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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Despite a bleak economic environment featuring wide-ranging layoffs and rising unemployment, the nation's premier law enforcement agency is touting "one of the largest hiring blitzes in our 100-year history."
The FBI is about to embark on its biggest hiring spree since immediately after the September 11, 2001.
The FBI posted openings for 850 special agents and more than 2,100 professional support personnel. Officials say it's the largest FBI job posting since immediately after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The FBI's unexpectedly large number of job openings results more from attrition and a wave of retirements than from growing government appropriations, Bureau officials told CNN.
The FBI routinely advertises openings for individuals with critical skills in computer science and language fluency. But John Raucci, assistant director of the FBI's Human Resources Division, says current needs are much more wide-ranging.
"We're also looking for professionals in a wide variety of fields who have a deep desire to help protect our nation from terrorists, spies and others who wish us harm," Raucci said.
The lengthy list of openings includes positions in finance and accounting, security, intelligence analysis, training and education, nursing and counseling, physical surveillance, electrical engineering, physical and social sciences, and auto mechanics.
Procedures for applying and a full listing of available positions are posted on the Web site fbijobs.gov.
"This is a great time to apply for a great job in the FBI," said the bureau's chief spokesman, Richard Kolko.
Officials note at least a few jobs are currently available in every one of the FBI's 56 field offices across the nation.
The FBI lists openings throughout the year, but seldom has anything close to the current number of available positions.
The present job postings expire on January 16, but a new, possibly smaller set of openings will be posted shortly thereafter, the agency said.
|
8ef8c030cabe444599b781198c44995e
|
How many agents is the FBI seeking to Hire?
|
[
"850 special"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Retired basketball icon Michael Jordan bought a majority share of the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats, officials said Saturday.
Jordan, who was already a minority owner of the team, headed a group that bought a majority share of the team from businessman Robert Johnson, Johnson said in a statement.
Johnson said he has signed a "definitive agreement" to sell majority interest of Bobcats Sports and Entertainment to Michael Jordan and MJ Basketball Holdings, LLC. The deal is subject to NBA approval. Details on the purchase price were not available.
Jordan has overseen the team's basketball operations in recent years. He won six NBA titles with the Chicago Bulls.
Johnson, who founded BET and sold it to Viacom for $3 billion in 2001, announced that he had been looking for someone to buy earlier this year.
His fortune was depleted by an expensive divorce, but in a 2009 interview with CNN, Johnson estimated his net worth was still $1.1 billion.
Johnson's resume is full of firsts: BET was the first African-American owned company traded on the NYSE. He was the first African-American billionaire in the United States. And, in 2002, he became the first African-American majority owner of a professional sports franchise.
|
fde4adf371f348bcb84f89fb48d95598
|
What is the name of the franchise?
|
[
"Charlotte Bobcats,"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- The outbreak of a gastrointestinal illness has spread to more passengers on a U.S. cruise ship, with nearly 450 falling sick while at sea, the cruise company said Tuesday.
The Celebrity Cruises ship Mercury departed Charleston, South Carolina, February 15 and headed for the eastern Caribbean, according to a Celebrity Cruises statement. On the way, 419 of the 1,838 passengers fell ill, along with 27 of the 849 crew members, the cruise line said. The number of affected passengers increased from the 353 reported the day before.
Their symptoms included upset stomach, vomiting and diarrhea, Celebrity Cruises spokeswoman Cynthia Martinez said. Guests who were in isolation while ill will receive compensation, she said.
The sickened passengers and crew have been administered over-the-counter medicine and are responding well, Celebrity Cruises said.
But it is still unclear how they became sick, Martinez said.
Medical samples will be sent to a lab for testing Tuesday, she added.
The ship's medical facility first started treating guests Sunday, Martinez said, and by Monday, hundreds of others were sick, too, Celebrity Cruises reported.
A doctor and two nurses joined the cruise medical staff Monday to help with the overload of patients when the ship stopped in Tortola, British Virgin Islands, according to the statement. The ship does not return to Charleston until Friday and will be at sea until then, Martinez said.
To control the outbreak, the crew has stepped up cleaning of the ship, which is advised by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention when an outbreak of gastrointestinal illness occurs.
Norovirus commonly causes viral gastrointestinal illness outbreaks on cruise ships, the CDC says. It can spread from contact with contaminated food or drink, by touching objects infected by people who are already sickened, or through close contact with people who are infected, according to the CDC.
So far this year, three gastrointestinal illness outbreaks have occurred on cruise ships that docked at a U.S. port, according to the CDC. Norovirus was the cause of two outbreaks on the Mercury in 2009, the CDC reported. The outbreaks reported and investigated by the CDC infected at least 3 percent of the people onboard the cruises carrying at least 100 passengers for anytime between three days to three weeks.
|
4918cdd8de3b4a5599897ef7c469c14e
|
Where was the cruise heading?
|
[
"eastern Caribbean,"
] |
NewsQA
|
Cairo (CNN) -- A pipeline that supplies gas from Egypt to Israel exploded Monday in the northern Sinai Peninsula near Bir el-Adb, an Egyptian security official said.
The explosion appears to be an act of sabotage, said Gen. Saleh al-Masri, the head of security in Egypt's northern Sinai Peninsula.
"It is an act of sabotage, but the army and members of Egyptian Natural Gas Company are on the scene trying to understand what happened," al-Masri said.
The explosion has shut off the flow of gas to Israel and Jordan, said Ayman Jahin, a general manager at the gas company.
It is the third such attack on Egyptian pipeline infrastructure since the toppling of Hosni Mubarak's government earlier in the year. The first two attacks resulted in a halt in the flow of gas to Israel, which receives about 40% of its natural gas from Egypt.
The army cordoned off the area around the explosion, asking onlookers to return home," Mohamed Sabry, a freelance journalist at the scene, told CNN.
He said flames could be seen shooting into the sky hours after the explosion. Firefighters were working to contain the fire, he said.
Delivery of Egyptian gas to Israel came to a halt after an April attack on a pipeline in the Sinai Peninsula. The flow of gas through the pipeline to Israel was restored in early June.
In February, a gas pipeline in El Arish that sent natural gas to Jordan was set on fire, shutting off the flow of gas to not only Israel but but Syria, Jordan and Lebanon as well.
The issue of gas sales to Israel has become highly controversial in Egypt with various allegations circulating that Israel received below market prices for the gas and that Egyptian government officials enriched themselves on the deal.
The Israeli government and Israeli investors in the pipeline have categorically denied below market pricing for the gas and last month one of the major investors released a statement expressing public frustration that the Egyptian government was not moving more quickly to get the gas flowing again and threatened to pursue legal action.
The pipeline between Egypt and Israel became operational in 2008 and the arrangement represents one of the major economic agreements between the two countries.
CNN's Mohamed Fadel Fahmy contributed to this report.
|
4c553bb9f7994bcd8be0b302175cdd6c
|
What was shut off in Israel and Jordan from Egypt?
|
[
"the flow of gas"
] |
NewsQA
|
ROME, Italy (CNN) -- An Italian mafia boss used his pet crocodile to threaten people and extort money, authorities said.
The caiman was 1.1 meters long (3.6 feet), the Italian Forest Service said.
Antonio Cristofaro kept the 40-kilogram (88-pound) reptile on a terrace of his home near Naples and fed it live rats and rabbits, according to LAV, an Italian animal rights group.
Authorities discovered the animal during a search for weapons at Cristofaro's home, LAV said. The crocodile was found on September 18 but the news was only made public Wednesday, the group said.
The crocodile was 1.1 meters long (3.6 feet), the Italian Forest Service said, and was capable of pulling off a man's limb with one bite. It lived atop Cristofaro's condominium in Caserta, less than an hour northeast of Naples, the Forest Service said.
Cristofaro used the crocodile to intimidate people, notably entrepreneurs, to pay him more money, Italy's ANSA news agency reported.
The crocodile is of a type known as a caiman, commonly found in Latin America. It is protected under the Washington Convention, which regulates the international trade of endangered animals, and is considered too dangerous to own as a pet, the Forest Service said.
Police charged Cristofaro with illegal possession of animals, ANSA said. It was not clear whether he had been arrested.
The Forest Service is now holding the reptile at an animal center near Rome, ANSA reported.
Cristofaro, who the Forest Service said comes from a mafia family, already had a criminal record for weapons-related charges, resisting police, and extortion, ANSA reported.
Authorities found a flak jacket during a search of Cristofaro's house, the Forest Service said.
It was not the first time the Forest Service discovered an illegal crocodile at someone's home, the Forest Service said. In August 2008 in Naples, authorities found a 2-meter-long (6.5-foot-long) crocodile at the home of a man known for drug dealing, they said.
CNN's Hada Messia contributed to this report.
|
7064fbd7e9434179aa0882e516f5906d
|
what has Cristofaro been charged with?
|
[
"illegal possession of animals,"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Schools of robotic fish could one day map the ocean floor, detect pollution or inspect and survey submerged boats or oil and gas pipelines, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology say.
MIT researcher Pablo Valdivia Alvarado works in his lab on a robotic fish he co-created.
MIT engineers are showing off the latest generation of so-called robofish 15 years after they built the first one. The latest incarnation is sleeker, more streamlined and capable of mimicking the movements of a real fish.
And it's capable of exploring underwater terrain submersibles can't, said Pablo Valdivia Alvarado, a mechanical engineer at the school.
"Some of our sponsors were thinking of using them for inspection and surveillance," Alvarado said. "Since these prototypes are very cheap, the idea was to build hundreds -- 200, 500 -- and then just release them in a bay or at a port, and they would be roaming around taking measurements."
MIT researchers built their first robotic fish, "Robotuna," in 1994. But Robotuna has gone the way of the dinosaur. Alvarado said the new generation -- modeled after bass and trout -- cost only a few hundred dollars and have only 10 parts instead of the thousands used in Robotuna.
At five to 18 inches, the new fish is much smaller than Robotuna and built from a single, soft polymer. And unlike Robotuna, the fish is able to be released in the oceans.
"Most of the brains, the electronics, are embedded inside," said Alvarado, who designed the robofish with fellow MIT engineer Kamal Youcef-Toumi. "We have built prototypes with the battery inside, but for my experiments, for simplicity. We have a lot of prototypes that are simply tethered. We have a cable that runs out from the body and connects to a power supply."
The new generation has withstood harsh conditions in the lab, including two years of testing inside tanks filled with tap water, which is corrosive to standard robots, according to Alvarado, who says the Robotuna inspired him to take the technology to the next level.
The oil exploration company Schlumberger helped fund the research, but Alvarado says the U.S. Navy has also expressed interest in the robofish.
MIT's mechanical engineers are now turning their attention to new challenges: A robotic manta ray and a terrestrial robot in the form of a salamander.
CNN's Ninette Sosa contributed to this report.
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fe6e00113a6e4e32abf340485e89f19c
|
When did researchers built their first robotic fish?
|
[
"15 years"
] |
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|
(CNN) -- NASA scientists say new data provided by twin spacecraft analyzing the sun will help them more accurately predict how so-called solar tsunamis wreak havoc on our planet.
NASA says new data on so-called solar tsunamis will help predict how they will affect our planet.
The tsunamis -- powerful explosions known as coronal mass ejections, or CMEs -- produce solar cosmic rays that can interfere with technology, causing power blackouts and disrupting air traffic communications and cell phone networks.
NASA says images captured by its twin Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory, or STEREO, spacecraft have enabled scientists to map the tsunamis in 3D to examine their structure, velocity, mass and direction.
The solar ejections, its says, can release billions of tons of high-velocity plasma into space, producing a shockwave that generates cosmic rays which then plow into our atmosphere.
These can create the brightly-colored auroras, more commonly known as the Northern or Southern lights, but also have more damaging effects, posing particular threats to spacecraft and astronauts.
Solar physicist Angelos Vourlidas of the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington said the new data from the STEREO craft -- launched into orbit in October 2006 -- will revolutionize the study of cosmic weather patterns.
"Before this unique mission, measurements and the subsequent data of a CME observed near the sun had to wait until the ejections arrived at Earth three to seven days later," he said in statement.
"Now we can see a CME from the time it leaves the solar surface until it reaches Earth and we can reconstruct the event in 3D directly from the images."
|
e4683511c59e4877899e91b6f189d050
|
Who says new data will help with predictions?
|
[
"scientists"
] |
NewsQA
|
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- Polish authorities in Pakistan say they are monitoring local reports that Taliban militants have executed a kidnapped Polish engineer.
Pakistani Taliban militants offer prayers in Mamouzai area of
Orakzai Agency in November.
Piotr Stancza was kidnapped September 28 from the city of Attock in Punjab province. Stancza had been based there for a Polish survey company searching for natural gas.
Local reports and TV station Dawn News reported Stancza's execution Saturday.
Polish Embassy spokesman Peter Adams said his offices were aware of local media reports but were waiting to hear officially from Pakistani authorities. He said all efforts had been made by Polish authorities to pressure the Pakistani government to do whatever it could to secure Stancza's release.
"From the Polish side, we did whatever we could, pressuring the Pakistani government on the presidential and prime minister level," Adams said. "Problem was, this was solely Pakistan's responsibility. Demands were only towards [the] Pakistan government."
Adams said there had been no demands for ransom. The Taliban had demanded the release of Taliban prisoners being held by the government and a pullout of government security forces from the tribal areas.
Although there were assurances that the Pakistani government was doing everything it could and that Stancza would be freed soon, Adams said it was never clear what the government was actually doing to secure his release.
"We are waiting for confirmation and waiting for any answer [about] how this happened and why did this happen," Adams said.
A spokesman for Pakistan's interior ministry said that the reports of Stancza's death have yet to be confirmed and that the case of his kidnapping was a high priority for the government. Shahid Ullah Baig said the government had been working hard to retrieve Stancza unharmed but did not give details.
"The Pakistan government is doing its level best to secure his release," he said, adding, "Human life is more important to us than anything else."
Kidnappings and attacks against foreigners have risen sharply in recent months throughout the country. Most recently, an American working for the United Nations was kidnapped in Quetta, and Peshawar has been the scene of various attacks against foreign diplomats and journalists.
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b3bbfaee8ee541dea3f962fd878b1c92
|
Who was kidnapped September 28?
|
[
"Piotr Stancza"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- A car bomb attack in Algeria has killed three people and wounded 23, the Algerian Press Service reported.
An Algerian policeman stands in front of destroyed buildings in Thenia.
The attack occurred Tuesday near an office housing judicial police in the city of Thenia, about 50 km (31 miles) east of the capital of Algiers, the agency said.
The blast destroyed about 20 houses, and a commission has been appointed to look after the victims, the press agency said.
Islamic extremists in Algeria and other North African countries have struck several times in recent years.
An al Qaeda affiliate claimed responsibility last year for the deadliest attack in Algiers in 10 years, a bombing that destroyed the prime minister's headquarters and a police base, killing at least 24 people and wounding more than 220.
Al Qaeda also took responsibility for a January 2 bombing that killed four and wounded 20 at a building housing security forces in Naciria, a city about 50 km (31 miles) east of Algiers. E-mail to a friend
|
06141c593a2c44ba87976735d5666afc
|
Where is the attact occur?
|
[
"Algeria"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Some 5,000 residents in eastern Pennsylvania were allowed to return to their homes Saturday afternoon, some 12 hours after they were evacuated when a tractor-trailer carrying 33,000 pounds of toxic hydrofluoric acid overturned after the driver tried to avoid a deer, authorities said.
Traffic is backed up Saturday after a truck spilled hydrofluoric acid in eastern Pennsylvania.
State police identified the driver as Raymond Leblanc, 54, of Harrow, Ontario, Canada. Leblanc, who initially was trapped in the truck, was taken to a hospital where he was treated and released. Police said a passenger in the truck was unhurt.
No other injuries were reported.
The truck flipped over on its side and slid along northbound State Road 33, which was closed in both directions from Belfast to Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania, from the time of the early-morning accident until about 6 p.m. Saturday.
Most of the acid in the tank was in the form of pressurized gas, but there also was some water, said Northampton County spokesman John Conklin.
State and federal hazardous materials experts stopped the leak by noon. The wreck occurred at 3:30 a.m. near Wind Gap.
Conklin said many evacuees -- those living within a mile of the accident site in Plainfield Township -- went to a shelter set up at nearby Pen Argyl High School in Pen Argyl, Pennsylvania.
A dispatcher with the Northhampton County Division of Emergency Management said residents were allowed to begin returning to their homes about 3:45 p.m. Saturday.
Hydrogen fluoride is a hazardous chemical compound used mainly for industrial purposes such as etching glass, and is extremely corrosive. It also is an ingredient in high-octane gasoline, refrigerants, aluminum and light bulbs.
Contact with concentrated solutions can cause severe burns, according to medical authorities. Inhaling the gas causes respiratory irritation, severe eye damage and pulmonary edema.
|
fb4ba2902e4c4a1aa97fae2e22b25caa
|
What did a driver report trying to avoid?
|
[
"a deer,"
] |
NewsQA
|
BANGKOK, Thailand (CNN) -- A Thai court has found deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra guilty of corruption, and sentenced him in absentia to two years imprisonment.
Thaksin Shinawatra lives in self-imposed exile in London.
The case stemmed from a Bangkok land deal while Thaksin was in office. He was convicted of violating a law that bans ministers or their wives from conducting business with government agencies.
Thaksin, who now lives in the United Kingdom, is unlikely to serve any jail time. He fled from Thailand in August just as he was to appear in court.
In the land deal, Thaksin's wife, Pojama, is accused of using her husband's political influence to buy undeveloped land from a government agency for about a third of its estimated value. Watch more about the verdict »
The case is one of several corruption cases against Thaksin and his family that are winding their way through the legal system.
The billionaire is accused of abusing the country's system of checks and balances and bending government policy to benefit his family's business.
Thaksin has consistently denied that he or his family was involved in any wrongdoing.
In August, Thaksin and his wife skipped a court appearance and fled to the United Kingdom rather than testify in the real-estate case. He said he did so because he did not think he would get a fair trial in Thailand.
Thaksin, a telecommunications tycoon, once owned the English Premier League Manchester City Football Club but sold his stake this year.
His party won two landslide victories before he was deposed in a bloodless military coup in September 2006 after massive anti-government street protests.
He returned to Thailand after his allies in the People Power Party won nearly half the seats in the lower house in December's parliamentary elections and formed the ruling coalition.
In recent weeks, the country has seen daily demonstrations from anti-government protesters who want PPP leaders purged from the Cabinet. They have laid siege to the Government House -- the seat of the Thai government -- since August 26.
The protesters -- led by the People's Alliance for Democracy -- contend that the PPP is trying to amend the constitution so Thaksin does not have to face charges.
In September, Thailand's Constitutional Court stripped then-Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej of his position, ruling that he had violated the constitution by appearing as a paid guest on a television cooking show.
The PPP responded by picking Thaksin's brother-in-law as Samak's replacement -- further inflaming the protesters.
CNN's Dan Rivers contributed to this report.
|
db20ed4195484ed389d444656c0fd6ba
|
Where does Thaksin live in exile?
|
[
"London."
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- A Lonely Planet author says he plagiarized or made up portions of the popular travel guidebooks and dealt drugs to supplement poor pay, an Australian newspaper reported Sunday.
Lonely Planet publishes more than 500 titles and employs 300 authors, according to its Web site.
Thomas Kohnstamm, who has written a book on his misadventures, also said he didn't travel to Colombia to write the guidebook on the country because "they didn't pay me enough," The Daily Telegraph reported.
"I wrote the book in San Francisco [California]," he is quoted as saying in the Telegraph. "I got the information from a chick I was dating -- an intern in the Colombian Consulate."
The 32-year-old Seattle, Washington, native also claims he accepted free travel, which is a violation of the company's policy.
Kohnstamm has worked on more than a dozen books for Lonely Planet, including its titles on Brazil, Colombia, the Caribbean, Venezuela, Chile and South America.
An e-mail from Lonely Planet said Kohnstamm's book were being reviewed, the newspaper reported.
"If we find that the content has been compromised, we'll take urgent steps to fix it. Once we've got things right for travelers as quickly as we can, we'll look at what we do and how we do it to ensure as best we can that this type of thing never happens again," the e-mail said, according to the newspaper.
The book's publisher, Piers Pickard, told the paper that an "urgent" review of Kohnstamm's books did not reveal any inaccuracies.
The Lonely Planet series publishes 500 titles, updated every two to four years, and employs 300 authors, according to the company's Web site. It sells more than 6 million guides a year, the newspaper reported.
Kohnstamm's book, "Do Travel Writers Go to Hell?: A Swashbuckling Tale of High Adventures, Questionable Ethics and Professional Hedonism," is set for release next week.
On his MySpace page, Kohnstamm says the book "is about the decision to abandon Manhattan to try to make it as a travel writer and the good, the bad and the really surreal that I experienced on the road." E-mail to a friend
|
cc8168203d324935ab48745e774dbc3e
|
What is the author's name?
|
[
"Thomas Kohnstamm,"
] |
NewsQA
|
Caracas, Venezuela (CNN) -- Residents of the Venezuelan capital on Monday began to experience water rationing as part of a government preservation measure during a drought.
The rolling cuts to water service will affect the capital of Caracas and some nearby areas for periods of up to 48 hours, the state-owned water utility Hidrocapital announced. The rationing will continue through the first quarter of 2010, the government said.
President Hugo Chavez has urged citizens to take extra steps to reduce water use, including a suggestion last week that taking a shower should take only three minutes.
The government says that weather phenomena are behind the drought, while critics of Chavez say that years of lack of infrastructure investment and planning left the country flat-footed when it came to offsetting the drought.
Drought conditions have reduced reservoir volume to critical levels, officials say. The level of the Camatagua Reservoir, which supplies Caracas with about half of its water, has been on a downward trend since 2007, according to data from Hidrocapital. However, it's not as low as during the early 2000s. Some water-rationing measures were taken at the time, too, according to Hidrocapital.
In Miranda State, which sits adjacent the capital, the Lagartijo Reservoir is at the lowest level ever recorded.
"There will be programmed interruptions in service, with the goal of recuperating the levels of the principal reservoirs that flow to the city and that were affected by the scarce rains this year," Hidrocapital President Alejandro Hitcher said at a news conference announcing the rationing.
Even schools will have to deal with the water shortages, the government said. Only hospitals will be equipped with water around the clock.
Critics, including the municipal agency that distributes Hidrocapital's water to the city, say that poor infrastructure has made it difficult for water pressure to reach some of the poorest parts of the city, according to local reports.
The government says that the El Nino phenomenon -- unusually warm waters in the equatorial Pacific that affects weather around the globe -- is behind the dry conditions.
Venezuela's National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology also pointed a finger at something called quasi-biennial oscillation, which affects winds in the stratosphere.
"This other phenomenon," the institute said in a statement, "has a relationship with the rains, and is capable of modifying or changing the magnitude and impacts of the effects that El Nino has brought."
Journalist Maria Carolina Gonzalez contributed to this report for CNN.
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f66c9ee52d6a4b84a8f7963cfa0cae16
|
What will hospitals have?
|
[
"water around the clock."
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Switzerland's Massimo Busacca has been selected to referee Wednesday's Champions League final between Barcelona and Manchester United in Rome on Wednesday -- UEFA have confirmed on their official Web site UEFA.com
Massimo Busacca refereed the 2007 UEFA Cup and one of the semifinals from Euro 2008.
Busacca, 40, will be assisted by his compatriots Matthias Arnet and Francesco Buragina, while the fourth official will be Claudio Circhetta.
Busacca has been an international referee since 1999 and has taken charge of 32 Champions League matches, including six this season.
Among the top club matches he has overseen are this year's Champions League quarterfinal second leg between Porto and Manchester United and the 2007 UEFA Cup final between Sevilla and Espanyol in Glasgow.
On the international stage, Busacca was also in charge of the Euro 2008 semifinal between Germany and Turkey and the 2006 World Cup last 16 match between Argentina and Mexico.
Meanwhile, authorities in Rome have enforced a blanket ban on the sale of alcohol as they attempt to stave off the threat of trouble between 67,000 Barcelona and Manchester United fans.
In a bid to avoid incidents, local authorities have banned the sale of alcohol throughout the city and in airports and stations from 11pm on Tuesday until 6am on Thursday morning.
"It will not be a militarised city," Rome authority spokesman Giovanni Pecorari told Press Association Sport. "All the necessary measures have been taken in order to give the best possible image of this city."
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0f95db19d7934f1f9c4ee4b8e292a8df
|
What was the ban about?
|
[
"sale of alcohol"
] |
NewsQA
|
LONDON, England (CNN) -- The British government is buying 10,000 Taser stun guns for police officers across England and Wales, Britain's Home Office said Monday.
British police officers use a Taser gun to tackle a mock suspect in a training exercise.
The move will expand the ranks of officers carrying the weapons from "select firearms squads" to "thousands of trained frontline officers," according to the Home Office, which is responsible for domestic policing.
Home Secretary (Interior Minister) Jacqui Smith said police "deserve our support, so I want to give the police the tools they tell me they need to confront dangerous people. That is why I am giving the police 10,000 Tasers."
The guns fire barbed darts charged with enough electricity to stun a person, the Home Office said.
But Amnesty International UK described them as "potentially lethal electrical weapons" that deliver "50,000 volts of electricity into a person's body. The result is excruciatingly painful, causing a person to fall to the ground and, at times, lose control of their bodily functions."
The human rights group, however, expressed qualified support for the British government move, urging that the weapons be given only to officers specially trained to use them.
"We don't actually oppose the use of Tasers as long as it's by a limited number of highly trained specialist officers, responding to genuinely life-threatening or very dangerous situations," said Oliver Sprague, the organization's arms program director.
But, he added: "Tasers are potentially lethal weapons which are already linked to numerous deaths in North America and that's why wide deployment without adequate training is a dangerous step too far for British policing."
"The home secretary should urgently review this decision and ensure that Tasers only end up in the hands of a small number of fully trained officers capable of making the potentially fatal decision over whether to fire 50,000 volts into a person's body."
Amnesty says more than 300 people have died after being shot with Tasers since 2001.
The decision to introduce Tasers across England and Wales follows what the government called a successful pilot program with officers from 10 police forces, including London's Metropolitan Police and forces responsible for Liverpool and Bristol. The test ran for 12 months from September 2007 with constables who had not previously carried firearms, a Home Office spokesman said.
Before the pilot program, approximately 6,000 specially trained firearms officers across the country had access to Tasers starting in 2004.
Most British police officers do not carry any kind of firearm, Home Secretary Smith emphasized in her statement, a fact she said she was proud of.
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9e758abb8a7849289fc0115fe9457501
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The barbed darts were charged with enough electricity to do what to a person?
|
[
"stun"
] |
NewsQA
|
CARDIFF, Wales -- Former Wales and British Lions center Ray Gravell has died of a suspected heart attack aged 56, the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) has announced.
Gravell won 23 caps for Wales and played on the Lions tour of South Africa in 1980.
Gravell had been on holiday with his family in the Spanish Mediterranean island of Mallorca at the time.
A WRU statement praised Gravell as being "a man who epitomized the passion, flair and dignity of his beloved Welsh nation."
Gravell made his debut for Wales against France in 1975, three years after helping his club side Llanelli to their famous win over the touring All Blacks.
In all he made 23 appearances for what was then a dominant Wales side, winning Grand Slams in 1976 and 1978, and played all four Tests on the Lions' tour of South Africa in 1980.
After retiring as a player in 1985, Gravell became president of Llanelli RFC and the Llanelli Scarlets. He also pursued a career as an actor and a respected rugby broadcaster.
Earlier this year, Gravell had his right leg amputated below the knee following complications linked with his diabetes but he had been recovering well.
WRU chief executive Roger Lewis said: "We are all in total shock because Ray was so full of life even through the difficult health problems he suffered recently.
"He was a wonderful ambassador for rugby and for Wales and a great example of how the game can bring out the best in a man.
"As a player, he always gave a huge amount of respect to his opponents but never gave an inch of ground to anyone he faced on the field of play.
"It is a measure of the man that he forged rugby friendships which lasted long after his playing days up until the present day." E-mail to a friend
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cbc2b86591134a769507d9c8e948a536
|
What was his age?
|
[
"56,"
] |
NewsQA
|
MEXICO CITY, Mexico (CNN) -- Officials in Mexico's Chiapas state postponed classes Friday for more than 1 million students in an effort to avoid a resurgence of H1N1 flu, which has sickened thousands throughout Mexico this year.
After the first confirmed swine flu reports in April, Mexico shut down all of its schools and many public venues.
Chiapas Education Secretary Javier Alvarez Ramos and state Health Secretary James Gomez Montes said classes will start August 31 for middle and high school students and September 7 for elementary pupils, the state-run Notimex news agency said.
About 1.55 million students will be affected, 850,000 of them in elementary school, Notimex said.
This is not the first instance of officials in Mexico altering schedules to combat the disease.
The first cases of H1N1, also called swine flu, were confirmed in Mexico in April. Within days, the government closed all schools and most public venues. In Mexico City, officials shut down all bars, theaters and public gathering places and limited restaurants to take-out orders. About 35,000 businesses were affected.
All non-essential federal government offices also were closed nationwide for several days.
The World Health Organization declared a global pandemic in early June.
As of August 6, the WHO reported more than 177,450 confirmed cases in 170 nations. The Western Hemisphere has the most cases, with nearly 103,000 confirmed instances of the disease and almost 1,300 deaths. The WHO is no longer providing a country-by-country breakdown, but the United States, Argentina and Mexico have had the most cases and fatalities.
In the United States, federal officials released new guidelines this month for containing the spread of the virus across the nation's school system. Government officials have warned of a possible resurgence in the H1N1 virus this fall.
Among other things, health officials urged local administrators to exercise caution and restraint when deciding whether to close a school in response to an outbreak, noting that the costs of shutting down institutions often outweigh the benefits.
Officials also confirmed that a new vaccine to combat the virus is likely to be ready by October.
The revised federal guidelines advise parents to keep children infected with the H1N1 virus out of school for 24 hours after the fever has gone away. Parents were previously advised to keep their children out of school for seven days after the end of a fever caused by H1N1.
The virus has spread around the world with unprecedented speed, according to the WHO. Past influenza viruses have needed more than six months to spread as widely as the current H1N1 virus spread in less than six weeks, the WHO said.
|
f545d197f4e6494a801f3d933ba62c42
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what are us officials doing
|
[
"released new guidelines this month for containing the spread of the virus across the nation's school system."
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Authorities have seized $1 billion worth of marijuana plants and have arrested 82 Mexican nationals with ties to drug cartels in the first week and half of an effort to eradicate marijuana fields from California's Fresno County, the county sheriff's office said Wednesday.
The 82 suspects arrested so far have links to Mexican drug cartels.
Operation Save Our Sierra began July 13 and involves local, state and federal agencies working together to remove marijuana growing operations, investigate and arrest drug traffickers, and remove infrastructure on public lands in Fresno County, a news release said.
"This is a high-intensity drug trafficking area," U.S. Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske said in a phone interview. "I think what should be highlighted here is the local authorities' work to reclaim the land from the drug traffickers."
The 82 suspects arrested so far have links to Mexican drug cartels, local authorities said, though they did not release further details.
Eastern Fresno County, where the seizures have been made, is mountainous and sparsely populated. Growers exploit the area's streams, rivers and lakes to create elaborate drip lines for their plants. A mature plant can be worth $4,000, said Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims.
"Fresno County is roughly the size of Connecticut, and the drug traffickers target these areas because they know there is not that significant of a law-enforcement presence," Mims said. "The chances of getting caught are slim."
"The bottom line is our public lands are being destroyed by foreign drug trafficking and heavily armed Mexican cartels," George Anderson of the U.S. Department of Justice said Wednesday at a news conference highlighting the seizures.
The operation is the largest in Fresno County history and one of the largest in California, Mims said.
"What makes this operation unique is the approach: prevention, enforcement, eradication and reclamation," she said.
Intelligence gathered for the operation began in February, with community presentations about prevention. The effort is now focused on shutting down the at least 70 marijuana farms identified by local authorities.
The operation is expected to continue into November, when colder weather makes marijuana growing more difficult.
At least 330,000 marijuana plants have been seized, Mims said.
"This shows what can be accomplished at the local level when agencies work together," Kerlikowske said.
Kerlikowske, who flew to Fresno County on Wednesday and toured a marijuana farm, said his office is one of the primary sponsors of the operation.
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87e6f88c57d441299163a04943c0b1de
|
What do suspects have links to?
|
[
"Mexican drug cartels."
] |
NewsQA
|
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- Militants set fire to a hotel at Pakistan's only ski resort Thursday, as security in the Swat Valley continued to deteriorate despite a month-old peace deal.
Pakistani soldiers on patrol in the Swat Valley, which is home to the country's only ski resort.
Militants forced their way into the state-run hotel in the northwestern tourist valley early Thursday morning, ransacked it and set it on fire, said Sardar Rehim Shahzad, district coordinator for Swat police.
The hotel, the only one at the Malam Jabba ski resort, sustained significant damage, he told CNN.
The resort is located near the Afghanistan border and about 300km (186 miles) from the capital city of Islamabad. It was shut down last summer after militants overran the area, keeping tourists away, Shahzad said.
Swat Valley, located in North West Frontier Province (NWFP), was once Pakistan's biggest tourist destination. Aside from the ski resort, it was a draw for trout-fishing enthusiasts and visitors to the ancient Buddhist ruins in the area.
In recent months, however, militants bent on imposing fundamentalist Islamic law, or Sharia, have unleashed a wave of violence across the NWFP which has claimed hundreds of lives, many of them security personnel.
The militants want women to wear veils, beards for men and to ban music and television.
After months of bloody battles, the government in May reached a peace deal with fighters loyal to the banned hardline Islamic group, Tehreek Nifaz-e-Shariat Mohammadi (TNSM).
It is the latest attempt by Pakistan's new government -- headed by the party of the assassinated prime minister Benazir Bhutto -- to achieve peace through negotiations in the lawless tribal areas where Taliban and al Qaeda leaders are believed to have free rein.
Ahead of the peace pact, Pakistan's government released TNSM's former leader Sufi Mohammed, who had been jailed in 2002 after recruiting thousands of fighters to battle U.S. forces in Afghanistan.
He was freed after agreeing to cooperate with the government. Under the terms of his release, TNSM was also expected to lay down its arms and forgo violence.
But his son-in-law Fazlullah, who took over TNSM during his jail stint, vowed to continue his fight to impose fundamentalist Islamic law in the region.
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0ec19b4783c3485885799502d5c53bdf
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What is the name of the Pakistan ski resort?
|
[
"Malam Jabba"
] |
NewsQA
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(CNN) -- Researchers have discovered the oldest piece of gold jewelry ever found in the Americas, an academic journal reported Tuesday.
A gold and turquoise necklace, made 4,000 years ago, was found in a burial site near Lake Titicaca.
A team found the gold necklace near Lake Titicaca in Peru, according to the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. It's 4,000 years old -- 600 years older than any other gold jewelry discovered in the Western Hemisphere.
The anthropologist who discovered the gold, Mark Aldenderfer, told CNN on Tuesday night that he sensed the importance of his find after noticing a glint while excavating a site with human remains.
"It appeared to be gold. That's when I knew we had something special," he said. "This was a complete shock."
He found the necklace about seven years ago, he said, but researchers kept quiet for fear that looters would raid the site. They also wanted to allow time for chemical analysis before announcing their discovery on Tuesday.
Video footage from Peru shows a necklace of nine gold tubes separated by 10 stones.
The find is important, Aldenderfer said, because it signals the early emergence of a desire for status among people who lived as relative equals without a formal leadership system.
The Andean people of that time, Aldenderfer said, had recently settled down after many generations as hunter-gatherers. Formal kings would not emerge for hundreds of years.
The person who wore the gold necklace may have sought to distinguish himself with a status symbol, Aldenderfer said.
The artifact is in the custody of the National Institute of Peru and may be displayed in a museum, he said. E-mail to a friend
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b180793c65f74fee9b72bd26c9dcf47c
|
What did the team find?
|
[
"the oldest piece of gold jewelry ever found in the Americas,"
] |
NewsQA
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Cairo, Egypt (CNN) -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton took a short tour of Tahrir Square in the Egyptian capital on Wednesday.
During the anti-government demonstrations that eventually led to the ouster of long-time Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, the square was a rallying spot for protesters who transformed it from a bustling urban center into a fortified campground.
The walking tour lasted about 10 to 12 minutes, with crowds of people stopping her to shake her hand. She later met with Prime Minister Essam Sharaf.
"To see where this revolution happened and all that it has meant to the world is extraordinary for me," Clinton said. "It's just a great reminder of the power of the human spirit and universial desire for human rights and democracy. It's just thrilling to see where this happened."
On Tuesday, Clinton issued a strong statement of praise for Egypt's political revolution, declaring she was "deeply inspired" by the dramatic change and promising new assistance for America's longtime Middle East ally.
Clinton pledged $90 million in emergency economic assistance during a meeting in Cairo with Foreign Minister Nabil Al-Araby. She is the highest ranking U.S. official to visit Egypt since the overthrow of Mubarak.
"The United States will work to ensure that the economic gains Egypt has forged in recent years continue, and that all parts of Egyptian society benefit from these gains," a State Department statement noted.
While in the region, Clinton is also scheduled to visit neighboring Tunisia to express support for that country's revolt.
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c538f961f8eb42cc81d5b735b8c5aa43
|
How much has the U.S. pledged?
|
[
"$90 million"
] |
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|
(CNN) -- Zambia's incumbent president bowed out with "grace and honor" Friday after election results showed his main challenger had won, his party said in a statement.
"The people of Zambia have spoken and we must listen," outgoing President Rupiah Banda said on the website of his Movement for Multiparty Democracy. "The time now is for maturity, for composure and for compassion."
Zambians voted Tuesday in the presidential election.
The incoming president, Michael Sata, will be sworn in Friday, party officials said.
Sata is the leader of the opposition Patriotic Front and a major critic of China's investment in the nation.
Ten candidates took part in the presidential race .
Zambia has remained relatively peaceful amid unrest in neighboring Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
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8c7f4fcba0754483954ca068d7b29ec6
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when was this event
|
[
"Friday"
] |
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(CNN) -- Memorial Day is a day set aside to remember the U.S. troops who have died. One way to honor the fallen troops is to volunteer at a veterans cemetery. And while there are opportunities on Memorial Day, there are other ways you can help all year long.
There are more than 150 national cemeteries and monument sites maintained by such groups as the the Department of Veterans Affairs and the National Park Service. Read more about them or find a volunteer opportunity at a cemetery near you.
The Department of Veterans Affairs has these tips on ways you can help at a veterans cemetery that you might not have considered:
-- Volunteer to greet visitors, give tours or research and document cemetery history
-- Donate items such as golf carts, which are used to transport visitors who need assistance reaching a gravesite
-- Volunteer to raise and lower cemetery flags on national holidays
-- Help maintain the final resting place of fallen troops by volunteering to prune trees, mend cemetery flags, repair cemetery benches or sponsor a burial area or flower bed and maintain it all year long
-- If you're a bugler, volunteer to play a live "Taps" at veterans' funerals. About 1,800 veterans die each day, most of them from World War II, according to the VA. Because the military cannot provide enough buglers to play at such a large number of funerals, Congress passed a law in 2000 to allow a recorded version to be played. But many families of the fallen prefer a live version if possible.
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375bedd2e3f440b6800eadb2c26ddb51
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what is there all year long
|
[
"ways you can help"
] |
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|
(CNN) -- A court has lifted a ban on identifying a man charged with one of a number of deadly wildfires that scorched southeastern Australia this month.
A dirt track runs through the burnt out forest in the Kinglake region of Victoria state.
The man, 39-year-old Brendan Sokaluk, did not appear in Monday's hearing in Melbourne Magistrates' Court, the Australian Associated Press reported. An order banning the publishing of Sokaluk's street address or his image remains in place.
Public passions are running high in the aftermath of the fires that have killed scores of people. One T-shirt says, "The bastards who lit Victoria's fires should: Burn in hell."
Sokaluk is suspected of lighting a fire on February 7. He was charged with arson causing death, intentionally or recklessly lighting a bush fire, and possessing child pornography, Victoria state police said last week. The fire Sokaluk is accused of setting killed at least 21 people in Gippsland. See map of fire-hit areas »
Sokaluk's identity had already been revealed on social networking sites before the court lifted the suppression order on his name.
There were 12 Facebook groups carrying details about Sokaluk, with one attracting more than 3,600 members. Watch more on arrest »
Robbie Shenton, who has joined one such group, told CNN: "The judicial system had no right to suppress his name or photograph."
Melbourne's Age newspaper reported Police had contacted Facebook seeking removal of Sokaluk's details.
The death toll in a string of fires across Victoria climbed to 189 on Monday, police reported. The number of fires burning had dropped to six, from about a peak of about three dozen, the Country Fire Authority said. Watch a survivor tell his story »
Meanwhile, more than 150 detectives were working on the arson investigation, authorities said. The fires have destroyed more than 1,800 homes and displaced about 7,000 people.
Priyanka Deladia contributed to this report.
|
d85b1de5258447bda110d8197058cd5a
|
What remains in place?
|
[
"An order banning the publishing of Sokaluk's street address or his image"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- The number of deaths linked to cantaloupes contaminated with the Listeria monocytogenes bacteria has risen to 23, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed Wednesday.
At least 116 cases of listeria have been reported in 25 states, the agency said. The two latest fatalities came in Louisiana.
The Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals confirmed this week that an 87-year-old Baton Rouge woman died earlier this month. Last week the department also indentified a Shreveport-area woman, 81, who died from the same strain.
Health officials have said the number of cases could continue to grow, citing reporting lags and the fact the disease can develop slowly in some people, taking up to two months.
The listeria outbreak is the deadliest food-borne illness outbreak in the United States since 1998.
Five people each have died in New Mexico and Colorado from consuming the tainted fruit, along with two people each in Kansas, Texas and now Louisiana. One has died in Indiana, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, Oklahoma and Wyoming, the CDC said. In addition, one woman who was pregnant at the time of the illness had a miscarriage.
Cases have also been reported in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Idaho, Illinois, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
Groups at high risk for listeria include older adults, people with weakened immune systems and pregnant women, officials have said.
The grower, Jensen Farms of Granada, Colorado, issued a voluntary recall of its Rocky Ford brand cantaloupes on September 14. The tainted cantaloupes should be off store shelves, the CDC said.
Cantaloupes from Jensen Farms should be disposed of immediately, even if some of them have been eaten, the CDC said. If consumers are uncertain about the source of a cantaloupe, they are urged to ask their supermarket. If the source remains unknown, the fruit should be thrown out, officials have said.
Refrigerating a cantaloupe will not kill the bacteria, which can grow at low temperatures, authorities have said, and consumers should not try to wash off the bacteria.
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400aacb9521f43f39655065075d76a9d
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The two latest victims are from which state?
|
[
"Louisiana."
] |
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|
(CNN) -- Agents arrested 20 out of 42 people accused in a California Medicaid fraud ring that allegedly bilked the state out of nearly $4.6 million and put the lives of disabled children at risk, a prosecutor said.
The defendants are accused of either posing as licensed nurses or organizing a scheme to send unlicensed nurses to provide home- or school-based care to disabled patients, many of them children with cerebral palsy or other developmental disabilities, the office of the U.S. attorney for central California said in a written statement.
The long defendant's list makes the case the largest of Medicaid fraud in California, U.S. Attorney Thomas O'Brien said in the statement.
Each defendant has been charged with conspiracy to commit health care fraud and at least one count of health care fraud, according to the statement.
Some parents and patients became suspicious of the nurses when they noticed their lack of skills.
"In one case, a 'nurse' was unable to replace a tracheotomy tube that had fallen out of a young patient's neck. In another case, an impostor nurse simply fled a medical situation when she apparently was unable to provide assistance," according to the statement.
Some of the unlicensed nurses had foreign training, but never passed a U.S. qualifying nursing exam, the attorney's office said, while others had no medical training at all.
Two defendants -- Susan Bendigo and Priscilla Villabroza, the accused ringleaders -- were charged separately.
Bendigo and Villabroza instructed the workers to lie about their status and used the names of licensed nurses on documents, the indictment says.
Villabroza operated a home health agency -- the Santa Fe Springs company Medicare Plus Home Health Providers -- the indictment said. Villabroza, a registered nurse, knowingly hired unlicensed nurses and billed Medi-Cal, California's Medicaid program, for the work of licensed vocational nurses from August 2004 through 2007, the indictment alleges.
Villabroza pleaded guilty last year to five federal counts of health care fraud, the attorney's office said.
Bendigo, a registered nurse, was also director of Santa Fe Springs' Excel Plus Home Health Services, which provided nurses to home health agencies, according to the indictment.
Bendigo also was charged last year but fled the country, the statement said. Officials think she is hiding in the Philippines, said U.S. attorney's spokesman Thom Mrozek.
Villabroza is awaiting sentencing, and could be sent to prison for up to 50 years, Mrozek said.
Each of the 42 new defendants faces a statutory maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison for each charge if convicted, according to the statement.
|
aa858828e29145ac985ba712f39022be
|
what were the nurses names?
|
[
"Susan Bendigo and Priscilla Villabroza,"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- A video showing the last moments of a Polish immigrant, who died after Canadian police shot him with a stun gun at Vancouver International Airport, has been made public.
This image from video shows an agitated Robert Dziekanski, left, before police used a stun gun on him.
Robert Dziekanski, 40, was traveling to join his mother, who lives in British Columbia, when he ended up spending about 10 hours in the airport's arrivals area, The Canadian Press said.
The video shows Dziekanski, who had never flown before, becoming agitated. It then shows Mounties purportedly shocking Robert Dziekanski with a Taser device after confronting him. Dziekanski did not speak English.
The recording was captured by bystander Paul Pritchard on October 14 and was in police hands until he threatened legal action and it was returned to him last week, The Canadian Press reported. Watch as police stun man with Taser »
"Probably the most disturbing part is one of the officers uses his leg and his knee to pin his neck and his head to the ground," Pritchard told CBC News.
The dead man's mother, Zofia Cisowski, told CBC News that Tasers should not be used by police.
"They should do something because that is a killer, a people killer."
The incident is being investigated by police, Canada's national police complaints commission and by the coroner, CBC News reported. E-mail to a friend
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3373398a876042ce9d9a0ed676024d90
|
Who has become agitated?
|
[
"Robert Dziekanski,"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Researchers with a Malaysian university said they have uncovered evidence of an iron industry that dates to the 3rd Century, A.D., and proves that ancient civilizations in Southeast Asia were more advanced than once thought.
The archaeologists from the Universiti Sains Malaysia found the remains of an iron smelting site, tools to pump oxygen into the iron smelting process, rooftops of buildings, beads and pots, said Mokhtar Saidan, a professor and leader of the team.
The discovery was made after a month of excavation at Lembah Bujang, a historical site in Malaysia.
"This is the first discovery of the earliest iron industry in Lembah Bujang and has been dated conclusively. This date also adds on to the facts and data on the early history of Southeast Asia," he said.
He said coal from the site was sent to a laboratory in Florida that said elements in the coal dated to the 3rd Century.
The professor said the discovery confirms that human civilization in the area was more advanced than thought and the site probably was a place for exporting iron in the 3rd Century.
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fbab1660c2024fda8d3e897522eeb689
|
Which ancient civilizations are more advanced than thought?
|
[
"in Southeast Asia"
] |
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|
(CNN) -- At least 14 people were killed and 60 others wounded Thursday when a bomb ripped through a crowd waiting to see Algeria's president in Batna, east of the capital of Algiers, the Algerie Presse Service reported.
A wounded person gets first aid shortly after Thursday's attack in Batna, Algeria.
The explosion occurred at 5 p.m. about 20 meters (65 feet) from a mosque in Batna, a town about 450 kilometers (280 miles) east of Algiers, security officials in Batna told the state-run news agency.
The bomb went off 15 minutes before the expected arrival of President Abdel-Aziz Bouteflika.
It wasn't clear if the bomb was caused by a suicide bomber or if it was planted, the officials said.
Later Thursday, Algeria's Interior Minister Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni said "a suspect person who was among the crowd attempted to go beyond the security cordon," but the person escaped "immediately after the bomb exploded," the press service reported.
Bouteflika made his visit to Batna as planned, adding a stop at a hospital to visit the wounded before he returned to the capital.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing.
Algeria faces a continuing Islamic insurgency, according to the CIA.
In July, 33 people were killed in apparent suicide bombings in Algiers that were claimed by an al Qaeda-affiliated group.
Bouteflika said terrorist acts have nothing in common with the noble values of Islam, the press service reported. E-mail to a friend
CNN's Mohammed Tawfeeq contributed to this report.
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5af01e468f9849a1bbb160152eb438f5
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when did this happen?
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[
"Thursday"
] |
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LAGOS, Nigeria (CNN) -- Royal Dutch Shell said Tuesday that it may not be able to meet its oil supply obligations in Nigeria after an attack on its major pipeline.
Heavily armed Nigerian rebels pose a constant threat to oil pipelines in the country.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), a rebel group, said "detonation engineers backed by heavily armed fighters" sabotaged two of Shell's pipelines early Monday.
After a helicopter flyover of the area, Shell confirmed that parts of its large Nembe Creek "trunk line" were damaged, company spokeswoman Caroline Wittgen said. The company shut down some production "to limit the amount of crude that will spill into the environment," she said.
Hours later, it declared "force majeure," a legal term meaning it could not meet its supply obligations in the region because of the attack.
"[Shell] is working hard to repair the line and restore production," Wittgen said.
Nigeria is the fourth-largest supplier of oil to the United States, and attacks by rebels have helped fuel the year-long spike in crude oil prices. It's one of many factors pushing up the price of gas in the U.S., where one in every 10 barrels of oil comes from Nigeria.
MEND -- the largest rebel group -- has targeted foreign oil companies since 2006. It has bombed pipelines and kidnapped hundreds of foreign oil workers, typically releasing them unharmed, sometimes after receiving a ransom payment.
MEND hopes to secure a greater share of oil wealth for people in the delta, where more than 70 percent of the population lives on less than a dollar a day.
Its attacks on oil facilities have taken a toll.
"Anytime a pipeline is affected, anytime any production gets shut down, you see oil prices jump up one or two dollars a barrel just because there is no slack in the system," said Jim LeCamp, a senior vice president with RBC Wealth Management, which manages assets for wealthy clients worldwide.
Exxon and Shell are two of several companies that have been extracting 2 million barrels of oil a day in Nigeria. Recent rebel attacks on oil pipelines in the Niger Delta have cut overall production by roughly 10 percent -- meaning 200,000 fewer barrels of oil on some days.
That decrease in production comes at a time of increased demand from oil-hungry regions such as China, Russia and Latin America.
"Anytime there's a disruption there, it really affects the system," LeCamp said in a recent interview with CNN.
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eca2e87aaa2142ee849c57a21e66e507
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How many pipelines were sabotaged?
|
[
"two"
] |
NewsQA
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HARARE, Zimbabwe (CNN) -- Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe described the U.S. government and Western nations as "quite stupid and foolish" Tuesday for trying to be involved in the African country's affairs.
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has ignored international calls for him to step down.
Mugabe made the comments at the funeral for a former senior soldier, just days after a top U.S. diplomat said the United States no longer supports a power-sharing deal between Mugabe and his political rival, Morgan Tsvangirai, that might pave the way for economic, health and other reforms.
Jendayi Frazer, U.S. assistant secretary of state for African affairs, said Sunday that the U.S. felt a viable unity government was not possible with Mugabe in power.
At the funeral, Mugabe reacted: "The inclusive government ... does not include Mr. Bush and his administration. It does not even know him. It has no relationship with him. Watch U.S. say Mugabe needs to go »
"So let him keep his comments to himself. They are undeserved, irrelevant and quite stupid and foolish. Who are they to decide who should be included or should not in an inclusive government?"
Mugabe and Tsvangirai, who leads the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, signed the unity deal September 15, but Mugabe's ZANU-PF party and the MDC have failed to implement it because they cannot agree on who should control key ministries.
Under the power-sharing proposal brokered by former South African leader Thabo Mbeki, Mugabe would remain president while Tsvangirai would become prime minister. Watch what options the international community has in Zimbabwe »
U.S. President George W. Bush and other leaders have urged Mugabe to step down amid a cholera epidemic that the United Nations says has killed more than 1,000 people since August.
Mugabe blames Western sanctions for Zimbabwe's worst economic and humanitarian crisis since independence from Great Britain 28 years ago. The nation is facing acute shortages of fuel, electricity and medical drugs. The inflation rate -- the highest in the world -- is 231 million percent.
Mugabe, referring to Bush's call for him to leave office, said: "We realize that these are [the] last kicks of a dying horse. We obviously [are] not going to pay attention to a sunset administration. Zimbabwe's fate lies in the fate of Zimbabweans. They are the ones who make and unmake the leaders of the country. Their decision alone is what we go by."
Bush leaves office January 20.
Tsvangirai announced Friday that his party will withdraw from efforts to form a unity government unless 42 kidnapped party members are released or brought to court to face formal charges by New Year's Day.
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002b2541d1e24510abb902aad4af973b
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What has Mugabe done?
|
[
"ignored international calls for him to step down."
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- A Dutch tourist says she recently spotted missing 4-year-old Madeleine McCann at a French restaurant near Montpellier, McCann family spokesman Clarence Mitchell said Wednesday.
A handout photo, released September 16, 2007, of missing child Madeleine McCann.
The tourist said she recognized Madeleine from the many media reports about the child's May 3 disappearance and may have even seen the well-publicized defect in the little girl's eye, Mitchell said.
"She and a friend saw a child that they immediately took to be Madeleine," said Mitchell. "They actually called out her name.
"A man who was with the child scooped the child up and took her out of the cafe before the girls could take a photograph with their mobile phones," he said.
Mitchell said there is a surveillance tape of the girl in the L'Arche restaurant and Madeleine's parents are hoping to be able to use it to determine if it is their missing daughter. Mitchell explains how the sighting came about »
But The Associated Press, quoting an unnamed police official, is reporting that investigators have determined it was not the missing child.
Police watched the closed-circuit video footage, and despite the child looking like Madeleine, it was not her, said the official, who did not want his name published because he is not authorized to speak to media about the case.
Madeleine disappeared May 3, days before her fourth birthday. Her parents, who were vacationing with her in Portugal, have said she disappeared from their room at a resort while they dined in a nearby restaurant.
Despite a global search and the attention of celebrities like Virgin Chairman Richard Branson, author J.K. Rowling and soccer star David Beckham, there have been no major breaks in the case.
Portuguese investigators in September named the McCanns official suspects in their daughter's disappearance. The McCanns deny involvement, saying they believe Madeleine may have been abducted by pedophiles and taken to North Africa.
A few months ago, there was a reported sighting of Madeleine in Belgium, but nothing came of that report.
Last year, excitement grew when a video surfaced of a Moroccan woman carrying a child on her back who looked very similar to Madeleine.
Authorities determined that it was the woman's child. E-mail to a friend
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50eada07e9634d6f9c245551b83b1e17
|
Who is named as official suspects?
|
[
"McCanns"
] |
NewsQA
|
NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- Police tightened security Wednesday in India's Punjab for the funeral of a preacher whose killing in Vienna, Austria sparked violent protests in the Sikh majority state last week.
The body of Rama Sand lies in state in Vienna before being transported to India.
Top-ranking officers are camping in Jalandhar district, where Rama Nand will be cremated Thursday, said Parag Jain, Punjab's inspector-general of police.
"Security arrangements are elaborate," he told CNN.
Nand's body is due to arrive from Vienna early Thursday in Sachkhand Ballan, a monastery dedicated to Guru Ravidass, a 14th-century low-caste Hindu spiritual figure.
Guru Ravidass' writings are predominantly found in the primary Sikh scriptures called the Guru Granth Sahib, placed in the sect temples as in the Sikh houses of worship.
Sect head Niranjan Dass, who was injured in the Vienna assault, will also be arriving Thursday, Sachkhand Ballan secretary S.R. Heer said.
The sikh guru's death led to widespread violence across the Punjab region, which resulted in the army and federal security forces being called in to restore order.
Thousands took part in demonstrations across the Doaba region, where protesters attacked public transportation, knocking out train service in some areas. They also blocked a national highway to Jammu, CNN sister network CNN-IBN reported.
A number of businesses were ransacked as well. Police reported one death.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, himself a Sikh, appealed for calm, in a statement.
"There is no place for violence in a secular society like India's and certainly no excuse whatsoever for the violation of the sacred premises of a (Sikh temple) for narrow sectarian or other purposes," India's Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.
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35129799c1a94cd99bc0d72a25f46c10
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what will come in on thursday
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[
"Nand's body"
] |
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(CNN) -- Pirates attacked a Japanese cargo ship off the coast of Somalia on Sunday, a Japanese Transportation Ministry official said.
A french navy helicopter watches over a cargo vessel in the Gulf of Aden earlier this year.
A pair of small pirate vessels fired on a ship operated by Mitsui O.S.K. Lines about 4 p.m. Somali time (9 a.m. ET), damaging the front of the ship, but not seriously, according to Masami Suekado.
There were no injuries.
The exact number and makeup of the crew were not immediately known, although none of the crew members is Japanese, Suekado said.
Pirating off Somalia has increase over the past four or five years as fishermen from Somalia realize that pirating is more lucrative.
The crime, which is hard to prevent, has raised concerns internationally.
In 2008, pirates attacked nearly 100 vessels and hijacked as many as 40 off Somalia, according to the International Maritime Bureau.
In response, a number of countries have deployed ships from their navies to the region, including the United States, China and Japan.
Two Japanese destroyers set sail earlier this month on an anti-piracy mission off Somalia, the Japanese defense ministry said.
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7d80e3d927e0403ab4935b09300b4f7b
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when was the vessel hijacked
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[
"Sunday,"
] |
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(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.
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d45e643acd3c4ef6be834c5ce55f5b5d
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When is "Amanpour" on?
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"this Thursday,"
] |
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(CNN) -- Actor Gary Coleman, who had suffered from intracranial brain bleeding and was on life support in the intensive care unit of a Utah hospital, has died, a hospital spokeswoman said Friday.
Family members and close friends were at his side when life support was terminated, Janet Frank said.
Coleman, 42, fell ill at his Santaquin, Utah, home Wednesday evening and was rushed by ambulance to a hospital, the spokesman said in a statement released Friday.
He was then taken to another hospital -- Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo -- later Wednesday night, the spokesman said.
Coleman one of TV's brightest stars in '70s and '80s
The former child actor was "conscious and lucid" Thursday morning, but he "was slipping in and out of consciousness and his condition worsened," the spokesman said.
Coleman became unconscious and was placed on life support Thursday afternoon, the statement, which was released by the hospital, said.
Coleman is best known as the wisecracking youngster Arnold Drummond on TV's "Diff'rent Strokes" from the late 1970s to the mid-1980s.
"In recent years Gary Coleman has had difficulties, not only with health issues, but also with his personal and public life," his spokesman's statement said. "At times, it may not have been apparent, but he always has had fond memories of being an entertainer and appreciates his fans for all their support over the years. At this critical moment, we can only ask for your thoughts and prayers for Gary to make a speedy and full recovery."
CNN's Brittany Kaplan and Jack Hannah contributed to this report.
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a5444b30bb0b4b929580e47d23c73705
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Who was placed on life support?
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[
"Gary Coleman,"
] |
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JENA, Louisiana (CNN) -- Charges against Bryant Purvis, one of the six black students accused of being involved in beating a white student, were reduced to second degree aggravated battery during his arraignment Wednesday morning.
Bryant Purvis says he is focusing on his studies and practicing basketball.
Purvis, who was facing charges of second-degree attempted murder and conspiracy, entered a not guilty plea to the reduced charges in the LaSalle Parish Courthouse in Jena.
Charges have now been reduced against at least five of the students in the racially charged "Jena 6" case. Charges against Jesse Ray Beard, who was 14 at the time of the alleged crime, are unavailable because he's a juvenile.
Civil rights leaders Martin Luther King III and Al Sharpton led more than 15,000 marchers to Jena -- a town of about 3,000 -- in September to protest how authorities handled the cases against Purvis and five other teens accused of the December 2006 beating of fellow student Justin Barker.
After the arraignment, Purvis said he has moved to another town to complete high school. He said he is focusing on his studies and practicing basketball, which he hopes to play in college.
Mychal Bell, 17, is the only one of the "Jena 6" teens still in jail. Although he was released in September after his adult criminal conviction for the beating was overturned, he was ordered two weeks later to spend 18 months in a juvenile facility for a probation violation relating to an earlier juvenile conviction.
A district judge tossed out Bell's conviction for conspiracy to commit second-degree battery, saying the matter should have been handled in juvenile court. The 3rd Circuit Court of Appeal in Lake Charles, Louisiana, did the same with Bell's battery conviction in mid-September.
Prosecutors originally charged all six black students accused of being involved in beating Barker with second-degree attempted murder and conspiracy. E-mail to a friend
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3a95e13438274350b12e5e43da4a8ea0
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What were charges against Bryant Purvis reduced to?
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"second degree aggravated battery"
] |
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(CNN) -- A massive iceberg -- more than twice the size of New York's Manhattan island -- is drifting slowly toward Australia, scientists said Wednesday.
The iceberg, measuring 140 square km (54 square miles), cleaved off an ice shelf nearly 10 years ago and had been floating near Antarctica before commencing on its unusual journey north.
Named B17B, it was about 1,700 km (1,056 miles) off the coast of West Australia, according to the country's Antarctic Division.
"B17B is a very significant one in that it has drifted so far north while still largely intact," said Australian Antarctic Division glaciologist Neal Young, who spotted the slab using satellite images taken by NASA and the European Space Agency.
"It's one of the biggest sighted at those latitudes."
It is unlikely to drift too close to the coast in its current form, Young said. The warmer waters will cause it to melt.
"As the water warms up, the iceberg is slowly breaking up, resulting in hundreds more smaller icebergs in the area," Young said on the Australian Antarctic Division Web site.
In November, an iceberg estimated to be 500 meters wide and 50 meters high was spotted close to Macquarie Island in the southern Pacific drifting towards New Zealand.
Scientists working on the island were astounded by its size.
"We pulled out the binoculars that we use for work on the seals and, sure enough, it was a huge floating island of ice basically and, yeah, it was an incredible sight," Australian researcher Dean Miller told CNN affiliate TVNZ.
The Australian Antarctic Division said the iceberg was part of a flotilla that would have broken off from a larger ice flow that possibly came from the Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica's largest.
Although shipping lanes in this region are not particularly busy in November, the icebergs prompted Maritime New Zealand to issue navigation warnings.
Three years earlier, another family of icebergs led to a small tourist boom when they drifted along the east coast of New Zealand's South Island.
Oceanographer Mike Williams told Radio New Zealand the icebergs had "pretty much the same origin" but that some had probably been trapped in the icy seas of Antarctica for longer, before being carried north by the currents.
However he was reluctant to cite global warming as the reason for the large-scale movement of ice. "We do have to a change our position a little because in 2006 we thought this was a 'once in a lifetime' event.
"But large ice shelf carvings, where the ice comes from, are still only carving on a 30 to 50-year period."
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8dde831d44fc49f69114f82db30b361b
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What was the size of the iceberg?
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[
"140 square km"
] |
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(CNN) -- Inter Milan's defense of their Serie A title may have taken a fatal blow with a 1-0 defeat at arch-rivals Juventus Sunday night.
It left Leonardo's men eight points adrift of city rivals AC Milan, who romped to a 4-0 home win over Parma 24 hours earlier, but they still have a game in hand.
Alessandro Matri scored the winner for improving Juve in Turin after 30 minutes to improve their chances of claiming a Champions League spot.
Frederik Sorensen's cross was missed by Ivan Cordoba and Matri headed home from close in.
It was only the second defeat for Inter under their new Brazilian coach who replaced Rafael Benitez and they offered little as an attacking threat.
The best chance came eight minutes from the end as Samuel Eto'o played a one-two with Wesley Sneijder but Gianluigi Buffon came out sharply to block the Cameroon star's effort.
Earlier, Lazio maintained their title bid with a 2-0 win at Brescia to stay third, seven points adrift.
Goals from Alvaro Gonzalez after 18 minutes and Libor Kozak just before the hour mark secured three vital points for the capital side.
Coach Edy Reja asked the fans to be patient after his side have slipped in recent weeks.
"We were top and then second and then we lost a few places but there are times throughout a long season in which it's normal to have a bad spell," he told AFP.
Udinese also kept up their pursuit of a European place with a 3-0 win at struggling Cesena.
Antonio Di Natale scored a double allied to a strike by Gokhan Inler as they stay fifth.
But Palermo saw their hopes nosedive with a shock 4-2 defeat at home to Fiorentina.
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1098d22b4ec049d38b918b03c6399f38
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Who beat Inter Milan?
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"Juventus"
] |
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The then-senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee urged the CIA in 2003 not to destroy videotapes it had made of the interrogations of terrorist detainees, according to the newly declassified letter.
Lawyers for several Guantanamo detainees say the government has defied orders to preserve evidence.
Rep. Jane Harman wrote in a letter dated February 10, 2003, that destruction of the tapes would "reflect badly on the agency."
The Democrat from California released the letter Thursday.
Last month, the CIA acknowledged videotapes were made in 2002 of two terrorist detainees but were destroyed in 2005. Some of the tapes showed the harsh interrogations of Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri.
In the case of Zubaydah, the tactics captured on videotape included waterboarding, which simulates drowning, a controversial technique that critics consider a form of torture.
Shortly after becoming the ranking member of the Intelligence Committee in 2003, Harman was briefed on the CIA's interrogation and detention program, and the existence of the videotapes. She was told of the intention to destroy the tapes once an internal inquiry into the program was complete.
Harman wrote her letter to the CIA's chief lawyer urging the agency to reconsider its plan.
"Even if the videotape does not constitute an official record that must be preserved under the law, the videotape would be the best proof that the written record is accurate, if such record is called into question in the future," she wrote.
The release of the letter comes a day after the Justice Department announced there is enough evidence to warrant a criminal investigation into the destruction of the CIA tapes. The inquiry will look into whether the CIA or other government officials committed crimes in the handling of the tapes.
Congressional oversight committees are independently investigating the tape destruction.
The House Intelligence Committee has subpoenaed Jose Rodriguez, the former head of the CIA covert service who sources say ordered the destruction of the tapes, to testify before the panel January 16.
CIA General Counsel John Rizzo, who opposed the tape destruction, has agreed to voluntarily appear before the committee. E-mail to a friend
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bd628e60d79d42aba1ab14a863d9cce1
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who is the representative?
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"Rep. Jane Harman"
] |
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NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- Indian tourism authorities will be holding English classes for auto-rickshaw drivers in New Delhi as the city prepares to host the Commonwealth Games in 2010.
Auto-rickshaw drivers are being taught English ahead of the Commenwealth Games.
More than 40,000 natural gas-fueled auto-rickshaws, or motorized three-wheeled taxis, run on the Indian capital's dilapidated roads, according to the city government statistics.
The city is expected to host around 100,000 tourists during the Commonwealth Games scheduled from October 3-14 in 2010.
About 9,000 athletes and officials of 52 Commonwealth countries are likely to participate.
Some 8,000 auto-rickshaw drivers will be enrolled in the training program that will involve classes in yoga, life skills, first aid, spoken English and psychometric tests, federal Tourism Secretary Sujit Banerjee announced Tuesday.
Each trainee will be paid Rs 200, or about $4, daily for attending the program spread over 200 sessions for a year.
Indian auto-rickshaw drivers have often been accused of overcharging, refusing short trips and misbehavior.
Traffic authorities have in the past opened a range of avenues for passengers to lodge their complaints -- such as on help lines, via text messages or simply calling a telephone number printed on the three-wheeled cabs.
"The India image that we strive to convey to a foreign tourist depends, to a large degree, on how good the taxi/auto-rickshaw (driver) that he or she meets is in his demeanor and conduct," Banerjee remarked.
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1e56fe1854c6436c957f95acfa644641
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How many rickshaws ply the roads of Indian capital?
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"More than 40,000"
] |
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(PEOPLE.com) -- Kristin Cavallari has something big to celebrate this holiday season.
The former "Hills" star, 24, is re-engaged to her NFL beau Jay Cutler, 28.
"This time its official," she Tweeted Wednesday. "Jay and I are engaged again :)."
The reality star and the Chicago Bears quarterback originally got engaged in April, only to split in July, leaving Cavallari "absolutely devastated."
But after rooting his ex on in the live audience during her stint on "Dancing with the Stars" in October, a source told PEOPLE Cutler and Cavallari were "working it out."
"I think we both knew from the moment we met that we wanted to marry each other," Cavallari told PEOPLE in May, shortly after her man initially popped the question in Mexico. "It's been a great situation."
See the full article at PEOPLE.com.
© 2011 People and Time Inc. All rights reserved.
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ca8efefcff4e4c6181e43863e967c665
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When were they first engaged?
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"April,"
] |
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(CNN) -- Back in his native South Korea, the Korean Foreign Ministry nicknamed him "Ban-chusa," meaning "the Bureaucrat" or "the administrative clerk."
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has focused on global warming policy by world governments.
While Ban Ki-moon was known for his attention to detail and administrative skill, he was also seen by some as lacking in charisma and subservient to his superiors, while the Korean press called him "the slippery eel" for his ability to dodge questions.
But on October 13, 2006, South Korea's Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon was elected to be the eighth Secretary-General by the United Nations General Assembly.
Following up on a campaign aiming to bring out his charismatic side, Ban surprised the audience of a UN Correspondents' dinner that December by singing "Ban Ki-moon is coming to town" on the melody of "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town."
Ban was born on 13 June 1944. He received a bachelor's degree in international relations from Seoul National University in 1970, and a master's degree in public administration from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in 1985.
He and his wife, Yoo (Ban) Soon-taek, whom he met in high school in 1962, have one son and two daughters. In addition to Korean, Ban speaks fluent English and is studying French.
Ban was the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of the Republic of Korea from January 2004 to November 2006. His tenure included postings in New Delhi, Washington D.C. and Vienna, while he was responsible for a variety of portfolios such as Foreign Policy Advisor to the President, Chief National Security Adviser to the President, Deputy Minister for Policy Planning and Director-General of American Affairs.
Throughout this service, his guiding vision was that of a peaceful Korean peninsula, playing an expanding role for peace and prosperity in the region and the wider world.
Ban had long been actively involved in issues relating to inter-Korean relations. In 1992, as Special Advisor to the Foreign Minister, he served as Vice Chair of the South-North Joint Nuclear Control Commission following the adoption of the historic Joint Declaration on the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
In September 2005, as Foreign Minister, he played a leading role in bringing about another landmark agreement aimed at promoting peace and stability on the Korean peninsula with the adoption at the Six Party Talks of the Joint Statement on resolving the North Korean nuclear issue.
In January 2007 Ban succeeded Kofi Annan and has since pushed the Sudanese government to allow peacekeeping troops in Darfur and focused on global warming policy by world governments.
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d9b852fbd4af4da1b6b5081c56b6d45e
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What is Ban's role in inter-Korean relations?
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[
"Special Advisor to the Foreign Minister,"
] |
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Washington (CNN) -- Apparently no good deed goes unpunished for President Barack Obama, who was trying to make sure he didn't get a flabby belly after Thanksgiving but wound up with a fat lower lip instead.
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said the president received a dozen stitches after getting hit with an errant elbow during a Friday morning basketball game with White House aide Reggie Love and others at the Fort McNair military base in Washington.
The elbow belonged to Rey Decerega, who works for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute. According to White House aides, Decerega went up for a shot and turned into the President, who was playing defense and accidentally got hit in the mouth.
"I learned today the president is both a tough competitor and a good sport," Decerega said in a statement released by the White House. "I enjoyed playing basketball with him this morning. I'm sure he'll be back out on the court again soon."
According to Gibbs, "After being inadvertently hit with an opposing player's elbow in the lip while playing basketball with friends and family, the president received 12 stitches today administered by the White House Medical Unit. They were done in the doctor's office located on the ground floor of the White House."
Aides said Obama was given a local anesthetic while receiving the stitches, and doctors used a smaller-than-usual filament. That increased the number of stitches needed to patch up the tear, but it made a tighter stitch so that the scar on the president's lower lip should be smaller.
Obama frequently plays basketball, works out on a daily basis, and was undoubtedly playing Friday to work off some extra Thanksgiving calories. An official White House menu showed that in addition to turkey and the usual trimmings, the first family dined Thursday on six types of pie: apple, sweet potato, pumpkin, banana cream, cherry, and huckleberry.
Asked by CNN if Decerega will be getting a presidential pardon, a top White House aide just laughed.
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204bc6b7eda94e15944894fb9d3cbb01
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What did the ownder call Obama
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[
"tough competitor and a good sport,\""
] |
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MOGADISHU, Somalia (CNN) -- An enraged crowd dragged the body of an Ethiopian soldier through the streets of Somalia's capital Thursday after gun battles with Islamic insurgents killed 19 people, witnesses reported.
In a brutal echo of a 1993 battle involving Somali militias in which the bodies of U.S. troops were dragged through the streets, crowds Thursday shouted "God is great" as they pulled the bruised, bullet-riddled corpse through a dusty Mogadishu neighborhood.
The body was bound hand and foot with wire and wrapped in a sheet of plastic when insurgents pulled it out of a car and left it with the crowd in the northern Mogadishu neighborhood of Suqa Holaha, witnesses reported.
Nine Ethiopians are reportedly part of the 19 dead.
Another battle broke out on the city's south side Thursday morning between Ethiopian troops and insurgents armed with heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades. The fighting drove hundreds more people from their homes, on top of the tens of thousands aid agencies say have fled in recent weeks.
"Ethiopians will launch violent attacks on us, for some of their comrades have been killed today," said Rahma Nor Omar, an elderly woman in the capital. "They will be like wounded animals."
Witnesses put the death toll from the day's clashes at 19, including Ethiopian troops, insurgents and civilians.
Ethiopian troops arrived in Somalia in December 2006 to help a weak Somali government drive the Islamic Courts Union out of Mogadishu and restore a U.N.-backed transitional government after a decade and a half of near-anarchy. The Islamists responded by launching an insurgency against Somali government and Ethiopian troops that has lasted nearly a year.
The United States accused the ICU of harboring suspected al Qaeda figures, including three men wanted in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya, and raised no objections to Ethiopian presence in Somalia.
Washington has long been concerned that Somalia could turn into a safe haven for terrorists, but ICU leaders denied harboring al Qaeda suspects. E-mail to a friend
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8bab83dcdfd5458aa3ba7e9bbab7f7e4
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In what ways is Washington concerned that Somalia could turn into a safe haven for terrorists?
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[
"harboring suspected al Qaeda figures,"
] |
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(CNN) -- An 18-year-old suspect in Tuesday's bus-stop shootings that wounded seven people in Detroit, Michigan, surrendered to authorities Wednesday, police said.
Detroit's deputy police chief called Tuesday's shootings "a travesty."
Detroit Police Chief James Barren said Jamall Turner is one of two suspects in the shootings, which occurred at a bus stop near Cody High School after summer-school classes had ended for the day.
Two men got out of a green minivan and "fired multiple shots at a group of teens waiting on a bus," he said. Police were investigating rumors from witnesses that the shootings were gang-related.
Officials said Tuesday that the gunmen asked for a person by name before shooting, getting back into their vehicle and fleeing.
A third person was waiting in the minivan to aid in their escape, he said.
Police have impounded two vehicles matching the van's description but do not know whether either was actually involved in the crime, he said.
On Tuesday, police took another person into custody in an arrest that was not related to the shootings, "but we believe that the arrested individual may shed light on the bus-stop shooting," he said.
Deputy Police Chief James W. Tolbert said three of the victims remained hospitalized Wednesday with wounds that were not life-threatening.
He said police believe that semiautomatic handguns were used.
"Any time there is a shooting and we have young people shot, it's a travesty," he said. "We have to get our youth to understand that conflict resolution isn't picking up a gun."
Tolbert added that the police are instituting a "safe-routes-to-school program."
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8de3e470a9154430971c9277e6989a1f
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How many people were injured?
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[
"seven"
] |
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Air Force is returning F-15E Strike Eagle jets to service over Iraq and Afghanistan after grounding other F-15s, the Air Force said Wednesday.
The Air Force grounded models of its F-15 fleet after the crash of an older model F-15C this month.
The F-15s were grounded after a crash earlier this month in Missouri of an older model that disintegrated in flight.
Each F-15E must pass an inspection of critical parts on the airframe before returning to flying missions, Air Force officials said.
All U.S. Air Force 224 E-model aircraft will undergo a one-time inspection of hydraulic system lines, the Air Force statement said.
The longerons -- molded, metal strips of the aircraft fuselage that run from front to rear -- will also be inspected, according to the Air Force.
The straps and skin panels in and around the environmental control system bay will also be examined, officials said.
The Air Force would not say whether the parts being inspected were part of the problem on the aircraft that crashed.
The investigation into why that plane fell apart in flight is still ongoing and Air Force officials will not say what happened until the investigation is complete, an Air Force spokesperson said.
Air Force officials said the rest of the almost 500 F-15s -- older airframes than the F-15Es -- will remain grounded until the investigation offers a solution to what happened.
The E-model aircraft, the youngest and most sophisticated in the F-15 inventory, is heavily used by Central Command for ground support in the U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
It is also used for the homeland security mission over the United States known as Operation Noble Eagle.
On November 3, the Air Force grounded all of its F-15s in response to a November 1 crash of a Missouri Air National Guard F-15C in Boss, Missouri.
The grounding forced Central Command to use other Air Force, Navy and French fighters to fill the gaps, though Strike Eagles did fly to support troops in battle in Afghanistan as an emergency measure while they were still under grounding orders, according to Central Command reports.
The plane that crashed, built in 1980, was one of the older F-15s in the fleet.
The F-15E Strike Eagle is an air-to-ground and air-to-air fighter, making it more versatile than other F-15 models, which are used for only air-to-air missions.
The Strike Eagle is used in Afghanistan and Iraq in its air-to-ground role, using its advanced sensors to drop bombs on targets. E-mail to a friend
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295fb13e59944443908dca063a559946
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which is the model aircraft undego a one-time inspection?
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"U.S. Air Force 224 E-model"
] |
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KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- The number of people killed in a car bombing in Afghanistan's capital rose to 26, including six Italian soldiers, Afghan authorities said Saturday.
The coffins of six Italian soldiers killed in a suicide attack in Kabul return to Rome.
Sixteen people died in the blast Thursday, and at least 55 Afghan civilians were wounded. Ten have died from their injuries since the bombing.
The explosion Thursday targeted a mostly residential area near the Supreme Court in Kabul, a witness said.
The bodies of the Italian soldiers killed in the blast returned to Italy Sunday, their coffins draped in the red, green and white Italian flag.
Dignitaries, relatives and row upon row of uniformed troops stood on the airport tarmac as the coffins were carried off the plane, television pictures from the scene showed. Watch more about Italy in mourning »
Italy's President Giorgio Napolitano gently touched the caskets perched on the shoulders of grim-faced soldiers at Rome's Ciampino military airport. Nearby, a woman shook uncontrollably as a baby sported a maroon beret -- the kind worn by the paratroopers killed in the Kabul attack.
The six deaths marked largest number of Italians killed in a single day in Afghanistan. Watch more about Italy's Afghan mission »
Before the remains left for Rome, the Italian military, international troops and dignitaries held a service in the Afghan capital.
"It's a tragedy for us," Lt. Col. Renato Vaira of the Italian military said at the Kabul service. "But this is a point to continue our mission."
"We'll miss them. They're not the first. I hope it will be the last," said Maj. Gen. Tommaso Ferro of the Italian military.
The arrival of the soldiers' remains was televised nationally in Italy. The bodies were taken for an autopsy. A day of mourning is scheduled in Italy on Monday, the same day as the burial service.
After the attack, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said it would be "best" for the country's troops to leave Afghanistan as soon as possible. Berlusconi gave no timeline for a withdrawal, but said any pullout would have to be coordinated with allies.
The 500 troops Italy sent to Afghanistan this summer will be home by Christmas, Ignazio La Russa, Italy's defense minister said.
The troops were sent ahead of the Afghan presidential election August 20. The rest of Italy's 2,800 troops in Afghanistan will withdraw only when NATO calls for it, La Russa said.
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77d4aeb589634f3aa8f1256bbf73e91e
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what did the italian prime minister say?
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"Silvio Berlusconi said it would be \"best\" for the country's troops to leave Afghanistan as soon as possible."
] |
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Sen. Hillary Clinton's chief presidential campaign strategist is quitting his post amid criticism of his public relations firm's contacts with the Colombian government over a pending free-trade deal, Clinton's campaign announced.
Mark Penn will continue to advise Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.
Mark Penn and his political consulting firm will continue to advise the New York senator's Democratic presidential bid, but Penn will give up his job as chief strategist, campaign manager Maggie Williams said.
"After the events of the last few days, Mark Penn has asked to give up his role as chief strategist of the Clinton campaign," Williams said.
Clinton did not answer reporters' questions about Penn's exit during a campaign stop in New Mexico on Sunday.
Penn is CEO of public relations giant Burson-Marsteller and is president of Penn, Schoen and Berland, his political consulting firm.
Friday, he acknowledged he had met with the Colombian ambassador to the United States earlier in the week in his role as Burson-Marsteller's chief to discuss the pending U.S.-Colombia trade pact, which Clinton has criticized on the campaign trail.
Penn called the meeting "an error in judgment that will not be repeated," and apologized. That prompted Colombia's government to fire the company Saturday, calling the remarks "a lack of respect to Colombians."
Clinton and top aides were sharply critical of rival Democrat Barack Obama in February when reports indicated that his top economic adviser had suggested to a Canadian official that Obama was not as supportive of changes to the North American Free Trade Agreement as the Illinois senator claimed to be on the campaign trail.
Penn said Friday that Clinton's opposition to the U.S.-Colombia pact, which the Bush administration is trying to push through Congress, "is clear and was not discussed" during his meeting with the ambassador. And Clinton spokesman Mo Elleithee said Penn's meeting was "not in any way done on behalf of the campaign."
But Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell -- a key Clinton backer in his state's April 22 primary -- suggested Sunday that Penn needed to go.
"I think you've got to make it very clear for someone who is a consultant, who you are representing and who you are not representing, and I would hope that Mr. Penn, when he talked to the Colombians, made that clear. And it doesn't sound to me like he did, and that's something the campaign should take into question," Rendell told NBC's "Meet the Press."
Sources in the Clinton campaign said that Penn realized this weekend that he needed to step aside, and that Clinton was disappointed that he had met with the Colombians. E-mail to a friend
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edc4ee6728f54ddb9d1a79e94c68a0c9
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What company CEO is Mark Penn?
|
[
"Burson-Marsteller"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Ferrari have unveiled their new car, the F10, which the Italian manufacturer hopes will see them return to the front of the Formula One grid.
Last season saw Ferrari struggle to keep up with Brawn GP, McLaren and Red Bull and team boss Stefano Domenicali told the BBC that he believes the new car will be far more competitive than the 2009 version.
"We are coming off a season that was not competitive and this should mark a turning point. We want to win the world title once again," said Domeniciali.
Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso's move to Ferrari was one of Formula One's worse-kept secrets but, now his move has been confirmed, the Spaniard admits he cannot wait to get started.
"This is my first presentation with a Ferrari and it's very exciting," he told the official Ferrari Web site. "I want to thank the team for their great work, but also the sponsors and everybody else."
Alonso will partner Brazilian Felipe Massa, who has now fully recovered from his life-threatening crash in Hungary last July, and chairman Luca Cordero di Montezemolo believes both drivers will compliment each other superbly.
"They know how to race for a team and not for themselves. I'm expecting a lot from them. Felipe is strong, stronger than he has ever been. In Budapest I told him: 'you'll be back even stronger'' and he has."
Formula One rules changes have been taken into account when constructing the new F10 and Luca Marmorini, head of engine and electronics, commented: "From a technical point of view reducing the consumption was one of the most interesting things this year. Consumption means performance.
"There won't be any refuelling anymore so consuming less means less petrol on board and therefore better lap times. Whoever consumes less will be faster on the track."
|
3aabecae580942aeb4cb868ce956f31c
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What has Alonso done?
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[
"move to Ferrari"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Flooding and resulting landslides killed 137 people Thursday and Friday in this nation's northern provinces, including Baguio City, Benguet Province and Mountain Province, the Office of Civil Defense in Cordillera said Friday.
A boatman transports three empty wooden coffins on the edge of Laguna Lake east of Manila on Thursday.
Another 43 people were missing and 45 were injured, it said.
Landslides blocked traffic along the Marchos Highway, Naguilian Road, Kennon Road and Ambuklao Road, cutting access to Baguio City, Benguet Province and Mountain Province, it said.
The floods were unleased by tropical depression Parma, which had been downgraded from a typhoon.
Earlier reports from Rocky Baraan, provincial administrator of Pangasinan, said flooding had inundated 32 towns and two cities, Dagupan and Urdaneta. Some 35,000 people had fled to evacuation centers, the official Philippines News Agency reported, citing the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council.
The worst-hit areas included Bayambang, Alcala and Basista, the news agency reported.
People clambered onto rooftops as floodwaters rose, calling and texting for help. Rescue trucks were hampered by floodwaters that reach the roofs of single-story houses, Baraan said. About 16 rubber rescue boats had been deployed.
Since the rains started in central Luzon, three dams in the Pangasinan area have been releasing vast amounts of water -- up to 10 million cubic meters per hour at one dam, dam officials said.
Water passing through the three dams -- the Ambuklao, the Binga and the San Roque -- is rushing into the Agno River, which has been swollen since Thursday and affects seven towns in eastern Pangasinan, dam officials said.
Water released from the San Roque dam has contributed to the flooding in eastern Pangasinan, acknowledged Alex Palada, division manager for flood forecasting and warning of the National Power Corporation. Dam officials had no choice but to maintain safe water levels, he added, noting that he alerted Pangasinan Governor Amado Espino. The governor started to evacuate residents Thursday when the Agno River started to rise, Palada said.
In the last several days, water has become the Philippines' biggest enemy, as Parma, locally known as "Pepeng," dumped as much as 36 inches (91.4 centimeters) of rain in some parts of the nation of islands, compounding misery in areas already flooded by earlier storm Ketsana.
Parma was forecast to have winds of no greater than 39 mph (63 kph) by Friday.
The U.S. Navy was expected to join rescue operations in Pangasinan, according to the agency.
Journalist Lilibeth Frondoso and CNN's Judy Kwon contributed to this report.
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d029dc61578e4a63b2bb461fbefee46b
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What were unleased by tropical depression parma?
|
[
"The floods"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- The winner of the 82nd annual Scripps National Spelling Bee said Friday she is "pretty excited" but a little tired.
Kavya Shivashankar of Olathe, Kansas, reacts to winning the Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday night.
"This has been my dream for so long; I've always wanted to win the bee," Kavya Shivashankar, 13, of Olathe, Kansas, told CNN. "I was just really excited when I was able to go up and spell the last word."
The eighth-grader won $40,000 in cash and prizes for nailing the final word, "Laodicean," which means lukewarm or indifferent, particularly in matters of politics or religion.
This year's bee -- an event that has skyrocketed in popularity thanks to exposure on television and in movies -- started Tuesday in Washington with a record 293 spellers. Kavya endured 15 rounds.
In an event that has seen contestants crack under the strain of the national spotlight, Kavya -- competing in her fourth national finals -- appeared composed throughout. Watch the poised winner describe the thrill »
As she spelled words such as "phoresy," "hydrargyrum" and "huisache," she calmly went through the routine of asking each word's pronunciation, origin and roots before ticking their spellings off for the judges.
"I focus so much on my word; I don't really pay attention to all the cameras and photographers and all the media in front of me," she said Friday.
Kavya's father, who is her spelling coach, would tap his foot in time as she spelled the words, and at one point he appeared so confident that he waved to someone while his daughter was in the middle of spelling a word.
Second-place finisher Tim Ruiter of Reston, Virginia, bowed out after misspelling "Maecenas," meaning a generous patron of the arts.
Kavya said she would miss competing in the spelling bee, as the rules do not permit her to enter next year.
"It was such a big part of my life, and I love doing it," she said. However, she may someday have a new role in the competition. "If my [little] sister gets to D.C. sometime soon, I'd really love to help and coach her," she said.
Kavya attends California Trail Junior High School in the Kansas City suburb. Her hobbies include swimming, cycling and traditional Indian dance, according to the contest's Web site. She plans on becoming a neurosurgeon.
The first National Spelling Bee took place in 1925, with five contestants.
CNN's Devon Sayers contributed to this report.
|
1324dd4779e346c79135c8ed9b85c59f
|
Who will receive $40,000 in cash and prizes?
|
[
"Kavya Shivashankar"
] |
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(CNN) -- Three Americans rescued last week from captivity in the Colombian jungle left a medical center for their homes Saturday, hoping for some time out of the spotlight as they reconnect with loved ones.
Left to right, Thomas Howes, Keith Stansell and Marc Gonsalves address reporters before flying home Saturday.
Keith Stansell, Marc Gonsalves and Thomas Howes -- hostages of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia for more than five years -- left the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas.
"There's family members that are waiting for us, and just imagine if you hadn't seen your family in 5½ years," Stansell said, asking the media to allow the former captives some space. "Let us go home and be family men again."
"We're going to come out and we're going to talk, but right now, what we want to do is rest," Gonsalves said.
All three were headed home to Florida, and Stansell and Howes flashed their new Florida driver's licenses before they boarded a plane.
The three men had been undergoing a reintegration process at the medical center. FARC had held the three U.S. government contractors since February 2003 after their plane went down in a remote region of the South American country.
They and former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt were among 15 hostages rescued on July 2 in a Colombian military operation. The three Americans arrived at Brooke Army Medical Center later that day.
The three Americans urged the media not to forget the hundreds of other hostages still held by FARC.
"Don't forget the people that are still there," Stansell said. "There are fellow hostages that are still there. Some have 10 years [as a hostage]," he said. "Right this minute, they're in chains, looking for food, and they're on the run. And their families haven't seen them in 10 years."
It is estimated that FARC holds some 750 hostages.
The leftist rebel group took up arms in 1964 and grew from a rag-tag band of 48 fighters to a self-styled "people's army" of more than 21,000 combatants in 2001, according to Colombian government figures.
The government now estimates the FARC fighting force has dwindled to around 8,000 after a wave of desertions.
On Saturday, the rescued Americans talked of looking forward to spending time with their relatives.
"We're going to go home now. We're going to rest, we're going to unwind for about a month and a half," Gonsalves said.
|
0c36d67443564f44bc54297ebf456a13
|
What does FARC stand for?
|
[
"Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Universities nationwide were recovering Friday, a day after protests over education budget cuts hit campuses from coast to coast.
Though many of the demonstrations were peaceful, some turned chaotic.
On the West Coast, the University of California, Santa Cruz, was scheduled to reopen Friday. The crush of demonstrators on Thursday caused administrators to close the northern California campus.
"Please check back for information on the campus's planned return to service on Friday," the university Web site said.
The protest, dubbed the March 4 National Day of Action, sent thousands of students, educators and supporters to the streets to challenge budget cuts and tuition increases.
In Oakland, California, police arrested 160 protesters who shut down a freeway, authorities said.
Police stopped students from shutting down a freeway near the University of California, Davis, in northern California.
Demonstrations occurred in other states including Colorado, New York and Wisconsin. A blog called Student Activism, which compiled a list of the protests, said 122 events were slated in 33 states, most on campuses and some at state capitols.
Many of Thursday's demonstrations focused on cuts in state funding for colleges and universities, which supporters say drive up tuition, limit classes and make higher education unobtainable to many.
State funding for the California State University system was reduced by nearly $1 billion for the academic years between 2008 and 2010. Schools have responded by increasing fees, canceling classes, cutting student support programs and furloughing professors. Fees have increased 182 percent since 2002. Class waiting lists have doubled or tripled.
"The less affordable education becomes, the less likely low-income students will be able to get a college education," said Lillian Taiz, president of the California Faculty Association and a professor of history at California State University, Los Angeles.
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18ac7b1a4c4c47678e868a2cc034a748
|
What caused tuition fee hikes?
|
[
"education budget"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Fifteen employees were fired for improperly accessing medical records of Nadya Suleman, the mother of octuplets, a Kaiser Permanente spokesman said Monday.
Nadya Suleman has been the subject of much curiosity since she gave birth to octuplets.
"We always provide training on the importance of patient privacy and confidentiality," said Jim Anderson, the hospital spokesman.
"We knew from the time she (Nadya Suleman) was admitted to the hospital in December, this case would attract attention.
"Numerous training sessions were held to remind people of the need to keep the information confidential."
Eight other employees of the Bellflower, California hospital were disciplined for accessing Suleman's files, Anderson said.
Anderson said there's no indication that any of the information was distributed outside the hospital to the media.
Suleman, a resident La Habra, California, and already a single mother with six young children, gave birth to the octuplets through in-vitro fertilization, fueling controversy.
News of her collecting public assistance for some of her children also outraged many taxpayers.
|
24769519ca944f96a4acbde63d611f0c
|
how many people were disciplined?
|
[
"Fifteen"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Two teenage girls from Great Britain will fly home Thursday after spending a year behind bars in Ghana for drug-smuggling, the British High Commission in the west African country said.
The girls were stopped by customs officials at Accra trying to smuggle drugs back to Britain.
Ghanaian police arrested the teenagers, identified as Yasemin Vatansever and Yatunde Diya, in July 2007 as they prepared to board a British Airways flight to London.
When officials searched their laptop bags as part of departure formalities, they found about 13 lbs (6 kg) of cocaine.
The girls, now 17, were 16 at the time of their arrest. They faced a maximum sentence of three years.
UK media have named the girls as Yatunde Diya and Yasemin Vatansever of north London.
In January, a juvenile court in Ghana sentenced the pair to nine months in jail for trying to smuggle cocaine out of the country.
At the time, a British Foreign Office spokesman said the teens would not have to serve the full sentence because they had already spent more than six months in custody.
But soon afterward, Ghanaian authorities changed their minds. The girls were housed in a correctional home for girls in the country's capital, Accra.
Fair Trials International, a UK-based group that provided legal assistance to the pair, called the girls "pawns in a larger operation."
Authorities in Ghana had said a man paid the girls £6,000 (about $11,700) to fly to Ghana to retrieve the laptop bags containing the drugs from two of his associates, according to the country's national news agency.
Those men have not been caught.
"The girls have served their full sentences, but the men who groomed them and lured them to Ghana remain free to target other vulnerable young women," said Catherine Wolthuizen, Fair Trials' chief executive, in a statement this week.
Ghana and other West African countries have become a transit point for drugs headed to Europe. The girls were arrested in a joint Britain-Ghana drug detection operation, the UK's customs agency said Wednesday.
CNN's Laura Maestro contributed to this report
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af2049ecd1954cc5a7e86998614bbf6f
|
What did the UK legal aid group say?
|
[
"\"pawns in a larger operation.\""
] |
NewsQA
|
(Entertainment Weekly) -- It couldn't top its predecessors, but "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" still brought in quite a haul, grossing an estimated $87 million for the opening weekend of the summer movie season.
Hugh Jackman stars as the title character in "X-Men Origins: Wolverine."
The Hugh Jackman pic brought in a strong $21,225 per-theater average in 4,099 movie houses, despite generating mixed reviews. The film fell $15 million short of 2006's "X-Men: The Last Stand" but it is still an enormous success for Jackman and director Gavin Hood.
Matthew McConaughey's "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past" generated an estimated $15.3 million for a second place bow.
It's not a shabby opening but it is far less than McConaughey's previous romantic outings including last year's "Fool's Gold" ($21.6 million) or 2006's "Failure to Launch" ($24.2 million). (Perhaps women were too busy checking out all those hunky mutants this weekend?) The two new openers did help the industry maintain its year-over-year increase of 16 percent.
Also aiding that statistic was Beyonce Knowles' "Obsessed." Dropping a not-surprising 57 percent for its second weekend in theaters, the thriller earned another $12.2 million to put its ten-day gross at a shockingly strong $47 million.
And Zac Efron's "17 Again" showed surprising stamina, too, grossing an additional $6.3 million its third weekend for a total take of $48.4 million.
The other new wide release for the weekend was the anemic 3-D animated sci-fi film "Battle for Terra." Opening on 1162 theaters, the Justin Long, Evan Rachel Wood-voiced feature proved to be little competition for the other 3-D movie in the marketplace.
Dreamworks Animation's juggernaut "Monsters vs. Aliens" grossed another $5.8 million its sixth weekend for the fifth slot in the rankings, while newcomer "Terra" couldn't muster more than $1 million for a twelfth place in the box office derby.
Summer has officially begun -- at least in Hollywood -- so expect a giant event film every weekend. Wolverine may have bowed mightily but with "Star Trek" hot on its heels next weekend, the Marvel superhero is going to need more than adamantium to maintain its box office lead.
CLICK HERE to Try 2 RISK FREE issues of Entertainment Weekly
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80c02a8ca87e4a329f046bca31899a41
|
How much did Wolverine take at the box office?
|
[
"$87 million"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Christopher Lloyd picked through the charred remnants of his Montecito, California, home Monday morning, resigning himself to the fact it cannot be rebuilt.
Christopher Lloyd's $11 million home in Montecito, California, was destroyed by the "Tea Fire."
The "Back to the Future" and "Taxi" star showed ABC's "Good Morning America" what remained of his $11 million home in the exclusive celebrity neighborhood northwest of Los Angeles.
"Boy, look at that," Lloyd said as he approached the rubble. "All this happens in a couple of minutes."
Lloyd's home was among dozens of homes lost in wildfires in Southern California.
The "Tea Fire" which started at the privately owned Tea Garden Estate, about a mile north of Santa Barbara's Westmont College, ripped through an area that Oprah Winfrey, Michael Douglas, Rob Lowe and other celebrities call home.
Lloyd told "Good Morning America" that it was "just sort of sinking in" that his home was gone for good.
"It's amazing, its just gone," Lloyd told "Good Morning America." "Rebuilding would be -- it's too much. You can't rebuild that."
The home's windows were blown out, entire sections demolished, and piles of concrete, ashy trees and shrubbery were scattered across the property.
"You watch TV, you see these kinds of incidents happening here and there, but you look with a kind of detachment because it's happening ... elsewhere," he told "Good Morning America." "But suddenly to be in the midst of it -- it's a very different awareness."
Lloyd joked that he had been planning on organizing and storing memorabilia from the home, but never got around to it.
"Kind of don't have to worry about that now," he said.
|
4cb52515290748eeb35c74bf6d8646af
|
Whose home was one of the dozens destroyed by California wildfires?
|
[
"Christopher Lloyd's"
] |
NewsQA
|
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Some $700 million in economic stimulus money intended to upgrade baggage screening systems at airports will go further than originally expected, Department of Homeland Security officials said Wednesday.
The new systems can process up to 500 bags an hour, compared to the 150 to 160 bags per hour on the older machines, the TSA said.
The DHS said the money will now upgrade systems at 10 additional airports. Earlier this year the DHS announced funding for baggage screening at airports in 15 cities.
The money will be used to speed up construction of in-line baggage screening systems, which take advantage of the airline's existing conveyor belt systems to check bags, eliminating the need for minivan-size bomb detection systems now found in many airport lobbies.
Government auditors have long complained about existing systems, which the Transportation Security Administration rushed into place to meet congressional deadlines after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
At airports with in-line systems, airline workers at the ticketing counters place the bags on conveyor belts, which pass through explosive detectors on their way to the aircraft. That is more efficient than stand-alone systems, which the TSA employees must staff.
In addition, in-line systems can process up to 500 bags an hour, compared to the 150 to 160 bags per hour processed by stand-alone machines, the TSA said.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said in a statement that DHS was able to "stretch our resources" by managing the recovery money and by negotiating with airports.
In addition to the $700 million intended for checked baggage systems, $300 million is being allocated for checkpoint technology, such as new X-ray machines, "whole body imaging" technology and bottled liquid scanners.
The new airports expected to get stimulus money for in-line explosive detection systems are:
• Washington Dulles International Airport (Chantilly, Virginia)
• Lambert-St. Louis International Airport (St. Louis, Missouri)
• Yellowstone Regional Airport (Cody, Wyoming)
• William P. Hobby Airport (Houston, Texas)
• St. Petersburg/Clearwater International Airport (St. Petersburg, Florida)
• Gallatin Field Airport (Bozeman, Montana)
• Little Rock National Airport (Little Rock, Arkansas)
• Tulsa International Airport (Tulsa, Oklahoma)
• Charlotte Douglas International Airport (Charlotte, North Carolina)
• Colorado Springs Airport (Colorado Springs, Colorado)
Earlier this year, DHS announced funding for airports in the following cities: Atlanta, Georgia; Columbus, Ohio; Dayton, Ohio; Honolulu, Hawaii; Huntsville, Alabama; Jackson, Wyoming; Maui, Hawaii; New Orleans, Louisiana; Orange County, California; Orlando, Florida; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Portland, Maine; and Sacramento, San Francisco and San Jose, California.
To learn more about the DHS Recovery Act projects, visit www.dhs.gov/recovery.
|
5793a9df3dff42c38d599f3f58a67be5
|
What does the department of Homeland security say can happen with stimulus money?
|
[
"will be used to speed up construction of in-line baggage screening systems,"
] |
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.
|
d114d01a615c40a7a02043b56de38aba
|
What do experts say about the weapon?
|
[
"they could not determine if the launcher had been fired, but indicated they should know once they find out where it came from."
] |
NewsQA
|
Marjah, Afghanistan (CNN) -- U.S. Marines fighting the Taliban in southern Afghanistan achieved a main objective Tuesday -- taking over the police headquarters in the center of the Taliban stronghold of Marjah.
CNN correspondent Atia Abawi, embedded with the Marines, said troops didn't receive any resistance when they took the station, but gun battles broke out in the area a few hours later.
There was an engagement for 15 to 20 minutes, with constant gunfire coming from different directions, and there have been "sporadic battles," Abawi said.
Unlike previous days, there was fighting in the evening, with Taliban militants trying to attack Marine locations with small arms and rocket-propelled grenades. One of the grenades hit close to one of the U.S. positions and a fire broke out.
About 15,000 Afghan and NATO forces are taking part in Operation Moshtarak, which focuses on the town of Marjah and surrounding areas in Helmand province. Set in a region known as the country's heroin capital, Marjah is where the Taliban established a shadow government.
The military says the goal of Operation Moshtarak is to provide security, governance and development, and authorities hope fighters choose to reject the insurgency and join the government's reintegration process.
Clearing out poppy fields is a key part of the push, the biggest since the Afghanistan War started in 2001. The Taliban finances its activities in part through the illegal opium trade.
One of the biggest challenges facing the NATO mission in Afghanistan is attacking the Taliban while limiting civilian casualties. On Sunday, 12 civilians died in a rocket attack by coalition troops. Three other Afghan civilians were killed by NATO in separate incidents on Sunday and Monday.
On Tuesday, Abawi spoke to one civilian whose property had been destroyed in the initial push by Marines. Despite that, he said he was happy to see Americans arrive and noted that Marines promised to pay for the damages to his home.
He said Afghans have suffered under the Taliban, who he said had beheaded some people and forced their way into people's homes for food.
|
97b38abe063d418aa701d74ae110a82a
|
Who has a shadow government?
|
[
"the Taliban"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- The bodies of seven of eight snowmobilers missing after Sunday's avalanches in southeastern British Columbia have been found, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said Monday.
Authorities found seven bodies a day after avalanches in British Columbia, Canada.
One man still was missing, but rescue personnel suspended their search near Fernie, British Columbia, at mid-afternoon Monday because of heavy snowfall and dense low clouds, the RCMP said.
The search will resume Tuesday morning, authorities said.
All eight men -- and three others who escaped -- faced two avalanches Sunday afternoon about 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) east of Fernie, a town in the Canadian Rockies about 300 kilometers (186 miles) southwest of Calgary, Alberta.
The three survivors suffered minor injuries, and one of them was hospitalized overnight.
The men had been in an area called Harvey Pass, which police called a popular backcountry snowmobile destination. Officials said an avalanche buried part of the group, and a second buried the rest as they tried to assist.
"Two of the buried riders managed to self-rescue within about 20 minutes. These two used their avalanche beacons to locate a third buried victim who they rescued after an additional 20 minutes of digging," police said. iReport.com: Wyoming avalanche training covers pulling people out of snow
A search command post was set up Sunday, but darkness and avalanche hazards prompted authorities to postpone the search until Monday.
On Monday morning, before the bodies were found, authorities said searchers and police dogs were being dispatched to the rugged, snowy area, and crews would dig into any sites where searchers thought they might find any of the missing men.
The snowmobilers resided in Sparwood, a small town just north of Fernie. Sparwood's mayor, David Wilks, said Monday morning that "it certainly doesn't look good" for the missing.
"Reality tells us if you're stuck in the snow for about 24 hours, bad things can happen," he said.
The region has had previous coal mine disasters, "but in recent memory, this is the largest single tragic event to hit this community," Wilks said. iReport.com: Are you there? Share photos, video
He said the snowmobilers are men in their mid- to late 20s and described them as upstanding citizens, most of them working in coal mines or as businessmen.
"All were well aware of the dangers involved in snowmobiling. All are very cautious with what was going on," Wilks said.
The mayor said temperatures had been as low as minus-30 degrees Fahrenheit in recent weeks, but the air had warmed up in the last two or three days to 25 degrees Fahrenheit.
CNN's Nick Valencia contributed to this report.
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b98ff662f3d84d009168a063f39af0e6
|
Where was the group snowmobiling?
|
[
"British Columbia"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Pirates have hijacked a Norwegian tanker off the coast of Madagascar and are steering the ship toward Somalia, the ship's owner said.
The captain of the UBT Ocean called the technical director for Broevigtank, the company that owns the ship, and reported that pirates had come aboard Friday, said Svenn Pederson, CEO of Broevigtank.
Contact with the captain has since been lost. But the company has been tracking the vessel.
Pederson said the ship was carrying fuel destined for Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and has 21 crew members aboard.
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4f417201393746828889aee673d93fe4
|
Where did the hijacking occur?
|
[
"off the coast of Madagascar"
] |
NewsQA
|
MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) -- The Russian parliament approved a constitutional amendment Friday to extend the presidential term from four to six years.
Vladimir Putin was barred constitutionally from seeking a third consecutive term as president.
There is widespread speculation in Russian media that the change is aimed at paving the way for a return to the Kremlin by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who remains a popular and powerful figure since leaving the president's office in May.
The Kremlin maintains the amendment -- along with other proposed changes to the terms in office for elected officials -- is necessary to ensure the stability of future Russian governments.
President Dmitry Medvedev announced the measures just two weeks ago, in his first state-of-the-nation speech on November 5.
The lower house of the Russian parliament had its third and final reading Friday before putting the measures to a vote. It passed by a vote of 392 to 57, with those against representing the Communist Party faction. There were no abstentions.
Further approval is needed from the upper house of parliament and regional councils before the changes become law. The amendments will come into force when at least two-thirds of the nation's 83 regional parliaments and assemblies -- or 56 -- approve them.
Analysts have expressed concern about the rapid movement of the measures through parliament. They say the government may be seeking to capitalize on Putin's popularity amid the financial crisis, which has dented support for the current leadership.
The next Russian presidential elections are scheduled for 2012.
There is speculation in Russia that the new measures could set the stage for fresh elections, allowing Putin to sidestep a ban on a third presidential term and stand again for president.
-- CNN's Matthew Chance and Max Tkachenko contributed to this report.
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1fc6ad83b4934d62836056b85447b355
|
What did the Russian media speculate?
|
[
"return to the Kremlin by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin,"
] |
NewsQA
|
San Francisco, California (CNN) -- Officials have agreed to pay $1.5 million to the daughter of a man fatally shot in the back by a transit police officer on New Year's Day 2009 in Oakland, California.
A bystander's cell-phone video of the shooting on a transit platform was widely circulated on the Internet and on news shows.
The Bay Area Rapid Transit train system late Wednesday announced the settlement over the killing of Oscar Grant, 22.
"It's been a little over a year since we experienced the tragic death of Oscar Grant," BART Board President James Fang said. "No matter what anyone's opinion of the case may be, the sad fact remains this incident has left Tatiana without a father. The $1.5 million settlement will provide financial support for her." Grant's daughter, Tatiana, is 5.
The video showed then-Officer Johannes Mehserle, 27, pulling his gun and shooting Grant in the back as another officer kneeled on Grant.
Mehserle might have intended to draw and fire his Taser rather than his gun, according to a court filing by his attorney.
The shooting sparked large protests in Oakland and led to Mehserle's arrest on a murder charge. The case against him is pending.
Initially, attorney John Burris asked for $50 million in a wrongful-death lawsuit filed on behalf of Grant's daughter. Burris was not immediately available for comment on the settlement.
The transit system's police department has made several changes since the shooting. The department has increased training hours for officers, is requiring them to report all "use-of-force incidents," and is tapping the public's help in searching for a new police chief, the transit system said in a statement.
"This settlement is critical in our efforts to move forward," said Carole Ward Allen, a BART board member. "We're working hard to make the police department the best it can be for our officers, our customers and our community."
|
cc7489556cde487db083d1566ca02da8
|
Who is Oscar Grant's daughter?
|
[
"Tatiana,"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- The Professional Footballers' Association (PFA), a body which represents soccer players in England and Wales, has sent ex-professionals a guide on how to handle mental health issues following the death of Wales manager Gary Speed.
Speed, who made over 500 appearances in the English Premier League during a 22-year playing career, was found dead at his home on Sunday, sending British football into mourning.
Although it is not known whether Speed was struggling with depression or any mental health issues, the PFA, which is linked to a similar body in Scotland, has taken the step of making "The Footballers' Guidebook" available to 50,000 former players.
The guide, which includes comic strip style drawings and case studies from former players, was sent to current players in July.
"Whether you're a king, a prince or a pauper, or a top sports star or the man in the street -- everybody is a human being and can have issues that they need help with," PFA chief executive Gordon Taylor told CNN.
The issue of depression in football was highlighted by the death of German national team goalkeeper Robert Enke, who took his own life in 2009 after a long struggle with the illness.
"The PFA are going to do even more work to try and make sure that people know they can turn to somebody in such times," explained Taylor. "We've got to do all we can."
"The death of Gary is so devastating , we've got to do all we can to make sure it doesn't happen again."
Speed represented Leeds United, Everton, Newcastle United and Bolton Wanderers in England's top flight, before dropping into the second tier to play for, and later manage, Sheffield United.
The former midfielder is the most-capped outfield player in Welsh history, having played for his country on 85 occasions. As a manager, Speed guided Wales to 45th in the world rankings, their highest position.
A minutes applause will be held before all of this weekend's English Premier League matches in honor of Speed.
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5c2038f4be8e44499518d6c905c6845b
|
What was unclear about the death of speed
|
[
"struggling with depression or any mental health issues,"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- For most people, Post-it Notes are disposable, ordinary office papers used for note-taking and reminders. But for 19-year-old David Alvarez of Leavenworth, Washington, they were the perfect medium for a 10-foot-tall mosaic depicting Ray Charles.
David Alvarez, right, made this 10-foot-tall mosaic of Ray Charles using Post-it Notes.
Using more than 2,000 of those ubiquitous brightly-colored sticky scraps, Alvarez composed a three-dimensional representation of the famous musician. The piece has just gone on display at Wenatchee Valley College in Wenatchee, Washington, where Alvarez is in his second year of studies. "It's something so simple. You can still see the flaps sticking out on some of them," he said. "Naturally the Post-it Note just sort of flaps out." While learning new techniques in Adobe Photoshop in a class, he experimented with taking a photograph of Ray Charles and making it look like a mosaic on the computer screen. He then translated this idea into the Post-it work. He spent three months constructing the mosaic, sometimes sacrificing schoolwork for his art. At least one of his papers for his summer English courses suffered, but he persevered so that he could participate in an art show July 28 at the Stanley Civic Center in Wenatchee. Originally, the Post-it Notes stayed in this unique format only by virtue of their manufactured stickiness, which does not hold up as well as glue, Alvarez found. When he displayed his work at the show, he monitored the project for 14 hours, continuously replacing notes that were falling off. The aspiring art teacher now uses glue to hold the notes in place.
For his next project, he is considering a mosaic using 4-inch x 4-inch notes, up from the 3-inch x 3-inch size used in the Ray Charles piece. "Part of me wants to, part of me doesn't," he said. "It was so hard to align. It took a lot of time and patience." E-mail to a friend
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cf5f2cd6e47448229625df4ddb5bb747
|
Where is the mosaic displayed?
|
[
"Wenatchee Valley College in Wenatchee, Washington,"
] |
NewsQA
|
CNN -- Cancer is one of the leading causes of death in the world, particularly in developing countries.
Tobacco use is one of the largest causes of cancer in the world.
In 2008 a report by the International Agency for Research on Cancer revealed that, until recently, cancer was considered a disease of westernized, industrialized countries.
Today the situation has changed dramatically, with the majority of the global cancer cases now found in the developing world.
However, myths and misconceptions about cancer still abound.
Below CNN's Vital Signs has compiled facts from the World Health Organization about this killer disease.
-- There are more than 100 types of cancers; any part of the body can be affected.
-- Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide: In 2007, it accounted for 7.9 million deaths (around 13 per cent of all deaths) in 2007.
-- The five most common types of cancer that kill men worldwide are (in order of frequency): lung, stomach, liver, colorectal and esophagus.
-- While for women worldwide the five most common types of cancer are: breast, lung, stomach, colorectal and cervical.
-- About 72 per cent of all cancer deaths in 2007 occurred in low- and middle-income countries.
-- Deaths from cancer worldwide are projected to continue rising, with an estimated 12 million deaths in 2030.
-- The WHO estimates that 30 per cent of cancers can be prevented, mainly by not using tobacco, having a healthy diet and being physically active.
-- Tobacco use is the single largest preventable cause of cancer in the world.
-- A third of cancers could be cured if detected early and treated adequately.
-- A fifth of all cancers in the world are caused by a chronic infection, for example human papillomavirus (HPV) causes cervical cancer and hepatitis B virus (HBV) causes liver cancer.
Source: The World Health Organization
|
8aa6071ab3b4417c9abab24b608c345a
|
Where are majority of cancer cases found?
|
[
"in the developing world."
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Singer Carrie Underwood has gotten engaged to hockey player beau Mike Fisher, her spokesperson confirmed to CNN.
"I'm happy to confirm that Carrie Underwood is engaged to Mike Fisher, and the couple couldn't be happier," said Jessie Schmidt. "No wedding date has been set at this time."
Fisher plays for the Ottawa Senators hockey team in Canada.
During an appearance on Ellen Degeneres' talk show in November, Underwood joked with the host that the relationship -- then almost a year long -- was the longest she had ever had.
"I joke and say my dogs are the longest relationship ever," Underwood said.
The couple have been enjoying a long distance relationship and Underwood demurred at the idea of living together.
"No, call me old-fashioned," Underwood said during her interview with Ellen. "He's there. I'm here. We're both doing our thing and it's good. The next guy I move in with will be my hubby."
Underwood, who has risen from being a former winner of "American Idol" to a country music superstar, has been linked in the past with Dallas Cowboys football player Tony Romo and "Gossip Girl" actor Chace Crawford.
|
a075733a87664f11906d09293fdd8d5a
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Who is Carrie Underwood engaged to?
|
[
"Mike Fisher,"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Substitute Victor Obinna came off the bench to score twice as Nigeria beat Kenya 3-0 in Abuja, to claim their first victory in African World Cup qualifying Group B.
Obinna scored a late second-half double to help Nigeria cruise to a 3-0 home victory over Kenya.
The Inter Milan striker scored twice in the last 17 minutes, including one from the penalty spot, after Getafe's Ikechukwu Uche had given the Super Eagles as early lead.
The result sees Nigeria move up to second place in the table with four points from their two games, two points behind leaders Tunisia who beat Mozambique 2-0 on Saturday to have maximum points from their two matches.
Kenya are bottom of the table, without a point, and it already looks like Tunisia and Nigeria will battle it out for top spot in the group and automatic qualification for the World Cup finals.
Elsewhere in Africa, Cameroon are surprisingly bottom of Group A after a 0-0 home draw with Morocco in Yaounde.
The two group favorites cancelled each other out, meaning they both have a point apiece from their two matches.
Gabon are the shock group leaders -- and they followed up their opening victory in Morocco by thumping an Emmanuel Adebayor-led Togo 3-0 in Libreville on Saturday. That result means Gabon are on six points, with Togo second on three points.
Meanwhile, in Group E, Ivory Coast made it two wins from two matches to go top of the group with a 2-1 victory in Guinea.
Sevilla midfielder Christian Koffi Ndri scored the winning goal with 13 minutes remaining as Ivory Coast joined Burkina Faso on a maximum six points.
The two teams already look to have the group between them, as Guinea and Malawi are both point-less from their two matches. Malawi lost 1-0 at home to Burkina Faso on Saturday.
African champions Egypt prop up Group C after crashing 3-1 in Algeria where Karim Matmour (60), Abdelkader Ghezzal (64) and Rafik Djebbour (77) were on target for the hosts.
Algeria top their section on goal difference from Zambia after their weekend success in front of a sell-out crowd.
Ghana, who reached their first World Cup finals in Germany three years ago, won 2-0 at Mali and lead Group D by three points from Benin. Kwadwo Asamoah and Matthew Amoah were on target.
|
61c170f6bcb7438196f3d728e37d8efa
|
What place is Nigeria in the table?
|
[
"second"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- All but one of the families who lost relatives in Baghdad's Nusoor Square killings have agreed to settle their claims against the security contractor formerly known as Blackwater, one of the survivors said Sunday.
Hassan Salman, who was wounded in the 2007 shootings, told CNN that 16 of the 17 families of the dead agreed to $100,000 lawsuit settlements from Xe, as Blackwater now calls itself. Those wounded were offered between $20,000 and $50,000 apiece, Salman said.
Blackwater guards protecting a U.S. State Department convoy opened fire in Nusoor Square, in western Baghdad, in October 2007, killing 17 people and wounding more than two dozen.
Blackwater denied any wrongdoing, arguing its contractors used necessary force to protect a State Department convoy that had come under fire from insurgents.
Iraq called the killings unprovoked and an act of "premeditated murder." The incident led the Iraqi government to slap limits on security contractors hired by Xe and other firms operating in the country.
Xe announced it was settling the lawsuit last week to allow the company, which is also under new management, to move ahead "free of the costs and distraction of ongoing litigation."
One of the guards who took part in the shooting pleaded guilty to a voluntary manslaughter charge in a U.S. court 2008. Five others were charged with manslaughter, but those cases were dismissed in late December when a federal judge found prosecutors wrongly used the men's own statements against them.
CNN's Mohammed Tawfeeq contributed to this report.
|
4224bbfc7df3406a8de53af0308dd068
|
what was the number of people killed?
|
[
"17"
] |
NewsQA
|
BEIJING, China (CNN) -- An executive of the Chinese dairy company Sanlu Group pleaded guilty Wednesday over her role in the contaminated milk scandal that sickened nearly 300,000 infants, state-run media reported.
A salesgirl arranges powdered milk in China's Sichuan province in September.
Tian Wenhua, Sanlu's former board chairwoman and general manager, and three other executives are on trial for producing and selling fake or substandard products, according to Xinhua news agency.
Wenhua, 66, pleaded guilty on the first day of the trial at a court in Shijiazhuang, the capital of northern Hebei Province, Xinhua reported. She told the court that she first received tainted milk complaints from consumers in mid-May -- four months before the issue became widely known -- according to the report.
Wenhua led a working team to investigate the claims, Xinhua reported.
The three other executives are former deputy general managers Wang Yuliang and Hang Zhiqi, and Wu Jusheng, a former executive heading Sanlu's milk division.
Chinese investigators found melamine in nearly 70 milk products from more than 20 companies, according to quality control official Li Changjiang, who was eventually forced to resign.
The Ministry of Health has said the contamination likely caused the deaths of at least six babies. Another 294,000 infants suffered from urinary problems, such as kidney stones.
The tainted formula came to light in September after babies who were fed milk powder produced by the Sanlu Group, which recently filed for bankruptcy, had developed kidney stones.
Melamine is commonly used in coatings and laminates, wood adhesives, fabric coatings, ceiling tiles and flame retardants. Some Chinese dairy plants added the chemical to milk products so they would appear to have a higher protein level.
Prior to the four Sanlu executives, at least eight people stood trial over charges of producing, adding melamine-laced "protein powder" to milk or selling the tainted milk to Sanlu or other dairies.
Victims of tainted baby formula are expected to be compensated by the 22 Chinese dairy producers that made the milk.
"The enterprises offered to shoulder the compensation liability," the country's Dairy Industry Association said Saturday, according to Xinhua. "By doing so, they hope to earn understanding and forgiveness of the families of the sickened children."
The group said victims will receive a one-off cash payment, but did not provide the amounts, according to Xinhua.
"The money for compensation is in place now and will soon be handed to the people who have custody of the sickened children through various channels," the association said.
No date for the payments was given. The dairies also raised money to cover medical bills for any after-effects suffered as a result of the poisoning, the association said.
|
6d97257384ef46c2803a7c6302e82a7e
|
What did babies get from tainted milk?
|
[
"urinary problems, such as kidney stones."
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Spanish Primera Liga side Atletico Madrid have got one foot in the Champions League group stage after claiming a crucial 3-2 success at Greek side Panathinaikos in a tough qualifying round first leg encounter on Wednesday.
Maxi Rodriguez celebrates scoring the opening goal in Atletico Madrid's 3-2 win in Greece.
The visitors took a 1-0 lead in the 36th minute when Diego Forlan set up Maxi Rodriguez who took the ball around Panathinaikos goalkeeper Mario Galinovic to score.
Panathinaikos levelled in the 47th minute when Dimitris Salpingidis, who had an earlier goal disallowed, flicked the ball over Atletico keeper Sergio Asenjo.
However, Forlan restored the Spaniards' lead in the 63rd minute when he followed-up Rodriguez's blistering drive which had come back off the post.
In-demand Argentine striker Sergio Aguero made it 3-1 in the 70th minute but Panathinaikos substitute Sebastian Leto closed the gap four minutes later to give the Greek side some hope.
In the night's other matches, French side Lyon stormed closer to a 10th successive group stage appearance with a tumping 5-1 victory over Anderlecht.
The Ligue 1 outfit had the match sewn up before half-time with Miralem Pjanic, a Lisandro Lopez penalty, Michel Bastos and Bafetimbi Gomis giving them a four-goal cushion.
Anderlecht, beaten in Champions League qualifying for the last two seasons, pulled one back through Matias Suarez in the 58th minute, but Claude Puel's Lyon side restored their four-goal advantage inside five minutes with Gomis grabbing his second of the night.
Swiss side FC Zurich took a giant step closer to playing in the competition for the first time in 28 years by claiming a 3-0 lead at Latvian side Ventspils.
Goals from Johan Vonlathen, Sylvan Aegerter and Dusan Djuriuc look almost certain to put Zurich into the last 32 of the competition.
Debrecen edged closer to becoming Hungary's first Champions League group stage participants since 1996 when they claimed a 2-1 advantage at Levski Sofia in Bulgaria.
Laszlo Bodnar gave the Hungarians the lead but Levski levelled at the start of the second period with a fine strike from Cedric Bardon. However, 14 minutes from time, Peter Czvitkovics claimed Debrecen's winner.
Israeli champions Maccabi Haifa were also winners on the road with a goal six minutes from time from substitute Shlomi Arbeitman earning a 2-1 win at Salzburg.
Georgian striker Vladimer Dvalishvili headed Haifa in front before Alexander Zickler equalized on 57 minutes for the Austrians.
|
8bc79ebc57c24032b94c4ab00f70678f
|
Who beat Panathinaikos?
|
[
"Atletico Madrid"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- A California lettuce grower has recalled 2,498 cartons of chopped or shredded romaine lettuce shipped to wholesale food service distributors in 19 states and Canada over concerns the produce may be contaminated with the same bacteria that caused 13 deaths in an outbreak traced to tainted cantaloupes.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and True Leaf Farms initially reported the recall of 90 cartons of chopped and shredded romaine lettuce on Thursday, saying a random sample detected listeria monocytogenes in one bag pulled from a lot shopped on September 12 and September 13. Later Thursday, True Leaf issued a statement saying the FDA asked the company to expand the recall.
No illnesses have been reported, the FDA said.
The affected lettuce was available for direct purchase at Cash & Carry Smart Foodservice warehouses in Oregon, Washington and Idaho, It also shipped to food service distributors in Alaska, Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Vermont. It also was sent to a distributor in Alberta and British Columbia.
The recalled lettuce carries a use by date of "9/29/11" and the bag and box code B256-46438-8. The FDA said anyone who has the lettuce should destroy it or contact the company to come pick it up.
Listeria can cause fever, muscle aches and gastrointestinal problems. It usually causes only mild illness for healthy people, but it can be extremely dangerous for older adults, people with weakened immune systems, newborns and pregnant women, in whom listeriosis can cause miscarriages and stillbirths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The listeria bacteria recently was blamed in a multi-state outbreak associated with tainted cantaloupes. At last count, 13 people had died and 72 had been made ill in 18 states after consuming cantaloupes grown by a Colorado farm.
|
76bfc9d2701e495ab757798d726e346f
|
What was the lettuce contaminated with?
|
[
"listeria monocytogenes"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Manchester City have sent representatives to Brazil in the hope of persuading Ronaldinho to sign for them.
A move to City could make Ronaldinho the Premier League's highest paid player.
City chairman Garry Cook told BBC Radio Five Live on Sunday that Ronaldinho's Spanish club Barcelona had given City permission to speak to the player about a move to Eastlands.
"We have people in Brazil," said Cook.
"We are nowhere near completing a deal It's a tenuous stage and I don't want to give too much away, but Barcelona gave us clearance to talk to him.
"Ronaldinho wants to show that he is one of the greatest footballers in the world. The Manchester City fans would love to see him kick off the new season with us and I am holding out hope on that happening."
City owner Shinawatra Thaksin is thought to be ready to provide £50 million ($98.47 million) for new manager Mark Hughes to sign players, with around $29.5 million set aside to bring in Ronaldinho, who could well become the English Premier League's highest paid player.
Shinawatra, who sent previous manager Sven-Goran Eriksson packing at the end of last season, despite a marked upturn in the team's fortunes, said last week: "Ronaldinho - you know, he is a great player. Whatever the club in your heart, you would want to see this player in England, wouldn't you?
"It is not a risk. Sponsors will contribute. It will not damage our wage structure."
New manager Hughes knows that he will be expected to produce instant results. Shinawatra said: "I am 59 next birthday, so I am not a man who can wait for many years to see my dreams come true."
Ronaldinho had a poor season in Spain but City's owner said:"Ronaldinho is 28. He has much still to offer, he is a star. You need a combination of new players, existing players, quality, young and old.
"I admit also you need a player who is more than just winning the match. You need a star who can play on the pitch, but who can achieve much more for the club. Ronaldinho is that player.
"I am hearing good things about his hunger. I have spoken to his brother (and agent). Ronaldinho wants the new challenge, the chance to play his best football again, to return to the days when he was really, really famous. The magic is still in his boots. Let us hope we can bring him."
City also expect to snap up another top Brazilian, striker Jo from CSKA Moscow, within the next seven days.
|
651b32afc4304e0999562d51aaa1e5ac
|
who is ronaldindo
|
[
"Premier League's highest paid player."
] |
NewsQA
|
NEW YORK (CNN) -- Misdemeanor assault charges have been dropped against "24" star Kiefer Sutherland in a head-butting incident at a New York City nightclub, according to Alicia Maxey Greene, spokeswoman for the Manhattan District Attorney's office.
Kiefer Sutherland turns himself in to the NYPD on May 7. Charges against him have been dropped.
"We decided to drop the charge after a full investigation, including after speaking to a complaining witness, who was uncooperative," Greene told CNN Tuesday.
The charges stem from an incident in which Sutherland allegedly head-butted designer Jack McCollough at a New York City nightclub in May.
McCollough had claimed he was "the victim of a vicious, violent, unprovoked assault," according to a statement released after the incident from McCollough's publicist..
Several weeks after the incident, Sutherland and McCollough issued a joint statement, through Sutherland's attorney, in which Sutherland apologized.
|
73f1ce3261ec4fab83c12add98894545
|
What hit drama does he star in?
|
[
"\"24\""
] |
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|
NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- Indian authorities Tuesday filed a police complaint against Continental Airlines for frisking a former president of the country as he was to travel to New York in April.
Former president APJ Abdul Kalam was exempt from body checks, officials said.
Civil aviation officials in New Delhi accused Continental of gross violation of Indian security rules that prohibit pre-embarkation body checks on certain dignitaries like a former president.
The police complaint followed a probe that had established that APJ Abdul Kalam was subject to frisking before he boarded a flight from New Delhi to New York on April 21, the Indian civil aviation ministry said in a statement.
The ministry also alleged the airline did not respond to its show-cause notice in connection with Kalam's body checks.
In its police complaint, Indian civil aviation authorities accused the airline staff of "willful violation" of their directions on exemptions from pre-embarkation frisking.
Continental, however, insisted it followed standard American air-safety procedures.
"TSA (Transportation Security Administration) requirements impose a final security check in the aerobridge just before boarding the aircraft.
"This procedure is followed by all carriers flying to the U.S. from most of the countries in the world and there is no exemption to this rule," it said in a statement.
|
6ce8474df2d1480e98d22918840bdd06
|
What did Indian authorities do?
|
[
"filed a police complaint against Continental Airlines"
] |
NewsQA
|
KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Two coalition U.S. soldiers were killed along with three Afghans, including a police official, while trying to disable a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan Sunday, the U.S. military said.
Afghan police destroy poppy fields in Helmand province.
The explosion was under investigation, the military said.
The soldiers were part of a convoy of coalition troops accompanying Gulab Mangal, the governor of Helmand province, to a village where he intended to talk to residents about alternatives to opium farming.
The convoy came upon two bombs stacked on top of each other, said local journalist Abdul Tawab Qureshi.
When the soldiers tried to disable the bombs, the second one went off, added Qureshi, saying the blast killed the police chief of the province's Nad Ali district, Mohammed Nader; a police officer; and a translator.
Over the years, opium and heroin -- both derivatives of the poppy -- have served as a major source of revenue for the insurgency, most notably the Taliban movement that once ruled Afghanistan.
Though southern Afghanistan still provides about two-thirds of the world's opium and heroin, poppy cultivation has dropped by 20 percent -- to the lowest level since 2006.
CNN's Atia Abawi contributed to this report.
|
3af0463efb34402cbf72eba31dbfc7e0
|
Who were they accompanying?
|
[
"Gulab Mangal,"
] |
NewsQA
|
DECATUR, Georgia (CNN) -- One falling tree saved John Kiefer from another.
Windstorms in Atlanta, Georgia, uprooted several trees, including this one that fell through John Kiefer's home.
Kiefer was sitting on his sofa Monday morning while a brief but intense windstorm blew through the Atlanta, Georgia, area, including Decatur. He heard a tree crash in his backyard and got up to investigate.
That tree knocked down a chain-link fence, and Kiefer was getting worried about several other large backyard trees that were swaying in the wind.
"And as I'm watching those move and sway, this crashed down," he said.
"This" was a 50-foot red oak in the front yard that fell onto his living room, splitting his house in half and coming to rest a few inches above where he had been sitting on the couch.
"Yeah, it's a mess," he said as he surveyed the tangle of broken wood beams, plaster, bricks and gray insulation.
Curiously, Kiefer's electricity was still on, and cable TV was still playing less then 10 feet away from the massive tree trunk in his living room. An ancient upright piano and various collectibles on it were unharmed.
Kiefer had been away over the weekend, visiting a son in Cincinnati, Ohio, and his three dogs were still at the kennel where he boarded them. They'll be staying there a bit longer.
Three years of drought in Georgia have weakened trees' root systems, and recent heavy rains loosened the soil around them, said Kiefer, who works at a plastics recycling company in nearby Stone Mountain. The windstorm brought down hundreds of trees in the area, including one that crushed a car, killing the person inside, and one that fell on a nursing home, where no one was hurt, CNN affiliate WGCL reported. Service was disrupted on Atlanta's MARTA rail transit system, according to WGCL.
Power and traffic signals were out in many areas. Watch CNN report about dangerous storms »
Despite having a tree lying across his living room, Kiefer seemed remarkably calm, but that was a new development.
"Couple of hours ago my knees where shaking pretty good," he admitted. But, he said, God was looking out for him.
"Actually, he saved my life," Kiefer said. "When I came outside to investigate that noise, that was my warning to get up off that couch. And then, not to go back in the house when it got real windy, but to stand right there where that tree stopped. There are no coincidences."
|
a92870e7cd5043c7b3009154dd344015
|
Where was the windstorm?
|
[
"Georgia,"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Conjoined Egyptian twin boys Hassan and Mahmoud, who were successfully separated in Saudi Arabia Saturday, are recovering and are expected to lead normal lives, officials said.
Conjoined twins Hassan, left, and Mahmud rest the day before separation surgery in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
"The twins' vital signs are good; they're doing excellent," said Sami Al-Shalan, spokesman for the King Abdulaziz Medical City facility in Riyadh where the surgery took place. "The twins still have about 24 hours before a progress report can be issued. The anesthesia consultants are happy with the progress of the children."
The boys are less than a year old and were brought to the kingdom on February 10. The delicate surgery took a little more than 15 hours.
"The twins' parents have visited them in the [pediatric intensive care unit], but they can't stay there long. They come and go," Al-Shalan said.
Separating the boys' urinary system was a major challenge, Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah, the Saudi minister of health, told CNN. So was separating the siblings' local veins and arteries, he said.
"We had to identify the arteries and the blood veins between each baby," Al-Rabeeah said. Watch Al-Rabeeah explain the operation »
The procedure was the 21st of its kind to be performed in the kingdom.
The surgeries are performed free as part of King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz's philanthropic initiative.
CNN's Mohammed Jamjoom contributed to this report.
|
35c91ca970884e86918f317c5fafaaed
|
Where are the twin boys from?
|
[
"Egyptian"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Barack Obama is a married man but there's another woman with a hold on him that his wife can never match: she runs the House.
Nancy Pelosi has been an easy target for Republican ire.
She is Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic speaker of the House of Representatives, the most powerful woman in Washington and lately, a target for Republicans.
Pelosi is easy to spot in any crowd of U.S. politicians; she's the small brown-haired woman in the smartly tailored suit.
Conservatives like to stereotype some Democrats as rich, isolated and out-of-touch. As the wife of an affluent investment banker, the always expertly coiffed Pelosi looks like exactly the kind of "Limousine Liberal" they're talking about.
Ironically, it's money that makes her powerful. Under the U.S. constitution, the president can't spend a penny without the permission of Congress.
Within the Congress, the Senate has its own powers but the House is the place where taxes and spending start. So almost every one of Obama's plans needs a push from Pelosi.
Maybe that's part of the reason she's in trouble right now.
The issue isn't really part of her daily duties: "waterboarding" and other extreme interrogation tactics used against prisoners in the Bush era.
Obama ordered an end to the harsh methods, but Republicans are asking why Democrats who knew about them years ago didn't try to stop them then.
Pelosi was one of a handful of lawmakers who was briefed by the Central Intelligence Agency in 2002, but she now accuses the agency of lying to her and hiding what it was doing.
Republicans have been attacking Pelosi for making unsubstantiated and damaging accusations against a crucial national security agency.
The man who once had her job, former Republican speaker Newt Gingrich, says Pelosi is lying in a way that is "despicable, dishonest and vicious."
Whether or not he's right, it's smart politics. Obama is still remarkably popular. Most of the country hopes that he'll succeed in rebuilding the economy and ending the war in Iraq.
If the president is immune to most easy attacks from the opposition, it needs to find someone who isn't.
Pelosi is a crucial part of his plans. As potential targets go, with her nearly perfect hair and nearly perfect clothes, Pelosi is nearly perfect.
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6698671a84ef46b4842abf536b56cf8c
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who is easier to target
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[
"Nancy Pelosi"
] |
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Former Sen. Tom Daschle will be announced Thursday as President-elect Barack Obama's nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, a Democratic source said Wednesday.
Former Sen. Tom Daschle, shown with his wife, Linda, says he will write Obama's health care plan.
CNN has previously reported that the 61-year-old former Senate majority leader from South Dakota would be Obama's choice, but not the announcement date.
In November, Daschle said he was excited about the possibility of serving as point person in Obama's effort to change the nation's health care system.
Daschle is on the health care advisory group of Obama's transition team and said he plans to write the health care plan that Obama submits to Congress next year.
"I hope to have the plan enacted by next year, and then it will take several years to implement," Daschle said last month.
Daschle said reforming health care in the United States must be a priority in the current economic climate.
"We can't afford not to do it," he said. "If we do nothing, we'll be paying twice as much on health care in 10 years as we do today."
Daschle served as Democratic leader in the Senate from 1995 until he lost a re-election bid in 2004.
Representing South Dakota, he was first elected as a congressman in 1978 and served in the House until he was elected to the Senate in 1986.
He recently wrote a book on health care titled "Critical: What We Can Do About the Health Care Crisis."
In the book, he pushed for universal health care coverage to reach 46 million uninsured Americans by expanding the federal employee health benefits program to include private employer plans together with Medicaid and Medicare.
Most Republicans oppose any such plan, saying it would give too much power to the government. They've also questioned Daschle's recent work for a Washington lobbying firm.
His wife, Linda Daschle, is a registered lobbyist for a firm that includes health care clients. But a source close to Daschle told CNN that Linda Daschle would be leaving the firm at the end of the year to set up her own company focusing on transportation lobbying in order to clear any potential conflicts of interest.
CNN's Candy Crowley and Ed Henry contributed to this report.
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74d1ebae75c047b4b7530aef6c947bb5
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Who is Tom Daschle?
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[
"former Senate majority leader from South Dakota"
] |
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(CNN) -- A court hearing is scheduled Thursday in the case of a northern California couple accused of abducting Jaycee Dugard and holding her captive for more than 18 years in a ramshackle backyard compound.
Phillip Garrido, 58, and his wife, Nancy, 54, are charged with 29 felony counts in the kidnapping of Dugard, who was 11 when she was snatched in 1991 from the street in front of her house in South Lake Tahoe, California.
The couple has pleaded not guilty.
The hearing, scheduled for 1 p.m. (4 p.m. ET) at the El Dorado County Superior Court, is a procedural matter about witnesses in the case.
Authorities say the Garridos held Dugard in a hidden compound behind their home for 18 years.
She was 29 when she was found in August at the Garridos' home in Antioch about 120 miles from her house.
Garrido, a registered sex offender on parole at the time of his arrest, is accused of fathering two daughters with Dugard during her captivity.
Dugard now lives in seclusion with her mother, Terry Probyn, and Dugard's two daughters.
Earlier this month, Judge Douglas Phimister denied a request by the Garridos to be able to see each other while they remain jailed.
Instead, the judge ruled, the couple can have one five-minute phone conversation this month and in June. He also said that officials can monitor the calls.
The judge did not offer a reason for denying the request. The prosecution had opposed the motion on security grounds.
Authorities maintain Dugard does not want to speak to Garrido or his attorneys and have tried to keep her location a secret.
In March, Dugard made her first public statement since the arrests of her alleged captors.
"Hi, I'm Jaycee. I want to thank you for your support, and I'm doing well," Dugard said in a home video released exclusively to ABC News.
"It's been a long haul," said Dugard, "but I'm getting there."
The video showed Dugard baking cookies with her mother and playing with her dogs.
"We released this video so that you can see that we are happy and well -- when we have more to share, we will," Probyn said in the home video.
"As a mother I am pleading for our privacy in this very public story."
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555e718788484f0c82cb982b2e37dc7a
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What are they accused of?
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[
"abducting Jaycee Dugard and holding her captive for more than 18 years in a ramshackle backyard compound."
] |
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MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- The storm called Hanna weakened from a hurricane to a tropical storm Tuesday morning as maximum sustained winds eased down to 70 mph, the National Hurricane Center said.
This satellite image from Monday shows Hanna over the southern Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Despite the downgrade, Hanna dropped torrential rain on the eastern Bahamas, the Turks and Caicos Islands, and Haiti. Hurricane warnings remained in effect.
Hanna's path and strength remain uncertain, but the latest forecast map from the National Hurricane Center predicts it still could make landfall as a major hurricane on the southeastern U.S. coast by Friday evening.
Hanna's path early Tuesday appeared to be a "meandering" loop across Turks and Caicos, but atmospheric changes over the western Atlantic are expected to steer the storm northwestward over the next two or three days, according to forecasters.
As of 5 a.m. ET, Hanna was a Category 1 storm on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale with sustained winds of 80 mph (129 kph) and gusts of up to 100 mph. iReport.com: Watch Hanna lash Turks and Caicos Islands
Three hours later, it was downgraded to a tropical storm as winds fell below the 74 mph threshold for hurricane status. It could return to hurricane status later Tuesday or on Wednesday, forecasters said.
Hanna's line of fire could include the U.S. Atlantic coast from Miami, Florida, to Massachusetts, according to the hurricane center's long-range forecast map. Charleston, South Carolina, appears in the middle of this "cone of uncertainty," with Hanna potentially making landfall there Friday.
"It appears that the center has been meandering," forecasters said.
The history of hurricanes that have been where Hanna is now might argue against its heading toward the southeastern United States. None of the September storms that passed within 200 miles of Hanna's current location has gone there, with most heading into the Gulf of Mexico and others going to New England or Nova Scotia.
Still, forecasters said, "the model guidance is remarkably well clustered" in support of its forecast path for Hanna.
Meanwhile, forecasters were keeping an eye on Tropical Storm Ike, which was gaining strength in the mid-Atlantic and appeared headed for the Bahamas later in the week. It had maximum sustained winds of 50 mph Tuesday morning.
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1e779e2cbfce4e75868cf197cb549d51
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What tropical storm moved toward the Caribbean Sea?
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[
"Hanna"
] |
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(CNN) -- Actor Gary Coleman, who had suffered from intracranial brain bleeding and was on life support in the intensive care unit of a Utah hospital, has died, a hospital spokeswoman said Friday.
Family members and close friends were at his side when life support was terminated, Janet Frank said.
Coleman, 42, fell ill at his Santaquin, Utah, home Wednesday evening and was rushed by ambulance to a hospital, the spokesman said in a statement released Friday.
He was then taken to another hospital -- Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo -- later Wednesday night, the spokesman said.
Coleman one of TV's brightest stars in '70s and '80s
The former child actor was "conscious and lucid" Thursday morning, but he "was slipping in and out of consciousness and his condition worsened," the spokesman said.
Coleman became unconscious and was placed on life support Thursday afternoon, the statement, which was released by the hospital, said.
Coleman is best known as the wisecracking youngster Arnold Drummond on TV's "Diff'rent Strokes" from the late 1970s to the mid-1980s.
"In recent years Gary Coleman has had difficulties, not only with health issues, but also with his personal and public life," his spokesman's statement said. "At times, it may not have been apparent, but he always has had fond memories of being an entertainer and appreciates his fans for all their support over the years. At this critical moment, we can only ask for your thoughts and prayers for Gary to make a speedy and full recovery."
CNN's Brittany Kaplan and Jack Hannah contributed to this report.
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439498abe48e4e27bca4aff6d5fdc8e8
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When did Coleman suffer a brain hemorrhage?
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[
"Wednesday evening"
] |
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(CNN) -- An outbreak of the deadly ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo has prompted neighboring Angola to close its border with that country, Angola's state news agency reported Tuesday.
Angolan Health Minister Jose Van-Dunem announced the "suspension of migratory movements" at the country's north-eastern border Sunday, the Angop news agency reported.
The World Health Organization reports 41 suspected cases of the deadly fever in Congo since November 27. Thirteen people have died, and 183 cases are under observation. Two people are being held in quarantine.
The handling of dead monkeys may be the source of the outbreak, the WHO suspects, according to Angop.
Diosdado Nsue-Micawg, the WHO representative in the Angolan capital of Luanda, said the health agency does not know the source of the virus, but fears that hunters and women who visit the forest might have been in contact with infected monkeys.
The outbreak is centered in the western Kassi province of the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has been reporting intermittent cases of the disease since 1976, according to Angop.
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819db06b80d043dea755e011c2621ca5
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Who has closed their border?
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[
"Angola"
] |
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LONDON, England (CNN) -- The ever budget-conscious boss of Ryanair has suggested the discount airline may start charging passengers for using the toilet on board its flights.
Whatever you do, don't drink too much before your flight. Ryanair's investigating onboard fees for flushing.
Michael O'Leary said the airline had revived inquiries into whether the airline could install coin-operated toilets on its fleet.
"People might actually have to spend a pound to spend a penny in future," he said in a BBC interview, adding "We're always in Ryanair looking at the ways of constantly lowering the costs of air travel and making it more affordable and easier for passengers to fly with us."
Asked by the incredulous presenter what passengers would do if they found themselves without money mid-flight, O'Leary replied: "I don't think there is anybody in history that has got on board a Ryanair aircraft with less than a pound." Sound Off: Is it fair to charge a fee for a flush?
The Irish airline is renowned for its cheap flights and regularly advertises competition-crushing deals to boost capacity on its short-haul routes.
The company has made no secret of its quest to boost revenue by any means possible. It already charges for food and each bag checked into the hold is subject to a fee.
Last week Ryanair announced plans to remove all its check-in counters in an effort to encourage travelers to take just one piece of hand-luggage.
Ryanair's latest revenue-raising proposal has surprised few in the industry who are accustomed to its method of business.
"It seems Ryanair is prepared to plumb any depth to make a fast buck and, once again, is putting profit before the comfort of its customer," said Rochelle Turner, Head of Research at Which? Holiday.
The consumer group also warned that move might hit Ryanair where it hurts.
"Charging people to go to the toilet might result in fewer people buying overpriced drinks on board, though -- that would serve Ryanair right," Turner said.
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9ac816d578f843909c904e22fe8ded41
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What is the airline boss thinking of doing?
|
[
"may start charging passengers for using the toilet on board its flights."
] |
NewsQA
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(CNN) -- Facebook is ramping up the fight against those annoying and potentially harmful scam attacks.
The site is teaming up with Websense, a San Diego, California-based Internet security firm, to warn users when they're about to leave Facebook for a site that might be trying to steal their personal data.
Starting today, any link users click on Facebook will be checked against Websense's database of sites that might contain malware or be used for "phishing" of the user's credit card or other personal information.
If a site shows up on the list, a page will pop up warning users and asking them whether they'd like to go back, get more information or proceed at their own risk.
"A platform as popular as Facebook is naturally a target for attackers," Websense wrote on its blog. "We have been working with Facebook and their security teams for a number of years in order to keep their users safe, but now we have integrated directly into the platform for an unprecedented security combination."
In a recent survey by Websense of 4,640 technology and security professionals, 52 percent said their businesses have experienced an increase in viruses and malware attacks because of employees' use of social-media sites like Facebook and Twitter. Twenty-three percent said they hadn't seen an increase, and 25 percent said they weren't sure.
With a user base of some 800 million users, Facebook is fertile hunting ground for scammers and hackers. Often, users who click bad links will be infected with malware that causes them to, in turn, share the bad link with their friends.
A common scammer technique is to post what appears to be an outrageous or racy link. When someone clicks the link, they are asked to enter their Facebook log-in information again to see the video or other post -- thus giving that info to the hackers.
"By providing real-time protection from malware, spyware, inappropriate content, data leaks, and spam, we make it safe for people and businesses to use the web," said Websense chief technology officer Dan Hubbard.
The announcement comes at the beginning of what's being called National Cyber Security Awareness Month.
Facebook will be participating in a cybersecurity event Friday in conjunction with government and business officials in Michigan.
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b9bb81dde242417ba84d53e677cd85ca
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When will users get a pop-up message?
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[
"If a site shows up on the list,"
] |
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(CNN) -- Three Disney monorail workers have been placed on paid leave just days after two monorail trains crashed at the Orlando, Florida, theme park, killing one of the train's operators, according to a Disney spokeswoman.
Train operator Austin Wuennenberg, 21, was killed in Sunday's monorail crash.
Walt Disney World spokeswoman Zoraya Suarez said the action was "part of an investigative process, not a disciplinary action."
The three workers were a monorail maintenance shop member, the monorail pilot of one of the trains and a transportation manager.
Disney would not name the employees.
The National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the Sunday morning accident, is expected to be at the park for several days.
"To this point in the investigation, no anomalies or malfunctions have been found with the automatic train stop system or with any mechanical components of the switch or with either trains," the NTSB said in a statement.
The crash killed operator Austin Wuennenberg, 21. The operator of the other train was taken to a hospital, where he was treated and released. Additionally, six passengers on Wuennenberg's train were treated at the scene for minor injuries.
Wuennenberg was piloting the "Purple" train. The other train, known as the "Pink" train, was operated by one of the employees who has since been placed on leave. The Pink train was instructed to go back through a track switch that would take it from the monorail's Epcot loop to the Magic Kingdom loop.
"For undetermined reasons that are currently under investigation, the switch had not changed position needed to allow the Pink train to be routed to the Magic Kingdom loop," putting the Pink and Purple trains on a collision course, the NTSB statement said.
NTSB investigators believe that Wuennenberg attempted to put his train into reverse before the collision, attempting to avoid the crash.
The Orange County Sheriff's Office, which is investigating Wuennenberg's death, would not comment, citing the ongoing investigation.
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66474921bfd943b59bc520f935ad8c97
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When was the train crash?
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[
"Sunday's"
] |
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MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- Miami Dolphins defensive end Randy Starks was arrested early Sunday after police said he struck an officer with a slow-moving Freightliner truck, according to a police report.
Miami Dolphins defensive end Randy Starks was arrested early Sunday, according to police.
Starks, 25, faces a charge of aggravated battery, according to the report.
The arrest took place about 12:20 a.m. in Miami's South Beach area. Officers said they saw the Freightliner truck in bumper-to-bumper traffic on South Beach's Ocean Drive with some 13 people inside, including a woman sitting on the lap of Starks, who was driving.
The truck's seating capacity is four occupants, the police report said. It was not clear from the police report whether the Freightliner -- normally part of a tractor-trailer -- was connected to a trailer.
In the report, the officer recalled pursuing the truck on foot for about a half-block and pounding on the rear driver's-side window, but it kept moving. The officer caught up to the truck again, and it stopped after the officer pounded on the window again, the report said.
"I slowly approached the side door and just as I reached it the vehicle accelerated and started moving forward and slightly to the left," the unidentified officer writes in the report. "The vehicle's path caused the driver's side of the vehicle to strike me in the chest pushing me back and pinning me against a vehicle stopped in traffic in the northbound lane."
Meanwhile, a second officer was pounding on the passenger's-side window, the report said. The truck stopped, and Starks was arrested.
A police check showed that the truck's license plate was not assigned to that vehicle, the report said, and Starks faces a charge for that as well.
Starks was released from jail later Sunday, according to a records check. The Miami Herald newspaper reported earlier he was jailed on $10,000 bond.
Dolphins spokesman Harvey Greene told CNN the club was "only recently made aware of the situation. Since we are in the process of gathering information we have no comment."
Starks is in his sixth NFL season and his second with the Dolphins.
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238d1e9d498747e98e48126c4bd83b8d
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Who was arrested?
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[
"Miami Dolphins defensive end Randy Starks"
] |
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BETHLEHEM, West Bank (CNN) -- Hundreds of Christians packed the Church of the Nativity on Thursday for a midnight Mass in what is thought to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ.
A worshipper touches a star at the point where tradition says Jesus Christ was born in the Church of Nativity.
The standing-room-only service included singing and organ music.
There were also large crowds outside the church, one of the most sacred places in Christianity.
So many people had flocked to the area this Christmas season that there were no rooms left at the inns and hotels in Bethlehem.
Some took this as a sign that tourism in Bethlehem was on the upswing.
Christmas is the one time of year when the West Bank's small, shrinking Christian communities show everyone else that they are still there.
Before the midnight Mass, Palestinian scout groups representing Christians throughout the West Bank did as they always do on this day -- they marched, banging their drums loudly and, in a way, trying to make a point. Watch Bethlehem's Christmas celebrations »
The drumbeat has been heard by more and more people, locals say, as tourism has skyrocketed this year.
"This year, tourism is much better than last year -- we reached 1,250,000," said Victor Batarseh, the mayor of Bethlehem. "All our hotels are full around Christmastime. We have 30,000 tourists coming in."
Tourists in record numbers were on hand this year, braving an unusually cold, gray and windy day to watch the parade of drums and holiday songs.
"It's kind of neat to see it in the Middle East, and they're playing Christmas carols and the songs we know," said one American tourist.
"I'm loving it, it's just been an incredible atmosphere and just a wonderful learning experience," said another.
The Latin Patriarch in Jerusalem also came to the birthplace of Jesus, as he does every Christmas Eve, allowed through normally tightly shut gates by Israeli troops.
The heavy security is a testament to ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
"My Christmas wish is that we will have real peace, based on justice and freedom," said Mustafa Barghouti, a Palestinian parliament member. "My Christmas wish is that the justice that Jesus Christ gave his life for will happen sometime in his birthplace in Palestine."
CNN's Ben Wedeman contributed to this report.
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e48b9232a29c430abe6a3be0e08dc5e2
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Where did hundreds go?
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[
"Church of the Nativity"
] |
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(CNN) -- President-elect Barack Obama, who in 10 days will be sworn in using the Bible of his political hero Abraham Lincoln, visited the Lincoln Memorial in Washington on Saturday night with his family.
The Obama family walks down the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington on Saturday.
Obama, wife Michelle and daughters Malia and Sasha made the unannounced stop shortly after 7 p.m. ET.
The family walked up the steps of the memorial on a chilly night in Washington and then visited the museum at the site. On the way out, they stopped at the edge of the reflecting pool.
The parents were seen pointing in the distance to the Capitol and the Washington Monument.
The Obamas spent about a half-hour at the memorial before returning to the Hay-Adams Hotel, where they are staying. Watch the family at the memorial »
Obama will be the first president to use the Lincoln Bible for his inauguration since Lincoln used it in 1861. Inauguration organizers have said Obama's inaugural theme, "A New Birth of Freedom," was inspired by Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. Learn more about the Lincoln Memorial »
The president-elect also plans a train trip from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Washington three days before the inauguration, following the final leg of the train route taken by Lincoln.
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30e2df2f1aa248f1a678bd0b35faa4ac
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How long did they spend at the site?
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[
"about a half-hour"
] |
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TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Twenty-nine people convicted of various crimes, ranging from murder to being a public nuisance while drunk, were hanged in Iran, state TV said.
A convicted Iranian drug dealer is hanged from a crane in the southern city of Shiraz in September.
Iran's semi-official Fars News Agency reported earlier that 30 people would be put to death. It was not immediately clear if the last person's life was spared.
The Iranian judiciary's statement said that all 30 were convicted of various crimes, which included: murder, murder in commission of a crime, disturbing public safety and security, being a public nuisance while drunk and being involved in illegal relationships -- relationships between men and women who are not married to each other.
Kidnapping and using weapons while committing a crime were also among the charges.
The statement also said that 20 of the convicts were convicted of drug and alcohol dealing, armed robbery and smuggling arms.
The judiciary statement said that the convicts had their cases tried by the highest judicial authorities and were found guilty of the charges brought against them. The verdicts were final with their sentences carried out on Sunday.
The judiciary said the hangings should serve as a warning to those who are contemplating committing such crimes, the agency reported.
The statement also said that several other individuals are currently awaiting trial and their sentences will be carried out as soon as the verdicts are pronounced by the courts.
According to Amnesty International, Iran executed 317 people last year, second only to China's 470.
Iran's government launched a campaign March 20 to increase public security and bring the crime rate down.
Police cracked down on alleged drug dealers, whom they called criminal gang members, and alleged habitual criminals who use guns in the commission of their crime. Alleged weapons smugglers and people who break social and religious laws, including adulterers, were also targets.
National television showed scenes of what were described as criminals being paraded publicly in chains as a deterrent to others. The wave of arrests has now subsided, as officials are now prosecuting the alleged criminals and sentencing those convicted.
Journalist Shirzad Bozorgmehr contributed to this report.
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eaaeefa9b1ad4ae5a27bbbbfeb715da1
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what amount of convictes were hanged?
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[
"Twenty-nine"
] |
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Medal of Honor recipient Dakota Meyer and defense contractor BAE announced Thursday an "amicable" end to their dispute.
Meyer filed a lawsuit in Texas in June claiming BAE, his former employer, had punished him for objecting to a weapons sale to Pakistan, and had prevented him from finding other work by portraying him as unstable and a problem drinker. The lawsuit against the company and his former supervisor has been dropped.
"BAE Systems OASYS and I have settled our differences amicably," Meyer said in a joint statement issued by the company, referring to the company by its full name. Meyer praised the defense firm's support for veterans and generosity to the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation.
There were no details of any possible monetary settlement.
"During my time there I became concerned about the possible sale of advanced thermal scopes to Pakistan. I expressed my concerns directly and respectfully," Meyer said. "I am gratified to learn that BAE Systems OASYS did not ultimately sell and does not intend to sell advanced thermal scopes to Pakistan."
The company faced the difficult task of a potentially drawn-out legal battle against an American hero.
"We are pleased that we reached closure in this matter," the company said in its part of the joint statement. "BAE Systems has the highest respect for Sgt. Dakota Meyer, who exemplifies the qualities that make the men and women of our armed services the best in the world," the company said. "We owe him and the many thousands of others who have served and sacrificed for our country our deepest thanks."
According to the lawsuit, Meyer had objected to the sale of high-tech equipment to Pakistan, which he characterized as "giving to guys who are known to stab us in the back" and "the same people who are killing our guys."
Meyer was working on thermal optic equipment for snipers and detection of roadside bombs. In his lawsuit he claimed that on-the-job bullying and intimidation began after his criticism of potential sales to Pakistan.
President Barack Obama presented the Medal of Honor to Meyer, a former Marine Corps sergeant, in September. He was 21 and a corporal at the time of his heroic acts in Afghanistan in 2009.
"The story of what Dakota did next will be told for generations," Obama said, describing how Meyer returned again and again to the killing ground of a Taliban ambush, rescuing American and Afghan troops and retrieving the bodies of fallen comrades.
"You did your duty, above and beyond, and you kept the faith with the highest traditions of the Marine Corps that you love," the president said.
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552041e597424779ac082b00b36f277e
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Who was awarded the Medal of Honor in September
|
[
"Dakota Meyer"
] |
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Obama and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki voiced cautious optimism regarding the situation in Iraq Wednesday, noting greater stability and decreased violence as U.S. troops continue to cede control to their Iraqi counterparts.
President Obama and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki talk Wednesday at the White House.
"I have no doubt that there will be some tough days ahead," Obama said during a joint appearance of the leaders at the White House.
"There are still those who want to foment sectarian conflict. ... But make no mistake, those efforts will fail," he added.
The president said he is committed to moving forward with a pledge to remove all American combat brigades from Iraq by the end of August 2010, as well as all U.S. troops by the end of 2011.
Al-Maliki promised the Iraqi government would step up its efforts to prevent a return of widespread sectarian violence.
"Those who thought that the Iraqi forces [would] be incapable of imposing peace and security [have been] proved to be wrong," he said. Watch al-Maliki speak about "strategic friendship" with U.S. »
In addition to meeting with Obama, al-Maliki is scheduled to sit down with Vice President Joe Biden. He will also meet with the secretaries of State, Defense and Treasury, and with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Some foreign policy experts have expressed concern that as the United States pivots from Iraq to Afghanistan, Iraq and its problems will be ignored.
Responding to that criticism, one senior administration official said this week, "Our goal is, in fact as we formalize the relationship, to concentrate on other areas," but he suggested that Iraq would remain a U.S. priority.
Hours before the two leaders met, at least five Iranian pilgrims were killed and dozens more wounded earlier Wednesday in an attack northeast of Baghdad.
The violence came a day after a spate of bombings left at least 22 Iraqis dead and about 150 wounded.
CNN's Jomana Karadsheh and Dan Lothian contributed to this report.
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0643f7c287664ccc800d196bdadb3923
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When does Obama want to remove all U.S. forces from Iraq?
|
[
"by the end of 2011."
] |
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(Mashable) -- Facebook is rolling out an update to News Feed that lets people sort information by Recent Stories or Highlighted Stories.
The update adds a "Sort" link at the top of the News Feed. Clicking it brings up two options for organizing News Feed content: "Highlighted Stories First" or "Recent Stories First."
Highlighted Stories will push the most important content to the top of the page -- the current way it operates. The Recent Stories option will order News Feed items in reverse chronological order, though it is not as comprehensive as Facebook's real-time "Ticker".
The social network revamped News Feed in September in an attempt to make sure users don't miss the important events in their friends' lives. This was accomplished through the launch of Ticker and an update that highlighted key events that occurred within users' social graphs.
As part of this change, Facebook removed the "Top Stores" and "Most Recent" links at the top of the page. It looks like that some users still wanted a simple way to see News Feed items at any time, though. The new News Feed has the ability to see recent stories in News Feed if you had logged in recently, but it wasn't a comprehensive option.
Facebook says that the Sort feature will be rolling out over the next few days. Do you think bringing Recent Stories back is a good idea? Let us know in the comments.
See the original story on Mashable.com
© 2011 MASHABLE.com. All rights reserved.
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8daaa15096dd4b5695da9d887c275d79
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Where will recent stories be?
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[
"News Feed"
] |
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(CNN) -- An arrest warrant has been issued for a Florida man suspected in the shooting deaths of four people, including his sisters, in the coastal town of Jupiter, authorities said Saturday.
Paul Michael Merhige, 35, allegedly left the scene of the Thanksgiving Day shooting armed. He faces four counts of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted first-degree murder, the Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office said in a statement.
The U.S. Marshals have joined the search for Merhige, and a $10,000 reward was offered for information leading to his arrest.
The shooting victims include Merhige's 6-year-old cousin, Makayla Sitton; his 33-year-old twin sisters, Carla Merhige and Lisa Knight; and 76-year-old Raymond Joseph, police said.
One of the victims -- Knight -- was pregnant, a police spokeswoman said Friday.
Two others -- Patrick Knight and Clifford Gebara -- were wounded, police said.
Interviews with family members suggest that Merhige "had ongoing resentment" for some of his relatives, said Sally Collins-Ortiz, a spokeswoman for Jupiter police.
The shooting occurred about 10 p.m. Thursday.
Merhige is thought to have escaped in a blue 2007 Toyota Camry with Florida license plate number W42 7JT, police said.
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c26bf299a12f4d679cb6f421a4973135
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What is the name of the accused?
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[
"Paul Michael Merhige,"
] |
NewsQA
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(CNN) -- Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada on Thursday apologized to South Korea for the more than three decades when Japan ruled over Korea, calling the time a "tragic incident."
Okada made the rare apology during a joint news conference with South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan, Korean state-run media reported.
"I believe it was a tragic incident for Koreans when they were deprived of their nation and their identity," Okada said, according to the Yonhap news agency.
"I can fully understand the feelings of (Koreans) who were deprived of their identity and nation. I believe we must never forget the victims," he added.
Japan controlled Korea from 1910 to 1945. During that time, Japan's military is accused of forcing about 200,000 women, mainly from Korea and China, to serve as sex slaves. They were known as "comfort women" for soldiers in Japan's Imperial Army.
There have been street protests and lawsuits in that past in South Korea over the sufferings of the comfort women.
At least one other Japanese leader has apologized for the era.
In 2001, then-Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi acknowledged the "enormous damage" inflicted by Japan's military "by colonization and invasion."
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52e674aa8a154ba087e0c50493202afe
|
What tragic incident?
|
[
"Koreans when they were deprived of their nation and their identity,\""
] |
NewsQA
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(CNN) -- Three runners died Sunday during the Detroit Free Press/Flagstar Marathon in Detroit, Michigan, police told CNN.
An EMT vehicle is at the scene Sunday in Detroit after three runners collapsed at a marathon.
All three deaths occurred between 9 and 9:20 a.m. ET, Second Deputy Chief John Roach said.
A man in his 60s fell and hit his head, Roach said. The cause of the fall was unknown. The man was transported to Detroit Receiving Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Two other men, ages 36 and 26, also collapsed during the race and were pronounced dead at the hospital, Roach said.
All three collapsed near the end of the race, he said. Witnesses describe scene »
The weather at the time was overcast, Roach said, with temperatures in the low 40s.
CNN's Chuck Johnston contributed to this report.
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92ea1add461f454faa3395a3d4343d38
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who hit his head?
|
[
"man in"
] |
NewsQA
|
MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- A woman who died after she was hit by a spotted eagle ray leaping from the water off the Florida Keys suffered "multiple skull fractures and direct brain injury," a medical examiner said Friday.
The dead spotted eagle ray lies on the deck of a boat in Florida.
Judy Kay Zagorski, 55, of Pigeon, Michigan, died Thursday of "blunt force craniocerebral trauma" after the ray hit her when she was in a boat, Monroe County medical examiner Michael Hunter determined.
He gave no indication in the preliminary report whether the blow from the ray itself or her head hitting the deck, or both, killed her.
"It's just as freakish of an accident as I have heard," said Jorge Pino of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. "The chances of this occurring are so remote that most of us are completely astonished that this happened."
Zagorski was on the boat with her father and other family members and friends. She was seated or standing in the front of the vessel as it was traveling about 25 mph out of a channel, Pino said.
"The ray just actually popped up in front of the vessel," he said. "The father had not even a second to react. It was too late. It happened instantly and the woman fell backwards and, unfortunately, died as a result of the collision."
The accident happened off the coast of Marathon Key, about 2½ hours' drive south of Miami. Zagorski was taken to the Fishermen's Hospital in Marathon, where she was pronounced dead. Watch marine officers work around dead ray on boat »
Pino said he had seen rays leap into the air, but added, "it's very rare for them to collide with objects." Watch experts explain why eagle rays leap »
The spotted-eagle ray weighed about 75 to 80 pounds and had a 6-foot wingspan, Pino said. Watch officials investigate eagle ray collision »
Florida Fish and Wildlife said eagle rays "are not an aggressive species, but they do tend to leap from the water." Spotted eagle rays can have a wingspan of up to 10 feet and can weigh 500 pounds, it said. Learn more about eagle rays »
Television personality Steve Irwin was killed when a ray's barb pierced his heart in September 2006.
A month later, an 81-year-old Florida man, James Bertakis, survived after a ray leaped from the water and stung him in the heart, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
He spent five weeks on a ventilator and his recovery took several months, his sons told the Detroit Free Press in his former home state of Michigan. E-mail to a friend
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ad6bd38316de42eb95cd5d63c39456e3
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Where was the eagle spotted?
|
[
"off the Florida Keys"
] |
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