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Istanbul, Turkey (CNN) -- Police have arrested Tarkan, Turkey's most famous pop music star, in a narcotics raid, Turkey's semi-official Anatolian Agency reported Friday.
Police, Tarkan's publicist and relatives could not be reached for comment on the reported arrest.
According to Anatolian, Tarkan was detained along with several other individuals who are "important figures from the art and magazine world."
Full coverage in Turkish: CNN Turk
Tarkan rose to international prominence in the late 1990s for singing playful hit songs like "Simarik" (Spoiled). The heartthrob has been described by some as a Turkish Ricky Martin, referring to the Latin pop singer from Puerto Rico who achieved popularity worldwide.
German-born Tarkan, who uses only one name, also has made the pop charts around the world.
In recent years, it was reported, he has been living in New York City. The arrest was carried out in Istanbul.
Turkey is a key stop on a drug smuggling transit route between Asia and Europe. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, it is a major hub for the trafficking of illegal heroin and opium from Afghanistan en route to European markets.
Drug operations involving Turkish celebrities, including artists and models, are often carried out in Istanbul.
Last month, Tarkan gave a concert in Istanbul's central Taksim square to celebrate the city's inauguration as Europe's 2010 Capital of Culture. Thousands watched as the artist performed along with a fireworks display.
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4e68b226fb8d4c3c89a99ecea6ad4352
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Which singer was arrested in Istanbul?
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[
"Tarkan,"
] |
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Washington (CNN) -- The Obama administration on Monday announced a 20-year ban on new mining claims on more than 1 million acres of public land near the Grand Canyon, a move meant to protect the iconic landmark from new uranium mining.
Previously approved operations will be allowed to continue, as will new projects on valid existing claims.
"People from all over the country and around the world come to visit the Grand Canyon. Numerous American Indian tribes regard this magnificent icon as a sacred place and millions of people in the Colorado River Basin depend on the river for drinking water, irrigation, industrial and environmental use," said Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.
"We have been entrusted to care for and protect our precious environmental and cultural resources, and we have chosen a responsible path that makes sense for this and future generations," he added.
The administration said the move will give officials more time to monitor the impact of uranium mining on the vital watershed, and in the mineral-rich area in general.
Conservation groups cheered the decision, which was slammed by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer and Sen. John McCain.
"This is a great day for Grand Canyon National Park and all those who care about the park and the surrounding public lands and waters," said Sandy Bahr, Grand Canyon chapter director of the Sierra Club, a California-based environmental organization. "Today's decision protects not only the area around the Grand Canyon, but water that helps feed the Colorado River, which provides drinking water for millions of people downstream."
Brewer similarly stressed the significance of the park, but argued the move will needlessly cost Arizona jobs and stall economic growth.
"The 20-year ban comes at the expense of hundreds of high-paying jobs and approximately $10 billion worth of activity for the Arizona economy," she said. "Nobody wants to see it (the Grand Canyon) harmed. But I believe that environmental protection and economic growth are not mutually exclusive. We could and should have both."
The Grand Canyon National Park is a major tourist attraction in Arizona; close to 5 million people visit it each year.
McCain, speaking Sunday before the ban's official announcement, said he had expected the decision and was disappointed.
"It's clearly another victory for the radical environmental community," he said.
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36573b53d99c454e9f296733e64551a3
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How many years is the ban for?
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[
"20-year"
] |
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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
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4e7f72b8d1d64f098997441661c63320
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Who were killed?
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[
"four people"
] |
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OAKLAND, California (CNN) -- A former transit police officer charged with murder was released from custody Friday after posting a $3 million bail.
Video shows Johannes Mehserle shoot Oscar Grant III in the back as another officer knelt on him.
Dozens of demonstrators gathered in downtown Oakland to protest the release of Johannes Mehserle, 27, charged with killing an unarmed man on New Year's Day. iReport.com: Watch the protest
The former Bay Area Rapid Transit police officer's release funds came from unknown sources, Alameda officials told CNN.
Video taken by a bystander showed Mehserle pulling his gun and fatally shooting Oscar Grant III, 22, in the back as another officer kneeled on Grant.
Mehserle may have intended to draw and fire his Taser instead of his gun, according to a court filing by his attorney.
In January, protests turned violent after a judge decided to allow bail for Mehserle's release.
A preliminary hearing in the case is set for March 23, authorities said.
CNN's Jackie Castillo contributed to this report.
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41cb50ad8f184bb2b84e0f27fc95c1a9
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who accused him of murder
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[
"Video shows Johannes Mehserle shoot Oscar Grant III in the back as another officer knelt on"
] |
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(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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087077fc18134bda9d5ae9f9eed4938e
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What do you have to submit to see a valuation?
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[
"a Facebook page URL"
] |
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Six life insurance companies have qualified to receive billions of dollars in bailout money under the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program, according to the U.S. Treasury Department.
Allstate is one of six life insurance companies who are qualified to receive TARP money.
Treasury Department spokesman Andrew Williams said Allstate, Ameriprise Financial, Hartford Financial Services Group Inc., Lincoln National Corp., Principal Financial and Prudential Financial Inc. have qualified for TARP money.
"These life insurers met the requirements for the Capital Purchase Program because of their bank holding company status and each applied for CPP capital investments by the deadline of November 14, 2008," Williams said.
Williams also said other financial institutions in the Capital Purchase Program "will be reviewed and funded as appropriate on a rolling basis."
In April, about $135 billion remained from the original $700 billion allocated for the bailout last October. No current figures were immediately available.
No funding amounts were announced by the Treasury Department, but Hartford said it had been preliminarily approved for $3.4 billion.
"We are pleased that we received preliminary approval to participate in (the) Treasury's Capital Purchase Program," said Ramani Ayer, chairman and chief executive officer of Hartford. "These funds would further fortify our capital resources and provide us with additional financial flexibility during one of the most volatile market climates in our nation's history."
Investors have been increasingly worried about the health of life insurers, which have been hit hard by worries about capital requirements and growing losses.
A number of insurers that are also bank holding companies or thrifts have been eligible for funds from TARP since last fall.
Last year, the Office of Thrift Supervision approved applications from Hartford and Lincoln to become bank holding companies, because of their planned bank purchases.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based Lincoln is buying Newton County Loan & Savings FSB in Goodland, Indiana. Hartford, based in Hartford, Connecticut, is buying Federal Trust Bank in Sanford, Florida.
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11da63fca5bf42c589bd289239f704be
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who will receive the money
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[
"Six life insurance companies"
] |
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Washington (CNN) -- Flights transporting critically injured Haitians to the United States are set to resume Monday morning, according to a spokeswoman for a University of Miami team of volunteers in Port-au-Prince.
The flights are scheduled to resume at 11 a.m. Monday, said Nery Ynclan, a spokeswoman for the university's R. Barth Green, who is leading the team.
The flights were temporarily suspended because of logistical issues including space to care for the injured, White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said Saturday.
"Having received assurances that additional capacity exists both here and among our international partners, we determined that we can resume these critical flights," he said in a statement Sunday. The statement, released Sunday afternoon, said flights would resume "in the next 12 hours."
The evacuated patients are those whose medical needs could not be met by doctors working in Haiti. Nearly 23,000 people have been seen by U.S. personnel since the January 12 earthquake, Vietor said.
The missing, the found, the victims
Airlifts stopped after there were "concerns about the strain on domestic health capacity," Vietor said. But officials have increased the ability to care for patients through a network of nonprofits and U.S. hospitals, he said.
Earlier reports also cited questions over who would pay for patients' care.
The flights stopped Wednesday when some states refused to allow entry to Haitians needing care, according to Navy Capt. Kevin Aandahl, a spokesman for the U.S. Transportation Command. He would not say which states objected.
In a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius obtained by CNN, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist asked that the federal government activate the National Disaster Medical System to provide reimbursement to Florida and other states for taking in the patients, who have no insurance.
Share your stories from Haiti
Florida's health facilities were already strained by winter tourism and seasonal residence migration, Crist said in the letter. But Florida officials said Saturday that the state was committed to assisting Haitian quake victims and had not asked the airlifts be halted.
Full coverage
Florida will play a role in caregiving once flights resume. The state has identified medical facilities that could take in victims, Vietor said in Sunday's statement.
CNN's Susan Candiotti and Rachel Streitfeld contributed to this report.
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cb6d1495bae2409d99735cd1b54b3e58
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When were flights temporarily halted?
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[
"Wednesday"
] |
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(CNN) -- The West African country of Guinea, reeling after the death of President Lansana Conte, is staring at the prospect of widespread political instability amid an apparent coup.
Lansana Conte came to power in a military coup in 1984.
Journalist Mohammed Kayta in Conakry said the Guinean military seized control of the capital city's streets in an apparent coup. He reported that the military was holding negotiations to determine who will succeed Conte, who ruled the country for nearly 25 years.
The action followed an announcement on national radio Tuesday by army Capt. Foamed Dadis Camara that government and national institutions had been dissolved, according to Le Jour, a national newspaper, and the subsequent announcement by Prime Minister Ahmed Tidiane Souare that the government continued to function.
Soldiers were out in force, including around the offices of the president and prime minister in Conakry, local journalist Barry Minkalou told CNN. The streets were calm, with no reports of injuries or violence, he said.
Camara said Tuesday an "advisory council" of civilians and soldiers would be set up.
The Foreign Office in Great Britain said it was "concerned by reports of a military coup.
"We condemn any attempt to seize power by force, and call on all parties to ensure respect for democracy, human rights and the rule of law, and to safeguard the well-being of their own citizens and foreign nationals in Guinea," the office said.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who issued a statement commending Conte and passing along condolences, urged "a peaceful and democratic transfer of power" and exhorted "the armed forces and all stakeholders to respect the democratic process."
The United Nations told its personnel in Guinea to stay off the streets.
"All U.N. staff have been encouraged to stay at home," the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees' spokesman in Guinea, Faya Foko Millimouno, told CNN. "Only the military is in the street now."
The U.S. Embassy in Conakry warned Americans in the country "to be particularly alert to their surroundings, and to be prepared for any eventuality."
Aboubacar Sompare, president of the National Assembly, announced Conte's death.
"We regret to announce to the people of Guinea the death of Gen. Lansana Conte after a long illness," Sompare said, according to Le Jour. Conte was 74.
A 40-day period of national mourning has been declared.
Conte came to power in a military coup on April 3, 1984.
Guinea is one of the poorest countries in the world, despite its mineral wealth, according to the British charity Plan UK. The country hosts large refugee populations from neighboring Liberia and Ivory Coast.
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35f7c1dcea0e4c6ca28085a24066e249
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Who has just died?
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[
"Lansana Conte"
] |
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Los Angeles, California (CNN) -- Felony fraud charges against actor Randy Quaid and his wife, Evi, were dropped Wednesday after she accepted a deal on a misdemeanor offense, a California prosecutor said.
The Quaids were facing felony charges of defrauding an innkeeper and skipping out on a $10,000 hotel bill in Santa Barbara, California, in September 2009.
The couple have paid the bill in full, according to Santa Barbara County Deputy District Attorney Arnie Tolks.
After Evi Quaid entered a plea of no contest to one misdemeanor count of defrauding an innkeeper, she was sentenced to three years probation and 240 hours of community service, Tolks said.
The Quaids were first arrested in Texas in September on a warrant issued by a Santa Barbara judge. They missed several court dates since then, prompting the judge to order them to jail on Monday unless they posted $100,000 bail each, which they did.
After the couple showed up for a court hearing on Monday, their lawyer negotiated a plea deal.
While investigators had circumstantial evidence against Randy Quaid, they could not prove his direct involvement in dealing with the hotel or the credit card transaction, Tolks said.
Evidence showed it was Evi Quaid who handled the business with the hotel, he said.
Quaid, 56, is known for his roles in several films, including the "National Lampoon's Vacation" movies, "Kingpin" and "Brokeback Mountain." His younger brother is actor Dennis Quaid.
CNN's Brittany Kaplan contributed to this report.
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2f3d973f045e49e3b7de88a181007539
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were they accused of skipping out on $10,000 hotel bill?
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[
"facing felony charges"
] |
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(CNN) -- Shark attacks on humans were at the lowest levels in half a decade last year, and a Florida researcher says hard economic times may be to blame.
Fewer people in the water means less chance for sharks to attack, ichthyologist George Burgess says.
Sharks attacked 59 people in 2008, the lowest number of attacks since 57 in 2003, according to George Burgess, director of the International Shark Attack File, part of the Florida Museum of Natural History on the University of Florida campus in Gainesville.
There were 71 attacks in 2007.
"One can't help but think that the downturn in the economy played a part in it," Burgess said.
Fewer people, especially outside of the United States, have the resources to go to the beach, he said.
"To have a shark attack, you have to have humans and sharks in the water at the same time," Burgess said. "If you have a reduction in the number of people in the water, you're going to have a reduction in the opportunities for people and sharks to get together."
"We noticed similar declines during the recession that followed the events of 2001, despite the fact that human populations continued to rise," the ichthyologist said.
Sharks killed four people in 2008, Burgess said: one in California, one in Australia and two in Mexico.
Forty-one of the 59 attacks worldwide came in the United States, and 32 of those occurred in Florida.
Surfers accounted for 57 percent of shark attacks, swimmers and waders were the targets in 36 percent of the attacks, and divers the rest, he said.
Burgess said the U.S. tends to see more attacks because of a large number of surfers, who are a favorite target of sharks.
And neither the economy nor the attacks tend to keep American surfers from practicing their sport.
"All they have to do is drive to the beach with the board and get into the water, and the rest is free," he said.
And while an attack may make them a bit more wary, he said, "I've yet to find a surfer who says he or she won't go back into the water after a bite or a nip."
When the economy improves, shark attack numbers are likely to go up again, according to Burgess, predicting the number of attacks in the next decade will surpass those of the past 10 years.
"We're putting so many people in the water that humans are dictating the shark attack situation," he said.
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bfbbbbaec50a4c6bb830e85e12f27212
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What number of people were attacked in 2008 by sharks?
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[
"59"
] |
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(CNN) -- Five people were killed and 10 critically injured Saturday when a minivan crashed on I-10 near Baton Rouge, Louisiana, state police said.
Fifteen people were in the minivan, said Trooper Russell Graham, and only two were wearing seat belts. Among the dead were children as young as 3 years old, he said.
"The minivan blew out a tire and the driver lost control," Graham said. The vehicle "sideswiped a box truck and then ran off the road into the left median, overturned multiple times and finally came to rest upright on the eastbound side of I-10," Graham said.
The one person in the truck was not injured.
The accident shut down I-10 in both directions shortly after 12:15 p.m. (1:15 p.m. ET); one lane in each direction was opened about two hours later.
Alcohol and drugs were not suspected factors in the crash, but blood was drawn from the driver -- one of the fatalities -- to confirm, Graham said.
The accident came soon after the Louisiana Legislature passed a law requiring riders in every seat to be buckled up.
"This is an example of why we implemented that law," Graham said. "It's very frustrating for us to come out here and see children dead," he said.
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e943fab6e0d046d09ba55ab69f7cfb73
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What caused the crash?
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[
"minivan blew out a tire and the driver lost control,\""
] |
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(CNN) -- A man in northern Idaho says he has seen a massive hand of God in his life, and he is willing to share it with the highest bidder.
Paul Grayhek says the "Hand of God" appeared in his backyard in March.
Paul Grayhek, 52, listed the rock formation he dubbed the "Hand of God Rock Wall" on the online auction Web site eBay. The highest bid was $250 early Sunday, with three days left to go in the auction.
The hand-like formation, approximately 9 feet tall and 4 feet wide, appeared in Grayhek's backyard after a rockfall during Lent on March 8, he said.
The Coeur d'Alene resident said he faced tough times after losing his job, and believed the rock was a sign.
"I prayed between licking my wounds and looking for a job," he said. "We rarely get rockfalls and this formation is 20 feet from my house. It's definitely a symbol of the hand of God in my life."
However, the winning bidder on eBay should not start clearing out his backyard. Grayhek is not planning to part with the formation.
The buyer will "basically be buying the rights, complete and exclusive rights" to the rock, including literary and movie rights, according to Grayhek.
Grayhek said he plans to use the money from the sale to pursue an unpaid internship in counseling when he graduates with a master's degree in social work in two years.
"People think I'm some holier-than-thou person trying to get rich. I'm not," Grayhek said. "The purpose is to spread the story of God and eBay is just a vehicle."
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10aba7d0a1fb4607ad0764b9a7c61412
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When did it appear?
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[
"March."
] |
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Food and Drug Administration approved a second vaccine intended to protect against cervical cancer.
GlaxoSmithKline has manufactured a vaccine for the prevention of cervical cancer.
Cervarix, manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline, was approved Friday for prevention of cervical cancer and pre-cancerous lesions caused by human papillomavirus (HPV) types 16 and 18.
The vaccine is approved for use in girls and women ages 10 to 25 years and is to be administered in three doses. After the initial shot, the second and third doses are to be given within six months.
"The licensure of Cervarix adds another option in the prevention of cervical cancer," said Dr. Karen Midthun, acting director of the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. "It has the potential to save lives from cervical cancer as well as reduce the need for biopsies and invasive procedures associated with the necessary follow-up from abnormal Pap tests."
According to GlaxoSmithKline, the vaccine is 70 percent effective against pre-cancerous lesions, regardless of HPV type.
"The vaccine contains two HPV types (16 & 18) responsible for the majority of cervical cancers in North America," said Sarah Alspach, a GlaxoSmithKline spokeswoman. "But approximately 25 percent of cervical cancers are caused by other cancer-causing HPV types. Cervarix has been shown to reduce the incidence of pre-cancers resulting from cancer-causing virus types beyond 16 and 18."
The vaccine will be available this year, according to GSK, which did not divulge the price.
Cervarix will be competing with Merck & Company's Gardasil, the first cervical cancer vaccine, which won FDA approval in June 2006. Gardasil, for girls and women ages 9 to 26, prevents against cervical, vulvar and vaginal cancers and protects against HPV types 11, 16 and 18.
Gardasil's approval has been broadened by the FDA to include an indication for boys and young men ages 9 through 26 for prevention of genital warts caused by HPV types 6 and 11.
"This vaccine is the first preventive therapy against genital warts in boys and men ages 9 through 26, and, as a result, fewer men will need to undergo treatment for genital warts." Midthun said.
According to the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention, HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the nation.
More than 40 types of HPV can infect genital areas, according to the disease agency. But because many of them are not visible to the naked eye, most people who become infected don't know it.
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046612cb7b6b496d9aa7debb4835bc38
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What does the FDA approves?
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[
"cervical cancer."
] |
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(CNN) -- Kids dig in the sand at the beach all the time, but the fun nearly turned fatal for an 11-year-old Pennsylvania boy this week.
The 11-year-old was given CPR and revived before being taken to a local hospital.
The boy was digging a tunnel with friends on a beach in Ocean City, Maryland, on Tuesday when part of it collapsed on top of him, authorities said.
Lifeguards rushed to pull him out, but it first appeared that they were too late. The boy was not breathing, and he had no pulse, Beach Patrol Capt. Butch Arbin told CNN on Wednesday.
But rescue crews revived the boy by performing CPR, said Arbin, who was at the scene.
There was a lot of emotion on the beach when the boy's pulse came back, he said.
"He basically went from dead to life," Arbin said, adding that the boy's mother called the rescue a "miracle."
As he was being rolled into an ambulance on a stretcher, the boy -- perhaps not realizing the trauma he had just survived -- complained to his mother that he had sand in his eyes, Arbin said.
The child, whose family did not want to be identified, was initially taken to Atlantic General Hospital and later flown to the A.I. DuPont Hospital for Children in Delaware, he said.
He's recovering there and probably will be released later Wednesday, Arbin said.
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79220cd18c384949806a3d53faf427de
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When is the boy expected to be released?
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[
"Wednesday,"
] |
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MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) -- A cult member who spent several months holed up in a cave with dozens of other people anticipating the end of the world claimed Wednesday that two women died and were buried inside.
An above-ground kitchen used by the doomsday cult in the Penza region during the summer.
The former cave-dweller, Vitaly Nedogon, relayed his claims to Russian TV journalists, according to Anton Sharonov, a spokesman for the administration of Penza, a region southeast of Moscow.
The official said Nedogon did not report the information to police or authorities. Once the rest of the apocalyptic sect leaves the cave, investigators will move in to try to confirm Nedogon's report, Sharonov said.
Nedogon and others left the cave, said to be near the village of Nikolskoye, about 700 kilometers (435 miles) from the Russian capital, about a week ago, after part of its ceiling collapsed.
He claimed two women died at different times during the cult's seclusion, which began in November 2007. One woman died of cancer and the other from excessive fasting, he told the media.
"However," Sharonov told the Russian news agency Interfax, "the Penza regional administration is of the view that these deaths must be proven legally, which is possible only if all the people leave the cave so that investigative officials can examine it."
Sharonov said those who remain in the cave told Penza officials during negotiations that they would come out by the Russian Orthodox Easter, on April 27. He said officials believe 11 people are left in the cave, but only nine will be alive if Nedogon's report is true.
According to Interfax, Penza Deputy Governor Oleg Melnichenko, who is leading the local effort to resolve the situation, said he was unaware of any deaths in the cave.
The cave ordeal began when Kuznetsov, the group's leader, told his followers to hide themselves to await the end of the world, which he predicted would take place in May.
They had threatened to commit mass suicide if authorities tried to intervene.
Thirty-five sect members are believed to have entered the cave initially, Interfax said. E-mail to a friend
From CNN's Maxim Tkachenko in Moscow.
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5c4107e6074542599aaef9626e0fc630
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Where was the cult?
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[
"the Penza region"
] |
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(PEOPLE.com) -- Jaleel White most notably played geeky, annoying neighbor Steve Urkel on the '90s sitcom "Family Matters" -- but since then, the actor, who has portrayed Bruce Lee, Elvis Presley and a member of the opposite sex, doesn't feel recognized for his ability to take on a variety of roles.
"I'm very versatile, but somehow I didn't earn the tag of being called a versatile actor," White, 34, tells PEOPLE. "I'm still chasing that one Vanity Fair tag that says, 'This guy's a versatile actor.' I accept it. It's fine. But for me, it's like what do I have to do to get that [acknowledgement]?"
White, who says he gets "recognized everywhere I go," isn't big on reminiscing about the days of playing the character who made him a household name.
"I don't [miss playing Urkel]," he says. "I really don't. I'm not trying to get away from it or anything like that, but I don't miss the role at all -- really. I just want to work. I want my daughter to say, 'I know what Daddy does,' not 'what Daddy did."
White -- who most recently played an inmate on Fox's House, M.D. earlier this year -- guest stars as a scheming wealthy director on the season premiere of fellow former child star Tatyana Ali's latest sitcom, Love That Girl!. The actor says it's "cool" sharing a screen with Ali, who he hasn't filmed with since his small stint on The Fresh Prince of Bel Air many years ago.
The episode, which airs Monday night at 8 p.m. on TV One, is the first of many more roles to come, predicts White.
"I just want people to know I haven't gone anywhere," he says. "The passion was gone for awhile, but I've got my mojo back."
See the full article at PEOPLE.com.
© 2011 People and Time Inc. All rights reserved.
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8ced0300cdd8438a84e2e3f9b4f22893
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what did white say?
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[
"\"I'm very versatile, but somehow I didn't earn the tag of being called a versatile actor,\""
] |
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NEW YORK (CNN) -- Two additional suspects in the strangulation of an 89-year-old Holocaust survivor were arrested Friday, the Manhattan district attorney's office said.
Felix Brinkmann dances at a 2008 birthday party. "He was not the kind of guy who had enemies," his son says.
Aljulah Cutts, 27, and his brother Hasib, 30, were taken into custody in Manhattan in connection with the death last week of Guido Felix Brinkmann, the district attorney's office said.
A spokeswoman declined to specify what, if any, connection the men are suspected to have had to the victim or to a woman previously arrested in the case.
Police also would not say what charges the two might face.
The woman, Angela Murray, 30, of the Bronx, was arraigned Sunday on one count of murder in the second degree and three counts of robbery in the case.
Brinkmann was found dead in the bedroom of his apartment July 30, his hands tied behind his back, police said. A safe was missing from the apartment, and his car had been stolen.
Brinkmann, a native of Latvia, was held in the Mauthausen, Ebensee and Auschwitz camps during World War II.
After the war, he and his wife, who also survived Auschwitz, came to America.
In 1971, Brinkmann co-founded Adam's Apple disco in Manhattan, and later was the real estate manager of a mixed-use building in the Bronx, according to his son, Rick Brinkman, who uses a different spelling for his last name.
Brinkmann's wife died last year.
CNN's Jason Kessler and Chris Kokenes contributed to this report.
|
1b246b498f7c43e0928f4d3e1342b278
|
What age was Brinkmann?
|
[
"89-year-old"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- The global economic crisis has caused a spike in world hunger that has left more than a billion undernourished, United Nations agencies said in a new report.
The report says the stabilization of financial markets has meant less investment in agriculture, food distribution.
"It is unacceptable in the 21st century that almost one in six of the world's population is now going hungry," said Josette Sheeran, executive director of the World Food Programme.
"At a time when there are more hungry people in the world than ever before, there is less food aid than we have seen in living memory."
The report by the WFP and the Food and Agriculture Organization was released Wednesday, ahead of World Food Day on Friday.
Nearly all the world's undernourished live in developing countries, according to the report.
An estimated 642 million people are suffering from chronic hunger in Asia and the Pacific. An additional 265 million live in sub-Saharan Africa while 95 million come from Latin America, the Caribbean, the Near East and North Africa. The final 15 million live in developed nations. Should developed economies be doing more to eradicate hunger, poverty?
The number of hungry spiked as the global economic crisis took hold and governments pumped resources into stabilizing financial markets. The move meant smaller investments in agriculture and food distribution.
"World leaders have reacted forcefully to the financial and economic crisis, and succeeded in mobilizing billions of dollars in a short time period. The same strong action is needed now to combat hunger and poverty," said Jacques Diouf, director-general of the FAO.
"The rising number of hungry people is intolerable."
The report calls for greater investment in agriculture to tackle long and short-term hunger by making farmers productive and more resilient to crises.
"We know what is needed to meet urgent hunger needs -- we just need the resources and the international commitment to do the job," Sheeran said.
|
4d4fd6d9f35c4c5b93e54c122bc11622
|
What kind of measures have been called for to tackle hunger, long term?
|
[
"greater investment in agriculture"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- A Southwest Airlines jet made an emergency landing in Charleston, West Virginia, on Monday after a football-sized hole in its fuselage caused the cabin to depressurize, an airline spokeswoman said.
Southwest Flight 2294 made an emergency landing at Yeager Airport in Charleston, West Virginia, on Monday.
There were no injuries aboard the Boeing 737, which was traveling at about 34,000 feet when the problem occurred, Southwest spokeswoman Marilee McInnis told CNN.
The sudden drop in cabin pressure caused the jet's oxygen masks to deploy.
Southwest Flight 2294 was en route from Nashville, Tennessee, to Baltimore, Maryland, with 126 passengers and a crew of five aboard, McInnis said.
It landed at 5:10 p.m. after the crew reported a football-sized hole in the middle of the cabin near the top of the aircraft, McInnis said.
What caused the damage to the jet had not been determined, she said. Both the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the incident, FAA spokeswoman Holly Baker said.
"There is no responsible way to speculate as to a cause at this point," Southwest said in a statement Monday night. Watch as passenger describes watching the hole form »
"We have safety procedures in place, and they were followed in this instance to get all passengers and crew safely on the ground," the airline said. "Reports we have are that our passengers were calm and that our pilots and flight attendants did a great job getting the aircraft on the ground safely."
Southwest dispatched a replacement aircraft to take passengers on to Baltimore. See map of flight path »
Charleston airport spokesman Brian Belcher said a local pizzeria provided food for the passengers as they waited.
The damaged jet will remain on the ground there until federal inspectors can examine it, he said.
In addition, all 181 of Southwest's 737-300s -- about a third of the airline's fleet -- will be inspected overnight after the emergency landing, McInnis said. Southwest does not expect the inspections to create delays, she said.
CNN's Shawn Nottingham and Stephanie Gallman contributed to this report.
|
3829b46d3f7649a7acecc0fc4d11ab77
|
Were injuries reported?
|
[
"no"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- The women's draw at the Indian Wells Masters event has been thrown wide open after second seed Jelena Jankovic and third-seeded Elena Dementieva were both beaten on Saturday.
Pavlyuchenkova celebrates her victory over Jelena Jankovic in the Indian Wells Masters.
Serb Jankovic, who ended 2008 as number one in the world but has now dropped to third in the rankings, slumped 6-4 6-4 to Russian 17-year-old Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
Meanwhile, Russian Dementieva ran out of steam in the final set to go down 7-6 2-6 6-1 to Czech qualifier Petra Cetkovska -- ensuring only 17 of the 32 seeded women failed to make it out of the second round.
Fifth seed Ana Ivanovic, the defending champion defeated Anastasiya Yakimova of Belarus 6-4 6-3 and now joins top-seeded Russian Dinara Safina as the tournament favorite.
Also through is seventh-seeded Pole Agnieszka Radwanska, who fought back from dropping the opening set to beat Australian Samantha Stosur 3-6 6-3 7-5.
|
f73ffb6d1ee548e4935475e05b870f8a
|
What nationality is Dementieva?
|
[
"Russian"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- On "Amanpour" this Thursday, Christiane Amanpour sits down for an exclusive live interview with the President of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe.
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe talks to CNN's Christiane Amanpour Thursday.
In Mugabe's first interview with a major Western network in years, Christiane will explore the historic power-sharing agreement with the unity government there, and get the president's thoughts on the highly-emotive issue of land redistribution.
As Mugabe prepares to take center stage at the United Nations on Friday, Christiane will take the opportunity to ask if the power-sharing agreement in Zimbabwe is really working, if international sanctions are responsible for his country's economic and political turmoil, and what kind of engagement he is looking for from the international community.
In this rare interview, Christiane will also address signs of optimism emerging in Zimbabwe; sky-rocketing inflation stabilizing, basic goods returning to store shelves, and a loosening of restrictive media laws.
"Amanpour" is CNN International's new live global interview program, which launched on September 21, 2009 as the centerpiece of its new evening line up.
Live interview airs 2100 CET Thursday 24 September.
|
afae6f5947ba471eac10c2f052ce45fe
|
Who is Amanpour interviewing?
|
[
"President of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe."
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- A strong earthquake struck off the south coast of Japan on Sunday night local time, "jolting Tokyo and wide areas of eastern Japan," the country's Kyodo news agency reported.
The 7.1 earthquake hit 200 miles (320 kilometers) south-southwest of Tokyo at 7:55 p.m. (6:55 a.m. ET), the United States Geological Survey reported.
Its epicenter was 188 miles (303 kilometers) deep, the USGS said.
The Japan Meteorological Agency reported its magnitude as 6.9, Kyodo said.
There were no immediate reports of damage, and the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center did not issue a tsunami warning.
|
ede84da7628042d1ab629eb78aee886c
|
Who did not issue a tsunami alert?
|
[
"Warning Center"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Pilots were warned of potential danger at least eight times in about 30 seconds before a Polish jet crashed in Russia in April, killing President Lech Kaczynski and about 100 others.
A transcript that the Polish government released Tuesday shows that an automated warning system sounded the alarm several times before the Tupolev-154 crashed in western Russia.
"Pull up. Pull up," a warning system advised pilots. "Terrain ahead. Terrain ahead."
The April 10 crash killed Kaczynski, his wife, top Polish military officials, the head of Poland's national bank and other dignitaries.
The president had been traveling with a Polish delegation to Russia for the 70th anniversary of the massacre of Polish prisoners of war in the village of Katyn. Some 20,000 Polish officers were executed there during World War II.
|
b5e944ae6f6f4745bb50e3d45ebddd9e
|
On what day did the crash occur?
|
[
"The April 10"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Singapore's economy shrank by 4.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008, the Ministry of Trade and Industry said Thursday, as it forecast the economy would contract between 2 and 5 percent this year.
Boats ply under a bridge near the financial district of Singapore.
Compared to a robust growth of 7.8 percent a year earlier, the economy grew by 1.1 percent for the whole of 2008, the ministry added.
It called Gross Domestic Product growth prospects for 2009 "weak ... on account of the pessimistic global economic outlook."
All major sectors, except for construction, business services and information and communications, saw contractions, the ministry said.
The ministry cited a decline in private sector investments and private consumption expenditure for dragging down total domestic demand.
Declines in global demand for electronics products, pharmaceuticals and chemicals were also likely to weigh on the manufacturing sector.
|
19b709d1d97b4d0e88c95afb22e83414
|
How much did Singapore's economy grow in 2008 as a whole?
|
[
"1.1 percent"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Police and FBI agents are investigating the discovery of an empty rocket launcher tube on the front lawn of a Jersey City, New Jersey, home, FBI spokesman Sean Quinn said.
Niranjan Desai discovered the 20-year-old AT4 anti-tank rocket launcher tube, a one-time-use device, lying on her lawn Friday morning, police said.
The launcher has been turned over to U.S. Army officials at the 754th Ordnance Company, an explosive ordnance disposal unit, at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, Army officials said.
The launcher "is no longer operable and not considered to be a hazard to public safety," police said, adding there was no indication the launcher had been fired recently.
Army officials said they could not determine if the launcher had been fired, but indicated they should know once they find out where it came from.
The nearest military base, Fort Dix, is more than 70 miles from Jersey City.
The Joint Terrorism Task Force division of the FBI and Jersey City police are investigating the origin of the rocket launcher and the circumstance that led to its appearance on residential property.
"Al Qaeda doesn't leave a rocket launcher on the lawn of middle-aged ladies," said Paul Cruickshank of New York University Law School's Center on Law and Security.
A neighbor, Joe Quinn, said the object lying on Desai's lawn looked military, was brown, had a handle and strap, and "both ends were open, like you could shoot something with it."
Quinn also said the device had a picture of a soldier on it and was 3 to 4 feet long.
An Army official said the device is basically a shoulder-fired, direct-fire weapon used against ground targets -- a modern-day bazooka -- and it is not wire-guided.
According to the Web site Globalsecurity.org, a loaded M136 AT4 anti-tank weapon has a 40-inch-long fiberglass-wrapped tube and weighs just 4 pounds. Its 84 millimeter shaped-charge missile can penetrate 14 inches of armor from a maximum of 985 feet. It is used once and discarded. E-mail to a friend
CNN's Carol Cratty, Dugald McConnell, and Mike Mount contributed to this report.
|
1a10629e27f14a519b105ace0df4c6e5
|
What did the experts say?
|
[
"\"Al Qaeda doesn't leave a rocket launcher on the lawn of middle-aged ladies,\""
] |
NewsQA
|
Miami, Florida (CNN) -- Tropical Storm Paula pushed across western Cuba Thursday evening with wind gusts just under hurricane strength in some places, bringing heavy rain and high winds to the island nation, forecasters said.
The storm is gradually weakening and is expected to become a tropical depression Friday, the Miami, Florida-based National Hurricane Center said
As of 8 p.m. ET, the center of Paula was about 25 miles (45 kilometers) east of Havana, the center said. It was moving east at 14 mph (22 kph).
Paula passed just south of the Cuban capital around 6 p.m. Thursday -- with sustained winds of 41 mph (67 kph) and a gust of 54 mph (87 kph) recorded in Havana -- after making landfall at about noon near Puerto Esperanza.
The storm's maximum sustained winds have weakened to 55 mph (90 kph), the center said Thursday night, but wind gusts of 68 mph had been recorded earlier near Puerto Esperanza. Stronger gusts were confined to a small area near the storm's center, the center said.
Paula's tropical storm-force winds have expanded to 70 miles (110 km) outward from the center, altering the landscape of a storm that has been roughly half that size for most of its duration.
Forecasters said the storm was likely to stick to an east to east-northeast track, moving across western and central Cuba Thursday night and Friday.
The hurricane center said that tropical storm force winds should continue to spread eastward across western and central Cuba Thursday night, primarily along the north coast.
The center discontinued an earlier tropical storm watch also was for the Florida Keys and Dry Tortugas.
Emergency management officials in the Keys said Wednesday they were keeping an eye on the progress of Paula and expected some gusty winds and rain, but no protective actions had been initiated. Forecasters predict the center of Paula will remain south of the Keys.
Paula is likely to dump an additional 2 to 4 inches of rain over portions of western and central Cuba over the next two days, the National Hurricane Center said. Total maximum amounts could be 10 inches in some areas. Heavy rain could trigger flash floods and mudslides, forecasters said. The Florida Keys could see between 1 and 2 inches of rain.
In addition, a storm surge is forecast to raise water levels by 2 to 4 feet above normal tide levels along the coast of western Cuba, accompanied by "large and destructive waves," the hurricane center said.
|
906182eec6cf4e0bb0df938fe39933d2
|
Where is Storm Paula pushing across?
|
[
"western Cuba"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- World No. 2 Dinara Safina has been forced to pull out of next week's Dubai Tennis Championships due to her ongoing back problems.
The Russian announced on her Web site that she had been suffering from the injury since last year.
"Unfortunately, I will not be able to play the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships this year because of the back injury that's been bothering me since the end of last season," the 23-year-old said.
"I wish the tournament the best of success on its 10th anniversary and hope to be back next year, as it's one of my favorite events."
Safina lost her No. 1 ranking for the second time after retiring hurt during her first match at the season-ending Sony Ericsson Championships in Qatar in October, and revealed then that she had been struggling with the problem for three months.
Forced to withdraw from her scheduled opening event of 2010, the Brisbane International, Safina was then beaten by compatriot Elena Dementieva in the quarterfinals in Sydney.
She had to retire in the fourth round of the Australian Open in the first set of her clash with another Russian, Maria Kirilenko.
Dubai organizers expect the rest of the world's top-10 players to play, including Australian Open winner Serena Williams and her sister Venus, the defending champion.
World No. 1 Serena pulled out of this week's Paris Indoor Open due to a leg injury, leaving Dementieva as the highest-ranked player.
The world No. 7, last year's runner-up to Amelie Mauresmo, has a first-round bye and will begin her title bid against Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic or fellow Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who meet on Tuesday.
In Monday's action, eighth seed Elena Vesnina crushed Romania's Alexandra Dulgheru 6-1 6-4
Hungary's Agnes Szavay walked into the second round when Olga Govortsova of Belarus retired hurt while trailing 6-3 1-0, and will face third seed Yanina Wickmayer in the second round if the Belgian beats Croatian wildcard Petra Martic.
Defending champion Vera Zvonareva of Russia is top seed for this week's other WTA Tour event, the Pattaya Open in Thailand.
|
c94faf20bfe144299add384b2ef185ae
|
Who has been forced to pull out of next weeks Dubai Tennis Championships?
|
[
"Dinara Safina"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- A human rights group urged Burundi to reverse a law that makes homosexuality illegal, saying it risks worsening the harsh treatment of gays in the eastern Africa nation.
In March, people in Burundi demonstrate in favor of a measure banning homosexuality. It became law in April.
The new law makes "sexual relations with persons of the same sex" illegal and punishable by up to two years in prison, Human Rights Watch said in a recently released report.
It was enacted just as the gay, lesbian and transgender community had started to mobilize and call for equal treatment, according to the organization.
"The government needs to listen to these voices to understand the harm it is doing to Burundians with its state-sanctioned discrimination," said Georgette Gagnon, Africa director for Human Rights Watch. "The government should rescind this law and instead work to promote equality and understanding."
Before the law, which was passed in April, some gays and lesbians already faced significant discrimination in Burundi, according to the organization.
Some had lost their jobs, others were beaten by parents and local youths, and others were evicted, according to the Human Rights Watch report, which cited accounts by the victims.
Numerous attempts to reach government officials were unsuccessful.
Homosexuality is illegal in most countries in the region, including in nearby Kenya and Uganda, where sodomy laws were introduced during colonialism.
Most African nations have revised those laws to include consensual sex among gay and lesbian couples and made the punishments tougher, according to Human Rights Watch.
"Half the world's countries that criminalize homosexual conduct do so because they cling to Victorian morality and colonial laws," said Scott Long, director of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights program for Human Rights Watch. "Getting rid of these unjust remnants of the British empire is long overdue."
The role religion plays in Africa has a lot to do with the ban, others say.
"It is wrong from a biblical standpoint, and most African countries are governed based on religious beliefs," said Olatunde Ogunyemi, a professor in Grambling, Louisiana.
"Christianity and Islam are the dominant religions in the continent, and in some cases, constitutions are based on religion, which justifies making it illegal."
South Africa's post-apartheid constitution bans discrimination against gays -- the first in Africa to prohibit discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation.
Homosexuality is also illegal in other countries, including Ghana, Nigeria and Zimbabwe, according to Human Rights Watch.
|
e362167e55b145d892a6041075332c5c
|
What does South Africa's constitution ban?
|
[
"discrimination against gays"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Singer Kelly Osbourne, the daughter of rocker Ozzy Osbourne, checked herself into "a medical facility to address some personal issues," her London publicist confirmed Friday.
Kelly Osbourne is struggling with "some personal issues," according to her spokeswoman.
The British Press Association cited an unnamed source saying Osbourne, 24, is being treated at the Hazelden retreat in Oregon.
"Kelly Osbourne has voluntarily entered a medical facility to address some personal issues," spokeswoman Caroline Barrett said in a statement e-mailed to CNN. "Her family stands by and supports her."
Osbourne was jailed in London in January on a charge of assaulting a British newspaper gossip columnist at a London nightclub last summer. She was freed on bail.
She's been absent in recent weeks from a British radio talk show in which she dispenses life advice to young people.
Her father, who rose to fame with the heavy metal group Black Sabbath, and mother Sharon revealed nearly five years ago that Kelly Osbourne entered the Promises rehab facility in Malibu, California, for treatment of a painkiller addiction.
Their revelation came in an appearance on CNN's "Larry King Live" in May 2004.
"We just had to take evasive action very quickly, because the amount of pills that was found in her bag was astounding," Ozzy Osbourne told Larry King.
Kelly Osbourne gained fame as a teenager when her family opened up their lives to cameras for an MTV reality show "The Osbournes."
She used the exposure to launch her own music career.
|
be3c7e50048b4e20ba5822cc19502ef1
|
Where is Kelly Osbourne?
|
[
"at the Hazelden retreat in Oregon."
] |
NewsQA
|
PARIS, France (CNN) -- Interpol is chasing more than 200 leads on the potential identity of a pedophile suspected of molesting young boys, just one day after launching a global manhunt.
Interpol has launched a global appeal to find this man, accused of abusing young boys.
The organization, which facilitates global cooperation among police agencies, said its Web site logged 30 times more visitors than in an average day after it made its plea for the public's help Tuesday.
Interpol is trying to locate a man who is pictured sexually abusing young boys in hundreds of images on the Internet.
"'The public's response has been very positive," said Kristin Kvigne, assistant director of Interpol's Trafficking in Human Beings unit, in a news release.
"The smallest piece of information from anywhere in the world could be crucial in identifying this man."
The man is featured in 100 photographs sexually abusing at least three boys between the ages of six and 10, Interpol said.
The organization posted six pictures of the suspect on its Web site.
The pictures came to light in 2006, when Norwegian authorities discovered them in the possession of a man they arrested. Watch a report on Interpol's man-hunt »
"While these images were only discovered two years ago, we believe the photographs were taken between April 2000 and May 2001, so clearly this man will be older than he appears in the pictures," said Kvigne.
Last October, Interpol disseminated pictures of another man whose face appeared in more than 200 images of sex acts with children. It dubbed its operation Vico, because the images were thought to have been taken in Vietnam and Cambodia.
Ten days later, Christopher Paul Neil -- a 32-year-old Canadian man who had been working as an English-language teacher in South Korea -- was arrested in Thailand and charged with child abuse.
Following the success of that operation, the organization's general assembly approved a resolution allowing Interpol to seek public help in child sex abuse investigations.
|
9e669a327b794597b61210ba55c9008c
|
How long after was an arrest made?
|
[
"one day"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Eighteen-year-old Juan Gonzalez was dying alone in a hospital, thousand of miles from his Guatemalan home. He was separated from the family he had traveled to the United States to help support.
Juan Gonzalez was earning $250 a week as a dishwasher when his heart trouble began.
Diagnosed with a chronically weak heart, without much money and lacking resources, Gonzalez seemed bound to die without ever seeing his parents again.
That changed after CNN aired a story about his plight.
Thanks to the help of a compassionate hospital staff, a U.S. congressman and a concerned community, Gonzalez has been reunited with his parents for what may be the last time. Watch Gonzalez make his tearful plea »
Like many undocumented workers, Gonzalez came to the United States last fall to provide some financial help for his family, who had fallen on hard times back in Guatemala. He took a job as a dishwasher in Rome, Georgia, making about $250 a week.
Then, in November, his heart gave out. Gonzalez has been in and out of the hospital for seven months.
Doctors diagnosed Gonzalez with dilated cardiomyopathy, which means his heart muscle is very weak.
Dr. Frank Stegall, Gonzalez's cardiologist, said the Guatemalan teen's heart pumps only 20 percent of the blood a healthy heart should.
But as Gonzalez's heart failed him, he opened up the hearts of others.
Stegall and the staff at Rome's Redmond Regional Medical Center were inspired by Gonzalez's attitude and courage and set out to reunite the dying teen with his parents. They contacted U.S. Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Georgia.
Gingrey got the State Department involved in expediting visas for Pascual and Maria Gonzalez, Juan's parents.
Delta Air Lines donated tickets to Atlanta, and the Gonzalezes boarded a plane for the first time, bound for Georgia to see their dying son. Watch the family reunion »
Gonzalez has vowed to fight to the end, but doctors say his prognosis isn't good. With no money, Stegall says, it will be tough for the teen to get a heart transplant.
Now, after traveling thousands of miles for more than two weeks to make a better life for his family and himself, Gonzalez faces his final fight, but it's one he will face with his family, thanks to the kindness of others.
|
09cd3a495e1d4407a639b741e4f22529
|
Which reason did they go to Georgia?
|
[
"see their dying son."
] |
NewsQA
|
Kennedy Space Center, Florida (CNN) -- The space shuttle Atlantis lifted off Friday afternoon on its final planned mission.
The shuttle blasted off under bright sunny skies at 2:20 p.m.
The six astronauts on board plan to deliver an integrated cargo carrier and a Russian-built mini-research module to the international space station. They also plan to bring a "set of batteries for the station's truss and dish antenna, along with other replacement parts," NASA says.
In addition to the mission that got under way Friday afternoon, NASA has plans for two space shuttle missions before the program ends.
This Just In: The (maybe) final flight of Atlantis
Atlantis has flown more than 115 million miles in almost 25 years, NASA says. It was the first orbiter to dock with the Russian space station, Mir.
"Atlantis has a history of being the shuttle that did the most international things," said Emily Nelson, lead space station flight director for the mission.
"It's the orbiter that the Russians have known best, because it's one that came to their space station most often, and it's one that we used to deliver a module for them in the past."
Atlantis also carried into orbit the Magellan spacecraft, which went on to map 98 percent of the planet Venus. It also sent the Galileo spacecraft on its way to collect data about Jupiter and its moons for eight years.
|
0f0e83d1574d47538d016b479164e1a4
|
how many crew members does it have
|
[
"six astronauts"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Space shuttle Atlantis launched Monday afternoon to deliver key spare parts to prolong the life of the International Space Station.
The shuttle lifted off as scheduled, at 2:28 p.m. ET from the Kennedy Space Center near Cape Canaveral.
The delivery will add years to the station's life after the space shuttle fleet is retired next year, according to NASA. Monday's launch is among six planned before then.
"You'll see this theme in some of the flights that are going to come after ours as well," said Brian Smith, the lead space station flight director for the 11-day mission. "This flight is all about spares. Basically, we're getting them up there while we still can."
Some parts are for systems that keep the station from overheating or tumbling through space, according to NASA.
"We're taking the big ones," Smith said. "And not only are they the big ones -- they're the ones deemed most critical. That's why they're going up first."
The six-member crew will return to Earth with flight engineer Nicole Stott, who launched in August.
CNN iReport: Share your photos, video of shuttle launch
The mission also will include three spacewalks and installation of two platforms to the station's backbone. The platforms will hold spare parts to sustain station operations after the shuttles are discontinued.
"As the only vehicle large enough to carry many of the big pieces of equipment into space, several of the flights are devoted to the task," NASA said. iReporter attends NASA "Tweet-up"
Other items set for delivery include nitrogen and ammonia tank assemblies, a high-pressure gas tank and the station's robotic arm. The tanks help cool and pressurize the station.
|
89015892032e4e838a2666b920c4e587
|
When did Atlantis blast off?
|
[
"Monday"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Google said Tuesday's widespread Gmail outage occurred when the company took some servers offline to perform routine maintenance, causing its remaining routers to become overloaded with traffic.
Many Gmail users encountered this error message when trying to access their e-mail Tuesday.
"We know how many people rely on Gmail for personal and professional communications, and we take it very seriously when there's a problem with the service," wrote Ben Treynor, a Google vice president of engineering, Tuesday in a 9:59 p.m. ET post on the Gmail blog.
"Thus, right up front, I'd like to apologize to all of you -- today's outage was a Big Deal, and we're treating it as such," Treynor wrote.
Gmail, Google's popular free e-mail service, was inaccessible to many of its tens of millions of users for about 100 minutes Tuesday afternoon, prompting widespread chatter on Twitter and other social networks.
Gmail's problems were a top trending topic on Twitter, with users trading updates and posting links to blogs such as Mashable, which published a post called, "5 Things to Do While Gmail is Down." (No. 1: "Immediately flood Twitter with tweets alternately proclaiming 'Gmail is down!' and inquiring 'Is Gmail down?' ")
"When something like this used to happen, you would wonder if it was just you," Rachel Sklar, editor-at-large of Mediaite.com, told CNN. "Here, it was immediate that you knew what was going on because of Twitter, and you knew that everyone had the same problems."
People couldn't access Gmail via the Web interface Tuesday because their requests couldn't be routed to a Gmail server, Treynor explained. He said Google's engineers are compiling a list of things they intend to fix or improve as a result of their investigation into the outage.
"We've turned our full attention to helping ensure this kind of event doesn't happen again. Some of the actions are straightforward and are already done -- for example, increasing request router capacity well beyond peak demand to provide headroom," he wrote.
Gmail had 36.9 million U.S. users in June, according to ComScore, a company that measures Internet use. Gmail remains the third-most popular Web-based e-mail service, after Yahoo! Mail and Microsoft's Hotmail.
CNN Audience Interaction Producer Eric Kuhn contributed to this story.
|
98103ba12f684e6f93bdd9546e022ad0
|
When were widespread outages experienced?
|
[
"Tuesday."
] |
NewsQA
|
ROME, Italy (CNN) -- A U.N. report says hunger is on the rise globally and blames higher food prices.
Populations within conflict zones such as the Democratic Republic of Congo are particularly vulnerable.
The Food and Agriculture Organization has issued preliminary estimates classifying 963 million people as undernourished -- an increase of 40 million people over the past year.
"One out of seven people -- about 15 percent -- suffer chronically of not having enough to eat," said Mark Smulders, an FAO economist.
The hunger report -- titled "The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2008" -- said the world's financial and economic problems could throw more people into poverty.
The number of hungry had been increasing over the years before the rise in food prices, with warfare and political instability continuing to be among the factors causing poverty.
The preliminary estimates lack a firm country breakdown, but last year's figures are an accurate measure of where the problems are.
About 907 out of 923 million undernourished people in 2007, or 65 percent of the hungry, live in India, China, the war-wracked Democratic Republic of Congo, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan and Ethiopia.
Smulders said about 27 percent of the world's hungry live in India and 15 percent in China. The other countries each represent 4 to 5 percent of the world's total.
There has been progress in fighting hunger in the Asian nations of Thailand and Vietnam, and in the sub-Saharan African nations of Ghana, Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Mozambique and Malawi, the report said.
Food prices have declined from their peak earlier in the year, but they are staying high compared to other years, the agency said. The Food and Agriculture Organization's food price index was 28 percent higher in October than it was two years before.
"Prices of major cereals have fallen by over 50 percent from their peaks earlier in 2008 but they remain high compared to previous years," the FAO said.
The agency said the "rural and urban poor, landless farmers and female-headed households are the worst hit by high food prices."
-- CNN's Joe Sterling contributed to this report.
|
f12452c6464143ecab88b438c6cbdd07
|
How many people have increased?
|
[
"40 million"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Akio Toyoda's appearance before U.S. legislators on Wednesday represents not just a fact-finding mission by committee members and a public relations move by Toyota, but a clash of cultures that in many ways created the recall controversy.
"They turned a rather ordinary recall into a brand-threatening crisis," said Jeff Kingston, a professor of Asian studies at Temple University's Japan campus in Tokyo.
Indeed, a key reason why Toyoda is in the hot seat is because the company leadership responded in a very Japanese fashion, Japan watchers say.
"Their decision-making process was painfully slow, but the international media and concerned customers don't want to wait so long for answers," Kingston said. "Anytime the public hears 'brake' and 'problem' in the same sentence, they want quick answers."
Toyoda's long silence as the company deliberated what to do is a hallmark of the Japanese culture of consensus building.
"The decision-making process is really the planning process in Japan -- you don't see a lot of rapid response to a strategic issue," said Michael Alan Hamlin, president of Team Asia, which provides communications advice to multinational companies.
Difficult, too, will be how Toyoda handles hostile questioning, especially since most of his public experience has been before a largely deferential Japanese press.
"There is a huge difference in how Japanese media cover companies," said Hamlin, who lived in Japan for a decade. "They are careful not to upset or annoy business leaders too much, because they don't want their access to information or press conferences blocked because of negative reporting.
"In the West, you take Microsoft, Google or GM -- once they are big, successful companies, they are targets (of aggressive media)," he said. "That's the trade-off for visibility and success."
How the two audiences -- American and Japanese -- view Toyoda's performance may be very different because of cultural differences in body language.
"Japanese when in an apology mode -- especially before an authority like the U.S. Congress -- will be very humble. That means, you don't necessarily look people in the eye," said Deborah Hayden, Tokyo managing partner of Kreab & Gavin Anderson Worldwide, a communications consultancy. "From a Western perspective, that can be mistaken as weakness or perhaps trying to hide something."
Also, Japanese language tends to be indirect -- whereas before the committee members are likely to pepper him with direct questions and "be a bit of political theater," Hamlin added.
"He's got to walk a very fine line of polite respect -- which Japanese have in bucket loads -- and the confidence of being head of one of the largest, most respected companies in the world," Hayden said.
|
77a43ffe2e44447398cf3ad485ee42a3
|
Toyoda's long silence is a hallmark of what countries culture of consensus building?
|
[
"Japan"
] |
NewsQA
|
Washington (CNN) -- The U.S. military is gearing up for a possible influx of Haitians fleeing their earthquake-stricken country at an Army facility not widely known for its humanitarian missions: Guantanamo Bay.
Soldiers at the base have set up tents, beds and toilets, awaiting possible orders from the secretary of defense to proceed, according to Maj. Diana Haynie, a spokeswoman for Joint Task Force Guantanamo Bay.
"There's no indication of any mass migration from Haiti," Haynie stressed. "We have not been told to conduct migrant operations."
But the base is getting ready "as a prudent measure," Haynie said, since "it takes some time to set things up."
Guantanamo Bay is about 200 miles from Haiti.
Currently, military personnel at the base are helping the earthquake relief effort by shipping bottled water and food from its warehouse.
In addition, Gen. Douglas Fraser, commander of U.S. Southern Command, said the Navy has set up a "logistics field," an area to support bigger ships in the region. The military can now use that as a "lily pad" to fly supplies from ships docked at Guantanamo over to Haiti, he said.
"Guantanamo Bay proves its value as a strategic hub for the movement of supplies and personnel to the affected areas in Haiti," Haynie said.
As part of the precautionary measures to prepare for possible refugees, the Army has erected 100 tents, each holding 10 beds, according to Haynie. Toilet facilities are nearby. If needed, hundreds more tents are stored in Guantanamo Bay and can be erected, she said.
The refugees would be put on the leeward side of the island, more than 2 miles from some 200 detainees being held on the other side, Haynie said. The refugees would not mix with the detainees.
Joint Task Force Guantanamo Bay is responsible for planning for any kind of Caribbean mass immigration, according to Haynie.
In the early 1990s, thousands of Haitian refugees took shelter on the island, she said.
|
0891a897ac6b44a8bb2577024b0cf758
|
Who have set up tents?
|
[
"Soldiers at the base"
] |
NewsQA
|
MADRID, Spain -- Atletico Madrid recovered from their painful recent defeat by Barcelona to crush European rivals Real Zaragoza 4-0 in the Primera Liga on Sunday.
Luis Garcia celebrates his first Atletico Madrid goal in their superb 4-0 victory over Real Zaragoza.
Luis Garcia's first goal for the club, a double from Argentine Maxi Rodriguez and a Diego Forlan strike clinched a comfortable win as Atletico moved up to sixth in the table.
It was also sweet revenge for Atletico as Zaragoza beat them home and away last season to beat them to sixth place and the final UEFA Cup spot.
Atletico went ahead in the 10th minute when Forlan picked out a precise pass for Garcia who made no mistake with a calm side-footed finish.
Forlan then got on the scoresheet himself with a first-time lob on 34 minutes for his third goal of the season, before Rodriguez stole the show with two more goals.
Getafe registered their first win of the season with a 2-0 victory over Murcia.
Substitute Kepa, who was later sent off, opened the scoring in the 54th minute and Francisco Casero added a second five minutes later to clinch the points.
Elsewhere last season's second division champions Valladolid continue to struggle in the top flight, crashing to a 2-1 defeat against Athletic Bilbao.
Artiz Aduriz scored twice for Bilbao after eight and 31 minutes to leave Valladolid second from bottom with promoted Levante, who have a meagre one point, propping up the table. E-mail to a friend
|
61e9901b75654fdf860773c8c2862d19
|
Who scored goals?
|
[
"Luis Garcia"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Michigan authorities are investigating whether foul play led to the death of a 9-year-old quadriplegic girl whose body was found inside a public storage facility.
Shylea Thomas, 9, of Flint, Michigan, was quadriplegic and used a feeding tube.
"This is a very sad and tragic case that hurts all of us involved in the ongoing investigation," Genesee County prosecutor David Leyton said at a news conference Wednesday.
Shylea Myza Thomas of Flint, Michigan, hadn't been seen in six weeks, and relatives reported her missing Tuesday, Leyton's office said. Her adoptive mother, who is also her aunt, is in custody as a suspect, special assistant prosecuting attorney John Potbury told CNN.
No charges have been filed pending the results of the autopsy, he said.
Because of her physical disabilities, Shylea used a feeding tube. She suffered from quadriplegia because of a "suffocation issue" in her crib at 3 weeks of age, Leyton said.
On Wednesday, Flint police found her body stuffed inside a garbage bag in a public storage facility in Vienna Township, near Flint, Leyton said. The bag was covered in mothballs "in an apparent attempt to mask odors from the dead body," his office said in a news release.
"For her to have to live like that, and then to die and be stuffed into a bag and plastic bin in a storage facility, just breaks my heart," the prosecutor said.
CNN affiliate WJRT reported that the suspect could face charges including murder, first-degree child abuse and welfare fraud.
The station also reported that investigators are trying to determine why the girl's disappearance wasn't reported until six weeks after she went missing.
Relatives told WJRT that they remember Shylea as a happy child, who loved music and whose smile was infectious. Watch a family in shock »
"The last memory I actually have of Shylea is seeing her when she was in my care," said her second cousin, Josette Thomas. "She was on the bed listening to the radio and smiling. Those are actually the memories I want to keep in my head. I don't want that memory to leave me."
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67a65daf5b2644778efb1e14dcafac3b
|
In custody as a suspect for what?
|
[
"murder, first-degree child abuse and welfare fraud."
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Marie Osmond's 18-year-old son Michael Blosil has died, a family spokesman said Saturday.
"My family and I are devastated and in deep shock by the tragic loss of our dear Michael and ask that everyone respect our privacy during this difficult time," the entertainer said in a statement through spokesman Alan Nierob.
Brian Elias of the Los Angeles Coroner's Office said the death is under investigation.
Her Web site, written last September, describes her as "the proud mother of eight beautiful children who are always her greatest treasures."
Marie Osmond and her brother Donny hosted the national television variety show "The Donny & Marie Show" from 1976 to 1981.
Afterward, she had acting and singing careers. She recently competed in a season of "Dancing With the Stars."
In 2001, she wrote "Behind the Smile," about her experience with postpartum depression.
|
b27dbc7cb2e040feab793d11ab907c21
|
Who was 18 years old when they died?
|
[
"Michael Blosil"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- A strong earthquake jolted the southern Philippines on Thursday, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
The 6.2 magnitude quake struck at 11:20 a.m. local time (10:20 p.m. ET).
There were no immediate reports of injuries and a tsunami warning was not issued, said Jane Punongbayan of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.
"That was enough to cause panic in some people," Punongbayan said. "Some people in the mall ran out of the mall, but according to initial reports it was not strong enough to cause damage."
The quake struck 55 kilometers (35 miles) southeast of General Santos in the island of Mindanao or 1,095 kilometers (680 miles) south-southeast of Manila and at a depth of 207 kilometers (129 miles), USGS said.
The Philippines is located on the "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanoes and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin that is prone to frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center did not issue a tsunami warning for the quake.
|
2c5bae8bb12b49de89e8e5f7e134e66d
|
Was a tsunami warning issued?
|
[
"not"
] |
NewsQA
|
LONDON, England (CNN) -- The global health community has been battling tuberculosis for more than a century, yet the disease still thrives.
TB, which is contagious and spreads through the air when an infected person coughs, spits or sneezes, strikes everywhere, but predominately affects the poor.
The countries most affected by TB are the so-called high-burden ones, or the 22 countries identified by the World Health Organization that combined contribute 80 percent of the global burden of TB.
Many health care systems in these nations don't have the resources, drugs and diagnostics to effectively deal with the disease, according to Dr. Mel Spigelman, director of research and development at the not-for-profit Global Alliance for TB Drug Development (TB Alliance).
"But even if we upgraded those systems, the lack of a really effective vaccine, the lack of better and faster drugs that shorten treatment to a reasonable time and the lack of good drugs for treating resistant disease -- make it hard for any health care system to effectively deal with the disease," he said.
TB is usually treated with a combination of antibiotics administered for six to 24 months. But many patients fail to finish the long course of treatment, which has led to the emergence of deadly strains of the disease that can't be wiped out by the usual drugs.
There hasn't been a new class of TB drugs developed in 40 years, Because it is mainly a disease of poverty, there hasn't really been a commercial market for new drugs, Spigelman noted.
However, growing awareness of the disease has led to greater emphasis being placed on finding new treatments. Scientists at Rutgers University recently developed a group of antibiotic compounds that could be strong enough to combat even drug-resistant strains of TB.
The project is exciting but is still in an early phase, according to Spigelman. He said it could be a good 10 years before a drug based on that research is available.
"We're going in the right direction, but unfortunately, the resources - given the magnitude of the problem - are still a small fraction of what is needed to have great chance of coming up with something that will turn the tide," he said.
|
31a714e75ab64c2685785b1aea1766d1
|
How long has it been since the last breakthrough in fighting this disease?
|
[
"40 years,"
] |
NewsQA
|
NEW YORK (CNN) -- An investigation commissioned by the city of New York found private gun vendors selling weapons to buyers who admitted not being able to pass background checks, breaking federal law, a report released Wednesday says.
It is illegal for unlicensed sellers to sell a gun if there is reason to think the buyer would fail a background check.
The sales were made at seven gun shows in Ohio, Tennessee and Nevada, the report says. Hired investigators with hidden cameras were able to purchase guns from private sellers after announcing to the vendors they could not pass a background check, it says.
Nineteen of the 30 private sellers the undercover investigators dealt with failed the integrity test, according to the report.
The law does not require private unlicensed sellers at gun shows to do background checks on their customers. However, it is a federal felony for unlicensed sellers to sell a gun if they have a reason to believe the buyer would fail a background check.
There were no arrests and no lawsuit were filed.
"Closing the gun show loophole has nothing to do with the Second Amendment," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a news conference Wednesday. "It is basic law enforcement, plain and simple."
He said he does not want to shut down gun shows but to change the law.
He cited a 2000 study from the then-Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms saying 30 percent of guns involved in federal illegal gun trafficking investigations are connected in some way to gun shows. The figure is disputed by gun proponents.
"We believe anyone who breaks the law should be arrested, prosecuted and punished," the National Rifle Association said in a statement supplied to CNN. "Instead of working with law enforcement to bring those who may have broken the law to justice, Mayor Bloomberg chose to use this information for a press conference. Bloomberg's priorities are clearly media first, justice later."
But Bloomberg has support from some in Washington, including Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-New Jersey.
"This investigation reveals how easy it is for criminals and even terrorists to purchase firearms at gun shows and is further proof that we must close the gun show loophole," Lautenberg said in a written statement.
|
af1570a0456a4d46892408a153db4fee
|
how many private sellers are?
|
[
"30"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- A former Alabama judge accused of checking male inmates out of jail and forcing them to engage in sexual activity was found not guilty Monday on charges of sexual abuse, attempted sodomy and assault, his lawyer said.
Attorney Robert Clark said former Judge Herman Thomas was found not guilty on several charges and the judge in the case granted a directed verdict of acquittal on all the other counts.
The Mobile County district attorney did not immediately return CNN calls for comment.
Thomas, 48, denied wrongdoing. Clark said on October 20 that the judge was trying to mentor the inmates and did not assault them.
The judge does not deny bringing the inmates into his office, Clark said last week. "He was mentoring them. He was trying to get them to do right, to be productive citizens."
Thomas cried after the verdicts were read, Clark said Monday.
"He hugged me and he hugged his wife. And he had a courtroom full of supporters. It all worked out in the end," the attorney said.
One of the alleged victims testified October 19 that he doesn't know why his semen was found on the carpet of a small room used as an office by Thomas, according to The Mobile Press-Register newspaper. But he did say Thomas spanked him with a belt on several occasions, the newspaper reported, and that the paddlings took place inside a jury room, in the small office and at a Mobile, Alabama, fraternity house.
Another man testified that after he was charged with kidnapping and robbery in 2002, Thomas visited him in jail and urged the man to let Thomas decide the case instead of a jury, according to the Press-Register. Thomas convicted him of lesser charges, he testified, and sentenced him to a 90-day boot camp. He said Thomas also beat him with a belt on his bare buttocks about a dozen times at the courthouse, the newspaper reported. Neither man was identified.
"All of them [the alleged victims] were given preferential treatment at some point," Nicki Patterson, chief assistant district attorney for Mobile County, said earlier this month. "And ultimately, when some of them refused to continue participating [in the activities], they were given what I would view as excessive sentences. But certainly while the inmates were involved with the activities we allege, the state would say, it was extremely lenient sentences."
Clark said his client's next hurdle is the Alabama State Bar.
"They suspended him back in March because he got indicted. And we're fighting to give him his law license back," he said.
CNN's Carolina Sanchez contributed to this report.
|
5f7920a9cb7c472186d1ef554fc3403f
|
What kind of citizens did the judge want them to become?
|
[
"productive"
] |
NewsQA
|
NEW DELHI (CNN) -- India's Tata Motors Monday announced it would begin delivery of the Nano, billed as the world's "cheapest car", in July.
Tata Motors expects to begin delivery of the Nano, billed as the world's cheapest car, in July.
The four-door Nano is currently being built in "limited numbers" at a company plant in the north Indian hill state of Uttrakhand.
Tata Motors, however, aims to make 350,000 Nanos a year from 2010 at another unit elsewhere in the country, a company statement said.
"It is to the credit of the team at Tata Motors that a car once thought impossible by the world is now a reality. I hope it will provide safe, affordable, four-wheel transportation to families who till now have not been able to own a car. We are delighted in presenting the Tata Nano to India and the world," company chief Ratan Tata told a news conference in Mumbai to announce the "commercial launch" of the $2,000 car. Watch more on the Nano »
Tata Motors said the Nano would initially be available through bookings or reservations filed on a request form priced around $6, or Rs 300. Tata will accept the bookings from April 9 to April 25.
Within 60 days of the closure of bookings, Tata Motors will process and announce the allotment of 100,000 cars in the first phase of deliveries, through a computerized random selection procedure, it added.
"Deliveries will commence from July 2009," said the company statement.
|
bbf20cf5621145a49d2a3e0b1bee1a9d
|
What kind of car is it?
|
[
"Nano,"
] |
NewsQA
|
NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- A Pakistani man using "colonel" as a title is one of about three dozen people wanted over November's terrorist attacks in Mumbai, but his connections with the Pakistani army have not been established, Indian prosecutors say.
Police patrol in New Delhi last year following warnings of possible attacks using hijacked aircraft, officials said.
"This is all a matter of investigation," special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam told CNN Thursday when asked if India thought he had links to the Pakistani army.
Neither is it clear whether the "colonel" belonged to the Pakistan-based militant outfit Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, which is blamed for the Mumbai siege, Nikam said.
But India, the public prosecutor added, had "ample evidence" of his involvement in the November attacks.
Authorities say Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, the only surviving suspect accused of taking part in the Mumbai siege, faces a multitude of charges, including murder and attempted murder.
Speaking outside Qila Court in Mumbai, Nikam said Kasab didn't attend the hearing for security reasons. The next hearing is set for March 9.
A 21-year-old Pakistani, Kasab was one of 10 men accused of participating in the coordinated sieges on buildings such as the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower and Oberoi-Trident hotels, Mumbai's historic Victoria Terminus train station and the Jewish cultural center, Chabad House.
Indian forces killed nine suspects. More than 160 people, including many foreigners, died during the three days of attacks that began November 26.
Authorities said Kasab was trained by Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, which was banned in Pakistan in 2002 after a terrorist attack on India's parliament. The group denied responsibility.
Nikam said on Wednesday that the 50-page document describing the charges against Kasab also contains the names of 35 other suspects being sought in the crimes, many of whom are thought to be members of Lashkar-e-Tayyiba.
The prosecutor said his office hopes to finish the trial for Kasab in three to six months. He has been in police custody since November 28.
Also charged Wednesday were two men accused of helping to plan the violence, Fahim Ansari and Sabahuddin Ahmed, according to the prosecutor.
|
413d6ce982ac4a03b4aad6c219c6c7a3
|
what Pakistani man using "colonel" as a title is wanted over?
|
[
"November's terrorist attacks in Mumbai,"
] |
NewsQA
|
(PEOPLE.com) -- Despite not appearing at Wednesday's 38th annual People's Choice Awards, Katy Perry was the big winner of the night.
Perry, whose 14-month marriage to Russell Brand ended last month, was honored in five categories, as favorite female artist, tour headliner and for song of the year for "ET" with Kanye West, music video for "Last Friday Night" and TV guest star for "How I Met Your Mother."
In a Twitter message earlier in the week, Perry said she wouldn't attend but told fans, "I want to thank u all for voting for me, fingers crossed!"
The biggest ovation at the event, which was broadcast on CBS, went to Betty White, who is celebrating her 90th birthday. On stage with her costars from the best cable comedy show winner "Hot in Cleveland," she modestly told the crowd, "I haven't done anything."
Among the other winners in the 43 categories, "Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2" took four awards -- favorite movie, action movie, book adaptation and ensemble movie cast, although no stars from the film attended.
Other honorees included Ellen DeGeneres, Lea Michele and Demi Lovato, as well as favorite movie actress and actor Emma Stone and Johnny Depp.
See the full article at PEOPLE.com.
© 2011 People and Time Inc. All rights reserved.
|
1b77a523b9b249259bd153b923852659
|
who is honored in five categories?
|
[
"Katy Perry"
] |
NewsQA
|
Unheralded American Doug Barron has become the first player to be banned by the PGA Tour for taking performance-enhancing drugs.
The 40-year-old has been given a one-year suspension.
He is the first professional to fail a drugs test since the PGA and European Tours began their anti-doping programs in July 2008.
"I would like to apologize for any negative perception of the Tour and its players resulting from my suspension," Barron said in a statement on the PGA Tour official Web site www.pgatour.com.
"I want my fellow Tour members and the fans to know that I did not intend to gain an unfair competitive advantage or enhance my performance while on Tour."
In common with their policy, the PGA Tour did not release details of the drug taken by Barron to fail the test.
Barron, who turned professional in 1992, was a PGA Tour regular for eight seasons, with his best finish a tie for third at the Byron Nelson Classic in 2006.
He has won over $3 million but campaigned in recent seasons on the second-tier Nationwide Tour, playing just one event on the main tour this year. He is also reported to have had health problems.
The last time Barron captured the headlines was in very different circumstances at the 2006 Transistions Championship in Florida, where he removed his shirt to play a shot out of the water on the 16th hole at Innisbrook.
The incident was captured on television and was greeted with amusement by his fellow players.
Neither the PGA Tour or the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) have yet to comment further on the suspension.
Golf bowed to pressure from WADA to introduce drug testing in the sport last year.
PGA Tour testing is administered by The National Center for Drug Free Sport every week of the season, with all samples analyzed by WADA-accredited laboratories.
|
213c1709f86645ae81853ace941f5a45
|
What did Barron do?
|
[
"performance-enhancing drugs."
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Bayern Munich have agreed a deal to sign Croatian international striker Ivica Olic from Bundesliga rivals Hamburg, the German champions have revealed on their official Web site fcbayern.de.
Olic will join Bayern Munich at the end of the season after proving a success in his time at Hamburg.
"We've struck an agreement to sign Olic at the end of the season. All we need now are the signatures under the contract," said Bayern general manager Uli Hoeness following the team's arrival at a winter training camp in Dubai.
Olic will complete his move on a free transfer on July 1 and will sign a three-year contract binding him to the club until 2012.
"I'll do everything I can to mark my departure from Hamburg with a trophy," the 29-year-old Olic vowed on Friday, as he and his team-mates prepared for a winter training camp almost exactly parallel to Bayern's in Dubai.
The two teams will meet on January 30 in Hamburg in a match marking the official start of the second half of the Bundesliga season.
Olic joined Hamburg from CSKA Moscow in January 2007 having won three league titles and the UEFA Cup in Russia. He has already scored 12 goals this season and has netted 11 times in 61 internationals for Croatia.
"We're certain Ivica will be a perfect compliment to our strikers Luca Toni and Miroslav Klose. One pleasing aspect is that he is out of contract at the end of the season," said Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge last month.
|
c6958258b1414f16939d75727e48eeae
|
How old is Ivica Olic?
|
[
"29-year-old"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Africa's most active volcano, Mount Nyamuragira in the Democratic Republic of Congo, erupted early Saturday, spewing lava off its southern flank, the Congolese Wildlife Authority reported.
Rangers in Virunga National Park reported hearing a loud explosion at 3:45 a.m. and then seeing lava flowing from the crater of the 10,033-foot volcano.
"I first thought (it) was the sound of war. I thought there was fighting again near our park station," said Innocent Mburanumwe, warden for the southern sector of Virunga National Park. "Then I saw the mountain was on fire with sparks flying. We could see that we were not in immediate danger here at Rumangabo, but there are many people who live to the south of the volcano, where the lava is heading as I speak."
Nyamuragira is 15 miles (25 kilometers) north of the city of Goma and its 600,000 residents, but Mburanumwe said in a blog posting that lava flows from the mountain were unlikely to threaten human populations.
Lava flows from another park volcano, Nyiragongo, destroyed parts of Goma in 2002.
The wildlife authority said the Nyamuragira eruption was likely to destroy habitat for 40 chimpanzees on the volcano's lower slopes.
Virunga National Park is also home to 200 endangered mountain gorillas, but they live on the slopes of the Mikena volcano to the east of Nyamuragira.
The Smithsonian Museum of Natural History calls Nyamuragira the continent's most active volcano, with 42 eruptions since 1885. Its most recent eruption ended in December 2006.
|
49cb736c237345408221423fa61621c5
|
Where is Virunga National Park?
|
[
"Democratic Republic of Congo,"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- A one-of-a-kind bicycle belonging to U.S. cycling legend Lance Armstrong was stolen from a team truck in California just hours after he rode it Saturday on the first day of a nine-day race.
Lance Armstrong is racing in the California Amgen Tour as he attempts a comeback after retiring in 2005.
Cancer survivor and seven-time Tour de France champion Armstrong is racing in the Amgen Tour of California this week as he continues his latest comeback after retiring from the sport in 2005.
Armstrong's first comeback came in 1998, two years after he was diagnosed with advanced testicular cancer that had spread to his lungs and brain. Doctors gave him a less than 50 percent chance of survival.
Armstrong announced the bike theft on his Twitter account Sunday morning and posted a photograph.
"There is only one like it in the world therefore hard to pawn it off. Reward being offered," the Texan wrote before going out and finishing fifth in Sunday's testing first stage won by Spain's Francisco Mancebo.
Swiss Olympic champion Fabian Cancellara, who started the day in the yellow jersey after winning Saturday's time-trial prologue, pulled out midway through the stage feeling unwell.
Armstrong improved from 10th to fifth overall, one minute five seconds adrift, with Astana teammate Levi Leipheimer, the two-time defending champion, in second place behind Mancebo.
"Holy hell. That was terrible," commented Armstrong who had a puncture. "Maybe one of the toughest days I've had on a bike, purely based on the conditions. I'm still freezing."
The bicycle that was stolen is not the one that Armstrong rides every day during the race. The stolen bike is used only for time trials, a race in which cyclists ride individually at staggered intervals over a set distance and try to get the best time.
The thieves took four bikes from a truck Armstrong's Astana team had parked behind a hotel in Sacramento. The other three bicycles belonged to team members Janez Brajkovic, Steve Morabito and Yaroslav Popovych, Astana said.
Armstrong, 37, won the Tour de France, considered the premiere bicycle race in the world, a record seven times from 1999-2005.
The 750-mile Amgen Tour of California ends Sunday. It is the second major race in which Armstrong has participated since announcing his comeback in September. He raced last month in the Tour Down Under in Australia, finishing 29th.
Armstrong said he is aiming for another Tour de France victory this summer and was not expected to contend in the Australian race, which he used to gauge his fitness level after more than three years out of the saddle.
|
8878f2d521fe42eaab8f0acb0c51070e
|
how many times did armstrong win?
|
[
"seven"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- A Texas couple charged with killing the little girl known as "Baby Grace" now face capital murder charges, after a Texas grand jury upgraded the charges on Wednesday.
Riley Ann Sawyers was moved from Ohio to Texas by her mother.
Prosecutors said they have not decided whether to seek the death penalty against the girl's mother, Kimberly Dawn Trenor, and Trenor's husband, Royce Clyde Zeigler II.
Two-year-old Riley Ann Sawyers was beaten to death and her body was disposed of in Galveston Bay.
Riley's body was found October 29 by a fisherman on an uninhabited island in the bay. It was wrapped in black plastic bags and stuffed in a blue, plastic bin.
Her identity was not known at first, and police dubbed her "Baby Grace." Police sketches of the child were widely distributed, and Sheryl Sawyers, the girl's paternal grandmother, contacted police from her Ohio home to say the drawing resembled her granddaughter. DNA testing confirmed the child's identity.
Trenor, 19, and Zeigler, 24, were initially charged with injury to a child and tampering with evidence.
But since the initial charges were filed last month the investigation has continued and police have gathered additional evidence, in addition to confirming Riley's identity, said a statement released Wednesday by Galveston County Criminal District Attorney Kurt Sistrunk.
Based on that, the grand jury was asked to upgrade the charges, he said. A three-hour hearing was held Wednesday in which grand jurors heard testimony from five witnesses, including police and FBI investigators and the medical examiner.
The grand jury deliberated for only three minutes Wednesday before upgrading the charges, Sistrunk said.
Trenor told police Riley had been beaten and thrown across a room and that her head was held under water before she died July 24.
She said the couple hid the girl's body in a storage shed for one to two months before putting it in the plastic container and dumping it into the bay.
A medical examiner said Riley's skull was fractured in three places that would have been fatal injuries.
Trenor and the girl moved to Texas from Ohio in May to be with Zeigler, who Trenor had met online.
Sistrunk said the investigation is continuing, and a decision on whether to seek the death penalty will not be made until its conclusion. E-mail to a friend
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994052e651c446e395a9a3692db70d15
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What age was Riley?
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"Two-year-old"
] |
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Washington (CNN) -- The United States will be looking for nations around the world to get tougher on Iran in the wake of the alleged plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States, a senior State Department official said Tuesday.
The official said that although Iran is under multiple sanctions, many countries are not enforcing the restrictions, and sometimes if they have problems with Iran, they don't speak out publicly.
The official said the United States is going to be looking for countries to enforce existing sanctions, implement new ones and cut ties with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, to basically match what the United States has already done.
To make the case, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other senior officials in the department are going to be placing calls to leaders and foreign ministers, U.N. Security Council members and others with influence on Iran, the official said.
The official said the United States is looking for what Clinton calls a "chorus of international condemnation" of Iran.
A senior administration official, asked if there will be sanctions on more individuals related to this particular plot, responded, "We've done what we think is the network here."
Asked what actions the United States would take next, the official said, "We are continuing to look for additional ways to apply financial sanctions on Iran. We are very much in the business of increasing pressure on Iran through sanctions so Iran understands they have a clear choice to be made between coming to the table seriously (and) meaningfully, and facing further isolation and sanction.
"We're continuing on that course."
Meanwhile, Deputy Secretary of State Bill Burns plans brief the diplomatic corps Wednesday at the State Department on the alleged Iran plot, a second senior department official said Tuesday.
The official described it as an "informational briefing" and said that Burns will explain the details of how it went down, how the Obama administration handled it and the need to hold Iran accountable.
A third senior State Department official told CNN that the briefing will also try to allay any concerns that were raised in diplomats by word of an assassination plot against an ambassador in Washington. The official said the State Department Bureau of Diplomatic Security is working with the Secret Service and "taking all appropriate measures" to protect foreign diplomats and diplomatic facilities.
Saudi Ambassador Adel Al-Jubeir has always had his own State Department Diplomatic Security detail, as have previous Saudi ambassadors.
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a54b19ff7d23410c954588be6306f0e7
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where is The diplomatic corps is to be briefed?
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[
"at the State Department"
] |
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Four people said to have acted on behalf of the Earth Liberation Front have been indicted on a charge of setting fire to an agriculture research building on the Michigan State University campus more than eight years ago, authorities announced Tuesday.
Three Detroit, Michigan, residents and a Cincinnati, Ohio, resident were named in conspiracy and arson counts for a fire at a campus facility that housed federally funded plant genetic research.
Officials said the December 31,1999, fire on the East Lansing campus caused more than $1 million in damage to facilities and the loss of research records.
They also are accused of setting fire the next day to commercial logging equipment near Mesick, Michigan, in order to sabotage lumbering activity.
"This investigation has been ongoing for almost a decade, and it should be a reminder to all that the FBI does not allow the passage of time to thwart our ability to apply our full resources to a case," said FBI Special Agent in Charge Andrew Arena.
Michigan State Police Chief James Dunlap called the case "a significant act of domestic terrorism."
"This was more than an attack on a building and the destruction of valuable property," MSU President Lou Anna Simon said. "It was an assault on the core value of free and open inquiry at a research university."
Officials said those named in the indictment are Marie Mason, 46, of Cincinnati; and Frank Ambrose, 33, Aren Burthwick, 27, and Stephanie Fultz, 27, all of Detroit. E-mail to a friend
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2f360358fb944455a766a16c9fecf2c6
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Who was named in conspiracy?
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"Three Detroit, Michigan, residents and a Cincinnati, Ohio, resident"
] |
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Department of Homeland Security will bypass environmental and land-management laws to build hundreds of miles of border fence between the United States and Mexico, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Tuesday.
A border fence stands at Juarez, Mexico. More than 360 miles of fence are supposed to be finished by year's end.
"Criminal activity at the border does not stop for endless debate or protracted litigation," Chertoff said.
"These waivers will enable important security projects to keep moving forward."
Chertoff cited a congressional requirement that 361 miles of fence be completed by the end of the year. He also pointed out that Congress had given him the authority to bypass laws.
But the executive director of the Sierra Club, an environmental group, said the move "threatens the livelihoods and ecology of the entire U.S.-Mexico border region."
"Secretary Chertoff chose to bypass stakeholders and push through this unpopular project on April Fools' Day. We don't think the destruction of the borderlands region is a laughing matter," said Carl Pope.
The Sierra Club says the waivers will affect a range of federally protected lands, including national parks, monuments, wildlife refuges, forests and wilderness areas.
The Sierra Club says the waivers themselves are unconstitutional and has asked the Supreme Court to rule on the question.
This is the fourth set of waivers issued by the department, and is the most sweeping.
Chertoff's orders Tuesday affect two areas. First, the department proposes to place fencing, towers, sensors, cameras, detection equipment and roads along a 470-mile stretch of the border in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.
Second, it plans to integrate a concrete wall into proposed levee reinforcements along a 22-mile section of the Rio Grande in Hidalgo County, Texas.
The department said it is committed to working in an environmentally sensitive manner and cooperating with resource agencies so it does as little damage as possible. E-mail to a friend
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6c880d5c191546d28615905b6428b540
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Who says that waivers will enable security projects to move forward?
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"Secretary Michael Chertoff"
] |
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(CNN) -- Federal authorities are investigating a New Jersey man suspected of being an al Qaeda member and going on a deadly rampage at a hospital in Yemen.
The FBI is investigating Sharif Mobley, a 26-year-old from Buena, New Jersey, said Rich Wolf, a spokesman at the agency's Baltimore, Maryland, office. He wouldn't comment further.
Mobley had worked at nuclear plants operated by PSEG Nuclear for different contractors from 2002 to 2008, doing routing labor such as carrying supplies and assisting with maintenance activities, company spokesman Joe Delmar said. Mobley, who also worked at other nuclear plants in the region, satisfied federal security background checks required to work in the U.S. nuclear industry as recently as 2008, he said.
Mobley is accused of shooting and killing a security agent and severely injuring another while trying to flee the Republican Hospital in Sanaa, Yemen, over the weekend, a law enforcement source said.
Yemeni counterterrorism forces rushed to the hospital and captured Mobley, who had barricaded himself in a hospital room, said Mohammed Albasha, a spokesman for the Yemeni embassy in Washington.
Yemeni authorities had detained Mobley and 10 other al Qaeda suspects earlier this month in a "successful security sweep" in the capital of Sanaa, Albasha said.
He had been transported to the hospital over the weekend for medical treatment, Albasha said, though he would not elaborate.
The law enforcement source said the FBI has interviewed Mobley's parents.
Another source, a U.S. law enforcement official familiar with the case, said authorities have been aware of Mobley for some time.
Both law enforcement sources were unaware of any criminal charges against Mobley in the United States.
Delmar of PSEG said the company is cooperating with authorities investigating Mobley.
CNN's Susan Candiotti, Carol Cratty and Jeanne Meserve contributed to this report.
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8510ea267342411ca7f21fafa92d1892
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who is mobley?
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"26-year-old from Buena, New Jersey,"
] |
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(CNN) -- Iran tested a missile-launching system and several types of short- and medium-range missiles Sunday, the state-run Press TV said.
A short-range missile is test-launched during war games in Qom, Iran, south of Tehran, on Sunday.
Earlier, the country's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had said it would stage missile exercises beginning Sunday to promote the armed forces' defense capabilities.
The tests, which are expected to last until Monday, are code-named "Payghambar-e Azam 4" or "The Great Prophet 4," Press TV said.
The missiles, fired at targets around the country Sunday, included the Fateh-110, a short-range ground-to-ground missile, and Tondar-69, a short-range naval missile, the station said. Several models of medium-range Shahab missiles were tested at night, Press TV reported. Watch Iranian missile tests »
The final stage of the tests will be held Monday morning, when Iran plans to test the long-range Shahab missile, the station said.
In May, Iran said it tested a surface-to-surface missile that is capable of reaching parts of Europe.
At the time, a White House official said actions in Iran were noteworthy.
"Of course, this is just a test, and obviously there is much work to be done before it can be built and deployed. But I see it as a significant step forward in terms of Iran's capacity to deliver weapons," said Gary Samore, special assistant to the president on nonproliferation.
The latest test follows Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's disclosure Friday that Iran was building a second uranium enrichment facility. Watch analyst's view on missile tests, nuclear tensions »
The United States and Israel believe that Iran is seeking nuclear weapons under the guise of a civilian nuclear energy program.
Iran has denied the allegation.
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9e08f072cae7492c8dc807a621ef6633
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Where can the missile reach?
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[
"capable of reaching parts of Europe."
] |
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London (CNN) -- English soccer player Billy Sharp scored what he called the most important goal of his career Tuesday -- a shot in memory of his son Luey, who died Saturday, two days after he was born.
Sharp pulled up his jersey after the goal went in to reveal a t-shirt underneath reading "That's for you son."
The goal was "Dedicated to my brave boy Luey Jacob Sharp I love u son sleep tight. That's for you son," Sharp said on Twitter after the match.
"My goal had to be something special tonight for my special boy.I'm so proud of him,and his mum," he said.
Referees normally give players a yellow card for showing a message on a t-shirt, but Darren Deadman declined to penalize Sharp.
Luey was born October 27. He died October 29, said Sharp's team, Doncaster Rovers.
Sharp was not expected to play Tuesday, but not only took the field but was named team captain for the night.
Fans of both Rovers and their opponents Middlesbrough cheered to honor Sharp and his family before the match.
"This is a minute's applause to celebrate the short life of Billy and Jade's son Luey Jacob Sharp," the announcer said.
"Born October 27. Taken by the angels on the 29th. Sleep tight son," he said.
Sharp said the tribute left him in tears.
"To captain the side tonight was an honor and a pleasure,the minute applause I was crying meant so much to me thanks to both sets of fans," he tweeted.
Hundreds of people tweeted their support to Sharp and his family.
"What you've done has put life into perspective, you've won the hearts of the nation, and united football," said one, Ben Wainwright.
Sharp and his wife were "grateful for the love and support we have received," she said on Twitter. "Daddy did Luey proud tonight. Sleep tight angel."
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abb05ebee9a0474fa67704919ab8146a
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When did Sharp's son die?
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[
"Saturday,"
] |
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London, England (CNN) -- Union officials were going to court Thursday in London to try to stop British Airways from imposing contractual changes on its 14,000-member cabin crew.
The Unite union said it wants the High Court to issue an injunction against the British carrier to stop "unfair and unworkable" changes to cabin crew contracts.
It was unclear when the court would rule in the case.
Among the changes BA wants to impose is a reduction in the number of crew members on flights, Unite said. BA plans to impose the changes starting November 16, according to Unite.
Thursday's court action is separate from union plans to ballot its members about whether to strike over the Christmas holiday period, a Unite spokeswoman said.
Unite still plans to hold the strike ballot, possibly as early as next week, regardless of how the High Court rules, she said.
The contractual changes are part of the strike ballot, but other issues include jobs and pay, she said.
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17436a678f77424fa731474e99ba0e33
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Who is union unite taking to court?
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[
"British"
] |
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(CNN) -- Taiwan's economy slumped 8.36 percent during the last three months of 2008, the government said Wednesday.
People line up to receive $108 U.S. dollars worth of shopping vouchers in Taipei, Taiwan, last month.
The island's economy spiraled into recession with its second straight quarter of economic losses. For the third quarter of 2008, Taiwan's real gross domestic product (GDP), adjusted for inflation, slipped about 1 percent, according to the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics.
Behind the dismal economic numbers is a global recession that is sapping demand for the products Taiwan makes.
"The types of exports that Taiwan ships to the West -- electronics -- are very severely affected, very sensitive to changes in Western consumer sentiment," said Frederic Neumann, a senior Asian economist for HSBC.
The GDP numbers are the broadest measure of Taiwan's economic activity. A recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of falling GDP.
Taiwan's central bank, in a move to boost the economy, on Wednesday dropped its key interest rate one-quarter point, to 1.25 percent.
Since the end of 2007, the central bank has lowered rates by more than 2 percent.
In January, the Taiwanese government offered the island's residents up to $108 each to go shopping, in another attempt to stimulate the economy.
More than 90 percent of those eligible took up the offer, pumping about TW $86 billion ($2.6 billion) into the economy and sending shoppers to malls, officials said.
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2787d031870f4e99b65f857274d5ac03
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what followed Slump of 8.36 percent?
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[
"receive $108 U.S. dollars worth of shopping vouchers"
] |
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LONDON, England (CNN) -- The head of Britain's intelligence services has warned that children as young as 15 are becoming involved in terrorist-related activity.
Jonathan Evans, the chief of MI5, also said that at least 2,000 people in Britain pose a threat to the country's security because of their support for al Qaeda-inspired terrorism.
"As I speak, terrorists are methodically and intentionally targeting young people and children in this country. They are radicalising, indoctrinating and grooming young, vulnerable people to carry out acts of terrorism," he told a gathering of newspaper editors in Manchester.
Evans said the figure of 2,000 -- an increase of 400 since November 2006 -- only included those the intelligence services knew about and that the actual number could be double.
He said there had been 200 terrorist convictions in Britain since the September 11 attacks.
The MI5 head added that over recent years much of the command and inspiration for attack planning in the UK had come from al Qaeda's remaining core leadership in the tribal areas of Pakistan.
However, he said in the last 12 months terrorist plots on British soil were increasingly inspired by al Qaeda cadres in other countries, including in Iraq and East Africa.
"There is no doubt now that al Qaeda in Iraq aspires to promote terrorist attacks outside Iraq. There is no doubt that there is training activity and terrorist planning in East Africa -- particularly in Somalia -- which is focused on the UK," he told the Society of Editors meeting.
According to Evans, there had been "no decrease" in the number of Russian covert intelligence officers operating in Britain since the end of the Cold War.
He said that resources that could be devoted to counter-terrorism were instead being used to protect Britain against spying by Russia, China and others.
"A number of countries continue to devote considerable time and energy trying to steal our sensitive technology on civilian and military projects and trying to obtain political and economic intelligence at our expense," he said. E-mail to a friend
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93dce2e5b4d04d9184fbc3aa01e8c9e2
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ml5 said what?
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[
"that at least 2,000 people in Britain pose a threat to the country's security because of their support for al Qaeda-inspired terrorism."
] |
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(CNN) -- An explosion caused by a chemical reaction at a University of Maryland-College Park chemistry lab caused minor injuries to two students and forced authorities to evacuate the four-story building, according to the Prince George's Fire Department.
Initial reports described an explosion and fire inside the building, but fire department spokesman Mark Brady said in a post to the department's Twitter account that there was no fire. The department's hazardous materials team was preparing to go into the building, he said.
Two students were being treated at the scene for first-degree chemical burns and superficial cuts, Brady said on the social networking service.
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c66b038734ec45368fa5d6579ff0181c
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what injured the students
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[
"explosion caused by a chemical reaction"
] |
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(CNN) -- An archeological team is set to break new ground in its excavation of an Egyptian temple where doomed lovers Cleopatra and Mark Antony may be buried.
An excavation of an Egyptian temple my reveal where doomed lovers Cleopatra and Mark Antony are buried.
A ground-penetrating, radar survey of the temple of Taposiris Magna and its surrounding area, west of Alexandria, was completed in March, following three years of digging, according to a statement from Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities.
Taposiris Magna is one of the ancient towns located on Lake Mariut, which is today called Abusir.
According to the council, the radar revealed three possible spots of interest where a tomb might be located. Recently, the team discovered a large, previously unknown cemetery outside the temple enclosure.
"The discovery of this cemetery indicates that an important person, likely of royal status, could be buried inside the temple. It was common for officials and other high-status individuals in Egypt to construct their tombs close to those of their rulers throughout the Pharaonic period," according to the council.
The expedition has so far turned up 27 tombs, 20 of them shaped like vaulted sarcophagi, and seven simple burial chambers that are reached by staircases. Inside these chambers, the team found 10 mummies, two of them gilded.
Other discoveries include an alabaster bust of Cleopatra, and 22 coins bearing her "beautiful" image, according to council Secretary-General Zahi Hawass. The discovery contradicts some recent reports that describe her as unattractive, he said.
"Among the most interesting finds is a unique mask depicting a man with a cleft chin. The face bears some similarity to known portraits of Mark Antony himself," Hawass said.
The love story of Antony and Cleopatra has been a favorite theme for writers and filmmakers. The 1963 Oscar-winning movie of the couple starred Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, who themselves became star-crossed lovers.
Cleopatra ruled Egypt between 51 B.C. until her suicide in 30 B.C., following Mark Antony's naval defeat against Caesar's adopted son Octavian at Actium in the Mediterranean. Mark Antony, once a general in Caesar's army, killed himself before Cleopatra took her own life, after being falsely informed that Cleopatra already had died.
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4199d5d02a5544c3b0f8db56beab91c4
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How many coins bearing Cleopatra's image have been found so far?
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[
"22"
] |
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(CNN) -- A magazine photo spread of Taliban fighters posing in the uniforms of 10 French soldiers killed last month has sparked an angry response.
One of the pictures in the French magazine Paris Match that has stirred controversy.
The latest edition of Paris Match includes photos of the Taliban fighters and their commander, "Farouki," wearing French uniforms, helmets and using French assault rifles and walkie-talkies.
Farouki, aged 30-35, claims in the accompanying story to have led his group in the August 18 ambush which killed 10 French troops and injured a further 21 in the Sarobi District, 40 miles east of Kabul. It was the French army's single highest death toll in 25 years.
He said the area was "our territory" and the attack was a "legitimate" part of its defense.
Farouki said it did not need a lot of planning, with the French soldiers only spotted a short time before the assault.
He said the soldiers had died for "[George W.] Bush's" cause and that if France did not return the rest of its troops home they would all be killed.
Farouki said they would continue fighting till the last man. See more on Paris Match's Web site
French Defense Minister Herve Morin accused the magazine of helping the Taliban.
"Should we be doing the Taliban's promotion for them?" he asked in the French daily newspaper Liberation.
Joel Le Pahun, father of one of the killed soldiers, told the newspaper the pictures were "despicable."
Green MP Daniel Cohn-Bendit called them "voyeurism."
However, Paris Match editor Laurent Valdiguie defended the publication, saying it was "legitimate" given the importance of the story.
The story's author, Eric de Lavarène, said only he and photographer Véronique de Viguerie met the group and he asked his questions via their "fixer."
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9fe32038370f4768ace5872693370ad4
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What provoked outrage?
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[
"photo spread of Taliban fighters posing in the uniforms of 10 French soldiers killed"
] |
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Jerusalem (CNN) -- A second 18-year-old was set Monday to make his first court appearance in connection with the torching of a mosque in the northern Israeli village of Tuba Zangaria, authorities said.
The suspect, who was not identified, is the second to be arrested in connection with last week's attack, Micky Rosenfeld, a police spokesman, told CNN.
The mosque was set on fire and scrawled with graffiti that indicated it was a revenge attack over the killing of Asher Palmer and his 1-year-old son, who were killed when rocks were thrown at their car in Hebron more than two weeks ago.
Words written on the mosque's walls said "price tag," "revenge" and "Palmer."
"Price tag" attack is a term frequently used by radical Israeli settlers to denote reprisal attacks against Palestinians in response to moves by the Israeli government to evacuate illegal West Bank outposts.
Lately "price tag" attacks have also targeted Israeli military forces and police stationed in the West Bank. It is rare for them to carry out attacks inside Israel.
After the overnight attack, around 200 residents from the village gathered on the outskirts and started marching towards the neighboring Israeli town of Rosh Pina, an Israeli police spokesman said.
Residents blocked the road, hurled rocks at police and burned tires, police said. The police responded by firing tear gas.
The second suspect in the mosque burning is also an 18-year-old who appeared before the Kfar Saba Magistrate Court on Thursday, Rosenfeld said. He said the suspect was arrested "on suspicion of being involved in arson on the mosque in Tuba."
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bf098528930e4cea91e9cd268ba3b577
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What was their age?
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[
"18-year-old"
] |
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TOKYO, Japan (CNN) -- Typhoon Melor roared into central Japan on Thursday, leaving two people dead and lashing the region with heavy rain and gusty winds.
Utility poles lie buckled in the wake of Typhoon Melor.
The storm stayed west of Tokyo, but still caused enough trouble to shut down trains for a time and snarl commuter traffic. Numerous flights were canceled and delayed at the city's two major airports.
In western and northern Japan, Melor tore roofs off homes, downed power lines and flooded roads.
The storm contributed to the deaths of a 54-year-old newspaper delivery man in Wakayama, who ran into a fallen tree, and a 69-year-old man from Saitama, who was crushed by a tree.
By late Thursday, Melor had weakened to a tropical storm and was heading out to sea.
-- CNN's Kyung Lah contributed to this report.
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81549a33d9474596820820476086d801
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What happened to the storm's victims?
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[
"crushed by a tree."
] |
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(CNN) -- Officials with the Iowa Lottery are seeking the winner of a $10.75 million Hot Lotto jackpot who has until 4 p.m. Thursday to claim it.
"Someone legitimately won this money and we want them to take it home," lottery CEO Terry Rich said in a news release. "But you must present the winning ticket to the lottery in order to claim the prize."
The ticket, which was bought December 29, 2010, at a QuikTrip in Des Moines, must be redeemed by 4 p.m. Thursday. The ticket matched all six numbers: 3-12-16-26-33 and Hot Ball 11.
Few financial advisers would consider the $1 spent on the ticket to have been a wise investment. The buyer overcame 1 in 10.9 million odds to win, said Mary Neubauer, a spokeswoman for the state lottery. If the ticket is redeemed, the winner would owe 25% in federal taxes and 5% in state taxes, she said.
But the possibility of taxes and the absence of a ticket haven't deterred the hopeful from lining up -- just in case. "We've been getting calls from the public all day long today," Neubauer said Wednesday night. "The closer that the deadline gets, the more people seem to be calling."
Huge-money ticket in Georgia goes unclaimed
Some of the calls are from people who say they may have lost the ticket, or put it through a washing machine, she said. They are walked through a series of questions to determine whether they may indeed be the winner. So far, no luck.
Other calls, she said, are from people who believe in the power of their own creativity. Once told they could not have been the winner, they call back again -- and again, each time with a different story, she said.
"That's why we keep emphasizing that it comes down to -- you have to have the winning ticket," she said.
If the prize goes unclaimed, the money would return to the 15 lotteries that offer the game -- in proportion to the percentage of sales that came from each state. "Iowa would get back about $1.3 million if this prize were to go unclaimed," Rich said.
States differ on how they would use the money. In Iowa, the money would go into the prize pools for future games.
Though a $77 million jackpot went unclaimed this week in Georgia, such cases are exceedingly rare, said Neubauer.
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ead468e04a3d4812ae65fd2fc6b145d6
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What is the jackpot that is set to expire?
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[
"$10.75 million"
] |
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(CNN) -- Two of the biggest stars in the NBA will be team-mates next season after a blockbuster trade which sees Shaquille O'Neal move from the Phoenix Suns to the Cleveland Cavaliers -- the home of league MVP LeBron James.
Shaquille O'Neal is hoping his arrival will put a smile on the faces of Cleveland fans.
The 37-year-old O'Neal is one of the all-time greats of basketball, winning four NBA championships, three straight with the Los Angeles Lakers and the other with Miami Heat.
James is widely recognized as the sport's current superstar, but the 24-year-old has been left frustrated by Cleveland's failure to win the title.
He stormed off the court after their loss to the Orlando Magic in the Eastern Conference finals, not even shaking hands with 2008 Olympic teammate Dwight Howard.
The trade, which sees Phoenix get center Ben Wallace and guard Sasha Pavlovic, has been talked about since February but finalized on Thursday night.
"I was elated about the trade because I get to play with one of the greatest players to ever play the game in LeBron James," O'Neal was quoted on the NBA's official Web site www.nba.com.
O'Neal averaged 17.8 points and 8.4 rebounds in 75 games for the Suns last season and believes he still has much to offer the NBA.
"My numbers are not good enough to retire. Three more years left," O'Neal wrote on his Twitter blog.
His career averages are 24.7 points, 11.3 rebounds and 2.4 blocked shots, with his peak seasons coming as he led the Lakers to three straight titles from 2000-02.
The Lakers traded him to Miami where he spent three seasons, helping them to the NBA Championship three years ago.
He has played in Phoenix for the past two years, restricted by injuries in his first season.
The Cavs, powered by James, won 66 regular season games and their first eight in the playoffs before coming unstuck against the Magic.
They will be hoping that O'Neal will be the final piece in the jigsaw to land the first American sports championship for Cleveland in 45 years.
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7557b92c8d254b0a8315d8dd01446b0f
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7 foot one inch O'Neal has been named to which team ?
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[
"Cleveland Cavaliers"
] |
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LONDON, England (CNN) -- British bank Lloyds TSB has agreed to forfeit $350 million dollars to U.S. and New York authorities for criminally hiding information about prohibited dealings with Iranian and Sudanese customers.
Prosecutors said that the bank's misconduct took place between 1995 and 2007.
Under a settlement reached in a federal court in Washington late Friday, Lloyds acknowledged criminal conduct and forfeited $175 million to U.S. authorities and an equal amount to New York authorities.
Court documents say for more than a decade Lloyds had been falsifying data which moved through U.S. institutions by "stripping out" of wire transfers any references to business deals involving customers in the two countries.
Lloyds officials acknowledged they feared if the U.S. had been aware of the deals they would likely have been blocked because of restrictions on commercial deals with Iran and Sudan.
"For more than 12 years Lloyd's facilitated the anonymous movement of hundreds of millions of dollars from U.S.-sanctioned nations through our financial system," said Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Friedrich.
"Lloyds stripped identifying information from international wire transfers that would have raised a red flag at U.S. financial institutions and caused such payments to be scrutinized," he said.
Although the money must be forfeited, under terms of the deal Lloyds will not presently be prosecuted because it accepted responsibility and has vowed to abide by the U.S. laws. After two years the U.S. will forego prosecution and formally drop the criminal charge.
In a statement, the bank said: "We committed substantial resources to a thorough internal investigation, the results of which were shared with U.S. investigators and regulators.
"We are committed to running our business with the highest levels of integrity and regulatory compliance across all of our operations and have undertaken a range of significant steps to further enhance our compliance programs."
In October, the British government agreed a deal with Lloyds TSB, HBOS and Royal Bank of Scotland to make a multi-billion investment in the three to help them through what Prime Minister Gordon Brown described as the "first financial crisis of the global age."
|
d9be4c8697df4a2b9ac863c2d74befd1
|
What is the Bank accused of?
|
[
"criminally hiding information about prohibited dealings with Iranian and Sudanese customers."
] |
NewsQA
|
AMSTERDAM, Holland -- Ajax lost ground on Dutch league leaders PSV Eindhoven after being held to a 2-2 draw at Vitesse Arnhem on Sunday.
Ajax's Leonardo, front in blue, duels for the ball with Sebastien Sansoni and Abubakari Yakubu of Vitesse.
The Amsterdam side led 2-1 with two goals in four minutes just after half-time from Urby Emanuelson and Luis Suarez following Mads Junker's early opener, but Harrie Gommans rescued a draw.
Ajax are now five points adrift of PSV, who beat Excelsior 2-1 on Saturday, with Heerenveen, Feyenoord and Groningen just one point further back.
Feyenoord were held 1-1 at home by Groningen on Sunday, with Marcus Berg putting the visitors on course for a 13th win of the season until an own goal by Mark-Jan Fledderus on the stroke of half-time gave the Rotterdam side a point.
At the other end of the table, Heracles registered their first away win of the season with a 5-0 thumping of fellow strugglers Venlo.
Relegation-threatened Sparta Rotterdam and NEC Nijmegen both picked up vital victories.
Sparta won 2-1 at sixth-placed Twente Enschede as goals from Yuri Rose and Charles Dissels on 28 and 51 minutes kept the visitors above of second-bottom Nijmegen on goal difference.
NEC won 2-0 at home to ninth-placed Utrecht, the club's first victory since early November, as Jhonny van Beukering and Brett Holman netted in the second half. E-mail to a friend
|
28dc0bdd0928402083838a28ba92a6d3
|
What was the outcome of the match in Dutch Eredivisie?
|
[
"2-2"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Opposition leader and supermarket mogul Ricardo Martinelli has won Panama's presidential election, the head of the country's electoral tribunal said Sunday.
Ricardo Martinelli delivers a victory speech after Panama's presidential election Sunday.
Martinelli, of the conservative Democratic Change party, edged out former Housing Minister Balbina Herrera of Panama's governing Democratic Revolutionary Party, said Erasmo Pinilla of the electoral tribunal.
A final vote count wasn't immediately available Sunday evening.
"This is a victory for all the people of Panama," Martinelli said. "And I make a call to all our opposition -- to all the parties that opposed us -- that you all are all Panamanians. ... Tomorrow we have to start a new day."
Martinelli also ran for president in 2004, when he came in fourth with about 5 percent of the vote. President Martin Torrijos won that election with about 47 percent of the vote.
|
3a65ddc046fe4827bc99fa96f1b205ea
|
What place did Martinelli place during 2004?
|
[
"fourth"
] |
NewsQA
|
Richmond, California (CNN) -- Four teenagers were arraigned Thursday on charges connected to the alleged gang rape of a 15-year-old girl on a high school campus after a homecoming dance.
Cody Ray Smith, described by the court as over 14 years old, pleaded not guilty to charges of rape with a foreign object and rape by force.
Two other juveniles, Ari Abdallah Morales and Marcelles James Peter, appeared with Smith at the Contra Costa County Superior Court, but did not enter a plea. The court described Morales as under 16, and did not give an age for Peter.
All three juveniles, who wore bulletproof vests at the hearing, were charged as adults.
A fourth individual, Manuel Ortega, 19, appeared separately without an attorney and did not enter a plea. He did not wear a protective vest.
The four are accused of taking part in what police said was a 2½-hour assault on the Richmond High School campus, in the Richmond community north of Oakland on San Francisco Bay.
All of those arraigned are due back in court on November 5. Another adult was arrested in connection with the October 24 attack, but has a different court date than the others.
Police said as many as 10 people were involved in the assault in a dimly lit back alley at the school, while another 10 people watched without calling 911.
The victim was taken to the hospital in critical condition but was released Wednesday.
|
e32d9f865a484297a9a1c6e19f15040a
|
What did Ortega not have with him?
|
[
"a protective vest."
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Australia's prime minister Friday slammed those engaged in human trafficking after an explosion aboard a boat carrying Afghan refugees killed three people and injured more than 40 others near Ashmore Reef, off Australia's northwest coast.
"People smugglers are engaged in the world's most evil trade and they should all rot in jail because they represent the absolute scum of the earth," Prime Minister Kevin Rudd told reporters.
"We see this lowest form of human life at work in what we saw on the high seas yesterday. That's why this government maintains its hardline, tough, targeted approach to maintaining border protection for Australia. And that's why we have dedicated more resources to combat people smuggling than any other government in Australian history."
The boat was carrying 49 refugees, officials said. In addition to the three killed, two others were missing.
Rudd would not comment on the cause of the explosion, citing the ongoing investigation.
The prime minister acknowledged that human smuggling was an increasing problem exacerbated by "global factors" but defended his government's border security policies.
"Our staff, our naval staff, our coast watch staff, our aerial surveillance staff and others, our police, are doing a first class job backed up by our intelligence officers as well, also in collaboration with partners across the region," the prime minister said.
"Because it is a global phenomenon and we are finding push factors operating from around the world, our active partnership with international governments and international agencies like the UNHCR is equally critical. This is a fight on many fronts. It is a fight which we have been engaged in for some time and a fight which other governments around the world are equally engaged in with us."
Rudd said the refugees' requests for asylum "will be treated under the normal provisions of the law through the examination of each of their individual cases."
|
8d54dd2f5d0c4e079e88fe06ad965672
|
What was the reason?
|
[
"\"global factors\""
] |
NewsQA
|
(The Frisky) -- Valentine's Day can be one of the most depressing days of the year for singles, especially if you just went through a breakup. It can be torture to watch couples exchange stuffed bears, chocolates and kisses.
So keep your heart on the mend by avoiding these seven spots couples flock to on Valentine's Day.
1. Movie theaters: Please don't make yourself sit through the latest rom-com. If you must see a flick, go to something unsentimental, like an action film that involves fighting and guns. Though even those often have romantic secondary storylines.
2. Fancy restaurants: A nice dinner is a very typical V-Day date, especially since restaurants capitalize on the day with specials involving free bubbly and a red rose on the table.
3. Landmarks: For some reason, history seems to be tied to romance, and some duos make trips to sites like the Statue of Liberty and the Grand Canyon, as if to say, "We'll be together for as long as this thing's been around."
4. Beaches: If you want to soak up some sunshine during the day, go right ahead. But you better have somewhere else to be by sunset, when pairs will start showing up at the shore.
5. Cafés, dessert bars, and chocolate shops: Valentine's Day is often associated with sweet things, so stock up on chocolate the week before -- you don't want to stop anywhere that specializes in chocolate fondue.
The Frisky: He gives me a stuffed animal for every special occasion
6. Lingerie stores: Do you really want to buy new bras when the store is decked out in hearts and lace? Wait a week.
The Frisky: My 6 break-up lessons are helping
7. Coupled friends' homes: Unless you're house-sitting while your pals are on a romantic getaway, you're not welcome. You will have no right to yell, "Get a room!" when they start necking because, well, you're in their room.
TM & © 2009 TMV, Inc. | All Rights Reserved
|
4575f5bcf44b4ccf84749a264f8b63da
|
What shouldn't singles see?
|
[
"couples exchange stuffed bears, chocolates and kisses."
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- The wife of a Colorado father at the center of the "balloon boy" saga told authorities that the giant helium balloon was specifically created for a hoax to draw media attention, according to court documents released Friday.
The Heene family -- including Falcon, second from right -- on CNN's "Larry King Live" last week.
Mayumi Heene told Larimer County investigators that she and her husband, Richard Heene, knew that their 6-year-old son Falcon was hiding at their Fort Collins home the entire time, even as police and military scrambled to search for the boy, according to the documents.
The admission by Mayumi Heene was made October 17, just two days after the balloon was released, according to the documents.
The Heenes initially told authorities that they believed their child had flown away on the balloon, and when the balloon landed without him, they expressed concern that he may have fallen out of the device.
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," according to the documents.
Their motive? To "make the Heene family more marketable for future media interests."
Calls to David Lane, Richard Heene's attorney, and Lee Christian, Mayumi Heene's attorney, were not immediately returned Friday.
Richard and Mayumi Heene are each facing a number of local charges, including conspiracy, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and attempting to influence a public servant, Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden said Sunday.
Lane told CNN earlier that the sheriff was overreaching and that the family deserve the presumption of innocence.
The Federal Aviation Administration is also investigating the incident.
Richard and Mayumi Heene met in a Hollywood acting school and pursued fame for their family in the world of reality TV, Alderden has said.
The Heenes have appeared on the ABC program "Wife Swap." Richard Heene also chases storms, brings his family along and takes videos. TLC, which produces the show "Jon & Kate Plus 8," said the Heenes had "approached us months ago" about a possible show, "and we passed."
|
084ef6130c0e4e05a93487f7a4894dd9
|
What did Mayumi Heene said about the child ?
|
[
"knew that their 6-year-old son Falcon was hiding at their Fort Collins home the entire time,"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Changing winter conditions are causing Scotland's wild Soay sheep to get smaller, according to a study that suggests climate change can trump natural selection.
Can't see me now: Climate change could be shrinking Soay sheep in Scotland.
The authors of the study published in "Science" believe that it highlights how wide-ranging the effects of global climate change can be, adding further complexity to the changes we might expect to see in animal populations in future.
"It's only in the last few years that we've realized that evolution can influence species' physical traits as quickly as ecological changes can. This study addresses one of the major goals of population biology, namely to untangle the ways in which evolutionary and environmental changes influence a species' traits," said Andrew Sugden, deputy and international managing editor at Science.
The researchers analyzed body-weight measurements and life-history data for the female members of a population of Soay sheep. The sheep live on the island of Hirta in the St. Kilda archipelago of Scotland and have been studied closely since 1985.
They selected body size because it is a heritable trait, and because the sheep have, on average, been decreasing in size for the last 25 years.
According to the findings lambs are not growing as quickly as they once did as winters have become shorter so do not need to put on as much as weight in the first months of life to survive.
The results suggest that the decrease is primarily an ecological response to environmental variation over the last 25 years. Evolutionary change, the report says, has contributed relatively little.
"Sheep are getting smaller. Well, at least the wild Soay sheep living on a remote Scottish island are. But according to classic evolutionary theory, they should have been getting bigger, because larger sheep tend to be more likely to survive and reproduce than smaller ones, and offspring tend to resemble their parents," said study author Tim Coulson of Imperial College London.
"Our findings have solved a paradox that has tormented biologists for years -- why predictions did not match observation. Biologists have realized that ecological and evolutionary processes are intricately intertwined, and they now have a way of dissecting out the contribution of each. Unfortunately it is too early to tell whether a warming world will lead to pocket-sized sheep," said Coulson.
|
ad4919fb65d844559c1b80dd5295c1ad
|
what is making sheep smaller?
|
[
"Changing"
] |
NewsQA
|
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (CNN) -- A British couple convicted for having sex on a public beach in Dubai will not face jail after a judge suspended their prison sentences, their lawyer said Tuesday.
File image of one of the co-accused -- Vince Acors -- arriving at court in Dubai in September.
The couple, Michelle Palmer and Vincent Acors, had faced a three-month sentence, but they were freed on bail in October pending an appeal.
Hassan Mattar, one of their lawyers, said he was trying to get permission for Palmer -- who worked in Dubai -- to stay in the United Arab Emirates, and for Acors to travel back to Britain. Acors had been on a business trip to Dubai when he was arrested.
The United Arab Emirates, where Dubai is located, is home to thousands of expatriates and is among the most moderate Gulf states. Still, the oil-rich kingdom adheres to certain Islamic rules.
Palmer and Acors were arrested on a public beach shortly after midnight on July 5. Police charged them with illicit relations, public indecency, and public intoxication. A court found them guilty in October and fined them 1,000 dirhams ($367) for the charge of public indecency.
Both denied they had intercourse. And during the trial, Mattar argued that the public prosecutor failed to produce corroborative evidence against his clients on the first two charges, though he said both tested positive for liquor.
More than a million British visitors traveled to the UAE in 2006, and more than 100,000 British nationals live there, according to the British Foreign Office.
The country is in the midst of a building boom to position itself as one of the world's premier tourist destinations.
It is already home to the world's largest mall, the world's largest tower, and -- despite being in the Middle East -- the largest indoor snow park in the world.
-- CNN's Caroline Faraj contributed to this report.
|
d539b3d89f264f778b75321cbe2138d2
|
who faces a three-month sentence?
|
[
"Michelle Palmer and Vincent Acors,"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- A former prison secretary has been sentenced to six months in federal prison for having sex with an inmate she was supposed to be supervising, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office in the District of Colorado said Friday.
Janine Sligar, 47, of Wray, Colorado, was sentenced Thursday for sexual abuse of a ward. After serving her sentence, she will serve five years of supervised release and must register as a sex offender, spokesman Jeff Dorschner said in a news release.
Sligar, who must surrender to a facility designated by the Bureau of Prisons on March 2, did not respond to a telephone call to her home for comment.
She was indicted in July by a federal grand jury in Denver and pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in October.
According to the plea agreement, Sligar, a 14-year Bureau of Prisons veteran, said she and inmate Eric McClain met in February 2007, when he was assigned to clean her office.
"They began to have conversations and realized they had similar interests," the plea agreement said.
That summer, they initiated a sexual relationship that included 10 to 20 sessions of oral sex and sexual intercourse, ending in October 2007, it said.
The liaisons primarily occurred in a staff restroom in the housing unit at the Federal Prison Camp in Florence, Colorado, according to the agreement.
Sligar, who acknowledged having detailed her activities in a journal, said she obtained a cell phone with a non-local phone number so McClain could call her without raising suspicion and admitted she gave him contraband that included photographs with explicit sexual poses, the plea agreement added.
"Defendant also admitted using her cell phone camera to take graphic pictures of a sexual nature which depict defendant and this inmate," it said.
Authorities began investigating the incident after receiving a tip about the inappropriate relationship. They then learned that Sligar had changed the primary beneficiary on an insurance policy from her children to McClain. A subsequent search of her home turned up the journal and photographs.
|
18819b02f8ce4c34ab8393ad7b638516
|
What is Janine Sligar's former occupation?
|
[
"prison secretary"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- At least 30 people died and 70 were wounded in shelling on a marketplace in the Somali capital of Mogadishu Thursday, according to journalists and emergency services.
Members of Islamist militia Al-Shaabab patrol Bakara Market in Mogadishu, Somalia, earlier this month.
A local journalist called the rocket fire on Bakara market "unprecedented."
"This was the most brutal shelling," according to an ambulance service representative who said they had picked up 61 wounded, but expect the number to climb. Other victims were being brought to hospitals by family and friends.
The source of the shelling could not immediately be determined.
Journalists saw shell fire coming from AMISOM -- the African Union Mission in Somalia -- strongholds in a fortified district of the capital and from near the airport. AMISOM is the only force in the area believed to have the firepower capable of such an intense attack. However, AMISOM denied any involvement in the incident.
The African Union has a 3,400-member peacekeeping force in Somalia, made up of troops from Burundi and Uganda. It operates under a U.N. mandate to support Somalia's transitional federal government.
The peacekeeping force is charged with protecting key government and strategic installations in Mogadishu, including the port, airport and presidential palace. It is the de facto military force of the weak, transitional Somali government.
African Union forces have been battling an al Qaeda-linked Islamist militia in Somalia called Al-Shaabab.
The United States is supporting the Somali government's fight against the insurgents, including providing weapons to government forces. Al-Shaabab is on the U.S. list of terror organizations because of its ties to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network.
The United States is concerned that Somalia's weak government could fall to the Islamist insurgency, as it did in 2006 before Ethiopian forces ousted the militants from power in early 2007. Ethiopia invaded Somalia with the support of Somalia's weak transitional government.
Journalist Mohamed Amiin Adow contributed to this report.
|
61a344839e224ba98b4b32f23022fa6c
|
Who reported firing from the African Union Mission?
|
[
"Journalists"
] |
NewsQA
|
LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Jon Hamm has a confession to make: He hates his hair.
Jon Hamm poses with his partner, Jennifer Westfeldt, at the premiere of "The Day the Earth Stood Still."
That may come as a surprise to fans of the actor, whose slick-backed hair is part of his signature look on "Mad Men" -- the show that just earned him another Golden Globe nomination for best actor in a TV drama.
In the new movie "The Day the Earth Stood Still," Hamm sports a slightly different 'do, with his bangs combed rakishly over one eye. It was in the context of promoting the sci-fi remake that Hamm revealed his tonsorial frustration.
"It's the bane of my existence. Goofy hair," he said in a self-deprecating interview with CNN. "It never looks good ... It's a pain."
Hamm says he's always worn his hair long, but had to cut it for AMC's TV series, in which he plays a 1960s Madison Avenue ad executive. He says stylists on the show, armed with hair spray and blow dryers, mold his coiffure into a hard shell. Helmet hair has come in handy at work.
"I've had a piece of the set fall on my head and my hair didn't move," he said. "I had seven stitches in my head and my hair didn't move. That's impressive."
Whether it's his hair, good looks, acting chops or a combination thereof, Hamm's star is on the rise in Hollywood. Apart from his co-starring role in "The Day the Earth Stood Still," Hamm recently completed work on the murder mystery "The Boy in the Box." He hosted "Saturday Night Live" this fall, he's due to play Tina Fey's love interest on "30 Rock" and he continues to receive accolades for his work on "Mad Men" (nominations for an Emmy and a Golden Globe so far).
How does that make Hamm feel?
"Exciting is the right way to say it. It's been a good year. It's very exciting," he said. "I get to read a lot more scripts. I get to meet interesting people. I get to work with interesting people ... It's fun to be sort of invited to the party."
|
8443a39c86274ae4a12d2002bb4bb71a
|
What does he think about his hair?
|
[
"hates"
] |
NewsQA
|
Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- An attack in which the Taliban claimed to have infiltrated key government sites in downtown Kabul killed at least five people Monday morning, hospital and government officials said.
Among the five were two policemen and one national security staff member, Interior Minister Mohammad Hanif Atmar said at a news conference. Seventy-one others were injured, 36 of whom were police or security officers, he said.
His report of the death toll conflicts with those of Defense Ministry spokesman Zahir Azimi, who said 13 died, and the Taliban, which claimed even more were slain.
Seven attackers' bodies were recovered, with two or three of them burned beyond recognition, Azimi said. The Taliban said only five were killed.
Four explosions and gunfire shook downtown Kabul about 9:15 a.m. Monday, with the Taliban saying it was conducting a militant operation.
The attack started as 14 members of Afghan President Hamid Karzai's Cabinet were to be sworn in, said Parliament member Fawzia Koofi.
About 20 Taliban insurgents entered the presidential palace; the ministries of Finance, Mines and Justice; and the Serena Hotel, said spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid.
NATO-led forces said "several small explosions" and gunfire were reported near the Feroshgah e Afghan Shopping Center and the Serena Hotel, and later added that "numerous" suicide bombers had attacked government buildings close to the presidential palace and the Ministry of Justice.
Atmar said that the coordinated attacks struck the city over a span of two hours and 45 minutes and that they targeted civilians.
And the threat continued at 1 p.m., when three attackers took over Bayman Hotel, Atmar said. More than two hours later, Afghan security forces killed the men, he said.
At least two insurgents were killed at the shopping center, NATO-led forces said in a news release, which also said that Afghan national police had secured all roads in the area.
A separate news release condemned the attack, which NATO-led forces said took place amid many civilians. Atmar, the Minister of Defense and chief of the National Security Department also condemned the violence.
The Taliban claimed that they killed 31 officials and injured 31 people. Their account could not be immediately independently verified.
The terrorist group also disputed the government on the number of its militants killed. Five militants had died and 13 had returned to their safe houses, the Taliban's Mujahid said, adding that two were still fighting.
But Zmaray Bashari, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, said security forces had restored Kabul to normalcy by Monday afternoon.
Monday's assault followed weekend violence that killed at least three international troops and 14 militants in Afghanistan, authorities said.
CNN's Dan Rivers and Atia Abawi contributed to this report.
|
5de521d50f67482eaf29a4121cb934a4
|
where does the taliban enter?
|
[
"Kabul"
] |
NewsQA
|
LAS VEGAS, Nevada (CNN) -- A jury of nine women and three men -- none of them black -- was seated Thursday for the trial of O.J. Simpson on kidnapping and armed robbery charges.
Judge Jackie Glass decided prosecutors had a "race-neutral" reason for dismissing the potential juror.
The judge made no official mention of the jury's makeup, but prosecutors revealed in court that no blacks were on the jury. A black man and black woman, however, are among six alternate jurors.
Defense attorneys had argued the prosecutors were deliberately trying to exclude blacks, but Judge Jackie Glass denied their challenges.
Opening arguments are scheduled to begin Monday in the case against Simpson and a co-defendant, Clarence Stewart.
Prosecutors say Simpson and five other men stormed into a Las Vegas hotel room on September 13, 2007 to recover sports memorabilia that Simpson said belonged to him. Prosecutors say at least two men with Simpson had guns as they robbed a pair of sports memorabilia dealers.
If convicted on all counts, Simpson faces a possible sentence of life in prison. He has pleaded not guilty and has told CNN he was trying to get his property back.
Four of five Simpson's original co-defendants have struck deals with the prosecution to testify against Simpson. One testified in a pre-trial hearing that "O.J. Simpson wanted me to have a weapon." Another testified that Simpson "wanted me to help him acquire some guns."
An attorney for Simpson, Yale Galanter, has disputed that.
"O.J. Simpson did not know that there were guns in that room," Galanter said.
|
05f8656855dc48f5ba3783bc089f456f
|
When are opening arguments scheduled to begin?
|
[
"Monday"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Evangelist Tony Alamo is likely to spend the rest of his life in prison after an Arkansas judge sentenced him to 175 years Friday on charges that included taking minors across state lines for sex, according to prosecutors.
A jury convicted Alamo in July on 10 federal counts covering offenses that spanned 11 years and dated back to 1994, according to documents from the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas.
Alamo, the 75-year-old founder and leader of Tony Alamo Christian Ministries, will serve the sentences on each count consecutively, for a total of 175 years in prison, prosecutors said.
In addition to his sentence, Alamo was fined $250,000, court documents showed.
His lawyer filed an appeal Friday.
Christopher Plumlee, assistant U.S. attorney for the Western District of Arkansas, welcomed the sentence.
"Given the number of victims and the difficult type of testimony they had to provide in order to get to trial, it's gratifying for them to see him get this sentence," he said. "Not only did they entrust their lives to him, he did it in the name of God. And he betrayed their trust."
Authorities in September 2008 arrested Alamo, whose real name is Bernie Hoffman, and raided his 15-acre compound near Texarkana, Arkansas.
An indictment released in November 2008 accused Alamo of transporting five girls across state lines for sex. The criminal complaint included accounts from three girls, two of whom were 17 when the complaint was released last year, and one who was 14.
All three said Alamo sexually abused them.
In a phone interview last year with CNN, Alamo called the accusations a hoax.
"They're just trying to make our church look evil ... by saying I'm a pornographer. Saying that I rape little children. ... I love children. I don't abuse them. Never have. Never will."
|
35f5b611a0e142caa597f4735bd63b55
|
What year did charges start?
|
[
"1994,"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Investigators have heard a signal from the flight data recorders of the Yemenia Airways plane that crashed last week, they announced Sunday.
Search parties continue their operation to locate the Yemenia Airbus A310 off the Comoros Islands Saturday.
"A signal was picked up from two acoustic transmitters from the plane's flight data recorders during a sea search to locate the data recorders this morning," the French air accident investigation agency, known as the BEA, said in a statement.
Commonly known as "black boxes," the data recorders should contain information to help determine what caused the crash.
The Yemenia Airways Airbus 310 crashed into the Indian Ocean early Tuesday, carrying 142 passengers and 11 crew members. It originated in Yemen's capital, Sanaa, and went down just miles from Moroni, the capital of the Comoros Islands.
One person, a 13-year-old French girl, survived. Bahia Basari, who lives in Marseille, escaped with cuts to her face and a fractured collarbone. Watch teen survivor from crash »
The teen's father, Kassim Bakari, told a French radio network that his wife and daughter were flying to Comoros to visit relatives.
"When I had her on the phone, I asked her what happened and she said, 'Daddy, I don't know what happened, but the plane fell into the water and I found myself in the water... surrounded by darkness. I could not see anyone,'" Bakari told France Info.
The head of the rescue team in the Comoros told French radio RTL that the teenager beat astonishing odds to survive.
"It is truly, truly, miraculous," Ibrahim Abdoulazeb said. "The young girl can barely swim."
Another rescuer told France's Europe 1 radio that the girl was spotted in the rough sea, among bodies and plane debris in darkness, about two hours after the crash.
The Airbus 310 plane tried to land at the airport in Moroni, then made a U-turn before it crashed, Comoros Vice President Idi Nadhoim said soon after the accident.
A French official said the nation had banned the plane after it failed an aviation inspection in 2007.
"Since this check-up, we have not seen the plane reappearing in France," said Dominique Bussereau, the transport minister.
But Yemenia Airlines was not on the European Union's list of banned airlines, he added.
Passengers on the flight included 66 French citizens, 54 Comorians, one Palestinian and one Canadian, according to Yemeni and French officials. The crew was made up of six Yemenis, two Moroccans, one Ethiopian, one Filipino and one Indonesian.
The Comoros Islands are between the east African country of Tanzania and the island nation of Madagascar.
|
9da126b0f1654f7d859a82b314eff12f
|
Where are the Comoros Islands?
|
[
"the Indian Ocean"
] |
NewsQA
|
NEWARK, New Jersey (CNN) -- The most "far-flung and exotic fugitive investigation ever conducted by the U.S. Marshals Service" ended early Sunday with convicted child molester Alan Horowitz in custody on U.S. soil.
Alan Horowitz was convicted in 1991 on 34 counts of child molestation.
Officers from the U.S. Marshals service arrested the 60-year-old at Newark Liberty International Airport after a 15-hour flight from New Delhi, India.
The ordained Orthodox rabbi and former child psychologist was arrested on May 22 at a seaside resort in Mahabalipuram, India, according to parole officer Robert Georgia.
An agent from the Diplomatic Security Service escorted him aboard the Continental Airlines flight, authorities said.
He is being held at a correctional facility in New Jersey and will appear before an extradition judge on July 16th before being taken to New York to face a parole violation charge there.
He also faces a federal charge of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. Watch Horowitz in custody at Newark airport »
A number of Internet tipsters in India were responsible for alerting the Marshal's service to Horowitz's whereabouts, said U.S. Marshal Gary Mattison, who was assigned to track down Horowitz last year.
Horowitz served 13 years of a 10-20 year sentence for child molestation and was released on parole in 2004, authorities said. In June 2006, he fled the country shortly after meeting with his parole officer, setting off the manhunt that involved the Indian police, agents from the State Department's Diplomatic Security Service, and U.S. Marshals, U.S. Marshals told CNN.
Horowitz's 1991 conviction was on 34 counts of child molestation in Schenectady, New York.
A dual citizen of the United States and Israel, Horowitz has also been convicted of "perverted sexual practices" in Maryland, where he was found guilty of abusing one of his patients, federal marshals said.
During the 1980s, while he was living in Israel, he was the subject of a police investigation into charges he was sexually abusing his second wife's children, according to the U.S. Marshal service.
He also faced another sexual misconduct investigation while living in North Carolina, authorities say. E-mail to a friend
CNN's Katia Porzecanski contributed to this report.
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961a24f2b77e4e719f6a30f234865bab
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What is Horowitz's former occupation?
|
[
"child psychologist"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Soupy Sales, a comedian from the golden era of television, died Thursday. He was 83.
The funny man seen many times on popular game shows died at a New York hospice, said Paul Dver, Sales' longtime friend and manager.
"We have lost a comedy American icon," Dver said. "I feel the personal loss, and I also feel the magic that he had around him being gone. That's a much more severe loss than a loss of a friend."
Sales was known for his long-running children's show "Lunch With Soupy Sales," which started in 1953 and began his trademark slapstick pie-throwing antics. The comedy show featured skits that culminated in Sales getting walloped with pies in the face. What are your memories of Sales?
"Soupy was the last of the great TV comics when you talk about Ernie Kovacs, Red Skelton, right down to Howdy Doody," Dver said. "But it was bigger than that, because he used a children's format aimed at the kids and then he would forget he was doing a kids' show and do a wild, unrehearsed, wacky improv for a half-hour every day for 15 years."
He could also inflame the authorities. One New Year's Day, upset at being asked to work, he asked his youthful audience to send him those "green pieces of paper" from their parents' wallets. Though he didn't receive much -- he told The New York Times he received only a few dollars -- he was suspended for a week for the prank.
Later in his career, he was a regular on TV game shows, such as "Hollywood Squares," "To Tell the Truth" and "What's My Line?"
Sales recently fell backstage at a local Emmy awards show in New York and developed serious ailments after that, Dver said.
|
8c196f7f15034b02b7d2580658e1ae67
|
What gag did fans of Sales' children's show anticipate?
|
[
"getting walloped with pies in the face."
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- A drunk passenger tried to hijack a Turkish Airlines flight to Russia on Wednesday before he was brought under control, the head of Turkey's civil aviation authority said.
The Turkish Airlines passenger jet was en route from Turkey to Russia when the incident took place.
The plane landed safely and on time Wednesday afternoon in St. Petersburg. Russian authorities promptly arrested a "slightly intoxicated" passenger from Uzbekistan, Russia's Interfax News Agency reported, citing a national police spokesman.
The suspect, in his early 50s, was arrested on suspicion of trying to hijack the plane, Interfax reported.
Turkish media initially reported that the plane had been hijacked. When asked about those reports, a Turkish Airlines spokesman said the flight experienced an "urgent situation" as it headed to St. Petersburg, without offering further details.
Interfax said the flight was carrying 164 Russian nationals.
There have been several attempts to hijack Turkish airlines in recent years.
In August 2007, two men hijacked an Istanbul-bound Atlasjet Airlines flight with 136 passengers and crew on board from Cyprus, claiming to have a bomb on board the flight. They forced the crew to make an emergency landing in Antalya. Both hijackers eventually surrendered to Turkish authorities.
In April 2007, Turkish authorities detained a man they believed tried to hijack a Turkish airliner, possibly to Iran. The suspect, Mehmed Goksin Gol, was not armed and all 178 passengers and crew aboard the Pegasus Airlines flight were unharmed.
The flight was heading from southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir to Istanbul, but landed at Ankara's airport, where the suspect was detained.
In October 2006, a Turkish man hijacked a Turkish jetliner with 113 people aboard en route from the Albanian capital Tirana for Istanbul. He forced it to fly to a military airfield in Brindisi, Italy, where the passengers and crew were released unharmed.
CNN's Maxim Tkachenko in Moscow and Nicky Robertson in Atlanta contributed to this report
|
3b168df29e934b43b8a64cd64f739dc8
|
Where was the flight between?
|
[
"Turkey to Russia"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Launch of the space shuttle Discovery has been delayed at least a week, NASA has announced.
Discovery moves atop the crawler transporter in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on January 14.
The shuttle will now lift off no earlier than February 19 because of concern over a valve in the main engine. A decision on the launch date will be made February 12, after more analysis and testing of the part.
NASA said Tuesday night: "The valve is one of three that channels gaseous hydrogen from the engines to the external fuel tank. One of these valves in shuttle Endeavour was found to be damaged after its mission in November. As a precaution, Discovery's valves were removed, inspected and reinstalled."
This will be the shuttle's 28th mission to the international space station.
The mission will deliver the final set of solar arrays needed to complete the station's complement of electricity-generating solar panels. They will help support the station's expanded crew of six in 2009.
"More crew means that we'll have to run more life support equipment, more crew support equipment -- toilet facilities, water processing equipment and all of that stuff," Kwatsi Alibaruho, the lead space station flight director for the mission, said on NASA's Web site. "We'll have to run more of all of that, so we need additional power."
The expanded capacity will mean more hands to perform science experiments. The mission also will include four spacewalks.
|
f7420586b82c49ab81f94fcda55ff9d5
|
How many trips has Discovery made to the International Space Station?
|
[
"28th"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Venice has suffered its worst flooding in 22 years, leaving some parts of the historic Italian city neck-deep in water, reports said Monday.
A woman wades through high waters in Venice's Piazza San Marco.
Water burst the banks of the coastal city's famed canals, leaving the landmark Piazza San Marco -- St Mark's Square -- under almost a meter of water at one point, news agency ANSA reported.
Strong winds pushed waters to a high of 1.56 meters (5 feet 2 inches) at 10:45 a.m. local time, prompting the city government to issue warnings to the public, the agency said.
The flood level began to drop soon afterwards, prompted by a change in the direction of the wind.
Previous highs include 1.58 meters in 1986 and 1.66 meters in 1979, the news agency said. Watch more about the flooding »
Photographs showed people wading through inundated piazzas and waves lapping over waterside cafe tables.
Venice, built around a network of canals and small islands, has for years been trying to tackle the problem of floods that have regularly blighted the city.
In 2007, the United Nations cultural organization UNESCO warned Venice -- a designated World Heritage Site -- is under threat from rising sea levels caused by climate change. See pictures of Venetians wading through flood waters. »
It said that unless the problem is tackled, Venice could be flooded daily and water levels would permanently rise by 54 centimeters in the city by the year 2100.
|
c0b4f52155234ca5983c04435824a444
|
Who has warned Venice?
|
[
"United Nations cultural organization UNESCO"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- The commander of the nuclear-powered submarine USS Hampton has been relieved of his command amid an inquiry into misconduct by crew members, the U.S. Navy said Friday.
The USS Hampton appears in an undated photograph.
Cmdr. Michael B. Portland lost his post "due to a loss of confidence in his ability to command," the Navy said in a statement. Cmdr. William J. Houston will replace Portland.
The crew neither maintained inspection records nor conducted the required inspection of chemical levels associated with the cooling system of the ship's nuclear reactor, Navy officials said. The crew then went back and falsified existing records to make it appear the work had been done.
"There is not, and never was, any danger to the crew or the public," the Navy said.
Portland's demotion brings to 10 the number of people relieved of duty on the submarine in the wake of the misconduct probe.
Six personnel have been punished for forging inspection records for the cooling system, the Navy officials said Monday. Those six -- one officer and five enlisted personnel -- received a "nonjudicial punishment" after other Navy personnel discovered their actions, the officials said.
The Navy said Friday that one officer and two enlisted crew members have been temporarily reassigned to Submarine Squadron 11. Portland also will be temporarily reassigned to that squadron.
The misconduct was discovered September 17 but not made public until after completion of an initial inquiry.
A fact-finding investigation is under way, and further action against Navy crew members is possible, a Navy official said.
The Hampton remains in port in San Diego, California. In all, the $900 million vessel's crew includes 13 officers and 116 enlisted personnel. E-mail to a friend
|
a95f38ff58de4f73a6b4b2aca6c54053
|
What have 10 people been relieved of?
|
[
"duty on the submarine"
] |
NewsQA
|
London, England (CNN) -- The fashion brand created by Alexander McQueen is to survive despite the designer's suicide last week, the label's majority stakeholder Gucci Group has confirmed.
"I believe strongly in the Alexander McQueen brand and its future," Gucci Group CEO Robert Polet said in a statement carried on the Web site of Gucci parent PPR.
The future of McQueen's 11-store, 180 employee fashion house had been uncertain following the 40-year-old's death, with industry experts speculating it was not successful enough to endure without its figurehead.
PPR on Thursday revealed a company-wide net profit rise of 6.9 percent to €984.6 million ($1,328 million) but a 4 percent revenue fall to €16.52 billion. It did not break down figures to reveal McQueen's turnover, but reports speculate the brand is running at a loss despite heavy celebrity endorsements.
The Times of London reported on Thursday that the label had struggled to make a profit and analysis of recent accounts showed it had liabilities of more than £32 million ($49 million).
PPR boss Francois-Henri Pinault said in a statement: "Lee Alexander [McQueen] was a pure genius and a poet who was imaginative and original. His art went beyond the fashion world. The Alexander McQueen trademark will live on. This is the best tribute that we could offer to Lee."
McQueen's death last week shocked the world of fashion, with many in the industry paying tribute to a man they described as a unique talent capable of becoming a major name.
A coroner on Wednesday said McQueen hanged himself in his wardrobe and left a suicide note
McQueen, who had dressed stars from Sarah Jessica Parker and Nicole Kidman to Rihanna and Sandra Bullock, killed himself nine days after the death of his mother. He expressed his devastation at her death on his Twitter account days before he died.
McQueen was born in 1970 in London's East End, the son of a taxi driver and trained in London's Savile Row, going on to study fashion at college before making his name with his own extravagant designs.
French luxury brand Gucci Group acquired a 51 percent stake in McQueen in 2001.
|
42d0aa1371894e34b02f05557fce4066
|
Where was Alexander McQueen found dead?
|
[
"in his wardrobe"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Brendon Pelser said he saw pure terror in the faces of his fellow passengers after an engine fell from a wing as it took off from Cape Town, South Africa, Wednesday.
Men were sweating profusely, women were crying.
"There was fear on their faces," Pelser said. "Everyone started panicking."
But the pilot of Nationwide Airlines' Boeing 737 Flight CE723 was able to fly long enough to dump fuel and make an emergency landing at Cape Town International Airport.
Including crew, 100 hundred people were on the plane that departed at 3:50 p.m. on an hourlong flight to Johannesburg, South Africa. No one was injured.
The jet had only been in the air about 10 minutes before the engine fell.
"We heard something crash and bang, the plane veering left and right. A person on the right side said the engine was missing -- had broken clean off," said Pelser. Watch Pelser describe how the flight crew told passengers to "prepare for the worst" »
"They flew us in very slowly. We were all prepared for the worst. We went into the fetal position, head between the legs," he said. "Then we hit the runway."
"I did kind of pray. I didn't want to die. I'm not really ready to die," the 33-year-old said.
An object had been sucked into the engine as the nose wheel lifted from the ground and officials are trying to identify it.
The engine-to-wing supporting structure is designed to release an engine "when extreme forces are applied," to prevent structural damage to the wing, Nationwide said on its Web site.
The airline described the incident as a "catastrophic engine failure."
As the nose wheel lifted from the ground, "the captain heard a loud noise immediately followed by a yaw of the aircraft (sideways slippage) to the right," the airline said in a news release.
The flight instruments showed the No. 2 engine on the right side had failed, it said.
Pelser said he spent the night in Cape Town, then flew back to Johannesburg where he lives, on the same airline.
Nationwide said the engine had undergone a major overhaul in March 2005 at "an approved Federal Aviation Authority facility in the U.S.A." and had flown only 3,806 hours since then.
"These engines typically achieve 10,000 hours between major overhauls," Nationwide Airlines' press release stated. E-mail to a friend
|
62f0bdfd71bf40d4a205c62473690e4f
|
Was anyone injured?
|
[
"No one"
] |
NewsQA
|
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The U.S. military formally handed authority over Baghdad's "Green Zone" to Iraqis on Thursday as new pacts governing the mission of international troops replaced a U.N. mandate.
An Iraqi honor guard parades outside the former palace of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad on Thursday.
Iraqi troops took over checkpoints around the heavily protected district, formally known as the International Zone, which houses Iraqi government offices and the U.S. Embassy.
Saddam Hussein's Republican Palace, which served as U.S. headquarters in Baghdad after the 2003 invasion that ousted Iraq's longtime strongman, was among the facilities handed over in Thursday's ceremony.
"This day is a great day in the history of the Iraqi people," Iraqi military spokesman Maj. Gen. Qassim Atta said.
Maj. Gen. David Perkins, a U.S. military spokesman, noted the significance of turning over the former Republican Palace. Watch what goes on in the "Green Zone" »
"The palace was handed back to the Iraqi people, significant as symbol of the head of the government and a sign for increased sovereignty," he said at a news conference with Atta.
Thursday marked the first day of a U.S.-Iraqi pact that allows U.S. forces to remain in the country until 2011, under tighter restrictions. Similar agreements have been signed with other coalition countries that remain in Iraq. A U.N. mandate that authorized international forces in the country expired Wednesday.
Perkins said American troops will continue to fight alongside Iraqis -- "but the Iraqis will be in the lead."
"When you come up to a checkpoint, the Iraqis will check your identification. They will make the decision if you come in or go out," he said.
"We will continue to be there to provide some technical capacity, to provide some mentoring, but you will see less and less American forces and more and more Iraqi forces -- and they will have the majority of the responsibility for making those key decisions which determine the security of the capital."
Iraq's three-member Presidency Council ratified the new pact in December. Under the deal, U.S. troops will withdraw from Iraqi cities and towns by June 30, and all American troops will leave the country by the end of 2011, more than eight years after the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Hussein.
The agreement authorizes the "temporary assistance" of U.S. forces but severely restricts their role. It requires Iraqi approval for all military operations and gives Iraqi courts the right to try U.S. troops and contractors for "grave premeditated felonies."
|
54d31b4b2f2946ebba98c4325a9be2da
|
When will U.S. troops be leaving Iraqi cities by?
|
[
"June 30,"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Cristiano Ronaldo's sixth-minute strike saw holders Manchester United become the first English team to win in Porto, reaching the semifinals of the Champions League 3-2 on aggregate in the process.
Ronaldo scores in spectacular style as Manchester United reached the Champions League semis.
The European Player of the Year fired a spectacular 35-yard strike into the top corner as United remained on course to become the first team to retain the Champions League -- and will now face Premier League rivals Arsenal for a place in the final in Rome.
The stunning goal was Ronaldo's 20th of the season but only his second in the Champions League since scoring the opener in last year's final in Moscow.
After drawing the first leg 2-2 at Old Trafford, Porto only needed a low-scoring draw to reach the last four, but in truth they never looked threatening against a United defense superbly marshalled by Nemanja Vidic and the returning Rio Ferdinand.
In fact, had Vidic been able to keep his close-range effort under the crossbar after John O'Shea had got the faintest of touches to a Ryan Giggs corner just before the interval, United would surely have completed their task in the first 45 minutes.
"We were very solid at the back tonight and that stability helped us," United manager Sir Alex Ferguson told Sky Sports.
"The return of Rio Ferdinand alongside Vidic was a major boost and scoring an early goal helped settle us. It was a great strike by Cristiano and although we didn't score a second goal, I thought we never looked in danger of conceding," he added.
The result puts Ferguson head-to-head with his old foe, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, for a place in the final against either Chelsea or Barcelona.
It also keeps alive United's dreams of claiming an astonishing five trophies this season after also winning the English League Cup and the Club World Cup.
|
549ccefcebbb425b91338fe007c354e9
|
What has the win allowed the team to do?
|
[
"reaching the semifinals of the Champions League"
] |
NewsQA
|
NEW YORK (CNN) -- Hundreds of people converged on New York's Union Square Friday for the May Day Immigration Rally, calling for workers' rights and a path to citizenship for the country's nearly 12 million undocumented immigrants.
New Yorker's support the rights of undocumented workers on Friday at a May Day rally.
The annual event, which began in 2006, was organized by the May 1st Coalition for Workers and Immigrants Rights. Similar rallies were scheduled across the nation in Boston, Massachusetts; Detroit, Michigan; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco in California, and San Antonio, Texas, according to the group's Web site.
Following rally cries from speakers in both English and Spanish, demonstrators braved a rainstorm and marched approximately two miles to New York's Federal Plaza.
Among the participants was Saul Linares, who emigrated from El Salvador six years ago and works at a Long Island factory making equipment for the U.S. Army. Linares is particularly concerned about children who are American citizens, yet whose illegal immigrant parents have been deported. "The children are living alone, sometimes with relatives, at churches or with neighbors," he said.
Teresa Gutierrez, a co-coordinator of the event, blames current government policy for the United States' immigration woes. She said she believes the Clinton administration's landmark 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA -- which was meant to promote cross-border growth between the United States and Mexico -- actually had exploitive effects on the Mexican population.
"Immigrants came because of NAFTA. They don't risk their lives crossing the border because they want to, but because they have to," she said.
A smaller anti-illegal immigration rally assembled across the street, organized by the New Yorkers for Immigration Control and Enforcement. Charles Maron, a New York firefighter and husband of a first generation Pakistani, believes illegal immigrants who commit crimes should be deported. "Someone who comes, teaches their kids the American way, I support that."
Participants in the May Day rally included people from Latin America, Africa and the Middle East. According to Gregory Jesus Luc, who is producing a documentary about the plight of Haitian immigrants, "It's about awareness, letting media and America know that we are immigrants and we are the backbone of this country."
|
66638461d919423080035f659c6c1f7d
|
What else will take places across United States?
|
[
"Similar rallies"
] |
NewsQA
|
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- Pakistani authorities have arrested four men in connection with the suicide truck bombing of a Marriott Hotel last month in Islamabad that killed more than 50 people, officials said Friday.
More than 50 people died in last month's attack on the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad.
The men appeared Friday before a magistrate in an anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi, police and Pakistan Federal Investigation Agency investigators said.
Although they have not been charged, the magistrate is allowing police to hold them for a week while the investigation continues.
The magistrate ordered them back to court on October 31.
Authorities have not said how they believe these men are connected to the September 20 bombing.
The men -- one of whom is a doctor -- were arrested at different times in different places, authorities said, but gave no additional details.
They identified them as: Dr. Muhammad Usman and Tehseen Ulla Jaan, both from Peshawar; Ilyas Rana Muhammad, from a village near Faiselabad in Pakistan's Punjab province; and Hameed Afzal Muhammad, from Toba Taik Singh district, also in Punjab province.
In addition to the dozens killed, some 250 people were wounded in the suicide truck attack, which sparked a fire that left the hotel in ruins.
The hotel, located near the diplomatic section of Islamabad, had been popular among tourists visiting Pakistan. It was crowded the night of the bombing.
|
2f3044bd21464d3d87f39b765136139b
|
How many were injured in the September attack?
|
[
"250"
] |
NewsQA
|
Moscow (CNN) -- President Dmitry Medvedev has signed an order dismissing longtime Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, the Kremlin reported Monday on its website.
The state-run RIA-Novosti news agency said Kudrin had resigned amid a dispute with Medvedev.
The announcement came shortly after Medvedev had given Kudrin until the end of the day to decide whether to quit. "You need to make a decision quickly and tell me about it today," Medvedev told Kudrin during a session of the modernization commission in Dimitrovgrad.
Medvedev urged that Kudrin to "make up his mind about his political future," according to the non-governmental, Moscow-based Interfax news agency.
The president was reacting to a comment Kudrin is reported to have made in Washington. Citing differences with Medvedev, particularly related to defense spending, Kudrin said that he would not remain in a government led by Medvedev, Interfax said.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced Saturday he plans to return next year to the presidency and to name Medvedev as prime minister.
Kudrin, 50, had served as finance minister since 2000, during which time the government had paid off most of its foreign debt and created oil wealth funds that helped the nation weather the global economic problems of recent years, RIA-Novosti said.
-- Maxim Tkachenko contributed to this story
|
6b54e0ff65ed4f9c8d5f9190bffa0d5b
|
who steps down?
|
[
"Kudrin"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Brazil has confirmed 657 fatalities caused by the H1N1 flu, the highest number of deaths in the world, the nation's Health Ministry said.
Brazil registered 7,569 new cases of the virus also known as swine flu from August 25 to 29, the Health Ministry said. However, new cases of the virus had dropped in the past three weeks.
In terms of mortality rate -- which considers flu deaths in terms of a nation's population -- Brazil ranks sixth and the United States is 12th, the Brazilian Health Ministry said in a news release this week.
Argentina ranked first per capita, Brazilian health officials said.
|
52645812e21e40e88f80471568ab7188
|
What rank is Brazil for mortality rate?
|
[
"sixth"
] |
NewsQA
|
Beijing (CNN) -- China's former President Jiang Zemin appeared in Beijing on Sunday, the first time he's been seen publicly since rumors surfaced months ago that he had died.
Jiang, 85, was among many current and former dignitaries attending a ceremony marking the 100th anniversary of China's 1911 revolution, which led to the toppling of the Qing Dynasty. China became a Communist state in 1949, under the leadership of Mao Zedong.
At the start of the ceremony at the Great Hall of the People, live footage on China's state-run television showed Jiang for a few seconds as he walked on the stage, closely followed by an assistant.
In another segment, Jiang appears to sing along with others during the playing of the Chinese national anthem.
Death rumors spur reflections on Jiang legacy
Former Chinese premier Li Peng was also in the crowd, among other retired party and government leaders. So were active government ministers, private entrepreneurs and Beijing-based ambassadors from other countries.
In the event's keynote speech, current President Hu Jintao extolled the "thoroughly modern, national and democratic revolution" of 1911. And among other stances, he urged mainland China and Taiwan to work together for a "peaceful reunification of China," according to the state-run Xinhua news agency.
Reaching an accord with Taiwan had been one of Jiang's focuses in his tenure as president, during which he made conciliatory overtures to the island nation including a "One Country, Two Systems" proposal.
It was one of many efforts he pursued in his time, between 1989 and 2002, as the general-secretary of China's Communist Party and, from 1993 to 2003, as the nation's president.
As China's ruler, he generally pushed market reforms while working to keep the country politically and socially conservative.
China's economy boomed under his leadership, growing at an annual average rate of over 9%. China also regained control of Hong Kong in 1997 and Macau in 1999, while national pride soared in 2000 when Beijing was picked to host the 2008 Summer Olympics.
With rare exceptions, Jiang largely has been out of the public eye in recent years. This summer, Chinese authorities dismissed as "pure rumors" reports that he was on his death bed.
|
3e4d5dc2d4ae4a5e80eb79829f4ed2c6
|
Where does the ceremony take place?
|
[
"the Great Hall of the People,"
] |
NewsQA
|
SEOUL, South Korea (CNN) -- North Korea fired several short-range missiles toward the Sea of Japan on Saturday, an act that the U.S. watched closely and South Korea called provocative.
N. Korean army soldiers, back, look at a S. Korean soldier, center, in the demilitarized zone in June.
Pyongyang fired six short-range missiles in less than seven hours, South Korea's Foreign Ministry said.
The missiles were apparently Scud-type, estimated to have a range of about 500 kilometers (310 miles), according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency.
South Korean intelligence estimates that North Korea has about 700 such missiles in its arsenal.
Pyongyang test-fired four such missiles off the east coast Thursday, Yonhap reported.
South Korea called the launches a provocative act, according to a government statement.
North Korea had issued a warning to mariners to avoid an area in the Sea of Japan at certain times between June 24 and July 9 because of a "military firing exercise," according to a U.S. military communication about the warning provided to CNN.
The recent firings come amid heightened tensions on the Korean peninsula. North Korea conducted a nuclear test in May, fired test rockets and threatened U.S. and South Korean ships near its territorial waters. Watch S. Korea confirm firing of missiles »
The first two missiles were fired about 8 a.m. and 8:30 a.m., Yonhap reported. Another missile was launched about 10:45 a.m., the agency reported. A fourth one came some time after that.
The U.S. Navy and other U.S. officials said they are ready to track any missiles.
"The United States is aware of possible missile launches by North Korea. We are closely monitoring North Korea's activities and intentions," a U.S. official said.
"This type of North Korea behavior is not helpful. What North Korea needs to do is fulfill its international obligations and commitments."
Earlier this week analyst Daniel Pinkston said the reported test might be training for a future test but it could also just be a routine military exercise.
"It is worrisome to some degree, but it is different from a ballistic missile launch," said Pinkston, of the International Crisis Group in Seoul, South Korea.
"It's part of military training, but there seem to be no movements of troops or anything that would suggest preparations for military operations.
"So yes, people are watching it, the military is watching it here, but I don't think it's related to any plans or operations to attack anyone."
CNN's Sohn Jie-Ah in Seoul, Korea, and Charley Keyes in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report
|
67d44b58f70341d5885c0dabb76409ae
|
what is the range of north korea scud missile?
|
[
"about 500 kilometers (310 miles),"
] |
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