injured more than 100. He was sentenced late Thursday. The Venezuelan-born revolutionary has been serving another life sentence in France since 1997, when he was convicted for the shooting deaths of two French secret agents and an informant in 1975. Ramirez, who was a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, first made headlines in 1975 when he led an attack on an Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' meeting in Vienna that took at least 60 people hostage, including 11 oil ministers. He was nicknamed "Carlos the Jackal" by the press, a reference to the principal character and assassin in Frederick Forsyth's novel "The Day of the Jackal." After two decades on the run, Ramirez was captured in 1994 in Sudan and taken to Paris in a sack. The seven-judge terrorism panel ruled after the trial that began in November.

This is a second life sentence for "Carlos the Jackal" His real name is Ilich Ramirez Sanchez . The attacks took place in 1982 and 1983 and killed 11 people . Ramirez was captured in 1994 in Sudan after two decades on the run .

(CNN) -- "Chief curiosity officer" and the architect of the Plastiki voyage, David de Rothschild is only worried about sea sickness but will be armed with a copy of "The Complete Sailor" on the journey. Read the rest of David's CNN quiz answers, below. CNN: What did you want to be when you were young? de Rothschild: A pirate CNN: What's the one characteristic that has led you to where you are today? de Rothschild: Being curious and not taking no for an answer. CNN: Who inspires you? de Rothschild: Family, friends and Buckminster Fuller. CNN: What's the most important lesson you've learned about yourself from the Plastiki project? de Rothschild: Nobody is as smart as everybody. CNN: What's your biggest hope for the expedition? de Rothschild: To capture the imagination of as many people as possible in order to inspire, engage and activate them! CNN: At what point would you define the Plastiki a success? de Rothschild: When we no longer produce and carelessly throw away single-use plastics. CNN: What is your favorite sea creature? de Rothschild: Sharks and seahorses. CNN: When is the last time you personally used a plastic bottle? de Rothschild: A month ago. CNN: What do you most value about nature? de Rothschild: Everything , especially how humble, inspiring and raw she is! CNN: What's the one creature comfort you'll miss most when you're at sea? de Rothschild: A fresh water shower. CNN: Name 3 books you will bring with you on the expedition. de Rothschild: "Blessed Unrest" by Paul Hawken; "The World Is Blue: How Our Fate and the Ocean's Are One" by Sylvia A. Earle and Bill McKibben; "The Complete Sailor" by David Seidman. CNN: If you had to choose a theme song for the expedition, what would it be? de Rothschild: "Message in a Bottle" by Sting. CNN: What's your favorite adventure film / book? de Rothschild: "The Lorax" by Dr Seuss; "Swallows and Amazons" by Arthur Ransom. CNN: What's your green motto? de Rothschild: Green is just a color that's really only salving the consciousness! It's now time to focus on acting on the solutions in front of us! CNN: What's the most important thing you've done to prepare for life at sea? de Rothschild: Spend time with Jo Royle and David Thomson. CNN: What's the main emotion you're feeling right now days? de Rothschild: Ready to leave! CNN: What's your biggest fear for the expedition? de Rothschild: Sea sickness. CNN: What's the first thing you'll do when you reach Sydney? de Rothschild: Have a long sleep!

David de Rothschild answers the CNN quiz . Favorite adventure book is "The Lorax"; expedition song would be "Message in a Bottle" Most worried about sea sickness .

(CNN) -- "China is not on the Internet, it's basically an intranet. Everything is banned by the Great Firewall," says Sherman So, co-author of "Red Wired: China's Internet Revolution." Sherman So, author of "Red Wired," talks about China's online habits and Internet culture. With 338 million Internet users in June 2009, according to the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), China is no longer a niche market of the online industry. Chinese is the second most common language on the Internet, according to The Economist, and quickly gaining ground on English. As the former technology writer for Hong Kong's daily English-language newspaper, South China Morning Post, So has been following closely China's exponential Internet developments over the past decade. What inspired her to write "Red Wired" was the chasm in online culture on either side of China's carefully controlled borders. "The information gap between those who are from this part of the world and who know Chinese and those who are from another part of world and who don't is just so huge," observes So. "I've talked to lots of investors, analysts, visitors to Hong Kong, and they really don't know what's happening in China. They ask the silliest questions about China and the Internet." "Red Wired" tells the stories behind China's homegrown online start-ups, often overtaking dominant start-ups that have been successful in the West but which flailed after venturing into Chinese territory. One anecdote involves an advertisement by Baidu, China's most popular search engine, teasing Google China for not knowing Chinese. Google focused on high-end technology rather than Chinese linguistics. From 2002 to 2005, Google's Chinese site also suffered interference from the Chinese government, which redirected users to Baidu whenever Google's search results failed to comply with China's censorship rules. Although Google China has since learned the lingo and learned to cooperate with the higher order, it still trails Baidu with only 28 percent of the search-engine market share, compared to Baidu's 63 percent, according to a 2008 study by Analysys International. Conquering the Internet with Chinese characteristics So what are the unique characteristics of China's Netizens? While 25.5 percent of the Chinese population is now online, CNNIC's 2008 statistics sketch a relatively coherent portrait of the mainstream majority of them: 67 percent are below the age of 30; 73 percent have only a high school education or lower; 33 percent are students; and 28 percent fall into the lowest income bracket of under $75 per month. Moreover, 78 percent go online at home and 42 percent log on at an Internet cafe. Once connected, 84 percent listen to music, 75 percent instant-message, 63 percent play online games, and only 57 percent e-mail. In short, for the vast majority of Chinese, Internet means play, not work. One could conclude that an Internet entrepreneur's target audience in China is teenage and twenty-something students, low-end consumers in search of entertainment with plenty of time to kill. Among the most salient of China's Internet start-ups are those that innovated on proven Western models by successfully adapting them to the Chinese market. Tencent, with a 77 percent market share of instant messaging services nationwide, is one of the start-ups that gets it. Tencent is now the largest Internet company in China. "What really made [Tencent founder] Pony Ma stand out is that he viewed his QQ instant messenger differently from other IM services such as MSN and Yahoo," says So. "They viewed IM as a two-way communication, so made it as efficient as possible. They targeted the high-end white-collar users, thinking they're rich, advertisers will love them, they'll buy additional services. "Ma thought differently. QQ was a community targeting low-end users -- kids, factory workers. They don't need efficiency, they come online to kill

China counts 338 million Internet users, but only 25.5 percent of its population . Majority of Chinese Netizens are low-end users in search of entertainment . Internet in China has made information and popular culture accessible to all . Chinese "sea turtles" bring back knowledge and resources from Silicon Valley .

(CNN) -- "Don't close your eyes, don't close your eyes," a terrified Christopher Gamez chanted as he coasted 7,000 feet above South Padre Island, Texas, his heart racing. One by one, Gamez watched as three people were "sucked" out of the plane and whipped violently into the thrashing winds and mist. "Just put your head back and breathe," he told himself, seconds before joining the others. But why would someone with a severe fear of heights willingly plummet from the sky? To cross "skydiving" off his mental bucket list, of course. Gamez was inspired to dream up his list of goals after watching MTV's "The Buried Life", a reality TV show about four friends who set out to accomplish the tasks on their joint bucket list. The show, which wrapped its first season in March, has motivated many young adults to create such lists right now, rather than waiting until they're about to "kick the bucket" like Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman's terminally ill characters in "The Bucket List" or Queen Latifah's supposedly terminally ill character in "Last Holiday." Gamez said he tuned in every week, but he knew he wanted to live his own version of "The Buried Life" five minutes in to the first episode. "If you had one day to live, what would you do?" a voice asks viewers during the show's opening credits. "Would you climb a mountain? Would you kiss the girl of your dreams? Would you tell someone how you feel? Now, if you had a whole lifetime to live, would you lose that drive, or would your list just keep getting longer?" "[The guys on the show] inspired me and they pushed me to [go skydiving]," he said. "To see them go out with no fear and do the things they wanted to do -- it made me want to do those things, too." The show's title was inspired by a 19th century Matthew Arnold poem by the same name. The stars on the show -- Ben, Dave, Duncan and Jonnie -- decided "The Buried Life" summed up their concerns about getting bogged down with daily routine and losing their passion for life. "What do you want to do before you die?" became the premise for their new lifestyle and, eventually, the MTV series that allowed them to cross Number 53 off their bucket list: "Make a badass TV show." That list is under their control. "What they do and how they do it and who they contact and help -- that's their decision," said Brent Haynes, a senior vice president at MTV, who first realized the project's potential when he saw footage of the guys sneaking into the Video Music Awards to walk the red carpet. Rather than arresting them, we gave them a TV show, Haynes joked. Others like the guys' ideas. "The more I watch 'The Buried Life' and the more I've seen them experience things, the more I've wanted to do it," Megan Fulton said. The 18-year-old Emory University student said she appreciates what the guys stand for. In 2008, Fulton's friend died about three days after being diagnosed with an infection. The loss prompted Fulton and her friends to create a bucket list made up of kind gestures, long-term goals, personal achievements and travel destinations. Some of the items, like pay for someone's groceries and adopt a dog from a shelter, were crossed off rather quickly, she said. But goals like start a flash mob, travel to Lebanon -- from where Fulton and her sister were adopted -- and overcome her crippling stage fright, will be more difficult to accomplish. "If they can take part in a Krump [dance] competition, I think I can get up and say a few lines in front of people," she said. "They've really helped me and they don't even know it

"The Buried Life" follows four friends as they accomplish tasks on their bucket list . The show has motivated many young adults to pursue their goals early on in life . "What do you want to do before you die?" became the premise for the MTV series .

(CNN) -- "Family Ties" actress Meredith Baxter made the media rounds Wednesday confirming the rumors that she is a lesbian. "It was a later in life recognition," the actress explained to Matt Lauer on the "Today" show Wednesday. The National Enquirer recently ran a story about Baxter being spotted on a lesbian cruise through the Caribbean with a "female friend," which was then picked up by celebrity blogs. As a result, the 62-year-old decided to tell her fans herself. "I didn't want some tabloid to take the story and make it up," Baxter said in the interview. "I wanted it to be in my own words." Baxter was also interviewed on Sirius XM Radio's "The Frank DeCaro Show." Coming out was a difficult thing for the quiet actress to do. She told Lauer on "Today" that she's always "lived a very private life. To come out and disclose stuff is very antithetical" to who she is. Baxter told DeCaro that she knew she could be outed when she went on the cruise with her partner, Nancy Locke, but she went anyway. "We live a very open life at home," she said. "Anyone who's a friend of mine, anyone who knows and cares about me knows. It's no secret that I'm gay, but it has been to the greater world. "The reason I'm here [on the show] is because I'm saying, yes, I'm a lesbian." Baxter also told People magazine that she has been in a four-year relationship with Locke, who works as a building contractor. Baxter has been dating women for the past seven years, and "the thought of being gay never crossed my mind," she said. The actress was married three times before, during which she "was never comfortable with herself," she told People. Now, she feels like she's "being honest for the first time." Baxter has also come clean to her five kids, according to People. Her 25-year-old son Peter was all smiles. He told the magazine that he "just couldn't stop smiling, because she finally figured it out."

The National Enquirer first revealed that Meredith Baxter had been on a lesbian cruise . As a result of the story, Baxter has come out on radio, TV and to People magazine . She has been in a relationship with partner Nancy Locke for four years . She feels like she's being honest for the first time .

(CNN) -- "For architects, perfection is necessary," said Japanese architect Kengo Kuma. "It is my mission to use the kindness and delicateness that old architecture had. I believe that this mission is not easy to complete. So I am planning to work until I fall down." With nearly 60 projects on the go across the world, Kuma's search for perfection is all consuming; he rarely takes a day off from work and sometimes even finished projects are analyzed and amended. The 55-year-old from Tokyo has become synonymous with delicate simplicity and sensitivity to a building's surrounding. From the Great (Bamboo) Wall House located near the Great Wall of China outside of Beijing to the Suntory Museum of Art in Tokyo, Kuma has employed natural materials that complement a building's location to great acclaim. View the gallery of Kuma's spectacular buildings "I try to catch the atmosphere of the place where we build the house. We try to find out how the people live there and what kind of materials they use. After we find out the atmosphere of the place, we will think how we can relate that with the architecture." Using mostly glass and Chinese bamboo to make the house by the Great Wall, it comfortably blended into the natural surroundings, but the Suntory Museum of Art, completed in 2007 presented different challenges. "Usually, a building in a massive developed area tends to be a sad building. However, I wanted to make a building which is warm and could feel a human's touch. To make that ideal building, I used natural material such as Japanese paper and paulownia [wood]. I wanted to take back the human element even if the building was inside the city." Much of modern architecture is often unfairly portrayed as lacking that human element, but Kuma's focus on retrieving and remaining Japanese traditions in architecture has gone some way to dispel that myth. It is a far cry from his initial architectural fascination with concrete, in part inspired by the Olympic stadium designed by Kenzo Tange for the 1964 Games in Tokyo. "I learned that architecture can impress people. If the Olympics were not held in Tokyo, I might not have become an architect," he told CNN. If Tange's buildings for the Olympics were responsible for sparking Kuma's imagination, he's followed a different path in his career. After earning a master's degree in architecture from The University of Tokyo in 1979 and further study at Columbia University in New York, he returned to Japan in 1986 -- a boom time for architects. "People who were only about 30-years-old could design a building. It was an era of post-modernism and a lot of young people were making outstanding buildings during that time." But the economic recession hit Japan in 1992 and it had a profound impact on Kuma's life and changed his attitude to architecture. "I didn't have a job in Tokyo for 10 years. I was designing small buildings in the countryside. I worked with a craftsman and studied how to use natural materials in those 10 years. From this experience, I learned the great aspects of Japanese traditional architecture. I started to design traditional Japanese architecture and foreign people took notice of the design," he said. "I think the cities of Japan are a bit damaged by the concrete buildings," Kuma added. "Because of the sub-prime issue and now another economic crisis, I feel this is again a good opportunity for architects to design buildings slowly." In focusing taking a more holistic approach to his craft, Kuma has promoted the humanizing elements of architecture and its ability of improve people's lives. It's an approach that he has likened to making sushi. "There are two important things to make sushi. One is the material and the other is the skill... For sushi, both the power of the material and skill is important and their balance is very important. "I believe that this balance is what people want," Kuma continued. "People and society are seeking the thing like sushi

Japanese architect has popularized sensitive Japanese traditions in buildings . Has works across the world including museums and private residences . "Architecture is like sushi: balance of material and skill is very important"

(CNN) -- "Get yourself together." Mary Williams repeated those three words often to her 28-year-old daughter, who served three years in a Kansas prison for a 1988 armed robbery. Donnie Belcher, 7, visits her mother, Wanda Taylor, at Lansing Correctional Facility in Kansas in 1991. Williams never judged her daughter, Wanda Taylor, for the crime or the crack cocaine addiction that fueled it. There was no need to pick at the past. Instead, Williams looked to the future. The future was her granddaughter, Donnie Belcher, a shy 4-year-old girl with curly hair who cried inconsolably from behind the glass the first time she visited her mother in jail. The little girl's mother was locked up for three years, leaving her in the care of her grandmother. "It was hard on me," said Belcher, now 25. "I never wanted to leave my mother." Belcher defied the odds, growing up straight as an arrow despite having a mother in prison. Her childhood was part of a national trend. The incarceration rates for U.S. mothers began to surge in the 1980s, fueled by the crack cocaine epidemic and tougher mandatory sentencing laws, experts said. A recent study by the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics found the number of incarcerated mothers rose 131 percent from 1991 to 2007, while the number of fathers in prison increased 77 percent during the same period. According to the Sentencing Project, a Washington-based nonprofit, about 1.7 million children have a parent in prison. "We should be alarmed," said Georgia Lerner, executive director at the Women's Prison Association, a national nonprofit working with incarcerated women. "Even when children have seen their mothers get arrested, they still want to be with their parents," Lerner said. "They still love their mothers and want to be together." While some critics argue that criminals make poor parents, experts said there is no doubt that separation from a parent, particularly a mother, affects a child's psychological development. When a father is imprisoned, the mother typically cares for the children, said Danielle Dallaire, a psychology professor at the College of William and Mary. But her research shows that when a mother is incarcerated, the father often plays no role in raising the children left behind. Federal statistics show children are five times more likely to end up in foster care when a mother is sent to prison than when a father is imprisoned. Read the Federal Report Belcher's grandmother, Williams, stepped in because she didn't want the child in foster care. The girl's father was not in the picture. For three years, Williams, a single mother herself, drove her granddaughter twice a month to see her mother. They never missed a visit, despite having to travel to several prisons across Kansas. After passing through the metal detectors and being frisked by security officers, the girl showed off the A's she received from school or told her mother about which boy had cooties. Each visit lasted two hours. Belcher often asked, "When will you come home?" "Soon," her mother said. "Soon." Find out what Taylor and her family learned from her time in prison » A growing number of prisons are recognizing the need to preserve mother-child relationships. They have staffed nurseries and day care centers to keep families connected. Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, a maximum security women's prison in New York, is host to an annual summer camp run by volunteers. At camp, children can play basketball and participate in other activities with their incarcerated mothers. In May, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is reuniting moms and dads with their children. The "Get on the Bus" program provides 700 children with free rides to the prisons. The three years without Taylor were financially difficult for Williams, who was approaching retirement age. In her 50s at the time, she worked as a dental assistant to support her granddaughter. She poured all her time and effort into the

Donnie Belcher's mother was incarcerated when she was 4 . Number of incarcerated mothers exploded 131 percent from 1991 to 2007 . "I wanted to be everything my mother wasn't," Belcher says . More prisons are creating programs that preserve mother-child relationships .

(CNN) -- "Global declines in press freedom" persisted last year, with setbacks highlighted in Israel, Italy, Taiwan, Hong Kong and elsewhere across the world, an annual survey said Friday. Media freedom campaigners don gags during a news conference in Hong Kong in April 2008. Freedom House, a nongovernmental organization that supports democracy and freedom of the media, said in its annual press freedom survey that "negative trends" outweighed "positive movements in every region, particularly in the former Soviet Union, the Middle East and North Africa." "This marked the seventh straight year of overall deterioration. Improvements in a small number of countries -- including bright spots in parts of South Asia and Africa -- were overshadowed by a continued, relentless assault on independent news media by a wide range of actions, in both authoritarian states and countries with very open media environments." Israel -- once the only country to be consistently rated free by the group in the Middle East and North Africa -- was ranked as "partly free" because of the Gaza conflict. The report cited "increased travel restrictions on both Israeli and foreign reporters; official attempts to influence media coverage of the conflict within Israel; and greater self-censorship and biased reporting, particularly during the outbreak of open war in late December." Elsewhere in the Middle East, there are concerns about harassment of journalists and bloggers in Libya, Iran, Syria, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia. The drop in violence in war-torn Iraq helped journalists move around the country, and a new law in the Kurdish region gave journalists "unprecedented freedoms." Hong Kong, which is part of China, also dropped in rankings from free to partly free, a reflection of "the growing influence of Beijing over media and free expression in the territory." "Of particular concern were the appointment of 10 owners of Hong Kong media outlets to a mainland Chinese political advisory body, increased restrictions on film releases in the period surrounding the Olympics, and reports that critics of Beijing encountered growing difficulty in gaining access to Hong Kong media platforms." The report cited deterioration of of freedoms in Taiwan, which has been characterized as East Asia's freest media environment. That's because of "legal pressures and attempts to control broadcast media outlets." Italy dropped from free to partly free because of the "increased use of courts and libel laws to limit free speech, heightened physical and extralegal intimidation by both organized crime and far-right groups, and concerns over media ownership and influence," the report said. It cited fears about media magnate Silvio Berlusconi becoming prime minister again. There are concerns about "the concentration of state-owned and private outlets under a single leader." In the former Soviet Union, "legal pressure and attempts to control broadcast media outlets" were cited in Russia, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan. The report noted other problems in Russia, saying "reporters suffer from a high level of personal insecurity, and impunity for past murders or physical attacks against journalists is the norm." Across Africa, there were "some improvements," citing developments in Comoros, Sierra Leone, Angola, and Liberia. But there were continued problems in places like Zimbabwe and Eritrea. "Senegal took a significant step backward due to a dramatic increase in both legal and extralegal action against journalists and media houses, accompanied by overtly hostile rhetoric from the president and other officials," the report said. The report cited strides in South Asian nations, ranking the once "not free" Maldives to "partly free." It mentioned a "new constitution protecting freedom of expression, the opening of additional private radio and television stations, the release of a prominent journalist from life imprisonment, and a general loosening of restrictions after the country's first democratic presidential election in October." It said Bangladesh and Pakistan reversed declines in freedom of the media. But there were setbacks in Afghanistan and Sri Lanka, two countries racked by warfare. In some countries in the Americas, such as Mexico, Bolivia and Ecuador, "attacks and official rhetoric against the media escalated

Annual survey says "negative trends" outweighed "positive movements" in 2008 . Report singles out former Soviet Union, Middle East, North Africa . Bright spots seen in parts of South Asia, Africa . Worst-rated countries: Myanmar, Cuba, Eritrea, Libya, North Korea, Turkmenistan .

(CNN) -- "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" hit thousands of theater screens across the country at midnight Wednesday. Ginny Weasley and Harry Potter develop a romance in "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince." Since then, fans have been buzzing about some of the film's most impressive scenes -- including one called "I killed Sirius Black." In the scene, Potter is confronted by Death Eater Bellatrix Lestrange, who is creating mischief for both the boy wizard and his latest crush, Ginny Weasley. (Death Eaters are followers of the series villain, Voldemort.) Exhilarating for some, but frustrating for others, this particular scene from the franchise's sixth installment is a cinematic creation, as it never occurs in the J.K. Rowling novel. Watch the excitement of "Potter's" scene » That aside, it includes pyrotechnic explosions, blazing fires, a massive chase sequence and the use of dark arts -- the Harry Potter version of black magic. In this week's "The Scene," actors Daniel Radcliffe, who plays Harry Potter; Bonnie Wright, who stars as Ginny Weasley; and director David Yates comment on the action.

"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" came out Wednesday . Film has key scene involving Harry and Bellatrix Lestrange . Scene is not in J.K. Rowling's book, but a cinematic creation .

(CNN) -- "I AM" is a new CNN.com feature built on the belief that the labels we use for one another don't really reveal who we are. We present a collection of people who may surprise you. They not only defy their labels, but they've done it in very public and dramatic ways. This week, I AM presents four African-Americans who challenge conventional notions of blackness. But then defining what it means to be black has long been a matter of debate within the African-American community. The R&B singer, Billy Paul, once had a song called, "Am I Black Enough?" Well are they? You be the judge. Barbara Hillary -- At the age of 75, she became the first African American woman to reach the North Pole. Maurice Ashley -- Is the first and only African American to attain the coveted title of International Grand Master of Chess. Bliss Broyard -- Author of "One Drop: My Father's Hidden Life -- A Story of Race & Family Secrets," learned her father was black just before his death. Marvin Perkins -- As an African American elder in the Mormon church, Perkins says he is one of the world's best kept secrets in the world.

"I AM" is built on the belief that the labels we use for others, don't reveal who we are . Meet four African Americans who challenge conventional notions of blackness . CNN Presents: Black in America airs July 23 and 24, at 9 p.m. ET .

(CNN) -- "Joe Frazier is tied forever, almost by an umbilical chord, with Mohammad Ali because they obviously had a famous trilogy of fights, of which the first and the last were epic fights." The words of respected boxing journalist Jeff Powell. Powell, a columnist for British newspaper The Mail has covered boxing all over the world and knew 'Smokin' Joe' -- who died on Monday aged 67 after a short battle with liver cancer -- both inside and outside the ring, having reported on his fights during the halcyon period of heavyweight boxing in the early 1970s. Speaking to CNN Sport following the announcement of Frazier's death, Powell said: "In the American consciousness Joe is seen as the man who defined Ali in many ways. "The first fight was called 'The Fight of the Century' and took place in Madison Square Garden in 1971. Ali had called Frazier an 'Uncle Tom' before the fight and it bought a racial dimension to it. "When Frazier tore up the script and knocked down Ali, inflicting his first defeat, there were riots all over the country." Powell added: "Frazier was very much part of American folklore and respected around the world. He begrudged for many years the things Ali said about him, not only the 'Uncle Tom' insult, but also calling him a 'gorilla' before their epic 'Thrilla in Manila' in 1975. "It took Joe a while to get over that -- but he was a nice guy and there is a strong sense of nostalgia about him passing, he is very much part of the fabric of American fight history." The likes of Ali, Frazier, George Foreman and Ken Norton will go down in history as some of the greatest heavyweight boxers of all time and Powell concedes that when they were all at the top of their game in the 1970's, the division was stronger than it has ever been. "I think most people would probably put Joe in the top 10 heavyweights of all time," continued Powell. "He had a fantastic left hook with which he not only knocked Ali down but broke his jaw in the first fight. "But that was a tremendous heavyweight generation. If you won the world title back then, you did so against very good fighters. Joe took the title off Jimmy Ellis, who was a good fighter and lost it to George Foreman -- who we all know about too. "There have been other great generations. Mike Tyson reinvigorated the division in the late 1980s, Evander Holyfield was a huge player and Lennox Lewis was a superb champion as well. "But at times like this you do look back with a sense of nostalgia and romance. Looking back it probably wasn't too romantic, because it was a tough time, but that's the mood in America at the moment." Not only was Frazier a world class fighter, but Powell knew him as a kindly man, who sadly ended up in some poverty towards the end of his life. "Joe was a much simpler, straight-forward character than Ali. He liked the social life and had 11 children but unfortunately he was let down in a land deal which would have made him financially comfortable for life." Powell added: "He was a little resentful towards the end of his struggles with money. He was the one who didn't make as much as Ali and Foreman, who were the only two men to beat him, and was somewhat overshadowed from the public perspective by his relationship with Ali. "But he was a formidable fighter in his own right and will always be remembered as the first man to beat Ali. That has bookmarked his place in history."

Joe Frazier will always be associated with his epic trilogy of fights against Mohammad Ali . Respected boxing journalist Jeff Powell knew Frazier both inside and outside the boxing ring . Powell believe Frazier will go down in history as one of the top 10 heavyweights of all time .

(CNN) -- "Keep the government's hands off my Medicare." Those words -- quoted by so many TV talking heads -- never seem actually to have been spoken by anyone. It's like that poodle in the microwave story: Everybody has a neighbor who heard it from his cousin. The town hallers were angry, but they were not crazy, and they were not stupid. They knew perfectly well that Medicare is provided by the government. They also knew that their government is proposing to change Medicare in ways they do not like. The health care reform plans backed by President Obama would cut hundreds of billions out of the the growth of Medicare spending over the next 10 years. More ominous for seniors than the dollar figure is the plan behind the number. The president wants to reduce spending on Medicare Advantage, the privately run plans that offer seniors a better deal than conventional Medicare. Over the longer term, the president aspires to shift Medicare patients to teams of health care providers paid by the year, instead of individual doctors charging fees for each particular service -- rather than by the particular medical service they perform. Meet new CNN contributor David Frum The changes the president has in mind won't kill Grandma. But they will change medicine in ways Grandma may find uncomfortable. Ten years from now, Grandma probably won't have a personal doctor. Her Medicare will cover less -- and cost more. Medicare was under pressure even before the election of Obama. The gap between the future revenues and future obligations of Medicare and Social Security is estimated by the Social Security trustees at some $45 trillion. How much is that? Adjusting for inflation, it's the cost of fighting World War II -- 10 times. Medicare is the single biggest spending commitment of the United States. As Obama stacks enormous new health care spending commitments atop the old, Medicare's already bleak future grows dimmer still. Who wins as Medicare loses? The short answer is: the uninsured. The president will use the money squeezed from Medicare to extend some form of coverage to the 35 million to 40 million people estimated to lack health insurance. And who are these people? About one-quarter of them are foreign-born. Recent immigrants to the United States -- unlike the immigrations who arrived between World War II and 1970 -- have tended to be very low-skilled. Their labor is just not worth enough to their employers to support the high cost of an American health insurance plan: $13,000 a year, on average, for a family of four. So here's how the world looks to a Medicare enrollee: Over the opposition of some 80 percent of the American people, your government allowed millions of poor newcomers to enter the country, many of them illegally. (Over the past 10 years, half of all immigrants to the United States have arrived illegally.) These people cut the lawns of your more affluent neighbors, tended their babies, cleared their tables after their restaurant meals. If you were not so affluent, they reduced your wages and crowded your schools, highways and hospital emergency rooms. Now you are being told that your old age will be made less comfortable to accommodate them. Unsurprisingly, you don't like it. The debate about immigration and health care has centered on whether immigrants who are here illegally might qualify for coverage under the Democrats' reforms. Theoretically, they will not be eligible, but since Democrats have so far voted against enforcement measures, some illegal immigrants will no doubt slip through. But the debate over illegal immigrants is a proxy for something larger and more unsettling to older Americans. The problem is not illegal immigration, it is all low-skilled immigration, legal and illegal. By importing tens of millions of people who earn too little to pay for their own health insurance, we have made this supremely difficult social problem radically more difficult than it ever needed to be. With "Obamacare," the bill for four decades of permissive immigration has at last come due. Since the 1930s, the United States has run two different kinds of government

Town hallers know government wants to change Medicare in ways they don't like, Frum says . He says changes won't kill Grandma, but Medicare will cover less and cost more . Changes will benefit the uninsured, some of whom can't pay for insurance, he says . Frum: Resistance to Obama's plan comes because it will be an income transfer program .

(CNN) -- "Mad Men" and "Damages" found themselves on top when the nominations for the 60th Annual Primetime Emmys came out Thursday morning -- but, again, there was no love for HBO's "The Wire." Emmy nominee Jon Hamm stars as ad exec Don Draper in "Mad Men," which earned 16 nominations. AMC's "Mad Men" and FX's "Damages" made Emmy history Thursday as the first basic-cable series to be nominated for best drama. The pair, which had made the 10-series Emmy shortlist, have been widely hailed by critics and have received good ratings for basic-cable series -- though "Damages" star Glenn Close said she hopes the Emmys help boost the show's audience. "We need all the help we can get," she told The Associated Press. On the other hand, HBO's "The Wire" -- which concluded its fifth and final season this year -- once again came up empty in the best drama nominations. It did receive one nod, for writing. The series, though much praised and dissected by a hard-core group of fans, has received little recognition from the Emmys, with just one previous nomination -- also for writing -- in 2005. Check out some of the top Emmy nods this year » Indeed, HBO has struggled to find a drama to take the place of the much-lauded "The Sopranos," which won best drama last year after a storied run. "Mad Men," which has made AMC into a player, was allegedly turned down by the cable giant, and shows such as the quickly canceled "John From Cincinnati" and "Rome" haven't had the same impact. On the other hand, "In Treatment" received a nomination for Gabriel Byrne's performance as a therapist, and the network's comedies, particularly "Entourage," have performed strongly. Moreover, the network's short-form programming, such as the miniseries "John Adams" and the TV movie "Recount," dominated their Emmy categories: "John Adams" led all nominees with 23 nominations, and "Recount," about the 2000 presidential election battle, received 11. "The network has made up for [its lack of drama series success] in other forms," Variety TV editor Michael Schneider told CNN. "It's still the most nominated network and has the most nominated program." HBO led all networks with 85 nominations. Among broadcast networks, ABC led with 76 nominations. Among regularly scheduled TV series, "30 Rock" earned 17 nominations and "Mad Men" received 16. The 17 nominations for "30 Rock" were a record number in a single year for a comedy series. Newcomer "Pushing Daisies," the whimsical series on ABC, received 12 nominations. Given that the show only aired nine episodes -- and hasn't been on the air in months due to the writers strike -- its recognition was a surprise, Schneider said. "It was nice that voters still remembered it," he said. Along with "Damages" and "Mad Men," nominees for best drama include "Boston Legal," "Dexter," "House" and "Lost." Comedy series nominees are "Curb Your Enthusiasm," "Entourage," "The Office," "30 Rock" and "Two and a Half Men." Cable series dominated the dramatic acting nominations, with four of the six actors and three of the five actresses appearing on basic or pay cable. Best actor in a drama nominees are Byrne ("In Treatment"), Bryan Cranston ("Breaking Bad"), Michael C. Hall ("Dexter"), Jon Hamm ("Mad Men"), Hugh Laurie ("House") and James Spader ("Boston Legal"). "Dexter," which originated on Showtime, earned a short run on CBS following the writers strike. The nominees for best actress in a drama are Close ("Damages"), Sally Field (

"Mad Men" and "Damages" earn best drama nominations . HBO miniseries "John Adams" receives 23 nominations . Emmys snub "The Wire," "Grey's Anatomy," "Desperate Housewives" Ceremony will be broadcast on ABC on September 21 .

(CNN) -- "Movies aren't an actor's medium...actors are just color in other people's paintings," Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey told CNN's Talk Asia. "I think there's almost any actor whose been around for a while who can say this with absolute conviction that sometimes you go and see a movie that you've made and you know you made a better movie than they cut." He hasn't turned his back on his profession, but the versatile performer who won two Academy Awards for his roles in "The Usual Suspects" and "American Beauty," has happily embraced the other challenges that have come his way. From reviving the fortunes of The Old Vic theatre in London to production credits on a number of films, acting has now become just one of Spacey's numerous professional guises. His latest venture is appearing in a joint production in China called "Inseparable" featuring Daniel Wu and Chinese actress Gong Beibi. "I think there's no doubt that China is the next place for film-- there's no doubt -- and that collaborations, this kind of exchange of a Western actor coming to make a Chinese film is a very exciting step," he said. After his Chinese experience he'll be focusing on film until 2012 when he will then lead The Bridge Project, a transatlantic theatrical production company comprised of The Old Vic in London and Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York. The company will be bringing "The Tempest" to Hong Kong and Singapore in March and April. Longer term plans could see Spacey return to the stage, but as a singer. His 2005 biopic "Beyond the Sea" on 1950s crooner Bobby Darin was a labor of love where Spacey was able to perform the songs of one of his heroes. To promote the movie he even toured with a 20-piece big band across the U.S. "I think it's great that actually Vegas wants to be able to bring back the headliner, and I think the nightclub act is one of the greatest things ever. "But that to me would be to me kind of fun to do again at some point, because I love singing and I don't get a chance to sing as much as I'd like, so we'll see what happens."

Spacey is an Oscar-winning actor and artistic director of The Old Vic in London . He will lead The Bridge Project theatrical co-production in 2012 . Spacey would love to revive the headline nightclub act in Las Vegas .

(CNN) -- "Pandering." According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, to pander is to: "provide gratification for others' desires." So is that what John McCain and Barack Obama are doing with Hispanic voters? Sen. John McCain has said the issue of immigration would be a top priority for him as president. If you follow coverage of their speeches at three Latino events -- the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, the League of United Latin American Citizens and The National Council of La Raza -- the answer would be yes. Why? Because the two candidates are talking about making immigration reform a priority if they reach the White House, and to make it there, they know the Hispanic vote can have a great impact. More than 9 million Hispanics are expected to vote on November 4th. They traditionally favor Democrats, but many have supported Republicans in key races. In 2004, for example, 40 percent of the Latino vote went to President Bush -- so going after them makes political sense. Do Hispanics care about immigration reform? Yes, they do. But it's not the only issue that concerns them. See where the candidates stand on immigration They, too, pay more than $4 for a gallon of gas, and are worried about the economy, foreclosures, the war in Iraq and access to health care and education. But the debate on immigration has motivated many to apply for citizenship and many others to register to vote. Hispanics aren't a monolithic group as many seem to believe. Some families go back six or seven generations. Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens by birth. Cubans can stay if they make it to U.S soil. Latinos from all over Latin America come by plane. Surprisingly, a majority of Latino voters show a deep interest in immigration reform, even though it wouldn't benefit them directly because they are U.S. citizens. They believe reform would help in a community that shares a common language, even though it has many differences. They aren't naïve and won't be swayed with tall tales. But to pander has a negative connotation and the concept seems highlighted when it refers to Hispanics, the largest- and fastest-growing minority in the nation. This electorate is familiar with politicians making promises they don't always keep -- and surely will see that McCain favors border security before immigration reform, a reform he put his name on at great cost. They are aware of the need to learn English in order to succeed, and not necessarily for every child to learn Spanish as Obama suggested. That could fuel fears about Hispanic influence, and spur some to use that fear to score political points. In this case, the approach goes in two directions. It can be seen as pandering to a specific group for political gain, but it can also be portrayed as a challenge to Hispanics. With greater clout comes higher responsibility; it means not only registering to vote, but actually doing it on Election Day, making those numbers count, showing that Latinos are more than a group with great potential. Is pandering to Hispanics any different from pandering to other groups? Why isn't there a similar outcry when candidates address the American Israel Public Affairs Committee on the future of Israel? Or the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People? Isn't that pandering? Hispanics are coming of political age, and probably face a dilemma. But which is better -- being pandered to, or ignored? And no, it's not a trick question.

Candidates talk about immigration reform at Latino events . Hispanics care about a lot of other issues, says Juan Carlos Lopez . Latinos: The largest and fastest growing minority in the nation . Candidates' so-called pandering to Latinos shows the power of the Hispanic vote .

(CNN) -- "Precious," a movie about a 1980s-era Harlem teen who strives to overcome abuse, neglect and illiteracy, pulled five Independent Spirit Award nominations Tuesday morning. Stars Gabourey Sidibe and Mo'Nique were both recognized for their portrayals of a mother and daughter in a dysfunctional relationship, with a best female lead nomination for newcomer Sidibe and a best supporting female nomination for Mo'Nique. The film's success is not entirely a surprise, considering that the Oprah Winfrey- and Tyler Perry-backed Sundance darling has earned $27 million at the domestic box office and was received well by audiences during its slow rollout in cities across the nation in November. Sidibe's work in "Precious" has been one of the breakout roles of the year, and the young actress is rumored to be the star of a new series, "The C Word." However, it hasn't been all smooth for "Precious": The film earned zero nominations for the Gotham Independent Film Awards, which were given out Monday night. The Gotham awards are a New York-based indie film honor. "The Hurt Locker," by contrast, took home two Gotham awards Monday night, one for best picture and the other for best ensemble. There were no Independent Spirit Award nominations for this Iraq war drama, however, as it was nominated last year. For the Spirits, "Precious" is facing off against the Zooey Deschanel-driven "(500) Days of Summer," "Amreeka," "The Last Station" and "Sin Nombre" for best picture. "Summer" also snagged a nomination for best male lead, a nod for Joseph Gordon-Levitt. On top of the best picture nomination, "The Last Station" -- a biographical piece about Leo Tolstoy featuring James McAvoy, Helen Mirren and Paul Giamatti -- is up for best director, best screenplay, best female lead and best supporting male lead. Christian McKay, another relatively unknown actor in the United States, has gotten lots of love from critics for his portrayal of Orson Welles in Richard Linklater's "Me and Orson Welles," and the Spirit Awards noticed, giving the British actor a nomination for best supporting male performer. In order to be considered, all films had to be 70 minutes long with a budget under $20 million, and had to have screened at one of the major film festivals, such as Sundance or Toronto. The awards ceremony is typically held the Saturday before the Academy Awards, but since the Spirit Awards are celebrating their 25th anniversary in 2010, they're moving out from under Oscar's shadow and will air live on the Independent Film Channel on March 5.

"Precious" and "Last Station" both lead Independent Spirit Award nominations . Acclaimed indie "Hurt Locker" didn't earn any nominations, as it was nominated last year . "(500) Days of Summer" is up for best picture, along with "Amreeka," "Sin Nombre"

(CNN) -- "Refugees are the most vulnerable people on Earth. They are fighting to survive." -- Angelina Jolie, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees goodwill ambassador Children play in floodwater at a Pakistan refugee camp after floods displaced residents in August 2008. The world's population at the end of last year included 42 million displaced people, 80 percent of them in developing nations, according to a report this week by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Many of these refugees are living in minimal standards for shelter and are exposed daily to the harshest elements of weather, the report says. For example, in Pakistan, some 300,000 refugees are living outdoors, in tents or similar structures, said Michael Kocher, vice president of international programs for the International Rescue Committee. That part of the world has been hit hard by extreme weather over the past couple of months. First, extreme heat plagued Pakistan, with temperatures in May and June soaring past 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius). The heat is escalating the discomfort for many. "People are living in cramped situations, often unsanitary situations, and it's very hot," Kocher said. "In many places, there is not enough clean water or adequate sanitation. Heat exacerbates that problem." As World Refugee Day approaches -- it falls on Saturday this year -- the forecast calls for even more dramatic weather changes in the coming weeks. In Southeast Asia, long stretches of scorching temperatures are usually the prelude to the rainy, or monsoon, season. Watch Angelina Jolie talk to CNN's Anderson Cooper about the world's refugee problem » The term "monsoon" refers to a seasonal reversal of wind that typically occurs in late June or early July. For countries like Pakistan and India, this change brings daily, nonstop downpours. The change in the weather is essential for local crops, according to John Fasullo, project scientist with the National Center for Atmospheric Research. "The Southeast Asian monsoon is the key source for regional agriculture," he told CNN. "It provides the majority of the moisture to support food needs for one-half the world's population. ... It also brings a beneficial cooling of the temperatures." The problem is, monsoon rains can also cause devastating floods. Fasullo says the threat for flooding can be "continual from late June through early September." In Pakistan, for example, where agencies have witnessed a large increase in displaced people over the past year, the monsoon of 2008 was particularly intense. If 2009 brings similar floods to the country, there will be a new threat for refugees exposed to the storms: mud. Watch how the monsoon is affecting refugees » "The camps are quite threadbare," Kocher said. "Tents are held to the ground by rope. It's hard to keep people dry. The ground gets muddy, which can lead to dirty water and bad sanitation facilities." Vulnerability to nature's dangerous elements is not only a concern for people displaced in Pakistan. Refugees in Afghanistan are subject to brutal winters, while in Iraq, scorching heat and sandstorms are common challenges for those without sufficient shelter. Of World Refugee Day, actress and humanitarian Angelina Jolie says, "Please do not forget them, and remember them on this day." Here are answers to some commonly asked questions: • How can I help world refugees that are exposed to the monsoon season and other weather dangers? Go to CNN.com/ImpactYour World. There, you will find links to charities that help refugees and others in need. • Does the monsoon season affect the weather in the United States? Southern Arizona and parts of New Mexico see heavy rain during the North American monsoon season, which runs from June 15 through September 30. This time of year, the wind shifts, tapping into moisture from the Gulf of California and the Gulf of Mexico, and producing strong thunderstorms that bring the majority of the region's annual rainfall.

As World Refugee Day approaches, monsoons could compound refugees' troubles . World contains 42 million displaced people -- 80 percent in developing nations . In Pakistan, the 2008 monsoon season brought rains that flooded refugee camps . UN Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie: "Please do not forget them"

(CNN) -- "Saturday Night Live" was formed in the crucible of the mid-1970s, when Watergate brought respect for politicians to all-time lows, the counterculture was taking over comedy, and many television viewers were seeking out something fresh and bold. Fred Armisen played Barack Obama in a talked-about sketch Saturday night on "Saturday Night Live." It was a powerful combination -- and after 34 years, the combination of "SNL" and politics can still strike sparks among political observers. The most recent example came this past weekend when Fred Armisen, as President Obama, chided "those on the right" for saying that he was "turning this great country into something that resembles the Soviet Union or Nazi Germany." Not true, said Armisen as Obama. "When you look at my record," he said, "it's very clear what I've done so far -- and that is nothing." Watch the sketch -- and the reaction » The sketch has caused a rumble among the inside-the-Beltway chattering classes and New York news nabobs. Wrote Washington Post blogger Jonathan Capehart, "When your 'friends' start talking about you like this -- and friends with a huge megaphone and a feel for the national mood -- the White House should listen." "Humor with some truth in it is always dangerous. Make no mistake, a drumbeat of belittlement can damage a president," added CNN political contributor Ed Rollins in a column. The White House had no comment when asked about the sketch by CNN. "SNL" cast members weren't available for interviews, an NBC representative said. "SNL" creator Lorne Michaels also turned down an interview request but has said the show doesn't take sides. "I think 'SNL's' role is, the moment they're in power, we're the opposition," he told CNN's Alina Cho last year. "We're not partisan. We're not, you know, we're not putting on anything that we don't believe is funny." Video gallery: "SNL" takes on presidents through the years » The recent sketch is indicative of the end of Obama's honeymoon, Syracuse University pop culture professor Robert Thompson says, but he doesn't want to read more into it than that. "Comedy is about going after the people in power," he said. The president has also taken recent shots from "The Daily Show" and "Real Time with Bill Maher." "What this says is that the comedy-industrial complex has turned its sights on the reigning president of the United States," he said. But, he added, "I wouldn't put this into the meme category," referring to concepts that travel so quickly they take on a life of their own, such as Tina Fey's Sarah Palin sketches from last year. "The [Obama] sketch wasn't that funny." Indeed, the show's overall impact is often mixed, observes Slate columnist and Rutgers media studies professor David Greenberg. It can "capture or intensify" a storyline that's being passed through the news media, but the show is more a barometer that can change with events. "It's not incapable of influencing things," he said, noting the show's slash-and-burn '70s satire and Fey's Palin parody. "But since the early '80s, those moments are pretty rare. ... You'll see good impersonations but not the underlying critique you had with, say, Dan Aykroyd as [Richard] Nixon." Besides, he added, the Obama sketch may have titillated the politico-media crowd, but he wonders whether its impact went any wider. "I'm a political junkie," he said, "and this is the first I've heard of it." Indeed, the ratings for the episode were a far cry from last year's Palin-fest -- from a 7.3 rating for the same week in 2008, to 4.7 -- and the Armisen sketch did

Recent "Saturday Night Live" sketch attacked President Obama . Political pundits, media seized on sketch as meaningful . It marks end of honeymoon, one observer says, but probably not much more . "SNL" can "intensify" storylines but is mostly a barometer, says expert .

(CNN) -- "Sesame Street" may not be a real place, but tell that to some of the people Michael Davis met when researching and talking about his new book, "Street Gang." Bert, left, and Ernie have been mainstays of "Sesame Street" since the beginning. "I met a lot of people who I worked with in New York or got to know in New York -- transplants -- who said to me, 'When I first arrived here in New York, I had this strange desire to find Sesame Street,' " he said. Well, to paraphrase the famous theme song, who wouldn't want to get to "Sesame Street"? For two generations, the fictional block of brownstones inhabited by curious children, friendly adults and some odd-looking Muppets has helped shape childhood education by offering exercises, games and life lessons all wrapped up in a television-friendly format. It's a model that's proved durable and influential, says Syracuse University pop culture professor Robert Thompson. "If I were to make a list of the top 10 most significant American TV shows ... I'd put 'Sesame Street' on the list. The fact that it's still on the air attests to its [significance]," he said. See "Sesame Street" in pictures » "The idea they came up with was kind of radical: If you can sell kids sugared cereal and toys using Madison Avenue techniques, why couldn't you use the same techniques for teaching counting, the alphabet and basic social skills? And it works." Indeed, as Davis notes in "Street Gang" (Viking), the genesis of "Sesame Street" was when the 3-year-old daughter of a Carnegie foundation executive was fascinated by television, waking up to watch the broadcast day begin and memorizing commercial jingles. He talked about his daughter with a friend, producer Joan Ganz Cooney. In the liberal ferment of the mid-'60s, both wondered whether educational TV could go beyond the staid classroom shows of the era. Cooney became the driving force of "Sesame Street." She put together the plan, helped recruit talent, located financing and oversaw production. "Sesame Street" became the foundation for the Children's Television Workshop (now Sesame Workshop), which created other educational shows such as "The Electric Company" and "3-2-1 Contact." "She is just such an impressive woman," said Davis, adding that Cooney gave her blessing to his book project without any requirements but one: that he "get it right." "She's just one of those extraordinary public figures." Cooney didn't hold much back in telling her story to Davis, and neither did others. From its debut on November 10, 1969, the show was a hit -- within a year, it was on the cover of Time magazine -- but it was not without its personality clashes. The original Gordon, Matt Robinson, was a producer uncomfortable in the spotlight. Northern Calloway, who played David, struggled with mental illness. The show's primary songwriters, Joe Raposo and Jeff Moss, were constantly in competition; Raposo "fairly seethed with envy" when Moss' "Rubber Duckie" hit the Top 20, Davis writes. The book provides balanced biographies of a number of principals, including producer Jon Stone, whom Davis calls "the heart of the book." "I wanted people to say, 'Wow, this guy Jon Stone, he really was the Orson Welles of "Sesame Street." ' Without him, the show wouldn't have been what it became," Davis said. But for all the backstage machinations that affect any creative enterprise, "Sesame Street" stayed true to education, in all its forms. One show matter-of-factly included a breast-feeding Buffy Sainte-Marie; others featured a boy with Down syndrome, Jason Kingsley. EW: Stars who dropped by "Sesame Street" Jim Henson, who was famous as creator of the Muppets when "Sesame Street" began

"Street Gang" is a new book that chronicles the history of "Sesame Street" Show was unique when it went on air in 1969, using TV techniques for education . Much behind-the-scenes activities, but show has stayed true to goals . Author Michael Davis has heard countless stories about "Street's" benefits .

(CNN) -- "Sesame Street" may not be a real place, but tell that to some of the people Michael Davis met when researching and talking about his new book, "Street Gang." Bert, left, and Ernie have been mainstays of "Sesame Street" since the beginning. "I met a lot of people who I worked with in New York or got to know in New York -- transplants -- who said to me, 'When I first arrived here in New York, I had this strange desire to find Sesame Street,' " he said. Well, to paraphrase the famous theme song, who wouldn't want to get to "Sesame Street"? For two generations, the fictional block of brownstones inhabited by curious children, friendly adults and some odd-looking Muppets has helped shape childhood education by offering exercises, games and life lessons all wrapped up in a television-friendly format. It's a model that's proved durable and influential, says Syracuse University pop culture professor Robert Thompson. "If I were to make a list of the top 10 most significant American TV shows ... I'd put 'Sesame Street' on the list. The fact that it's still on the air attests to its [significance]," he said. See "Sesame Street" in pictures » "The idea they came up with was kind of radical: If you can sell kids sugared cereal and toys using Madison Avenue techniques, why couldn't you use the same techniques for teaching counting, the alphabet and basic social skills? And it works." Indeed, as Davis notes in "Street Gang" (Viking), the genesis of "Sesame Street" was when the 3-year-old daughter of a Carnegie foundation executive was fascinated by television, waking up to watch the broadcast day begin and memorizing commercial jingles. He talked about his daughter with a friend, producer Joan Ganz Cooney. In the liberal ferment of the mid-'60s, both wondered whether educational TV could go beyond the staid classroom shows of the era. Cooney became the driving force of "Sesame Street." She put together the plan, helped recruit talent, located financing and oversaw production. "Sesame Street" became the foundation for the Children's Television Workshop (now Sesame Workshop), which created other educational shows such as "The Electric Company" and "3-2-1 Contact." "She is just such an impressive woman," said Davis, adding that Cooney gave her blessing to his book project without any requirements but one: that he "get it right." "She's just one of those extraordinary public figures." Cooney didn't hold much back in telling her story to Davis, and neither did others. From its debut on November 10, 1969, the show was a hit -- within a year, it was on the cover of Time magazine -- but it was not without its personality clashes. The original Gordon, Matt Robinson, was a producer uncomfortable in the spotlight. Northern Calloway, who played David, struggled with mental illness. The show's primary songwriters, Joe Raposo and Jeff Moss, were constantly in competition; Raposo "fairly seethed with envy" when Moss' "Rubber Duckie" hit the Top 20, Davis writes. The book provides balanced biographies of a number of principals, including producer Jon Stone, whom Davis calls "the heart of the book." "I wanted people to say, 'Wow, this guy Jon Stone, he really was the Orson Welles of "Sesame Street." ' Without him, the show wouldn't have been what it became," Davis said. But for all the backstage machinations that affect any creative enterprise, "Sesame Street" stayed true to education, in all its forms. One show matter-of-factly included a breast-feeding Buffy Sainte-Marie; others featured a boy with Down syndrome, Jason Kingsley. EW: Stars who dropped by "Sesame Street" Jim Henson, who was famous as creator of the Muppets when "Sesame Street" began

"Street Gang" is a new book that chronicles the history of "Sesame Street" Show was unique when it went on air in 1969, using TV techniques for education . Much behind-the-scenes activities, but show has stayed true to goals . Author Michael Davis has heard countless stories about "Street's" benefits .

(CNN) -- "Slumdog Millionaire" took home eight Oscars on Sunday night, a surprising achievement for a film once thought to be straight-to-DVD fodder. "Slumdog Millionaire" with Dev Patel and Freida Pinto has a "rags-to-riches" storyline with wide appeal. The colorful story, which mixes the gritty life of Mumbai's poor with the shiny aspirations of the new India, features no stars recognizable to Western audiences, but it may have made one of its native country. So, is it time for Bollywood -- as India's huge Mumbai-based film industry is called -- to come to America? "International cinema comes in cycles in the United States," said Frank Lovece, a film critic with Film Journal International. "Now, it's Bollywood's time." But "Slumdog" is a far cry from the lavish movie musicals made by Bollywood, which releases nearly 1,000 films annually. And it's not authentically Indian -- it was directed by Briton Danny Boyle, and the leading actor, Dev Patel, was born and raised in England. Watch the "Slumdog" principals talk about their victories » However, the film is a celebration of India -- from the slums to the Taj Mahal. It pays homage to Bollywood by incorporating many of the industry's norms -- vibrant colors, fast-paced editing, a fairy-tale love story and a feel-good musical dance ending. " 'Slumdog' is the reason why people go to the movies. It's the whole package," said Gene Newman, editorial director at Premiere.com. "It's an incredible story ... and it makes you feel good." Memorable moments from the Oscars » Priya Joshi, associate professor of English at Temple University and author of the forthcoming book, "Crime and Punishment: Nationalism and Public Fantasy in Bollywood Cinema," said the film's "rags-to-riches" storyline has a lot to do with its wide mainstream appeal. "Hindi film and Bollywood, in particular, is a profoundly political cinema about the crisis of the day," she said. "Today, the typical American feels like the poor in the world. ... This sense of vulnerability is what the film is able to capture." Watch the "Slumdog" stars talk about bonds between the cultures » Hollywood often has used international styles and filmmakers to its advantage. In its early days, the U.S. film capital embraced European directors such as Fritz Lang and Jean Renoir. The 1960s saw the influence of French New Wave cinema. Japanese films inspired "The Magnificent Seven" and "Star Wars"; Hong Kong works inspired Hollywood blockbusters such as "The Departed" and "The Matrix." "Slumdog" isn't even the first film centering on India to attract Hollywood's attention. "Indian cinema has been around in the United States since Satyajit Ray in the early 1940s," Lovece said. Ray, who won the Academy Award for lifetime achievement in 1992, made films in Bengali, a language spoken in eastern India. Despite that fact, his movies, notably "The Apu Trilogy," have had universal appeal. Since Ray, many Indian actors have emerged on the Hollywood scene. Aishwarya Rai, one of Bollywood's leading ladies, starred in 2004's "Bride and Prejudice" and appeared, more recently, in "The Pink Panther 2." "India's movie stars are essentially the country's ambassadors," said Gitesh Pandya, box-office analyst and founder of BoxOfficeGuru.com. "A lot of people going to see ["Pink Panther 2"] are learning about Bollywood through [Aishwarya Rai]." From Ray to Rai, Indian influence in American cinema is vast. Many Hollywood films also have been influenced by Bollywood. Baz Luhrman's 2001 musical "Moulin Rouge," a tragic romance told with song and dance, borrows heavily from Bollywood. "These big, epic numbers are very reminiscent of Bollywood," Newman said, also referring to "Chicago," "Mama Mia!" and "

"Slumdog Millionaire" is not authentically Bollywood or Indian . Hollywood has often used international styles and filmmakers to its advantage . Film critic: It's Bollywood's time to influence American cinema . Box-office analyst: Bollywood will have a hard time crossing over to America .

(CNN) -- "Success breeds success." So reads the motto of Aga Khan Studs, one of the most formidable breeding operations anywhere in the world. It is at the Aga Khan's vast stud in Normandy that one of the most eagerly-awaited births in the history of racing took place in February of this year when Zarkava, the winner of the 2008 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, gave birth to her foal by 2009 winner Sea the Stars. "I've rarely had that quality of stock to breed with," explains Georges Rimaud, stud manager to the Aga Khan. "It's not every year you get a female winner of the Arc and a stallion that is also a champion and that you have access to. We tend not to do this type of mating with an unproven horse, with an unproven mare, but we thought this really had to be done." Despite an undefeated racing career of seven wins over seven starts, including her magnificent Arc triumph, Zarkava is said to be "unproven" because she has not as yet produced any winners herself. Many successful racehorses fail to make an impact at stud. But Rimaud believes that the majestic thoroughbred has every chance of being a superior brood mare. "It's all in the blood. If the foal can get all of the qualities of each of his parents then that would be marvelous. But if he does just half of what they each did individually then I think he will still be pretty good." Despite his illustrious pedigree, experts are divided about the exact role that genetics plays in determining a future champion. Richard Piercy, a professor at the UK's Royal Veterinary College, believes punters shouldn't be pinning their hopes on the "superfoal" just yet. "Estimates that have been looked at from my research perspective to see how well performance can be inherited suggest that somewhere in the order of between 10-40 per cent of inheritance can come from the parents with regards to performance," said Piercy. "But of course many other factors can relate to whether an animal can be successful or not, such as conditions of the day, the ability of the jockey, the temperament of the horse and other environmental factors -- all of those things also play a role." Rimaud is sanguine about his colt's chances of emulating the success of his parents: "We have some very well-bred horses that cannot run to save their lives. That happens. "Our role is to give him all the opportunities: give him the right food, the right care. There are so many things that are going to happen between now and the day he starts racing. Lots of people are going to be involved. It's a team effort, including him, he's part of the team. "'Success breeds success'. This is what we say. And it seems to work." What's in a name? The foal is, as yet, unnamed. He won't be given a formal name until he starts racing at two years old. Georges Rimaud explains the logic behind the name: "Ideally it should contain a reference to both parents. "You would take the first three letters from the dam's name and combine that with something to make a word that had some significance. We present a list of names to His Highness the Aga Khan and he makes the final decision."

Aga Khan Studs is located in the Normandy region of France . The "Superfoal" born in February is the product of two champion horses . The foal is the child Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winning duo Zarkava and Sea the Stars .

(CNN) -- "The Blind Side" could have been filmed anywhere, says Tim Bourne, an independent producer who worked on the film. But there's a reason producers brought the project to Georgia: money. "There's nothing in [the movie] that couldn't have been shot in any midrange urban setting. The reason, and the sole reason, it was shot in Georgia was the tax incentives," he said. Georgia boasts one of the highest tax credits in the United States: a 20 percent base tax credit, with an additional 10 percent if a Georgia logo appears somewhere in the project. The Oscar-nominated "Blind Side" is one of many films that's taken advantage of the incentives to shoot in the Empire State of the South, incentives that also include a diverse set of locations, state-of-the-art facilities and large production crews. Recently, another production, "Hall Pass," written by Peter and Bobby Farrelly ("There's Something About Mary"), started filming in the Atlanta area. The film, starring Owen Wilson and Jenna Fischer, is about a woman who gives her husband permission to have an affair. It called for a New England location -- standard for the brothers, who are from Rhode Island -- but tax incentives led the production crew south, producers said. Georgia is far from the only state offering filmmakers opportunities to leave Hollywood. Indeed, it's one of 44 states offering incentives in hopes of attracting projects that will help their economies, according to the Tax Foundation. "No one is trying to compete with L.A. from a technical standpoint," Bourne said. "They're certainly competing from a financial standpoint, though. The name of the game is all about tax incentives. It's the sad truth. "Films are made in a particular place strictly because of financial rebates," he continued. "If, tomorrow, Louisiana or ... any state with a crew base, rather, came up with a better incentive program, that's where the work would be -- overnight." Incentives differ from state to state. In most cases, filmmakers are able to apply for a tax credit or rebate as long as they meet the state's minimum standards for expenditures and utilize local crews, some of whom don't belong to unions. However, Bill Thompson, deputy commissioner at the Georgia Film, Music and Digital Entertainment Office, said bigger production companies usually prefer to work with union workers. Louisiana, one of the first states to develop an incentive program eight years ago, has found exposure in front of the camera with films such as "Ray" and "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button." "Green Lantern," set for release in 2011, is one of many projects whose makers opted to film in Louisiana after the state increased its film production tax credit to 30 percent in 2009, said Chris Stelly, director of the Louisiana Office of Film and TV. But Louisiana doesn't just attract projects because of the state's high tax credit, he said. "No matter how big your incentive is, if someone doesn't have a good experience, they're not going to be back," he said. Warner Bros. Entertainment is what Stelly calls a repeat customer. Michael Walbrecht, vice president of Studio & Production Affairs at Warner Bros., said the company brings a lot of projects to Louisiana. It's the third most popular place the company films, behind Los Angeles and New York. "So far, we've had great experiences in the [Southeast]," Walbrecht said. There's no denying the tremendous impact the film industry has had on each state. Hotels, rental cars, restaurants, equipment rentals, local crews, props, wardrobes and local extras are just some of the ways the industry gives back to the area it films in. According to the Web site for Georgia's Film, Music & Digital Entertainment Office, TV networks, Hollywood studios, production companies and independent producers invested more than $521 million in

Forty-four states offer tax credits to filmmakers in hopes of attracting projects . Georgia boasts one of highest tax returns in United States, up to 30 percent . Louisiana was one of first states to develop incentive program eight years ago .

(CNN) -- "The LHC is back," the European Organization for Nuclear Research announced triumphantly Friday, as the world's largest particle accelerator resumed operation more than a year after an electrical failure shut it down. Restarting the Large Hadron Collider -- the $10 billion research tool's full name -- has been "a herculean effort," CERN's director for accelerators, Steve Myers, said in a statement announcing the success. Experiments at the LHC may help answer fundamental questions such as why Albert Einstein's theory of relativity -- which describes the world on a large scale -- doesn't jibe with quantum mechanics, which deals with matter far too small to see. Physicists established a circulating proton beam in the LHC's 17-mile tunnel at 10 p.m. (4 p.m. ET) Friday, CERN said, a critical step towards getting results from the accelerator. "It's great to see beam circulating in the LHC again," said CERN Director General Rolf Heuer. "We've still got some way to go before physics can begin, but with this milestone we're well on the way." Located underground on the border of Switzerland and France, the LHC has been inching towards operation since the summer. It reached its operating temperature -- 271 degrees below zero Celsius -- on October 8 and particles were injected on October 23. Now that a beam is circulating, the next step is low-energy collisions, which should begin in about a week, CERN said. High-energy collisions will follow next year. The collider has been dogged by problems. It made headlines early this month when a bird apparently dropped a "bit of baguette" into the accelerator, making the machine shut down. The incident was similar in effect to a standard power cut, said spokeswoman Katie Yurkewicz. Had the machine been going, there would have been no damage, but beams would have been stopped until the machine could be cooled back down to operating temperatures, she said. The collider achieved its first full-circle beam last year on September 10 amid much celebration. But just nine days later, the operation was set back when one of the 25,000 joints that connect magnets in the LHC came loose and the resulting current melted or burned some important components of the machine, Myers said. The faulty joint has a cross-section of a mere two-thirds of an inch by two-thirds of an inch. "There was certainly frustration and almost sorrow when we had the accident," he said. Now, "people are feeling a lot better because we know we've done so much work in the last year." Mark Wise, professor of physics at the California Institute of Technology, said he's just as excited about the results that will come out of the LHC as he was last year and views the September 2008 accident as a delay rather than a devastating event. Wise noted that Tevatron, the collider at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois, has also had its share of failures but is generally considered to work just fine. "It's a horribly complicated piece of equipment, it's not like there's not going to be problems along the way," he said. "They will surmount those problems." The LHC will probably be in operation more than 20 years, Myers said. But it won't be that long before scientists could potentially discover new properties of nature. The as-yet theoretical Higgs boson, also called "the God particle" in popular parlance, could emerge within two or three years, Myers said. Evidence of supersymmetry -- the idea that every particle has a "super partner" with similar properties in a quantum dimension (according to some physics theories, there are hidden dimensions in the universe) -- could crop up as early as 2010. For some theoretical physicists such as Wise, finding the Higgs boson and verifying every prediction of the Standard Model of physics would be the worst outcome. He wants the LHC to deliver surprises, even if that means no Higgs. "When push comes to shove,

LHC restarted more than a year after being shut down by electrical fault . The full scientific program for the LHC wil probably last more than 20 years . The LHC will look for the Higgs boson, quarks, gluons and other small particles . Restarting $10B research tool described as "herculean effort"

(CNN) -- "The LHC is back," the European Organization for Nuclear Research announced triumphantly Friday, as the world's largest particle accelerator resumed operation more than a year after an electrical failure shut it down. Restarting the Large Hadron Collider -- the $10 billion research tool's full name -- has been "a herculean effort," CERN's director for accelerators, Steve Myers, said in a statement announcing the success. Update: First collisions at the LHC on Monday Experiments at the LHC may help answer fundamental questions such as why Albert Einstein's theory of relativity -- which describes the world on a large scale -- doesn't jibe with quantum mechanics, which deals with matter far too small to see. Physicists established a circulating proton beam in the LHC's 17-mile tunnel at 10 p.m. (4 p.m. ET) Friday, CERN said, a critical step towards getting results from the accelerator. "It's great to see beam circulating in the LHC again," said CERN Director General Rolf Heuer. "We've still got some way to go before physics can begin, but with this milestone we're well on the way." Located underground on the border of Switzerland and France, the LHC has been inching towards operation since the summer. It reached its operating temperature -- 271 degrees below zero Celsius -- on October 8 and particles were injected on October 23. Now that a beam is circulating, the next step is low-energy collisions, which should begin in about a week, CERN said. High-energy collisions will follow next year. The collider has been dogged by problems. It made headlines early this month when a bird apparently dropped a "bit of baguette" into the accelerator, making the machine shut down. The incident was similar in effect to a standard power cut, said spokeswoman Katie Yurkewicz. Had the machine been going, there would have been no damage, but beams would have been stopped until the machine could be cooled back down to operating temperatures, she said. The collider achieved its first full-circle beam last year on September 10 amid much celebration. But just nine days later, the operation was set back when one of the 25,000 joints that connect magnets in the LHC came loose and the resulting current melted or burned some important components of the machine, Myers said. The faulty joint has a cross-section of a mere two-thirds of an inch by two-thirds of an inch. "There was certainly frustration and almost sorrow when we had the accident," he said. Now, "people are feeling a lot better because we know we've done so much work in the last year." Mark Wise, professor of physics at the California Institute of Technology, said he's just as excited about the results that will come out of the LHC as he was last year and views the September 2008 accident as a delay rather than a devastating event. Wise noted that Tevatron, the collider at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois, has also had its share of failures but is generally considered to work just fine. "It's a horribly complicated piece of equipment, it's not like there's not going to be problems along the way," he said. "They will surmount those problems." The LHC will probably be in operation more than 20 years, Myers said. But it won't be that long before scientists could potentially discover new properties of nature. The as-yet theoretical Higgs boson, also called "the God particle" in popular parlance, could emerge within two or three years, Myers said. Evidence of supersymmetry -- the idea that every particle has a "super partner" with similar properties in a quantum dimension (according to some physics theories, there are hidden dimensions in the universe) -- could crop up as early as 2010. For some theoretical physicists such as Wise, finding the Higgs boson and verifying every prediction of the Standard Model of physics would be the worst outcome. He wants the LHC to deliver surprises, even if that means no

LHC restarted more than a year after being shut down by electrical fault . The full scientific program for the LHC wil probably last more than 20 years . The LHC will look for the Higgs boson, quarks, gluons and other small particles . Restarting $10B research tool described as "herculean effort"

(CNN) -- "Top Chef" host Padma Lakshmi is pregnant with her first child, her publicist confirmed to CNN on Thursday. Padma Lakshmi will be eating for two on Bravo's "Top Chef." Lakshmi, 39, has not identified the father. Her representative told US Weekly that the television personality conceived after a long battle with endometriosis. "Model, author, and Emmy-nominated Padma Lakshmi confirms that she is carrying her first child after years of struggling with endometriosis, a cause for which she has co-founded the Endometriosis Foundation of America," the representative told the magazine. Endometriosis is a medical condition where the uterus' lining grows in other areas of the body. The often painful condition can cause women to have irregular bleeding and possible infertility. Lakshmi's publicist also told US Weekly that "As a result of her condition, this pregnancy has been referred to by her physician as nothing short of a medical miracle, and due to its delicate nature, we ask/implore the press to respect Ms. Lakshmi's privacy at this time." Lakshmi is the ex-wife of famed author Salman Rushdie. She has hosted Bravo's hit show "Top Chef" since its second season and is herself a noted cookbook author.

Lakshmi is expecting her first child, publicist confirms . "Top Chef" host had suffered from endometriosis . Lakshmi, former wife of Salman Rushdie, has not named the father .

(CNN) -- "Usually when I mention suspended animation people will flash me the Vulcan sign and laugh," says scientist Mark Roth. But he's not referring to the plot of a "Star Trek" episode. Roth is completely serious about using lessons he's learned from putting some organisms into suspended animation to help people survive medical trauma. He spoke at the TED2010 conference in Long Beach, California, in February. The winner of a MacArthur genius fellowship in 2007, Roth described the thought process that led him and fellow researchers to explore ways to lower animals' metabolism to the point where they showed no signs of life -- and yet were not dead. More remarkably, they were able to restore the animals to normal life, with no apparent damage. Read more about Roth on TED.com The Web site of Roth's laboratory at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington, describes the research this way: "We use the term suspended animation to refer to a state where all observable life processes (using high resolution light microscopy) are stopped: The animals do not move nor breathe and the heart does not beat. We have found that we are able to put a number of animals (yeast, nematodes, drosophila, frogs and zebrafish) into a state of suspended animation for up to 24 hours through one basic technique: reducing the concentration of oxygen." Visit Mark Roth's laboratory Roth is investigating the use of small amounts of hydrogen sulfide, a gas that is toxic in larger quantities, to lower metabolism. In his talk, he imagined that "in the not too distant future, an EMT might give an injection of hydrogen sulfide, or some related compound, to a person suffering severe injuries, and that person might de-animate a bit ... their metabolism will fall as though you were dimming a switch on a lamp at home. "That will buy them the time to be transported to the hospital to get the care they need. And then, after they get that care ... they'll wake up. A miracle? We hope not, or maybe we just hope to make miracles a little more common."

Mark Roth is a scientist who is studying ways to put life into suspended animation . In a TED Talk, he describes how his lab has put some organisms into a suspended state . The animals are revived and appear to suffer no lasting damage, he says . Such techniques may one day keep people from dying so they can get urgent care, he says .

(CNN) -- "Which is more important -- the customer being king or the employees being highly motivated (keeping in mind reduction of operating expenses and being competitive)?" - Ronald Mahondo, I&M Bank, Kenya The customer is king. The customer is always right. These are phrases that have been with us for a while. As business and marketing environments have become tougher, it's true that those companies that have found out what the king wants -- and provided it -- have been successful. This would make it easy, if only it was clear which king to ask. Many companies draw a distinction between "consumers," those who are the end-user of a product or service, and "customers," those who are the trade, distributors and so on. This kind of customer is very powerful indeed -- especially if they are Wal-Mart or Tescos. So which customer is more king than the other? And what if they don't agree on what they want? Sounds like war. In global companies the complexity rises. They have consumers and customers, but it's also common that employees of that company are also customers of other employees. A trend at the moment is that regional employees are customers for central employees. Motivation and, more importantly, aligned goals, are absolutely critical to success. Getting this wrong can be costly in many ways -- not least in morale, time and money. The real truth is that this is not a question of "or." Customer and employee satisfaction and motivation are critical. The challenge is to create a virtuous circle. Motivated employees are a great way of delivering what the customer wants, be that service, fast moving consumer goods, innovation, or anything else, and happy customers make employees feel rewarded. Of course, the virtuous circle has to start somewhere. In creative industries such as ours, often the job is to stretch further than the customer can see. They can tell you what they like today, but tomorrow looks misty and murky. A motivated group of creative individuals love nothing more than the art of invention, the creation of the new, the alchemy of an idea. If you want a king, it's the idea, not the customer or the employee. Being competitive comes from having better ideas than your competition: an idea about targeting a particular group of people, an idea about a new product, an idea about how or where to distribute it, or an idea about how to advertise it. In 1944 James Webb Young, an employee of JWT, defined an idea as "nothing more or less than a new combination of old elements." It's a definition that we continue to find very useful today. Your customers are an excellent source of the familiar; a highly motivated employee will most likely be the one who combines the familiar in a new way, creating the idea, and the competitive edge. On my way to work this morning with a trainload of people in glorious iPod isolation, I wondered what kind of company Apple would be today if the employees had been thinking the customer was king instead of working out how to combine some music with a little bit of one of their computers.

Motivation and aligned goals are absolutely critical to success . Being competitive comes from having better ideas than your competition . JWT idea: "nothing more or less than a new combination of old elements"

(CNN) -- "Wolverine." "Star Trek." "Angels & Demons." "Terminator: Salvation." The summer movies roll out, one weekend after another, like dreadnoughts leaving port to bombard a battle-scarred ocean. Mark Ruffalo and Adrien Brody star as "The Brothers Bloom," a pair of successful con artists. So won't a little film about a pair of con-artist brothers, with nary an indestructible alloy in sight, get overrun by these blockbusters? Rian Johnson, the 35-year-old director of the charming "The Brothers Bloom," doesn't see it that way. "I actually kind of like it," he says of the strategy of premiering his film during summer movie season. ("Bloom" opens Friday in limited release and expands nationwide May 29.) "I feel like we're scampering in between the feet of these giants." Make no mistake, adds Johnson: "I love the big summer movies." But, he says, audiences will see the big movie of the week "and then want something different. That's the advantage coming out in this season has." "Bloom" has already proved itself nimble. Watch the stars talk about "Bloom" » The film started earning buzz at the Toronto Film Festival last September, and its distributor, Summit Entertainment, launched a shrewd marketing campaign by putting the first seven minutes on the Internet earlier this year. Johnson, who directed the critically acclaimed "Brick" -- a film noir set in a high school -- has been praised for another inventive mix of genres, combining the con-man film with a touch of screwball comedy, some international intrigue and more than a little whimsy. Mark Ruffalo, who stars as Stephen Bloom, the mastermind of the duo, describes "Brothers Bloom" as "its own world." "What I loved about it was its tonal shifts," he says. "It goes from broad, almost slapstick stuff to the brother story and a love story. It's not traditional in that sense." The film follows Stephen Bloom and his brother, played by Adrien Brody, as they embark on one last con: an attempt to swindle a wealthy shut-in, Penelope Stamp, played by Rachel Weisz. Instead of being upset, Penelope is tickled by the new world before her and the opportunities for freedom, even as the younger Bloom (simply called "Bloom") wants to move on to something else. Johnson is nothing if not a student of film, and "Bloom" features references to other con-man works. "Paper Moon," with its examination of character, was a favorite, says Johnson. There are also nods to "The Sting," David Mamet's works, and even Agatha Christie. But, as Ruffalo says, "Bloom" exists in its own world. Though the film is set in the present day, the Blooms wear suits and hats as if they walked out of 1910. Much of the film was shot in the sunny byways of coastal Eastern Europe, with its weathered 19th-century resorts and glamorous Old World style. (The backdrop made the story "much more real for all of us," says Johnson.) Add Johnson's invocations of Fellini's "8½," Marcello Mastroianni and (of all things) the Band documentary "The Last Waltz" to his cast, and Ruffalo says it was easy to find the film's personality. "That was the starting point -- a threadbare elegance," he says. "There's an appreciation of eccentricity," agrees Johnson. Whimsy can be hard to maintain, he says, but "the heightened style comes from a story-based place." (Johnson wrote the film's script.) That can be a lot for the moviegoing public of today -- weaned on CGI, armored rogues and thin romantic comedies -- to take in. But Johnson says he has faith "The Brothers Bloom" will find an audience. "I'm

"The Brothers Bloom" about a pair of con artists and woman they snooker . Film being released into teeth of summer movie season; no problem, says director . Star Mark Ruffalo: Film is "its own world"

(CNN) -- 'Tis the season, for movies, that is! This holiday season is introducing audiences to a whole new crop of flicks guaranteed to drive you to a theater, despite the $10 ticket. Check out the movies taking 2010 out with a bang. "Burlesque" Christina Aguilera stars as a small-town girl who goes to Los Angeles, California, to perform in a musical revue run by Cher, an Oscar-winning actress who hasn't starred in a film in a decade. In real life, Cher has reportedly been helping Aguilera through her divorce. But things are looking up for Aguilera, who got her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame right before the movie's premiere on November 15. "Burlesque" will be released November 24 and also stars Stanley Tucci, Kristen Bell and Julianne Hough. "Love and Other Drugs" In this flick, which also opens November 24, a pharmaceutical salesman (Jake Gyllenhaal) begins a relationship with a woman who has Parkinson's disease (Anne Hathaway). The movie is loosely adapted from Jamie Reidy's book "Hard Sell: The Evolution of a Viagra Salesman" and features Gabriel Macht, Hank Azaria and Oliver Platt. "The King's Speech" The plot of this movie follows an Australian speech therapist who tries to help King George VI of Britain overcome a speech impediment. Colin Firth is already getting Oscar nods for his role as King George VI. The buzz-worthy film opens November 26 and features Geoffrey Rush and Helena Bonham Carter. "Black Swan" After dominating the film-festival circuit, "Black Swan" is coming to theaters December 3. The sexy film tells the tale of the relationship between a veteran ballet dancer and her rival. Natalie Portman is expected to earn a best actress nomination for her performance as a mentally unstable ballerina and co-star Mila Kunis is getting Oscar buzz as well. Kunis reportedly lost 20 pounds for the role, as both stars underwent vigorous ballet training. "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" Due in theaters December 10, Lucy (Georgie Henley) and Edmund Pevensie (Skandar Keynes) are drawn back into Narnia with their cousin Eustace (Will Poulter) to help Caspian (Ben Barnes) find seven lords while aboard the Dawn Treader ship. This is the third film based on C. S. Lewis' books, and reportedly Barnes' favorite of the seven tales. The first Narnia film, "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" is the 35th highest grossing movie worldwide of all time. "The Company Men" Opening December 10, Tommy Lee Jones, Ben Affleck and Chris Cooper star as three men trying to survive during a year in which their company undergoes corporate downsizing. The film might hit a bit too close to home for some people in the recession, but critics are giving it solid reviews. "The Fighter" Mark Wahlberg's passion project hit theaters December 10. The film takes a look at the true-life story of boxing hero ''Irish'' Micky Ward and his brother (played by Christian Bale) who helped train him before going pro in the mid-1980s. The movie also stars Oscar nominees Melissa Leo and Amy Adams, along with Conan O'Brien's younger sister, Kate, who plays one of Ward's seven sisters. "The Tourist" Opening December 10, Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp star in this highly anticipated film in which an Interpol agent draws a tourist into a web of intrigue. We expect ladies and gentlemen to flock to theaters in hopes of seeing two of the world's most beautiful people lock lips, even if it's only rated PG-13. "How Do You Know" How do you know when you're in love? In luck? In trouble? If you're in the mood for a lighthearted chick flick, check out Oscar winners Jack Nicholson and Reese Witherspoon in this romantic comedy, hitting theaters December 17. In the film, Witherspoon is caught in a love triangle involving a baseball

Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal get steamy in "Love and Other Drugs" Colin Firth is getting Oscar nods for his role as King George VI in "The King's Speech" After dominating the film-festival circuit, "Black Swan" is coming to theaters December 3 .

(CNN) -- -- A poor decision by a regional airline was being blamed Friday for Continental Airlines passengers getting stranded overnight as their plane sat on a tarmac in Minnesota, federal transportation officials said Friday. Passengers on a Continental flight operated by ExpressJet sat on the tarmac for nearly six hours on August 8. U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said a representative of Mesaba Airlines improperly refused requests by the plane's captain and crew to let passengers off the plane. They were stuck on the tarmac in Rochester on August 8 from 12:38 a.m. to about 6 a.m. with nothing but pretzels to eat, LaHood said. "There was a complete lack of common sense here," LaHood said in a written statement. "It's no wonder the flying public is so angry and frustrated." Mesaba, based in Eagan, Minnesota and owned by Delta Air Lines, was the only carrier able to assist Continental Flight 2816, which was on its way from Houston, Texas, to Minneapolis, Minnesota, when it was diverted because of strong thunderstorms, LaHood said. Watch how pilot tried to get passengers off plane » The flight's 47 passengers described crying babies, overflowing toilets and cramped conditions. According to a Department of Transportation preliminary report, Mesaba's representative refused to help passengers off of the plane, incorrectly saying the airport was closed to passengers for security reasons. In audiotapes released by the Transportation Department, the unnamed captain of the aircraft can be heard pleading with an airline dispatcher to find a way to get the passengers off the plane. "We're stuck here with no lavs, no nothing -- no food," he says. "And they won't let them get off because the terminal is closed." Later, the dispatcher tells the captain that he has spoken to the commuter airline's representative and that "she says there is nothing she can do to help us out. She's not going to let them off the plane." "That's ridiculous," the captain responds. LaHood, who called the incident a "nightmare," said federal regulations allow passengers to get off of a plane, enter an airport and reboard without being screened by safety personnel as long as they remain in a secure part of the terminal. Mesaba said Friday that its employees tried to help. "Mesaba respectfully disagrees with the DOT's preliminary findings as they are incongruent with our initial internal review of the incident," CEO John Spanjers said in a written statement. "Because Continental Express Flight 2816 diverted to an airport where they have no ground handling service, Mesaba offered assistance as a courtesy during this delay. "While the investigation is ongoing, Mesaba is fully cooperating with the Department of Transportation and looks forward to the final report." Mesaba is a wholly owned subsidiary of Northwest Airlines, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Delta Air Lines. Delta CEO Richard Anderson said the airline is working with Mesaba, Continental and the Department of Transportation to help determine exactly what happened. In the department's statement, LaHood said that the Continental crew was not at fault for the passengers being stuck. "In fact, the flight crew repeatedly tried to get permission to deplane the passengers at the airport or obtain a bus for them," he said. Department of Transportation investigators have interviewed passengers, the flight crew, airport workers and others during an investigation expected to be completed in the next few weeks. The department "is considering the appropriate action to take against Mesaba," according to the statement. The investigation did show that while the crew of the flight, operated by carrier ExpressJet, did all it could, higher-level officials should have become involved in the effort. The Aviation Enforcement Office has proposed regulations requiring airlines to have plans for how to handle lengthy tarmac delays.

Continental passengers were stuck on airplane nearly six hours . Secretary LaHood calls incident a "nightmare," says crew did all it could . Regional airline Mesaba was only one that could have helped, feds say . Mesaba says it disagrees with feds' findings, offered to help .

(CNN) -- 10-man Manchester City were held to a 1-1 draw by Liverpool at Anfield Sunday but have a five-point lead the top of the English Premier League. City were forced to play the closing moments a man short after second half substitute Mario Balotelli was shown red for a second bookable offence. It nearly proved costly as Liverpool's late substitute Andy Carroll saw his header brilliantly saved by City goalkeeper Joe Hart. It preserved his side's unbeaten start to the EPL season and they have 35 points from 13 games, leaving city rivals and defending champions Manchester United trailing in second spot. Tottenham Hotspur, who won 3-1 at WBA Saturday, are seven points adrift but have played a game less. Wales manager Gary Speed found dead at home Vincent Kompany headed the leaders in front from a David Silva corner in the first half, but Liverpool were soon level as a Charlie Adam shot took a huge deflection off Joleon Lescott for an own-goal that left Hart wrong-footed. Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish was delighted by his team's performance as they stretched their unbeaten run to 10 games to stay in a challenging sixth spot. "I don't think you could have asked for much more in terms of effort and commitment from the players. I think they were fantastic," he told Sky Sports. Swansea and Aston Villa played to a goalless draw in Sunday's other EPL game, both of which were overshadowed by the tragic death of Wales manager Gary Speed. In Germany's Bundesliga, there was a shock 3-2 defeat for Bayern Munich at Mainz Sunday, a result which leaves the Bavarian giants third in the table with reigning champions Borussia Dortmund on top. A draw for Bayern would have seen them return to the summit but they were always struggling once Austrian midfielder Andreas Ivanschitz put Mainz ahead after 11 minutes. Bayern defender Daniel van Buyten equalized on 56 minutes, but Mainz took a two-goal lead as Marco Caligiuri and defender Niko Bungert scored. Van Buyten then grabbed his second, but Bayern could not salvage a point. In Italy's Serie A, Luc Castaignos scored a late winner as Inter Milan continued their revival with a 1-0 win at Siena. Following their 2-1 home win over Cagliari last weekend, it lifted Claudio Ranieri's men to 14 points, but just one win adrift from sixth-placed Roma.

Manchester City held 1-1 at Liverpool in the English Premier League . City striker Mario Balotelli sent off late in the second half . Draw leaves City five points clear of Manchester United at top . Bayern Munich suffer shock defeat in Bundesliga to Mainz .

(CNN) -- 10:44 p.m. -- The family of Anaika St. Louis lays the 11-year-old to rest in a tearful ceremony. The girl spent 48 hours trapped under rubble that killed more than two dozen friends and neighbors, her leg crushed by a steel beam. She died after she was unable to receive proper medical treatment. Watch her story 10:31 p.m. -- Sixteen members of the joint NYPD-FDNY Urban Rescue Team in Haiti are attempting to rescue five people trapped alive in a collapsed grocery store in Port-au-Prince, the New York Police Department said Saturday. The five are in verbal communication with the NYPD and FDNY rescuers who are cutting through concrete blocks to reach them. 10:09 p.m. -- CNN's Errol Barnett talks about how to make sure Haiti relief donations go to the right place. Watch 9:35 p.m. -- Authorities say a woman trapped under the rubble of a bank is sending text messages pleading for help. Watch 9:26 p.m. -- Earthquake survivor Tarmo Joeveer, who was rescued from the rubble at the U.N. mission in Haiti, recalls the chaos on CNN's Larry King Live: "It happened very fast, the buildings started shaking and then all of the sudden, it collapsed down." 8:17 p.m. -- A rescue swimmer helped deliver a Haitian newborn aboard a Coast Guard helicopter on Saturday, the Coast Guard said. The woman went into labor as the helicopter was refueling aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Tahoma. The mother and child were taken to a hospital in Cap Haitien, Haiti for further medical treatment and were in good condition. 7:41 p.m. -- Musician Wyclef Jean denounces allegations that he has profitted personally from donations to his charity, Yéle Haiti. "It is impossible for me to even comprehend the recent attacks on my character and the integrity of my foundation, Yéle Haiti. The fact that these attacks come as we are mobilized to meet the greatest human tragedy in the history of Haiti only serves to perplex me even further." 7:18 p.m. -- Emergency visas and passports could help speed up adoptions that stalled after the quake, and open up beds for children who lost their parents, said Dixie Bickel, director of God's Littlest Angels orphanage, outside Port-au-Prince. 7:04 p.m. -- U.S. Embassy employee Victoria J. DeLong, a foreign service officer, is among the dead, State Department officials say. Additionally, 14 American private citizens were killed, but the State Department did not provide names. 6:31 p.m. -- HaitiMission, a pair of Christian missionaries living in Haiti, are posting ongoing updates on iReport.com on the situation in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. See their updates Are you there? Send us images, video 5:54 p.m. -- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton presented Saturday a united stance with Haitian President Rene Preval during her visit to the quake-battered capital. "We are here at the invitation of your government to help you." Watch 5:32 p.m. -- U.S. troops hand out some 2,500 meals in Port-au-Prince in the first American food aid distributed in Haiti since Tuesday's earthquake. 5:18 p.m. -- The top two civilian officials at the U.N. mission in Haiti -- Hédi Annabi, Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Haiti and Principal Deputy Special Representative Luiz Carlos da Costa -- were killed in Tuesday's earthquake, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon confirms. Acting U.N. Police Commissioner in Haiti Doug Coates of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police also died, he said. Read more 5:04 p.m. -- Haitian President Rene Preval emerges from tent after nearly an hour of talks with Secretary of State Clinton and other U.S. officials, CNN's Elise Labott reports. The officials go to a neighboring tent to visit a man who was pulled from the rubble around the time Clinton arrived, state officials said. 4:17 p.m. -- Every inch of floor space at De La Paz Hospital is occupied with individuals suffering from traumatic, severe injuries, CNN Radio's Steve Kastenbaum reports. Spain is facilitating medical supplies, but they are in desperate need of anesthetic, sutures, plaster of paris, gauze and water. 3:02 p.m. -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has landed in

Watch continuing earthquake coverage on CNN . Read Twitter feeds to stay up to date on the latest in Haiti . Read CNN.com's complete special coverage of the latest developments in Haiti .

(CNN) -- 10:54 p.m. -- People looking for loved ones in Haiti are posting their pictures on CNN.com's iReport page dedicated to them. Likewise, people in Haiti are sending messages out to say they're OK. Are you there? Send us images, video 10:45 p.m. -- CNN's Chief Medical Correspondent Sanjay Gupta is the only doctor left at a makeshift hospital in Port-au-Prince after medical personnel were told by United Nations officials to leave the area. "There is concern about riots not far from here -- and this is part of the problem," Gupta said. 10:16 p.m. -- Officials caution that international aid teams arriving in Haiti need to be self-sufficient or they'll be putting pressure on services that are already strained: "If aid personnel arrive needing support in terms of transportation, lodging, food, and water, this just puts additional stress on services that are already constrained and needed by the Haitian population," said Dr. Jon Andrus, deputy director of the Pan American Health Organization. 10:07 p.m. -- Hundreds of people filled the pews of a Catholic church in Silver Spring, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, D.C., Friday evening to offer prayers for members of the area's Haitian community in the wake of the earthquake in their homeland. 9:54 p.m. -- A general lack of resources in makeshift medical clinics means patients are undergoing amputations without anesthesia and staff are cleaning apparatus with soap and water, according to CNN Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen. "They're not even low-tech, they're no tech," she says. Read more 9:49 p.m. -- A top United Nations official acknowledges that the earthquake relief operation in Haiti is not progressing fast enough: "You can't snap your fingers and make it happen just by magic," U.N. Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes says. "We will do it, slowly and surely." 9:07 p.m. -- Yéle Haiti, the charity organization founded by musician Wyclef Jean, denies allegations that the organization is misusing donations: "Wyclef Jean, the founder of Yéle Haiti, has never profited from his organization. It's a shame that during this international emergency, we have had to divert resources away from our response efforts to address these allegations," says Hugh Locke, president of Yéle Haiti. 8:39 p.m. -- Aftershocks continue to rock Haiti's capital city of Port-au-Prince. Some are barely perceptable, others shake the ground, eliciting screams. One pair of overnight aftershocks were so strong they compelled a resting CNN crew to throw on their shoes and leave their rooms as a precaution. 8:09 p.m. -- Kids Alive International, an international orphan rescue group, is planning to bring 50 Haitian orphans to group homes in the Dominican Republic until new homes can be built for them in Haiti, the group said Friday. 7:51 p.m. -- Fire trucks and tanker trucks are sporadically driving around distributing drinkable water in a sign that food and water is slowly becoming available, according to CNN Radio's Steve Kastenbaum. At a U.N. distribution center guarded by Bolivian peacekeeping troops, thousands of plates of cooked rice and chicken were handed out to Haitians waiting in an orderly line. 7:30 p.m. -- The World Food Program gearing up to distribute ready-to-eat food rations to 2 million people in quake-stricken Haiti. WFP is part of the United Nations system and is voluntarily funded. Read more 7:25 p.m. -- The U.S. Postal Service is holding mail destined for Haiti, a spokeswoman said. Mail addressed to Haiti will still be accepted at post offices, but will be held until alternative transportation arrangements become available. 6:57 p.m. -- The deaths of three American citizens have been announced by their families or others. It is not known if they were among the five confirmed by The State Department. They are Jean Arnwine of Dallas, Texas; Molly Hightower, 22, of Port Orchard, Washington; and Benjamin Larson, 25, a student at Wartburg Theological Seminary in Dubuque, Iowa. 6:16 p.m. -- An 11-year-old girl who was rescued yesterday from a pile of rubble that was her home has died, CNN's Ivan Watson reports

Watch Anderson Cooper report live from Haiti on Friday at 10 p.m. ET . Read Twitter feeds to stay update on the latest in Haiti . Read CNN's complete special coverage of the latest developments in Haiti .

(CNN) -- A "faulty" flight instrument contributed to the crash of a Turkish plane last month in the Netherlands, an accident that killed nine people and injured more than 60 others, Dutch safety authorities said on Wednesday. Turkish Airlines workers carry the coffins of four staff who died in the crash. On February 25, Turkish Airlines Flight 1951 from Istanbul to Amsterdam dropped from the sky on approach to the landing strip at Schiphol Airport, shattering into three pieces in a muddy field. Pieter van Vollenhoven, head of the Dutch Safety Board, said the instrument was one of the plane's two altimeters, which measure altitude. Because of the "faulty" left altimeter, the plane on automatic pilot reacted as if it were lower than it was and started to behave as if it was touching down. The plane was at 700 meters but the instrument indicated that it was at ground level. This caused the automatic throttles to slow the plane down, leading to a loss of speed. The plane was on automatic pilot when it crashed. Van Vollenhoven said there had been misty weather and if it were clearer then the pilots might have noticed how far up they were. He said that if such instruments don't function, automatic pilots should not be used for landings. Investigators said there had been faulty meter readings on two other flights but the pilots were able to land. Van Vollenhoven said that the pilots realized the problem but failed to appreciate what had been happening until it was too late. In the immediate aftermath of the crash investigators said the plane fell almost vertically to the ground indicating the aircraft did not have enough forward speed. The plane crash less than 500 yards short of the runway. Passengers described feeling the plane suddenly drop before impact, and at least one passenger said he heard the pilot trying to give more power to the engines before it went down. Four of the crew and three Boeing employees were among the nine people killed in the crash. Turkey's flagship airline is well-rated internationally for its overall safety record and the Boeing 737-800 has a good safety record. The last previous fatal incident at the Amsterdam airport happened in April 1994 when a KLM aircraft crashed as it tried to return to Schiphol shortly after takeoff.

Turkish plane that crashed in Netherlands had faulty instrument . Investigators say altimeter gave false reading . That made automatic pilot implement landing procedures while plane was too high . Turkish Airlines flight 1951 crashed at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport killing nine .

(CNN) -- A "significant" amount of oil is leaking from a container ship that ran aground on a reef off the pristine coast of New Zealand's North Island, officials said Tuesday. New Zealand's oil spill response agency, Maritime New Zealand (MNZ), said in a statement that the ship has sustained "some damage from current movement and there is a significant amount of oil leaking from the vessel." MNZ estimates that 130-350 tonnes of oil have leaked from the vessel, which was carrying 1,700 cubic meters (450,000 gallons) of fuel. The agency said that the vessel was still intact, but was being moved around by strong seas. Clumps of oil from the leaking ship have been found on Mount Maunganui beach in the Bay of Plenty. MNZ is advising people to avoid the beach for health reasons. Oil began leaking from the Rena, a Liberian-flagged vessel, after it struck the Astrolabe Reef, about 12 nautical miles off the coast of Tauranga, on the North Island, on Wednesday, creating a five-km (three-mile) slick. Efforts to recover oil from the grounded ship, now heading south down the coast, are being hampered by high winds and strong swells. Approximately 10 tonnes of fuel oil was transferred to tanks on board a barge before the recovery operation was suspended on Monday. MNZ said dispersants are being tested on the oil that has leaked. However, there are sea swells of up to four meters, which can make it difficult for the dispersant to work. Worsening weather prompted the ship's crew to be evacuated as a precautionary measure after a mayday call was made on Tuesday. Naval architects and salvage experts on board the Rena are monitoring the vessel and have placed sensors to provide advance warning should the ship's structure come under too much stress. MNZ has established a one-kilometer maritime exclusion zone around the ship due to the health risk posed by the oil spill. National On-Scene Commander Rob Service said the operation to remove the oil from the ship, led by Svitzer Salvage, would be complex. "There is no way of doing this quickly," he said. A rescue center has been set up in the city of Tauranga to clean oil from animals affected by the spill and MNZ has 12 teams working to assist oiled wildlife. Nine birds have been recovered -- seven little blue penguins and two shags, the agency said. About 300 defense force personnel are on standby for a shore cleanup if needed, the agency said. Officials fear the stricken ship may spill additional oil as its condition deteriorates. "I think we'd expect that at some point to have further problems and potentially even break up," Transport Minister Steven Joyce told broadcaster TVNZ. Greenpeace expressed "extreme concern" about the spill and urged the government to avoid using further toxic dispersants. "This is an unfortunate illustration of just how difficult it is to deal with oil spills at sea," the organization's Steve Abel said. "Even a slow, and relatively accessible oil spill like this one has clearly stretched New Zealand's response capability to its limits. "It is also a potential disaster for the blue whales and dolphins presently calving in the area, as well as numerous other marine species." New Zealand Prime Minister John Key said two inquiries had been launched into the incident to discover how the ship hit the reef. "This is a very large ship, that in calm waters has hit an extremely well documented reef," he told Television New Zealand. "Some serious questions need to be answered about why that happened and who is responsible," he said. CNN's Karen Smith and Laura Smith-Spark contributed to this report.

Officials estimate 130-350 tonnes of oil have leaked from vessel . High winds, strong swells force halt to fuel oil recovery from ship . Clumps of oil have washed ashore; Rescue teams working to assist wildlife . The Rena ran aground on reef off New Zealand's North Island .

(CNN) -- A 12-year-old boy should get a say in whether he gets circumcised, the Oregon Supreme Court has ruled. The court sent the parental custody dispute back to the trial court "to resolve the factual issue whether M agrees or objects to the circumcision." "M" is the child at the center of a long-running custody dispute between James and Lia Boldt, who divorced in 1999. Soon after, the father began studying Judaism and later converted. He also started teaching his son about the faith. By then, James had parental custody and told his ex-wife the boy would convert as well, and that to do so, he would have to have the circumcision procedure. The mother objected, saying the child had been raised in the Russian Orthodox faith while the couple was married. Because the two sides disagreed, and were living in neighboring states, the conflict dissolved into ongoing personal and constitutional dispute. James Boldt said that as a Jew and the primary caregiver, he has a First Amendment right to practice his faith as he sees fit for his child. Lia Boldt countered her son does not want to go through with the circumcision, and that it is an invasive, irreversible, and potentially dangerous medical procedure. The state high court seemed especially reluctant to address the issue, saying normally such disputes "are considered private family matters." But the justices noted "these parties cannot or will not resolve this matter without resort to the courts." So rather than offer a definitive ruling, the justices ordered both sides to go to the actual source of the conflict. "In our view, at age 12, M's attitude regarding circumcision, though not conclusive of the custody issue presented here, is a fact necessary to the determination" of whether the mother can press her objections to the procedure, wrote Chief Justice Paul De Muniz for the six-member panel. "Forcing M at age 12 to undergo circumcision against his will could seriously affect the relationship between M and his father, and could have a pronounced effect on father's capability to properly care for M." There was no initial reaction to the decision from the parents or their attorneys. The case is James Boldt v. Lia Boldt (S054714). E-mail to a friend

Case part of parental custody dispute . Father converted to Judaism after splitting with wife . Father wanted son to convert after getting custody . Russian Orthodox mother says son doesn't want procedure .

(CNN) -- A 12-year-old west Florida boy apparently struck by a bullet fired skyward during a New Year's Eve celebration is improving, but remains in serious condition, authorities said Tuesday. Overnight, his condition was upgraded from critical to serious, said Larry McKinnon of the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office. The bullet is still lodged in the boy's head, and doctors are working to control the swelling around his brain. Until the bullet is removed, detectives cannot compare it to other bullets to help determine a possible suspect in the shooting, said McKinnon. Diego Duran, 12, was sitting in the front yard of his Ruskin, Florida, home watching fireworks about 1 a.m. Sunday when he fell to the ground, bleeding from the nose and eyes, McKinnon said. The victim's mother drove him to South Bay Hospital in Sun City Center, where doctors determined that a gunshot had gone through the top of the boy's head. The child was then transported to Tampa General Hospital, where he was in critical condition Sunday afternoon. The boy's mother, Sandy Duran, spoke to reporters Monday about her son. "His brain is still in that stage of the 48 to 72 hours where it swells. There's a lot of inflammation going on, so the doctors cannot say what he will and won't be able to do," she said. "The good news is that he is moving his extremities. He can move his hands. He can move his legs. He has opened his eyes." Duran described her son as "noble" and said he enjoyed skating and playing guitar. He is the youngest of three children, and her family is taking it "hour by hour," she said. "For me, it's a miracle that he's alive considering what has just happened to him," said Duran. No one in the immediate area around the victim's house was firing a gun, the boy's relatives and neighbors told detectives. Police believe that celebratory gunfire, possibly shot from miles away, wounded the boy. If the wound is determined to be from a celebratory gunshot, it would not be the first time a child was inadvertently shot in the Southeast on New Year's Eve and in the hours after midnight. In 2009, 4-year-old Marquel Peters died after a bullet went through the roof of a suburban Atlanta church and hit him. The boy's mother, Nathalee Peters, has launched an online effort -- called Marquel's Pledge -- to urge people not to shoot into the air in celebration. It's one of several such campaigns nationwide, including one in Miami called, "One bullet kills the party." Duran similarly spoke about the need to educate the public about the dangers of celebratory gunfire. "I'm speaking out because I don't think there's enough awareness out there," she said. "A firearm is a weapon. It's a weapon that takes a life. It's not a toy for celebration." CNN's George Howell contributed to this report.

Diego Duran's condition is upgraded from critical to serious . The bullet is still lodged in his head . The 12-year-old boy was watching fireworks when he was hit . "It's a miracle that he's alive," says the boy's mother .

(CNN) -- A 13-year-old Minnesota boy who has cancer has resumed chemotherapy treatments and is not responding well, a family spokesman said Friday. Doctors say Daniel Hauser's lymphoma responded well to a first round of chemotherapy in February. Danny Hauser started a second round of chemotherapy treatment this week, Jim Navarro said in a statement on the family's Web site, dannyhauser.com. "The doctor changed the number of chemotherapy drugs in the protocol submitted to the court. Danny is not tolerating the drugs well and has been vomiting all day. He is understandably angry and depressed about being forced to go through the ravages of chemotherapy again." Daniel underwent his first round of chemotherapy in February, a month after he was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma. But his parents were concerned about the treatment's side effects, which typically include nausea, and decided to end the chemotherapy regimen and pursue holistic treatments instead. When Daniel's oncologist learned of the decision to reject standard treatment, which doctors say is associated with a cure rate of as high as 90 percent, he asked a court to intervene to ensure the teen got chemotherapy. Doctors say that, without it, the disease would likely prove fatal. But last week, before the court could act, Colleen Hauser packed up her son and flew with him to Southern California, from where they were planning to continue to Mexico to seek alternative alternative medical treatment. She said he would have run on his own had she not helped him flee. She changed her mind before crossing the border and returned this week with Daniel to Minnesota, where the family agreed to comply with whatever treatment the court ordered. A medical examination revealed that the boy's tumor had grown since he was diagnosed and the boy's doctor recommended he resume chemotherapy. After examining the boy on Monday, Dr. Michael Richards estimated the tumor's size at 5.3 inches by 5.1 inches by 6.3 inches, and said it was "protruding outside the chest wall." He said initiation this week of standard chemotherapy treatment was "imperative." Richards recommended at least another five cycles of chemotherapy followed by radiation, and added that the "goal will be to include alternative therapies in which the family is interested, as long as there is not data to suggest that a particular danger exists with any alternative medicine." District Court Judge John Rodenberg originally took custody of the boy away from his parents, but returned him to his family on the condition that they comply with the recommendations of the cancer specialist. Hodgkin's lymphoma is a cancer that affects the lymphatic system, which is part of the immune system. As the disease progresses, it compromises a body's ability to fight infection. CNN's Aaron Cooper contributed to this story.

Daniel Hauser started second round of chemotherapy this week, spokesman says . Daniel "angry and depressed" at being forced to undergo chemo, Jim Navarro says . 13-year-old needs chemotherapy, doctors and court say . Mother took him out of the state to seek alternative treatment, returned this week .

(CNN) -- A 14-year-old boy allegedly beaten at a boot camp in China for young Internet addicts was in critical condition Thursday, less than three weeks after a youth at a different camp died, Chinese state media reported. People sit at a wireless cafe in Beijing, using their laptop computers. Internet use has skyrocketed in China, especially among teens. And Chinese parents have turned to hundreds of training camps that offer to wean their children -- mostly teenagers -- from excessive Internet use. There are at least 400 private rehabilitation clinics or camps in the country, according to a recent survey by the China Youth Internet Association, adding that China has 10 million teenage Web addicts. But the Chinese Ministry of Health says none of the private rehab clinics are legally registered. The parents of Pu Liang, the injured teen, had sent him to a camp called the Anti-traditional Education Training Center on August 4 near Chengdu, capital of the southwestern province of Sichuan, Chinese media reported. Pu allegedly was beaten three times between August 4 and August 11. Police discovered the boy in solitary confinement last week and he was taken to a hospital, according to media reports. His parents accused a counselor at the camp and Pu's peers of repeatedly hitting him, Chinese media said, adding that particular camp has been closed. "He is suffering from water on the lungs and kidney failure," Pu's father, Pu Shiwei, told the publication China View on Wednesday. "All injuries were done by the people at the camp." The training center denied that a counselor beat the youth, contending Pu was hit by other campers because he couldn't get along with them, China View reported. Authorities in Zhongjiang county, where the camp is located, said they detained the counselor after a report of alleged abuse from the parents of another child. The man who established the military-style camp, Wu Yongjing, admitted to the BBC that youngsters were sometimes subjected to "physical punishment." "Physical punishment is an effective way to educate children -- as long as it can be controlled," he said in an online story Wednesday. The injured youth's mother told Chinese media that her son "got addicted to online games and frequented Internet cafes ... at the end of last semester, my son said he didn't want to go to school." The mother, Li Shubing, saw an ad for the training camp and hoped her son could be helped, she told China Daily. The parents signed a contract with the center and paid 5,000 yuan (about $730), she said. In a separate incident, 15-year-old Deng Senshan died after his parents sent him to a summer training camp for his Internet addiction, according to Chinese news agency Xinhua. That camp was in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Authorities detained several counselors and were investigating the incident. Injuries found on the body indicated the teen had been beaten, Xinhua reported. China is in the process of classifying Internet addiction as a mental illness, according to China Tech News. Medical experts have called for laws and regulations to govern treatment. Last month the government banned electro-shock therapy as treatment for Internet addiction after abuses were reported. Internet users claiming to have received the treatment wrote in blogs and forums about being tied down and subjected to shocks for 30 minutes at a time. "The market of Internet addiction treatment in China is in a total mess due to lack of diagnostic standards and treatment guidelines," said Tao Ran, director of the country's first Internet addiction clinic at Beijing's Military General Hospital. China started to pay attention to the prevention of addiction in 1994, when his clinic opened, Tao said. Data from the Beijing Public Security Bureau indicate that about three-quarters of juvenile criminals in China say they are addicted to the Internet. The proposed Diagnostic Criterion of Internet Addiction makes clear that the Internet-addicted should be treated in medical units with psychiatric departments, Tao said. "Internet addiction is treatable. Through about

Survey: China has 400 private rehab clinics or camps, 10 million teen Web addicts . Chinese Health Ministry says none of the private rehab clinics are legally registered . Pu was allegedly beaten three times between August 4 and August 11 . Report: Boy is suffering from water on the lungs and kidney failure, father says .

(CNN) -- A 14-year-old girl stoops and screams above the body of a Kent State University student killed in 1970 by an Ohio National Guardsman. John Filo's 1970 photo at Kent State University became a symbol of the anti-war movement at the time. A police chief aims his gun at a Vietcong prisoner's head in 1968, while executing him on a Saigon, Vietnam, street. And in 1989, an unarmed man in Beijing, China, stands defiantly in front of a column of tanks as they rolled into Tiananmen Square. These are iconic images, the kinds of shots that changed the way people viewed history as it unfolded. They put human faces on conflicts and became rallying cries for movements, inspiring those who demanded change. But while these photographs -- chronicling a single, silent moment -- were taken by seasoned photographers, two of whom won Pulitzer Prizes, this time amateur cell phone video is grabbing worldwide attention. It captures the death of a young woman named Neda Agha-Soltan, galvanizing protesters in Iran and shaping perceptions of a land and people few Westerners know. See how images have inspired change » "Every revolution needs icons and symbols -- an image that embodies a sense of universality of blight and at the same time innocence," said Roya Hakakian of Connecticut, a writer, poet and journalist who was born and raised in Iran. "The image of Neda does both." The graphic video of Neda's death, caused by a gunshot fired during a protest in Tehran, Iran, records her final moments: Her eyes turn toward the camera, people scream and struggle to revive her while blood streams across her face. Watch how Neda's proven to be a tipping point » Having gone viral with the help of social networking sites such as Twitter, the video of Neda's death has earned her the highly revered status of martyr. The woman who by all counts was an innocent bystander is now known as the "Angel of Iran" and is inspiring poetry. She is mourned publicly despite Revolutionary Guard threats, and her likeness graces posters. For Hakakian, who left Iran about 25 years ago, the significance of Neda's image runs deep. She said it's part of a larger picture of current protests being propelled by women, and a reflection of the Iran and the Iranians she knows. What outsiders have seen over the past three decades, she said, are fist-pumping men decrying America, images of hostages and "the burning of Uncle Sam effigies." Americans, she continued, have gotten to know little beyond the talk of Hezbollah and Hamas support, discussions of nuclear bombs and the rants of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, calling for, among other things, the destruction of Israel. "We come from different corners of the world, but we see the same thing," Hakakian said of the video of Neda's death. "You don't need to be Iranian. You don't need to be her neighbor. You don't need to know her name. ... Anyone can watch this and come away with the sense of injustice and what's taking place, and I think that's why it's catching on." Graphic images have long played a role in driving social awareness and change, said Bruce Shapiro, executive director of the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma. The skeletal figures of concentration camp victims drove home the horrors of the Holocaust. And the brutalized body of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old black boy killed in 1955 for allegedly flirting with a white woman, was shown at the insistence of his mother at his funeral, galvanizing the civil rights movement, Shapiro said. In more recent years, amateur video was credited with capturing the 1991 beating by Los Angeles police of Rodney King. And the first images out of Virginia Tech during the 2007 campus shooting were taken by students before professionals could hit the scene, added Nora Paul, founding director of the Institute for New Media Studies at the University of Minnesota. The challenge today, in a time when anyone can post images, is

Photos from Vietnam, Tiananmen Square and Kent State galvanized movements . Cell phone video of death of Neda Agha-Soltan, at a protest in Iran, goes viral . "Every revolution needs icons and symbols," Iranian-born writer says . Amateur videos and photos powerful but need context, experts say .

(CNN) -- A 15-year-old South Carolina girl who was shot earlier this week by a man authorities say fits the description of a serial killer has died, police said Saturday. Police say the suspect may be driving a light gray or champagne tan 1991-94 two-door Ford Explorer. Abby Tyler died at 11:25 a.m. Saturday at Spartanburg Regional Medical Center, said Chief Rick Turner of the Gaffney Police Department. Her father, Stephen Tyler, 48, was pronounced dead at the scene of the shooting Thursday in the family-run furniture and appliance store, Tyler Home Center, in Gaffney. On Friday, the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office released a second sketch of a man believed to have fatally shot five people in less than a week. "Let me say that under the FBI's definition of a serial killer, yes, we have a serial killer," Sheriff Bill Blanton said in Gaffney, a town in the county of about 54,000 residents 50 miles southwest of Charlotte, North Carolina. He would not detail what has led investigators to conclude the shootings are linked or how they received the description of the suspect that has led to the two sketches. In addition, he said he did not know whether the shooter knew his victims or whether he may have chosen them at random. Watch locals gather to pray for victims and killer » Police said he may be driving a light gray or champagne tan 1991-94 two-door Ford Explorer. The first shooting happened Saturday, when peach farmer Kline W. Cash, 63, was found dead by his wife in their home, said Leigh Caldwell, a victims services coordinator for the sheriff's office. Blanton said Cash's home may have been robbed. On Wednesday, the bound and shot bodies of 83-year-old Hazel Linder and her 50-year-old daughter, Gena Linder Parker, were found in the mother's home, where she lived alone. "We're still trying to determine if anything's missing from there," Blanton said. Leave has been canceled for all members of the Police Department and the Sheriff's Department, said their respective chiefs, who urged residents to take precautions. Watch how fear has gripped the town » About 100 investigators from North and South Carolina were working the case, Blanton said. "I think our community has a right to be concerned," he said. "We're concerned. We're dealing with a man that's killed four people." He urged residents to check on relatives, especially those who live alone. "We're asking the people in our community to be vigilant, to report anything." But he cautioned against taking that too far. "Our concern is that people are going to start shooting at shadows," he said.

Man fatally shoots 5 people in less than a week near Gaffney, South Carolina . "Under the FBI's definition of a serial killer, yes, we have a serial killer," sheriff says . 100 investigators from North and South Carolina working the case . People urged to check on relatives, especially those who live alone .

(CNN) -- A 17-year-old boy was among the seven people killed in a noon shootout Friday on the streets of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, police said Saturday. The other victims were police officers, Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz said Friday. Five were federal police officers and one was a female city police officer, all part of the joint police task force formed to combat drug violence in the border town. Another federal officer was gravely wounded, Reyes said, and a city officer was wounded but not with life-threatening injuries. A civilian was hit by shrapnel, but those injuries were also not serious, he said. Reyes said the incident began when two patrol cars, one from federal police and one from city police, stopped several people they had been investigating. Gunmen in at least two vehicles attacked the police convoy with weapons including AK-47s, he said. The federal police said the gunmen, who escaped in a gray Dodge Durango and a green Dodge Caravan, may have been drug dealers and that the attack may have been in response to several recent arrests in Juarez, including that of eight people apprehended Thursday for possession of weapons, drugs and a stolen van. The mayor said it wasn't immediately clear why the police had stopped the people or whether the incident was drug related. Investigators are treating the incident "as a direct attack on police officers," he said. Federal police launched an aerial search for the gunmen's vehicles, but there have been no arrests. Reyes said at a meeting with federal police that he was ordering an increase of patrol cars so there will be three or four cars per location. About 800 police cars now patrol the city, Reyes said. The city police force consists of 3,000 officers, bolstered by 5,000 federal officers. Ciudad Juarez is the most violent city in the nation, with more than 2,600 drug-related deaths in 2009. No official numbers are available, but more than 400 killings have been reported by local media this year. The city, long the focal point of President Felipe Calderon's battle against drug cartels, came to renewed prominence after the January 31 killings of 15 people, most of them students with no links to organized crime. The massacre sparked outrage throughout Mexico and drew worldwide attention. In another incident that drew widespread attention, three people associated with the U.S. Consulate in Juarez were gunned down in two shootings last month. Two of the victims, including a pregnant woman, were U.S. citizens living in El Paso, Texas. CNN's Esprit Smith contributed to this report.

NEW: Gunmen may be drug dealers retaliating several recent arrests, police say . Six police officers, one civilian killed Friday in noon shootout in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico . Five of the dead were federal police officers, one was a female city officer, mayor says . Two officers, one civilian wounded .

(CNN) -- A 19-year-old Mississippi man was charged with capital murder Tuesday in the death of an African-American man who died after allegedly being beaten by a group of white teens and run over by a truck, authorities said. Deryl Paul Dedmon, 19, of Brandon, Mississippi was also charged by a grand jury with hate-crime enhancement in the murder of James Craig Anderson, said Hinds County District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith. The indictment alleges that Dedmon killed Anderson while in the commission of committing felony robbery, Smith said in a statement. Anderson's family, however, is asking state and federal officials not to seek the death penalty in the case. Relatives of Anderson, who died shortly after receiving his injuries on June 26, sent a letter with their request to Smith, saying the family is opposed to the death penalty partly for religious reasons. The indictment against Dedmon alleged Anderson was targeted because of his race. Dedmon's arraignment has yet to be scheduled, Smith said. Federal authorities have joined the local investigation, and both authorities are determining "the appropriate venue for the prosecution of any remaining suspects," Smith's statement said. "All options are being considered and with each passing day, more evidence is being gathered," Smith said. The death of Anderson, 48, occurred early June 26 in Jackson, allegedly at the hands of white teens who, after a night of partying and drinking, decided to go looking for black people to assault, law enforcement officials have said, quoting one of the suspects in the case. Watch: Incident caught on video Anderson's death drew national attention after CNN first reported it and aired exclusive surveillance video of the killing, captured by a parking lot security camera in a Jackson suburb. Smith, the district attorney, has called it "vicious" and a "premeditated hate crime." The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating the death as a possible federal hate crime and assisting local prosecutors. The killing has also prompted several large marches and prayer vigils in Jackson, a city of about 175,000 people. A second teen, John Aaron Rice, 18, was initially charged with murder, but a judge reduced the charge to simple assault because Rice was not believed to be driving the vehicle used to kill Anderson. However, Hinds County prosecutors have said they plan to seek indictments against Rice for murder and a hate crime, and will seek indictments against other teens who were at the scene. The district attorney's office has not officially commented on the family's request for no death penalty in the case. Last week, the Anderson family filed a wrongful death suit against all seven of the white teens alleged to have been present at the beating of Anderson that immediately preceded him being run over by the truck. The Southern Poverty Law Center, a nationally recognized organization based in Montgomery, Alabama, that opposes racism and intolerance, joined the lawsuit. In addition to Dedmon and Rice, the lawsuit names five other teens as taking part in the incident: Sarah Graves of Crystal Springs; Shelbie Richards of Pearl; and William Kirk Montgomery, John Blaylock and Dylan Butler, all of Brandon. None of the five has been arrested or charged. Anderson, a line worker at a Nissan plant, sang in his church choir, according to the family's attorney, Winston J. Thompson III. He leaves behind his partner of 17 years. Attorneys for Dedmon and Rice have not responded to requests for comment from CNN. During a recent bond hearing, Dedmon's attorney told the court he saw nothing to back up the "racial allegations." A civil trial can proceed at the same time as a criminal case, but often the civil case is delayed pending the resolution of a criminal trial. While a criminal case is pending, a defendant in a civil case may need to invoke the Fifth Amendment. Authorities believe Dedmon led and instigated the attack, which took place after a night of drinking in largely white Rankin County, outside Jackson. The gang of teens climbed into

Deryl Paul Dedmon, 19, is also charged with a hate-crime enhancement . James Craig Anderson, 48, who is black, was beaten by a group of white teens . Anderson, a factory worker who sang in a church choir, was also run over by a truck . Prosecutor plans to seek indictments against other teens allegedly involved .

(CNN) -- A 19-year-old girl whose hospitalization exposed a shocking Austrian incest case has woken from her coma, a development that could shed new light on what occurred in the basement were she was held captive for decades. Fritzl initially confessed to raping his daughter and having seven children with her. Doctors placed Kerstin Fritzl in an artificial coma in April after she emerged for the first time from the cellar where she was held captive from birth by her father Josef. Kerstin, along with six other children, was born from Josef Fritzl's incestuous relationship with his daughter Elisabeth, now 43, whom he raped repeatedly during the 24 years she was imprisoned beneath his home. Police say Fritzl, 73, has confessed to holding his Elisabeth captive and fathering seven children, six of whom survived. Kerstin was admitted to hospital in Amstetten, west of Vienna, in an unconscious state after Elisabeth persuaded Fritzl that she needed medical attention. Suspicious medics alerted police, who opened an investigation. Detectives began investigating the case after hospital officials started inquiring about the girl's family history. Kerstin and two of her brothers, aged 18 and 5, had spent their entire lives trapped in the cellar with their mother, never seeing daylight, a television their only contact with the outside world. Another three children Fritzl fathered with Elisabeth were taken to live above ground with Fritzl and his wife, who says she had no idea that her daughter was being held captive. A seventh child died shortly after birth. Elisabeth and her children have been treated at a secure medical unit since their release. Officials at hospital in Amstetten, Austria, did not release any more information about Kerstin Fritzl's condition. A news conference on the case is scheduled for Wednesday.

Daughter of Austrian incest victim wakes from induced coma . Kerstin Fritzl, 19, spent her entire life in cellar . The dungeon was uncovered after she was taken to hospital with illness .

(CNN) -- A 19-year-old gunman who killed eight people and then himself Wednesday at the Westroads Mall in Omaha, Nebraska, left a suicide note, police said. Police have identified the gunman as Robert A. Hawkins, 19, of Nebraska. Five other people were injured, and two of them were in critical condition, hospital officials said. Chief Thomas Warren of the Omaha Police Department called the shooting "premeditated," but said it "appears to be very random and without provocation." Surveillance cameras may have captured the shooting, Warren said. "We'll be here throughout the night; it's a very extensive crime scene," he said. Police identified the gunman as Robert A. Hawkins of Nebraska. They have recovered an SKS assault rifle and the suspect's vehicle. Debora Maruca Kovac, Hawkins' landlord who found the suicide note, said he wrote he was sorry for everything and did not want to be a burden to anyone any longer. Watch landlord describe phone call from shooter » Hawkins said in the note he loved his friends and family, but "he was a piece of s--- all his life, and now he'll be famous," she told CNN. She said Hawkins was a friend of her sons and "reminded me of a lost puppy that nobody wanted." He came to live with her about a year and a half ago, telling her he could not stay with his own family because of "some issues with his stepmother and him." She described Hawkins as well-behaved, although "he had a lot of emotional problems, obviously." The shootings began about 1:42 p.m. Seven people were found dead at the scene by officers arriving six minutes later; two others, a male and a female, died after being transported to Creighton University Medical Center, said Fire Chief Robert Dahlquist. A Creighton spokeswoman said a second female was undergoing surgery and was in critical condition Wednesday afternoon. Three other people were taken to the University of Nebraska Medical Center. One, a 61-year-old man who sustained a chest wound after being shot in the armpit, underwent surgery and remained in critical condition in the intensive care unit Wednesday night, said hospital spokeswoman Maggie O'Brien. Learn more about the victims » The other two -- a 34-year-old man who was shot in the arm, and a 55-year-old man who fell and struck a clothing rack as he was trying to escape -- were treated and released, she said. Maruca Kovac told CNN that Hawkins left home Wednesday about 11 a.m., and called the house about two hours later, sounding upset. "He just said he wanted to thank me for everything I'd done for him ... and he was sorry," Maruca Kovac said. He told her he had gotten fired from his job, she said. "I said, 'Come home and we'll talk about it,' " she said. "He said, 'It's too late.' He said he'd left a note explaining everything." Witness Jennifer Kramer told CNN she heard at least 25 shots. Watch witnesses describe the ordeal » "He just kept firing," she said. She said she called 911 on her cell phone, whispering into it out of fear of being heard. A dispatcher told her other calls had been received and help was on the way, but she said it seemed to take "a long time" for them to arrive. "It was just so loud, and then it was silence," she said. "I was scared to death he'd be walking around looking for someone else." She said as she was being escorted out by police, she saw a man lying injured by the escalator where she had been previously. "All of us were slightly confused because we didn't know what it was," said mall employee Charissa Tatoon about the first burst of gunfire. "Immediately after that, there was a series of maybe 20 to 25 more shots up on

Landlord says shooter called and told her: "It's too late" Police: Surveillance cameras may have captured the shooting . Police identify the shooter as Robert A. Hawkins, 19 . Two of the wounded are in critical condition .

(CNN) -- A 22-year-old Kentucky soldier was charged Monday with attempted espionage and communicating military information, allegations that have shocked friends who have described him as a patriotic country boy. The formal charges were issued 10 days after Spc. William Colton Millay of Owensboro, Kentucky, was arrested at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, according to Col. Bill Coppernoll, the public affairs officer at the base. According to news release from the base, issued Monday, Millay "communicated and transmitted unclassified national defense information to an individual whom he believed was a foreign intelligence agent." The Army specialist "believed (this information) could be used to the advantage of a foreign nation." A charge of failure to obey general regulations stems from an assertion Millay did not "report multiple contacts with someone he believed to be a foreign intelligence agent." He is also accused of "wrongfully concealing and storing two firearms and ammunition in his assigned barracks room." The military further alleges that Millay "wrongfully solicited a fellow-service member to obtain classified information and tangible items" so that they could be given to a foreign intelligence agent, leading to a charge of solicitation. He is also charged with making false statements, having allegedly not been forthright in telling Army counterintelligence officials "the full scope" of his attempted contacts with other governments and "the full nature" of what he'd disclosed to the believed-to-be foreign agent. Military authorities did not disclose what information specifically Millay allegedly obtained and disclosed, but they described it as not classified. Nor did they state which country he believed that information was going to, via a "foreign intelligence agent." Yet last week, FBI spokesman Eric Gonzalez said that it did not involve any actual transfer of information, via the Internet or otherwise. "Millay was being observed well before any damage could have occurred," Gonzalez said. He denied that Millay's case had any connection to that of Bradley Manning, the Army private suspected of leaking classified information to the website WikiLeaks. Having enlisted in the Army in November 2007, Millay was based in South Korea and Fort Stewart, Georgia, and spent one tour of combat duty in Iraq before being assigned to the Alaska base in May, according to the military release. He was assigned to the 164th Military Police Company, 793rd Military Police Battalion, 2nd Engineer Brigade, known as the "Arctic Enforcers." Millay is currently being held at the Anchorage Correctional Complex, according to Monday's military statement. Earlier attempts by CNN to reach the Kentucky native's family have been unsuccessful. Longtime friend Drew Bramschreiber of Owensboro has said that Millay hardly fit the spy persona. "He's just a simple country boy," he said. "He was never the kind of guy who would get into trouble." Another friend, Janssen Payne, said last week that Millay idolized his brother, who is also in the Army, and that he had been in the ROTC program in high school. He was a supporter of President George W. Bush and the U.S. war effort in Iraq and Afghanistan, his friend said. "You've got the wrong guy," said Janssen Payne. "That's just not who he is." CNN's Moni Basu contributed to this report.

Spc. William Colton Millay faces several charges, including communicating military info . He believed he was giving info to "a foreign intelligence agent," the military says . His friends have expressed shock at the claims, with one saying he's "the wrong guy" The 22-year-old Kentucky native enlisted in the U.S. Army in 2007 .

(CNN) -- A 22-year-old college student in Boston, Massachusetts, has been charged with murder in connection with the death of a woman who may have been contacted through a Craigslist ad, police said. Police found Julissa Brisman, 26, unconscious with multiple gunshot wounds on April 14. She later died. Philip Markoff, a pre-med student at Boston University with no criminal record, also was charged with the armed robbery and kidnapping of another victim, Police Commissioner Ed Davis announced Monday evening. Markoff, who was under police surveillance, was arrested earlier in the afternoon after a traffic stop south of the city, police said. Markoff is suspected in the death of New York City resident Julissa Brisman, 26, who was found unconscious with multiple gunshot wounds at Boston's Copley Marriott Hotel on April 14. She was transferred to Boston Medical Center, where she died from her injuries shortly afterward. Police said that Brisman, a model, offered massages via Craigslist, a popular online classified ads service. The confrontation between Brisman and her killer seems to have begun as an attempted robbery, police said. "It appears that there was a struggle between the victim and the suspect in the threshold of the hotel room immediately prior to the shooting," the Boston Police Department said in a statement posted on its Web site. Surveillance videos from the hotel where Brisman was murdered showed a tall, clean-cut young blonde man in a black windbreaker leaving the property, said the Boston Police Department, which had asked for the public's help in identifying the man. Police did not release a photo of Markoff on Monday. Four days before Brisman's killing, Markoff allegedly robbed a 29-year-old woman at gunpoint at a Westin Hotel in Boston, Suffolk County District Attorney Dan Conley said. A police spokesman would not disclose the details of her Craigslist ad but said she and Brisman were "involved in similar professions." "This is a compelling case with a myriad of evidence -- with computer evidence being a part of it," Conley said, adding that additional search warrants would be executed this week. Markoff's arraignment was set for Tuesday morning at the Boston Municipal Court. It was not immediately clear if he had retained defense counsel. Davis and Conley warned there may be other victims that come forward in the case. "We would like to make one final pitch to those out there who may have been a victim of robbery at the hands of Philip Markoff, especially those who may have used Craigslist in the manner in which the victim used Craigslist," he said. Authorities received more than 150 leads in the case, which Davis credited to the popularity of the Web site. "The public came forth, they were fascinated by this crime," he said, adding, "I wish we had this level of cooperation in every homicide that occurred." Davis said Boston investigators were working with police in Warwick, Rhode Island, in what could be a related case. On April 16 at a Holiday Inn Express in Warwick, Rhode Island, a man tied up and demanded money from a 26-year-old dancer who had posted a Craigslist advertisement, according to Warwick Police Chief Col. Stephen McCartney. The robbery was interrupted when the woman's husband entered the room. After pointing his gun at the husband, the suspect fled, according to McCartney. He said no conclusions could be made, but allowed that the incident "may be related to similar crimes occurring in the Boston area." Watch police say assailant is perusing Craigslist ads » Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster said the company was "horrified and deeply saddened that our community services have been associated in any way whatsoever with a crime of violence." He promised that Craigslist would evaluate the incident to see if additional measures could be introduced to further protect users. CNN's Jason Kessler contributed to this report.

NEW: Police make public plea to "those who may have been a victim" on site . Police charge 22-year-old Phil Markoff in woman's slaying . Suspect also charged in kidnapping, armed robbery of another victim . Woman found with gunshot wounds was model who advertised on Craigslist .

(CNN) -- A 22-year-old man from Pakistan hopes to soon swim the English Channel with an American friend -- but first he's got to navigate the currents of bureaucracy. College teammates David Gatz (left) and Usman Javaid want to swim the English Channel for charity. Usman Javaid, an Ohio college student who has won national swimming titles in his native Pakistan, wants to swim the channel with his best friend, David Gatz, a fellow member of the swim team at Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, Ohio. They want to honor their international friendship by working together to accomplish a great feat: a relay across the English Channel. They also hope to raise money for charity. "With teamwork and cooperation you can tackle even the toughest of challenges," Javaid told CNN in a phone interview Wednesday from Islamabad, Pakistan. Yet the British government has denied Javaid's request for the visa that would let him enter the country. British authorities say they can't grant a visa because they have questions about Javaid's student status, the young man said. "They weren't satisfied I was going to Britain for the stated purpose," he said. Javaid said his passport contains a valid student visa for the United States and he sent documentation from the Channel Swimming Association with his visa application to prove he is scheduled to do the swim. The United Kingdom Border Agency told CNN in a written statement that "all visa applications are considered on their individual merits, taking into account all the information provided." "Where an applicant fails to demonstrate they meet the relevant rules, their application will be refused," the statement said. The agency noted that anyone who is refused can reapply with additional information. Mark Cooper, the director of marketing and communication at Ohio Wesleyan University, said British authorities have not contacted the university to ask about Javaid's student status. "We did send ... documentation to [British authorities] to follow up" after Javaid's application was denied, he said. Javaid has since applied to the British high commissioner in Islamabad for an emergency visa. Meanwhile, Gatz and the university's head swim coach, Dick Hawes, are waiting in Dover, England, hoping things will work out so the men can try to accomplish their goal. The Channel Swimming Association has granted them permission to try their crossing between July 29 and August 6, Javaid said. The association determines such "swim windows" after considering the expected tides and the schedules of pilot boats, which accompany the swimmers. The association sent a letter Thursday to the British high commissioner in Pakistan to confirm Javaid's mission, said Joan Metcalfe, the association's chairwoman. As the clock ticks, Gatz remains in Dover, where he passes the time by training in the channel. "There is some frustration," he said Thursday, "but we're also optimistic." Gatz is the captain of Ohio Wesleyan University's varsity swim team. He swam twice for the university at the NCAA national championship meet and holds numerous records. Javaid is a gold medalist on the Pakistani national swim team and represented his country at the South Asian Federation Games. Their coach said he's proud of the pair, no matter the outcome of their attempt. "I think it's great. It shows so much maturity on their part -- first, to take on such a large endeavor, but it also speaks so much about their friendship," Hawes said. Their relationship reflects the unity of the entire swim team at the school, he said. "This is an international family," the coach said of his swimmers. "It's a phenomenal environment. This has just been such a great experience." As they work to accomplish their goal, Gatz and Javaid also are accepting donations for Doctors Without Borders, an international medical humanitarian organization also known by its French name, Medecins Sans Frontieres. Gatz, who is double-majoring in biochemistry and pre-med, said the idea came as they followed news reports of Pakistan's

College teammates want to swim English Channel for charity, international harmony . Swim was to happen between now and August 6, but one denied visa to Britain . Usman Javaid, an Ohio student from Pakistan, says U.K. questioned student status . Javaid reapplies for visa, waits for decision .

(CNN) -- A 22-year-old woman whose claims that she was abused in a trailer in rural West Virginia in 2007 helped send six people to prison now says she made up the story, her lawyer said Wednesday. Attorney Byron Potts says his client is not being pressured to recant her story. "She is recanting her entire story," attorney Byron Potts told reporters in Columbus, Ohio, about his client, Megan Williams, who moved there after the incident. "She says it did not happen. She fabricated it." He added, "She wanted to get back at her boyfriend. She was mad at him." In 2007, police acting on a tip found the black woman in a trailer with cuts and bruises. She said she had been stabbed in the leg and beaten, sexually assaulted, forced to eat feces and subjected to a racial slur by her white captors. The suspects included a mother and son, a separate mother and daughter, and two men. All are still jailed, according to the prosecutor who handled the case. The incident, which drew extensive media coverage, stirred outrage around the country. Civil rights activist the Rev. Al Sharpton called for the incident to be investigated as a hate crime. Last year, all six defendants pleaded guilty and were given terms of up to 40 years in prison. Potts said his client was coming forward "to right the wrong perpetrated on these six individuals." He added that she told him all her injuries except for the bruises on her face were self-inflicted. The bruises, he said, were from an altercation she had had with her then-boyfriend before the incident in question. Potts described Williams' feelings as "total remorse; that's why she's coming forward. She is remorseful for having these people spend time in jail." Asked if she was being pressured to recant, he said, "No, she's not being pressured into this." Williams had been expected to speak herself, but Potts said she would not appear before the news media because she was afraid for her safety. He said she was "fully aware" that she might face criminal charges, "but she still wanted to go forward with this." Brian Abraham, the former Logan County prosecutor who handled the case, defended the convictions. "The case wasn't based on her statements," he said, noting that Williams never testified in the case. "The case was based on the evidence discovered by the police, including the confessions of the six defendants." He added, "All six of them have been in jail without filing appeals. If they file something afterwards, the evidence was pretty overwhelming for the charges on which they were convicted." The current county prosecutor, John Bennett, said he could not comment on whether the case would be reopened. He said he represented one of the suspects in 2007 and so would let a judge decide how to handle the potential conflict of interest. Sharpton said, "If they are being held under false information and she misled authorities, and if the authorities went solely on her testimony, then they should be released." But he added, "If there are other circumstances around the recanting, we should know what they are."

6 people in prison for beating, sexual assault of Megan Williams . Williams' lawyer says she made story up to hurt ex-boyfriend . 6 defendants pleaded guilty, were given terms of up to 40 years . Williams alleged she was forced to eat feces and subjected to a racial slur .

(CNN) -- A 23-year-old woman suffocated her son and then buried his body beneath the sand of a playground, police in Albuquerque, New Mexico, said Thursday. Tiffany Toribio, 23, was arrested and charged with killing her son. Police arrested Tiffany Toribio about 4 a.m., just hours after they said they wanted to speak to her about her missing 3-year-old son, Ty. Family members had contacted authorities, saying her son matched the description of a boy found Friday at an Albuquerque playground. Police Chief Ray Schultz said she confessed to killing the boy soon after being apprehended. "She placed her hand over her son's mouth and nose and suffocated him. She had second thoughts about what she did. She performed CPR on her son, brought him back to life and then decided to go forward with that original act she had started to commit," Schultz said. Watch Schultz describe the alleged killing » "What makes this story especially sad is, when asked the reason why she took Ty's life, Tiffany said that she did not want him to grow up with no one caring about him, the same way that she had grown up where nobody had cared about her." An emotional Schultz added that Toribio has tried to kill herself since her arrest. She was being held in isolation at a detention facility and kept under observation, he said. He added, "As you can see, this case has been very emotional for everybody in the department." Toribio was charged with first-degree murder and an array of other charges, including abuse of a child under 12 that caused death. The discovery of the body at Alvarado Park on Friday shocked the community, which dubbed the boy "Baby Justice" and "Baby Angel" as they rallied around his case. Police released a composite image of the boy Tuesday, hoping to garner more leads in the case. They weren't able to release a photo of the boy because his body was so disfigured by the sand's heat. Schultz said that after killing her son, Toribio dug a hole under gym equipment at the playground, moved the body and buried him in the shallow grave. "Since that time, she's been walking the streets of the city of Albuquerque," he said. The boy was wearing Arizona brand clothing, size 3T: nylon black running pants with red stripes, a red shirt with a monster truck on it and black, gray and lime green Skechers sneakers. Toribio did not comment Thursday morning after her arrest as she was put in a police car. Schultz said there had been no reports of child abuse filed against Toribio. But he said family members indicated that she did not express the typical love of a mother for her child. "She did not show the normal relationship that you would see with a mother, son," he said. This week, police had gone to residences where she had lived previously, but she wasn't there, Schultz said. Police had gone there after family members expressed concern because "they did not like the way Ty was being treated," the police chief said. CNN's Mallory Simon contributed to this report.

NEW: New Mexico mom, 23, faces charges including murder . NEW: Police say she suffocated son, revived him and then killed him . NEW: Mom told cops "she did not want him to grow up with no one caring about him" The boy was found at playground Friday; case dubbed "Baby Justice"

(CNN) -- A 24-year-old man has been charged with manslaughter for the death of Wang Yue, the toddler who garnered international attention after she was run over and ignored by passersby, authorities said Tuesday. Authorities arrested a man named Hu Jun, China's state-run Xinhua news agency reported. The man, who is from eastern China, is accused of being one of two drivers who drove over the two-year-old girl on a narrow street in southern China earlier this month. The girl, known by the nickname Yue Yue, later died. Video captured by a nearby security camera showed the drivers, one after the other, hitting the girl in Foshan, Guangdong province. More than a dozen people walked, cycled or drove past the toddler as she lay bleeding in a busy market area. The video footage sparked a global outcry about the state of morality in China's fast-changing society. That included generating a flurry of activity on Sina Weibo, China's equivalent of Twitter, and spurring a "Stop Apathy" online campaign. The girl was eventually rescued by a 58-year-old scavenger who pulled her aside and tried to get help. CNN's Haolan Hong contributed to this report.

Two hit-and-run drivers seriously injured the girl on October 13 . Video showed more than a dozen people passing by the two-year-old . The girl later died from her injuries . Her story spurred intense debate about morals in Chinese society .

(CNN) -- A 24-year-old teacher from Holyoke, Massachusetts, is in custody after allegedly leaving town with a 15-year-old student, city officials said Tuesday. Lisa Lavoie, a 24-year-old teacher, is charged with enticement of a child. Lisa Lavoie and the male student were found in Morgantown, West Virginia, Monday night after apparently being together for a week, Holyoke Mayor Michael Sullivan said. Investigators have charged Lavoie with enticement of a child. On February 13, the student's parents informed school officials of a possible relationship between the teacher and their son. That was late on a Friday afternoon, and when officials went to the school to question Lavoie, she was gone for the day. The next week was a vacation week for the school. The student was reported missing on February 16, at the start of the vacation week. Lavoie wasn't reported missing until she didn't show up for school Monday. Officials said the pair were in Vermont on Thursday before showing up in West Virginia on Monday. No details were provided on how their alleged movements were traced. Officials couldn't take the pair into custody until after gathering enough evidence to obtain a warrant from the district attorney's office, said Holyoke Police Chief Anthony Scott. They got the warrant Monday and asked police in Morgantown to arrest Lavoie. She has been placed on administrative leave pending conclusion of the investigation, Sullivan said. If convicted, Lavoie could lose her teaching license in Massachusetts, the mayor said. She has been with the school only five months and her job is not protected under contract, he said.

A missing teacher and her 15-year-old student were found in West Virginia Monday . Police say the two were together during a weeklong vacation . The teacher, 24-year-old Lisa Lavoie, has been suspended pending an investigation . Investigators have charged Lavoie, of Massachusetts, with enticement of a child .

(CNN) -- A 26-year-old man was arraigned Tuesday on murder charges in the January strangling deaths of his girlfriend and her four small children in an Oklahoma apartment. Joshua Durcho told a friend he choked Summer Rust but said her children were elsewhere, an affidavit says. Joshua Steven Durcho is charged with five counts of first degree murder in the January deaths of Summer Rust, 25; her son Teagin, 4; and daughters Evynn, 3, and Autumn and Kirsten, both 7. All five bodies were found January 12 in Rust's apartment in El Reno, Oklahoma, about 30 miles west of Oklahoma City. Authorities believe Durcho killed Rust because she threatened to call the police on him, prosecutors said in court documents released Tuesday. He knew that likely would bring about his arrest, the documents said, because two outstanding bench warrants had been issued on him after he failed to appear in court in two criminal cases -- one on charges of driving under the influence and the second on charges of unlawful possession of a controlled dangerous substance. Durcho had previously served time in prison after being convicted of unlawful possession of marijuana and "vowed he would never go back to prison," the court documents said. Prosecutors intend to seek the death penalty against Durcho, according to the documents, which note each victim suffered "severe pain and anguish" as they fought for their lives while being strangled with a ligature, which could include a string, cord or wire. In addition, the documents said, evidence indicates Durcho sexually abused both the 7-year-old girls at or near the time they died. In Tuesday's arraignment, Canadian County District Judge Edward Cunningham entered not guilty pleas on Durcho's behalf, according to The Oklahoman newspaper. An affidavit filed in the case, written by an Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation agent, said Durcho went to the home of an acquaintance January 12 and said he had "choked" Summer Rust -- identified in court papers as Summer Garas -- to death and was leaving Oklahoma. When the acquaintance, a women, asked Durcho about Rust's children, he "told her that the children were at their grandmother's residence ... while he and Summer worked out their relationship problems," according to the affidavit. The acquaintance then called Durcho's mother, who drove to the apartment but received no answer at the door, the affidavit said. She asked her nephew, Durcho's cousin, to accompany her, leading to the discovery of Rust's body. The cousin notified police, and responding officers found the children's bodies in the apartment. According to the court documents released Tuesday, Durcho also told the female acquaintance that he killed Rust because she threatened to call the police on him. Durcho was arrested in Hamilton County, Texas, the day after the bodies were found. He has been appointed public defenders, according to Canadian County, Oklahoma, court records, and earlier waived his right to a preliminary hearing in the case. CNN's Ashley Broughton contributed to this report

NEW: Court papers say woman, four kids suffered "severe pain and anguish" NEW: Two 7-year-old girls sexually assaulted before they died, documents say . NEW: Threat of returning to prison motivated slayings, prosecutors say . Bodies found January 12 in apartment in El Reno, Oklahoma .

(CNN) -- A 27-year-old woman from eastern China has died of bird flu, Chinese authorities said, making her the second person to die this year from the deadly virus. Human-to-human transmission of avian flu is rare, but in some cases, the virus has passed from poultry to humans. The woman fell ill on January 5 in Shandong province on the country's east coast and died on Saturday, the Ministry of Health said in a statement. Two tests on the woman were positive for H5N1 avian influenza, said the ministry, which did not say how she might have contracted the virus. On Saturday, the World Health Organization said a 2-year-old girl in northern China had tested positive for bird flu -- now the country's third confirmed case of the virus this month. The girl fell ill on January 7 in central Hunan province and was taken to her home province of Shanxi in northern China, the state-run news agency Xinhua said. The report did not say how she became infected. On January 5, a 19-year-old Beijing woman died of bird flu after handling poultry, officials said. Xinhua said the woman bought nine ducks at a market in Beijing's neighboring Hebei province and cleaned their organs before falling ill. Since the end of 2003, the H5N1 virus has infected numerous species of birds in more than 60 countries in Asia, Europe and Africa. It has not been found in birds in North or South America or the Caribbean, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Human-to-human transmission of avian flu is rare, but in some cases the virus has passed from poultry to humans. It has killed more than 200 people since 2003. China reported its first human-to-human infection case in 2005. So far, 30 cases have been confirmed. Twenty of them have been fatal, according to Xinhua. On Friday, China announced it was setting up a nationwide network to test for the virus.

NEW: The woman became ill on January 5 and died on Saturday . NEW: Two tests on the woman are positive for H5N1 avian influenza, officials say . A 2-year-old girl in northern China is in critical condition with bird flu . China reported its first human infection in 2005; 30 cases confirmed so far .

(CNN) -- A 28-year-old Oregon woman has been charged with murder after the body of a new mother was found in the crawl space of her home. Police released a photo of Korena Roberts, who is charged with murder. Rescue crews first went to Korena Roberts' home in Washington County on Friday in response to a call of a newborn in distress. They found Roberts' boyfriend unsuccessfully trying to revive the baby using first-aid techniques. Roberts told deputies the baby was hers, the county sheriff's office said. Medics noticed a lot of blood at the home, and sent Roberts and the baby to a hospital. "Doctors at the hospital were not able to revive the baby," said Sgt. David Thompson of the Washington County Sheriff's Office in a news release. "They also discovered that Ms. Roberts had not delivered a child at anytime in the recent past." Deputies returned to the home, where they found the body of 21-year-old Heather Snively in the crawl space under the kitchen, Thompson said. Authorities learned Snively had been pregnant at the time she was attacked, and they determined she was the mother of the infant. An autopsy will now determine how the baby was delivered, and whether he died before or after birth, Thompson said. The outcome could result in another murder charge for Roberts, deputies said. Residents in the woman's Mill Creek Drive neighborhood said Roberts had told them she was expecting a child, according to CNN affiliate KPTV. "She didn't appear to be pregnant to us," neighbor Doug King told KPTV.

Rescue workers called to Korena Roberts' house after report of baby in distress . Roberts told medics she had just delivered baby . Doctors unable to save baby; then learned Roberts had not been pregnant . Authorities later find baby's mother's body in crawl space of Roberts' house .

(CNN) -- A 3-year-old boy who was taken at gunpoint from his California home nearly two weeks ago has been found, authorities said Saturday. Briant Rodriguez, 3, was taken during a home invasion on May 3 in San Bernardino, California, police say. Briant Rodriguez was found wandering the streets of Mexicali, Mexico, by a police officer late Thursday, said San Bernardino County Sheriff Rod Hoops. After clearing paperwork with Mexican officials, California authorities reunited the boy with his mother Saturday in the border town of Calexico, Hoops said. "We're very happy that he's alive," Hoops said. "A 3-year-old goes missing in this country for two weeks -- sometimes it has an unhappy ending. "This one did not." Watch portion of sheriff's news conference » The boy had been missing since May 3, when two men armed with handguns burst into his family's home and tied him up -- along with his mother and four siblings. The men ransacked the home before leaving with Briant, a small amount of cash and some personal property, San Bernardino sheriff's spokeswoman Cindy Beavers said. Authorities had not caught the suspects as of Saturday evening. Hoops said authorities have information about at least two suspects -- who were captured on video at a home-improvement store near the Rodriguez home buying tape like the kind that was used to bind the family. He said the names of the suspects, and what authorities believe was a motive, are not being released because they could jeopardize the investigation. He also declined to say what relationship the suspects may have had with the family or whether the kidnapping is linked with drug crime that has run rampant in Mexican border towns in recent months. Members of drug cartels in the border region have been known to use kidnapping as a means of quick cash. "If you take a look at the case, I'll let you do your own homework on it," Hoops told reporters. Authorities from San Bernardino flew to Mexico late Friday to get Briant. Hoops said he appears to be in good health. His hair, which is shoulder-length in photographs that authorities had released, had apparently been shaved, Hoops said. Hoops said Briant's mother is "a Mexican citizen living here in the United States," but that he is unsure of her immigration status. He said Briant was born in the United States. Sgt. Doug Hubbard, who was in Calexico when Briant and his mother were reunited, called the meeting emotional. "Tears even came to Briant's eyes," he said. "It was a beautiful thing."

NEW: Briant Rodriguez found wandering streets in Mexicali, police say . NEW: Boy's tearful reunion with mother "a beautiful thing," police official says . Boy had been missing since May 3, when armed men burst into his family's home . Suspects still on the loose as of Saturday evening, according to authorities .

(CNN) -- A 32-year-old Puerto Rican recruiter for a cosmetology school in Chicago, Illinois, accused federal immigration authorities on Thursday of throwing him in jail over the weekend as a result of racial profiling. "I was just profiled," Eduardo Caraballo told CNN in a telephone interview. The incident began on May 18, when police showed up at the building housing the school in the suburban Chicago town of Berwyn. The school is owned by his mother. The building includes a storage area where police found a car that Caraballo said he was storing for a friend -- but which turned out to have been stolen. After 48 hours in police custody, Caraballo was interviewed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, he said. "She did not believe I was Puerto Rican because of the way I look and the way I talk," he said. "I guess I have a Mexican accent." On May 20, he was taken to the Cook County Correctional Center. Authorities there told his mother, Patricia Caraballo, that she could not bail him out because immigration had a hold on him, he said. His mother, who is Mexican, then took her son's birth certificate to immigration authorities, her son said. But immigration officials asked the younger Caraballo to describe his life in Puerto Rico, a U.S. commonwealth; scrutinized the papers brought by his mother; and came away unpersuaded. "Last time I was in Puerto Rico, I was 18 years old," Caraballo said. "I don't really like Puerto Rico -- or Mexico. I like Chicago. I was raised here." Finally, on Monday, an ICE supervisor allowed him to leave. "If it was that simple, why couldn't they do it Friday?" Caraballo asked. The Rev. Walter L. Coleman, of Lincoln United Methodist Church in Chicago, has taken up Caraballo's cause. "This was based on a clear case of racial profiling and a clear distrust that would not have been extended to a Caucasian or somebody who was Anglo-American," Coleman told reporters Thursday. "We have an integral connection between racial profiling and discrimination and the prosecution of our broken racial laws," he added. "It's everywhere in this country and it's going to intensify." Chris Bergin, a lawyer for Familia Latina Unida Ministries and Centro Sin Fronteras, said he was considering taking legal action against the government on behalf of Caraballo. That is an example of what we're facing as we see a broken immigration system that is aimed really at Latinos and aimed at intimidation and aimed at persecution and aimed at discrimination and ultimately aimed at disempowering the entire community in this country," Bergin said. In a statement, ICE said it "places 'detainers' or holds on individuals whom we have reason to believe are in the U.S. in violation of law. Based upon the evidence initially available on this individual, ICE agents placed a detainer on him. However, after ICE confirmed the individual's identity as a U.S. citizen, we immediately canceled the detainer. "This individual was held in local law enforcement custody over the weekend on an ICE detainer based on initially available information that he was an alien subject to deportation. ICE took custody of him on Monday morning and released him within one hour, after his identity was verified, and the ICE detainer was canceled." But that explanation didn't placate Bergin. "They're supposed to be the experts in this and they didn't act like experts," he said. "When it comes to Latinos, what has happened is they have flipped the coin on its head: The burden of proof now is on them to prove that they are legal, that they are citizens. ... That is not what America is about." And ICE's defense raised eyebrows from Jacqueline Stevens, professor of political science at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, outside Chicago. "Their defense is only valid if someone is foreign-born," she said. "It's not a valid defense

Puerto Rican detained over the weekend on ICE orders . "This was based on a clear case of racial profiling," his defender says . ICE: "We immediately canceled the detainer" Lawyer: "This is not what America is about"

(CNN) -- A 4-year-old Ohio girl who vanished more than three weeks ago was found alive and in good condition, halfway across the country in Southern California, authorities said. Haylee Donathan was found with her mother and her mother's boyfriend, fugitive sex offender Robbi Potter. Haylee Donathan, her mother, Candace Watson, and Robbi Potter were discovered after hiding for the past week at The Morning Star Ranch, a retreat in Valley Center, near San Diego, said Peter Elliott, United States Marshal for the Northern District of Ohio. Potter is a registered sex offender, officials said. He was being sought by the U.S. Marshal's Service. Late Tuesday, Haylee was in the custody of a children's protective services agency in the San Diego County area, Elliott said. She was doing well but may have chicken pox, he added. "We understand she is healthy and happy and I believe, waiting to come back to her grandmother here," he said. Watch authorities announce their find » The journey west took them more than 2,000 miles from Mansfield, the north-Central Ohio city where the girl and her mother live. "I am very happy that my granddaughter's coming home," said Mary Watson, Haylee's grandmother. "And I just want to thank all of you from the bottom of my heart." Watson, 24, and Potter, 27, were arrested without incident and held by the San Diego County Sheriff's Department. When asked their reaction, Elliott said, "I believe a little shocked that we were able to find them." Potter and Watson were still using the same vehicle, a 1980s blue Chevrolet pickup truck they drove from Ohio, Elliott said. Watson's hair was a bit darker and Potter also changed his appearance slightly. Authorities had feared Haylee was endangered. Potter, a sex offender, had escaped a halfway house on May 28, the day the girl and her mother fell out of sight. Countless tips came in while they were missing but one in particular led to the breakthrough on Tuesday, Elliott said without elaborating. But a tip from members of the ranch could have led to the raid and arrest, a ranch member told CNN. Kevin Carlin, a member of the ranch in the neighborhood of Valley Center, told CNN in a telephone interview that ranch members became suspicious when a former ranch guest saw billboards urging help in finding Haylee and the two adults. Elliott also praised intense national news coverage from programs such as HLN's "Nancy Grace" and "Issues with Jane Velez-Mitchell," as well as local media and Clear Channel, which put up missing child billboards across the country. When she is returned to Ohio, Haylee will be placed in the custody of her grandmother, Elliott said. The U.S. Marshals Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force had offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of 27-year-old Potter. Potter was wanted on a state warrant for parole violation and a federal warrant for probation violation. He is a convicted tier three sex offender, according to the U.S. Marshals Service, a unit of the Justice Department. While on the run, Potter and Watson were reportedly seen on surveillance video on May 31 at a Wal-Mart Store in Marion, Ohio, 40 miles from Mansfield. Haylee was not on that video. Adding to concerns, Watson's roommate, Samantha Covert, said last week in an interview on "Nancy Grace" that she saw the little girl in bed with her mother and Potter the morning they disappeared. Covert said Watson carried a basket of clothing, pillows and blankets. Watson will likely face state charges, including harboring a fugitive, according to Elliott. In addition to other charges, he said Potter may be prosecuted under the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, a federal sex offender registration and self-reporting law that carries a multiyear felony sentence if violated. On its Web site, the Morning Star Ranch describes itself as "a community of growers of organic, pesticide-

Ohio girl found alive near San Diego, California, authorities say . Tip led authorities to raid communal farm . Haylee Donathan was with mother, boyfriend who's a fugitive sex offender . Haylee, mother were last seen May 28 .

(CNN) -- A 4-year-old Ohio girl who vanished more than three weeks ago was found alive and in good condition, halfway across the country in southern California, authorities said. Haylee Donathan was found with her mother and her mother's boyfriend, fugitive sex offender Robbie Potter. Haylee Donathan, her mother Candace Watson and Robbie Potter were discovered hiding for the past week at The Morning Star Ranch, a retreat in Valley Center, near San Diego, said Peter Elliott, United States Marshal for the Northern District of Ohio. Potter is a registered sex offender, officials said. He was being sought by the U.S. Marshal's Service. Late Tuesday Haylee was in the custody of a children's protective services agency in the San Diego County area, Elliott said. She was doing well but may have chicken pox, he added. "We understand she is healthy and happy and I believe, waiting to come back to her grandmother here," he said. Watch authorities announce their find » The journey west took them more than two thousand miles from Mansfield, the north-Central Ohio city where the girl and her mother live. "I am very happy that my granddaughter's coming home," said Mary Watson, Haylee's grandmother. "And I just want to thank all of you from the bottom of my heart." Watson, 24, and Potter, 27, were arrested without incident and held by the San Diego County Sheriff's Department. When asked their reaction, Elliott said, "I believe a little shocked that we were able to find them." Potter and Watson were still using the same vehicle, a 1980s blue Chevrolet pickup truck they drove from Ohio, Elliott said. Watson's hair was a bit darker and Potter also changed his appearance slightly. Authorities had feared Haylee was endangered. Potter, a sex offender, had escaped a half-way house on May 28, the day the girl and her mother fell out of sight. Countless tips came in while they were missing but one in particular led to the breakthrough on Tuesday, Elliott said without elaborating. But a tip from members of the ranch could have lead to the raid and arrest, a ranchmember told CNN. Kevin Carlin, a member of the ranch in the neighborhood of Valley Center, told CNN in a telephone interview that ranch members became suspicious when a former ranch guest saw billboards urging help in finding Haylee and the two adults. Elliott also praised intense national news coverage from programs such as HLN's Nancy Grace and Issues with Jane Velez-Mitchell, as well as local media and Clear Channel, which put up missing child billboards across the country. When she is returned to Ohio, Haylee will be placed in the custody of her grandmother, Elliott said. The U.S. Marshals Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force had offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of 27-year-old Potter. Potter was wanted on a state warrant for parole violation and a federal warrant for probation violation. He is a convicted tier three sex offender, according to the U.S. Marshals Service, a unit of the Justice Department. While on the run, Potter and Watson were reportedly seen on surveillance video on May 31 at a Wal-Mart Store in Marion, Ohio, 40 miles from Mansfield. Haylee was not on that video. Adding to concerns, Watson's roommate, Samantha Covert, said last week in an interview on Nancy Grace that she saw the little girl in bed with her mother and Potter the morning they disappeared. Covert said Watson carried a basket of clothing, pillows and blankets. Watson will likely face state charges, including harboring a fugitive, according to Elliott. In addition to other charges, he said Potter may be prosecuted under the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, a federal sex offender registration and self-reporting law that carries a multi-year felony sentence if violated. On its Web site, the Morning Star Ranch describes itself as "a community of growers of organic, pesticide-free avocados, grapefruit, persimmons

Missing Ohio girl found alive near San Diego, California, authorities say . Tip led authorities to raid communal farm . Haylee Donathan was with mother, boyfriend who's a fugitive sex offender . Haylee, mother were last seen May 28 .

(CNN) -- A 4.5-magnitude earthquake struck Southern California on Tuesday evening, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The quake was downgraded from an earlier magnitude of 5.1. The temblor was centered 18 miles west-southwest of El Centro, California, just north of Mexicali in Mexico's Baja California, the USGS said. It struck at a depth of 6.3 miles. "This earthquake is within the aftershock zone of a magnitude 7.2 (earthquake) that occurred on April 4" near Mexicali, said Susan Potter of the USGS, adding "this is an area that was exposed to many large earthquakes in the past." At least two people were killed and 100 injured in the April 4 quake. CNN's Patty Lane contributed to this report.

Temblor was centered 18 miles west-southwest of El Centro, California . Quake was downgraded from an earlier magnitude of 5.1 . Quake was within the aftershock zone of an April 4 earthquake .

(CNN) -- A 47-year-old Virginia man was charged Monday with interfering with a flight crew during a flight last week in which he allegedly became intoxicated and unruly, leading authorities to scramble fighter jets and the pilot to make an emergency landing. The incident occurred Friday when Muhammad Abu Tahir, a Pakistani national and lawful permanent U.S. resident of Glen Allen, Virginia, was aboard AirTran Airways Flight 39 from Atlanta, Georgia, to San Francisco, California. During the flight, a flight attendant served Tahir, seated in coach, three airplane-serving-sized bottles of wine, then refused to serve him more, according to a two-page affidavit filed Monday by the FBI. He appealed to the senior flight attendant, who granted him a fourth, then a fifth bottle, both of which he downed quickly, it said. Tahir then went to a bathroom in the rear of the plane and closed the door, opening it a few minutes later and placing his shoes and socks outside the door, then retreating back inside, the affidavit said. "A short time later, Tahir again opened the lavatory door revealing that he was shaving with no shirt on," it added. When a flight attendant knocked on the door and encouraged him to leave the bathroom so others could use it, Tahir refused "and started yelling at the flight attendant that he was being disrespected," it said. Notified of the passenger's behavior, the captain advised the senior flight attendant to enlist the help of a passenger to stand outside the lavatory in case help was needed, it said. But Tahir continued yelling and refused to obey the crew, at one point grabbing the senior flight attendant by her arms and hands, releasing her only after a passenger interceded, the affidavit said. By this time, a fire extinguisher had been carried to the rear of the plane for possible use against the man and a beverage cart was repositioned to contain Tahir, according to the affidavit . While Tahir remained inside the lavatory, the pilot made an emergency landing in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where police officers took Tahir to the El Paso County Jail, where he remained Monday. Tahir told the FBI that he felt he was being disrespected when the flight attendants denied his request for food, which was being served in business class, the affidavit said. The charges Tahir faces will be read Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Denver and a detention hearing and preliminary hearing are to be scheduled for later in the week. "It is crucial that the flying public obey the commands of the flight crew," said U.S. Attorney David Gaouette. If convicted, Tahir faces up to 20 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine, or both, as well as restitution to the airline. The incident was the second in three days in which North American Aerospace Defense Command fighter jets were scrambled in response to a passenger deemed disruptive. On Wednesday, NORAD escorted a Hawaii-bound plane back to its origination city of Portland, Oregon, after a passenger gave a flight attendant a note that was interpreted as being threatening. The passenger, Joseph Hedlund Johnson, 56, told the FBI he hadn't intended to scare anyone with the note, which began, "I thought I was going to die," and referenced the television show "Gilligan's Island."

47-year-old Virginia man charged with interfering with a flight crew . Incident happened on AirTran Airways Flight 39 from Atlanta to San Francisco . Flight attendants say passenger had five servings of wine, locked himself in bathroom .

(CNN) -- A 6-foot-4 football player is more than a million times the size of a typical Staphylococcus bacterium. But under the right conditions, that athlete could find himself defenseless against the microscopic bug. Kellen Winslow recently had a second staph infection and has accused his team of covering it up. The problem came to the forefront last week with Cleveland Browns player Kellen Winslow, who recently had his second staph infection. He is reportedly the sixth player to acquire staph among the Browns in five years. Winslow recently said the Browns treated him like a "piece of meat" when he was hospitalized for the condition, and he claimed they covered up the cause of his illness. After Winslow spoke out, the organization suspended him for one game, then rescinded the suspension after a settlement with Winslow over the weekend. The Browns said in a statement Saturday that the team and Winslow had worked through their differences, and that the team looked forward to his return. Winslow joined the team again Monday. Peyton Manning of the Indianapolis Colts was revealed to have a staph infection, the Indianapolis Star reported Friday. University of North Carolina-Asheville fans also recently learned that Kenny George, the 7-foot-7 center on the basketball team, had a staph infection complication that led to part of his foot being amputated. It's unclear how these high-profile athletes acquired their infections, but locker rooms have been found to habor staph bacteria in previous outbreaks. The topic is generating buzz throughout the sports world as more players' staph cases are revealed. Hospitals have long been known to be hot spots for transmitting staph, but recently cases have cropped up in other community settings. Regardless of where these players got their infections, the close quarters of a locker room raise questions about overall risks. About 30 percent of people carry staph in their noses without exhibiting symptoms, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Experts say Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, a form of staph resistant to common antibiotics, has become a more prevalent problem in settings such as contact sports that involve skin-to-skin touching. Most MRSA infections acquired in community settings present themselves as sores or boils and often appear red, swollen, painful or with drainage such as pus, the CDC says. Infections often occur in cuts and abrasions but also on body parts covered in hair, such as the back of the neck, armpit or groin. Schools, prisons and other crowded environments are particularly known for transmitting MRSA, said. Elaine Larson, professor of epidemiology at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. MRSA may spread particularly easily among athletes because they have repeated skin-to-skin contact, share items and surfaces that touch skin and have a hard time staying clean, the CDC says. Athletes often get cuts and abrasions; MRSA can enter uncovered skin breaks and cause infection. Dr. James Steinberg, medical director at Emory University's Crawford Long Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, said that environment plays a role in the spread of MRSA but that it's less a factor than coming into contact with a person's skin. "If you have somebody who has an infection -- he has a draining infection -- and he gets some of his pus on a bench, that staph's going to be there for hours or days before it dries out," he said. "But the higher concentration is going to be on that person's skin." A second infection in the same person could result from re-exposure or from treatment that didn't get rid of the bacteria colonization, he said. MRSA has been around in hospital settings since the 1970s, but community-associated MRSA was born in the late 1990s, and is now widespread in the community, said CDC spokesperson Nicole Coffin. A report from the CDC said that the deaths of four children from MRSA in North Dakota and Minnesota during the late 1990s "demonstrate the potential severity of community-acquired MRSA infections." A study on the St. Louis Rams published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2003 found that during the 2003 football

Several professional athletes have recently had staph infections . Experts say it is a growing problem in settings that involve skin-to-skin touching . CDC: Don't share towels; put something between your skin and the bench . Cleveland Browns' Kellen Winslow brought issue to forefront .

(CNN) -- A 6.4-magnitude earthquake jolted southern Taiwan on Thursday morning, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. There were no immediate reports of injuries or deaths but some damage has occurred to buildings and major bridges, and power was cut off near the epicenter. The quake struck at about 8:20 a.m. (7:20 p.m. Wednesday ET) in a mountainous region about 25 miles northwest of Taitung, on the southeast coast, and 40 miles east of Tainan and Kaohsiung on the southwest coast. The region, which includes Maolin National Scenic Area, is recovering from a direct hit by Typhoon Morakot that killed hundreds in August. The typhoon dumped more than two feet of rain, causing serious mudslides in the south, including one that buried the village of Shiao Lin under 50 feet of mud. Thursday's quake was followed by several aftershocks, the largest reaching 4.8. The initial 6.4 quake rumbled to the surface from 14 miles deep. Were you there? Did you feel it? The Taiwan Ministry of Interior and the National Fire Agency said electricity was cut off near the epicenter but had no further information. Residents in southern Taiwan reported cracks in some buildings and major bridges. Train service was also disrupted in some areas, Taiwanese media reported. Albert Yu, communications manager of the humanitarian organization World Vision, told CNN he was about halfway through a 90-minute trip via high-speed train from Taipei to Tainan when the quake struck. Passengers did not feel the quake, he said, but operators stopped the train and announced what had happened. More than an hour later, the train had not resumed its journey. "The operator is examining the train and the tracks," he said, adding that there was a concern about the stability of the area, particularly after the typhoon. "Inside the train, people are calm and are waiting it out -- opening laptops, starting to work and chatting with people around them." Yu said World Vision "has already been on high alert responding to the quakes in Haiti and Chile, so we're closely monitoring reports in the earthquake in southern Taiwan." Residents in the capital Taipei, 155 miles to the north, also felt the shaking. Earthquakes are not uncommon in the 13,892-square-mile island -- about the size of the U.S. states of Maryland and Delaware combined -- which sits across the juncture of the Eurasian and Philippine tectonic plates. A 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck the same general region in December. The island took a double hit on December 26, 2006, when earthquakes of 7.1 and 6.9 magnitude hit eight minutes apart. The largest recorded quake to strike Taiwan was an 8.0-magnitude quake in 1920, but the worst earthquake disaster stemmed from a 7.1-magnitude quake in 1935 that killed more than 3,200 people -- followed by a 6.5-magnitude quake that killed more than 2,700 people three months later. More recently, a 7.6-magnitude earthquake killed more than 2,400 people in 1999. CNN's Christine Theodorou and Journalist Andrew Lee contributed to this report

6.4 quake rocks southern Taiwan at about 0120 GMT . Aftershocks follow; no immediate reports of deaths . Quake hits northwest of Taitung, on the southeast coast . Residents in southern Taiwan report blackouts; train services disrupted .

(CNN) -- A 6.9-magnitude earthquake shook the Pacific Ocean near the Solomon Islands Tuesday night, one day after a string of earthquakes rattled the same area and another quake hit the Philippines, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The quake, considered strong in terms of earthquake magnitude, hit near sparsely populated islands in the archipelago at 11:15 p.m. (7:15 a.m. ET) at a depth of 35 km (22 miles). By 12:56 a.m. local time Wednesday, there had been five aftershocks, according to the USGS Web site. "Usually when we see earthquakes of this size, we see aftershocks," said USGS geophysicist Jessica Sigala. "The aftershocks are usually smaller in size, but are earthquakes in their own right." No tsunamis were expected, according to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. The island located closest to the initial quake's epicenter was Tetepare, located eight miles to the north. Geophysicist Amy Vaughan said the USGS had received no reports of damage, and it was hard for the agency to predict what might have occurred until it hears from media or people living in the area. There was property damage from Monday's quakes, but she didn't know how extensive it was. On Monday, the Solomon Islands were hit by eight quakes in 14 hours, starting at 8:48 a.m. local time and causing damage to at least one village. Rattling the islands were a strong 6.5-magnitude quake at 8:48 a.m. and a more powerful 7.2-magnitude tremor less than an hour later. The Solomon Islands are situated in the so-called Ring of Fire, an arc of fault lines circling the Pacific Basin that is prone to frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

The Solomon Islands are struck by a 6.9-magnitude earthquake . Earthquakes rattled the same area the day before . No tsunamis were expected, according to Pacific Tsunami Warning Center . There were no reports of damage from Tuesday's quake .

(CNN) -- A 62-year-old Michigan man was severely burned when a homemade rocket strapped on his back exploded while he slid down a snowy hill on a sled, authorities said this week. The rocket stunt was the grand finale on Saturday during the man's annual sledding party at his Oakland County, Michigan, home, the sheriff's department said. "He is known for doing 'crazy things' at his parties," an Oakland County sheriff's department statement said. "On this date, after consuming an unknown quantity of alcohol, he constructed a device out of a motorcycle muffler and pipe." Inside the makeshift rocket, the victim placed gunpowder, heads from matches and gasoline. He donned a helmet and took a sled to the top of a snowy embankment. "He asked another person to light a wick and then began to sled down a hill. At some point during the ride downhill, the device exploded. The results of the explosion were second-degree burns to the victim's face," the sheriff's department statement said. No one else was injured during the incident. The man, whose identity is not yet known, was hospitalized with significant damage to one of his eyes and could face criminal charges, authorities said.

Makeshift rocket sled stunt goes awry for Michigan man, authorities say . Authorities: Man was sledding downhill when homemade rocket exploded . Victim had reputation for doing "crazy things" at his parties, authorities say .

(CNN) -- A 7-year-old girl died after a large ocean wave kicked up by Hurricane Bill knocked her and two other people into the Atlantic off Maine's Acadia National Park on Sunday, a park official said. An ocean wave knocked three people into the Atlantic off Maine's Acadia National Park on Sunday. Coast Guard rescuers plucked the three from the ocean after a wave swept them from a rocky ledge at the park, according to Sheridan Steele, the park's superintendent. The conditions of the two survivors -- a 12-year-old girl and a man -- were not immediately available. No names were released. Ocean waves also injured a few other people at the park, knocking them to the ground or into rocks and crevices, Steele said. Some were taken to a hospital with broken bones or other injuries, Steele said. The victims were among several thousand people who were at the park late Sunday morning to watch the high waves that Hurricane Bill -- a Category 1 storm -- was producing offshore. "Even though we try to warn people and try to get people to watch from a safe distance, we weren't able to contact everybody in time," Steele said Sunday evening. The hurricane's center passed New England without making landfall and got very close to the Canadian province of Nova Scotia on Sunday afternoon. It was expected to pass near or over southeastern Nova Scotia, Canada, on Sunday night, the National Hurricane Center said. Watch how Canada is bracing for Bill » At 11 p.m., Hurricane Bill was about 115 miles west-northwest of Cape Race, Newfoundland, according to the hurricane center. The storm had maximum sustained winds near 75 mph, and was moving to the east-northeast near 40 mph the center reported. Bill would become a tropical storm if its winds fall below 74 mph. "Weakening is forecast during the next 24 hours and Bill is expected to become extratropical on Monday," the center's 11 p.m. advisory said. "Large and dangerous swells generated by Hurricane Bill will continue to impact the Atlantic Maritimes of Canada overnight." Though tropical storm warnings were lifted in the United States, tropical storm warnings were in effect for parts of Canada's Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and and Newfoundland. A tropical storm warning means tropical storm conditions are expected somewhere within the warning area within 24 hours. "Large and dangerous swells generated by Hurricane Bill" were possible along those provinces Sunday night, and 2 to 6 inches of rain were possible in Newfoundland, the advisory said. Earlier, the weather service warned that dangerous surf and "life-threatening rip currents" remained concerns along the U.S. East Coast. Rip currents are strong seaward flows of water that occur where there's a break in the shoreline. They are difficult to detect. Watch a primer on rip currents » The water is unsafe even for "strong swimmers," Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick warned Saturday. Though beaches along the Massachusetts coast remained closed, the National Weather Service lifted its tropical storm warnings there Sunday morning. Stuart Smith, the harbormaster in Chatham, Massachusetts, said there were reports of "insignificant" storm-related damage, but Bill did not cause much concern. "I think we really dodged a bullet," he said. "It stayed just enough offshore to give us a break." Watch how Canada is bracing for Bill » It's good news for President Obama and his family, who planned to arrive for vacation in Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, on Sunday. "We look forward to welcoming him to Massachusetts as soon as he can safely get here," Patrick said. Rain was scant in Chatham on Sunday morning as residents went about their normal business. Doug Ricciardi, a cook at the Chatham Pier Fish Market, was making 5-gallon buckets of chowder, as he does every morning. He said he was expecting a typically busy day at the restaurant. Watch how surf warnings persist in North Carolina » Smith said the only problems reported were a few small boats washed ashore or

NEW: One of three people in Maine swept into Atlantic Ocean by wave dies . Victims were among people at state park to watch high waves from Hurricane Bill . Storm skirts East Coast; Massachusetts residents carry on with daily lives . Chatham, Massachusetts, harbormaster: "I think we really dodged a bullet"

(CNN) -- A 9-year-old girl was laid to rest Wednesday as a 15-year-old girl, described as an acquaintance, was in court on charges she carried out the younger girl's murder Elizabeth Olten was coming home from a friend's house last week in St. Martins, Missouri, when she disappeared. Distraught residents searched for days for Olten without luck, when the Cole County Sheriff's Department received a tip that led them to the alleged killer. It didn't lead them to a stranger, a child predator or a convicted sex offender -- avenues police had originally considered because of Olten's age Instead, it led them to a 15-year-old girl who, according to Peggy Florence, a family spokeswoman, had played with Olten. The girl then led police to the body -- which was found in an area authorities searched before, the sheriff's department said, but was hidden so well they hadn't seen it. Authorities said both physical evidence and some written evidence led to the suspect's arrest. She has been charged with first-degree murder. On Wednesday, Olten's family looked towards closure as two drastically different scenes unfolded in Missouri. Olten's family and friends watched as two white horses pulled her casket in a glass hearse. Hours earlier, a judge had ordered the 15-year-old suspect to be held while he decides whether she should be tried in adult court. Authorities have not released the suspect's name. Authorities released few details about the case, though they said an autopsy was conducted Saturday. The Olten family spent the day of Elizabeth's funeral remembering a very special little girl and mourning their loss, choosing to celebrate her life, instead of attending the court hearing of the teen accused of killing her. After the funeral ceremony, they released pink balloons, in honor of Elizabeth Olten's favorite color. For them, it was about their little girl -- the one who was always ready with a bright smile. "She wanted to be a mother, she wanted to love others and take care of others," family spokeswoman Florence told HLN's Nancy Grace. "She was just a lovely child -- she never met an animal she didn't love and dress up and play with." She loved to dress up and put on fancy dresses, Florence said, even in the snow and the mud. "She was a beautiful little girly girl," Florence said. "She had everyone's heart."

15-year-old suspect accused planning, carrying out murder of 9-year-old . Elizabeth Olten disappeared after returning home from friends house in Missouri . Olten, 9, and suspect had played together before, family spokeswoman says . Judge will be deciding whether to charge suspect as an adult or juvenile .

(CNN) -- A 93-year-old World War II medic who froze to death last month in his Bay City, Michigan, home left his entire estate to a local hospital, an estate attorney told CNN Wednesday. Martin Schur poses with his wife, Marian, in 1976. Local and state officials agree that Schur's death was avoidable. The attorney would not disclose the exact amount left behind by Martin Schur. But his nephew said his uncle indicated to family members two years ago that he had saved up more than a half-million dollars over the years. Schur and his wife, Marian, who died more than a year ago, did not have any children. "I just know at one time he said he had over $600,000 in savings," said William Walworth. "That's what he told me and my brother, and he was proud that he was able to save and build his estate up to that." Cathy Reder, an attorney negotiating on behalf of Bay Regional Medical Center and the Schur family, said she was filing paperwork in probate court Wednesday for the court to determine the validity of the will. A hearing has been set for March 17. Reder would not specify the amount left to the hospital, other than to say it's more than $1. "The will leaves everything to Bay Medical Center," she said. The hospital had no immediate comment. Walworth said his uncle was a frugal man who hadn't eaten at a restaurant for over 30 years. "He was very tight, and he was very frugal. But he did manage to save a lot of money." He said it's possible his uncle's estate could be less than $600,000, but he believes it's still "sizable." "Knowing my uncle, that's him," Walworth said. "He loved his community. He loved Bay City, Michigan." He added, "Hopefully his death is not in vain and we can learn from this, and he's still able to save lives. ... He was a very unique, special person in my life. I'm proud of what he was able to do in his life." He said he hopes his uncle's message will spur others to "look out for their neighbor." The size of the estate -- if it's as large as the nephew believes -- adds another tragic twist to Schur's death. The power company limited his electricity because he owed about $1,000. Watch neighbor say the death is "unforgivable" » Schur's death last month shocked Bay City, a town of about 37,000 on Lake Huron's Saginaw Bay. The World War II veteran's frozen body was found in his home January 17, just four days after a device that regulates how much power he uses -- installed because of failure to pay -- shut off his power. A medical examiner said the temperature was 32 degrees in the house when Schur's body was found. The medical examiner told The Bay City Times that Schur died a "slow, painful death." "It's not easy to die from hypothermia without first realizing your fingers and toes feel like they're burning," Dr. Kanu Virani told the paper. The Michigan State Police launched an investigation into Schur's death for possible criminal violations. "We have to do everything we can to make sure this doesn't happen again, whether it's Bay City or in any one of the cold weather states," Bay City Mayor Charles Brunner said last week. The death has prompted a review of Bay City Electric Light & Power's rules and procedures for limiting or cutting off power. It also resulted in Bay City residents protesting Monday to the city about its handling of the whole situation. A neighbor who lives down the street called Schur's death "unforgivable." "This can't be allowed to happen in this country," said Jerome Anderson. Walworth said he believes his uncle's death was "preventable." "It should never have happened.

Martin Schur, 93, froze to death in his home last month; leaves estate to hospital . Attorney won't disclose amount; relative says it's likely in excess of $500,000 . "Hopefully his death is not in vain and we can learn from this," nephew says . The death has prompted a state investigation into the manner in which he died .

(CNN) -- A B-2 stealth bomber crashed early Saturday morning local time in Guam, according to the Air Force. A B-2 stealth bomber taxis at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, in a 2005 photo. Two pilots who were aboard during the crash, at Andersen Air Force Base, ejected from the bomber and were in good condition afterward, according to an Air Force statement. The pilots were from the 509th Bomb Wing. The military didn't release their names. Emergency responders were on the scene of the crash. A board of officers will investigate its cause. The crash is the second in three days of an Air Force craft. Watch smoke rise from crash site An Air Force fighter pilot was killed Wednesday after two F-15C jets collided during a training exercise over the Gulf of Mexico. The planes were from the 33rd Fighter Wing, a combat-flying unit out of Eglin Air Force Base near Pensacola, Florida. E-mail to a friend

Air Force says 2 pilots in good condition after ejecting from plane . Emergency responders on scene of crash at Andersen Air Force Base . Crash is the second in three days involving an Air Force craft .

(CNN) -- A Belgian city has decided to go "veggie" for a day in an effort to highlight the environmental and health costs of eating meat. Stock breeding is a significant contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions. The city authorities in Ghent, some 50 kilometers (30 miles) west of Brussels, have declared Thursdays "Veggie Day," (Veggiedag) and are asking residents to get involved and opt for vegetarian meals at least one day a week. It says Ghent is the first city in Europe to try such a scheme. According to the city's campaign publicity, eating less meat can help to minimize the ecological footprint of your food because stock breeding has a detrimental impact on the environment. It points to data from the United Nations which says livestock is responsible for generating around 18 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. It is also hoped that Veggie Day will have a positive health impact in the fight against diet-related illnesses such as obesity, cancer and diabetes. On Wednesday organizers provided residents with meat-free recipes and a list of vegetarian restaurants at a "launch party" in the center of the city. Ghent claims to have more vegetarian eateries per inhabitant than Paris, London and Berlin. Demonstrations were also on offer to people looking for green cooking tips.

Thursdays will be declared "Veggie Days" in Ghent . Residents asked to opt for vegetarian meals at least once a week . City says eating less meat is healthy and can minimize ecological footprint .

(CNN) -- A Brazilian court ordered Wednesday that 9-year-old Sean Goldman be returned to the custody of his father, David, in the United States, but his Brazilian relatives were expected to try to block the order, a Brazilian official said. Outside his home in New Jersey, David Goldman told reporters he was heartened by the news, but would not consider his efforts successful until he and the boy are reunited. "I'm hopeful," he said. "I can't be optimistic because I've gone down there so many times, always under the guise that the rule of law will be followed and Sean will come home to me and his family, and that doesn't happen." The 3-0 ruling by the Federal Regional Tribunal in Rio de Janeiro upheld a June decision by the 16th Federal Court in Rio, which ordered Sean returned to his home in New Jersey in accordance with the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of Child Abductions. But a Brazilian official with knowledge of the case predicted Wednesday's order would be appealed. So far, the boy's Brazilian family has filed 40 appeals, most of them procedural but one substantive. The Brazilian high court is to take up any appeal on Thursday, said Rep. Chris Smith, R-New Jersey, who has been pressing the case for his constituent. "Frankly, every possible nuance has been appealed by the other side," he told CNN's "Situation Room." "Remember, this is an abducting family, they're kidnappers, but they have had a great deal of sway with the court." The Supreme Court could still allow Sean Goldman to be returned to his father in the United States while it decides any appeal. Goldman, a former model, said he had last spoken with his son in June, but they did not discuss the custody battle. The case began in 2004, when his wife, Bruna Bianchi, took their 4-year-old son from their home in New Jersey to Rio de Janeiro for what was to have been a two-week vacation. She never returned, instead remarrying there and retaining custody of their son. She died last year in childbirth. Goldman has argued that, as the sole surviving parent, he should be granted custody. But the boy's stepfather and his other Brazilian relatives have argued that it would be traumatizing to the boy to remove him from what has been his home for most of his life. The case has drawn high-profile input, including pressure for the boy's return from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who said Wednesday in a statement that she was pleased to hear about the decision. "We appreciate the assistance and cooperation of the government of Brazil in upholding its obligations under the Hague Convention on International Child Abduction," she said. "And it is my hope that this long legal process is now complete and that the Goldman family will be reunited quickly." CNN's Jill Dougherty contributed to this story.

NEW: Clinton: "It is my hope that this long legal process is now complete" Dad hopeful, but not optimistic after ruling . Court rules David Goldman should regain custody of his 9-year-old son . Goldman's wife took son to Brazil in 2004; she filed for divorce and later died .

(CNN) -- A British couple kidnapped by Somalian pirates in the Indian Ocean have issued another desperate plea, saying they are being badly treated and need urgent help. Paul and Rachel Chandler, from Kent in southern England, were taken by pirates from their yacht, the Lynn Rival, on October 23, just days after setting sail from the Seychelles islands for Tanzania. The couple was brought ashore and are being held in separate locations in central Somalia. Their captors initially demanded a ransom of $7 million, but the British government -- in line with longstanding policy -- has refused to pay. In a video filmed on Thursday in Somalia by the French news agency AFP, Rachel Chandler begged the British government to help secure the couple's release. "Please help us, these people are not treating us well," she said. "I'm old, I'm 56 and my husband is 60 years old. We need to be together because we have not much time left." A doctor was shown examining Paul Chandler, 60, who appeared to be in a better state than his wife. The medic found Rachel Chandler in poor mental health, calling out for her husband, AFP reported. "She is sick, she is very anxious, she suffers from insomnia," Dr. Mohamed Helmi Hangul told the agency. "She's very confused, she's always asking about her husband -- 'Where's my husband, where's my husband?' -- and she seems completely disorientated." Paul Chandler said his conditions were poor and also pleaded for help. "Please help us, we have nobody to help us, we have no children... We have been in captivity for 98 days and we are not in good condition," he said, also on Thursday. Hangul said Paul Chandler "had a bad cough and seemed to have some fever." A spokesman for the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office told CNN on Sunday: "We are monitoring the situation very closely and doing everything we can to help secure a release. "We remain in regular contact with the family and are providing support. We call for the safe and swift release of Paul and Rachel." Pirates have been very active off the east coast of Africa in the past several years, operating out of lawless Somalia. Earlier this month, pirates attempted to hijack an Indian crude oil vessel 105 nautical miles from Somalia, the EU's anti-piracy naval force said. The pirates opened fire on the ship and were later arrested. Piracy on the high-seas reached a six-year high in 2009, according to the International Maritime Bureau, which monitors shipping crimes. CNN's Per Nyberg contributed to this report.

British couple kidnapped by Somalian pirates issue another plea for help . Paul and Rachel Chandler say they are being poorly treated and need urgent help . Chandlers were taken from their yacht by pirates in October . Pirates have demanded ransom of $7 million .