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(CNN) -- A mine exploded Monday on a road in southern Somalia, killing four people -- three members of the medical humanitarian group Medecins Sans Frontieres and a journalist.
Ongoing violence in Somalia has devastated the capital Mogadishu.
The incident occurred Monday along a road in Kismayo, the group said.
Victor Okumu, 51, a Kenyan doctor; Damien Lehalle, 27, a French logistician; and a Somali driver named Billan were the MSF workers who were killed.
Another member of the team was slightly wounded, the group said in a posting on its Web site.
"The exact circumstances of this fatal incident are not yet clear," the posting said.
Also killed was journalist Hassan Kafi Hared, 36. The remote-controlled mine erupted as he was walking to a news conference in Siyad Village in northern Kismayu, said the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ).
He was working for the government-run Somali National News Agency and a Somali Web site called gedonet.com. He is survived by a wife and three children.
"This is a targeted attack and we declare that this brutal killing on the journalist and the aid workers is an attack on the society itself," said NUSOJ Secretary General Omar Faruk Osman, in a news release.
"We demand that transitional government and the authorities in Kismayu to identify the culprits of this crime and bring them to justice" he said.
The medical humanitarian organization said it was evacuating remaining international members of it staff from Kismayu.
Hared is the second journalist to be killed this year, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. The first, 38-year-old Norwegian reporter Carsten Thomassen, died Jan. 15 in a suicide bomb attack in Kabul.
In a written statement, a representative of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said he condemned the killings and "demands a thorough investigation by the authorities." E-mail to a friend
|
f51a80fb16bd4595aea76a470e5ae360
|
What went off in southern Somalia?
|
[
"mine"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- A pair of earthquakes with magnitudes of at least 5.0 struck within 90 minutes of each other near Christchurch, New Zealand, on Monday, the U.S. Geological Survey reported, reviving vivid memories of a deadly quake that killed more than 180 people in February.
"Everyone is on edge here anyway," said Rhys Taylor, who said he could hear sirens and see helicopters flying over Christchurch. "Obviously, power's out -- sort of all over the city at the moment -- and phone lines are down."
Police evacuated sections of the city's central business district after reports of a possible gas leak, police said. Several bridges in the city were closed as a precaution.
"It was quite an exciting ride," Christchurch Police Acting Inspector Murray Hurst told CNN after the first quake, adding that there was some damage caused by the quake and a few injuries that were not life-threatening.
The first quake -- a magnitude 5.2 -- was centered 9 kilometers (5 miles) east-southeast of Christchurch at a depth of 11 kilometers (6.8 miles), according to USGS. The quake took place at 1 p.m. Monday.
A second quake -- a more powerful 6.0 tremor -- struck at 2:20 p.m., roughly 13 kilometers (8 miles) north-northeast of the city at a depth of 9 kilometers (5.6 miles).
And at least one smaller quake followed. A magnitude 4.6 quake struck at 2:40 p.m. about 11 kilometers (6 miles) east of Christchurch and at a depth of 12.5 kilometers (7.8 miles), according to the USGS.
The quakes came nearly four months after a 6.3-magnitude temblor struck the same area, killing more than 180 people.
CNN's Jack Maddox and Anisha Bhandari contributed to this report.
|
a3c7a412c11b47088c76766f8607fbfb
|
How many people were killed?
|
[
"180"
] |
NewsQA
|
(PEOPLE.com) -- Saturday was the big day for "Bachelor" and "Dancing with the Stars" contestant Melissa Rycroft, who tied the knot with her fiancé, insurance agent Tye Strickland, in Mexico on Saturday, PEOPLE has learned.
The couple, who met three years ago in their hometown Dallas, got engaged in June, less than four months after Rycroft was jilted on national television by "Bachelor" star Jason Mesnick.
"I'm really happy for her," Mesnick told PEOPLE. "This whole journey took her to a place where things looked like they were down for her. But then she ended up with the person she was meant to be with. That's what life's all about. I couldn't be happier for her."
Indeed, after what looked like a downer season of "The Bachelor", it turns out that Mesnick and his top three choices on the dating show all found love in 2009. After splitting with Rycroft, Mesnick began dating runner-up Molly Malaney. The two became engaged last October in New Zealand.
Then second runner-up, Jillian Harris, starred on "The Bachelorette." She and Chicago, Illinois software consultant Ed Swiderski got engaged on the season finale last May and are now living together in Chicago.
Rycroft, 26, and Strickland, 28, were previously a couple but split shortly before she left to be a contestant on "The Bachelor" last year. The couple rekindled in January, Rycroft told PEOPLE.
"Tye and I picked right back up," Rycroft said shortly after getting engaged. "He's my best friend."
Rycroft wore an Alfred Angelo gown at the south-of-the-border nuptials, which was attended by family and close friends.
"We want to have it be as fun and relaxing as possible for our families," Rycroft said last summer as she and Strickland planned for the big day. "I just want it to be fun and a day everyone will remember. Tye is my true love."
© 2010 People and Time Inc. All rights reserved.
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8b315ddff325465097dac7a8550e7d97
|
When did Rycroft get engaged?
|
[
"June,"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- University of Arkansas authorities say they see no "suspicious circumstances" surrounding the death of a 19-year-old football player who was was found dead in his room Sunday.
Garrett Uekman, a sophomore tight end for the Razorbacks, was found unconscious and unresponsive in his room about 11:15 a.m., the university said in a written statement Sunday afternoon. Attempts to revive him were unsuccessful, and he was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital shortly after noon.
A roommate last saw Uekman playing video games about an hour earlier, "and he appeared to be in good health," the university said. An autopsy will be performed.
"The cause of Uekman's death is not known at this time, but there are no suspicious circumstances," the statement said.
Uekman, of Little Rock, "was living his dream of going to the U of A and playing football for the Razorbacks," parents Danny and Michelle Uekman said in a statement released through the school. He appeared in nine games for the 10-1 Arkansas squad this season.
|
af618748f4db4d2391706321f4057731
|
where did he go to school
|
[
"of Arkansas"
] |
NewsQA
|
JENA, Louisiana (CNN) -- Charges against Bryant Purvis, one of the six black students accused of being involved in beating a white student, were reduced to second degree aggravated battery during his arraignment Wednesday morning.
Bryant Purvis says he is focusing on his studies and practicing basketball.
Purvis, who was facing charges of second-degree attempted murder and conspiracy, entered a not guilty plea to the reduced charges in the LaSalle Parish Courthouse in Jena.
Charges have now been reduced against at least five of the students in the racially charged "Jena 6" case. Charges against Jesse Ray Beard, who was 14 at the time of the alleged crime, are unavailable because he's a juvenile.
Civil rights leaders Martin Luther King III and Al Sharpton led more than 15,000 marchers to Jena -- a town of about 3,000 -- in September to protest how authorities handled the cases against Purvis and five other teens accused of the December 2006 beating of fellow student Justin Barker.
After the arraignment, Purvis said he has moved to another town to complete high school. He said he is focusing on his studies and practicing basketball, which he hopes to play in college.
Mychal Bell, 17, is the only one of the "Jena 6" teens still in jail. Although he was released in September after his adult criminal conviction for the beating was overturned, he was ordered two weeks later to spend 18 months in a juvenile facility for a probation violation relating to an earlier juvenile conviction.
A district judge tossed out Bell's conviction for conspiracy to commit second-degree battery, saying the matter should have been handled in juvenile court. The 3rd Circuit Court of Appeal in Lake Charles, Louisiana, did the same with Bell's battery conviction in mid-September.
Prosecutors originally charged all six black students accused of being involved in beating Barker with second-degree attempted murder and conspiracy. E-mail to a friend
|
5d078ec0bed145208ecc30d314bd8722
|
What month was the case highlighted by protests?
|
[
"September"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Garrison Keillor, author and host of the folksy radio show "A Prairie Home Companion," was being treated Wednesday for a minor stroke he suffered over the weekend, a hospital spokesman said.
Author Garrison Keillor attends an event in New York on November 18, 2008.
Keillor, who turned 67 last month, was admitted to St. Mary's Hospital at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, on Sunday night, spokesman Karl Oestreich said in a news release.
"He is up and moving around, speaking sensibly, working at a laptop, and it's expected he'll be released on Friday," Oestreich said.
"He plans to resume a normal schedule next week."
The live variety show "A Prairie Home Companion" is aired on Minnesota Public Radio.
Keillor launched the program on July 6, 1974, in a St. Paul, Minnesota, college theater before an audience of 12 people.
According to a "Backstage Chat" on the show, Keillor got the idea for it from watching the Grand Ole Opry.
Keillor, also a storyteller and satirist, has written 11 books, including three for children. He was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1994.
|
d1d78e9da4394239bd240c2866653842
|
What is Garrison's age?
|
[
"67"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- A soldier who had been slated to begin serving at Fort Campbell in Tennessee was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of killing his wife, police said.
Jonathan Downing was found in a wooded area 20 miles from the home where his wife was found slain, police say.
Jonathan Clyde Downing, 31, was being held without bond and will be tried in civilian court in the killing of 25-year-old Sena Marie Downing, said Jim Knoll, public information officer for police in Clarksville, Tennessee.
Police officers went to the couple's Clarksville home shortly after 3 a.m. after receiving notice of a possible shooting, Knoll said.
"When the officers responded, the door was ajar; they went in and found her inside of the garage, and she had been shot," Knoll told CNN in a telephone interview.
A few hours later, officers with the Tennessee Highway Patrol and the Robertson County Sheriff's Office located Downing's vehicle about 20 miles away in Robertson County and found Downing in woods nearby, Knoll said.
"That's where he finally gave up," Knoll said. "It took them almost two hours to convince him."
Downing, who had recently served at Fort Knox in Kentucky, was taken into custody shortly before noon and was charged with criminal homicide.
|
a134b9c6c1034cd89db91baa712a22b1
|
Where will Downing be tried?
|
[
"in civilian court"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Switzerland's largest city has permitted the use of controversial posters which call for a ban on the construction of minarets on mosques in the European country.
The Federal Commission against Racism said the posters defame Switzerland's peaceful Muslim population.
The posters are part of a campaign by the nationalist Swiss People's Party (SVP) and feature a veiled woman against a background of a Swiss flag pierced by several minarets resembling missiles.
The cities of Basel and Lausanne have described the posters as racist and banned them in publicly-owned spaces. However, Zurich is among a clutch of cities that have chosen not to prohibit them.
According to the SVP, the minarets symbolize ideological opposition to the country's constitution.
Switzerland will hold a national referendum on the issue on November 29.
According to Agence France-Presse, an opinion poll by the daily Tages-Anzeiger showed more than 51 percent of Swiss voters are against any ban on minaret construction.
The Swiss government and all the other major political parties are recommending a "no" vote, while local Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders have joined forces to reject a ban, AFP added.
The mayor of Zurich, Corine Mauch, told CNN that the decision on the poster was taken on the basis of political freedom of speech in the run-up to November's vote.
"While we disapprove of the posters we took the decision after legal consultations.
"We consulted the Federal Commission against Racism and spoke to Muslim communities in the city, but decided banning the posters from public spaces would draw more attention to the issue." Do you agree with the Zurich decision?
However, the Federal Commission against Racism said in a statement Wednesday that the posters "defame Switzerland's peaceful Muslim population, feed prejudice, and portray the Muslim community as wanting to dominate Switzerland, oppress women and trample on fundamental rights."
The SVP have courted controversy with their campaigns in the past. In 2007 they faced international criticism for leading an anti-immigration campaign during the federal election that featured a poster with a white sheep kicking a black sheep off a Swiss flag.
Under party leader Christoph Blocher they went on to win the biggest share of the vote in the 200-member parliament, taking 55 seats.
Earlier this year they issued a poster depicting crows pecking at a map of Switzerland, as the country prepared to vote on whether to support an extension of a free movement of labor deal with the European Union which would include new members, Bulgaria and Romania.
|
5f259214b78c4377b97464f1b3d5fae9
|
What do the posters call for?
|
[
"ban on the construction of minarets on mosques in the European country."
] |
NewsQA
|
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (CNN) -- South Africa has refused the Dalai Lama a visa to attend an international peace conference in Johannesburg this week, a presidential spokesman said.
The Dalai Lama fled China in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule.
The Tibetan spiritual leader and Nobel Laureate did not receive a visa because it was not in South Africa's interest for him to attend, said Thabo Masebe.
South Africa thinks that, if the Dalai Lama attended the conference, the focus would shift away from the 2010 World Cup -- the global soccer championship it will host next year.
"We cannot allow focus to shift to China and Tibet," Masebe said, adding that South Africa has gained much from its trading relationship with China.
The Dalai Lama's fellow laureate, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, said he would boycott the event. Watch the controversy surrounding South Africa's decision »
Former president F.W. De Klerk, another laureate, backed Tutu, saying in a statement that he would also not participate in the conference if the Dalai Lama remained excluded.
De Klerk said that the decision to refuse the visa made a "mockery" of the peace conference.
"The decision to exclude the Dalai Lama is irreconcilable with key principles on which our society is based including the principles of accountability, openness and responsiveness and the rights to freedom of expression and free political activity," he said.
"South Africa is a sovereign constitutional democracy and should not allow other countries to dictate to it regarding who it should, and should not admit to its territory - regardless of the power and influence of the country."
A representative of the Dalai Lama said he was not surprised by the decision. The Tibetan government in exile thinks that China has pressured many countries to refuse a visit by the Dalai Lama, according to Chhime Chhoekyapa, an aide in Dharamsala, India.
The Dalai Lama fled China in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule.
The peace conference was billed as an opportunity to showcase South Africa's role as a human-rights champion ahead of its hosting of soccer's World Cup next year.
It was to bring together Noble Laureates and top soccer officials. In addition to Tutu and De Klerk, laureates Nelson Mandela and Martti Ahtisaari, Sepp Blatter, president of soccer's international governing body, and actress Charlize Theron were invited to attend. The event had the blessing of the Nobel Committee.
|
618ea5bc88a64cbdb20edc04c5363889
|
Who is Desmond Tutu?
|
[
"Archbishop"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- The gigolo former lover of Germany's richest woman has been jailed for six years after confessing to blackmailing her and other women out of millions of dollars, a court official said Monday.
Helg Sgarbi has admitted blackmailing Germany's richest woman, Susanne Klatten.
Susanne Klatten, the BMW heiress, complained to police last year that Helg Sgarbi had threatened to release pictures of them if she did not pay him nearly $60 million.
Munich's state prosecutor Anton Winkler said Sgarbi, who was accused of blackmailing several wealthy women, had made a written confession which was read by his lawyer to the court.
"He confessed that he blackmailed the victims, told them untrue stories," Winkler told CNN.
However, Sgarbi had not revealed what had happened to the estimated $12.5 million he had taken from his victims nor where the pictures had gone.
"It is really only half a confession. We asked him about where the money is, about accomplices and videos... and he refused to say anything about that," Winkler said.
Authorities said Klatten, who is married with three children, had an affair with Sgarbi.
He started to ask her for money, and she paid several million at first, but when she refused to provide more he threatened to send compromising videos to her husband and the media.
Klatten went to the police in January 2008, telling them she was the victim of a fraud and blackmail.
At the time, her spokesman, Joerg Appelhans, told CNN that Sgarbi's goal had always been to con her.
"She rigorously notified authorities even in light of the uncomfortable public repercussions this would have for her," Appelhans said.
Sgarbi's lawyer, Egon Geis, said he was surprised by all the media attention.
"This is all because of Mrs. Klatten, take the same amount of money and any other person and no one would care."
Sgarbi allegedly maintained relationships with a number of women, telling them he was a special Swiss representative in crisis zones.
Klatten, the daughter of the late BMW chief Herbert Quandt, holds a 12.5-percent stake in the German carmaker and a 51.1-percent share of chemical company Altana.
Forbes magazine lists her as the world's 55th richest person, with a personal fortune of $13.2 billion.
CNN's Fred Pleitgen contributed to this report.
|
4881640bebaa4a2c8283347916cd1870
|
What company is the woman an heiress to?
|
[
"BMW"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- A soldier who had been slated to begin serving at Fort Campbell in Tennessee was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of killing his wife, police said.
Jonathan Downing was found in a wooded area 20 miles from the home where his wife was found slain, police say.
Jonathan Clyde Downing, 31, was being held without bond and will be tried in civilian court in the killing of 25-year-old Sena Marie Downing, said Jim Knoll, public information officer for police in Clarksville, Tennessee.
Police officers went to the couple's Clarksville home shortly after 3 a.m. after receiving notice of a possible shooting, Knoll said.
"When the officers responded, the door was ajar; they went in and found her inside of the garage, and she had been shot," Knoll told CNN in a telephone interview.
A few hours later, officers with the Tennessee Highway Patrol and the Robertson County Sheriff's Office located Downing's vehicle about 20 miles away in Robertson County and found Downing in woods nearby, Knoll said.
"That's where he finally gave up," Knoll said. "It took them almost two hours to convince him."
Downing, who had recently served at Fort Knox in Kentucky, was taken into custody shortly before noon and was charged with criminal homicide.
|
c589b4bf998147289272b6c3b0a1b0bf
|
Who was arrested?
|
[
"Jonathan Downing"
] |
NewsQA
|
(Entertainment Weekly) -- Actor Jude Law is expecting his fourth child, his spokesperson said.
Actor Jude Law's publicist confirmed he is expecting his fourth child.
In a statement released to Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, the single actor confirmed that he will once again become a father.
"Jude Law can confirm that, following a relationship last year, he has been advised that he is to be the father of a child due in the fall of this year," the statement said.
"Mr. Law is no longer in a relationship with the individual concerned but he intends to be a fully supportive part of the child's life. This is an entirely private matter and no other statements will be made."
The statement was released exclusively to Entertainment Weekly, whose site broke the story on Wednesday.
Law, 36, has three children with ex-wife Sadie Frost.
The handsome British actor known for appearing in movies such as "Cold Mountain" and "The Talented Mr. Ripley" and headlines a few years ago after an alleged fling with his children's caregiver and a broken engagement with actress Sienna Miller.
He is scheduled to appear in "Hamlet" on Broadway in October and will star opposite Robert Downey Jr. in the movie "Sherlock Holmes" slated to open Christmas Day.
CLICK HERE to Try 2 RISK FREE issues of Entertainment Weekly
|
ec1a41f218e642dba2c3b059a6868264
|
When is he expecting his next child?
|
[
"fall of this year,\""
] |
NewsQA
|
LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- A judge Wednesday approved Katherine Jackson's request that Michael Jackson's estate get the bill for the cost of this week's burial of her son.
A private funeral for Michael Jackson, here in 2002, will be held Thursday in Glendale, California, his family says.
More than two months after his death, the pop singer will be interred in a private ceremony Thursday evening at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California, the Jackson family said.
A short hearing was held Wednesday morning before Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff to consider Katherine Jackson's petition.
The special administrators of his estate -- in control of the purse strings until the will is probated -- did not object to the Jackson family's request.
The cost of the burial is a secret -- kept under court seal by Beckloff's order -- but it is believed to include paying Glendale police to handle traffic and security around the cemetery.
The ceremony, which will be closed to the public and news media, is set for 7 p.m. at the cemetery's Holly Terrace in the Great Mausoleum, a family spokesman said.
On July 7, Jackson's family and friends gathered at Forest Lawn's Hollywood Hills cemetery for a short service just before a public tribute to the singer in downtown Los Angeles.
There has been widespread speculation about the whereabouts of Jackson's body. It has remained a closely guarded secret.
The pop star's siblings and parents have been divided over where to bury him, several family members have said.
Older brother Jermaine Jackson has said he wanted the singer to be buried at his former Neverland Ranch in Santa Barbara County, California, while others have objected.
The burial comes less than a week after the Los Angeles County coroner made public his conclusion that Jackson's June 25 death was a homicide. The coroner ruled that the anesthetic drug propofol and the sedative lorazepam were the primary drugs responsible for the death.
Los Angeles police detectives have not concluded their criminal investigation into the singer's death. No one has been charged.
|
0a55dee8bdb743c08b8075812325b659
|
When was the public tribute held?
|
[
"July 7,"
] |
NewsQA
|
Kathmandu, Nepal (CNN) -- Nepal's parliament on Sunday elected a leader of the former Maoist rebels as the new prime minister with a simple majority.
Baburam Bhattarai, 57, vice-chairman of the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) will become the fourth prime minister since Nepal became a republic in 2008.
After his election Bhattarai said he would attempt to complete the peace process and the long-delayed new constitution.
Bhattarai received 340 votes in parliament, beating his rival Ram Chandra Poudel, 66, of the Nepali Congress, who received 235 votes.
Bhattarai, who has a degree in architecture and a doctorate in regional planning, was able to get the crucial support of the regional Madhesi parties from southern Nepal.
The 65 votes of the five parties of the Madhesi front were crucial for Bhattrai, whose party is the biggest in the 601-member parliament but lacks a majority.
Media reports say the Madhesi parties have been promised 12 ministerial posts in exchange for their support.
Bhattari is the second leader of the former rebels to become prime minister.
The Maoists became the biggest party in the 2008 elections and their chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal was prime minister for nine months. He resigned in a dispute with the president, who reinstated an army chief Dahal had fired.
Earlier this month Jhalanath Khanal resigned as prime minister after he was unable to persuade the former Maoist rebels to demobilize and reintegrate their fighters in a deal that was agreeable to the other political parties.
The Maoists fought a ten-year insurgency from 1996 to 2006 in which about 16,000 people were killed.
According to the peace deal that ended the uprising, 19,602 United Nations-verified combatants should be integrated into the security forces, but the political parties are yet to agree on the number and the method.
Nepal also faces the challenge of preparing a republican constitution and political parties have twice extended the deadline to prepare the constitution.
The new deadline expires on Wednesday and political parties look likely to have to come to an agreement to extend the deadline a third time.
|
c86a99d6f9c64e3a968db267483e6613
|
Who is Bhattarai
|
[
"vice-chairman of the Unified Communist Party of Nepal"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- British-based mining giant Rio Tinto announced plans to cut 14,000 jobs on Wednesday, just weeks after a planned buyout by rival BHP Billiton collapsed.
Rio Tinto has nearly $39 billion in corporate debt.
Rio Tinto made the announcement as part of a plan to cut its nearly $39 billion in corporate debt by an estimated $10 billion by the end of 2009. The company issued a gloomy forecast in October.
"Since that time, demand conditions have worsened further, and as a result the group's priorities have reoriented around conserving cash flow and reducing near-term borrowings," it said in a statement announcing the cuts.
The layoffs would include 5,500 direct employees and 8,500 contract jobs, the elimination of which would save about $1.2 billion a year, the company said. The layoffs would cost $400 million in severance packages, however.
BHP withdrew from its planned buyout in late November, citing a high level of debt the combined company would be required to service in "difficult" economic conditions and concerns about whether it would be able to sell off units Rio Tinto already had targeted for divestment.
Rio Tinto said it would consider selling off other elements of the company in an effort to raise more cash, but disclosed no details.
|
84e6406e4a1842e4865e3caefa2e6700
|
What company might lay people off?
|
[
"Rio Tinto"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Wayne Rooney insists he will be fit to lead England's charge for the World Cup after injury curtailed the Manchester United striker's English Premier League season.
The 24-year-old is currently sidelined with a groin injury but after picking up the Premier League's player of the year award -- voted for by his fellow professionals -- he said there is no way he will miss out on the tournament in South Africa.
Rooney has been in lethal goalscoring form this season, netting 40 goals for club and country, and has been pinpointed as the key player in England's bid to lift the World Cup for only the second time in their history.
"The groin will be fine for the World Cup, there are no worries about that," he told the Professional Footballers' Association awards in London. "I'm hoping to play for United in the last game of the season."
It is the first time Rooney has won the PFA award, though he has twice scooped the young player of the year award.
He said: "I remember coming here in 2005 and 2006 to win the young player of the year award. I saw the players winning the main one and it's something I've aimed for since."
Rooney paid tribute to his club manager, Alex Ferguson, who insists he has no plans to retire from the game, at 68.
"Sir Alex is a great manager who has really brought me on as a player since I joined United, Rooney said. "His hunger passes through to the players.
"It's great to see that he's pushing 70 and he hasn't changed a bit. I'm sure he'll be at United a long time yet."
Rooney is hoping Manchester United can secure a fourth straight Premier League crown, but they remain one point behind Chelsea after Carlo Ancelotti's side thrashed Stoke 7-0 on Sunday.
Chelsea travel to Liverpool next weekend in a game that could have a huge bearing on the destination of the title and Rooney is confident the Reds can do his side a favor.
"I'm sure Liverpool will want to beat Chelsea," said Rooney. "The pride they've got and the history they've got, I'm sure they'll want to win that game. They are fighting to get into the Europa League."
Aston Villa's James Milner -- another member of England coach Fabio Capello's squad -- picked up the young player of the year award.
|
361b46271cb34096816ed4648765d73c
|
What kind of injury does Rooney have?
|
[
"a groin"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- The Colorado couple who said their 6-year-old son was aboard an escaped balloon pleaded guilty Friday to charges related to the well-publicized "balloon boy" case.
Richard Heene pleaded guilty in Larimer County Court to a felony charge of attempting to influence a public servant. His wife, Mayumi Heene, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of false reporting to authorities.
The Heenes' attorneys said prosecutors had agreed to a sentence of probation with the possibility of up to 90 days in jail for Richard Heene and up to 60 days in jail for his wife.
The incident occurred in October, when a large silver balloon came loose from its moorings in the Heenes' yard and drifted over eastern Colorado. Mayumi Heene called 911 and said the couple's 6-year-old son, Falcon, was inside the craft.
Millions of people across the country watched the saga on television for nearly two hours as military aircraft tracked the balloon in the air and rescuers chased it below.
Mayumi Heene later admitted the whole thing was a hoax and that Falcon was safe in their home the whole time, authorities said.
Watch the moment the hoax was revealed
The couple's attorneys have said that the threat of Mayumi Heene's deportation was a factor in the plea deal negotiations.
Mayumi Heene is a Japanese citizen but is in the United States legally.
"Even though Mr. Heene would have a triable case, I believe, to avoid the risk that his wife is deported ... we have decided that the best course of action is to proceed as we are proceeding," Richard Heene's lawyer, David Lane, said Friday.
The judge is allowing the Heenes to leave the state while they remain on bond. Lane said Richard Heene is going to seek employment in New York and also has plans to go to California. Mayumi Heene's attorney said she may accompany him on those trips.
Sentencing will be next month.
Court documents released last month said the couple hatched the plan about two weeks before the incident and "instructed their three children to lie to authorities as well as the media regarding this hoax."
Their motive? To "make the Heene family more marketable for future media interests," the documents said.
|
526de7dfa6c24689a84bb7459e4ef680
|
How long did the TV saga last?
|
[
"nearly two hours"
] |
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- An Air Force F-22A fighter jet crashed Wednesday near Edwards Air Force Base in California, killing the test pilot, the Air Force said.
An F-22A fighter jet similar to this one crashed Wednesday during a test mission in California.
The single-seater crashed about 10:30 a.m. (1:30 p.m. ET) for unknown reasons, Air Force officials said.
Lockheed Martin said the test pilot, David Cooley, 49, of Palmdale, California, joined the company in 2003 and was a 21-year veteran of the U.S. Air Force.
The fighter was on a test mission when it crashed about 35 miles northeast of Edwards AFB, where it was stationed, the Air Force said in a news release.
At $150 million apiece, the F-22A is the most expensive Air Force fighter.
In 2004, an F-22 Raptor crashed on a training mission in the Nevada desert. The pilot ejected and was not hurt, though the jet was destroyed.
The plane was designed in the 1980s to provide a stealthy method to enter Soviet air space and strike Soviet bombers if the USSR attempted a nuclear strike.
Once the Cold War ended, the Air Force found a new mission for the F-22 as a long-range fighter with a sophisticated stealth design and state-of-the-art equipment that no other plane could rival.
However, the rising cost of the plane and numerous design and software problems threatened the program, which was almost eliminated by Congress.
In the end, the aircraft survived, and most of the problems were fixed -- except for the price tag, which forced the Air Force to buy fewer aircraft.
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433d41d2dd0c4b1fbe5c9e1a2fa0c842
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What age did the test pilot die at?
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[
"49,"
] |
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(CNN) -- Samuel Eto'o has rejected claims his move to Anzhi Makhachkala is all about money and claims he wants to transform the Russian club into a "big" team.
The former Barcelona striker signed with Anzhi, who hail from the war-torn Dagestan region of Russia, on Wednesday from Italian outfit Inter Milan.
The four-time African Footballer of the Year will be paid around $14 million a season for the length of his three-year deal with Anzhi said to have paid a reported fee of $30 million to seal the capture.
Eto'o jetted into Russia on Wednesday and joined up with his new team-mates in Moscow on Thursday as they prepare for the weekend match with Rostov.
Anzhi train in Moscow and fly to home games from the Russian capital -- a journey of some 1,250 miles.
At a press conference Eto'o, who has won the European Champions League three times, told reporters he was excited by his new challenge.
"I'm impatient to play the first home game, but most important to take this project from the base and make it big," he said.
"I never say how many goals I'm going to score, my intention is to be happy and make sure that people around me are too. I think that when we are happy we can bring better results.
"I'm happy that they have trusted me, with this project, I believe I can return to him (the Anzhi president) inside the field and outside as well, helping the club with good results."
In local paper Sovietsky Sport daily the Cameroon striker insisted his move was not purely about finance.
"The project is very interesting, money is not so important for me, that's just part of football," Eto'o was quoted as saying.
"It was always important for me to be happy -- and now I am happy. I came to Anzhi because it is a new project and they are starting from scratch. I am interested. I have won everything I possibly could have in Europe."
In a statement on Inter's official web site Eto'o thanked the club and its president, Massimo Moratti, for a "fantastic" two years in Italy.
"I will never forget the affection of the Inter fans who made me feel like one of them and who always supported and helped me."
Meanwhile, English club Tottenham Hotspur confirmed Thursday they have signed Manchester City striker Emmanuel Adebayor on a season-long loan.
The Togo striker spent part of last season at Real Madrid, where he scored eight times in 22 games.
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72963dd94fce4760bac4bb75ee5326a9
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The Cameroon striker joined from which club?
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[
"Barcelona"
] |
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(CNN) -- The death toll from Tropical Storm Agatha continued to grow Tuesday, with 152 reported killed in Guatemala, 16 in Honduras and nine in El Salvador.
One-hundred people are missing in Guatemala and another 87 are injured, the nation's emergency agency reported Tuesday. In addition, nearly 125,000 people have been evacuated and 74,000 are living in shelters, said emergency official David de Leon.
The previously reported toll for Guatemala was 123 deaths, 90 people missing and 69 injured.
Guatemala also is feeling the effect of the Pacaya volcano, which erupted Thursday night and continued to spew ash Tuesday. Three people were killed when they were crushed by rocks strewn by the volcano.
La Aurora International Airport in Guatemala City, the nation's capital, has been closed since Friday because of falling ash but was expected to open later Tuesday.
Pacaya is located about 18 miles (30 kilometers) south of Guatemala City.
Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom declared a 15-day state of calamity after the volcano eruption. Damage from Tropical Storm Agatha added to the devastation.
Destruction from the storm has been widespread throughout the nation, with mudslides destroying homes and buildings and burying some victims. At least nine rivers had dramatically higher levels and 13 bridges collapsed, the emergency services agency said.
In the northern part of Guatemala City, the downpour created a sinkhole the size of a street intersection. Residents told CNN that a three-story building and a house fell into the hole.
Classes have been canceled this week in schools throughout the nation.
In Honduras, where 16 people have died, President Porfirio Lobo declared a state of emergency Sunday.
Nearly 12,000 people have been evacuated from their homes and about 3,200 were living in shelters, the Honduran emergency agency said Tuesday. More than 140 homes have been destroyed and another 700 have been damaged, the Permanent Commission for Emergencies reported.
The situation in El Salvador was improving, officials said Monday. The rain stopped Sunday afternoon and river levels were beginning to diminish, officials said. Classes nationwide remained canceled, however, until further notice.
Agatha was demoted from a tropical storm to a tropical depression Saturday night and lost its status as a depression Sunday evening.
It was the first named storm for the Pacific hurricane season. The Atlantic hurricane season started Tuesday.
CNN's Arthur Brice contributed to this report.
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876201b00e6e432cb3c70d6dd32b3356
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Death toll increased to 152 in what country?
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[
"Guatemala,"
] |
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ROME, Italy -- Mauro Camoranesi scored with 13 minutes left to earn Juventus a 1-1 home draw with Serie A leaders Inter Milan on Sunday.
Julio Cruz is mobbed by team-mates after giving Inter the lead in their 1-1 draw at Juventus.
Camoranesi picked up a headed knock-down from substitute Vincenzo Iaquinta before seeing his shot deflect off defender Walter Samuel to leave goalkeeper Julio Cesar helpless.
Inter took a first-half lead when Argentine striker Julio Cruz broke Juve's offside trap and latched onto Brazilian midfielder Cesar's through ball before firing past Gianluigi Buffon.
The result means Inter retain their unbeaten record this season, despite injury problems that saw the likes of Patrick Vieira, Francesco Toldo, Marco Materazzi and Dejan Stankovic ruled out.
The defending champions are now two points clear of Fiorentina at the top of the table, with Roma a point further behind and Juventus in fourth place.
Earlier in the day, Roma missed out on the chance to close the gap on Inter when a late collapse saw them throw away a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 at Empoli.
First half goals from French winger Ludovic Giuly and Matteo Brighi had put the visiting Romans in charge and for more than an hour they looked set to cruise to victory.
But with 23 minutes remaining Ighli Vannucchi reduced the deficit and Sebastian Giovinco snatched an injury time equaliser to deny Luciano Spaletti's injury-depleted team.
Siena snatched a share of the spoils from Parma in a 2-2 draw as Daniele Galloppa scored in the last minute while Napoli needed an injury time goal from striker Ezequiel Lavezzi to deny rock-bottom Reggina their first win of the season, forcing them to settle for a 1-1 draw in the south. E-mail to a friend
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c46cca15cabc4154a758fba3fe352912
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What was the record?
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"unbeaten"
] |
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(CNN) -- Manchester United came a goal behind and shrugged off the early loss of Michael Owen to injury to beat German champions Wolfsburg 2-1 for their second victory in Champions League Group B.
Giggis is congratulated by teammates after scoring his 150th goal for United.
Owen, looking to impress watching England manager Fabio Capello, survived for just 20 minutes at Old Trafford before going off with a groin strain.
His replacement Dimitar Berbatov proved highly effective but the enterprising visitors went ahead through a Edin Dzeko header in the 56th minute.
Ryan Giggs equalized just three minutes later with his 150th goal for the Red Devils, his deflected shot finding its way home.
The evergreen Giggs then set up Michael Carrick for the 76th minute winner as he curled home his shot from the edge of the penalty area.
United manager Alex Ferguson paid his own compliment to the Welsh wizard as he reflected on a hard-fought home victory.
"He's unbelievable, all the infinitives, all the praise over the years, I don't know if you can add to it. He's a marvellous player."
Ferguson also revealed that Owen would be out for between two to three weeks with his latest injury.
The three points leave United top of the group with two wins from two games after their eighth victory in a row in all competitions.
In the other Group B action on Wednesday, CSKA Moscow bounced back from their 2-1 defeat to Wolfsburg in the first round of matches to see off Turkish champions Besiktas 2-1.
Midfielders Alan Dzagoev and Milos Krasic scored for the hosts either side of half time, with Besiktas, beaten in their first two games, pulling a goal back thorugh Ismail Koybasi.
In Group A, the heavyweight clash between Bayern Munich and Juventus ended in a goalless draw.
Munich had several chances in their home Allianz Arena, but failed to convert them although they do top the group with four points.
French champions Bordeaux are in second place on three points after a 1-0 home win over Israeli counterparts Maccabi Haifa.
Having drawn with Juventus in their group opener, Laurent Blanc's men had wait until the 83rd minute for a vital breakthrough as Michael Ciani headed home from Gregory Sertic's corner.
Juventus are third in the group after two draws, with Maccabi bottom after drawing blank.
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adb3b1fd6aa6476c83a69aa4805fe01e
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What is Manchester?
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[
"United"
] |
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(CNN) -- American Wayne Odesnik has accepted "a voluntary provisional suspension" from tennis after pleading guilty to importing human growth hormone into Australia.
Odesnik, currently ranked 111th in the world, was heading for the Brisbane International tournament in January when he was stopped by customs officers.
The 24-year-old pleaded guilty to taking eight vials of human growth hormone into the country at Brisbane Magistrates Court and was hit with an $8,000 fine.
Odesnik has agreed to a temporary suspension, though he can decide return to the game at any time, and must wait to hear the findings of an independent tribunal after the Tennis Anti-Doping Programme has concluded its investigation of the case.
A statement on the International Tennis Federation Web site said: "Wayne Odesnik has accepted a voluntary provisional suspension from all events covered under the Tennis Anti-Doping Programme, including Grand Slam tournaments, ATP-sanctioned events and ITF-sanctioned tournaments.
"In accordance with normal policy, the ITF does not intend to make further comment on this matter until its resolution."
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83bc0b9c2eaa4289bcce7e1b33e90982
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which sport play wayne odesnik
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"tennis"
] |
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(CNN) -- A Seattle man has been charged with insurance fraud for allegedly sinking his own yacht because of "financial pressure and frustration with the maintenance" of the vessel, authorities said.
The Jubilee sank in Puget Sound Bay last year.
On March 22, 2008, Brian Lewis, 50, scuttled the Jubilee in the Puget Sound Bay, then rowed a borrowed dinghy back to shore, according to court documents filed in February by prosecutors in King County, Washington.
Later that day, Lewis boarded a flight to take him to his job in Kodiak, Alaska, as a petty officer with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, according to court documents.
Three days later, Lewis filed an insurance claim with USAA Insurance reporting the Jubilee sank accidentally "due to unknown causes."
However, due to environmental concerns, the Washington State Department of Natural Resources salvaged the vessel at a cost to the state of $2,866.
An inspection found a hole was drilled into the bottom of the Jubilee, and that two main engine sea strainers appeared to have been broken with a hammer.
"The vessel appeared to have been deliberately sunk," authorities said in their probable cause affidavit.
Confronted by investigators, Lewis admitted he intentionally sank his vessel, saying the financial strain "caused him extreme anxiety and frustration."
Lewis told investigators "the engine trouble he experienced caused him to lose his temper. In his rage, he smashed the sea strainers with a hammer and drilled the hole to sink the vessel," the affidavit said.
"[He] wanted to clarify that his motive for sinking the vessel was anger and frustration, not greed," it added.
Prior to its sinking, the Jubilee had been listed for sale with Mahina Yachts for $28,500.
Jack Bateman, a broker with Mahina, remembers the Jubilee as a "beautiful" 1967 Chris Craft Cavalier. He said the Mahina has only seen this type of case one other time in its 30 years of operation.
"This is a very rare, not common occurrence" he says. Bateman added that Mahina has yet to see any real distress sales due to the bad economy.
The King County Prosecutor's Office has charged Lewis with making a fraudulent insurance claim.
Lewis filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2004. Messages left for him were not returned.
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f4da5f70b33e4c10b83240853d289f01
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what were filed against Seattle man?
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[
"insurance fraud"
] |
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TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday called the U.S. president inexperienced, compared him unfavorably to President George W. Bush and suggested he apologize for "interfering in Iran's affairs."
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad lashed out at President Obama on Thursday.
"Do you think that this kind of behavior is going to solve any of your problems? It will only make people think you are someone like Bush," the semiofficial Fars news agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying.
"You are at the beginning of your way and you are gaining experience, and we do not wish the scandals of the Bush era to be repeated during your term of office," the Iranian leader said.
President Obama, who has been in office for five months, has been treading a careful line on Iran, which has seen two weeks of street demonstrations following a disputed presidential election there. Watch how U.S.-Iran relations got to this point
Pro-government security forces have cracked down on the protests, with officials saying 17 people have died. Unofficial reports suggest the number is much higher.
Official results gave Ahmadinejad a 2-to-1 victory over his nearest rival, former Prime Minister Mir Hossein Moussavi. Moussavi says the results were rigged.
Obama has said Iranians must be free to demonstrate peacefully, and his administration Wednesday withdrew invitations to Iranian diplomats around the world to attend U.S. embassy Fourth of July parties.
The extension of invitations last month was seen as a cautious outreach to Iran, which has not had diplomatic relations with Washington for 30 years.
Obama wrote secretly to Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, before the election, Iranian sources confirmed Wednesday. See photos from post-election violence »
Obama said Tuesday that Iran's government must justify itself not in the eyes of the United States, but in the opinion of its own people.
"A sizable percentage of the Iranian people themselves ... consider this election illegitimate," he said at a White House news conference.
"It is not too late for the Iranian government to recognize that there is a peaceful path that will lead to stability and prosperity," he said. "We hope they take it." Timeline of election violence »
Ahmadinejad said Thursday that even 5- and 6-year-olds would not allow insults to the Iranian nation, telling Obama: "We hope that you will avoid interfering in Iran's affairs and somehow express your regret so that the Iranian nation can become aware of your regret. If there is real change, the Iranian nation will welcome it."
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6e2bc66afd724d5ba187165669d496c9
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Who said, "We do not wish the scandals of the Bush era to be repeated"?
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"Mahmoud Ahmadinejad"
] |
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(CNN) -- The small Baltic nation of Estonia is ending its nearly six-year military operation in Iraq by not replacing its platoon of 34 troops.
Estonian soldiers on patrol near Baghdad in 2004.
Estonia's Defense Minister Jaak Aaviksoo said the country will not deploy its next infantry platoon to Iraq, according to a statement from the ministry.
Platoon ESTPLA-18 was ready to replace the previous 34-man platoon which returned to Estonia from Iraq in late December, The Baltic Times reported.
The Estonian defense ministry announced Thursday it had failed to reach an agreement with Iraq's government about the troops' legal status.
Aaviksoo said the absence of a legal agreement "specifying the legal status of our soldiers" was one of three reasons Estonia ended its military operation in Iraq.
He said the other two reasons were the improving security situation in Iraq and the Iraqi government's desire to "continue bilateral cooperation in forms other than battle units."
A bilateral agreement spelling out future defense-related cooperation between Iraq and Estonia is still being hammered out, Aaviksoo said.
Estonia will continue to participate in a NATO-led training mission in Iraq, with three staff officers, he said.
The Estonian defense ministry said Aaviksoo will soon visit Iraq to formally terminate the Estonian Defense Forces' operation and discuss future defense-related cooperation with his Iraqi counterpart, Abdul Al-Qadir Jassam.
In late December, Iraq's Presidency Council approved a resolution allowing non-U.S. troops to remain in the country after a U.N. mandate expired at the end of 2008. The resolution authorized Iraq to negotiate bilateral agreements with the countries, including Estonia.
If that resolution had not been approved by the end of the year, those countries would have been in Iraq illegally.
The United States concluded a separate agreement in November with the Iraqi government authorizing the continued presence of its troops.
U.S. combat forces plan to pull back from population centers in Iraq by July 2009 and to withdraw from Iraq by the end of 2011.
The British government says its forces will complete their mission of training Iraqi troops by May 31, 2009, and withdraw from the country by July 31, 2009. Britain has 4,100 troops in Iraq, the second-largest contingent after the United States with 142,500.
Australian troops also plan to be out of the country by the end of July.
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c6c0777f134440878792ffe5b84aa4dd
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Who is not replacing their platoon in Iraq?
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"Baltic nation of Estonia"
] |
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(CNN) -- An Air Force nurse has been charged with murdering three terminally ill patients by giving them fatal overdoses, the Air Force said Tuesday.
Capt. Michael Fontana is continuing to work at Wildford Hall Medical Center.
Capt. Michael Fontana, a nurse at Wilford Hall Medical Center at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, also was charged Monday with conduct unbecoming an officer for changing a medical document.
"The charges are the result of an Air Force investigation that occurred after irregularities were discovered in Capt. Fontana's administration of medications which may have resulted in the death of an end-of-life patient," hospital spokesman David Smith told reporters.
The nurse was charged with three counts of violating Article 118 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. "It is considered murder," Smith said.
After an Article 32 hearing, akin to a civilian grand jury proceeding, the commander will decide whether the case goes to court-martial.
The three deaths occurred in July, Smith said. He cited the privacy act in refusing to divulge the suspect's age and hometown.
He said he did not know the motive but was confident no other patients were victimized.
"We know that there are no other patients involved in this case," he said.
Fontana, an intensive-care unit nurse who has been working at the hospital since 2006, the year he joined the Air Force, has been released on his own recognizance and is continuing to work at the hospital, though he is no longer involved in patient care, Smith said.
"As far as we can tell, he has been an exemplary nurse," Smith said.
Fontana also served as a nurse at the Air Force Theater Hospital in Balad, Iraq, Smith said. His work there was investigated, "and there was nothing found," he said.
A call to a San Antonio phone number listed as belonging to Michael Fontana got a message that said, "Thank you for calling. Due to the ongoing investigation, I have no comment for you right now, but I do appreciate your call and will talk to you soon."
Relatives of the dead patients have requested privacy, the Air Force said.
Wilford Hall Medical Center is the Air Force's largest medical facility.
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213ab39aed29470fa7ebc9d00c16bd6a
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What charges does he face?
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[
"with murdering three terminally ill patients"
] |
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Washington (CNN) -- A beloved giant panda will leave for China early next year to the disappointment of millions of fans in the United States.
Washington's National Zoo will say goodbye to 4-year-old Tai Shan as he makes his way to a breeding base in southwestern China. He'll leave during the first quarter of 2010, according to the zoo and Chinese state-run media.
Tai Shan -- on loan from China -- was born at the National Zoo to pandas that also are borrowed from China.
His father, 11-year-old Tian Tian, and his mother, 10-year-old Mei Xiang, are due in China in December 2010, according to the Xinhua news agency.
"While we're proud to send off a healthy panda to be part of China's breeding program, we will indeed miss him dearly," the National Zoo's Web site said of Tai Shan.
He has more growing to do, however.
"Although Tai Shan has the build of a grownup male panda, we still have to wait for about two years before it is sexually mature," said Li Desheng, deputy director of the management office of the Wolong National Natural Reserve in Sichuan province, according to Xinhua.
Tai Shan will never be released into the wild, but there is the hope that his offspring could be, the National Zoo said.
"Since we partnered with them 10 years ago, the Chinese have more than doubled their cub production, which means they're about to reach the significant goal of having 300 pandas in captivity," the zoo said on its Web site. "By reaching the target of 300 pandas, collectively we will ensure that the giant panda in captivity is demographically and genetically secure. It will be a huge conservation achievement."
The United States has 13 pandas on loan from China, according to Xinhua. The three in Washington and one each in Atlanta, Georgia, and San Diego, California, are due to return to China next year. Though Tai Shan has lived in Washington, his fans have followed him online for years, via the National Zoo's Pandacam.
They've oohed and aahed as he's frolicked, had milestone exams and grown -- from less than 2 pounds at birth to more than 200 pounds at his peak weight.
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0cf759c65a7d4f8b8a01c3a734bf257a
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Where is the breeding base?
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[
"southwestern China."
] |
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Justice Department on Thursday announced 300 additional arrests in a four-year operation that it says produced nearly 1,200 arrests and seizures totaling 11.7 tons of illegal drugs.
Authorities look through seized property after a drug raid at a house near Atlanta, Georgia, on Wednesday.
Attorney General Eric Holder announced the wrap-up of Project Coronado, which resulted in arrests in 15 states in the past two days.
Holder said the operation targeted the distribution network of a major Mexican drug trafficking organization known as La Familia. About 3,000 federal agents participated in the investigation and raids, officials said.
"This unprecedented, coordinated U.S. law enforcement action -- the largest ever undertaken against a Mexican drug cartel -- has dealt a significant blow to La Familia's supply chain of illegal drugs, weapons and cash flowing between Mexico and the United States," Holder said in a news conference. Watch Holder announce the arrests »
Michele Leonhart, acting chief of the Drug Enforcement Administration, said the cartel was known for specializing in the trafficking of methamphetamine and for its brutal violence, including beheadings.
Authorities said the arrests made Wednesday and Thursday occurred in California, Colorado, Georgia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Washington.
Dozens of arrests occurred in the Dallas, Texas, area where agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives filed charges against cartel members believed to have illegally purchased and shipped high-powered firearms to the cartel, which was based in the Mexican state of Michoacan.
U.S. officials vowed to indict cartel leaders and extradite them to the United States. One leader, Servando Gomez-Martinez, was indicted in New York on Thursday. He remains at large, and is presumed to be in Mexico.
A senior law enforcement official involved in the operation, who asked not to be identified, said he was certain the latest crackdown on La Familia would affect the methamphetamine market in the United States for months. "It'll make a difference not only because of how hard we hit 'em, but where we hit 'em," the official said.
Another official said during the course of the investigation that labs run by La Familia had been discovered in Atlanta, Georgia, and San Jose, California.
To date, Project Coronado has led to 1,186 arrests in 44 months. During that time, agents seized $32.8 million in U.S. currency, and about 1,225 kilograms (2,700 pounds) of methamphetamine, 2,000 kilograms (4,409 pounds) of cocaine, 13 kilograms (29 pounds) of heroin and more than 8 tons (7,200 kilograms) of marijuana.
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56f3eec752e9487caf2d8f1ed1109006
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What did officials say about Project Coronado?
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[
"operation targeted the distribution network of"
] |
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(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.
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36636261416f4b239c872e1a362f21a0
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In what month did the woman become ill?
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[
"January"
] |
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LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Financing for DreamWorks Studios' partnership with one of India's richest men was finalized Monday, giving Steven Spielberg and partner Stacey Snider money to resume making movies.
From left to right, Steven Spielberg, Anil Ambani, Stacey Snider and Amitahb Jhunjhunwala.
The deal with Anil Ambani, chairman of India's Reliance BIG Entertainment, provides Spielberg's DreamWorks Studios with $875 million, coming from Ambani, the Walt Disney Co. and loans made by a syndicate of banks.
Disney will distribute and market about six DreamWorks Studios films around the world each year, with the exception of India, where Reliance will have those rights.
Spielberg and Snider found themselves in need of financial partners last year when he cut ties with Paramount Pictures and began rebuilding DreamWorks into an independent studio.
Although the deal, which was announced last year, has been characterized in some reports as "Hollywood meets Bollywood," Spielberg and partner Stacey Snider will have creative control over productions.
"This will allow us to move ahead quickly into production with our first group of films," Snider and Spielberg said in a joint statement.
Reliance BIG Entertainment is part of the Reliance group controlled by billionaire Ambani.
"Our partnership with Stacey and Steven is the cornerstone of our Hollywood strategy as we grow our film interests across the globe," Ambani said. "Given our faith in the business plan that they presented to us and despite the current economic climate, we were always confident that this day would come. Now Stacey and Steven can focus on producing more of the great films for which they are renowned."
Ambani, whose company owns hundreds of theater screens across South Asia, has also invested development money this year with other Hollywood production companies, including those owned by actors Nicolas Cage, Tom Hanks, George Clooney and Jim Carrey.
A DreamWorks announcement said that J.P. Morgan brought together the syndicate of banks to provide about $325 million in funding. The banks include Bank of America, City National Bank, Wells Fargo, Comerica, Union Bank of California, SunTrust, California Bank & Trust, and Israel Discount Bank.
One of the first movies to go into production will be "Harvey," an adaptation of the play that won a Pulitzer for playwright Mary Chase. The tale about a man and his invisible bunny friend was first made into a movie, starring Jimmy Stewart, in 1950.
Spielberg's long career as a screenwriter, director and producer has included classic blockbusters "E.T.: The Extraterrestrial," the "Indiana Jones" series and "Saving Private Ryan."
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0dbb7e584b0641e386a4230da2e0529a
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What is Spielberg's first film planned?
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[
"\"Harvey,\""
] |
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(PEOPLE.com) -- It's been more than two months since their beloved 13-year-old dog Darla passed away from cancer, but Brooke Shields and her family are still reeling from the loss.
"It's very sad, actually," she tells PEOPLE. "We're all in that sort of trauma where we have her ashes and the girls (Rowan, 8, and Grier, 5) carry these little footprints of hers around. She was the only dog we've really ever had."
The American bulldog was given to Shields as a puppy, and was a member of the family, taking a central role in many memories over the years.
"She knew I was pregnant before I even knew I was pregnant," Shields says. "She would circle me and not let me walk anywhere, I was going, 'God, what are you doing, get out from under my feet!' And that afternoon I found out."
The void that Darla has left is immense, and it won't be filled with a new pet anytime soon. "We walk to school everyday and they see all these different dogs, we're kind of [thinking about] what way do we want to go," she says. "We'll probably never get another bulldog. We would just constantly be going, 'That's not Darla.'"
For now, Shields and her family are content on seeing animals from afar -- like Mom's new furry costar: a horse called Odd Job Bob who stars opposite Shields in the new tween flick The Greening of Whitney Brown. In the comedy, Shields plays the mother of a snooty private school teen (played by Sammi Hanratty) who is forced to move to the country where she reluctantly befriends the gypsy vanner horse.
"He's smart and sweet," Shields says of the star stallion who performs all kinds of tricks for the film. "He understands. There's something about him that is human."
A horse lover all of her life, Shields never got to ride Bob because trainers wanted Hanratty to bond completely with the animal, but she did slip him a treat or two on set. "He wasn't demanding at all," she jokes. "He loved [eating] all the carrots and jam."
Watching the sweet family movie with her daughters will definitely be a bright spot in what's been a difficult few months. "They're going to love it," she says. "Anything with horses and animals, they think it's so funny."
See the full article at PEOPLE.com
© 2011 People and Time Inc. All rights reserved.
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05249e88274e4c7c93148351b5efc23c
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What age was Shields' dog that passed away from cancer?
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[
"13-year-old"
] |
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(CNN) -- A fire at a karaoke bar and discotheque in Medan, in Indonesia's North Sumatra province, killed at least 20 people Friday night, according to a hospital.
At least two people survived, according to Aida Sofiati of the Pringadi Hospital in Medan.
Sofiati said 20 people were killed.
Mohammad Zein, a fire official, said the blaze started around 10 p.m., but firefighters were able to extinguish it within a half-hour.
He said the cause of the fire was not known.
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34cbec7c1c064c9ab0078372dc1ee135
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Where is the city of Medan?
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[
"Indonesia's North Sumatra province,"
] |
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KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Afghanistan's opium production dropped dramatically this year partly because of new aggressive drug-fighting tactics in the country, a United Nations study found.
Afghan police officers use tractors to destroy poppy crops in Helmand province earlier this year.
According to the report from the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, production dipped by 10 percent this year, while cultivation fell by 22 percent.
"At a time of pessimism about the situation in Afghanistan, these results are a welcome piece of good news and demonstrate that progress is possible," said Antonio Maria Costa, the office's executive director.
The United Nations notes that drugs originating in Afghanistan have "catastrophic consequences."
"They fund the activities of criminals, insurgents and terrorists in Afghanistan and elsewhere. Collusion with corrupt government officials is undermining public trust, security and the rule of law.
"Widespread money-laundering is harming the reputation of banks in the Gulf and farther afield," it said. Watch U.N. official discuss concerns about opium stockpiles »
The report, released this week, attributed the decrease to better government leadership, aggressive counter-narcotics tactics, a push for farmers to grow legal crops and pressure from NATO-led soldiers.
This was the second year that the production of the opium, used to produce heroin, had dropped in Afghanistan. The study found 20 of the 34 provinces in Afghanistan were now free of opium farming.
The most significant drop this year was in Helmand province, the volatile southern region where NATO-led forces are battling with militants. In that opium hotbed, cultivation dipped from 103,590 to 69,833 hectares (255,976 to 172,561 acres).
But even with this seemingly good news, some fear that drug traffickers in Afghanistan are preparing to fight back. According to the report, researchers found evidence strong drug cartels, similar to ones seen in Colombia, were being formed by participants in Afghanistan's drug trade.
"A marriage of convenience between insurgents and criminal groups is spawning narco-cartels linked to the Taliban," Costa said.
Incentive programs giving local farmers seeds and training in growing legal crops represent a key tactic in the fight against drugs.
Local farmers in Helmand are being trained at a facility ran by the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Farmers like Abdul Qadir said programs like this one are key to bringing peace to war-torn Afghanistan.
"These countries that are here, why are they with guns and bombs? If you can just help the people of Afghanistan in this way, the fighting will go away, these Taliban and other enemies of the country will also disappear," Qadir said.
CNN's Atia Abawi contributed to this report.
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46390c7411274f4f9cbb773d146530a3
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how many provinces don't have opium farming?
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[
"20 of the 34"
] |
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(CNN) -- A Marine convicted for his role in the death of an Iraqi civilian was sentenced Friday to a reduction in rank and will be discharged.
Cpl. Trent D. Thomas was found guilty Wednesday of kidnapping and conspiracy to commit several offenses -- including murder, larceny, housebreaking, kidnapping, and making false official statements -- for his involvement in the April 2006 death in Hamdaniya, Iraq.
Thomas will be demoted to the rank of entry-level private and will receive a bad-conduct discharge.
The 25-year-old was among seven Marines and a Navy medic who were charged in connection with the death of Hashim Ibrahim Awad, 52.
The Marines accused in the case were members of Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment. They reported at the time that Awad planned to detonate a roadside bomb targeting their patrol.
But several residents of Hamdaniya, including relatives of the victim, gave a different account, prompting a criminal investigation.
Prosecutors accuse the group's squad leader, Sgt. Lawrence G. Hutchins III, of dragging Awad from his home, shooting him in the street and then making it look like he had planned to ambush American troops.
Hutchins has pleaded not guilty to murder, conspiracy and other charges in the case. He faces a sentence of life in prison if convicted.
Thomas changed his plea from guilty to not guilty in February, arguing that he had merely followed orders.
He told his attorneys that after reviewing the evidence against him, he realized "that what happened overseas happened as a result of obedience to orders, and he hasn't done anything wrong," defense attorney Victor Kelley said.
Thomas said in January, shortly after entering his guilty plea, that he was "truly sorry" for his role in the killing.
He could have been sentenced to life in prison under his original plea. E-mail to a friend
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7600c09834ae42fcaf79cfd74f001d4d
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Who awaits trial?
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[
"Cpl. Trent D. Thomas"
] |
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(CNN) -- Andrew Wyeth, the American painter perhaps best known for his painting of a young woman in a field, "Christina's World," has died, according to an official with the Brandywine River Museum in Pennsylvania.
Andrew Wyeth received the National Medal of Arts from President Bush in November 2007.
Wyeth, 91, died in his sleep Thursday night at his home near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, according to Lora Englehart, public relations coordinator for the museum.
The acclaimed artist painted landscapes and figure subjects and worked mostly in tempera and watercolor.
He was widely celebrated inside and outside of the art world.
Wyeth received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963, and President Nixon sponsored an exhibition of Wyeth's paintings at the White House.
In 2007, President Bush awarded Wyeth the National Medal of Arts in recognition of his lifetime achievement and contribution to American arts and culture.
Two years earlier, Wyeth and his wife, Betsy, presented to the White House his painting "Jupiter," which is displayed in the residence's family sitting room.
Bush issued a statement Friday saying that he and first lady Laura Bush "deeply mourn" the death of Wyatt.
"Mr. Wyeth captured America in his paintings of his native Pennsylvania and Maine," Bush said. "On behalf of the American people, Laura and I offer our sincere condolences to Betsy and the Wyeth family."
Wyeth, who lived in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, and Maine, "has been enormously popular and critically acclaimed since his first one-man show in 1937," according to a biography in InfoPlease.
His main subjects were the places and people of Chadds Ford and Cushing, Maine.
"Christina's World," painted in 1948, shows a disabled Maine neighbor who drags herself through a field toward her house in the distance. The painting, displayed at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, has been regarded as Wyeth's most popular.
"His 'Helga' pictures, a large group of intimate portraits of a neighbor, painted over many years, were first shown publicly in 1986," the InfoPlease biography says. Those were painted in Pennsylvania.
Wyeth, the youngest child of painter N.C. Wyeth, formally studied art with his father as a teen, "drawing in charcoal and painting in oils, the media of choice for N.C. Wyeth. It was during the family's annual summer vacations in Port Clyde, Maine, that Andrew was able to experiment with other media to find his own artistic voice," according to a biography in the Farnsworth Art Museum in Maine.
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7ecab27d2fc741d68122e901c669f70a
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At what age did Wyeth die?
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[
"91,"
] |
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(CNN) -- The Philippine Commission on Elections approved fraud charges Friday against former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and several other former officials, state media reported.
Arroyo is charged in connection with the alleged manipulation of results during 2007 Senate elections, according to the Philippines News Agency.
The former president has denied any wrongdoing.
Arroyo was stopped from leaving the country Tuesday as she was trying to board a plane at Manila's Ninoy Aquino International Airport, hours after the country's Supreme Court overruled government-imposed restrictions on her travels. The Supreme Court again Friday rejected the government's travel ban, saying she was free to leave as long as she posted a bond and met other requirements, said Jose Midas Marquez, a court spokesman
Arroyo was reportedly boarding the flight to seek medical treatment abroad for her bone disease diagnosed earlier this year, following three unsuccessful spinal operations in the Philippines. She arrived at the airport in an ambulance and was transported to the departure gate in a wheelchair while wearing a neck brace.
Arroyo's lawyer, Raul Lambino, said the former first couple was "subjected to indignity and embarrassment at the airport," calling the government's defiance of the Supreme Court order "abhorrent and in violation of the rights of the individual guaranteed by the (Philippine's) constitution and the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights."
But presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda described the situation as "all high drama," according to media reports. "They (the Arroyos) want the public to sympathize with them," he added.
He said that while the Arroyo couple would be treated with dignity, the government would be "firm in our decision not to allow them to leave the country." Arroyo's husband, Jose Miguel Arroyo, is also accused of corruption.
The Supreme Court, which is mostly staffed by judges hired under Arroyo, defied current President Benigno Aquino's state mandate of investigating allegations of corruption during Arroyo's 2001-2010 presidential term.
CNN's Karen Smith and Journalist Winona Cueva contributed to this report
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7045aff4f2764a72a5b5af212f9970dc
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Who denies any wrongdoing?
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"The former president"
] |
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NEW YORK (CNN) -- Legendary football coach and broadcaster John Madden is retiring, he announced Thursday.
John Madden appears at the TV Critics Association Press Tour in Beverly Hills, California, in 2008.
"It's been such a great ride ... the NFL has been my life for more than 40 years, it has been my passion -- it still is," he said in a statement released by NBC Sports.
Madden, 73, was a Hall of Fame coach for the Oakland Raiders, but is best known to millions as an ebullient football commentator.
He won 16 Emmy awards for outstanding sports analyst/personality, NBC said.
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bff63364b778497ebdbea4f9b12fa99b
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what is he well known for?
|
[
"an ebullient football commentator."
] |
NewsQA
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Washington (CNN) -- The World Bank has canceled Haiti's $36 million debt, the institution announced Friday.
Haiti owed the money to the International Development Association, the World Bank's fund for the poorest countries. The nation, wracked by a devastating earthquake on January 12, now does not owe any more money to the World Bank.
"Relieving Haiti's remaining debt is part of our effort to pursue every avenue to help Haiti's reconstruction efforts," World Bank Group President Robert B. Zoellick said in a release. "We will continue to work in close cooperation with the Haitian government and our international partners to support the country's recovery and longer-term development."
The debt cancellation was made possible by contributions from Belgium, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland, the World Bank said.
Since the earthquake, the World Bank has made $479 million available to Haiti to support recovery and development through June 2011.
In addition, a broad array of international donors pledged nearly $10 billion in long-term assistance to Haiti's earthquake recovery efforts during a conference in March at United Nations headquarters.
Last year, prior to the earthquake, Haiti obtained $1.2 billion in debt relief from the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and other creditors.
January's 7.0-magnitude earthquake killed more than 200,000 people and leveled large parts of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital.
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ddfec15f938f4422b4789ca995725c22
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World Bank canceled whos debt?
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[
"Haiti's"
] |
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ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- Pakistani forces in the last month foiled a planned attack on the parliament building, the intelligence agency and other federal institutions, the country's interior minister told CNN Sunday.
Pakistan's parliament building was one target of a planned attack, an official says.
In the last four weeks, authorities arrested three men with suicide vests who were plotting to carry out the attacks, said Interior Minister Rehman Malik.
Malik would not say exactly when the men were caught.
Pakistan is in the midst of an intense military offensive against Taliban militants. The militants are suspected of launching attacks inside Pakistan and in neighboring Afghanistan from their haven in the mountainous tribal region along the northwestern border.
On Sunday, a suicide bomber in volatile northwestern Pakistan killed at three people and wounded 15 others, police said.
The bombing rocked the Pakistani city of Peshawar, capital of North West Frontier Province.
The incident took place when police approached a man acting suspiciously. The man ran away, police chased him and a gunfight ensued. The man ran out of bullets and blew himself up.
Two women and seven children were among the injured. Remains of the alleged attacker were found, police said. Five houses were destroyed.
The incident follows a car bombing on Saturday in Peshawar that killed two people, including the spokesman for an extremist group called Ansar ul Islam. Two suspects are in custody.
Malik said Sunday the government's anti-Taliban operations will continue during Ramadan, the Muslim holy month considered to be a time of peace.
Militants in North Waziristan, part of the tribal region, have said they will observe a unilateral ceasefire throughout the month.
"There will not be a ceasefire during Ramadan. We are not interested in a ceasefire," Malik said. "They haven't kept their commitment in the past. We will continue targeted actions against the Taliban."
Malik also said the Taliban killed the father-in-law of its leader Baitullah Mehsud and several other relatives, accusing them of leaking information about his whereabouts.
Pakistan and U.S. officials contend Mehsud was killed in an August 5 drone attack in Waziristan at his father-in-law's house.
The Taliban claims Mehsud is alive but ill.
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5de319da5623475d9fd9dddaacd1325a
|
How many men plotted to carry out attacks?
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[
"three"
] |
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(CNN) -- A fire at a karaoke bar and discotheque in Medan, in Indonesia's North Sumatra province, killed at least 20 people Friday night, according to a hospital.
At least two people survived, according to Aida Sofiati of the Pringadi Hospital in Medan.
Sofiati said 20 people were killed.
Mohammad Zein, a fire official, said the blaze started around 10 p.m., but firefighters were able to extinguish it within a half-hour.
He said the cause of the fire was not known.
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110bab126992498e9b094c777991cf18
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When did the fire start?
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[
"around 10 p.m.,"
] |
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LONDON, England (CNN) -- A medical ailment that has worried male members of string sections across the music world for over 30 years has been exposed as a hoax.
Male cellists of the world can breathe easy again.
A senior British lawmaker confessed to making up the condition known as "cello scrotum" -- which relates to chafing from the instrument -- after reading about another musically-related ailment called "guitarist's nipple" in the British Medical Journal in 1974.
Elaine Murphy, who is a member of The House of Lords and a trained doctor, came clean about the prank she devised with husband John in a letter to the BMJ published on Wednesday.
She said: "Perhaps after 34 years it's time for us to confess that we invented cello scrotum.
"Reading (Dr) Curtis's 1974 letter to the BMJ on guitar nipple, we thought it highly likely to be a spoof and decided to go one further by submitting a letter pretending to have noted a similar phenomenon in cellists, signed by the non-doctor one of us.
"Anyone who has ever watched a cello being played would realize the physical impossibility of our claim."
Murphy's confession may have been hastened by the fact that cello scrotum was referenced by a medical researcher in the BMJ late last year.
The article, entitled "A symphony of maladies," focused on health problems among musicians and contained references to such ailments as fiddler's neck, flautist's chin and cellist's chest.
Fiona Godlee, editor of the BMJ, told Britain's Independent newspaper: "It seems the BMJ has been deliciously hoaxed. It is wonderful it has been going all these years and no one realized.
"We frown on misconduct and medical fraud is taken very seriously. But in this case I hope I am right in saying that no harm has been done."
Murphy was made a life peer in 2004 and is active on mental health and ageing issues in the House of Lords.
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1746a3d70fd74cfaa086748e5230d945
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"A symphony of maladies" focused on what?
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[
"health problems among musicians"
] |
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(CNN) -- Sean Penn could have been walking the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival. Instead, he was under the Capitol Dome in Washington on Wednesday to testify about Haiti.
Penn's newest film, spy thriller "Fair Game," will debut Thursday at Cannes, but the day before, the Oscar-winning actor was seated before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee as witness to an emergency.
"I come here today in the hope that we will address with bold clarity the razor's edge upon which Haiti lies," he said.
He called on lawmakers to demand transparency as the island nation moves forward in recovering from the massive earthquake that struck January 12.
"In an emergency, donors offer money and expect it to be spent helping people," Penn said. "I hope we are here today to encourage just that."
Penn, who founded the J/P Haitian Relief Organization, has been living in a tent in Port-au-Prince, helping manage one of the devastated capital's largest camps for the displaced.
The actor turned aid worker testified with experts and policymakers before a committee headed by Democratic Sen. John Kerry, co-sponsor of a bill that would authorize $3.5 billion to help rebuild Haiti over the next five years.
About $10 billion in aid was pledged for Haiti over the next 10 years at a donors conference in March. Kerry said donor nations "must now follow through and deliver the funds they have promised in a coordinated manner, and Haiti must work to improve its capacity to absorb the aid it receives."
Former USAID Administrator Andrew Natsios offered a scathing assessment of the challenges that lie ahead in rebuilding what he called a failed state.
He compared Haiti's devastation and massive death toll of more than 200,000 to that of Chile, which suffered a stronger quake in late February but was not as badly affected.
Natsios warned that programs must help end Haiti's dysfunctional cycle by improving governance and fostering economic growth.
"I think the worst thing we can do is be nice about this and live in a Disney World assessment of what we are dealing with," Natsios said. "We are dealing with one of the worst-governed countries in the world."
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d3bffb3e10bf44c189a47c10b576a718
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What did Sean Penn found?
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[
"the J/P Haitian Relief Organization,"
] |
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CHICAGO, Illinois (CNN) -- Political powerbroker Tony Rezko, whose links to presidential contender Barack Obama dropped him into the national spotlight this year, was convicted of money laundering, fraud and bribery charges by a federal jury Wednesday.
Tony Rezko, left, leaves federal court with his family Tuesday during deliberations in his corruption trial.
Rezko -- who has contributed thousands to the campaigns of the Illinois senator and other Democrats -- was accused of demanding kickbacks from companies seeking Illinois state business.
He was convicted of 16 of 24 charges, including 12 counts of wire and mail fraud, two counts of aiding and abetting bribery and two counts of money laundering. He was acquitted of attempted extortion.
Testimony at Rezko's trial in federal court brought up ties between Obama and Rezko, with a witness putting Obama at Rezko's house for a party where the guest of honor was Iraqi-British businessman Nadhmi Auchi.
Obama has said he doesn't recall ever meeting Auchi, who was convicted of fraud in France.
Amid the controversy, Obama acknowledged he had accepted contributions from Rezko and bought a strip of land from Rezko, a Chicago real-estate developer.
Obama, who has not been accused of wrongdoing in the case, has vowed to give up the contributions, and called the purchase a mistake. He has already donated to charity at least $80,000 in campaign contributions linked to Rezko.
Obama won enough delegates Tuesday to clinch the Democratic Party's nomination for president.
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17b098ed7d274761a6bf11b4d6b77979
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What did Rezko make contributions to?
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[
"the campaigns of the Illinois senator and other Democrats"
] |
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(CNN) -- Former world No. 1 Jelena Jankovic overcame current top-ranked player Serena Williams in an epic clash to reach the final of the Italian Open on Friday.
However, hopes of an all-Serbian showdown were dashed when the return to form of another previous No. 1, Ana Ivanovic, was ended by Spaniard Maria Jose Martinez-Sanchez in the other semifinal in Rome.
Jankovic, who won the clay tournament in 2007 and 2008, followed up her quarterfinal victory over Serena's fourth-seeded older sister Venus by triumphing 4-6 6-3 7-6 (7-5) in two and three-quarter hours.
The seventh seed fought back from 3-0 and 4-2 down to save a match-point in the deciding tie-breaker as she overcame what seemed like delaying tactics by the American when serving on a vital point.
"I was just getting ready to serve and I was serving and all of a sudden she wasn't ready," Jankovic told reporters. "For me when the server comes to play the receiver has to be ready -- that's the rules.
"But unfortunately I had to hit another serve, regroup and refocus because I didn't want to waste my energy on that."
Williams was seeking to repeat her 2002 Rome triumph in what was her first tournament since winning the Australian Open in late January, injuring her knee in doing so.
"I almost feel like I won that match. I can't be really upset, but I am," she said.
"I feel I should have won -- I could have won. But I can't beat myself up over it, I've just come back and hadn't played a match since January."
Ivanovic, who has slumped to 58th in the rankings since winning the French Open in 2008, was seeking to reach her first WTA Tour final since March 2009.
But she was unable to show the form that this week knocked out ninth seed Victoria Azarenka and Olympic champion Elena Dementieva as she was crushed 6-4 6-2 by world No. 26 Martinez-Sanchez.
Her 27-year-old opponent followed up her own upset win over world No. 2 Caroline Wozniacki on Wednesday by reaching her third WTA Tour final.
She won minor clay tournaments in Colombia and Sweden last year, and lost in the final in Barcelona the year before.
Martinez-Sanchez has played Jankovic only twice, winning on hardcourt in 2001 when the Serbian retired hurt and losing on clay last year in the Fed Cup teams event.
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0a7c904ac2d44e8aacf7b1cbb8cc7f2c
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Who did Jelena Jankovic beat in a three-set epic?
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[
"Serena Williams"
] |
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BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (CNN) -- President Cristina Fernandez on Tuesday defended an increase in export taxes on grains that has riled many farmers, and she called on them to respect the law in protesting her policies.
President Cristina Fernandez: Calls on rally Wednesday to support her policies.
"All my life I have soldiered in this party, which always believed in social justice, in the redistribution of income, which caused us to win and lose elections," she said in a nationally televised address from the presidential palace. "But we were always respectful of the popular will."
Fernandez, of the center-left Peronist movement, made her plea for comity a day after massive demonstrations in various cities blocked traffic and paralyzed much of the country.
In a concession to her critics, Fernandez said the increase in taxes on exports of grains that she instituted in March by decree will be debated by Congress. But there is little likelihood that the Congress will order major changes, since her party controls both houses.
But Hilda Duhalde, an opponent of Fernandez, was not persuaded.
"It's true that they have a majority in both houses, but we have to put white on black and watch out for the small- and medium-sized producers, who are the ones suffering," she said.
Argentina raised export taxes in March by more than 10 percent. Fernandez has said growers have benefited from rising world prices and the profits should be spread to help the poor.
Farmers have countered that they need to reinvest the profits and that the higher taxes make it difficult for them to make a living.
Fernandez said she was open to dialogue, but a dialogue that does not countenance the blocking of roads or other disruptions to the lives of Argentines. "Democracy for the people, not the corporations," she said.
She called on Argentines to take to the Plaza de Mayo Wednesday in a show of support for her policies.
"It doesn't matter what party, place or sector you're from," she said. "What is important is not where you're from, but where you are going -- what kind of country do we want?"
To those who do not agree with her policies, she had other advice. "If they want to change the economic model, what they should do is organize a political party, participate in elections and win them," she said.
CNN's Carolina Cayazzo contributed to this report.
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fc36e5e487724bb59ed5db51af1facb5
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Who is Cristina Fernandez?
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[
"President"
] |
NewsQA
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MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) -- Russian and British ships repelled a pirate attack on a Danish ship in the Gulf of Aden, the Russian navy said Wednesday.
Pirates have caused havoc off the coast of Somalia, hijacking 33 ships this year.
Elsewhere, pirates hijacked a Turkish-flagged ship carrying 4,500 tons of chemicals and 14 crew off Yemen's coast.
The pirates hijacked the ship, Karagol, near Yemen as it traveled to Mumbai, India, semi-official news agency Anadolu Ajansi reported, citing a written statement from the Turkish Maritime Agency.
Russian navy spokesman Igor Dygalo said the Russian patrol ship Neustrashimy and a British frigate, HMS Cumberland, successfully rebuffed pirate attempts to seize the Danish ship Powerful off Somalia.
The British and Russians used helicopters to counter-attack the pirates, who had opened machine gun fire on Powerful and twice tried to seize it, Dygalo said.
It was not immediately clear when the incident occurred.
When asked about the incident, the British Ministry of Defense said a crew from the Cumberland had boarded a small boat on Tuesday that "they ... believe had been involved in an attack on the Danish-registered MV Powerful earlier in the day."
Ahead of boarding the small boat, or dhow, the British crew members tried several ways to stop it, "but they were unsuccessful," the Ministry of Defense's statement said.
The Cumberland then launched boats to circle the dhow, in another attempt to halt it. People aboard the dhow opened fire at these boats, and the Cumberland's crew members returned fire, the statement said.
Two alleged pirates were killed during the shooting. A third person, a Yemeni national, died later from injuries, despite care from the Cumberland's doctor, the Ministry said.
"It is unclear whether his injuries were as a result of the firefight or a previous incident."
The Gulf of Aden, which connects the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea, has become a treacherous stretch for ships, particularly along the Somali coast. There have been 84 attacks and 33 successful hijackings off Somalia's coast this year.
Meanwhile, the Karagol is owned by Istanbul-based Y.D.C. Denizcilik, A.S. The company confirmed its ship had been hijacked, but could not provide any details.
The Karagol is the second Turkish ship in two weeks to be hijacked. On October 29, pirates in the same area off Yemen commandeered the Neslihan, a Turkish-owned freighter, carrying 77,000 tons of iron ore from from Canada to China, the ship's owner, Ya-Sa Shipping Industry and Trading, S.A., said.
CNN's David McKenzie and Andrew Carey contributed to this report.
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4a3c797845bf4e47bae9c1cda8a21af8
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who repelled the attacks
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[
"Russian and British ships"
] |
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(PEOPLE.com) -- Melissa McCarthy is no longer just a bridesmaid. She's the bride.
The "Mike & Molly" Emmy winner and "Bridesmaids" scene-stealer has some big plans on her plate -- from launching her own plus-size fashion line to getting hockey's prized Stanley Cup (for a movie) -- during what is already a stellar year for her.
But none of her professional plans can top her favorite pastime, being mom to her two daughters with actor-husband Ben Falcone: Vivian, 4, and Georgette, 1½. McCarthy tells the Hollywood Reporter that being a mother actually helps her feel less insecure about her looks.
"The stupid stuff like what I wear or how I look I can't control, so I just try not to give too much energy to it," she says, calling her body a work in progress after giving birth to Georgette. "At 20, I would have been like: 'Don't they like me? Was it my hair?' At 41, I think the things that define me, I hope, are a lot more than those kinds of petty things."
As for those red-carpet moments, "Trying to find stuff that's still fashion-forward in my size is damn near impossible. It's either for like a 98-year-old woman or a 14-year-old hooker, and there is nothing in the middle," McCarthy wisecracks. Case in point: trying to outfit herself for the Emmys, which required sifting through "nine million dresses with taffeta or shiny bows."
The final result was McCarthy's own line that she is co-designing with couturier Daniella Pearl.
Hosting SNL This Weekend
Fans needn't fret, however -- she'll still be doing comedy, including hosting this weekend's "Saturday Night Live." She psyched for this, too, admitting to having an emotional reaction when the producers invited her to do it.
"I went into such an embarrassing, weird, inappropriately loud cry," says McCarthy. "I'm bent over, literally, in the rug section of Living Spaces, wailing."
Also ahead: starring in and co-writing a movie with "Bridesmaids" scribe Annie Mumolo, which is about hijacking the Stanley Cup to cheer up her sick husband; costarring with Jason Bateman in a movie comedy (still in the talking stage); and appearing in Judd Apatow's as-yet-untitled "Knocked Up" spin-off -- and that, reportedly, is only for starters.
See the full article at PEOPLE.com.
© 2011 People and Time Inc. All rights reserved.
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79d4ca250bc74196ba69072a920977de
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Does McCarthy enjoy being a mother?
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[
"her favorite pastime,"
] |
NewsQA
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(CNN) -- Saddam Hussein let the world think he had weapons of mass destruction to intimidate Iran and prevent the country from attacking Iraq, according to an FBI agent who interviewed the dictator after his 2003 capture.
Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in an unknown location in Iraq after his capture in 2003.
According to a CBS report, Hussein claimed he didn't anticipate that the United States would invade Iraq over WMD, agent George Piro said on "60 Minutes," scheduled for Sunday broadcast.
"For him, it was critical that he was seen as still the strong, defiant Saddam. He thought that (faking having the weapons) would prevent the Iranians from reinvading Iraq," said Piro.
During the nearly seven months Piro talked to Hussein, the agent hinted to the Iraqi that he answered directly to President Bush, CBS said in a posting on its Web site.
"He told me he initially miscalculated ... President Bush's intentions. He thought the United States would retaliate with the same type of attack as we did in 1998 ... a four-day aerial attack," Piro said. "He survived that one and he was willing to accept that type of attack."
"He didn't believe the U.S. would invade?" Correspondent Scott Pelley asked.
"No, not initially," Piro answered.
Once it was clear that an invasion was imminent, Hussein asked his generals to hold off the allied forces for two weeks, Piro said. "And at that point, it would go into what he called the secret war," the agent said, referring to the insurgency.
But Piro said he was not sure that the insurgency was indeed part of Hussein's plan. "Well, he would like to take credit for the insurgency," he said.
Hussein had the ability to restart the weapons program and professed to wanting to do that, Piro said.
"He wanted to pursue all of WMD ... to reconstitute his entire WMD program."
Hussein said he was proud he eluded U.S. authorities who searched for him for nine months after the U.S.-led invasion, Piro said.
"What he wanted to really illustrate is ... how he was able to outsmart us," Piro said. "He told me he changed ... the way he traveled. He got rid of his normal vehicles. He got rid of the protective detail that he traveled with, really just to change his signature."
Hussein was hanged in 2006. E-mail to a friend
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152e0efd006b4b6abb29950c9496054e
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isn't he dead?
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[
"Hussein was hanged in 2006."
] |
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BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraq awarded a lucrative oil contract to BP and China National Petroleum Corp., government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said Wednesday, while rejecting other companies' offers for other oil fields.
BP and China National Petroleum Corporation have won a lucrative oil contract in Iraq.
The joint BP-CNPC bid was for the al-Rumeila oil field, one of the largest in the world. The energy companies are expected to increase production at the oil field by 50 percent, to 285,000 barrels a day, for a service charge of $2 for each additional barrel produced, al-Dabbagh said in a statement.
The Iraqi government rejected bids for five other oil fields and a natural gas field because the bidders did not agree to the service charge set by the Ministry of Oil, he said.
The Ministry of Oil rejected the idea that the failure to award more than one contract made the much-anticipated auction a flop.
Iraq did not say how much the BP-CNPC bid was worth. It runs for 20 years.
Oil Minister Hussein Shahrastani chaired the government-sponsored auction for the oil and natural gas field contracts Tuesday, after a day's delay due to a sandstorm.
Much of the auction was broadcast live on state television, which Ministry of Oil spokesman Assem Jihad told CNN was a sign of the transparency of the process.
He said the government was satisfied with the auction, even though only one contract was awarded, because the contract was for Iraq's largest oil field.
Iraq plans to open bidding this year on 10 more oil fields and one natural gas field, all of which are undeveloped, Jihad said.
The companies whose bids were rejected Tuesday have been given time to review their offers, he said.
Iraq has some of the largest oil reserves in the world, with an estimated 115 billion barrels -- tying Iran for second place, behind Saudi Arabia's 264 billion barrels, according to estimates from the Energy Information Administration in the United States.
CNN's Jomana Karadsheh in Baghdad contributed to this report.
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f6d232d7d925403a85e59811a14d1162
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Who did Iraq award the lucrative oil contract to?
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"BP and China National Petroleum Corporation"
] |
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Yasuf, West Bank (CNN) -- Vandals burned a mosque in the West Bank on Friday in an attack a Palestinian official said reflected Israeli settler rage over a government moratorium on settlement construction.
No one knows who set ablaze and vandalized the mosque -- located in the West Bank village of Yasuf.
But the governor of Salfit district, Munir al-Abboushi, told CNN he believes Jewish settlers were responsible for the attack.
"The mosque was completely burned," al-Abboushi said. "They burned the praying carpets and Quran holy books, and set the mosque completely on fire, they even burned the loudspeakers where the Imam preaches inside the mosque."
Al-Abboushi said the culprits had scrawled Hebrew graffiti at the entrance of the mosque that read "price tag -- with regards from Effi."
"Price tag" is the expression radical Israeli settlers have used to denote reprisal attacks against Palestinians in response to moves by the Israeli government to evacuate illegal West Bank outposts.
Israel's Defense Minister Ehud Barak called on the Israeli military, which occupies the West Bank, to find those responsible for the attack.
"This is an extremist action that is meant to harm any effort by the government to advance political processes for Israel's future," Barak said in a statement released by his office.
Settler leader Dany Dayan -- chairman of the Yesha Council, a group of Jewish municipal councils from the West Bank -- told CNN, "I hope that Israeli police will uncover the perpetrators whoever they are and will bring them to trial. This act is wrong and foolish. If this act was carried out by a Jew it fills me with great shame."
Al-Abboushi said later Friday morning, after word of the mosque attack had spread, residents of the village were prevented by the Israeli army from approaching the area which resulted in minor clashes with exchanges of rocks and tear gas between the residents and Israeli soldiers.
Al-Abboushi expressed doubt that the attack would be investigated properly. "What do the police and Israeli army do when they attack our holy mosques and houses? What do they do to the settlers? But when they attack us they do nothing."
Last month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a 10-month freeze on new settlement construction in the occupied West Bank.
The move has been met with fierce opposition by the politically powerful settler movement and confrontations have erupted almost daily in the West Bank, with groups of settlers forcibly attempting to keep away government inspectors enforcing the ban.
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53b04627550842c3b57399c313638f6e
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What was set ablaze and vandalized?
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[
"the mosque"
] |
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(CNN) -- The mother and brother of a 31-year-old woman found strangled with her two young sons in the bedrooms of their home filed a wrongful death lawsuit Tuesday against the alleged killer -- the husband and father of the victims.
Christopher Coleman has pleaded not guilty and is being held without bond.
Christopher Coleman has pleaded not guilty in the triple homicide police say took place early in the morning on May 5 in the family home in the small southwestern Illinois city of Columbia.
"To strip the culpable party of all financial holdings -- all that he has now and all that he may ever have," is the aim of the suit, said a statement accompanying the suit filed in Monroe County circuit court by Angela DeCicco and Mario Weiss, the mother and brother of Sheri Coleman.
"To allow one penny of ill-gotten gain to be derived at the expense of Sheri, Garett and Gavin is not acceptable to those who dearly love them."
The money would go to a memorial fund set up for Coleman and her sons, Garett, 11, and Gavin, 9 and "these funds will be used to erect a lasting tribute in the city of Columbia," according to the complaint.
"Our goal is to extract something positive from such a horrific and senseless tragedy and to honor the lives of my sister and her two young sons," Weiss said.
The wrongful death suit also names Coleman's father, Ronald, and the Joyce Meyer Ministries, where Coleman worked until shortly after his family was killed, as "respondents in discovery," which means they may be forced to hand over financial documents and information such as Coleman's personnel file, his work schedule and travel itineraries and the Ministries' employment policies.
In addition, the suit tries to establish a timeline of events before and after the killings, saying the Colemans took the deed to their home in 2005, but six months ago, ownership was transferred to Christoper Coleman alone.
"Sheri did not voluntarily sign the deed transferring title to the residence to Christopher," the document says.
Lawyers in the civil suit also allege that in the period between the killings and his arrest, Coleman removed personal property from the home.
The suit asks that Coleman and anyone "acting at his direction" be forbidden from entering the home again and that he provide a list of items already removed.
Coleman remains in jail after a judge denied bond.
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c86e0138579a4e8daf421e0aeeace453
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Who's sons were killed?
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[
"Christopher Coleman"
] |
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(CNN) -- Charges of bribery against former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney and Halliburton by Nigeria's anti-corruption police may be dropped after an agreement to pay a $250 million fine.
"Discussions focus on the possibility of a plea bargain arrangement," said Femi Babafemi, a spokesman for Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
"Allowing the company and former officials to pay heavy fines in lieu of prosecution ... they would pay $120 million as fines and $130 million from bad money stored in Switzerland from the original deal -- so $250 million in total."
This month, the commission charged Cheney -- who ran Halliburton in the 1990s -- and nine others with "conspiracy and distribution of gratification to public officials."
The investigation is part of a long-running case involving Halliburton and a subsidiary firm, Kellogg, Brown and Root, over alleged bribes paid to Nigerian officials to secure $6 billion worth of contracts for a liquefied natural gas project in the Niger Delta.
The bribes are said to have amounted to $180 million between 1994 and 2004.
The firm pleaded guilty to foreign bribery charges in the United States last year and paid a $402 million criminal fine, the U.S. Justice Department said. KBR and Halliburton also paid $177 million to settle civil complaints related to the bribery, the Justice Department said.
Investigations in Nigeria, however, have been ongoing, and there are allegations that the bribes went all the way to the top, to aides, officials and possibly then-President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Many observers in Nigeria regard the move as a publicity stunt by the commission ahead of national elections in April and as a symbolic effort to display resolve against government corruption.
The agency has had limited success in getting successful prosecutions and hasn't charged any high-profile people since its top commissioner was removed from the body in 2007.
Cheney's atttorney has said that there is no reason to suspect that his client is guilty.
"This matter involves the activities of an international four-company joint venture (which included KBR, then a subsidiary of Halliburton) well over a decade ago," Terrence O'Connell said.
"The Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission investigated that joint venture extensively and found no suggestion of any impropriety by Dick Cheney in his role of CEO of Halliburton."
The latest discussions on reaching a settlement ended this weekend in London, Babafemi said.
The arrangement is now waiting for Nigeria's Minister of of Justice to officially agree to the deal, a decision that is expected by the end of the week.
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6fd5ac6f6994436e8c9294ad641759ce
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Where is Halliburton from?
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[
"Nigeria's"
] |
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(CNN) -- It's been 30,000 years since Neanderthals walked the earth, but now we can hear what they sounded like, according to a Florida anthropologist.
Neanderthal man apparently sounded like a frog croaking or a human burping when talking.
Robert McCarthy of Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton reconstructed Neanderthal vocal tracts to simulate their voice with a computer synthesizer.
The result is a single syllable that sounds strange and unremarkable: part croaking frog, part burping human. But McCarthy says that's because Neanderthals lacked the "quantal vowels" modern humans use.
"They would have spoken a bit differently," McCarthy said at the annual meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists in Ohio this month. "They wouldn't have been able to produce these quantal vowels that form the basis of spoken language."
New Scientist magazine discussed McCarthy's findings and linked to his vocal simulation on its Web site. Listen to Neanderthal man speak
McCarthy used 50,000-year-old fossils from France to make his reconstruction, New Scientist said. He plans to simulate an entire Neanderthal sentence, the magazine reported.
To reconstruct the vocal tracts, McCarthy teamed with linguist Phil Lieberman, who worked in the 1970s to deduce the dimensions of a Neanderthal larynx based on its skull. E-mail to a friend
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a2895f828b864a39a1068413448cd2aa
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What are the plans?
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"simulate an entire Neanderthal sentence,"
] |
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(CNN) -- Four days of heavy rains triggered a landslide that killed 12 children and eight adults near Mount Kilimanjaro in northern Tanzania, authorities said Friday.
Five of the children were under six, said Suzan Kaganda, a police department spokeswoman.
The death toll could go up as rescue crews search the area for people reported missing, Kaganda said.
Most victims of the late Tuesday landslide live in the Kilimanjaro region near the mountain by the same name, Kaganda said.
The mountain is the highest peak in Africa and is a major tourist attraction.
U.N. officials warned last month that east Africa is facing mudslides, crop destruction and waterborne diseases as a result of heavy downpour triggered by El Nino weather patterns.
Most east African countries have been water-starved in the past few years, exacerbating the results of floods, because a lot of greenery disappeared in the drought.
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97cafcaa29a7436488938dfe74fe1958
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What are the destruction and diseases related to?
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[
"heavy downpour triggered by El Nino weather patterns."
] |
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LONDON, England (CNN) -- Michael Jackson fans who purchased tickets for his final concerts will receive a full refund or, if they chose, a commemorative ticket, the concert promoter said Tuesday.
A fan shows off the first ticket bought at the O2 Centre in London for one of Michael Jackson's concerts.
"The world lost a kind soul who just happened to be the greatest entertainer the world has ever known," said Randy Phillips, president and chief executive officer of AEG Live.
"Since he loved his fans in life, it is incumbent upon us to treat them with the same reverence and respect after his death."
Fifty sold-out Jackson concerts were scheduled for the O2 Arena in London, starting July 13, with admission costing at least $105. The shows were billed as the final concerts of his career and were called "This Is It." Tell us what you think -- would you take the ticket or the refund?
Fans who decide they would rather have a souvenir will receive a ticket conceived by Jackson. There are eight designs that include holographic images of the entertainer on the front.
Images of the tickets will be available on michaeljacksonlive.com in coming days, according to the promoter.
Refunds will be processed by the issuing ticketing agencies -- See, Ticketline, Ticketmaster and Viagogo.
Billboard magazine has estimated that $85 million in tickets were sold for the concert series. Additional packages, merchandise and secondary market sales could have raised the total to $115 million. AEG Live declined to comment on the figures.
Jackson was expected to earn $50 million from the London shows.
He died Thursday in California after his doctor found him in bed not breathing, but with a slight pulse. Efforts to revive the 50-year-old singer failed and he was pronounced dead at a Los Angeles medical center.
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51aee40d11a74476b825cebf79906bb0
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How many London shows were sold out?
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[
"Fifty"
] |
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(CNN) -- A mysterious X-shaped pattern of space debris seen by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope was probably two asteroids that collided, scientists said Tuesday.
The object, called P/2010 A2, was discovered in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter by the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research sky survey, or LINEAR, on January 6, NASA said.
The shape, and the streamers of dust shooting off of it, were photographed by Hubble on January 25 and 29, according to NASA.
Astronomers have long thought the asteroid belt is being ground down because of collisions, but such a head-on crash had never been seen before.
"If this interpretation is correct, two small and previously unknown asteroids recently collided, creating a shower of debris that is being swept back into a tail from the collision site by the pressure of sunlight," said principal investigator David Jewitt, from the University of California at Los Angeles.
At first, astronomers thought what they saw might be a main belt comet, a rare case of a comet orbiting while in the asteroid belt.
But the images taken by Hubble revealed the complex X-pattern of filamentary structures near the object's nucleus.
Jewitt said the filaments are made of dust and gravel. Some of them are being swept back by radiation pressure from sunlight, creating the long, straight dust streaks, he said.
The nucleus of the presumed boom is 460 feet in diameter, NASA said.
Asteroid collisions happen fast, with an average impact speed of more than 11,000 mph, or five times faster than a rifle bullet.
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1d95319fc6194b38b0f387deb4ed6988
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what saw the apparent crash?
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[
"NASA's Hubble Space Telescope"
] |
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LAGOS, Nigeria (CNN) -- More than 2,500 Nigerians caught in the fighting between Islamic militants and government forces have fled their homes in the northern part of the country, a Red Cross spokeswoman said Wednesday.
Mothers and their children take refuge this week at a police office in the northern Nigerian city of Maiduguri.
More than 400 people have been killed, and 150 bodies were lying in the general hospital at Maiduguri, according to Aliyu Maikanu, a Red Cross disaster officer in the northeast.
Most of the violence has been on the outskirts of the city, officials said.
"It's a terrible situation for me. It's a very serious battle -- something I have not seen in my life," Maikanu said.
She said only security personnel were free to move around due to the risks.
Up to 1,000 militants are holed up at their base of operations in Maiduguri, and police have cordoned off the area, she said.
National police spokesman Emmanuel Ojukwu said Wednesday that police were able to free 187 women and children whom they claim were being held in the compound of the Islamic militants' leader, Mohammed Yusuf.
Under the sect's strict form of sharia law, the group that was released was shielded from public view, Ojukwu said.
He said 100 arrests have been made across the north.
Shehu Sani, president of the Civil Rights Congress, a human rights organization based in northern Nigeria, said people were seeking refuge in police and military barracks and in hospitals.
The militants disagree with the government's teaching of Islam in the region, maintaining that the government allows itself to be influenced by Western values.
They have been targeting high-profile government institutions, police and Islamic clergy, Ojukwu said.
The operation to defeat the militants is ongoing, he said, and police have been deployed in all northeast and northwestern states.
There is a history of religious violence in central Nigeria, where majority-Muslim North Africa meets largely Christian sub-Saharan Africa.
Human Rights Watch estimates that more than 1,000 people were killed there in riots in 2001.
Last week the human rights organization alleged that police and soldiers killed at least 133 people during two days of riots last year between Muslims and Christians in Nigeria. Most of the victims were young Muslim men, often unarmed, the group said in testimony before a state commission.
CNN's Christian Purefoy contributed to this report.
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f150f7e44b0048ec856719702e9c37c8
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Maiduguri is in which country?
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[
"Nigeria"
] |
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SEOUL, South Korea (CNN) -- One could say she has the determination ... but lacks the drive.
Driving agency estimates woman has spent more than $2,888 in exam fees.
A 68-year-old South Korean woman this week signed up to take her driving test once again -- after failing to earn a license the first 771 times.
The woman, identified only as Cha, first took the written portion of the exam in April 2005, said Choi Young-cheol of the Driver's License Agency in the southwestern city of Jeonju.
At the time, she made her living selling goods door-to-door and figured she would need a car to help her get around, Choi told CNN.
She failed the test. She retook the test the next day and failed again. And again. And again.
"You have to get at least 60 points to pass the written part," said Kim Rahn, who wrote about the unflappable woman in the Korea Times, an English-language daily. "She usually gets under 50."
In the beginning, Cha went to the license office almost every day. Now, she no longer works but still turns up once a week, Choi said.
The office estimates she has spent more than 4 million won ($2,888) in exam fees.
Cha's last failed attempt was Monday.
She tries for the 772nd time either Thursday or Friday.
-- CNN's Kathy Paik and Saeed Ahmed contributed to this report.
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7bac34bb853d429ebab2fa9301bf2245
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How much costs woman all test applications?
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[
"has spent more than $2,888 in exam fees."
] |
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(CNN) -- Thomas the Tank Engine, whose television adventures on the fictional island of Sodor have delighted children around the world for years, is now on a real-life mission to help kids with autism.
Thomas the Tank Engine is part of a new online game to help autistic children recognize different emotions.
The steam locomotive and his friends are the stars of a new game in Australia, designed to help autistic children recognize emotions.
Autism Spectrum Australia (Aspect), a nonprofit that provides services to people diagnosed with the developmental disorder, unveiled the game on its Web site Tuesday.
The game asks players to recognize which engine has a sad face, or which is happy or angry.
Children with autism often have a difficult time distinguishing different facial expressions.
Each time a child plays the game, he/she is presented with a different sequence of emotions. In doing so, the game takes advantage of the single-mindedness of autistic children to assist in their development.
"It's a great way to help develop social and communication skills," said Anthony Warren of Aspect.
A study conducted in the United Kingdom found that autistic children were far more fascinated by the television series, "Thomas and Friends," than they were with other fictional characters.
The study, by the National Autistic Society, summarized that the show held such appeal because of the clear facial expressions of the characters, the pacing of the program and the easy-to-follow story lines.
"We got those results down here, and we thought, how could we leverage that strength and give a little back to the community?" said Tom Punch with Haven Licensing, the company that handles licensing for the characters in Australia.
Warren said one of the reasons Thomas is particularly stimulating and motivating for children with autism is that it's very predictable.
"Children can understand the clear visual messages -- the big smile on the front of the engine," he said. "The messages it communicates are very concrete, not abstract. And the emotions are primary emotions. It's uncomplicated."
Autism is a developmental disorder that affects physical, social and language skills. It usually appears before age 3, though the earliest signs are subtle.
More doctors and researchers are referring to "autism" as "autisms," because each child's case is different, as are the causes, helpful therapies and potential treatments.
The Australian nonprofit unveiled the game this month to coincide with Autism Awareness Month in that country.
After all, as the show's theme song attests: "Red and green and brown and blue; They're the really useful crew."
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1c8423929c53473688fbff2c7f1f7bb8
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What do autistic children have trouble distinguishing?
|
[
"different facial expressions."
] |
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(CNN) -- A court has lifted a ban on identifying a man charged with one of a number of deadly wildfires that scorched southeastern Australia this month.
A dirt track runs through the burnt out forest in the Kinglake region of Victoria state.
The man, 39-year-old Brendan Sokaluk, did not appear in Monday's hearing in Melbourne Magistrates' Court, the Australian Associated Press reported. An order banning the publishing of Sokaluk's street address or his image remains in place.
Public passions are running high in the aftermath of the fires that have killed scores of people. One T-shirt says, "The bastards who lit Victoria's fires should: Burn in hell."
Sokaluk is suspected of lighting a fire on February 7. He was charged with arson causing death, intentionally or recklessly lighting a bush fire, and possessing child pornography, Victoria state police said last week. The fire Sokaluk is accused of setting killed at least 21 people in Gippsland. See map of fire-hit areas »
Sokaluk's identity had already been revealed on social networking sites before the court lifted the suppression order on his name.
There were 12 Facebook groups carrying details about Sokaluk, with one attracting more than 3,600 members. Watch more on arrest »
Robbie Shenton, who has joined one such group, told CNN: "The judicial system had no right to suppress his name or photograph."
Melbourne's Age newspaper reported Police had contacted Facebook seeking removal of Sokaluk's details.
The death toll in a string of fires across Victoria climbed to 189 on Monday, police reported. The number of fires burning had dropped to six, from about a peak of about three dozen, the Country Fire Authority said. Watch a survivor tell his story »
Meanwhile, more than 150 detectives were working on the arson investigation, authorities said. The fires have destroyed more than 1,800 homes and displaced about 7,000 people.
Priyanka Deladia contributed to this report.
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f4eb7020129046d1a726f6001ee333a9
|
What did the order ban?
|
[
"publishing of Sokaluk's street address or his image"
] |
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|
BEIJING, China (CNN) -- A magnitude-7.9 earthquake that struck southwestern China last year left 5,335 students dead or missing and disabled an additional 546 children, state media reported.
A girl fastens wish cards at a middle school at Qushan township earlier this year in memory of students.
The first official tally of students killed in the Sichuan province quake was released Thursday by Tu Wentao, the head of the province's education department, the Xinhua news agency said.
As of September, official figures put the death toll at 69,227, with more than 17,923 people missing. The tremor struck May 12 about 2:30 p.m., when many children were in school.
The official tally of student deaths and injuries was released a few days after an Amnesty International report accused the government of China of intimidating and unlawfully detaining relatives of children who had died in the earthquake.
The 52-page report, published Sunday, documented instances in which relatives said they had been detained for up to 21 days for trying to get answers from officials.
"By unlawfully locking up parents of children who died, the government is creating more misery for people who have said in some cases they lost everything in the Sichuan earthquake," said Roseann Rife, deputy program director of Amnesty International Asia-Pacific.
The report also accused authorities of preventing relatives from complaining to higher officials about the quality of construction in the buildings that had collapsed.
The human-rights organization called on Chinese authorities "to take immediate action to address the grievances of survivors and relatives of those who were killed or injured."
CNN was not immediately able to get a response to the report from China's Ministry of Civil Affairs and Ministry of Justice.
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f80b0823d145444ab7b4c23bebb58bb6
|
Where was the tremor?
|
[
"southwestern China"
] |
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(CNN) -- Mexican authorities on Saturday arrested four men in connection with last week's shooting death of a U.S. Border Patrol agent in San Diego County, California, Mexico's state-run news agency Notimex reported.
U.S. Border Patrol Agent Robert Rosas was fatally shot Thursday night in California, U.S. authorities said.
Mexican federal police identified the men as human smugglers, and said they were in the act of transporting 21 immigrants when they were detained in the northwest state of Baja California, Notimex said.
At a news conference, federal police identified two of the suspects as brothers Jose Eugenio Quintero Ruiz, 49, and Jose Evodio Quintero Ruiz, 43. The other two arrestees were taxi drivers Antonio Badallares Zepeda, 57 and Jose Alfredo Camacho Penuela, 34, Notimex reported.
Border Patrol Agent Robert Rosas was shot and killed Thursday night while responding to a potential incursion into the United States in the Campo area in San Diego County, U.S. authorities said.
The Mexican federal police did not offer specific evidence of the suspects' role in the killing, but said intelligence reports indicated the group was responsible for kidnappings, rapes and murders of several people who tried to cross to the United States, Notimex said. The men were wanted by American authorities, police said.
Notimex said that during his interrogation, Jose Eugenio Quintero told investigators the shooter was Ernesto Parra Valenzuela, a man arrested the day before by local police in Tecate, Mexico.
Rosas, who is survived by his wife and two young children, had been a border agent for three years.
Rosas was the ninth Border Patrol agent to be killed while on duty since 2006, according to the agency's Web site.
Two agents died in a vehicle wreck in 2006, and four died in 2007, including two who died in vehicle wrecks, a third who drowned and a fourth who suffered a heart attack while pursuing undocumented immigrants.
Two agents died on duty last year, the Border Patrol said. One died in a single-vehicle wreck; another was struck and killed by a vehicle driven by a suspected smuggler, according to the agency's Web site.
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69951d48c47f480e9d1c87df26804d0a
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who are the suspects?
|
[
"as brothers Jose Eugenio Quintero Ruiz, 49, and Jose Evodio Quintero Ruiz, 43."
] |
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TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Thirty people convicted of drug and other criminal charges will be hanged on Sunday, Iran's semi-official Fars News Agency reported Saturday.
A convicted Iranian drug dealer is hanged from a crane in the southern city of Shiraz in September.
The 30 had their cases tried by the highest judicial authorities and were found guilty of the charges brought against them, Iran's judiciary said in a statement.
The verdicts are final, and the sentences will be carried out Sunday, according to Fars.
According to Amnesty International, Iran executed 317 people last year, second only to China's 470. The U.S. executed 42 people in 2007, according to Amnesty International.
The Iranian judiciary's statement said that all 30 were convicted of crimes including murder, murder in commission of a crime, disturbing public safety and security, being a public nuisance while drunk and being involved in illegal relationships -- relationships between men and women who are not married to each other.
Kidnapping and using weapons while committing a crime were among the charges.
The statement said that 20 of the people were convicted of drug and alcohol dealing, armed robbery and smuggling arms.
The judiciary said it will provide more details later as to the crimes committed by those condemned and added that the hangings should serve as a warning to those who are contemplating committing such crimes.
Others are awaiting trial, and their sentences will be carried out as soon as the verdicts are pronounced by the courts, the judiciary said.
The judiciary asked the public to notify the authorities if they have any information that might lead to arrest and convictions of criminals.
Iran's government launched a campaign March 20 to increase public security and bring the crime rate down.
Police cracked down on drug dealers, whom they called criminal gang members, and habitual criminals who use guns in the commission of their crime. Alleged weapons smugglers and people who break social and religious laws, including adulterers, were also targets.
National television showed scenes of what were described as criminals being paraded in chains as a deterrent to others. The wave of arrests has subsided, as officials are now prosecuting the suspects and sentencing those convicted.
Journalist Shirzad Bozorgmehr contributed to this report.
|
50d21362c3ec457eb7382f91a7cf56ca
|
What number of people did the US execute in 2007?
|
[
"42"
] |
NewsQA
|
New York (CNN) -- The son of actor Michael Douglas apologized to a federal judge before being sentenced to a five-year prison term Tuesday, promising to follow "the true right path" when released.
Cameron Douglas, 31, pleaded guilty to distributing large quantities of methamphetamine and cocaine in January.
"I apologize to the court for my decisions and actions that put me in front of you today," Douglas said in a trembling voice. He added, "I have developed, in my mind, the idea that I want to take the right path, the true right path."
U.S. District Judge Richard Berman rebuffed pleas by defense lawyers for a more lenient sentencing, telling the spectators that prison may be Douglas' "last chance."
Cameron Douglas is the son of the two-time Academy Award winner and his first wife, Diandra Luker, both of whom attended the sentencing. As Cameron Douglas spoke, his mother was crying and his father appeared to be fighting back tears.
Douglas, who was arrested in July 2009 at a Manhattan nightclub, asked Berman "for opportunity to be a role model to my younger brothers and sisters."
"I believe, your honor, things will be different this time," he added. If given a second chance, he said, "I will never squander that opportunity."
Berman acknowledged that numerous letters sent on the defendant's behalf by celebrities and others, but said some of the letters implied that he should not make an example of Douglas because he is the son of a famous actor.
"None acknowledged appropriately the numerous impacts to victims of society for dealing drugs," the judge said.
|
267f70c94c984d76a70e8a27de38951f
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When was Douglas arrested?
|
[
"in July"
] |
NewsQA
|
(Mashable) -- Social media management company Vitrue released a free tool Thursday, the Social Page Evaluator, designed to help marketers get a better understanding of a Facebook page's value.
Just submit a Facebook page URL and the app will come up with a valuation based on factors like number of fans, number of posts per day, number of interactions and so forth.ssss
It's a cool -- if not completely scientific -- way to gauge the potential value of your Facebook page to advertisers. The formula used by the Social Page Evaluator is related to the formula that Vitrue released last month to estimate the relative value of Facebook Fans to big brands.
The tool, which was built over 63 hours in a Startup Weekend-style project, is adjustable and interactive. For instance, the base rate of Earned Media Value (or CPM in more traditional terms) is $5, but this can be adjusted to a higher or lower value depending on the brand in question.
Likewise, there is a "Fan-tasize" section that lets you manipulate other features like number of posts per day, engagement level and Fan count to see how that affects the valuation.
You can also compare a Facebook Page with up to three other brands at a time and view a Page's value history. In addition to the valuation data, there is also a list of best practices for getting the most out of your Facebook Page.
So how accurate is this tool? It's difficult to determine, as it is based on a formula that, while derived from a study of large brands, is obviously not going to be applicable to all companies.
Still, it's a fun, easy way to get an idea of the factors that impact a Facebook Page valuation. It's also a good stepping stone for marketers to start thinking about the potential advertising power of a Facebook Page.
What do you think of the tool? Let us know!
© 2010 MASHABLE.com. All rights reserved.
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c0ca7bd6f680415d9ad02f825ddc0475
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What is the name of the new app?
|
[
"Social Page"
] |
NewsQA
|
NEW YORK (CNN) -- Diane Sawyer will take over nightly news anchor duties for ABC when Charlie Gibson retires from "World News" at the end of this year, a network spokesman confirmed Wednesday.
Charlie Gibson and Diane Sawyer worked together on "Good Morning America."
Sawyer, 63, will be the second woman to be the solo host of an evening newscast for an American broadcast TV network.
Sawyer will take the chair in January, ABC's Jeffrey Schneider said.
Gibson, 66, and Sawyer worked together for years on ABC's morning show -- "Good Morning America" -- before Gibson was promoted over Sawyer to anchor ABC's "World News" in May 2006.
Elizabeth Vargas and Bob Woodruff co-anchored the newscast before Gibson. That duo came to an end after Woodruff was seriously wounded by a roadside bomb in Iraq.
Maria Brennan, president of the Washington-based American Women in Radio and Television organization, called the announcement a "watershed moment" and said Sawyer was the "obvious choice" to take over ABC's anchor chair.
Asked about the significance of two out of three network nightly news anchors being women -- the other being CBS' Katie Couric -- Brennan said, "It comes with some excitement and some glee for groups like ours, who have worked for years to ensure that women have parity with their male counterparts."
"When we get to a point in time when we don't even notice the gender, we can really celebrate," Brennan said.
Sawyer worked for President Richard Nixon in the 1970s, first in his White House press office and later helping him write his memoirs after his resignation.
After a stint with CBS News -- including five years as a "60 Minutes" correspondent -- Sawyer joined ABC News in 1989.
She worked on news magazines for ABC -- including "Primetime Live" and "20/20" -- before being assigned to co-host "Good Morning America" with Gibson in 1999.
CNN's Albert Lewintinn contributed to this report.
|
38065ca3e31d4f3fb2259b4013200e47
|
Who is retiring at the end of the year?
|
[
"Charlie Gibson"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Three-time defending champion Rafael Nadal made light work of his heavy schedule and a recurring foot problem to reach the last 16 of the French Open on Friday.
Rafael Nadal inspects his blistered foot during his third-round victory against Jarko Nieminen.
The world No. 2 crushed Finnish 26th seed Jarkko Nieminen 6-1 6-3 6-1 in his fourth successive day of action on the Paris clay, following frustration this week with bad weather.
He will play fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco after his 7-6 5-7 7-6 6-1 win over 15th seed Mikhail Youzhny of Russia.
Third seed Novak Djokovic was also untroubled in a later third round match to see off Wayne Odesnik of the United States 7-5 6-4 6-2.
Nadal will be hoping for some time to let his blistered foot recover, needing treatment during the match against Nieminen for a problem that saw him beaten in the second round of the Rome Masters earlier in the claycourt season.
He is bidding to become the second man after the legendary Bjorn Borg to win four successive titles at Roland Garros, but has already vented his anger at the ATP Tour for scheduling four top-level clay events in as many weeks. Watch Nadal talk about his tournament hopes »
Nadal showed little signs of tiredness as he cruised past Nieminen in less than two hours to extend his winning record at the tournament to 24 matches.
His opening victory against Brazil's Thomaz Bellucci took two days due to torrential rain, then on Thursday he saw off another qualifier in straight sets when he beat Frenchman Nicolas Devilder.
In other third round action on Friday, Spain's Nicolas Almagro again showed his clay court pedigree with a 6-3 6-7 6-3 7-5 win over Britain's 10th seed Andy Murray.
Almagro, who has won two titles on clay this season, was made to work hard by Murray, but recovered from a 3-1 deficit in the third set to win seven games in row and take command.
He will now play 145th-ranked Frenchman Jeremy Chardy who ended the run of 30th seed Dmitry Tursunov of Russia in straight sets.
Latvia's Ernests Gulbis continued his fine run as he defeated Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador 6-3 7-5 6-2 to set up a clash with home hope Michael Llodra who beat Italy's Simone Bolelli in straight sets.
In second-round action, France's Florent Serra completed a hard-fought 6-4 6-3 6-7 7-6 win over Victor Hanescu of Romania and will next face American Bobby Ginepri.
|
8e45fa620a914b9a93ec2bcea18bbd9c
|
Who beat Mikhail Youzhny?
|
[
"Fernando Verdasco"
] |
NewsQA
|
(PEOPLE.com) -- Three and a half weeks since having a double mastectomy, Giuliana Rancic says she's "doing better than I anticipated in recovery."
While that's great news for the E! host, she also says her breast cancer ordeal has changed her life for the better "in so many ways."
"I never thought my marriage could be stronger, or I could be closer to [my husband] Bill," she told PEOPLE at an E! Luncheon on Saturday for the Television Critics Association press tour in Pasadena, Calif.
She's also become more religious. "We go to church every Sunday. And we did before, but it never meant as much as it does now," Rancic, 37, says. "We prayed on our own, but now we prayed together and you'll never know how much that means until you do it. Bill and I have changed our lives in that one way."
As for the decision to have the surgery, which removed both her breasts, she has no regrets. "The surgery brought my risks down to 95 to 100 percent," she said. "If I had a lumpectomy, I would have early estrogen menopause for at least two years, and I want to have children."
Besides, she told PEOPLE, her breasts don't define who she is as a person or as a professional in the entertainment industry.
"I didn't give two sh**s about my breasts. I didn't care that at the Golden Globes, I wouldn't be able to show cleavage," she said. "A lot of people were shocked. They said, 'Are you sure you want to do this? Think about the life you lead and the fabulous dresses and that's part of your job. It could put your job in jeopardy.' And I thought, if I ever have a job that is defined by my breasts and some gorgeous gown then I'm in the wrong business."
It also helps that her husband has been by her side throughout her health scare. "It breaks my heart that a lot of women don't have a supportive husband," she said. "Bill's a saint, and the hottest male nurse ever. He's very protective and it's almost as hard for him as it was for me."
See the full article at PEOPLE.com.
© 2011 People and Time Inc. All rights reserved.
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59ac529fc4b1416b84ce00f4b2699655
|
What person thought their marriage could be stronger
|
[
"Giuliana Rancic"
] |
NewsQA
|
New York (CNN) -- The young New York student whose tale of hard work and endurance in the face of homelessness has captured many hearts -- and whose recognition in the prestigious Intel science competition has already given her much to celebrate -- will be attending the president's State of the Union speech.
"Well, you know the SOTU attracts the most powerful people in the world, and I think Samantha can teach them a lesson in perseverance," New York Rep. Steve Israel said.
Israel, head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, has extended his plus one to Samantha Garvey, a 17-year-old homeless science superstar from Brentwood, New York.
Garvey was told last week at the shelter her family had been staying in that her study on the ribbed sea mussels of Long Island's salt marshes had earned her semifinalist recognition in Intel's science talent search and a potential $100,000 scholarship.
Two days later, after county officials heard Garvey's story, they announced that a three-bedroom home in Bellmore would be rented for the Garvey family as part of Suffolk County's affordable housing program.
The Garveys were living in a shelter after being kicked out of their home on New Year's Eve.
Israel called Garvey "an inspiration," and said he thought her presence would be an important influence on attendees of President Barack Obama's address on January 24.
"The same people that will praise Samantha with one hand might be the same people that will slash budgets for science and education on the other," Israel said.
Her story, he said, was one of staying steadfast in the face of adversity.
Israel said he had plans for himself and Garvey to meet with multiple White House officials before the speech.
The next day, Garvey will find out if she made it to the Intel finals.
|
c9d5dc88547a4cf09ce4c352ac3ae81b
|
When was she given a home?
|
[
"Two days later,"
] |
NewsQA
|
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Capitol Police arrested a man Friday after an officer spotted a rifle in his car when he stopped the officer to ask for directions two blocks from the Capitol building.
Police inspect the suspect's vehicle in Washington on Friday.
Christopher Shelton Timmons, 27, has been charged with carrying a deadly weapon, having an unregistered firearm and having unregistered ammunition, Capitol Police spokeswoman Sgt. Kimberly Schneider said.
In addition to the rifle -- an AK-47 -- police found a grenade, a pistol, ammunition, loaded magazines "and several other items of concern to the police" in the Jeep Cherokee he was driving.
Authorities said Timmons was convicted of carrying a concealed weapon in March in Albemarle County, Virginia, and served a month in jail. In that incident, Timmons had two grenades in his car, said Albemarle Police Chief John Miller.
The pins had been removed and the grenades were filled with powder, authorities said. They had an adhesive on top to close them and a firecracker for a fuse.
Law enforcement sources said the grenades were similar to an item found in Timmons vehicle Friday. That device has been taken to the FBI facility in Quantico, Virginia.
Members of the joint terrorism task force are involved in the investigation, sources said, but so far no one is suggesting Timmons was planning an attack of some kind.
CNN Justice Correspondent Kelli Arena contributed to this report.
|
7144cc182ae34e918b126b80fc3d3044
|
What did the Timmons ask of the officer?
|
[
"directions"
] |
NewsQA
|
TOKYO, Japan (CNN) -- Japanese scientists have produced clones of mice that have been dead and frozen for 16 years -- a feat that could lead researchers to one day resurrect long-extinct species, such as the mammoth.
Dolly was cloned using cells from live animals. Now scientists believe they can resurrect extinct species.
Until now, scientists have only been able to produce clones using cells from live animals. This is how researchers created Dolly the Sheep, the first mammal to be cloned from an adult animal.
Researchers had thought that frozen cells were unusable because ice crystals would have damaged the DNA. That belief would rule out the possibility of resurrecting extinct animals from their frozen remains.
But the latest research -- published in the journal, Proceedings for the National Academy of Sciences -- shows that scientists may have overcome the obstacle.
Researchers at the Riken Center for Developmental Biology in Kobe, Japan, used cells from mice that had been frozen for 16 years at -20 Celsius (-4 degrees Fahrenheit).
They extracted the nucleus and injected it into eggs whose DNA had been removed. Several steps later, the scientists were able to clone the mice.
"This is the first time a mammal has been cloned from a sample stored at conditions reasonably close to what might be expected in permafrost," Teruhiko Wakayama, who led the study, said in a statement.
"(It) gives some hope for those who might seek to clone extinct species from frozen carcasses."
|
27b5edbd7449445bb5d8a5fc8bc10cc2
|
Scientists produced clones of what?
|
[
"mice"
] |
NewsQA
|
DENVER, Colorado (CNN) -- A former hospital employee may have exposed hundreds, or even thousands, of surgical patients to hepatitis C after taking their fentanyl injections and replacing them with used syringes filled with saline solution, authorities say.
A hospital worker has admitted to secretly injecting herself and using unclean syringes for patients.
Kristen Diane Parker, who worked at Rose Medical Center in Denver, has admitted to secretly injecting herself in a bathroom and using unclean syringes as replacements for patients, investigators said.
She had hepatitis C, which she believes she contracted through using heroin and sharing dirty needles while she lived in New Jersey in 2008, authorities said.
She was a surgical technician at Rose from October 2008 to April 2009.
Nine patients who had surgery there during that time have tested positive for hepatitis C. Investigators are looking into whether they contracted the virus from Parker.
According to an affidavit filed by an investigator with the Food and Drug Administration, Rose Medical Center knew Parker tested positive for hepatitis C. She was counseled on how to limit her exposure to patients.
Parker quit after she was found to be in an operating room where she was not allowed to be. She subsequently tested positive for fentanyl. Hospital officials then contacted the DEA.
Parker is in federal custody facing three drug-related charges. If she is found to have done serious harm to a patient, she could face up to 20 years in prison. If a patient dies because of her actions, she could face life in prison.
In a statement to police, Parker said, "I can't take back what I did, but I will have to live with it for the rest of my life, and so does everyone else."
Her attorney could not be reached Friday.
Rose Medical Center is contacting 4,700 patients who had surgery at Rose during the time Parker was employed there. However, hospital officials do not believe that many patients were exposed.
"We are taking a very conservative and cautious approach by contacting everyone who had surgery during this broad time period," a statement on the hospital's Web site said, adding, "It is likely that most of the patients who receive letters will not have been exposed to hepatitis C."
An additional 1,200 patients may have been infected between May 4, 2009, and July 1, 2009, when Parker worked at Audubon Ambulatory Surgical Center in Colorado Springs. Audubon is also contacting patients.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, hepatitis C is a contagious liver disease that can lead to cirrhosis or liver cancer.
|
ea3782feb00a4195a2a8075e594201f9
|
From what does Parker believe she contracted hepatitis C?
|
[
"through using heroin and sharing dirty needles"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- The dramatic developments in Gaza over the past three days have driven Arab citizens to the streets, where they have displayed anger directed first and foremost at their own governments.
A Yemeni protester rips through an Israeli flag in the capital, Sanaa, on Sunday, December 28.
In Yemen, thousands of demonstrators gathered in the capital, Sanaa, shouting slogans in support of Gaza and its residents and burning Israeli and U.S. flags.
They cried out against the League of Arab States, which delayed discussion on the crisis.
One demonstrator told the Al-Jazeera network, "The Arab League is worthless. ... They're all worthless leaders, and they should all go home." Al-Jazeera is based in Doha, Qatar.
Israel has been conducting airstrikes in Gaza for three days, in what they say is retaliation for repeated rocket attacks into southern Israel by Hamas. Hundreds of people have died, mostly Hamas militants, according to Palestinian security forces.
In Sudan, the scene was similar. A woman wearing a Hamas banner around her forehead told Al-Manar TV, "Where are the Arab leaders? Where are their actions? Enough condemnation and finger-pointing. Show Gaza your support."
Students at the University of Qatar boycotted their classes and demonstrated their support for Gaza. Watch a report from CNN's Octavia Nasr »
One student spoke about what he saw as his moral responsibility: "Our ancestors claimed that the news about the Palestinian disaster reached them late in 1948. We have a responsibility to our children and the future generations. We can't tell them we heard about the Gaza disaster of 2008 but didn't do anything."
Jordan's parliament held a special session in solidarity with Gaza. But one parliamentarian defied the speaker's orders and burned the Israeli flag before stepping on it in the middle of applause from some of his colleagues.
The images played repeatedly on Arab media.
Egypt has been the recipient of much criticism in this crisis. Hamas supporters say Egypt has sold the Palestinians out by being too close and friendly with Israel and the United States.
From Egypt, political analysts retaliated, blaming Hamas for ending the Egyptian-brokered cease-fire, thus inviting the Israeli airstrikes.
One expert speaking to the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya blamed Hamas for "presenting Gazans on a silver plate to the Israeli monster."
He then blamed Syria and Iran for not taking military action to stop the bloodshed in Gaza.
|
372160e2b15745869c18e766c9aed5af
|
What did the citizens of Sudan protest?
|
[
"governments."
] |
NewsQA
|
London, England (CNN) -- Ozzy Osbourne, the former front man of rock group Black Sabbath, says that after decades of living a life of drugs and sex, he's lucky to be alive today.
Speaking to CNN's Max Foster, Osbourne described in detail how he often played a dangerous game when it came to using drugs and having promiscuous sex.
"With the sexually transmitted disease, what I was doing is playing Russian roulette with sex," says Osbourne.
"With the drugs, it nearly killed me on a daily basis -- I did a lot of heavy drug taking for a long time and I survived it by the grace of God.
"You might not be as lucky as me -- I'm living on borrowed time."
In his autobiography, "I am Ozzy," Osbourne discusses his past, his family and his time with Black Sabbath.
Answering a viewer's question on whether he realized his power to change people's lives, Osbourne replied with shock.
"When you're on the inside looking, you don't see it that way," Osbourne said.
"But I suppose you're right. I do -- I do have the power to change people's lives."
What does he remember about Black Sabbath?
"We were just four kids from Aston in Birmingham who had a good idea and it worked out fine."
Osbourne also discussed the current state of the music industry and the "manufacturing" of artists today.
"It's completely different -- they're manufactured people now... like ice cream.
"Every now and then somebody comes out and I really like them -- I really like this Lady Gaga."
|
e4872e4fce2a4a9dbd9a74918a41a0f1
|
What does Osbourne say he played russian roulette with
|
[
"sex,\""
] |
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|
BOGOTA, Colombia (CNN) -- A key rebel commander and fugitive from a U.S. drug trafficking indictment was killed over the weekend in an air attack on a guerrilla encampment, the Colombian military said Monday.
Alleged cocaine trafficker and FARC rebel Tomas Medina Caracas in an Interpol photo.
Tomas Medina Caracas, known popularly as "El Negro Acacio," was a member of the high command of the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia and, according to Colombian and U.S. officials, helped manage the group's extensive cocaine trafficking network.
He had been in the cross-hairs of the U.S. Justice Department since 2002. He was charged with conspiracy to import cocaine into the United States and manufacturing and distributing cocaine within Colombia to fund the FARC's 42-year insurgency against the government.
U.S. officials alleged Medina Caracas managed the rebel group's sales of cocaine to international drug traffickers, who in turn smuggled it into the United States.
He was also indicted in the United States along with two other FARC commanders in November 2002 on charges of conspiring to kidnap two U.S. oil workers from neighboring Venezuela in 1997 and holding one of them for nine months until a $1 million ransom was paid.
Officials said the army's Rapid Response Force, backed by elements of the Colombian Air Force, tracked Medina Caracas down at a FARC camp in the jungle in the south of the country.
"After a bombardment, the troops occupied the camp, and they've found 14 dead rebels so far, along with rifles, pistols, communications equipment and ... four GPS systems," Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos said at a news conference. "The death of 'El Negro Acacio' was confirmed by various sources, including members of FARC itself."
Medina Caracas commanded FARC's 16th Front in the southern departments of Vichada and Guainia.
Established in 1964 as the military wing of the Colombian Communist Party, FARC is Colombia's oldest, largest, most capable and best-equipped Marxist rebel group, according to the U.S. Department of State. E-mail to a friend
Journalist Fernando Ramos contributed to this report.
|
84b8b90b331c4b74b084be636cceeda4
|
When was he indicted?
|
[
"November 2002"
] |
NewsQA
|
ATHENS, Greece (CNN) -- Thousands of youths demonstrated in central Athens Friday as anger flared in the Greek capital following the shooting of another teenager.
High school students protest in front of their school in the western Athens suburb of Peristeri.
A group of youths targeted the French Institute, a language and cultural institute, and police scrambled to the scene to contain the incident.
The situation began heating up during a protest rally Thursday that followed the bizarre shooting of a high school student in an Athens suburb earlier this week.
The 17-year-old was hit in the hand by an unknown assailant as he was talking to a group of schoolmates in the western suburb of Peristeri. Initial police reports showed the student -- the son of a leading trade unionist -- was hit with a .38-caliber handgun.
Police said no officers were patrolling the region at the time of the incident.
The mysterious shooting has enflamed widespread student anger over the fatal police shooting of a 15-year-old boy December 6, which sparked Greece's worst riots in decades. Watch more about the flare-up of protests »
Students rallied Friday in response to the shooting of the 17-year-old. One of the rallies was planned for central Athens; the other in the suburb where the student was shot.
Later in the day, scores of artists are scheduled to gather in central Athens to stage a protest concert in response to the initial shooting of 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos.
Daily protests since the December 6 shooting, including riots, have thrown Greece into turmoil and have become a simmering anger about the conservative government's handling of the economy, education, and jobs.
A string of labor unions called on workers to march on Parliament Friday to protest the voting of the 2009 state budget, which calls for additional belt-tightening measures in response to the global financial crisis.
Student unions were also gathering to across the country to determine their course of action for the next few weeks.
At least 800 high schools and 200 universities remain shut as thousands of youths have seized the grounds and campuses in protest.
The unrest is threatening the government's hold on power, with some opposition groups calling for fresh elections. Stores and international businesses have been attacked, and at least 280 people have been detained by police. Of that total, 176 were arrested, 130 of them for looting.
Of the two officers involved in the death of the 15-year-old, one is charged with premeditated manslaughter and the other with acting as an accomplice.
|
56662728b2e6410b8a25d6805ff5f08e
|
Where were they shot?
|
[
"western suburb of Peristeri."
] |
NewsQA
|
MEXICO CITY, Mexico (CNN) -- Eight people were killed and 101 were wounded in two explosions during a celebration of Mexico's independence day Monday night, a Mexican official said Tuesday.
Wounded people get help after blasts Monday night during an independence day event in Morelia, Mexico.
Two people remained in grave condition, said Roman Armando Luna Escalante, secretary of health in Michoacan state. Eleven of the wounded were children, Luna Escalante said. None of them are gravely injured.
The explosions occurred around 11 p.m. near the governor's residence in Morelia, the capital of Michoacan. The second blast happened shortly afterward a few blocks away.
Officials would not say if they have any suspects or if any group has claimed responsibility.
Some experts pointed to drug cartels or insurgents.
"It could be a warning to the federal government, which has put a lot of money and manpower to deal with drugs, which are very powerful there," said Peter Hakim, president of the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington-based think tank on Western Hemisphere affairs. "It could be leftist guerrilla groups that occasionally throw a bomb.
"The problem is that this is part of a real wave of violence that is consuming Mexico."
Last week the bodies of 24 people, bound and shot execution-style, were found in Atlapulco, a town just south of Mexico City.
Those killings Friday came roughly two weeks after tens of thousands of Mexicans marched on the nation's capital, calling for greater government action against the wave of violent crime.
Non-governmental groups estimate there have been more than 1,500 killings in Mexico this year linked to organized crime.
In late August, Mexican President Felipe Calderon met with the country's 32 governors to develop a plan to battle the rise in violent crime.
Calderon, who was born in Morelia, condemned the attacks and said federal officials will redouble efforts to help state authorities investigate.
More than 1,500 soldiers and federal police were maintaining order Tuesday, which marks the 198th anniversary of what Mexicans regard as their independence day.
Festivities typically start the night before because on September 16, 1810, shortly before dawn, a priest in a village in the state of Guanajuato rang a church bell and called on Mexicans to fight for independence from Spain.
The celebration in Morelia on Monday night was one of hundreds nationwide to celebrate that call for independence, which Mexico formally achieved in 1821.
|
a0160d6263444d5db47b155686cf3f9e
|
How many were wounded?
|
[
"101"
] |
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|
Moscow (CNN) -- Two policemen were killed by a suicide car bomber in Russia's North Caucasus republic of Dagestan, the Dagestani Interior Ministry said on its website Monday.
The ministry said the officers were patrolling the town of Kizilyurt in a minivan around midnight when an unidentified bomber sitting in a parked Lada car set off an unidentified explosive device in his car as the police minivan was passing by.
The explosion left a crater 1.5 meters (5 feet) wide and 15 centimeters (6 inches) deep, the ministry said. The police minivan was burned out, the ministry said.
Dagestan has been hit by a series of deadly attacks recently, including fatal bombings and shootings.
It is the largest and most volatile of the five Northern Caucasus regions. Rebels continue to stage frequent attacks on security forces, police and civilians.
In August, the head of the Federal Security Service Alexandr Bortnikov told the Russian president that in the first six months of this year, 169 terrorist acts were committed, of which 110 took place in Dagestan.
In recent years, Dagestan has faced ethnic friction, spillover from the discord in neighboring Chechnya and attacks on government officials by militant Islamists, the International Crisis Group has said.
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9bf0a8f52e0e4c0496b3d5c875eae7aa
|
When did the bomb go off?
|
[
"around midnight"
] |
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|
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Violent crime in the United States declined in 2008, due in part to a significant drop in the number of murders, according to the first available FBI figures covering the entire year.
The decline would be the third straight year-to-year drop in violent crime in the United States.
The preliminary figures for 2008, released Monday, show that overall reported crime dropped 2.5 percent nationally from the previous year, including a 4.4 percent decline in murders.
Although crime statistics varied sharply from city to city, the overall number of reported murders declined 9.1 percent in cities with populations of 100,000 to 250,000. However, murders increased 5.5 percent in towns of fewer than 10,000 residents.
Overall, the number of aggravated assaults declined 3.2 percent, forcible rape decreased 2.2 percent, and robbery decreased 1.1 percent.
The Preliminary Annual Uniform Crime Report historically provides a strong indication of the final figures that will be compiled and released later in the year. The statistics are based on a compilation of crime reports provided to the FBI by the more than 12,000 law enforcement agencies in the nation.
The report shows a small increase in violent crime in the second half of the year. Figures for the first half of 2008, which were released in early January, showed that overall violent crime through the end of June had declined 3.5 percent, compared with the 2.5 percent decline for the entire year.
Other results in the year-end figures were a 1.6 percent drop in reported property crimes from 2007, including a 13.1 percent decline in motor vehicle thefts.
Violent crime in the United States has largely been on the decline over the past two decades. In 2005, however, a surprising increase prompted headlines of an end to the drop in violence.
Monday's figures show that the downward trend has resumed. After the 2005 violent crime increase of 2.3 percent, the figures increased only 1.9 percent in 2006 and then dropped 0.7 percent in 2007 before the decline of 2.5 percent in the preliminary 2008 figures.
|
3faae7e6e59a49788de6e80faaeaefbb
|
What happened to the murder rate in towns under 10,000 population?
|
[
"increased"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- U.S. naval forces hunting pirates off Somalia detained six people this week who appeared to be pursuing a commercial shipping vessel, but soon released them because of a lack of evidence.
A Yemeni Coast Guard boat patrols the Gulf of Aden for pirates who threaten shipping.
The Navy said on Saturday the six matched the description of suspected pirates aboard a skiff in the area. The naval crew saw the men throwing objects overboard before they picked up the suspects.
Investigators didn't say what was thrown overboard but said the evidence was not sufficient "to hold the suspects for prosecution."
The detentions reflect the aggressive U.S.-led fight against piracy. The United States is spearheading an international naval task force in the waters off Somalia that launched in February after a rash of attacks.
Participating ships are patrolling more than a million square miles of water, an area about four times the size of Texas, Navy officials have said.
The Navy said it arrested the six on Friday after responding to a distress call from the Philippines-flagged MV Bison Express in the Gulf of Aden, between Yemen and Somalia. The ship, a livestock carrier, reported a small skiff containing six heavily armed pirates was pursuing it.
The guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg arrived and found a skiff matching the description. A Seahawk helicopter flew from the Gettysburg over the skiff and reported seeing objects being thrown overboard, the Navy said.
A team from the Gettysburg boarded the skiff, along with members of the U.S. Coast Guard Legal Detachment and detained the six suspected pirates. The U.S. officials transferred the suspects onto the amphibious assault ship USS Boxer, the flagship for the international anti-piracy task force, the Navy said, before releasing them.
The attack on the Bison Express was the second one Friday on commercial shipping vessels in the Gulf of Aden, the Navy said. In the first incident, pirates attacked the MV Sea Green, which managed to fend them off by firing flares as the men approached, the Navy said.
|
9c3ec37287f044668c52e068356efcb4
|
Did the US Navy detain the suspects or did they have to let them go?
|
[
"but soon released"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Wrestler Edward Fatu, better known as the hulking, tattooed WWE superstar "Umaga," died Friday of a heart attack in a Houston, Texas, hospital, a family friend said.
Born in American Samoa, Fatu, 36, was a member of the famous Anoa'i wrestling family, which includes cousin Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, his two uncles, who wrestled as The Wild Samoans in the 1980s, and brothers, Sam "Tonga Kid" and Solofa Jr. "Rikishi," according to Wrestlers Rescue, a support group for retired professional wrestlers.
The two-time WWE Intercontinental champion, also known as "The Samoan Bulldozer," squared off with the likes of Triple H, John Cena and Ric Flair before the WWE terminated his contract in June for having violated the WWE's Wellness Program and refusing to enter rehab, the WWE said on its site.
The organization offered its condolences to his family in a brief statement on its site.
To friends and family, Fatu was a devoted father who was looking forward to spending more time with his children after leaving the WWE.
"He had his demons, but he found a lot of strength in his family," said Dawn Marie Psaltis, family friend and founder of Wrestlers Rescue. "He was always a jokester, he was always playing a practical joke on someone. He comes from a long line of professional wrestlers and did his family proud."
|
35783e8da17b4a6eb637b9cf177eb04c
|
Who terminated his contract for violating Wellness Program, refusing to enter rehab
|
[
"WWE"
] |
NewsQA
|
SEATTLE, Washington (CNN) -- A man at a Fort Lewis army post on Wednesday fatally shot a woman before turning the gun on himself, military authorities said.
The shootings on Wednesday occurred outside the main post exchange at Fort Lewis in Washington state.
The man, who was hospitalized earlier in the day, was pronounced dead late Wednesday, Fort Lewis spokesman Joe Kubistek said.
The man shot the woman and then shot himself in the head, said Maj. Mike Garcia. He said the shootings occurred outside the main post exchange, as retail stores at military installations are called.
Garcia said the 59-year-old shooter was a retired soldier. The woman he shot, Garcia said, was a civilian who worked as a vendor in the store. Neither was identified.
Kathy Johnson had taken her elderly mother to shop at the store when shots rang out. "I heard five to six shots and hit the floor," Johnson said, "I was hiding under a clothing rack and people were yelling that we were being taken hostage."
Eventually, Johnson said, customers were told over the store intercom that it was safe to leave the store. Outside military police had surrounded the store and were posted on nearby rooftops, she said,
It was not immediately clear what the relationship between the man and woman was, Garcia said. He said since the shooting took place on a federal installation, the FBI would lead the investigation into the shootings.
CNN's Patrick Oppmann contributed to this report.
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9ba11db5e9bb4a9aae9e0607ae520713
|
Who is leading the probe?
|
[
"FBI"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Liverpool want to avoid playing on the 20th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster and UEFA president Michel Platini says he will "do his utmost" to make it a reality.
Liverpool fans had to be treated on the pitch as the tragedy unfolded at Hillsborough in 1989.
The anniversary falls on April 15, one of two dates set aside for the second leg of this season's Champions League quarterfinal ties, the other being the previous day.
European governing body UEFA issued a statement from Platini, rejecting reports that they had snubbed the appeal by Liverpool.
"We are aware of the huge significance of the April 15 date for both Liverpool FC and their fans, and that is why we will do our utmost to make sure that the club does not have to play its UEFA Champions League second leg quarterfinal match on that day," Platini said.
"This being the 20th anniversary of that tragic disaster in 1989 makes it even more relevant and we will take this into account."
Ninety six people died when Liverpool supporters were crushed at the Leppings Lane end of Hillsborough on April 15, 1989, before the start of their team's FA Cup semifinal against Nottingham Forest.
A cousin of Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard was among the dead, and the England midfielder has urged UEFA to be sympathetic to the club.
Gerrard told Press Association at the weekend: "We're still waiting to see whether UEFA will make us play on the day. That would be far from ideal given all the emotion that always surrounds the club on that day."
Liverpool have never played a game on the anniversary of the tragedy.
The Champions League quarterfinal draw takes place on Friday with four English clubs in the draw and no seedings in place.
Liverpool reached the quarterfinals with a superb 4-0 home win over Real Madrid last week and followed it up with a 4-1 thumping of Manchester United to revive their Premier League title hopes.
|
df2d9f9e2a1d4c0a8e69ba6336599363
|
What is one of the two dates?
|
[
"April 15,"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Movie director John Landis is suing Michael Jackson, accusing the reclusive entertainer of fraud in his handling of profits from the iconic "Thriller" video the two made together more than 25 years ago.
"King of Pop" Michael Jackson, seen in 2005, made the "Thriller" video with John Landis more than 25 years ago.
Landis claimed his 1983 contract with Jackson gave him 50 percent of net profits from the 14-minute video and the documentary about the making of it, both works that he directed and co-wrote with Jackson, court documents say.
Jackson "wrongfully refused to pay or account for such profits," the suit, filed against the singer and Optimum Productions, says. The suit characterizes Optimum as "a defunct corporation" Jackson has used as an alter ego.
The suit accuses Jackson of "concealing the extent of net profits" by not giving an annual accounting for at least the past four years, and maintains that Jackson is "guilty of fraudulent, malicious and oppressive conduct."
Jackson's lawyers have not responded to the suit, which was filed on January 21.
The video was based on Jackson's 1982 album by the same name, one of the top-selling of all time.
Landis, best known as director of "Animal House" and "An American Werewolf in London," made the song into a short horror movie, complete with Vincent Price adding narration.
Word of the suit comes just after an announcement that Jackson has signed a deal to take the dancing zombie story to the Broadway stage.
The Nederlander Organization, a Broadway production company, announced Tuesday that it had signed a contract with Jackson to produce "Thriller" on stage. The show, which Jackson is to be involved with, also is to include music from other Jackson albums, the company said.
The court has set May 11 as the date for lawyers to hold a conference with a judge concerning the lawsuit.
|
13e5c17a99a7436ea118d788664c4af0
|
What did the lawsuit claim Jackson refused to do?
|
[
"pay or account for such profits,\""
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Four minor boys are facing felony assault charges after a 13-year-old boy accused them of sexually assaulting him in the locker room of a Tampa, Florida, middle school, authorities said Friday.
The alleged victim told school officials he was assaulted with a broomstick and hockey stick at Walker Middle School, in southern Tampa, on April 30, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office said.
Linda Cobbe with Hillsborough County Schools said police were contacted Wednesday afternoon after the boy reported the incident.
The four teenagers, 14 and 15 years old, were arrested at school Wednesday and charged with sexual assault and false imprisonment, the sheriff's office said. The victim said two boys held him down on the ground while the other two sexually assaulted him, the sheriff's office said.
The alleged victim had been "continually picked on and harassed by the suspects" before the incident, the sheriff's office said in a news release.
All four suspects have been suspended from school, Cobbe said.
On Thursday, the school's principal, Kathleen Hoffman, contacted students' parents through a recorded message, telling them the four would not be allowed to return to school "unless their legal issues are resolved."
Cobbe said the 13-year-old is back in classes at the school.
CNN's John Couwels contributed to this report.
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1e84ac7b0bf1424f81cc34a7fbd3f945
|
what age is the boy
|
[
"13-year-old"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- His golf career might be in a seemingly downward spiral, but Tiger Woods is still the world's most valuable sportsman according to a top business magazine.
The American, who this week dropped out of the world's top 50 golfers for the first time in 15 years, has retained his position as Forbes' top individual sports brand.
The 36-year-old has, according to Forbes' calculations, lost $17 million from his brand worth in the past year. But his $55 million value is still $29 million higher than the second-placed athlete, tennis star Roger Federer.
Despite the scandal that broke in late 2009 about the marital infidelities that led to his divorce from wife Elin Nordegren, Woods has begun to restore his portfolio of endorsements with June's agreement with Japan's Kowa Company, which deals in medical equipment and pharmaceuticals.
Fellow golfer Phil Mickelson is ranked third with $24 million, while basketball star LeBron James is catching fast with $20 million.
The Miami Heat player earned half that total from his deal with Nike -- again Forbes' most valuable overall brand, up 40% to $15 billion after spreading its swoosh into even more world markets.
English football club Manchester United lost top spot in the team brands to baseball's New York Yankees.
While United suffered due to the British pound weakening against the dollar, with a worth of $269 million, the Yankees' value -- now $340 million -- has boomed 57% since 2007 according to Forbes' Mike Ozanian.
"Had the exchange rate held fast since 2007 the Red Devils, who are looking to capitalize on their global fan base with an IPO (public share offering), would still be the most valuable team brand," Ozanian said.
The NFL's showpiece Super Bowl, with a brand value of $425 million, stayed well clear of the Summer Olympics ($230 million) and the FIFA World Cup ($147 million).
|
681092dfa53e48d78ef6f14d6b143051
|
What happened to Nike?
|
[
"The Miami Heat player earned half that total from his deal with"
] |
NewsQA
|
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The illegal export of U.S. military technology to Iran and China poses a growing threat, the Justice Department said Thursday as it announced plans to combat the practice.
Iran is the only country still flying the F-14 Tomcat.
The department said the United States will tighten monitoring of export licenses and increase export restrictions on technologies that could have both civilian and military applications and could pose a danger to U.S. national security in the hands of terrorists or potential enemies.
"China and Iran pose particular U.S. export control concerns," the Justice Department said in a statement issued Thursday. "Recent prosecutions have highlighted illegal exports of stealth missile technology, military aircraft components, naval warship data, night vision equipment, and other restricted technology destined for China or Iran."
Representatives of more than a half dozen federal agencies will jointly announce their plans at a Justice Department news conference Thursday.
Officials plan to highlight two recent cases. In the past week a Pittsburgh company, SparesGlobal Inc., was sentenced for lying about an illegal export of products that can be used in nuclear reactions and in the nose cones of ballistic missiles. The products ended up in Pakistan after being routed from the United Arab Emirates.
In Utah, two men were charged last week with attempting to illegally export restricted components for F-4 and F-14 fighter jets. F-14 components are widely sought by Iran, which is the only military in the world that still flies the jet. E-mail to a friend
CNN's Terry Frieden contributed to this report.
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1f7145e7485146b28e50cf9a26c11185
|
Who says illegal exports are an increasing problem?
|
[
"Justice Department"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- A roadside bomb attack Thursday in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, injured the nation's interior minister and killed one of his secretaries, according to a source close to the minister.
The Bakaraha market in Somalia's capital is one of the most dangerous areas of the city.
The mid-day attack on Abdukadir Ali Omar, a member of the transitional government, left him with shrapnel wounds to his leg. The extent of his injuries was unclear, said the source, who requested anonymity because he is not allowed to speak to the media.
The explosion occurred about noon at the Bakaraha market, in one of the most dangerous areas of the city.
The interior minister is a popular moderate who led assaults against Ethiopian forces during their invasion of Somalia. Ethiopian troops invaded the country at its request in December 2006.
The Ethiopian invasion ousted the Islamic Courts Union, an Islamic movement that had claimed control of Mogadishu earlier that year.
Thursday's attack on Ali Omar fueled concerns that moderate Islamists would strike out against the hardline Al-Shabab, which is suspected in the explosion.
Al-Shabab -- which the United States has designated a terror organization -- warmly welcomed a recent call for the overthrow of Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, Somalia's new president. The call, delivered via an audio recording, purportedly came from al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
-- Journalist Mohamed Amin Adow contributed to this report.
|
003dde58cdb9465a851c63f679d7156e
|
Where did the explosion take place?
|
[
"Mogadishu,"
] |
NewsQA
|
Baghdad, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraq has ordered former employees of the private military contractor once known as Blackwater to leave the country, its interior minister announced Wednesday.
Contractors who once worked for Blackwater, now known as Xe, have seven days to leave Iraq, Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani told the state television network al-Iraqiya. The move follows a January declaration by Iraq's government that former Blackwater employees were no longer welcome in the country.
Blackwater became the target of widespread Iraqi outrage after its contractors were involved in the September 2007 shooting in Baghdad's Nisoor Square that left 17 civilians dead. That outrage was renewed in December, when a U.S. judge dismissed manslaughter charges against five guards involved in the shootings on constitutional grounds.
The company's last contracts in Iraq have been transferred to other companies. But Iraqi authorities say about 250 former Blackwater employees remain behind, some working for other security firms.
"I don't think the Iraqi government is willing to have any Blackwater member, even if they are working in other companies," government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told CNN in January. "We don't like to see them here working in any company."
Blackwater had about 1,000 contractors working in Iraq at the height of its involvement, guarding diplomatic convoys and supply vehicles around the country after the U.S. invasion in 2003. At least 10 of its employees were killed, including four whose burned and mutilated bodies were dragged through the streets of Fallujah after an ambush in 2004.
CNN's Jomana Karadsheh and Suzanne Simons contributed to this report.
|
c175890061ad417e990385fca5ef1ade
|
How long do they have to leave Iraq?
|
[
"seven days"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- One of Africa's most successful footballers, Nwankwo Kanu, has had a glittering career on the pitch.
The 6 ft 5 in Nigerian footballer has used his sizable stature in the game to help many others.
Winning a gold medal with Nigeria in the 1996 Olympic Games he has also won the European Cup with Ajax; the English Premier League Title and FA Cup with Arsenal in 2002, and in 2008 scored the winning goal for Portsmouth in the FA Cup Final.
But off the pitch, Kanu has worked just as hard to improve the lives of others.
He set up the Kanu Heart Foundation in 2000 that raises money to help children with hearth defects. It's an issue that Kanu is particularly connected to.
In 1995, when he was already a double-European Cup finalist, Kanu was told by a doctor for Inter Milan, the club he had just signed for, that he a faulty value in his heart.
He was told he could never play football again. However he spent 14 months rehabilitating and then moved to Arsenal in England and arguably had the most successful years of his career.
Now nearing the end of his career, Kanu has set up another foundation. Founded in 2008, The Kanu Football Foundation aims to help advise young African footballer who can face all sorts of pressures when trying to become a professional football and avoid being exploited.
|
e7f73074750d4114a5fb4073b3ee3738
|
Who set up two charitable foundations?
|
[
"Nwankwo Kanu,"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- AC Milan and Roma played out a goalless draw in Italy's Serie A in a result which does little to enhance the title ambitions of neither side.
The result left Inter Milan three points clear at the top of the table and they will be able to increase that lead to six if they claim victory over Genoa at the San Siro on Sunday night.
Roma began the brighter of the two sides and Cristian Abiatti saved well from a Julio Baptista shot while Daniele De Rossi screwed a shot wide when well placed.
The visitors were much improved after the half-time break and controlled possession but were unable to create many chances although Marco Borriello squandered a good chance when he opted to shoot instead of passing to Klaas-Jan Huntelaar.
John-Arne Riise's dangerous cross was met by the head of Mirko Vucinic in the 74th minute but the Montenegro striker was unable to direct his attempt on goal.
Brazilian Ronaldinho also went close with a header from David Beckham's cross in the dying stages as the match ended in a stalemate.
In Saturday's other game Juventus moved back into the top four in Serie A thanks to a narrow 2-1 victory over Fiorentina at the Stadio Artemio Franchi.
The Turin giants were under pressure following a defeat to Palermo last weekend and coach Alberto Zaccheroni got the response he requested from his players.
Juventus took the lead through Brazilian playmaker Diego in only the second minute of the game when he took the ball round Fiorentina goalkeeper Sebastian Frey and fired home after collecting an intelligent through-ball from Antonio Candreva.
Fiorentina responded positively and gained a deserved equalizer when former Juventus midfielder Marco Marchionni headed past stand-in goalkeeper Alex Manninger in the 32nd minute.
Marchionni then missed a chance to put his side ahead moments before the break when he fired a shot when well placed inside the penalty area.
Juventus improved after the interval and David Trezeguet tested Frey with a volley before the visitors took the lead for the second time in the 68th minute when Fabio Grosso crashed a shot into the top corner.
Zaccheroni's side could have extended their advantage in injury time but a superb double save from Frey denied Claudio Marchisio.
|
7ba68e285c8d4193ad05055637eb51b9
|
What is the name of the midfielder?
|
[
"Marco Marchionni"
] |
NewsQA
|
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Three Chinese nationals accused of importing thousands of counterfeit luxury handbags in the United States have been arrested in the past two days, federal authorities announced Thursday.
Shoppers sort through counterfeit brand name luxury bags and wallets on a Hong Kong street.
"This was a sophisticated criminal conspiracy that trafficked millions of dollars of counterfeit goods from China, profiting off the backs of legitimate companies and their hard-working employees," said Assistant Attorney General Alice Fisher.
Authorities call it one of the largest counterfeit operations ever discovered, involving about 300,000 bags and wallets with names like Burberry, Gucci and Coach.
For customers who bought the knockoffs, it seemed like a deal.
They paid a total of about $16 million for what would have been more than $100 million in handbags, purses and wallets in legitimate retail sales.
The alleged leaders of the counterfeit operations are three Chinese citizens living in New York.
Chong Lam, 49, and Joyce Chan, 39, were arrested there Wednesday. Eric Yuen, 39, was arrested Thursday in Las Vegas, Nevada. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who made the arrests began investigating the alleged scheme five years ago, after raids turned up counterfeit goods.
The indictment was secretly returned in Richmond, Virginia, in October. The charges were unsealed when the alleged conspirators were taken into custody. Authorities seized and froze 29 bank accounts and three New York properties.
The Chinese defendants will be taken to Richmond, where they will be arraigned at a later date, officials said. E-mail to a friend
|
77bff4dca81a46319d1ea49341ab2e2b
|
How many bags and wallets were involved?
|
[
"300,000"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- The Marines have been making children's Christmas dreams come true for nearly 60 years, but the corps may be seeing fewer smiles this year.
Volunteer Betty Whelan sorts donated toys in a Toys for Tots center in Boston, Massachusetts.
With demand up due to the poor economy and toy donations down, Toys for Tots, the Marine Corps' program that distributes Christmas toys to children in need, is facing one of its toughest years, according to Bill Grein, the Toys for Tots Foundation vice president.
Grein said the program last year distributed approximately 16.6 million toys and books, but this year he doesn't think they will be able to reach that number.
"We always run out of toys before we run out of children," he said, but this year "it's a major problem."
Grein said that the program is getting more requests than in previous years and cities like Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Miami, Florida; Fresno, California; Atlanta, Georgia, and many others are hurting for donations.
"Every kid deserves a present," said Marine Sgt. Daniel Sampson of the Toys for Tots program in Boston, Massachusetts. "Right now, we're not sending out as much as we should be."
In the Washington area, the Marines need to find toys for 82,000 children, but "we are tens of thousands of toys behind," Master Sgt Timothy Butler said.
If they can't fill the need and get every child on the list a toy for Christmas, Butler said, "It's gonna break my heart."
Last year, the Marines were able to raise $13,000 in donations from people at Union Station, a major commuter hub in downtown Washington, but this year the Marines will be "lucky to get half that," Staff Sgt. Johnny Noble said.
In Atlanta, Toys for Tots administration chief Edward Barrett said they had received 241,814 donations, well short of their goal of 800,000.
Barrett understands that the economy has a lot to do with the lack of contributions, and he estimates that donations are down by about 30 percent this year.
In San Francisco, California, Gunnery Sgt. Timothy Anthamatten said the Toys for Tots program there was also seeing a 30 percent decrease in toy and monetary donations.
In Boston, last minute donations came to the rescue. According to volunteer Kay Carpenter, the Boston Toys for Tots program used money that came in last week to buy $15,000 worth of toys, hopefully, enough to fill all of their orders.
But, nationally, Toys for Tots bins are still empty.
"We're Marines and we set goals," Edwards said, "and when we can't achieve those goals that's frustrating."
CNN's Bethany Swain contributed to this report.
|
93c234d0940641b699089c79d8fb143a
|
where are donations down
|
[
"Toys for Tots,"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Pirates hijacked a British-owned bulk carrier Saturday in the Indian Ocean, but NATO forces stopped an attack on another vessel in the Gulf of Aden hours earlier, NATO maritime authorities said.
11 pirates are arrested by Yemeni security forces in an operation last month.
The UK cargo ship, the MV Ariana, was carrying 35,000 tons of soya about 250 nautical miles (287 miles) northwest of the Seychelles when it was seized around dawn.
The crew members are Ukrainians and they are not believed to harmed, NATO said. It is unclear how many crew members were aboard the vessel and how it came to be attacked. NATO said it was unaware of ransom demands or any threats against those aboard.
NATO said a European Union Protection Aircraft has been deployed to monitor and track the MV Ariana, which is making its way toward Somalia -- the epicenter of the pirate industry.
The Seychelles is a republic consisting of a group of islands off East Africa.
On Friday evening, a NATO operation conducted by a Portuguese warship disrupted a pirate attack on a Bahamas oil tanker in the Gulf of Aden.
The tanker, the MV Kition, broadcast an emergency alert when a pirate-filled skiff approached. NRP Corte-Real, the closest NATO ship, and its helicopter responded and intercepted the pirates.
Portuguese Navy special forces boarded a pirate mother-ship. They found and destroyed four AK-47s, a rocket-propelled grenade and four explosives.
They seized 19 suspected Somali pirates but released them after consulting with Portuguese national authorities.
Piracy has been soaring off the coast of eastern Africa -- particularly Somalia, which has not had an effective government since 1991.
Somali pirates have defied foreign navies patrolling the waters and have collected large ransoms from shipping companies. Ransoms started out in the tens of thousands of dollars and have since climbed into the millions.
Journalist Ashleigh Nghiem contributed to this report.
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7a9bd93557d140b6b0f965bba80e1385
|
Somalia has not had a stable government since when?
|
[
"1991."
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- FA Cup finalists Portsmouth will not be allowed to play in next season's Europa League, the English Football Association (FA) have confirmed.
The financially-stricken side, who became the first-ever Premier League club to enter administration earlier this year, would have been gauranteed a place in Europe next season because their final opponents, Chelsea, have secured a Champions League place.
However, Portsmouth's administrators -- who revealed on Wednesday that the club is in debt to the tune of $170m -- have been told that any late application for a UEFA club licence will not be considered due to the club's on-going financial problems.
A joint statement from the FA and English Premier League said: "The FA and Premier League have confirmed to the administrators of Portsmouth that they shall not consider any late application for granting of a UEFA Club Licence for the 2010-11 season."
The decision means the team who finish seventh in the Premier League, with Liverpool currently in that position, will take Portsmouth's place.
European football's governing body UEFA had earlier revealed that the club could submit a late application before May 31 -- but the Premier League and FA have subsequently decreed that the Portsmouth's financial situation is so bad that they would not meet any of UEFA's criteria to enter.
Portsmouth's administrator Andrew Andronikou told Press Association Sport: "We have spent a long time going through all the necessary steps and we had hoped to make a European application next week.
"We felt that we would do our bit and that it would be up to the FA and the Premier League to do theirs. It's wrong for the fans that they should not be allowed to support their club in Europe next season."
|
d3b3d032f3c141d9a66148cb41805f86
|
What will FA Cup finalists Portsmouth not be allowed to play in?
|
[
"next season's Europa League,"
] |
NewsQA
|
Cairo, Egypt (CNN) -- Thousands of Christian Copts in Cairo protested outside the offices of the Egyptian state broadcaster, witnesses said on Friday.
It was the seventh day of protests over what they're calling the "marginalization and lack of representation" of their concerns in state media.
There have been longstanding tensions between Muslims and Copts in Egypt, and 13 Copts were killed in sectarian clashes last Tuesday.
That erupted after a family dispute between Christians and Muslims resulted in a church burning south of Cairo.
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5cfd75d5d3c742c5a49c2711c91ac77e
|
Between who is there tension?
|
[
"Muslims and Copts in Egypt,"
] |
NewsQA
|
BERLIN, Germany (CNN) -- Germany's richest woman has said a former lover has threatened to release pictures of them together if she does not pay him millions of euros (dollars), according to her spokesman.
Susanne Klatten holds a 12.5-percent stake in BMW.
Susanne Klatten's spokesman Joerg Appelhans told CNN Tuesday that the BMW heiress alerted police in January this year that she was the victim of fraud and blackmail by a man he identified as Mr. S.
Appelhans said the man had been threatening since autumn 2007 to release pictures of their "meetings" together.
Klatten "came to the conclusion that the relationship with Mr. S. was of a solely criminal nature," Appelhans said. Some German media reports say Klatten is one of four rich German women who have been preyed on by the same gang.
"His goal was from the beginning to con her and to blackmail her into giving him money. She rigorously notified authorities even in light of the uncomfortable public repercussions this would have for her. The ensuing criminal investigation led to the arrest of the perpetrator," Appelhans added.
"The blackmailing with pictures of the meetings they had began in the fall of 2007. First, the blackmailer demanded a loan of several million euros. Later, he attempted to solicit a much larger sum."
Anton Winkler, from the Munich state prosecutor's office, confirmed that an investigation has been opened and that a man called Helg Scarbi was arrested in January and is in custody in Munich. He declined to give further details.
Rome daily La Repubblica, quoting documents German investigators sent to Italian prosecutors, has reported that the suspect allegedly tried to obtain €40 million ($51 million) from Klatten, according to The Associated Press.
Klatten, the daughter of the late BMW chief Herbert Quandt, holds a 12.5-percent stake in the German carmaker and a 51.1-percent share of chemical company Altana.
In 2007 Forbes magazine listed her as the world's 68th richest person, with a personal fortune of $9.6 billion.
CNN's Frederik Pleitgen contributed to this report.
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c391ea3850904198b9aeaeeec0ff2182
|
Who does the Munich state prosecutor say was arrested in January?
|
[
"Helg Scarbi"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Two Italians, a Dane, a German, a Frenchman and a Brit walk into a space station... or will, in 2013, if all goes according to European Space Agency plans.
Europe's six new astronauts hope to join their American counterparts on the Internation Space Station.
The six new astronauts named Wednesday were chosen from more than 8,400 candidates, and are the first new ESA astronauts since 1992, the space agency said in a statement.
They include two military test pilots, one fighter pilot and one commercial pilot, plus an engineer and a physicist.
"This is a very important day for human spaceflight in Europe," said Simonetta Di Pippo, Director of Human Spaceflight at ESA.
"These young men and women are the next generation of European space explorers. They have a fantastic career ahead, which will put them right on top of one of the ultimate challenges of our time: going back to the Moon and beyond as part of the global exploration effort."
Humans have not walked on the moon since 1972, just over three years after the first manned mission to Earth's nearest neighbor.
The six will begin space training in Germany, with an eye to being ready for future missions to the International Space Station and beyond in four years.
They are: Samantha Cristoforetti of Italy, a fighter pilot with degrees in engineering and aeronautical sciences; Alexander Gerst, a German researcher with degrees in physics and earth science; Andreas Mogensen, a Danish engineer with the private space firm HE Space Operations; Luca Parmitano of Italy, an Air Force pilot with a degree in aeronautical sciences; Timothy Peake, an English test pilot with the British military; and Frenchman Thomas Pesquet, an Air France pilot who previously worked as an engineer at the French space agency.
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60c81d6a73304675829d4187ab793b74
|
There were a total of how many candidates?
|
[
"more than 8,400"
] |
NewsQA
|
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Three Chinese nationals accused of importing thousands of counterfeit luxury handbags in the United States have been arrested in the past two days, federal authorities announced Thursday.
Shoppers sort through counterfeit brand name luxury bags and wallets on a Hong Kong street.
"This was a sophisticated criminal conspiracy that trafficked millions of dollars of counterfeit goods from China, profiting off the backs of legitimate companies and their hard-working employees," said Assistant Attorney General Alice Fisher.
Authorities call it one of the largest counterfeit operations ever discovered, involving about 300,000 bags and wallets with names like Burberry, Gucci and Coach.
For customers who bought the knockoffs, it seemed like a deal.
They paid a total of about $16 million for what would have been more than $100 million in handbags, purses and wallets in legitimate retail sales.
The alleged leaders of the counterfeit operations are three Chinese citizens living in New York.
Chong Lam, 49, and Joyce Chan, 39, were arrested there Wednesday. Eric Yuen, 39, was arrested Thursday in Las Vegas, Nevada. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who made the arrests began investigating the alleged scheme five years ago, after raids turned up counterfeit goods.
The indictment was secretly returned in Richmond, Virginia, in October. The charges were unsealed when the alleged conspirators were taken into custody. Authorities seized and froze 29 bank accounts and three New York properties.
The Chinese defendants will be taken to Richmond, where they will be arraigned at a later date, officials said. E-mail to a friend
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c1a108192f374e908ab66189640ad71b
|
Which companies were involved?
|
[
"Burberry, Gucci"
] |
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