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NewsQA | Editor's note: Campbell Brown anchors CNN's "Campbell Brown: No Bias, No Bull" at 8 p.m. ET Mondays through Fridays. She delivered this commentary during the "Cutting through the Bull" segment of Thursday night's broadcast.
CNN's Campbell Brown says John Thain, according to CNBC, spent $28,000 on curtains.
(CNN) -- John Thain, the former CEO of Merrill Lynch, resigned Thursday from the company that bought Merrill out, Bank of America. As far as we can tell, his departure couldn't come soon enough.
Not long ago, Thain was credited with keeping Merrill alive long enough to be rescued.
Now we learn the man who asked for, then quickly withdrew, his request for a $10 million bonus still managed to live large while Merrill teetered on the brink and workers paid the price.
According to CNBC, Thain spent more than $1.2 million in company funds to spruce up his office, hiring a world-class designer to decorate in full decadence.
The list includes an $87,000 "area rug," $28,000 for curtains, a $68,000 credenza and the perfect finishing touch: a $1,400 wastebasket.
This is what passes for corporate responsibility?
CEO John Thain: picking out fancy new curtains while the walls are tumbling down.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Campbell Brown. | f25337707b1d42bd9c269cd91e8fb516 | How much money did Thain use to remodel his office? | [
"spent more than $1.2 million in company funds"
] |
NewsQA | Lisbon, Portugal (CNN) -- Let's face it, footballers have a bad rep. They are labelled by many as overpaid selfish prima donnas who could not care less about the world around them.
This may in reality apply to some players, but definitely not all of them. In Lisbon I recently met many who truly enjoy being role models and were honored to take part in the 7th edition of the United Nations (UN) Match Against Poverty.
This year, in light of the tragic earthquake in Haiti, all of the proceeds went to the devastated country as 55 thousand people filled the Stadium of Light to greet some of the best footballers on the planet, both past and present.
The likes of Kaka, Thierry Henry, Luis Figo and Zinedine Zidane lent a hand to this cause. Organizers were hoping to raise over $750 000 and in ticket sales alone, that target was reached.
Having the privilege to be behind the scenes at this match in my home country, I spoke with various players about their involvement in it. One of the most concerned about the plight of the Haitian people was Thierry Henry.
The Barcelona forward, who made headlines for the wrong reasons after his controversial handball which helped prevent Ireland from attending the World Cup, had already personally pledged $90,000 to the French aid agency Medecins sans Frontieres.
"I am very touched by this tragedy and it is very good that everybody should mobilize in order to help Haiti," Henry told his club side Barcelona's official Web site.
"This touches me because almost 20 years ago something similar happened in (the French Caribbean island of) Guadeloupe and I know what the Haitians must be going through. I have many friends over there. Haiti is a former French colony and it's as if we are cousins."
Henry showed true concern for a nation that needs all the help it can get to rebuild its infrastructure and its hope.
Zidane, Kaka and Figo were others who told me they were shocked by some of the footage they saw coming out of Haiti. As the death toll rose, they felt they needed to do something to help, and were delighted so many high-profile names showed up.
In all, some 40 international players participated in a match that was qualified as a success by all, including the former Arsenal striker.
"We must help them. I felt I should do something and that's why I have decided to make a donation to Medecins sans Frontieres," said the former Arsenal legend. | 847f5aa78477423ab37372a19a00b6b6 | How much was raised for the Haiti earthquake? | [
"$750 000"
] |
NewsQA | (CNN) -- Myanmar's Supreme Court rejected Friday an appeal by pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi to overturn her house arrest.
A diplomat who attended the hearing and spoke on condition of anonymity confirmed that the appeal was unsuccessful.
Suu Kyi, 64, has one final avenue for appeal to a special court in Myanmar's new capital, Naypidaw.
The Nobel Peace Prize laureate's house arrest was extended by 18 months last August after an incident in which uninvited American John Yettaw stayed at her lakeside home. Myanmar's ruling military junta accused Suu Kyi of breaching the terms of her house arrest.
She has been imprisoned or under house arrest for much of the past two decades, since her party the National League for Democracy won a landslide election victory in 1990. The junta has never recognized the results, but has promised to hold fresh elections this year, although no date has yet been set.
Suu Kyi is disqualified from standing because she was married to a foreigner. The NLD has still to clarify whether it will participate in the vote.
CNN's Dan Rivers contributed to this report. | 1ba2d19df2d94863a32385c59df8f7c8 | Who had sought to overturn her house arrest? | [
"Aung San Suu Kyi"
] |
NewsQA | 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. | 6540a6902fa844e19b8a18e9dcdeae91 | How many stitches did Obama get? | [
"dozen"
] |
NewsQA | Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- A British soldier who was reported missing from a checkpoint in Afghanistan early Monday was found dead later in the day, the British Ministry of Defense announced.
"It is with great sadness that I announce the death of a soldier from The Highlanders, 4th Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland," said Lt. Col. Tim Purbrick, spokesman for Task Force Helmand, in a statement.
After an "extensive search," fellow members of NATO's International Security Assistance Force found his body in the Nahr-e Saraj District of Helmand Province, Purbrick said.
The soldier had suffered gunshot wounds. His identity was not immediately released.
A spokeswoman for David Cameron said the British prime minister is "deeply saddened by this news."
CNN's Nick Paton Walsh contributed to this report. | da08d5f5f4094e768e51463684479128 | Who was found dead? | [
"British soldier"
] |
NewsQA | LONDON, England (CNN) -- A London department store has started selling coffee for $100 a shot.
Civet cats: The coffee beans are collected from the animal's faeces.
If the price sounds unappealing, shoppers also have to overcome the unusual method of cultivation, which sees the coffee beans harvested from the feces of an Indonesian jungle cat.
Even so, the Peter Jones store says the luxury blend -- called Caffé Raro -- is one of the world's rarest and most premium coffees.
Made by the Italian company De Longhi, Caffé Raro combines Jamaican Blue Mountain and Kupi Luwak, two extremely rare coffees.
The beans of Kupi Luwak are harvested after being ingested by civet cats, and only about 260 kilos (about 573 pounds) of the coffee is produced each year.
"The cats select the best beans to chew. It's rather like a natural filtering process," said Carie Barkhuzen, a spokeswoman for the upmarket store in London's upmarket Sloane Square.
The coffee, which went on sale Thursday, is available at $100 for a shot at the Peter Jones Espresso Bar, or shoppers can buy 100g (3.5-ounce) packs of the coffee beans to take away for the same price. Watch some willing to try the coffee, others not »
"It's not exactly flying off the shelves -- it's very expensive, after all -- but customers are buying it," Barkhuzen said.
The proceeds from the coffee sales will go to charity. E-mail to a friend | 6b5d5e8077d94ea1ba8bea5026ea3c2c | What is the blend comprised of? | [
"Kupi Luwak,"
] |
NewsQA | (CNN) -- The Saudi lawyer who represented a woman kidnapped and raped by seven men said his license to practice has been reinstated.
A protest appeared in India in November against the Saudi sentence.
Lawyer and human rights activist Abdul Rahman al-Lahem told CNN's Nic Robertson that the Justice Ministry has reinstated his license.
Al-Lahem had previously told CNN that the Saudi judge revoked his license as punishment for speaking to the media about his client's case, which attracted international attention.
His client, an engaged teenager, was raped by seven men who found her alone with a man unrelated to her. She has said she was meeting with the man to retrieve a photograph. The attack took place in Qatif in March 2006.
The seven rapists were sentenced to two to nine years in prison but she also was sentenced to 200 lashes and six months in prison for having violated the kingdom's strict Islamic law by being alone with an unrelated man.
The woman's sentence provoked outrage in the West and cast light on the treatment of women under Saudi Arabian law.
Under Saudi law, women are subject to numerous restrictions, including a strict dress code, a prohibition against driving and a requirement that they get a man's permission to travel or have surgery.
In challenging what he said were his suspension and disbarment, al-Lahem said he had received threats on his life from the religious right.
Last month, Minister of Justice Abdallah bin Mohammed al-Sheikh, in a phone call to a Saudi Television newscast, said the lawyer's license had never been revoked.
"Such decisions are made through institutions in the kingdom," he said. "The punishment of the lawyer or any lawyer does not come from a reaction; it comes from a carefully examined procedure within a special council in the ministry."
He said the council charged with deciding law license revocations had not issued any decisions in the case. E-mail to a friend | 4269f802bf1b43a5b728957584e05313 | What did the Saudi Minister say about his license? | [
"had never been revoked."
] |
NewsQA | LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Nadya Suleman, who gave birth to octuplets in January, will star in a reality television series about her family, a TV executive said.
Nadya Suleman will star in a "quasi-reality TV series," says a TV executive.
The Eyeworks executive, who asked not to be named, confirmed a Us magazine report that quoted Suleman's lawyer, Jeff Czech, saying a deal has been reached after months of negotiations.
The "quasi-reality TV series" would be "an arrangement whereby several events in the children's lives would be filmed in a documentary series," Czech told Us.
Eyeworks' British division will produce the show, the Eyeworks executive said.
"There is a story to be told" about the family, he said.
"They might be several shows aired during a year. There are all kinds of possibilities. It really depends on what the networks want," Czech was quoted as saying.
Though he said the show has not been named, Suleman has sought to trademark her media nickname -- Octomom -- for a TV show and a line of diapers.
Suleman has six other children. All 14 were conceived through in-vitro fertilization. | 47550dc5326745898c0f6ec23d24e8a1 | How many children did Suleman already have? | [
"has six other"
] |
NewsQA | (CNN) -- Two men were in custody and a third was still on the run Friday after the shooting of two police officers in Indiana sparked a manhunt across the Ohio River into Kentucky, authorities said.
One of the injured officers is taken out of an ambulance and rushed into the University of Louisville Hospital.
Vincent Windell, 22, and another man whose name was not released were in custody in connection with Thursday's shooting, Jeffersonville, Indiana, Chief Detective Charlie Thompson told CNN.
A third suspect, Robert Dattilo, 37, fled into Kentucky, where Louisville police were pursuing him, according to Louisville Metro Police spokeswoman Alicia Smiley.
The incident began Thursday when Jeffersonville Police Cpl. Dan Lawhorn, 39, and Patrolman Keith Broady, 32, responded to a call from a Motel 6 employee about possible drug activity, Thompson said.
The two were apparently ambushed when they arrived, Indiana State Police told the Louisville Courier-Journal. Lawhorn, an 11-year veteran, was shot in the leg, and Broady, a 4-year veteran, was shot in the upper body, Thompson said.
The two officers returned fire, but it wasn't clear whether the suspects were hit. Lawhorn and Broady were able to reach their patrol cars and call for help after the shooting.
They were rushed to the University of Louisville Hospital for surgery and are both listed in serious but stable condition, hospital spokesman David McArthur told CNN. | 384f4ef7110f4d26b645c050a220c329 | What were police responding to? | [
"call from a Motel 6 employee about possible drug activity,"
] |
NewsQA | (CNN) -- A woman hospitalized after spending time in a sauna-like "sweatbox" has died, bringing the total fatalities to three, authorities said late Saturday.
Retreat participants spent up to two hours inside the sweatbox, the sheriff's office said.
In addition to the deaths, 18 others were injured at the October 8 event at Angel Valley Retreat Center near Sedona, Arizona.
The latest victim, Lizabeth Neuman, 49, was a Minnesota mother of three. She died at the Flagstaff Medical Center, the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office said.
There were up to 65 visitors, ages 30 to 60, at the resort attending the "Spiritual Warrior" program by self-help expert James Arthur Ray, according to authorities.
Participants spent up to two hours inside the sweatbox, a dome-like structure covered with tarps and blankets, the sheriff's office said. Hot rocks and water are used to create steam in the enclosed environment.
Neuman's attorney, Lou Diesel, told CNN her family is cooperating with the investigation and once it's complete, he will "take all the appropriate actions in response to those responsible for Liz's death."
Fire and rescue officials received an emergency call from the resort and transported the injured by air and land ambulances to nearby medical facilities, the sheriff's office said. Two people were pronounced dead shortly after arrival at a local medical center.
A homicide investigation into the incident is under way, authorities said. The other retreat participants who were hospitalized have since been released.
Ray is widely known for programs that claim to teach individuals how to create wealth from all aspects of their lives -- financially, mentally, physically and spiritually. He has appeared on various national programs, including CNN's "Larry King Live."
CNN's Janet DiGiacomo contributed to this report. | 7a0a64ddae7a45fb9c9627bde8ece596 | what are police doing | [
"A homicide investigation"
] |
NewsQA | (CNN) -- Congolese rebels seized a major military camp and a spacious gorilla park in a renewed bout of heavy fighting that sent thousands fleeing, according to the United Nations and park officials.
Young gorillas play in Congo's Virunga Park, which was taken over Sunday by rebels fighting army forces.
The fighting comes after a tenuous week-old U.N. brokered cease-fire between rebels and government forces fell apart Sunday.
Fighting between the rebels under renegade Gen. Laurent Nkunda and Congolese army regulars in the eastern province of North Kivu of the Democratic Republic of the Congo displaced thousands of civilians, according to U.N. spokesman Michele Bonnardeaux.
The rebels also seized the headquarters of Virunga National Park in eastern Congo after intense fighting with the Congolese army, according to a statement by park officials.
The rebels have used Virunga Park as a base but have never seized its headquarters before.
The 3,000 square mile (7,800 square kilometer) park has a gorilla facility and is home to 200 of the 700 endangered mountain gorillas in existence.
"Over 50 rangers were forced to flee into the forests and abandon the park station, in fear of their lives," the park statement said.
"They have seized the entire gigantic infrastructure [of the park headquarters] which is stategically very close to the main road heading north into Goma," said park spokeswoman Samantha Newport by phone from Goma, about 40 kilometers from the fighting.
"The situation is eastern Congo is very dangerous," she said. "It's the first time they've [rebels] ever had the audacity" to take over the park. Watch as park ranger describes the violence as it explodes behind him »
Newport said the rebels have set up roadblocks so the rangers are making their way through woods south to safety.
She said the gorillas and other wildlife in the park are in danger of getting caught in the crossfire.
A park ranger described the takeover.
"When the rebels started approaching the park station we thought we were all going to be killed," said Park Ranger Bareke Sekibibi, 29, who spoke by cell phone from the forest earlier as he fled, according to the park statement.
" We are not military combatants, we are park rangers protecting Virunga's wildlife."
Although the civil war in the Congo officially ended in 2003, recent fighting in eastern Congo between government forces and rebels has caused tens of thousands to flee their homes
The conflict and humanitarian crisis in Congo have taken the lives of some 5.4 million people since 1998, and that 45,000 people continue to die there every month, according to an International Rescue Committee report in January. | 00f7d4b0890f473387f4f5f7325afbc5 | What did the rebels seize? | [
"seized a major military camp and a spacious gorilla park"
] |
NewsQA | LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- The Beastie Boys canceled all scheduled concerts and delayed their next album release while member Adam "MCA" Yauch is treated for a cancerous tumor in a salivary gland, Yauch says in a video statement to fans.
The Beastie Boys' Adam Yauch will be treated for a cancerous tumor in a salivary gland.
"The good news is that they did scans of my whole body and it's only localized in this one area and it's not in a place that affects my voice," Yauch says. "So, that's nice. That's convenient."
The cancer is in his left parotid gland and "also in a lymph node right in that area," he says.
He will probably have surgery next week and radiation treatments afterward, he says.
With band mate Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz sitting next to him, Yauch tells fans how he found out he had cancer.
"About two months ago, I started feeling this little lump in my throat, like you would feel if you have swollen glands or something like that, like you'd feel if you have a cold, so I didn't really think it was anything," he says.
His doctor sent him to a specialist who diagnosed the cancer, he says.
Yauch does not estimate how long the tour will be delayed, but he apologizes to "anyone who's made plans" to come to the shows.
The illness will also delay the release of the band's next album, "Hot Sauce Committee Part 1," he says. | fb74e7f5208a4d2d9cd67245b498cc32 | What did Yauch say about the tumor? | [
"it's only localized in this one area and it's not in a place that affects my voice,\""
] |
NewsQA | (CNN) -- A British man convicted of having sex on a Dubai beach was re-arrested as he prepared to board a flight back to the UK, according to media reports.
File image of one of the co-accused -- Vince Acors -- arriving at court in Dubai in September.
Vince Acors, 34, from London, was due to fly to Heathrow Monday following his deportation from the Gulf state. But he was detained at Dubai Airport and returned to jail as his flight confirmation was allegedly "not in order," the British Press Association said.
Acors and fellow Briton Michelle Palmer, 36, were initially given three-month jail terms for unmarried sex and public indecency, but these were suspended on appeal.
Acors had been due to return last Friday but a hold-up in the deportation process meant he was unable to board a UK-bound plane and spent the weekend in jail, PA said.
His lawyer Andrew Crossley said: "The return of Vince Acors has been delayed yet again and he will not be returning to the UK. The situation is close to becoming farcical and Vince is severely disappointed.
"After having booked and confirmed his return flight on three separate occasions through the course of the day Vince was re-arrested at Dubai Airport, as his flight confirmation was allegedly not in order. He has been returned to jail, his precise return is now unknown."
Palmer and Acors were arrested on a public beach shortly after midnight on July 5. Police charged them with illicit relations, public indecency, and public intoxication. A court found them guilty in October and fined them 1,000 dirhams ($367) for the charge of public indecency.
Both denied they had intercourse. And during the trial, Mattar argued that the public prosecutor failed to produce corroborative evidence against his clients on the first two charges, though he said both tested positive for liquor.
The United Arab Emirates, where Dubai is located, is home to thousands of expatriates and is among the most moderate Gulf states. Still, the oil-rich kingdom adheres to certain Islamic rules. | fad98dacfb4a4c1e911f78dd4b94c50f | Who faced three- month sentence. | [
"Acors and fellow Briton Michelle Palmer,"
] |
NewsQA | (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. | 0145c1c30b024b40b297739a4f614afb | Who posts the links | [
"scammer"
] |
NewsQA | (CNN) -- Brazil has confirmed 657 fatalities caused by the H1N1 flu, the highest number of deaths in the world, the nation's Health Ministry said.
Brazil registered 7,569 new cases of the virus also known as swine flu from August 25 to 29, the Health Ministry said. However, new cases of the virus had dropped in the past three weeks.
In terms of mortality rate -- which considers flu deaths in terms of a nation's population -- Brazil ranks sixth and the United States is 12th, the Brazilian Health Ministry said in a news release this week.
Argentina ranked first per capita, Brazilian health officials said. | 19987fc196ec4a2cbd5f84a9a1d5845b | What did Healthy Ministry say about Brazil? | [
"657 fatalities caused by the H1N1 flu,"
] |
NewsQA | Washington (CNN) -- The stars were out Sunday night as the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts bestowed its prestigious Mark Twain Prize for American Humor on actor and comedian Will Ferrell.
The award, which was established in 1998, honors comedians who have shaped American society with their work, as Mark Twain once did.
Ferrell himself commented on the importance of the prize, telling CNN it's "the only legitimate award that recognizes comedy," and he was honored to receive it.
Fellow comedians Jack Black, Tim Meadows, Ed Asner, Paul Rudd, Andy Samberg, Conan O'Brien and Molly Shannon showered Ferrell with praise at the ceremony.
"When you see Will Ferrell on a marquis, he's going to give you 90 minutes to two hours of fascinating entertainment," said Asner, who worked with Ferrell in the movie "Elf."
In the movie, Will "was so steeped in his character that I had to believe in mine," Asner said.
"He's a blast. I mean, he's always coming up with new stuff," said actor Rudd, who co-stared with Ferrell in "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy"
He's, "just fun to watch, and he's very good at keeping it together."
O'Brien took a different approach -- the backhanded compliment.
"None of us are here for Will," he said. "We're here because Will's very powerful. We fear Will. Let's get that straight, okay? I'm angry. And afraid. I'm here out of fear."
Also in attendance were senior administration officials, including White House Chief of Staff William Daley, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, and Office of Management and Budget Director Jacob Lew.
Past winners include Tina Fey, as well as Richard Pryor, Bob Newhart, Lorne Michaels, and Steve Martin. | 660d7f1220224dfda09aa65345219bc7 | What was fellow comedians reaction on Ferrell saying? | [
"with praise"
] |
NewsQA | NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- The number of dead in devastating floods triggered by torrential rains in India has risen to at least 271, and about a million people have fled their homes, officials said Monday.
An aerial view of a flood-affected area in Bijapur district in North Karnataka, India.
At least 192 people have died in the southern state of Karnataka, its disaster-management secretary H.V. Parshwanath told CNN.
More than 450,000 people there have been housed in 1,330 relief camps as authorities completed rescue operations in most of the flooded zones in the state, he said.
"The focus is now mainly on relief," Parshwanath said, adding that rains have now eased in Karnataka.
In neighboring Andhra Pradesh, authorities put the death toll at 51. Some 531,000 people have been evacuated to safety, with more half of them now sheltering in relief camps, said Dinesh Kumar, the commissioner of the state's disaster-monitoring department.
India has deployed the military to help with relief and rescue in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
More than a dozen teams of naval divers have been sent to the two flood-hit states, the country's defense ministry said.
Air force planes and helicopters have also been dropping food packets in the submerged regions.
The military has been able to rescue 1,336 people so far, it added.
Flood waters were now receding in two of the five worst hit districts of Andhra Pradesh, disaster official Kumar said.
But floodwaters from a local river might submerge the remaining three, he warned.
Flooding also killed at least 25 people in Maharashtra state, officials said. Three others died because of lightning strikes, said S.C. Mohanty, director of Maharashtra's disaster-management department.
About 3,000 people have been displaced because of flooding, he told CNN. Thousands of people die each year in India during seasonal monsoon rains.
More than 1,100 had been killed in monsoon-triggered flooding in different parts of the country as of last month, according to the disaster-management division of the federal home ministry. | 5991a8289fd44ce48eb1c57ef0b9e1e6 | What is the death toll from floods in India? | [
"271,"
] |
NewsQA | Washington (CNN) -- Americans are split over whether China represents a military threat to the United States -- but there is no doubt in the public's mind that the country poses an economic threat, according to a new national poll.
According to a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Monday, 51 percent of the public consider China a military threat, with 47 percent disagreeing. That 4-point margin is within the poll's 4.5 percent sampling error.
The poll's release coincides with U.S. President Barack Obama's first visit to China to bolster relations. At a town hall meeting on Monday he made the case to Chinese students that the two countries' philosophical differences should not get in the way of a robust relationship.
According to the survey, two-thirds see China as a source of unfair competition for U.S. companies, while only a quarter are more likely to view China as a huge potential market for U.S. goods.
"That may be why 71 percent of Americans consider China an economic threat to the U.S.," says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. "Americans tend to view foreign countries as competition, and China is no exception."
Only a quarter of those questioned in the poll say that China has a good track record on human rights. Sixty-eight percent suggested that China is doing a bad job respecting the human rights of its citizens.
The CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll was conducted November 13-15, with 1,014 adult Americans questioned by telephone.
CNN's Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report | 01cb0b4a38f14281ae888530f4692aa4 | Who considers China a threat? | [
"Americans"
] |
NewsQA | (CNN) -- An internationally renowned paleontologist will plead guilty to stealing dinosaur bones from federal land, his attorneys said in a court filing.
Paleontologist Nate Murphy is expected to plead guilty to stealing fossils from federal land.
Nate Murphy, whose famous finds include Leonardo, one of the best-preserved dinosaurs in the world, will make that plea in federal court in Billings, Montana.
Earlier this month, Murphy pleaded guilty to state charges of stealing a fossil from private land in order to sell it. An expert cited in that case said Murphy's find was worth between $150,000 and $400,000.
The self-taught dinosaur expert, who is director of vertebrate paleontology at the Judith River Dinosaur Institute, could face jail time.
Murphy and his attorney did not immediately respond to phone messages Friday from CNN.
Jessica Fehr, lead prosecutor in the case, said the U.S. Attorney's Office would not comment until after the plea is entered.
In court papers, federal prosecutors say Murphy knowingly took fossils from federal property between about August 2006 and August 2007. The "paleontological resources" were said to be worth at least $1,000.
In the state case, Murphy pleaded guilty to a felony charge of theft. As part of the plea, the state recommended Murphy's sentence be deferred for five years.
Douglas Erwin, president of The Paleontological Society and curator of the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, said "theft of fossils from pubic lands has long been a problem."
In a written statement sent to CNN on Friday, he said such thefts "can often result in the loss of important scientific information and the disappearance of specimens that belong to the public.
"At the same time, however, fossil collecting, particularly of common invertebrate fossils, has been a pastime enjoyed by many for decades, and is an important way of connecting people with their natural heritage."
An omnibus public lands bill, which the U.S. Senate passed Thursday, includes penalties for fossil theft from public land. | 380919e3ba0f41dea4233a1dcd4fce49 | what did the attorney say | [
"federal land,"
] |
NewsQA | BUENOS AIRES, Argentina -- Juan Roman Riquelme scored twice as Argentina beat Bolivia 3-0 to notch a third successive victory in the South American qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup on Saturday.
Juan Roman Riquelme celebrates after scoring his first goal in Argentina's win against Bolivia.
The midfielder followed up his brace of spectacular free-kicks in the opening 2-0 victory against Chile to help put his country five points clear of second-placed Brazil, who play Peru in Lima on Sunday.
Riquelme again shrugged off his lack of club action with Villarreal, where he has fallen out with the Spanish side's management, to net twice in the second spell after Sergio Aguero gave the home side a first-half lead.
The 19-year-old scored his first goal at international level five minutes before the interval after starting in a three-man attack with Carlos Tevez and Lionel Messi.
He headed home after Martin Demichelis nodded a cross from Manchester United striker Tevez back across goal.
Riquelme added the second 11 minutes after the break with a dipping free-kick which beat Carlos Arias from 25 yards, having been superbly denied by the keeper's one-handed effort shortly beforehand.
And he finished off the scoring in the 73rd minute with a cool sidefoot finish after being set up by Messi to cap off a match in which captain Javier Zanetti made a record-breaking 116th appearance for Argentina.
Argentina next travel to Colombia on Tuesday, when winless Bolivia have an away clash with Venezuela.
In other South American qualifiers, Colombia beat Venezuela 1-0, and Paraguay routed Ecuador 5-1.
Ecuador coach Luis Fernando Suarez, a Colombian, quit after his team's loss saying: "I have taken the irrevocable decision to resign." E-mail to a friend | c4bab0ec87834d39b6464f3767a9a410 | The coach for Ecuador quit his job after losing to what team? | [
"Paraguay"
] |
NewsQA | LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- No charges will be brought against a 10-year-old boy accused of accidentally starting an October wildfire that scorched more than 38,000 acres north of Los Angeles, California, prosecutors announced Tuesday.
Firefighters battle the Buckweed Fire October 22, 2007.
"There is no evidence of intent on the part of the minor," the Los Angeles County district attorney's office said in a written statement issued Tuesday afternoon.
"The district attorney's office is referring the matter to the Department of Children and Family Services for evaluation of the minor's situation to determine if other intervention is necessary."
The boy had faced possible charges in juvenile court after admitting to sheriff's deputies that he had started the Buckweed fire by playing with matches, investigators said. The blaze eventually destroyed 21 homes and 42 other structures.
The fire started October 21 in the Agua Dulce community north of Los Angeles.
It was one of nearly two dozen wind-whipped wildfires that swept across southern California in late October, forcing hundreds of thousands of people from homes near Los Angeles, San Diego and San Bernardino and leaving 14 people dead. E-mail to a friend | 19322287635b49b4bc1c380e66adfa7e | When did the fire start? | [
"October 21"
] |
NewsQA | (CNN) -- The Winter Olympics has been hit by tragedy after the death of a Georgian competitor following a crash during training for the high-speed luge event -- the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Georgian Embassy have confirmed.
Nodar Kumaritashvili, 21, was on the final corner of the course during official training when he had a "serious crash" and was propelled off the track at the Whistler Sliding Center in Vancouver, Canada, according to the IOC.
"Our first thoughts are with the family, friends and colleagues of the athlete. The whole Olympic Family is struck by this tragedy, which clearly casts a shadow over these Games", IOC President Jacques Rogge said in a statement.
"We are deeply struck by this tragedy and join the IOC in extending our condolences to the family, friends and teammates of this athlete, who came to Vancouver to follow his Olympic dream", added John Furlong of VANOC, the Games Organizing Committee.
In the same statement, International Luge Federation President Josef Fendt said: "This is a terrible accident.
"This is the gravest thing that can happen in sport, and our thoughts and those of the 'luge family', are naturally with those touched by this event."
The luge event is one of the most dangerous in sport, with competitors sliding down an icy track on a sledge, while steering with their legs, at speeds approaching 100 miles per hour.
Kumaritashvili was not considered one of the favorites to win a medal and was ranked 44th in the world.
However, earlier in practice, gold medal favorite Armin Zoggeler of Italy also lost control and crashed on curve 11, although he was able to walk away from the incident.
The accident came just hours before the Games officially started with a lavish opening ceremony on Friday evening. | 628d1f328a9140279f97be9bd47c69b5 | What was the name of the Athlete from Georgia who was killed | [
"Nodar Kumaritashvili,"
] |
NewsQA | (CNN) -- A massive dust storm swept through parts of Australia on Wednesday, bathing the city of Sydney in a reddish haze.
The Sydney Harbour Bridge is seen on Wednesday in Sydney, Australia.
Susan Paget marveled at the eerie red view from the balcony of her apartment in Manly, a suburb of Sydney, and said she took the day off work to avoid the dust storm mess.
"It just feels dirty and rusty," Paget told CNN. "It was totally bizarre to wake up around 5:30 a.m. and see such a red bizarre sky."
A video Paget submitted to CNN's iReport showed thick haze, which made it difficult to see her neighbors' homes. Watch Paget's updated iReport
Health officials in Sydney warned residents to stay in indoors if possible, especially if they had asthma or heart and lung conditions.
"Avoid spending too much time outdoors due to the high particle levels and hazardous air quality," the New South Wales Department of Heath Web site said. See images of the dust storm »
The Ambulance Service of New South Wales said the dust storm had kept it busy with emergency calls.
"We have already seen an increase in calls to people suffering from asthma and other respiratory problems," the agency said in a statement. Watch a news report on the haze »
iReporter Mark Clarke told CNN he woke up earlier than usual with a stuffy nose and cough at his home in Stanmore, a suburb of Sydney. iReporter: "It was like Mars"
He pulled the curtains back and saw a "strange red orangish glow coming from outside."
"It feels and smells like a vacuum cleaner exploded," he said. Watch Clarke's iReport
The country's bureau of meterology attributed the red haze to strong north-westerly winds which blew the dust overnight to Sydney and regions west of the capital.
During the day, the dust blanket moved north onto the Queensland capital of Brisbane.
The bureau of meterology's senior forecaster Tony Auden told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that the haze was likely to continue moving north.
"It should make its way up into the Sunshine Coast and into those Capricornia and central coast areas soon," he said. "For the south-east expect it to probably linger for the rest of today and hopefully settle out of the air overnight." | 57a876e320584a80a981bdb2654dbc70 | What is the cause of the dust storm? | [
"strong north-westerly winds"
] |
NewsQA | JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- South African fast bowler Dale Steyn took a career-best five for 34 as the Proteas took a tight grip on the first test against New Zealand in Johannesburg.
Steyn's career-best 5-34 was his fourth five-wicket haul in 14 tests.
New Zealand were bowled out for 118 in reply to South Africa's 226 and the home side piled on the agony by reaching 179 for two in their second innings.
Hashim Amla and Jacques Kallis shared an unbeaten stand of 159 as South Africa stretched their lead to 287.
South Africa's bowlers excelled to bring their side back into the game after their disappointing first innings.
They snapped up five wickets in the morning session when the Kiwis could only muster 56 runs.
Former New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming made 40 but the next best score was new cap Ross Taylor's 15.
Fleming was struck on the right forearm by Steyn and did not field during the afternoon. Coach John Bracewell said he had gone for precautionary X-rays but there was only bruising.
New Zealand, 41 for two overnight, lost nightwatchman Shane Bond, bowled by a Steyn yorker, before Makhaya Ntini claimed the crucial wicket of Fleming, who was well caught by AB de Villiers diving to his left at third slip.
Scott Styris and Taylor scraped 19 runs in 10 overs before more wickets tumbled.
Steyn's figures bettered his previous best of five for 47 against the same opponents at Centurion two seasons ago. It was his fourth five-wicket haul in 14 tests.
Ntini took three for 47 and Kallis two for 11.
South Africa made an uncertain start to their second innings with openers Herschelle Gibbs and captain Graeme Smith out cheaply, but Amla and Kallis blunted the attack and then took charge.
They batted together for 205 minutes, Amla facing 230 balls and hitting 13 boundaries in his 85 while Kallis hit 12 fours off 122 deliveries in reaching 76.
The Kiwis were left to regret Brendon McCullum's failure to hold a chance from Amla off Shane Bond, when the batsman had only scored two.
"The ball was hard and new and we were trying to get momentum. It cost us a lot," said coach John Bracewell. E-mail to a friend | 2f159ef92da54ded9562a88d946d93e3 | what was the score in their second inning? | [
"179 for two"
] |
NewsQA | (CNN) -- An additional 440,000 Honda vehicles are being added to a recall initially announced in November to repair a potential defect in airbag inflation systems, American Honda Motor Co. said Friday.
The 2001 Honda Civic is among the vehicles covered by the recall.
The recall involves driver-side airbags in certain 2001-02 Honda Accords, 2001 Civics and 2002-03 Acura TLs, the company said in a news release.
The affected vehicles will require the replacement of the steering-wheel-mounted airbag inflator.
"In some vehicles, airbag inflators can produce over-pressurization of the driver's [front] airbag inflator mechanism during airbag deployment," the release said. "If an affected inflator deploys, the increased internal pressure may cause the inflator casing to rupture. Metal fragments could pass through the cloth airbag cushion material, possibly causing an injury or fatality to vehicle occupants."
Honda spokesman Chris Noughtan said the potential defect has resulted in six known injuries and one known death.
The company will send a recall notice in the mail over the next few months, the release said. Owners may check their car's recall status by visiting the Honda "Owner Link" Web site at www.owners.honda.com/recalls or the Acura "My Acura" Web site at www.owners.acura.com/recalls.
"Only certain vehicles are affected, and concerned owners of 2001-2002 Accords, 2001 Civics and 2002-2003 Acura TLs are encouraged to wait to receive a recall notice in the mail before scheduling an appointment with their local dealer," the company said. | 94ab8b95277e44b39efa8f981866e5f0 | what part is faulty? | [
"driver-side airbags"
] |
NewsQA | Washington (CNN) -- Nearly two years into the recession, opinion about which political party is responsible for the severe economic downturn is shifting, according to a new national poll.
A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey released Friday morning indicates that 38 percent of the public blames Republicans for the country's current economic problems. In May, 53 percent blamed the GOP.
According to the poll, 27 percent now blame the Democrats for the recession, up 6 points from May, and 27 percent now say both parties are responsible.
"The bad news for the Democrats is that the number of Americans who hold the GOP exclusively responsible for the recession has been steadily falling by about two to three points per month," said Keating Holland, CNN polling director. "At that rate, only a handful of voters will blame the economy on the Republicans by the time next year's midterm elections roll around.."
Thirty-six percent of people questioned said that President Obama's policies have improved economic conditions, with 28 percent feeling that the president's programs have made things worse, and 35 percent saying what he's done has had no effect on the economy.
One reason for that, Holland said, may be the growing federal budget deficit: Two-thirds say that the government should balance the budget even in a time of war and recession.
The survey indicates that only 18 percent said the economic conditions in the country today are good, down 3 points from August. Eighty-two percent said economic conditions are poor.
"Some economic indicators may suggest that the economy has turned the corner -- but try telling that to the American people," Holland said.
The number of Americans who said the economy is in good shape -- a number that grew steadily through the spring and summer -- has now stalled, with fewer than one in five expressing a positive view of current conditions. More than eight in 10 say that economic conditions are in poor shape, with 43 percent calling them very poor.
The CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll was conducted November 13-15, with 1,014 adult Americans questioned by telephone. The survey sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.
CNN Deputy Political Director Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report. | 52eb2df5bc1549febae4fc31094dc748 | How many blamed Republicans for economic mess? | [
"38 percent of the public"
] |
NewsQA | London, England (CNN) -- Authorities evacuated 310 people from their homes early Thursday because of a major fire at a building site and nearby apartments in south London, fire officials and police said.
The London Fire Brigade said it was called to the scene at 4:26 a.m. (11:26 p.m. ET Wednesday), and police said they were called minutes later. Ten fire engines and around 75 firefighters were on the scene some eight hours later, a spokesman for the fire brigade said.
The fire engulfed an entire building site in Peckham, an area of south London, and spread to several three- and four-story residential buildings in the area, police and fire officials said.
Firefighters had the fire surrounded by noon and said there may still be deep-seated pockets of fire, a fire brigade spokesman said.
Four people were taken to a hospital, mainly for smoke inhalation, a spokeswoman for the London Ambulance Service said. None of their conditions was serious, she said.
"I was in bed and my neighbor knocked and told me to wake up -- the building's on fire," said one woman wrapped in a coat on a nearby street.
It was not clear what started the fire, the fire brigade spokesman said. | 460e48a37a3f489b9f010ed14b1a5f45 | When did the fire take hold of the building? | [
"early Thursday"
] |
NewsQA | (CNN) -- U.S. naval forces hunting pirates off Somalia detained six people this week who appeared to be pursuing a commercial shipping vessel, but soon released them because of a lack of evidence.
A Yemeni Coast Guard boat patrols the Gulf of Aden for pirates who threaten shipping.
The Navy said on Saturday the six matched the description of suspected pirates aboard a skiff in the area. The naval crew saw the men throwing objects overboard before they picked up the suspects.
Investigators didn't say what was thrown overboard but said the evidence was not sufficient "to hold the suspects for prosecution."
The detentions reflect the aggressive U.S.-led fight against piracy. The United States is spearheading an international naval task force in the waters off Somalia that launched in February after a rash of attacks.
Participating ships are patrolling more than a million square miles of water, an area about four times the size of Texas, Navy officials have said.
The Navy said it arrested the six on Friday after responding to a distress call from the Philippines-flagged MV Bison Express in the Gulf of Aden, between Yemen and Somalia. The ship, a livestock carrier, reported a small skiff containing six heavily armed pirates was pursuing it.
The guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg arrived and found a skiff matching the description. A Seahawk helicopter flew from the Gettysburg over the skiff and reported seeing objects being thrown overboard, the Navy said.
A team from the Gettysburg boarded the skiff, along with members of the U.S. Coast Guard Legal Detachment and detained the six suspected pirates. The U.S. officials transferred the suspects onto the amphibious assault ship USS Boxer, the flagship for the international anti-piracy task force, the Navy said, before releasing them.
The attack on the Bison Express was the second one Friday on commercial shipping vessels in the Gulf of Aden, the Navy said. In the first incident, pirates attacked the MV Sea Green, which managed to fend them off by firing flares as the men approached, the Navy said. | b2ee09f4d98f4cc492fa4e2678266aa1 | What did the U.S. military ship capture? | [
"six suspected pirates."
] |
NewsQA | (CNN) -- A 62-year-old Michigan man was severely burned when a homemade rocket strapped on his back exploded while he slid down a snowy hill on a sled, authorities said this week.
The rocket stunt was the grand finale on Saturday during the man's annual sledding party at his Oakland County, Michigan, home, the sheriff's department said.
"He is known for doing 'crazy things' at his parties," an Oakland County sheriff's department statement said. "On this date, after consuming an unknown quantity of alcohol, he constructed a device out of a motorcycle muffler and pipe."
Inside the makeshift rocket, the victim placed gunpowder, heads from matches and gasoline. He donned a helmet and took a sled to the top of a snowy embankment.
"He asked another person to light a wick and then began to sled down a hill. At some point during the ride downhill, the device exploded. The results of the explosion were second-degree burns to the victim's face," the sheriff's department statement said.
No one else was injured during the incident.
The man, whose identity is not yet known, was hospitalized with significant damage to one of his eyes and could face criminal charges, authorities said. | 4892f0aad118431f82ea939ec9ea5aaa | what exploded? | [
"homemade rocket"
] |
NewsQA | NEW YORK (CNN) -- Radio host Don Imus has prostate cancer.
Radio shock jock Don Imus has been diagnosed with prostate cancer.
The shock jock made the announcement on his radio show Monday morning.
Imus learned of the Stage 2 prostate cancer diagnosis last Wednesday, said Laurie Cantillo, program director for WABC-AM of New York.
A bone scan indicated that the cancer has not spread, she said, and doctors believe it is fully treatable.
Stage 2 prostate cancer means the cancer can be felt on exam but has not spread beyond the prostate gland.
Imus, 68, said he's been on an organic diet for the past 10 years, avoiding meat and fish and eating mostly fruits and vegetables.
"It wasn't great, but I was surprised," Imus said after learning the results of a biopsy that was performed last Monday. He added that he plans to go to San Francisco, California, for a second opinion.
Imus said he's spoken with Sen. John Kerry and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani about his diagnosis. Kerry and Giuliani are both prostate cancer survivors.
Imus exuded confidence while discussing his situation. "They are predicting they can treat it. They can cure it."
Imus returned to the radio in December of 2007, months after his inflammatory remarks caused the cancellation of his morning radio show on the CBS radio network. His four-hour program is syndicated nationally by the Citadel Broadcasting Corp.
Known for decades for his outspoken comments and off-color humor, Imus sparked a public outcry with his comments in April 2007 about the Rutgers University women's basketball team. The controversy eventually led to the cancellation of his show by CBS Radio.
He called the Scarlet Knights "tough girls" and "nappy-headed 'hos" during a national broadcast a day after the team lost the NCAA championship to the University of Tennessee Lady Volunteers. He later apologized. | 3843d2af21174ddba2c95028039738fa | Who will seek a second opinion? | [
"Imus"
] |
NewsQA | (CNN) -- More Occupy Wall Street protests were scheduled in New York on Thursday, a day after demonstrators marched to support an Iraq war veteran who was hurt in California.
Hundreds packed the streets near Manhattan's Union Square on Wednesday in a march in support of veteran Scott Olsen. At least 10 people were arrested in clashes with officers, a New York police spokesman said.
Olsen suffered a skull fracture Tuesday night after allegedly being struck by a tear gas canister in Oakland, California, according to witnesses. He was in fair condition Thursday in the intensive care unit at Highland Hospital, hospital spokesman Curt Olsen said.
The former Marine has become another rallying cry for the Occupy Wall Street protests spreading throughout the country.
Demonstrators have typically railed against what they describe as corporate greed, arrogance and power, as well as their assertion that the nation's wealthiest 1% hold inordinate sway over the remaining 99% of the population.
The movement seems to be growing despite a recent crackdown in several cities.
Authorities made a series of arrests at protests in Oakland and Atlanta on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Police said they fired tear gas on protesters in Oakland after the crowd threw paint and other objects at officers. In Atlanta, police arrested dozens of demonstrators at a downtown park after they failed to leave the facility as ordered.
In Nashville, Tennessee, authorities said Thursday that Occupy Nashville participants will be required to have permits, according to a statement from the state's Department of General Services.
CNN's Susan Candiotti and Joe Sutton contributed to this report. | 86b2502578d2466c91c70bc4c176e59c | What will be required to have permits? | [
"Occupy Nashville participants"
] |
NewsQA | NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama will undergo a routine medical examination at a hospital in the Indian capital on Tuesday, his spokesman Tenzin Taklha told CNN Sunday.
The Dalai Lama with French first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy on a recent visit to France.
The check-up in New Delhi is likely to take several hours, but the Dalai Lama will not be admitted to the hospital, the spokesman said.
The Dalai Lama, who lives in exile in the north Indian hill town of Dharamsala, will travel to the Indian capital on Monday.
The 73-year-old Tibetan leader was hospitalized in Mumbai in August for abdominal discomfort.
Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama will undergo a routine medical examination at a hospital in the Indian capital on Tuesday. | bf75090159784a23b0cf330d486f08a4 | In what city will the check-up take place? | [
"New Delhi"
] |
NewsQA | WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Obama is planning to sign an executive order Monday to overturn Bush-era policy that limited federal tax dollars for embryonic stem cell research, according to administration officials familiar with the deliberations.
President Obama will overturn Bush policy on embryonic stem cell research, administration officials say.
Obama's move will be hailed by advocates for those suffering from a host of afflictions, ranging from diabetes to Parkinson's disease, who believe that an expansion of stem-cell research could boost medical progress toward eradicating the debilitating diseases.
But many conservatives object to the destruction of human embryos because they contend that it ends a human life.
The officials said the administration is planning a Monday event at the White House at which Obama will overturn the executive order signed by President George W. Bush in August 2001. It barred the National Institutes of Health from funding research on embryonic stem cells beyond using 60 cell lines that existed at that time. Interactive: Unlocking the promise of stem cells »
Tony Perkins of the conservative Family Research Council accused the White House of leaking the details Friday night so that the move gets little attention, declaring that it is "a slap in the face to Americans who believe in the dignity of all human life."
House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said, "Advancements in science and research have moved faster than the debates among politicians in Washington, D.C., and breakthroughs announced in recent years confirm the full potential of stem cell research can be realized without the destruction of living human embryos."
In addition to signing the executive order, Bush twice vetoed legislation -- in July 2006 and June 2007 -- that would have expanded federally funded embryonic stem cell research.
At the time, Bush also argued that scientific advances allowed researchers to conduct groundbreaking research without destroying human embryos.
Bush's moves led to Democratic charges that he had put politics over science. | 93283d7378fa4dc9863067680c5c9259 | What did a critic say the move is to many Americans? | [
"\"a slap in the face"
] |
NewsQA | (CNN) -- Air accident investigators are to resume the search for the flight data recorders from an Air France airliner that mysteriously crashed off Brazil six months ago, according to media reports Sunday.
Flight 447 went down in stormy weather in the Atlantic Ocean while flying from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, France in June.
Investigators have not yet established the cause of the crash which killed all 228 passengers, and large parts of the plane -- including both flight recorders -- have never been found, despite an extensive search operation that included a French navy submarine.
Jean-Paul Troadec, director of the Investigation and Analysis Bureau, told reporters that a new search, approximately 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) off Brazil's northeast coast, will begin in February, according to Agence France-Presse.
The new underwater sweeps will last a maximum three months and involve sonar and robot submarines, he said.
Troadec was in Rio de Janeiro to speak to the relatives of the 58 Brazilians who were on board, AFP said. "We tried to convince the families that we are conducting the investigation with the full intention of getting to the truth," he said.
Troadec added that an upcoming report about the fatal crash contained "no surprises" but did set out "new details, notably in terms of safety recommendations."
Tests have already brought into question the performance of pitot tubes, which are used to measure the pressure exerted on the plane as it flies through the air, and are part of a system used to determine air speed.
Flight 447 sent out 24 automated error messages before it crashed that suggested the plane may have been flying too fast or too slow through the thunderstorms, officials have said.
The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) issued a directive in late August requiring airlines to replace pitot tubes manufactured by Thales Avionics on Airbus A330s and A340s. It said airlines should replace them with other Thales tubes and those manufactured by Goodrich. | ef1b4df065da4d6e998917190087e796 | how many months sweeps? | [
"maximum three"
] |
NewsQA | (CNN) -- Staff Sgt. Bartek Bachleda doesn't consider himself a hero, but passengers on a recent jumbo jet flight might beg to differ.
Staff Sgt. Bartek Bachleda says he knew the plane he was riding in was losing fuel and videotaped the problem.
One of 300 passengers on a United Airlines flight from Chicago, Illinois, to Tokyo, Japan, in April, Bachleda noticed white "smoke" billowing from the left side of the Boeing 747-400 jet on takeoff and then again at cruising altitude of over 30,000 feet.
He said he was sure it was a leak, a big one that could lead to a potentially dangerous situation.
Bachleda, 30, should know. He serves in an air refueling squadron in the U.S. Air Force.
He videotaped the midair vapor from his window seat and tried to warn a flight attendant. But at first, she paid him no heed.
"When I initially hit the call button, she thought maybe I wanted something, and she said, 'Sir, I'm handing out drinks, I'll be right back with you,' " Bachleda said.
Undeterred, Bachleda called her back to his seat.
"Ma'am," he said. "It's looking bad."
He identified himself and showed the flight attendant his video.
"I decided, if the captain doesn't know about this before we go oceanic -- meaning once we fly over the ocean -- and we're leaking this massive amount of fuel, this is going to be a bad day," said Bachleda, on a return trip back to Kadena Air Base in Japan, where he is stationed.
This time the flight attendant took him seriously, immediately stopped serving drinks and alerted the flight crew. Watch more on the plane leak »
United Airlines spokesman Jeff Kovick said the crew was already aware of the situation and was considering what action to take when Bachleda brought it to their attention. He said the captain would never have attempted a Pacific crossing.
In Bachleda's estimation, the plane, which United said has a capacity of 373,000 pounds of jet fuel, was losing about 6,000 pounds an hour.
Over the course of a 13-hour flight, the plane would have lost about 20 percent of its tank. But a former NTSB official said the plane still would have had to land because it lacked extra fuel to divert once it was over the Pacific or circle at its destination.
The jet landed in San Francisco, California -- with all 300 passengers safe. | 63eb19bfb8064ffdb4d44d5a8e35d7c3 | What lands in San Fransico? | [
"The jet"
] |
NewsQA | LONDON, England (CNN) -- A juvenile court in Ghana has sentenced two teenage girls from Great Britain to nine months in jail for trying to smuggle cocaine out of the country, Ghana's national news agency said Wednesday.
The girls were stopped by customs officials at Accra trying to smuggle drugs back to Britain.
The 16-year-olds will not have to serve the full sentence because they have already spent more than six months in jail, a British Foreign Office spokesman said.
Fair Trials International, a UK-based group that provided legal assistance to the pair, said in a statement Wednesday that it will decide in the coming days whether to appeal. The girls faced a maximum sentence of three years but are expected to be released on April 18, the group said.
For now, the girls are housed in a correctional home for girls in the country's capital, Accra.
Ghanaian police arrested the teenagers as they were readying to board a British Airways flight back to London last July.
When officials searched their laptop bags as part of departure formalities, they found about 6 kg (13 lbs) of cocaine, the Ghana News Agency and British media reports said.
Authorities in Ghana said a man paid the girls 6,000 pounds (about $11,700) to fly to Ghana to retrieve the laptop bags containing the drugs from two of his associates, the news agency added.
Those men have not been caught.
Fair Trials called the girls "pawns in a larger operation.
"It is deeply unfortunate that they, and not the men who lured them to Ghana, are bearing the consequences," said the group's chief executive, Catherine Wolthuizen.
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 United Kingdom's customs agency said Wednesday. E-mail to a friend | 39352371456a477c8fbe371e1c1bd3b4 | How long was she in jail? | [
"more than six months"
] |
NewsQA | (CNN) -- T-shirts and other official merchandise from what were billed as Michael Jackson's last concerts are up for sale, the shows' promoter told fans by e-mail Thursday.
Official merchandise from Michael Jackson's "This Is It" tour is for sale, according to the shows' promoter.
The e-mail, which went to people with tickets to London tour dates that were to start in July, reaffirmed an earlier announcement that ticketholders will receive a full refund or, if they chose, a commemorative ticket for the tour.
The concert merchandise includes Jackson belt buckles, socks, hats, wallets, music and a myriad of T-shirts.
"Early in June, Michael Jackson approved a line of official merchandise for you, his fans," said the e-mail from concert promoter AEG Live. "As we mourn the loss of one of the greatest talents the world has ever seen, we are only beginning to feel the impact that Michael left upon us all. A variety of official merchandise commemorates this incredible talent and preserves the legacy that is Michael Jackson."
Fifty sold-out Jackson concerts were scheduled for the O2 Arena in London, starting July 13. The shows were billed as the final concerts of his career and were called "This Is It."
Jackson was expected to earn $50 million from the London shows.
The singer died with debts estimated at $500 million, and his estate will take years to unravel legally.
On Wednesday, Paul McCartney refuted media accounts about the fate of the Beatles song catalog, which Jackson co-owned.
"Some time ago, the media came up with the idea that Michael Jackson was going to leave his share in the Beatles songs to me in his will, which was completely made up and something I didn't believe for a second," a statement on McCartney's Web site said.
"Now the report is that I am devastated to find that he didn't leave the songs to me. This is completely untrue. I had not thought for one minute that the original report was true and, therefore, the report that I'm devastated is also totally false, so don't believe everything you read folks!" | b126b87c7379431db17cccba1a542268 | who approved a line of official merchandise in early June | [
"Michael Jackson"
] |
NewsQA | ZURICH, Switzerland (CNN) -- As I watched Cristiano Ronaldo receive the FIFA World Player of the Year award in Zurich, I couldn't help feeling a deep sense of satisfaction, as the 23 year-old Portuguese international once again proved all his doubters wrong.
Cristiano Ronaldo shows emotion after being named the FIFA World Player of the Year for 2008.
Especially the ones in England.
In the days leading up to the awards ceremony, there were various rumors circulating that the Manchester United star was going to be pipped by Leo Messi on Tuesday night.
I was asked several times in London whether I really thought Ronaldo was going to win. Whether he really deserved it.
It was as if many in the British press didn't want him to take home another award.
Do you think Cristiano Ronaldo is shown enough respect? Tell us in the Sound Off box below.
The fierce attack on his lifestyle by the tabloids after he crashed his Ferrari last week just accentuated the fact that in the UK, he still has earned little respect.
Never mind that he was about to become the first Premier League Player to win this prestigious award. Never mind he has been the competition's biggest ambassador and promoter overseas. Too many in the English media, he was still a diver on the field, and a petulant rock star off it.
Now I am not going to sit here and say that my compatriot Cristiano is perfect. He isn't and he makes mistakes. But the same can be said about Wayne Rooney or any of the other English internationals.
When Rooney charges down the referee and shouts obscenities in his face without even being booked, as was the case in last weekend's match against Chelsea, is he called arrogant or petulant? No. When he goes seven or eight matches without a goal, is he suddenly branded overrated? No.
So all I am asking for here is a little respect. If Ronaldo was English, I am sure in the eyes of the British press he would be virtually untouchable, but although he's not, just give him a break. After all, he had an incredible 2007/2008 season which saw him score 42 goals in 49 matches and win virtually every major trophy on offer.
And he's a great ambassador for the game.
Pedro Pinto is a CNN sports correspondent based in London. | d164c902ab754d589a7cddd8af6bc15b | What year did Cristiano Ronaldo win this award for? | [
"2008."
] |
NewsQA | WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A Vietnam veteran and Bronze Star recipient who volunteered to return to the Army and serve in Afghanistan became the oldest U.S. service member to die in combat there, the U.S. military announced Friday.
First Sgt. Jose San Nicolas Crisostomo was killed by a roadside bomb in Kabul on Tuesday while riding in an armored Humvee.
His body was flown to the United States early Thursday morning.
Crisostomo of Spanaway, Washington, was 59. He would have turned 60 later this month, according to KING television in Seattle, Washington.
He was one of a very few service members who served in Vietnam and in current U.S. military operations, his record shows. He twice received the Bronze Star, which is awarded to U.S. troops for combat valor.
Crisostomo also received the Purple Heart for being wounded in combat, according to his records.
It was not clear from his official records if he received the medals for combat in Vietnam or Afghanistan.
His records also indicate he received numerous other commendations. He also served during the first Gulf War in 1991 and received the Kuwait Liberation Medal.
He jointed the Army in 1969 and retired in 1993, then volunteered to serve again in 2008.
According to his records, his position in the Army was automated logistical specialist, but it was unclear in what capacity he was serving while in Afghanistan.
Earlier this year, a 60-year-old soldier was killed in Iraq, becoming the oldest U.S. service member killed in either the war in Iraq or the war in Afghanistan. | 97ee5747271b441fbf9bbec0915a1db9 | In what other war did Jose San Nicolas Crisostomo serve? | [
"during the first Gulf"
] |
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. | 3c660cd311b24f1ba10258cd2436de4d | what conditions brought on the problem | [
"Drought"
] |
NewsQA | WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Vice President Dick Cheney will serve as acting president briefly Saturday while President Bush is anesthetized for a routine colonoscopy, White House spokesman Tony Snow said Friday.
Bush is scheduled to have the medical procedure, expected to take about 2 1/2 hours, at the presidential retreat at Camp David, Maryland, Snow said.
Bush's last colonoscopy was in June 2002, and no abnormalities were found, Snow said.
The president's doctor had recommended a repeat procedure in about five years.
The procedure will be supervised by Dr. Richard Tubb and conducted by a multidisciplinary team from the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, Snow said.
A colonoscopy is the most sensitive test for colon cancer, rectal cancer and polyps, small clumps of cells that can become cancerous, according to the Mayo Clinic. Small polyps may be removed during the procedure.
Snow said that was the case when Bush had colonoscopies before becoming president.
Snow himself is undergoing chemotherapy for cancer that began in his colon and spread to his liver.
Snow told reporters he had a chemo session scheduled later Friday. Watch Snow talk about Bush's procedure and his own colon cancer »
"The president wants to encourage everybody to use surveillance," Snow said.
The American Cancer Society recommends that people without high-risk factors or symptoms begin getting screened for signs of colorectal cancer at age 50. E-mail to a friend | b5494a0147b144d1b60f89bad56bec25 | What was the date in 2002 when Bush had his last colonoscopy, which found no problems? | [
"June"
] |
NewsQA | (CNN) -- Tropical Storm Claudette was gaining strength Sunday as it churned in the Gulf of Mexico toward the Florida Panhandle, the National Hurricane Center said.
A satellite image from 2 p.m. ET Sunday shows a tropical storm nearing the Florida Panhandle.
At 2 p.m. ET, Claudette's winds had picked up to near 50 mph, based on observations by an Air Force reconnaissance plane. The center of the storm was about 40 miles south of Apalachicola, Florida, and about 160 miles from Pensacola, the center said. It was moving at about 14 mph, putting it on course to hit land by Sunday evening.
A tropical storm warning was in effect from the Alabama-Florida border east to the Suwannee River. A tropical storm warning means that weather conditions will likely deteriorate in the next 24 hours.
The storm could bring 3 to 5 inches of rain, with isolated amounts up to 10 inches, and storm surges across portions of North Florida.
Meanwhile, two other tropical storms were in the Atlantic Ocean on Sunday. Tropical Storm Ana was moving west but losing strength, forecasters said, while Tropical Storm Bill was gaining strength as it followed behind Ana.
Ana was about 240 miles (385 kilometers) east of Dominica at 2 p.m. ET Sunday. It was expected to arrive at the Leeward Islands by late Sunday or early Monday, the center said. It was moving about 25 mph, and its maximum sustained winds were close to 40 mph, the center said.
Tropical storm watches were in effect for Dominica, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the British Virgin Islands, Montserrat, Antigua, Barbuda, St. Kitts, Nevis, Anguilla, St. Maarten, Saba, St. Eustatius, Guadeloupe, St. Martin, and St. Barthelemey.
Tropical Storm Bill -- which could become a hurricane on Monday -- should be watched closely as it heads west-northwest in the Atlantic, possibly toward Florida, CNN meteorologist Reynolds Wolf said. The storm was 1,555 miles east of the Lesser Antilles at 11 a.m. ET Sunday.
Bill may reach Category 3 status as it bears down on the Leeward Islands Wednesday or Thursday, he said. | 60dc0cdf8afb4b22aec82eb9c6d5299d | What storm formed overnight? | [
"Claudette"
] |
NewsQA | BANGALORE, India (CNN) -- Two-year-old Lakshmi Tatma, an Indian toddler born with four arms and four legs, made her first public appearance Tuesday, a week after surgeons in India successfully removed her additional limbs.
Doctors said Lakshmi was recovering well as she appeared Tuesday at a news conference.
Lakshmi, wearing a plaster cast on her legs to keep her feet up and her legs together to help her wounds heal, was carried into a news conference Tuesday as her doctors announced she was being released from intensive care.
"She is coping very well," lead surgeon Dr. Sharan Patil said. "She is being carried around by her mother and her father."
Several of her doctors, all of them smiling, described her recovery over the past week "very steady and good progress," one saying she is "out of the woods" as far as serious medical issues are concerned. Watch the recovering little girl meet the media »
The operation a week ago lasted 27 hours and involved a team of some 30 surgeons, all specialists in pediatrics, neurosurgery, orthopedics, and plastic surgery, working in eight-hour shifts.
Lakshmi's extra limbs were part of a conjoined twin which stopped developing in the womb. It had a torso and limbs but no head, and was joined to Lakshmi at the pelvis.
Doctors said that without the surgery, Lakshmi would have been unlikely to survive beyond early adolescence.
The surgery involved the removal of the extra limbs and the repositioning of Lakshmi's organs.
When Lakshmi was born into her poor, rural Indian family, villagers in the remote settlement of Rampur Kodar Katti in the northern state of Bihar believed she was sacred. As news of her birth spread, locals queued for a blessing from the baby.
Her parents, Shambhu and Poonam Tatma, named the girl after the Hindu goddess of wealth who has four arms. However, they were forced to keep her in hiding after they were approached by men offering money in exchange for putting their daughter in a circus.
The couple, who earn just $1 a day as casual laborers, wanted her to have the operation but were unable to pay for the rare procedure, which had never before been performed in India.
After Patil visited the girl in her village from Narayana Health City hospital in Bangalore, the hospital's foundation agreed to fund the $200,000 operation.
Planning for the surgery took a month, Patil said, and Lakshmi spent that month in the hospital.
Many villagers, however, remained opposed to surgery and were planning to erect a temple to Lakshmi, whom they still revere as sacred. E-mail to a friend | e6487b9b09f143acbb8cf73ac57af346 | when was she released | [
"Tuesday"
] |
NewsQA | WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Obama will deliver a speech June 4 in Egypt on America's relationship with the Muslim world, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs announced Friday.
President Obama will travel to Egypt next month to address U.S. relations with the Muslim world.
Egypt is "a country that in many ways represents the heart of the Arab world," Gibbs said.
He deflected several questions at his daily briefing about whether Egypt is a wise choice, given President Hosni Mubarak's resistance to making his government more democratic.
Obama originally promised to deliver the speech during his first 100 days, but senior administration officials say the date slipped in part because of security and logistical issues.
The officials stressed, however, that the Secret Service still has deep security concerns, given the continued tumult in the Mideast.
Obama chose Turkey, a more secular state, as the site of his first presidential speech to a Muslim majority nation, on April 6. He told the Turkish legislature in Ankara that the "United States is not and will never be at war with Islam."
Obama will follow his visit to Egypt with a trip to the remains of the Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany on June 5. He is then scheduled to take part in ceremonies commemorating the 65th anniversary of the World War II Allied landings in Normandy, France.
CNN Chief White House Correspondent Ed Henry contributed to this report. | b92b0380cfc14a448b4abf1b4b09c459 | Who went to Egypt, Germany and France? | [
"President Obama"
] |
NewsQA | (CNN) -- Frozen winter conditions are helping slow the spread of a pipeline leak on Alaska's North Slope, an environmental official said.
An estimated 46,000 gallons of a water-and-oil mixture was spilled before the source of the leak -- a pipe rupture -- was identified Monday, according to the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC).
The ruptured 18-inch line, owned by oil company BP and which usually carries a mixture of 75 percent water and 25 percent oil, has been repaired.
The frozen conditions make the spill less mobile, Matthew Carr of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said late Wednesday.
"Any spill is regrettable," Steve Reinhart, a BP spokesman in Anchorage, told CNN. "We will clean this up thoroughly and our investigation will find out what happened so that we can ensure this doesn't happen again."
Reinhart said the spill, which occurred entirely on land, has had no impact on production or wildlife in the area, and is contained to a small fraction of the much larger Prudhoe Bay oil field.
"It is not a pool of oil spreading out across the ground," Reinhart said, comparing its consistency to that of a snow cone. "It's a partially solidified mass that's piled up in one area, and as we speak, truckloads of this material is being moved off this site and to a collection depot."
According to officials, the rupture was approximately 24 inches lengthwise, running along the bottom of the pipeline.
In an incident report on its Web site Wednesday, ADEC described the rupture as being "consistent with an overpressure scenario," caused by ice inside the pipe.
The leak was discovered early November 29 by a BP worker conducting a routine inspection.
The North Slope's biggest spill to date happened in 2006 when a corroded pipeline dumped 200,000 gallons of crude oil.
CNN's Nick Valencia contributed to this report. | c9cbc079dd6444bcbb15359bf92ff0a7 | what has led to the rupture | [
"an overpressure scenario,\" caused by ice inside the pipe."
] |
NewsQA | (CNN) -- A former hospital worker systematically shot and killed four people in upstate New York on Saturday, authorities in two counties said.
Former hospital worker Frank Garcia, 34, has been accused in the shooting rampage.
Frank Garcia, 34, was arrested Saturday afternoon. Garcia knew all four victims, police said, but they didn't reveal details about the relationships.
"The individuals who were shot were known to the suspect. It was not necessarily a random act," Monroe County Sheriff Patrick O'Flynn said.
The first two victims -- Mary Sillman, 23, and Randall Norman, 41 -- were fatally shot before 5 a.m. at Lakeside Memorial Hospital in Brockport, where Garcia was once employed, O'Flynn said. Another woman was wounded and is undergoing treatment at a nearby hospital, he said.
The second shooting happened at a house in nearby Ontario County on Saturday afternoon.
Christopher Glatz, 45, and his wife, Kim, 38, were killed "execution-style" while their two teenagers were in the suburban Rochester home, Ontario County Sheriff Philip Povero said.
The teens were not wounded, but it is unclear whether they witnessed the event.
Povero said neighbors reported Garcia went door-to-door looking for the Glatzes' home.
"He was in fact looking for the residence," Povero said. "He was saying different things to different people, but he was clearly looking for that home."
Ballistic evidence has connected the two crime scenes, Povero said. Investigators found the matching brass cartridges from a pistol found on Garcia when he was arrested, he said.
Garcia was arrested at a restaurant Saturday afternoon, CNN affiliate R-News in Rochester reported.
Garcia was to be arraigned Saturday night in Monroe County, where the first shootings occurred, on two counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder in the second degree, O'Flynn said.
Sillman was a certified nursing assistant at Lakeside's long-term care center, hospital officials said.
"During Mary's brief time within the system, those who worked closest with Mary described her as warm, kind and compassionate toward the residents of Lakeside Beikirch Care Center," Lakeside interim CEO Michael Stapleton said in a statement.
Garcia likely will face similar charges in Ontario County, Povero said.
"This certainly speaks to a tragedy that is enormous, not only the taking of the lives that were taken, but the people that were left behind, the person in Brockport and the two teenage children who were present when their mother was systematically murdered," Povero said. | 29a965d99e72409792b04b20dd5eaeac | Where were the couple's children? | [
"suburban Rochester home,"
] |
NewsQA | LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Investigators are looking into whether employees at the Los Angeles County coroner's office illegally leaked information about Michael Jackson's death probe to the news media, according to a sheriff's spokesman.
Police stand outside the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office when Michael Jackson's body was there in June.
Vivid descriptions of Jackson's corpse, which was in the coroner's custody for an autopsy, were published by tabloid newspapers in the days after his death.
The Los Angeles County Supervisors office on Friday asked the sheriff to conduct a "preliminary inquiry," which will determine whether there is enough evidence to launch a full investigation, said Steve Whitmore, a sheriff's spokesman.
Whitmore did not provide details on what prompted the request.
The Los Angeles Times quoted Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas as saying his office called the sheriff's department after reports that coroner's employees not involved in the Jackson death probe had viewed his death certificate in the office database.
Ridley-Thomas has not responded to CNN requests for comment.
The coroner's office is investigating the cause of Jackson's June 25 death. It has been waiting on toxicology lab results, but a final autopsy report is expected as soon as next week, a coroner's spokesman has said.
Los Angeles police are also investigating the death. Detectives traveled to Houston, Texas, this week to search the medical office of Dr. Conrad Murray, Jackson's personal doctor.
CNN's Sonya Hamasaki contributed to this report | d53ecd60f57f4bb1bb2ad0108895551f | Who published pictures of Jackson's corpse? | [
"tabloid newspapers"
] |
NewsQA | (CNN) -- Finnish prosecutors will file genocide charges against a Rwandan man in the killings of 15 people during Rwanda's ethnic cleansing bloodbath in 1994, authorities said Monday.
The case is the first genocide trial in Finland's history. Accused of complicity in the killings, the unidentified man would face life imprisonment if convicted.
"It is obvious, according to the pre-trial investigation, that the man has committed a crime of genocide in the municipality of Nyakizu in April and May 1994 with intent to destroy the Rwandan Tutsis partly or totally," Finland's prosecutor-general said in a statement.
The man, a 58-year-old Hutu, has denied the charges.
Stoked by the assassination of then-Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana, extremist militias made up of ethnic Hutus slaughtered ethnic Tutsis across Rwanda, beginning in April 1994.
Within 100 days, an estimated 800,000 people were killed.
The genocide ended when Tutsi-led militias backing Rwandan President Paul Kagame ousted the Hutu government supporting the massacre.
The Rwandan man was living in Porvoo, about 50 km (31 miles) east of the Finnish capital of Helsinki, when he was arrested.
Prosecutors said they interviewed nearly 100 witnesses abroad before proceeding with charges against the man. | 16a95e3e8e10425aa45f475acaa8f693 | How many Tutsis slaughtered in 1994? | [
"800,000"
] |
NewsQA | WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security issued a bulletin Thursday citing an alleged claim of responsibility by al Qaeda for former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's assassination, a DHS official told CNN.
An Italian news agency says al Qaeda No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahiri began planning Bhutto's killing in October.
But such a claim has not appeared on radical Islamist Web sites that regularly post such messages from al Qaeda and other militant groups.
The source of the claim was apparently Italian news agency, Adnkronos International (AKI), which said that al Qaeda Afghanistan commander and spokesman Mustafa Abu Al-Yazid had telephoned the agency to make the claim.
"We terminated the most precious American asset which vowed to defeat [the] mujahadeen," AKI quoted Al-Yazid as saying.
According to AKI, al Qaeda No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahiri set the wheels in motion for the assassination in October.
One Islamist Web site repeated the claim, but that Web site is not considered a reliable source for Islamist messages by experts in the field.
The DHS official said the claim was "an unconfirmed open source claim of responsibility" and the bulletin was sent out at about 6 p.m. to state and local law enforcement agencies.
The official characterized the bulletin as "information sharing."
Ross Feinstein, spokesman for Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell, said the U.S. intelligence community is monitoring the situation and trying to figure out who is responsible for the assassination.
"We are not in a position to confirm who may be responsible," Feinstein said.
Feinstein said that the intelligence community "obviously analyze(s) open source intelligence," but he would not say whether the community believes the claim has any validity.
For now, he said, there is "no conclusion" as to who may be responsible.
Earlier, DHS spokesman Russ Knocke said Bhutto's assassination had not prompted "any adjustments to our security posture."
"Of course, we continue to closely monitor events as they unfold overseas," he said. E-mail to a friend
CNN's Jeanne Meserve contributed to this report. | ed72eb0c88e4459ea816e4be88c64c8c | Which associates made claim to news agency? | [
"Mustafa Abu Al-Yazid"
] |
NewsQA | (CNN) -- Brendon Pelser said he saw pure terror in the faces of his fellow passengers after an engine fell from a wing as it took off from Cape Town, South Africa, Wednesday.
Men were sweating profusely, women were crying.
"There was fear on their faces," Pelser said. "Everyone started panicking."
But the pilot of Nationwide Airlines' Boeing 737 Flight CE723 was able to fly long enough to dump fuel and make an emergency landing at Cape Town International Airport.
Including crew, 100 hundred people were on the plane that departed at 3:50 p.m. on an hourlong flight to Johannesburg, South Africa. No one was injured.
The jet had only been in the air about 10 minutes before the engine fell.
"We heard something crash and bang, the plane veering left and right. A person on the right side said the engine was missing -- had broken clean off," said Pelser. Watch Pelser describe how the flight crew told passengers to "prepare for the worst" »
"They flew us in very slowly. We were all prepared for the worst. We went into the fetal position, head between the legs," he said. "Then we hit the runway."
"I did kind of pray. I didn't want to die. I'm not really ready to die," the 33-year-old said.
An object had been sucked into the engine as the nose wheel lifted from the ground and officials are trying to identify it.
The engine-to-wing supporting structure is designed to release an engine "when extreme forces are applied," to prevent structural damage to the wing, Nationwide said on its Web site.
The airline described the incident as a "catastrophic engine failure."
As the nose wheel lifted from the ground, "the captain heard a loud noise immediately followed by a yaw of the aircraft (sideways slippage) to the right," the airline said in a news release.
The flight instruments showed the No. 2 engine on the right side had failed, it said.
Pelser said he spent the night in Cape Town, then flew back to Johannesburg where he lives, on the same airline.
Nationwide said the engine had undergone a major overhaul in March 2005 at "an approved Federal Aviation Authority facility in the U.S.A." and had flown only 3,806 hours since then.
"These engines typically achieve 10,000 hours between major overhauls," Nationwide Airlines' press release stated. E-mail to a friend | 3bb6ec3d3db54c76b9b7c4381a5e32b9 | Which airline was the plane from? | [
"Nationwide"
] |
NewsQA | (CNN) -- An Australian pilot landed a company plane in the ocean off Darwin on Friday, in a water landing that prompted comparisons to last month's landing of a US Airways jet in New York's Hudson River.
The Australian pilot has been compared to U.S. hero Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger, pictured above.
The Australian pilot also encountered problems shortly after takeoff. The twin-propeller plane was carrying the pilot and five passengers when it went down shortly after leaving Darwin International Airport, said Neville Blyth, a senior transport safety investigator with the Australian Transport Safety Bureau.
All those aboard were unhurt and managed to walk to shore, he said. Pictures showed the men from the plane soaked and carrying bags and equipment as they walked through the water.
"It's essentially a good story," Blyth said.
The ATSB is deciding whether to investigate, he said, and the cause of the incident is still unknown.
The Piper Chieftain plane was on its way to the town of Maningrida, about 500 kilometers (310 miles) east of Darwin, according to its owner, Australian information technology company CSG. Watch the plane ditch in Darwin Harbor »
"We would like to congratulate the pilot following all emergency landing and evacuation procedures and his very professional handling of the situation," a CSG statement said.
Darwin is in Australia's Northern Territory, on the coast of the Timor Sea. The city's airport is near the water.
The plane's trajectory took it over the water, giving the pilot limited opportunities to ditch the plane on land, Blyth said. He said the ocean was a safer option for landing than the beach, where the firmness of the sand was unknown.
"Personally, I think the decision was appropriate," Blyth said.
Australian media dubbed the captain of the Darwin plane "Sully Lite," comparing him to the captain of the US Airways Airbus jet that landed safely in the Hudson.
Pilot Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger was hailed as a hero for landing the plane safely and ensuring that all 155 people on board survived.
Asked about the comparisons, Blyth said the connection was tenuous.
"The correlation for a water landing is as close as it gets," he said. | 9b8a6a9128064593a2fb708c3fb91d7d | Where was the ocean located? | [
"off Darwin"
] |
NewsQA | WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A man has been indicted on federal charges for allegedly displaying hangman's nooses from the back of a pickup truck during a civil rights march last year in Jena, Louisiana.
A photo taken by I-Reporter Casanova Love shows a noose hanging from a pickup in Alexandria, Louisiana.
Jeremiah Munsen, 18, of Grant Parish, repeatedly drove slowly past a group of marchers gathered at a bus depot in Alexandria, which is near Jena, as they awaited buses to return them to Tennessee, federal authorities said Thursday.
As many as 20,000 marchers had taken part in the huge protests in Jena. Authorities there had been accused of injustice in the handling of racially charged cases, including the hanging of nooses in a tree after a group of black high school students sat in an area where traditionally only white students sat.
The noose incident at Jena was the beginning of months of racial tension that included the beating of a white student, allegedly by six black classmates. The black students were prosecuted, but the three white students responsible for the nooses in the tree were not.
Munsen and an unnamed conspirator had attached nooses to their pickup on September 20 and driven to Alexandria specifically to threaten and intimidate the marchers, the authorities said. View a series of photos of the truck »
A juvenile passenger was apprehended with Munsen, according to the arresting officer's report.
The juvenile told police he and his family are in the Ku Klux Klan and that he had "KKK" tattooed on his chest, the police report said. He also said that he tied the nooses and that brass knuckles found in the truck belonged to him, the report said.
"This indictment accuses the defendant [Munsen] of conduct that constitutes a federal civil rights conspiracy violation and a federal hate crime," said U.S. Attorney Donald Washington.
Washington and Grace Chung Becker, acting head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, announced the indictment, issued by a grand jury in Shreveport, Louisiana.
A photograph of the truck was sent to CNN by I-Reporter Casanova Love, 26, who said he is in the U.S. military. He was visiting his family in Louisiana and said he witnessed the event.
Love added, "If the police had not stepped in, I fear what might have happened." E-mail to a friend | 148122a4333942a3899d78a188bd0a55 | What was the resident charged with? | [
"allegedly displaying hangman's nooses"
] |
NewsQA | (CNN) -- The U.S. Postal Service has just entered "The Twilight Zone."
"The Honeymooners" is one of 20 classic TV stamps that will soon find its way on the corner of envelopes.
The classic show appears on one of 20 stamps released this week, featuring 1950s hit television shows.
The first-class stamps include images of "Dragnet," "The Ed Sullivan Show," "The Honeymooners," "I Love Lucy," "Lassie," "The Lone Ranger," "Ozzie and Harriet" and "Perry Mason."
"All of the classic television shows represented on these stamps represent the collective memory of a generation well deserving of entertainment," said James C. Miller III, a Postal Service board member. "It was a generation that survived the Great Depression and fought World War II. They were pioneers -- creative geniuses -- who brought television shows of the 1950s into our homes, breaking new ground to provide entertainment for everyone."
The retro-style stamps, featuring black-and-white images of the shows, were designed by Carl Herrman, an artist from Las Vegas, Nevada.
The Postal Service releases several commemorative stamps annually. This year's releases have included civil rights pioneers, President Abraham Lincoln and author Edgar Allan Poe. | 5bba2983ed704466bf1418016dbfbdee | How many classic TV shows will be honoured? | [
"20"
] |
NewsQA | (CNN) -- Indian telecom services provider Bharti Airtel Limited and South Africa's MTN Group Limited have renewed merger talks with the aim of creating an emerging market telecom giant, both companies announced Monday.
Bharti Enterprises chairman and group chief executive officer Sunil Bharti Mittal in New Delhi in November
Such a merger would create an operator with combined revenues of over $20 billion and a combined customer base of over 200 million, according to both companies.
In addition to savings, "this opportunity also represents a first of its kind in developing an Indian-African initiative that would serve as a shining example of South-South cooperation," said Bharti chairman and managing director Sunil Bharti Mittal.
MTN CEO Phuthuma Nhleko called the case for such a deal "highly compelling," saying, a merged company would have "leading positions in three of the fastest growing wireless markets globally -- India, Africa and the Middle East, with no overlapping footprint."
Under the potential deal, Bharti would acquire a 49 percent stake in MTN, and MTN and its shareholders would take an approximate 36 percent interest in Bharti.
Bharti would also be able to fully consolidate the accounts of MTN under the deal, MTN's statement said.
Bharti would serve as the primary vehicle for expansion in Asia and India in particular, while MTN would be the primary vehicle for the conjoined company to expand in Africa and the Middle East, Bharti's statement said.
The two sides have agreed to hold exclusive talks until July 31.
Singapore Telecommunications, a major existing shareholder in Bharti, will remain if the deal is implemented, according to Bharti. | 64f08b411a214a0a8fc0589b2e982d16 | What type of revenue will they have? | [
"over $20 billion"
] |
NewsQA | (CNN) -- Houston Astros shortstop Miguel Tejada is expected to plead guilty Wednesday in federal court to a count of lying to Congress about his knowledge of Major League Baseball players using performance-enhancing drugs, according to officials familiar with the case.
Miguel Tejada, a shortstop for the Houston Astros, has been charged with lying to Congress.
In a document filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Tejada is charged in a criminal "information," a document that routinely signals a plea bargain agreement. The document does not directly accuse Tejada of using steroids or other substances.
However, the court document says that in 2003 Tejada gave another player more than $5,000 in checks "for substances which he believed to be HGH [human growth hormone]."
The document says Tejada lied to congressional investigators when he told them on August 26, 2005, that he had never heard discussions about steroids by other players, and that he never knew of any other player using steroids.
After the December 2007 Mitchell Report on steroid use in baseball, which appeared to contradict Tejada, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform asked the Justice Department to investigate whether Tejada "made knowingly false statements to the committee." The investigators concluded he had lied.
"Defendant Tejada unlawfully withheld pertinent information from the committee because defendant Tejada before and during his interview with the committee staff, then and there well knew that Player #1 [unidentified], one of his teammates on the Oakland Athletics, had used steroids and HGH," the document says.
Tejada played for the Athletics from 1997 to 2003.
He is scheduled to appear at 11 a.m. Wednesday before a magistrate judge, indicating the charge against him will be a misdemeanor carrying a maximum sentence of a year in jail. However, a government official familiar with the case said that under sentencing guidelines, Tejada could get from zero to 6 months, which means he may receive probation without jail time.
Tejada, who started his MLB career in 1997, hit at least 30 home runs from 2000 through 2004 with the exception of 2003, when he hit 27.
He won the American League's most valuable player award in 2002, when he hit a career-best 34 home runs. He matched that total in 2004, his first year with the Baltimore Orioles. He began playing with Houston in 2008.
The information came one day after MLB star Alex Rodriguez -- the New York Yankees' third baseman since 2004 -- admitted that he had used a "banned substance" during the 2001-2003 seasons. Sports Illustrated had reported that Rodriguez had tested positive for steroids in 2003, when he was playing for the Texas Rangers. | 78adeab48d754c5e89dcc318a4ed9623 | What did Tejada know about his teammate? | [
"had used steroids and HGH,\""
] |
NewsQA | Washington (CNN) -- Two Washington Wizards basketball players drew guns on each other during a heated Christmas Eve gambling debt dispute, the New York Post reported Friday.
Law enforcement authorities said they were investigating an incident but gave no details.
Wizards teammates Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton both brandished firearms in the team's locker room, the Post reported, citing NBA league sources.
The dispute erupted when Arenas, a three-time NBA all-star, refused to pay up on a debt owed to Crittenton, the Post stated, citing an anonymous league source.
Multiple sources said Arenas drew his gun first, the Post reported. Arenas denied the charge, saying he never pulled a weapon.
Neither Arenas, 27, nor Crittenton, 22, could be reached for comment Friday.
The incident, according to the Post, occurred during a Wizards practice day at the Verizon Center, the team's arena in downtown Washington. It is unclear whether any other Wizards players witnessed the alleged confrontation, the Post said.
NBA spokesman Tim Frank said Friday that there is "an active investigation" being conducted by Washington law enforcement authorities. "We are not taking any independent action at this time," he said.
The Wizards also released a statement Friday saying that the team takes "this situation and the ongoing investigation very seriously. We are continuing to cooperate fully with the proper authorities and the NBA."
A Washington Metropolitan Police Department statement earlier in the week said local law enforcement was assisting the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia "with an investigation into an allegation that weapons were located inside a locker room at the Verizon Center."
"There are a lot of rumors going around," Washington Police Chief Cathy Lanier said Friday. "We need to get it right."
CNN's David Close and Rick Martin contributed to this report. | 2494e6fa6aae4d49af7c73be86d05f4b | What did the players argue over? | [
"gambling debt"
] |
NewsQA | (CNN) -- The pilot of a tanker that crashed into the San Francisco Bay Bridge in 2007, causing a major oil spill, was under the influence of multiple prescription medications that impaired his judgment, federal officials said in a report Wednesday.
The November 2007 crash left a gash in the tanker's side and led to an oil spill that killed more than 2,000 birds.
The National Transportation Safety Board said the pilot of the Hong Kong-registered Cosco Busan, was "medically unfit" on November 7, 2007. That, and a master pilot's poor oversight of his performance, were major factors in the crash that dumped 53,000 gallons of oil into the bay, the NTSB said.
"How a man who was taking a half-dozen impairing prescription medications got to stand on the bridge of a 68,000-ton ship and give directions to guide the vessel through a foggy bay and under a busy highway bridge is very troubling," said acting NTSB Chairman Mark V. Rosenker.
The pilot, John Cota, was charged with criminal negligence in federal court last year. He faces two misdemeanor charges that could result in up to 18 months in prison and $115,000 in fines.
The 901-foot ship left Oakland, California, en route to South Korea when Cota gave orders that steered the ship directly toward a support tower on the bridge. While the ship avoided a direct hit, it hit a support system at the tower's base, cutting a 212-foot gash in the ship's side, the NTSB said.
The board ruled that Cota and Chinese master pilot Mao Cai Sun never thoroughly discussed a plan before they took off on a foggy night when visibility was less than a quarter-mile.
The oil spill killed about 2,500 birds of 50 different species, according to the report. The crash caused more than $70 million in environmental cleanup costs, $2 million in damage to the ship and $1.5 million in damage to the bridge.
The report also blamed the ship's operator, Fleet Management Ltd., for not properly training crew members and the U.S. Coast Guard for not providing adequate medical oversight of the pilot.
It said the Coast Guard should have revoked the pilot's license, the pilot should have given a meaningful pre-departure briefing about plans for the voyage and the master pilot should have taken a more active role in ensuring the ship's safety.
"There was a lack of competence in so many areas that this accident seemed almost inevitable," Rosenker said. | 37b001d54bd74ee9a53f008d9a3dd0a3 | How many birds died in this oil spill? | [
"more than 2,000"
] |
NewsQA | (CNN Student News) -- Students will investigate the contributions of Hispanic Americans to U.S. culture, and what it means to be an Hispanic in America today.
Procedure
Point out to students that Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15 - October 15) celebrates the culture and traditions of those who trace their roots to Spain, Mexico and the Spanish-speaking nations of Central America, South America and the Caribbean. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, "September 15 was chosen as the starting point for the celebration because it is the anniversary of independence of five Latin American countries: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. In addition, Mexico and Chile celebrate their independence days on September 16 and September 18, respectively."
In observance of Hispanic Heritage Month, send student groups on a multimedia scavenger hunt to investigate how Hispanic Americans have contributed to U.S. culture, and the opportunities and challenges that exist for Hispanics in America today. Pose the following questions to guide students' research:
1. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, what is the estimated Hispanic population of the United States? What percent of the total U.S. population does this number represent?
2. What aspects of Hispanic culture can be found in the U.S?
3. Who are some Hispanic Americans who have had an impact in U.S. politics and government?
4. Who are some famous Hispanic-American musicians, artists, writers and actors? How have they impacted U.S. culture?
5. What Hispanic businesses exist in your community and other parts of the U.S.? How have these businesses contributed to the U.S. economy?
6. What issues have you seen or heard about in recent news that are of interest to the Hispanic community?
Have groups share and discuss their findings with the class.
Extension
Instruct each student to interview several Hispanic-American teens and adults to get their responses to the following question: What would you like other Americans to know about what it means to be Hispanic in America today? Have students summarize the interviewees' responses and share them with the class.
Correlated Standards
Social Studies
I. Culture
Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study of culture and cultural diversity.
V. Individuals, Groups and Institutions
Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study of interactions among individuals, groups, and institutions.
The Curriculum Standards for Social Studies (http://www.socialstudies.org/standards/ are published by the National Council for Social Studies (http://www.socialstudies.org). | fdb3ed88290048bf83c435595d6779c2 | What students will identify ? | [
"contributions of Hispanic Americans to U.S. culture,"
] |
NewsQA | The mother of murdered schoolboy Damilola Taylor has died of a suspected heart attack, The Press Association reported Wednesday.
Gloria Taylor outside London's Central Criminal Court with Damilola's older brother Tunde in 2006.
Gloria Taylor, 57, collapsed while walking with her husband Richard in south-east London Tuesday, the agency reported.
Efforts to revive her at hospital failed and she was pronounced dead moments later, according to London police headquarters Scotland Yard.
Damilola, 10, bled to death after being attacked on his way home from Oliver Goldsmith Primary School in November 2000. He staggered 100 yards with blood pouring from a sliced artery in his leg after being stabbed.
Nigerian-born Damilola had been in Britain for only a few months when he was attacked while walking home from an after school computer club.
Damilola's killing was front-page news in Britain, and prompted soul-searching on topics ranging from the deprivation of inner cities to school bullying.
A year after their son's death, the Taylors established the Damilola Taylor Trust, aimed at improving the lives of underprivileged young people.
The trust offers scholarships for medical students from poor backgrounds, and also set up the Damilola Taylor Center, in Peckham, south-east London, which provides sports and community activities.
At the time, Gloria said the trust aimed to provide hope and opportunities for Britain's "downtrodden and underprivileged youth". "Damilola lost his life because of enormous problems in this society. Our son wanted to be a doctor.
"He was a leader, and we are sure he would have been extraordinary. We would like the trust to heal many of the ills faced by today's youth," The Guardian newspaper reported her saying at the time.
In August 2006, two teenage brothers were convicted of his manslaughter and given eight-year youth custody sentences. Danny and Ricky Preddie, who were 12 and 13 at the time of the killing, were convicted at a retrial.
The conviction came after three trials and two police investigations, parts of which were strongly criticized, The Guardian reported.
PA quoted a Metropolitan Police spokeswoman as saying: "Police were called at about 7.45pm on April 8 by London Ambulance Service to reports of a woman taken ill on the street in Shooters Hill.
"Local officers and London Ambulance Service were in attendance and a woman in her 50s was taken by ambulance to hospital suffering a suspected heart attack and was pronounced life extinct at 8.29pm.
"A post-mortem examination will take place in due course. "The incident is being investigated by local borough officers and is currently being treated as non suspicious." E-mail to a friend | 4050af35f43d47f38e171ef850d53d25 | Who was stabbed? | [
"Damilola,"
] |
NewsQA | Founded in 1805 in Geneva, Pictet & Cie is today one of Switzerland's largest private banks, and one of the premier independent asset management specialists in Europe.
Moreover, it is considered one of the leading independent asset management banks in Europe. Pictet & Cie is a partnership owned and managed by eight general partners with unlimited liability for the bank's commitments.
"Banque de Candolle Mallet & Cie" was founded on 23 July 1805. It was run by two partner-managers, Jacob-Michel François de Candolle and Jacques-Henry Mallet, and three limited partners, Jean-Louis Mallet, Paul Martin and Jean-Louis Falquet.
Following a period of relative stagnation, marked by two world wars and the economic depression of the 1930s, Pictet & Cie began to develop extensively from the 1950s on. Despite the negative outlook in the aftermath of war, the western world experienced a period of prosperity and economic growth. Geneva became one of the world's leading diplomatic and financial centres.
Since the turn of the millennium, the Pictet Group has experienced some significant changes and events, such as its continued strong growth, the Bank's Bicentennial in 2005 and, the following year, the inauguration of its new headquarters in Acacias, Geneva.
The company boasts more than CHF 430 billion ($390 billion) in assets under management and custody as at end-September 2007.
The Group employs over 2,800 people in the following locations: Geneva, Lausanne, Zurich, Barcelona, Florence, Frankfurt, Madrid, Milan, Paris, London, Luxembourg, Rome, Turin, Montreal, Nassau, Dubai, Singapore, Hong Kong and Tokyo. E-mail to a friend | d68a6c3e82f64606b4131e3f51c225fd | Who is one of Switzerland's largest private banks? | [
"Pictet & Cie"
] |
NewsQA | (CNN) -- A male University of Virginia lacrosse player was charged with first degree murder Monday after a member of the school's women's lacrosse team was found dead in her apartment, police said.
Police were initially called to the off-campus apartment by a roommate who reported "a possible alcohol overdose," said Tim Longo, chief of police in Charlottesville, Virginia.
"It was quickly apparent to them this young lady was the victim of something far worse," Longo said.
Police identified the dead student as Yeardley Love, 22, a senior from Cockeysville, Maryland.
Investigators "fairly quickly" focused on George Huguely from Chevy Chase, Maryland, as a suspect, Longo said. Huguely, a senior, is on the men's lacrosse team and was charged with murder, he said.
Police are interviewing friends of Love and Huguely to determine what their relationship was, he said.
"That she appears now to have been murdered by another student compounds this sense of loss by suggesting that Yeardley died without comfort or consolation from those closest to her," University of Virginia President John Casteen said.
"We know no explanation of what appears now to have happened," he said. | d5fa6f14a80c431aa435c4b19a843f13 | whom police interview ? | [
"friends of Love and Huguely"
] |
NewsQA | (CNN) -- Space shuttle Discovery launched early Monday to deliver spare parts and science experiments to the international space station.
Discovery launched at 6:21 a.m. ET from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida
Discovery, with its crew of seven astronauts, is carrying supplies and science equipment for the international space station's laboratories. The 13-day mission includes three planned spacewalks, replacing an ammonia tank assembly and retrieving a Japanese experiment from the station's exterior.
Discovery is scheduled to arrive at the space station on Wednesday, and return to Earth on April 18 at 8:35 a.m. ET.
After this mission, there are only three shuttle missions remaining before the space shuttle fleet is retired.
iReport: Did you watch the launch? Share your photos and video
NASA said Discovery's mission will mark the first time four women have been in space at one time: Three women -- mission specialists Stephanie Wilson, Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger and Naoko Yamazaki -- comprise part of the Discovery's crew, while NASA astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson is already at the space station.
The launch comes three days after Russian spacecraft Soyuz TMA-18, carrying Dyson and Russian cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Mikhail Kornienko, blasted off to the International Space Station from a Kazakhstan facility.
The space station, which orbits the Earth at a height of some 250 miles, is due to be finished next year and is about 90 percent complete. | d8446e770c164a87b824d738a749a2f0 | What launched from the space station? | [
"shuttle Discovery"
] |
NewsQA | Bangkok, Thailand (CNN) -- Three bomb blasts rocked the southern Thai border city of Sungai Kolok, leaving at least four people dead and 118 wounded, officials said.
The explosions happened Friday night in Thailand's Narathiwart Province, according to the country's Ministry of Public Health.
Authorities believe the bombs were planted in a car and motorcycle, and detonated with some form of coordination, according to military spokesman Col. Prinya Chaidilok.
He said the incident was carried out by "drug gangs" retaliating after a narcotics crackdown by authorities last week.
Sungai Kolok, which borders Malaysia in southern Thailand, is a popular tourist destination for Thais and Malaysians. | 0d4a041f27aa40c4bb42d8c34fd56635 | where was the bomb? | [
"the southern Thai border city of Sungai Kolok,"
] |
NewsQA | (CNN) -- Six Uyghurs who were imprisoned in the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, were transferred Saturday to the South Pacific island nation of Palau, the Justice Department said.
Ahmad Tourson, Abdul Ghappar Abdul Rahman, Edham Mamet, Anwar Hassan, Dawut Abdurehim and Adel Noori were resettled in Palau, the Justice Department said in a statement Saturday.
Seven Uyghurs are still at Guantanamo Bay, where 215 prisoners remain. Uyghur is an ethnic group from western China.
Since January, 25 detainees have been transferred to other countries.
The United States has coordinated with Palau "to ensure that the transfers take place under appropriate security measures and will continue to consult with the Republic of Palau regarding the individuals," the Justice Department said.
The 13 Uyghurs were accused of receiving weapons and military training in Afghanistan. Some of them have been cleared for release since 2003, and other Uyghurs have been released to other countries. The United States said it would not send them back to their homeland because of concern they would be tortured by Chinese authorities.
The Chinese government has said no returned Uyghurs would be mistreated and has repeatedly warned other countries against taking the men. Beijing officials this summer again urged the United States to hand over all remaining Uyghurs instead of sending them elsewhere.
China alleges the men are part of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, a group the U.S. State Department considers a terrorist organization, that operates in the Xinjiang region. East Turkestan is another name for Xinjiang.
On October 20, the Supreme Court tentatively agreed to accept an appeal from the 13 Uyghurs to be released into the United States from American military custody.
CNN's Carol Cratty and Bill Mears contributed to this report. | 7b0f0ece07d548d698f3c2159a86bd09 | Where did the Uyghurs go to? | [
"the South Pacific island nation of Palau,"
] |
NewsQA | LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- A private funeral service for actress Farrah Fawcett will be conducted Tuesday afternoon at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in downtown Los Angeles, California, according to her publicist.
Actress Farrah Fawcett, known for her blonde mane and gleaming smile, died Thursday at age 62.
The family did not release any details about who would deliver the eulogy or how many people have been invited.
Fawcett, the blonde actress whose best-selling poster and "Charlie's Angels" stardom made her one of the most famous faces in the world, died Thursday. She was 62, and had been battling anal cancer on and off for three years.
Fawcett's beauty -- her gleaming smile was printed on millions of posters -- initially made her famous. But she later established herself as a serious actress. She starred as a battered wife in the 1984 TV movie "The Burning Bed." Learn more about Fawcett's life and career »
She appeared on stage as a woman who extracts vengeance from a would-be rapist in William Mastrosimone's play "Extremities," a performance she reprised on film in 1986.
Other Fawcett films include "Logan's Run" (1976), "Saturn 3" (1980), "The Cannonball Run" (1981), "The Apostle" (1997) and the Robert Altman-directed "Dr. T and the Women" (2000).
But to many, Fawcett will always be best known for the poster of her in a red swimsuit, which sold an estimated 12 million copies after its release in 1976.
CNN's Karen Bonsignore contributed to this report. | ff7fc21b883f4edea9f08849a8d0ec93 | Where will the funeral be held? | [
"the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in downtown Los Angeles, California,"
] |
NewsQA | (CNN) -- Ten climbers have died on two mountains in northern Japan, police said Friday.
Hokkaido's mountains and scenery are a big drawcard for climbers and tourists.
Eight of the climbers who died on Mount Tomuraushi were in a group organized by a tourist company, according to Yuji Kikuchi, a spokesman for Hokkaido police. A ninth man was climbing alone.
One more climber died on Mount Biei, Kikuchi said.
Another 10 people survived on both mountains in Hokkaido, according to Kikuchi.
Except for a 32-year-old survivor, all the climbers were in their late 60s, the spokesman said.
The cause of their deaths was not available.
The area has experienced heavy rain and gusty winds in the past two weeks due to a persistent area of low pressure, CNN's meteorologist Jennifer Delgado said.
The storm system has also brought flooding to North and South Korea, she added.
CNN's Junko Ogura and Elizabeth Yuan contributed to this report. | 497fcfc4080243b6947f182839964e5e | What mountain did they die on? | [
"Hokkaido's"
] |
NewsQA | (CNN) -- Two teachers at a Baltimore, Maryland, high school say they were attacked by students, and one says such assaults are commonplace, according to CNN affiliate WBAL.
"No learning place should be this violent," art teacher Jolita Berry said of the school where she teaches.
The school district says it is investigating and will take appropriate action, but both art teacher Jolita Berry and English teacher Marc Standish say the administration has failed to protect and support them.
"I looked over, and her friends were cheering her on. And before I knew it, she hit me in the face," Berry told WBAL. She showed the station a cell-phone video depicting what she said was a student beating her last Friday.
Individuals in the video are difficult to identify, and no charges have been filed, WBAL reported.
Berry said her principal told her she brought the attack on herself. "On one hand, she told me that she is sorry that this happened to me," Berry told WBAL. "But then she turned right around and told me that telling a student that I was going to defend myself was a trigger word. I triggered them."
Berry called the administrative response frustrating.
"Too many times this has happened at this school and at other schools, and nothing's being done. No learning place should be this violent," she said.
Baltimore City Schools public relations department said it would have no comment beyond a statement issued by Bennie Williams, the district's chief of staff, that says the district has "a fundamental commitment" to keep schools safe.
"We take any disruption of the learning environment extremely seriously and respond immediately and forcefully to any disruption. ... We are currently investigating the specific incident at Reginald F. Lewis High School to determine appropriate action. ... We are treating this incident with the utmost seriousness," the statement said.
But the problem goes beyond one incident, Standish said. He told WBAL that students regularly issue "very visceral threats" against him. "I just had a couple last week, and it's just everyday routine," he said. Standish said he has filed a grievance with the district through the teachers union.
Union President Marietta English met with about 20 principals Wednesday evening to discuss teacher safety. "We really want to implement some policies that principals can follow [so] that teachers won't be having to be afraid to come in their classrooms or come into their schools," she told WBAL. E-mail to a friend | f07d847819924a359971d462319dbd14 | who met with principals to develop safety policies | [
"Union President Marietta English"
] |
NewsQA | PARIS, France (CNN) -- France bears responsibility for deporting Jews to their deaths in concentration camps during World War II, the country's highest court ruled Monday.
Jews and foreigners are rounded up in Paris in May 1941.
But, the Council of State said, "measures taken since the end of the Second World War have compensated for the damage."
Northern France was directly occupied by Nazi Germany during World War II while the south of the country was ruled by the Vichy government that collaborated with Adolf Hitler.
France's role in the deportation of its Jews was a taboo subject for decades after the war.
The trial of Maurice Papon, a civil servant in the collaborationist Vichy government, for deporting Jews, forced the country to confront its role in the Holocaust.
Papon was convicted in 1998 by a French court for complicity in crimes against humanity for his role in the deportation of 1,590 Jews from the city of Bordeaux.
Most of the deportees later perished at the concentration camp at Auschwitz in modern day Poland. Papon died in February 2007, aged 96, after serving part of his term and then being freed on health grounds.
There were approximately 350,000 Jews in France at the time of the country's defeat by Germany in 1940. At least half of those were refugees who had already fled Germany or countries already under Nazi occupation, according to the Web site of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
At least 77,000 Jews were deported to their deaths from French transit camps between 1942 and the end of German occupation in December 1944. Of these, around a third were French citizens and more than 8,000 were children under 13. | cb99f8536c8644a9bb2556f1ef7ff0ed | Jews were deported during what occupation? | [
"Northern France was directly occupied by Nazi Germany"
] |
NewsQA | (CNN) -- France and Britain plan to abstain from a Security Council vote on the Palestinians' bid for statehood, two U.N. diplomats said Thursday.
France told members of the U.N. Security Council about its intentions at a Thursday afternoon meeting of the admissions committee for new U.N. membership, a Security Council diplomat told CNN.
Another U.N. diplomat told CNN that Britain will also abstain, with one of its representatives likewise announcing its intentions at the same closed-door meeting.
The U.N. Security Council is set to meet November 11 to discuss a report about whether or not to admit a Palestinian state as a member of the international organization. The membership bid has been controversial, with Israel among those opposed.
Diplomats have said it appears unlikely the Palestinians will succeed in their bid, given that the United States -- one of five permanent security council members -- has warned it will veto the attempt.
However, a veto may not be necessary if a minimum of nine nations -- out of 15 on the U.N. council -- don't support the Palestinians' bid. | 3a3034b6da6245a18bf51bfe2e7a1ebe | Who said Britain similarly announced its intentions? | [
"Another U.N. diplomat"
] |
NewsQA | Havana, Cuba (CNN) -- Richard Waltzer has a pitch for Cuba: Miller beer and Häagen-Dazs ice cream.
If he has his way, those products soon will be available at supermarkets and beach resorts on the communist island.
"This is one of the things people are going to pay premium for," Waltzer said, "especially the tourists that have the dollars. It's going to be a phenomenal product."
This week, dozens of Americans are in Havana, peddling their wares at an international trade fair: apples, pears, grapes, raisins, nuts out of California.
U.S.-Cuba relations appear to be thawing.
In Havana, billboards depicting the U.S. president as Adolf Hitler have disappeared. In Washington, President Obama has lifted restrictions on Cuban-American travel and money transfers.
The new political climate has prompted companies such as Chicago Foods to come to Havana's trade fair for the first time. They're hoping to break into the little-known market and go home with a contract.
Despite a trade embargo imposed against Cuba in 1962, the United States is the No. 1 supplier of food to that country and has been for more than five years. A law passed in 2000 allows the United States to export agricultural products and medicine.
But this year, the global economic crisis is taking its toll.
"Cuba has not been an exception," said Rodrigo Malmierca Diaz, minister of foreign trade and investment. "At the end of the third quarter in 2009, our trade fell by 36 percent."
The country is slashing imports of U.S. food by one-third, which means some vendors will go home empty-handed.
But vendors are betting U.S.-Cuba relations will only get better. They said they're also hoping the next step could be bills in the U.S. Congress that would eliminate restrictions on all Americans traveling to Cuba.
"We're in this for the long haul as well," said Paul Johnson of Chicago Foods. "Like I said before, we're thinking about today as well as tomorrow."
A tomorrow that would have U.S. tourists sipping American beer on Cuban beaches. | 06b3b407270f478b9e965ab1a247ec8c | Where are US firms going to for the first time? | [
"Havana's trade fair"
] |
NewsQA | (CNN) -- Motorsport's ruling body has officially approved a host of Formula One team name changes for the 2012 season.
Team Lotus, Lotus Renault and Virgin were all given permission to alter their names following a meeting of the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile's F1 commission in Geneva last week.
CNN-sponsored Lotus will now be known as Caterham F1 from next year onwards, while Virgin will be renamed Marussia F1.
Russian carmaker Marussia Motors purchased a significant stake in Virgin in November 2010, and has had its logo present on the car throughout the 2011 season.
Renault will also undergo changes ahead of next year's campaign, changing the team's chassis name to Lotus.
The announcements mark the end of a two-year spell which has seen two teams race using the legendary name.
"We are very pleased that our chassis name change has been approved," team principal Eric Boullier told Renault's official website.
"We have said all along that, in the interests of the sport, it is important that we remove any ambiguity on this matter. It is also important that there are clearly identifiable teams on the grid.
"It is the start of another chapter for Enstone (the team's HQ), but not a whole new beginning. The team's history and experience will allow us to take up this challenge with a controlled and swift process. We're very much looking forward to 2012."
Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel has already retained the 2011 world drivers' championship, with the Britain-based Austrian team having also clinched the constructors' title for the second year in a row.
The penultimate race of the campaign is on Sunday in Abu Dhabi, before the season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix on November 27. | 801a0adbf26d4f7bbfa459f91a2c5039 | What will be Virgin Racing's new name? | [
"Marussia F1."
] |
NewsQA | NEW YORK (CNN) -- Sunday night's "2009 MTV Video Music Awards" will feature a personal tribute from Janet Jackson to her late brother, MTV said.
Michael Jackson receives the Legend Award during the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards.
Michael Jackson fans also will get their first peek during the MTV show at the behind-the-scenes documentary of the pop star's final three months, the network said.
MTV announced this week that Janet Jackson "will help open" its video music awards show Sunday night with a tribute to her brother. No other details about her "special appearance" were released.
The trailer for the upcoming documentary "Michael Jackson: This Is It" will also debut on the MTV show.
It comes a month after concert promoter AEG Live handed over to Sony Pictures about 100 hours of video captured between April and June, when Jackson was preparing for his concert comeback.
Fans who miss the MTV show, which will air live at 9 p.m. ET Sunday at New York's Radio City Music Hall, can preview the documentary online at www.thisisit-movie.com beginning Sunday night, the network said. See guests arrive to awards show »
British comedian Russell Brand will return to host Sunday's Video Music Awards for the second straight year.
It will be the first time the awards show has aired from New York since 2006. | 0b6bafd746e84c12a61276a8c0b2f770 | Who gave tribute | [
"Janet Jackson"
] |
NewsQA | WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. government has charged an international arms dealer with conspiring to sell a rebel group millions of dollars in weapons "to be used to kill Americans in Colombia," federal prosecutors announced Tuesday.
Viktor Bout is accused of selling missiles, rockets and other weapons to FARC, a Colombian rebel group.
Viktor Bout, who was recently captured in Thailand, had agreed to sell the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) surface-to-air missiles, armor-piercing rocket launchers, "ultralight" airplanes, unmanned aerial vehicles, and other weapons, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a news release.
There was no immediate public response from Bout, who remains in custody in Thailand.
Federal authorities unsealed an indictment charging Bout with four terrorism offenses: conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals, conspiracy to kill U.S. officers or employees, conspiracy to acquire and use an anti-aircraft missile, and conspiracy to provide material support or resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization.
FARC is designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department.
Justice Department officials said they are seeking Bout's extradition to the United States.
The indictment alleges that Bout made agreements with FARC between November 2007 and March of this year.
In their news release, federal prosecutors said Bout agreed to sell weapons "to two confidential sources" working with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, who had "represented that they were acquiring these weapons for the FARC, with the specific understanding that the weapons were to be used to attack United States helicopters in Colombia."
The news release also refers to a "covertly recorded meeting in Thailand on March 6, 2008."
"With the unsealing of this indictment, we are one step closer to ensuring Bout has delivered his last load of high-powered weaponry and armed his final terrorist," DEA Acting Administrator Michele M. Loenhart said in the news release.
Attorney General Michael Mukasey last month singled out Bout as a leading example of a new breed of organized crime leaders who operate across international boundaries to amass wealth without regard to political ideology.
"Viktor Bout has long been considered by the international community as one of the world's most prolific arms traffickers," U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia said in the news release Tuesday.
Bout's assets in the United States were frozen in 2004 after he allegedly shipped weapons to Liberia in violation of U.S. government restrictions. | 784c957286e04956a4055d67b72e84b4 | Bout is a new bread of what? | [
"organized crime leaders who operate across international boundaries"
] |
NewsQA | NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- President George W. Bush called India's prime minister Thursday to push a proposed nuclear partnership that sparked an unsuccessful no-confidence vote against the Indian leader this week, a White House spokesman said.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh won a confidence vote despite opposition to the nuclear deal.
"Both leaders expressed their desire to see the U.S.-India Civil Nuclear issue move forward as expeditiously as possible," Gordon Johndroe said.
The phone call took place two days after Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh narrowly survived the no-confidence vote in the lower house of Parliament. The vote was sparked by concerns from the opposition that India was kowtowing to the U.S.
The tentative deal was announced in 2006 and signed by Bush and Singh a year ago.
Under the agreement, which will need to be approved by the U.S. Congress, India would have access to U.S. nuclear fuel and technology for its civilian nuclear power plants. That would happen even though New Delhi, which tested nuclear weapons in 1974 and 1998, has declined to join international non-proliferation agreements.
In return, India has promised that it would not transfer the fuel and equipment to its weapons program, and it would allow the International Atomic Energy Agency to inspect at least 14 of its 22 nuclear plants.
The plan would also expand U.S.-Indian cooperation in energy and satellite technology.
The plan was approved by India's Cabinet last year, and does not have to be ratified by the parliament.
The leaders of India's two communist parties -- which hold about 60 seats in Parliament -- have accused Singh of surrendering India's sovereignty to the United States with the deal.
A no-confidence vote would have forced Singh to resign, and required the government to hold early elections unless a new coalition could have been formed. The Congress Party-led coalition has governed India since 2004.
Tuesday's 275-256 vote was so crucial to the survival of Singh's government that five members of parliament serving prison sentences were freed to cast votes -- under the watchful eyes of their jailers.
Shortly after Singh survived the vote, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino praised the deal as "a good one for everybody."
"It's good for India because it would help provide them a source for energy that they need, one that is nonpolluting and one that doesn't emit greenhouse gas emissions," she said.
"And we think that we can move forward with this. If their legislature lets it move forward, then we can do the same here and then we'll be able to get this wrapped up." | edf5769ff5e9470fb0a7d731d7bce391 | What does President Bush call India to do? | [
"proposed nuclear partnership"
] |
NewsQA | (CNN) -- A Buffalo, New York-area man accused of beheading his estranged wife made his first appearance in court Wednesday to face murder charges, according to the district attorney.
Muzzammil Hassan has been charged with second-degree murder in the death of his wife, Aasiya Zubair Hassan.
Muzzammil Hassan, 44, is charged with second-degree murder in the death of his 37-year-old wife, Aasiya Zubair Hassan, days after she filed for divorce and was granted a restraining order against him.
In court Wednesday, Hassan waived his right to a felony hearing, according to Erie County District Attorney Frank Sedita III. The case will go before a grand jury in the next 45 days. In the meantime, Hassan will be jailed without bond.
If convicted, he faces a sentence of 15 years to life, WKBW reported, citing prosecutors.
Muzzammil Hassan went to the police station in the Buffalo suburb of Orchard Park on Thursday and told officers that his wife was dead, authorities have said. He also led them to her body at the offices of Bridges TV.
The couple began the network in 2004 to counter negative Muslim stereotypes; Muzzammil Hassan is its chief executive officer, and Aasiya Hassan was general manager.
Aasiya Hassan filed for divorce February 6, police said, and Muzzammil Hassan was served with divorce papers at the station. That night, he showed up at the couple's home, she notified authorities, and he was served with a restraining order.
Police had responded to several domestic violence calls at the couple's address, but no one was arrested, Orchard Park Police Chief Andrew Benz said Tuesday. However, two women claiming to be Aasiya Hassan's sisters -- one in Pakistan and one in South Africa -- told reporters and posted in a blog that she lived in fear of him.
Bridges TV released a statement Monday saying its staff members were "deeply shocked and saddened by the murder of Aasiya Hassan and the subsequent arrest of Muzzammil Hassan. Our deepest condolences and prayers go out to the families of the victim." | 694d5ddfbe3f45058289e283e6e63260 | What did Hassan waive his right to? | [
"felony hearing,"
] |
NewsQA | MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- Described as "an extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane," Hurricane Bill was churning closer to the Atlantic island of Bermuda on Wednesday, forecasters said.
Most forecast maps show Hurricane Bill passing to the west of Bermuda.
Although Bill is not expected to make a direct hit on the island, forecasters cautioned that the storm is large and will generate large swells on Bermuda as well as the islands of the northeast Caribbean Sea over the next day or two.
Swells may also affect the eastern United States on Friday and Saturday, the National Hurricane Center said. CNN meteorologists said Bill could cause cause dangerous rip tides and some coastal flooding in the northeast United States and could move very close to or make landfall in Newfoundland, Canada, early next week.
In addition, Bill may strengthen further over the next couple of days, forecasters said.
As of 5 p.m. ET, Bill's center was about 335 miles northeast of the Leeward Islands and about 970 miles south-southeast of Bermuda, the hurricane center said.
"It's a little too early to evaluate what kind of direct impact Bill may have," said Jack Bevin, a senior hurricane specialist. "Most of the computer guidance has the storm passing between Bermuda and the U.S. coastline, then turning northeastward."
Other models show Bill turning more sharply out to sea and not affecting any areas, he said.
Bill's maximum sustained winds were at 135 mph Wednesday afternoon. It was moving northwest at near 20 mph and was expected to continue that motion over the next day or so, turning north-northwest by late Friday.
Five-day forecast maps show Bill passing to the west of Bermuda before turning to the northwest.
"Bill is a large tropical cyclone," the National Hurricane Center said. Hurricane-force winds extended up to 85 miles from its center, with tropical storm-force winds extending up to 230 miles out.
CNN Radio's Andrew Spencer and Lee Garen contributed to this report. | 4e49009d0553442aa88c368392a3438d | What looked on the island of USA? | [
"Hurricane Bill"
] |
NewsQA | WASHINGTON (CNN) -- An emotional Nancy Reagan helped unveil a statue of her late husband, President Reagan, on Wednesday, calling the 7-foot figure "a wonderful likeness."
Nancy Reagan, with House Minority Leader John Boehner, wipes away tears at Wednesday's event.
"I know Ronnie would be deeply honored to see himself with a permanent home in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol and very proud to be representing his beloved California," Nancy Reagan said.
She appeared to battle emotions as she mentioned her last visit to the marbled hall for Reagan's memorial in June 2004.
"It's nice to be back under happier circumstances," she said. Watch Nancy Reagan unveil the statue »
The statue is one of two from California in the National Statuary Hall Collection donated by states to honor significant figures.
Nancy Reagan stood arm-in-arm with House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio to pull down the curtain from the statue. She thanked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California for making the event possible.
In her remarks, Pelosi noted that the former president's statue contains pieces of the Berlin Wall, "as a symbol of his commitment to national security and to his success." The wall was torn down shortly after Reagan left office.
"I'm so grateful to Californians for giving him this honor," Nancy Reagan said. "Artist Chas Fagan has captured his likeness so well, and I think the addition of the pieces of the Berlin Wall in the pedestal reflects my husband's commitment to freedom and democracy for everyone."
The former president is credited with polices that led to the break-up of the former Soviet Union and the dismantling of the wall that divided Berlin as a symbol of Cold War politics.
James Baker, a longtime Republican who served in the Cabinets of Reagan and President George H.W. Bush, recalled that Reagan inherited some major problems when he took office in 1981.
Citing the former president's trademark optimism, he quoted from Reagan's first inaugural address that "we are not, as some would have us believe, doomed to an inevitable decline."
Nancy Reagan attended a White House ceremony Tuesday marking Barack Obama's signing of legislation authorizing a Ronald Reagan Centennial Commission. The 11-member commission will plan activities marking Reagan's 100th birthday on February 6, 2011.
Reagan was president from 1981 to 1989. | 2d58f81382ed41c98e075a02f94b2ff6 | What did the statue contain? | [
"pieces of the Berlin Wall,"
] |
NewsQA | KATHMANDU, Nepal (CNN) -- Two people were killed and about a dozen others were injured when a bomb exploded in a Catholic church in Kathmandu on Saturday morning, police said.
The damage inside the church in Kathmandu following Saturday's bomb blast.
The explosion in the Nepalese capital killed a 15-year-old girl and a 30-year-old woman.
"The bomb exploded inside the church when the explosion happened," senior police officer Kedar Man Singh Bhandari told CNN over the phone.
About 100 people were in the church when the bomb exploded, police said.
Manish Amatya, who was injured, said the blast interrupted their prayers. "There was a loud explosion while we were praying and all of us ran out screaming," he said.
Investigations are under way to determine who planted the bomb, which damaged the church.
CNN's Manesh Shrestha contributed to this report. | e8ed724cee8c4b139f10e2b9f6a6ff3e | What are investigations underway to determine? | [
"who planted the bomb,"
] |
NewsQA | (CNN) -- Debra Lafave, the former Florida middle school teacher convicted of having sex with a student, violated her probation by hugging a young co-worker, a Florida judge found Thursday.
Debra Lafave was arrested after talking with a teenager. She is not allowed to have contact with anyone under 18.
But the judge did not send Lafave to jail, saying the violation was "not willful and substantial."
"Please don't come back," he scolded.
Dressed in a tailored, black pantsuit, Lafave said she had "innocent" physical contact with a female co-worker she knew as under age 18. Watch Lafave in the courtroom »
At the time, she and the 17-year-old hostess worked at Danny Boy's, a small restaurant in the Tampa, Florida, area.
Lafave, 27, pleaded guilty in November 2005 to having sex with a 14-year-old boy and was sentenced to three years under house arrest and seven years of probation.
Lafave was required to register as a sex offender and ordered not to have any contact with minors. A tracking device she carries as part of her probation went off in court, prompting the prosecutor to observe, "I think she's accounted for."
Lafave acknowledged she was aware that hugs and other forms of physical contact -- as well as conversations about sex -- with minors violated terms of her probation. She referred to the sexually explicit conversations at work as just "girl talk."
Lafave denied talking about her sex life with co-workers. "I don't speak that way about my personal life," she said. But she added that her co-workers spoke freely about sex in a "small group setting."
While other co-workers socialized outside work, Lafave said, the 17-year-old was not included in those outings.
Asked why she hugged the young co-worker, Lafave explained it was a small restaurant with a casual atmosphere where co-workers felt like family. The contact came, she said, "out of my good nature, that's the way it worked."
The contacts that led to Thursday's probation violation hearing first surfaced during two polygraph tests administered as part of Lafave's court-ordered supervision.
She received a verbal reprimand a year ago, according to testimony. When the behavior continued, her probation officer asked a judge to find her in violation.
She was ordered to quit the restaurant job and now works as a receptionist in her mother's beauty shop.
In the past, Lafave has said she suffers from bipolar disorder and is receiving treatment. E-mail to a friend | d2d8148535fe4e47a7e729f515073cc9 | Who was found to be in violation of probation? | [
"Lafave,"
] |
NewsQA | PARIS, France (CNN) -- Interpol on Monday took the unprecendented step of making a global appeal for help to identify a man from digitally reconstructed photos taken from the Internet that it said showed him sexually abusing underage boys.
This moving image shows how police used software to unscramble the image. (Source: Interpol)
The man's face was disguised by digital alteration, but the images were capable of being restored, according to a bulletin from Interpol -- the international police agency based in Lyon, France.
Interpol Secretary General Ronald K. Noble said the pictures have been on the the Internet for several years, but investigators have been unable to determine the man's identity or nationality.
"We have tried all other means to identify and to bring him to justice, but we are now convinced that without the public's help this sexual predator could continue to rape and sexually abuse young children whose ages appear to range from six to early teens," Noble said.
He said there is "very good reason to believe that he travels the world in order to sexually abuse and exploit vulnerable children."
Interpol has determined the photos were taken in Vietnam and Cambodia.
"The decision to make public this man's picture was not one which was taken lightly," said Kristin Kvigne, assistant director of Interpol's Trafficking in Human Beings Unit.
The suspect's photo and more information can be seen online at Interpol's Web site. E-mail to a friend | 833a52c7d7bd47c7b0db46e12c44ecb7 | Where are the abused boys from? | [
"Vietnam and Cambodia."
] |
NewsQA | (CNN) -- A body found in a wooded area Tuesday is believed to be that of 11-year-old William McQuain, who went missing more than two weeks ago, Montgomery County, Maryland, police said.
Search dog handlers found the body of a young African-American male in Clarksburg, Maryland, just after 9 a.m. Tuesday, police said in a statement.
The scene was still being processed Tuesday morning, and police spokeswoman Rebecca Innocenti had no information on when a positive identification would be made.
An Amber Alert was issued for the boy after his mother, Jane McQuain, 51, was found dead in the bedroom of her Germantown home October 12. She had been stabbed and beaten, according to police.
Her son was not there, and her Honda CRV was gone, but police later recovered it.
Police said the boy was last seen September 30 at his home. Authorities said Jane McQuain had been dead for about 10 to 12 days when her body was found. The discovery was made after a friend contacted police and said he had not been able to contact her and was concerned.
Curtis Lopez, 45, was arrested last week in Charlotte, North Carolina, in connection with Jane McQuain's death. He waived extradition to Maryland on Monday. Police said Lopez was McQuain's husband and was often at her residence, although he did not appear to live there. Witnesses reported seeing him loading items into McQuain's vehicle recently, police said.
Authorities obtained a surveillance tape from the morning of October 1 showing Lopez "entering and re-entering" a storage unit in Germantown with the boy, the police statement said. "At that time, William McQuain appeared to be in a playful mood and showed no signs of distress."
"The clothing that William McQuain was wearing in the video is similar to the clothing found on the body that was located," the statement said. The body is believed to have been in its location since October 1, authorities said.
CNN's Devon Sayers contributed to this report. | 7beafa0dadf144ad8efc6a499693bfb3 | For how long is William McQuain missing? | [
"more than two weeks"
] |
NewsQA | LONDON, England -- Milan goalkeeper Dida has been cleared to play in next month's Champions League match at Shakhtar Donetsk after partially winning his appeal to UEFA against a two-match ban.
Dida has had one game of his two-match ban suspended for a year following an appeal to UEFA.
Brazilian Dida was also fined 60,000 Swiss francs by European football's ruling body following an incident involving a supporter during the Champions clash against Celtic in Scotland on October 3.
The 34-year-old Brazilian was initially banned for two games for his theatrics following a Celtic fan's encroachment onto the pitch during the 2-1 defeat at Celtic Park.
"Following Monday's appeals hearing, Dida is suspended for two matches, but one of the matches will now be deferred for a probationary period of one year," said a stement on UEFA's Web site.
Dida sits out the home tie against Shakhtar on Wednesday after an inquiry based on Article 5, paragraph 1 of the UEFA disciplinary regulations (Principles of conduct), under which "member associations, clubs, as well as their players, officials and members, shall conduct themselves according to the principles of loyalty, integrity and sportsmanship".
However, Dida will only serve the second match of his ban if he commits a similar offense -- a theatrical over-reaction --during the next 12 months, freeing him for the trip to Ukraine.
UEFA said that their Appeals Body "took note that Dida expressed his sincere regrets as regards his conduct during the match."
AC Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani was satisfied with UEFA's decision. "I believe it is fair -- I was against the two-game suspension but one seems OK.
"Dida has made a mistake but his error did not hinder anyone, not Celtic, nor any player," said Galliani. E-mail to a friend | 46ad639e242c459e8a5af88ef6c7b3cf | What is the benefit of the second game ban being dismissed | [
"to play in next month's Champions League match"
] |
NewsQA | (CNN) -- Authorities in Azerbaijan recently uncovered a radical Islamic terror plot against the U.S. Embassy in the capital, Baku, prompting the facility to close its doors to the public Monday, Azerbaijan and U.S. officials told CNN.
The Bibi Heybat Mosque, just outside the capital Baku.
As a precaution, Britain also shut its embassy in Baku to the public on Monday "following security concerns nearby," Britain's Foreign Office said.
The terror plot was unraveled after a weekend raid outside Baku that netted several suspected members of the radical group, two U.S. officials who asked not to be identified and a spokesman for Azerbaijan's National Security Ministry told CNN.
U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack stressed that the details "are still unfolding," and the threat "may or may not be" linked to the Saturday raid.
"There were some specific and credible threat information concerning the embassy and plans by militants to in some way do harm to individuals in and around the U.S. Embassy there," McCormack said, noting that no specific individuals were targeted.
Several days ago, an Azerbaijani army officer who had connections to a radical Islamic group seized four assault rifles, a machine gun and 20 hand grenades from his military unit and hid them in the outskirts of Baku, the ministry spokesman and U.S. officials said.
Government security forces tracked down the group and arrested several members during a sweep on Saturday in the village of Mastaga, about 20 miles (32 km) northeast of Baku, the spokesman said.
One suspected member of the militant group resisted arrest and was killed in the sweep, the spokesman said. Several others are still at large, he added.
He said the terror plot also targeted Azerbaijani government buildings.
The U.S. Embassy in Baku issued a warden message warning Americans in Azerbaijan to take precautions.
"While there is no information at this time that other American or Western interests in Azerbaijan are being targeted, the U.S. Embassy encourages Americans to maintain a high level of vigilance and take appropriate steps to bolster their own personal security," it said.
Azerbaijan is a former Soviet republic that borders the Caspian Sea, and lies just north of Iran.
McCormack said U.S. authorities are working closely with their counterparts in Baku and will determine when normal embassy operations will resume. He said he expects the embassy to limit its operations on Tuesday, as well. E-mail to a friend
CNN's Igor Malakhov in Moscow, Zain Verjee in Washington and Roger Clark in London contributed to this report | d7ad383459d044e99fe1f689519a224a | Where is the terror plot against? | [
"Embassy in the capital, Baku,"
] |
NewsQA | (CNN) -- Veteran striker Raul Gonzalez scored his 71st Champions League goal to help Schalke beat holders Inter Milan 2-1 on the night and 7-3 on aggregate to reach the semifinals of the competition on Wednesday.
Already in the driving seat after their stunning 5-2 first leg win at the San Siro, the German Bundesliga side never looked likely to relinquish their advantage and eased through to the last four, where they will now face Manchester United.
Raul opened the scoring on the stroke of half-time, controlling an inch-perfect pass from compatriot Jose Manuel Jurado, before rounding goalkeeper Julio Cesar to slip the ball home.
However, the Italian side levelled the scores just four minutes later when Thiago Motta was left unmarked from a corner to head home.
Benedikt Hoewedes then had a header ruled out for offside, but the Schalke defender was not to be denied and he hit the winner with nine minutes remaining, firing home after latching onto Raul's pass.
Schalke coach Ralf Rangnick told reporters: "We have produced two great performances against Inter.
"If you only allow the Champions League winners a couple of chances, you know you have played well.
"Each player worked hard for each other and that was the key to our success," he added.
Schalke will host United in Gelsenkirchen on April 26 in the first leg, with the return at Old Trafford on May 4. | 133c0f5cace345b393ee9f7e8b2d00c3 | Who will Schalke now face | [
"Manchester United."
] |
NewsQA | (CNN) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has added his brother-in-law to a military board in a move analysts say paves the way for an heir, according to South Korea's state-sponsored Yonhap news agency.
Kim Jong-il has named his brother-in-law Jang Song Thaek to a top military board.
The addition of his kin to the powerful National Defense Commission also solidifies his standing, Yonhap said.
Kim was reappointed Thursday as chairman of the military board in his first major public appearance since a reported stroke in August. His brother-in-law, Jang Song Thaek, is considered his right-hand man, according to Yonhap.
Jang, who has been married to Kim's sister since 1972, currently serves as a director of the Workers' Party, Yonhap said.
"Kim wants to keep the military in check and secure loyalty to both the military and the party," Cha Doo-hyeogn, a North Korea expert, told Yonhap.
Kim also increased the number of members in the military agency to 13, from eight, Yonhap said.
"Overall, the power of the National Defense Commission was strengthened," Seoul's Unification Ministry spokesman, Kim Ho-nyoun, told Yonhap in a briefing.
There were no other major changes in the new parliament, which signifies that Kim, 67, is prepared to maintain the status quo as he readies someone to take over from him, analysts told Yonhap.
Kim's recent health problems and long absence from public functions have prompted speculation on whether he is ready to groom an heir to the world's only communist dynasty. But the secretive nation shields its internal affairs from international scrutiny.
Analysts told Yonhap that Jang may serve as caretaker for Kim's successor, who will possibly be one of his three sons. | 4ac9eb8f314040fdbba8bbf3f02c64bf | Who is the right hand man? | [
"brother-in-law, Jang Song Thaek,"
] |
NewsQA | ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- A military offensive to rid Pakistan's northwest of al Qaeda and Taliban fighters has killed more than 1,000 militants since it began in full force earlier this month, the country's interior ministry said Sunday.
A Pakistani girl displaced by the offensive against the Taliban rests at a camp Saturday north of Islamabad.
Officials also said that only 2 percent of the North West Frontier Province remains under Taliban control as a result of the operation.
Both claims were difficult to verify independently.
The government did not say whether the operation resulted in civilian casualties, or how many people it displaced.
The United Nations said Saturday that more than a million people have been displaced as a result of the two-week-old offensive.
The U.S-led coalition and NATO -- based in Afghanistan -- have long said Pakistan is not being proactive enough in battling militants who are launching attacks from Pakistan's swath of tribal areas along the border. Pakistan has denied the claim.
But the country's military launched an intense operation to rout out militants from the area after Taliban fighters took control of a district just 60 miles from the capital, Islamabad.
The control of the Buner district brought the Taliban closer to the capital of the nuclear-armed country than it had been since it mounted its insurgency. Watch car bomb, drone attack in Pakistan » | 4ca7020870ec4c269696e6889ad1ffba | Who were Pakistani troops trying to oust? | [
"al Qaeda and Taliban"
] |
NewsQA | (CNN) -- A Corpus Christi, Texas, hospital is investigating how up to 17 babies in a neonatal intensive care unit received overdoses of the blood thinner heparin. One of the babies died.
Officials at Christus Spohn Hospital South say corrective action was taken after the discovery of the overdoses.
The infant was one of 17 who may have received a more concentrated form of heparin than was prescribed, Christus Spohn Hospital South said in a statement.
Heparin is an anticoagulant often used to clean the IVs of patients and prevent blood clots from forming in the lines.
It came into the public spotlight last year when newborn twins of actor Dennis Quaid nearly died after receiving an overdose at a Los Angeles hospital.
Nursing staff at the Corpus Christi hospital discovered the problem Sunday -- two days after the medication is believed to have been first administered, according to Bruce Holstien, president and CEO of Christus Spohn Health System.
The hospital said it took corrective measures after the discovery.
A preliminary investigation concluded that "the medication error occurred during the mixing process within the hospital pharmacy," Holstein said in a statement.
The baby who died "was seriously ill, and we do not know at this time what role, if any, the higher than expected concentration of heparin played in this baby's death," Dr. Richard Davis, chief medical officer for the health system, said Tuesday.
"Our deepest sympathy goes out to this family," he said.
Twelve of the 16 other babies remain in stable condition in the neonatal intensive care unit, which cares for ill newborns. Three have been discharged, and one is critical and unstable as that baby has been since admission to the unit, Davis said.
In November, Quaid's 12-day-old twins, Thomas Boone and Zoe Grace, were undergoing intravenous antibiotic treatment for a staph infection at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
According to standard procedure, nurses were supposed to clean the infants' IV lines with Hep-Lock, a drug containing a small dose of heparin, to allow the lines to flow freely.
However, instead of the 10 units of heparin they were supposed to receive, the twins received 10,000 units -- 1,000 times the prescribed amount.
The babies survived, apparently with no permanent injury, Quaid later told members of a House committee on government oversight, although there is no way to know whether they will show any long-term effects. | dc654deec5ea43b191e5ad60cc9e51fb | What is heparin? | [
"blood thinner"
] |
NewsQA | BARCELONA, England -- Ronaldinho has been recalled to the Barcelona squad for Tuesday's Champions League match against Rangers in Glasgow.
Ronaldinho was dropped from the Barcelona squad on Saturday for returning late from international duty.
The Brazilian was omitted from the squad that lost 3-1 to Villarreal on Saturday after returning late from international duty, but he has been named in an 18-man party for the trip to Scotland.
Barca will be without Deco for that match though, after the Portuguese suffered a thigh injury against Villarreal that will keep him sidelined for around five weeks.
Also missing are Samuel Eto'o, Yaya Toure, Gianluca Zambrotta, Edmilson and Rafael Marquez as the Catalans travel to Scotland in a battle between the two sides with 100 per cent records in Group E.
Barcelona squad: Valdes, Jorquera; Puyol, Thuram, Sylvinho, Oleguer, Abidal, Milito; Iniesta, Ronaldinho, Messi, Xavi, Giovani, Crosas; Henry, Ezquerro, Gudjohnsen, Bojan. E-mail to a friend | 957be64e100c43eaad452f81ad0edbe2 | Where is Ronaldinho from? | [
"Brazilian"
] |
NewsQA | (CNN) -- A Maryland funeral home has lost its license after investigators found about 40 bodies stacked on top of each other, leaking fluid, in a garage, a state official said.
The state Board of Morticians and Funeral Directors revoked the license of Chambers Funeral Home & Crematorium in Riverdale, Maryland after an April 26 visit to the site.
Hari Close, president of the the state funeral board, told CNN Tuesday that some of the bodies were cadavers who had been donated to a local university for research. Other bodies came from other funeral homes, Close said.
The bodies were supposed to be cremated, but investigators were alarmed at how they were stored in the garage while they awaited cremation.
"Even somebody who donates their body to science, they still should be treated with dignity," said Close. "Not to mention the health and safety issues with the body fluids flowing out."
William Chambers, co-owner of the funeral home, told CNN-affiliate WJLA said that he hopes to work with the state to resolve the alleged violations.
When investigators inspected the funeral home they were warned by an employee, who told them, "Don't get upset about all the bodies in there," according to documents released by the state funeral board.
Inside the room was a "large pile, approximately 12 by 12 feet, of body bags containing human remains strewn on the floor of the garage in front of a removal van. There was visible leakage from the body bags as well as a pungent odor," the documents said.
"The investigator also observed writing on some of the body bags," they said. "However, fluid leakage from the body bags caused the writing to smear and become illegible. As a result, it was not immediately possible to determine the identity of the remains."
There will be a hearing at the end of the month to determine whether the funeral home will get its license back, Close said.
CNN's Patty Lane contributed to this report. | e7579786cdbe49708f373731f8a2d60e | Where were the bodies found? | [
"in a garage,"
] |
NewsQA | ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- Police tightened security at airports across Pakistan Thursday after receiving reports of a possible suicide attack at the international airport that serves Islamabad.
Pakistan's capital was rocked by a suicide attack on the city's Marriott Hotel at the weekend.
Officers emptied the parking lot at the Benazir Bhutto International Airport, on the outskirts of Islamabad, said Parvez George of the country's Civil Aviation Authority.
Flights were going out of the airport, but police cleared the terminal building of the large crowds that usually gather to see relatives arrive or depart, George said.
Muhammad Asghar of Islamabad Police told CNN that authorities placed the airport on high alert after intelligence reports indicated it was under threat of an attack.
The country's capital city is on edge since a deadly blast Saturday night at the Marriott Hotel. The explosion killed more than 50 people, including two U.S. military personnel and the Czech ambassador to Pakistan.
The bombing wounded more than 250 and sparked a fire that left the hotel in ruins.
On Thursday, the Danish intelligence service said one of its employees, Karsten Krabbe, was among the victims of the blast.
Krabbe, a 53-year-old married father of two, was a security adviser at the Danish Embassy in Islamabad, which was targeted by a suicide bomber in June. That attack killed six people and wounded more than 20.
"Karsten Krabbe lost his life in a cowardly and ruthless terror attack," the Danish intelligence service said in a statement.
Reacting to the Saturday's attack, the U.S. government barred employees from major hotels in several Pakistani cities, the U.S. Embassy in Pakistan said.
The Embassy in Islamabad added Lahore on Wednesday to a list of three other cities in which U.S. personnel are no longer allowed to visit or stay in major hotels.
The Embassy took the measures because of general security concerns, said spokesman Lou Fintor Thursday. He did not comment on a specific threat.
In addition to the hotel restriction, the Embassy temporarily suspended visa and other routine consular services for Thursday and Friday. It said it will make available emergency services for U.S. citizens who need passports or are arrested.
And an advisory reminded Americans in Pakistan to avoid crowds and demonstrations and to keep a "low profile." It said Americans should vary times and routes while traveling to avoid setting patterns.
And it said a travel warning issued on August 7 still stands: U.S. citizens should defer nonessential travel to Pakistan due to continuing security concerns.
-- CNN's Zein Basravi and Reza Sayah, and Journalist Nasir Habib contributed to this report | b04facdad67d45f08180eddd579c1533 | What was the threat? | [
"possible suicide attack"
] |
NewsQA | WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Justice Department on Thursday announced 300 additional arrests in a four-year operation that it says produced nearly 1,200 arrests and seizures totaling 11.7 tons of illegal drugs.
Authorities look through seized property after a drug raid at a house near Atlanta, Georgia, on Wednesday.
Attorney General Eric Holder announced the wrap-up of Project Coronado, which resulted in arrests in 15 states in the past two days.
Holder said the operation targeted the distribution network of a major Mexican drug trafficking organization known as La Familia. About 3,000 federal agents participated in the investigation and raids, officials said.
"This unprecedented, coordinated U.S. law enforcement action -- the largest ever undertaken against a Mexican drug cartel -- has dealt a significant blow to La Familia's supply chain of illegal drugs, weapons and cash flowing between Mexico and the United States," Holder said in a news conference. Watch Holder announce the arrests »
Michele Leonhart, acting chief of the Drug Enforcement Administration, said the cartel was known for specializing in the trafficking of methamphetamine and for its brutal violence, including beheadings.
Authorities said the arrests made Wednesday and Thursday occurred in California, Colorado, Georgia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Washington.
Dozens of arrests occurred in the Dallas, Texas, area where agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives filed charges against cartel members believed to have illegally purchased and shipped high-powered firearms to the cartel, which was based in the Mexican state of Michoacan.
U.S. officials vowed to indict cartel leaders and extradite them to the United States. One leader, Servando Gomez-Martinez, was indicted in New York on Thursday. He remains at large, and is presumed to be in Mexico.
A senior law enforcement official involved in the operation, who asked not to be identified, said he was certain the latest crackdown on La Familia would affect the methamphetamine market in the United States for months. "It'll make a difference not only because of how hard we hit 'em, but where we hit 'em," the official said.
Another official said during the course of the investigation that labs run by La Familia had been discovered in Atlanta, Georgia, and San Jose, California.
To date, Project Coronado has led to 1,186 arrests in 44 months. During that time, agents seized $32.8 million in U.S. currency, and about 1,225 kilograms (2,700 pounds) of methamphetamine, 2,000 kilograms (4,409 pounds) of cocaine, 13 kilograms (29 pounds) of heroin and more than 8 tons (7,200 kilograms) of marijuana. | e2dde87bc8e447088cc040e3ff7e0caf | What will the crackdown affect? | [
"the methamphetamine market in the United States"
] |
NewsQA | (CNN) -- Norwegian violinist, Alexander Rybak, 23, won the Eurovision Song Contest with an upbeat ballad that got the most votes in the history of one of the world's most watched television shows.
Alexander Rybak of Norway performs during the final of the Eurovision Song Contest Saturday in Moscow, Russia.
On Saturday night Rybak beat out contestants from 42 countries, with singers from Iceland and Azerbaijan taking distant second and third places.
The boyish Rybak -- who performed a self-composed tune, "Fairytale," with some deft dance steps and a smile plastered on his face -- won with 387 points, the most in the contest's 53-year history, organizers said.
It was the third time Norway has won the competition. Although the classically-trained Rybak grew up outside the Norwegian capital, Oslo, he was born in Belarus.
A television audience estimated at more than 100 million people watch the show.
In years past, winners have parlayed their victory in varying degrees of success -- most notably the Swedish quartet ABBA, which won with "Waterloo" in 1974 and became one of the most successful pop groups of the 1970s.
In the Eurovision Song Contest, which began in 1956, each participating European nation submits one singer or group who then perform a specially-written song. Telephone votes as well as judges from each country decided the winner this year.
This year the contest was televised from a packed stadium in Moscow, Russia.
Earlier police arrested dozens of gay and lesbian rights activists who were planning a rally to coincide with the contest. The protesters wanted to draw attention to what they call widespread discrimination of gays in Russia. Watch what's different about this year's gay rights protests » | 40c5fa7d611246f18525b3914ffb95e5 | When did ABBA win with "Waterloo"? | [
"1974"
] |
NewsQA | (CNN) -- An angry Phil Mickelson hinted at legal action for being accused of "cheating" by fellow PGA Tour professional Scott McCarron.
The world number two carded a two-under 70 to be four shots behind third round leader Ryuji Imada at the Farmers Insurance Open, but for the second day in a row his post-round press conference centered on his use of a 20-year-old wedge with square grooves.
McCarron was quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle on Friday, saying that Mickelson and others who had opted to play with the Ping-Eye 2 wedge were exploiting a loophole in PGA Tour rules.
"It's cheating, and I'm appalled Phil has put it in play," he said.
New rules introduced this year only allow for irons with V-shaped grooves, but because of a lawsuit filed by manufacturers Ping an exception has been made for wedges, with square grooves, which were made before April 1, 1990.
Mickelson is using one of those wedges at Torrey Pines this week and on Friday he was grilled about his use and McCarron reported comments.
Mickelson declined then to get into what he called "name calling" but mounted a stout defense of his use of the club, saying it was within the rules.
But after his fine third round on the South Course, Mickelson appeared to up the ante.
"We all have our opinions on the matter, but a line was crossed and I just was publicly slandered," Mickelson told the official PGA Tour Web site.
"And because of that, I'll have to let other people handle that."
Asked he was mounting a lawsuit, Mickelson said, "I'm not going into specifics what that meant."
Meanwhile, the PGA Tour has issued a statement to explain why the controversial Ping-Eye 2 wedges were approved for play, appearing to criticize McCarron for his comments.
"Because the use of pre-1990 Ping Eye 2 irons is permitted for play, public comments or criticisms characterizing their use as a violation of the Rules of Golf as promulgated by the USGA are inappropriate at best," read the final paragraph of the statement.
Mickelson said that it was "cool if they put that out there."
On the course, Imada shot a two-under 70 for a 13-under 203 and had a two-shot lead over Ben Crane (69) and Michael Sim of Australia.
U.S. Open champion Lucas Glover carded a 68 and was three shots behind with Mickelson a further stroke behind on his season-debut on the PGA Tour. | c18426d0b1e1428e907f6fbc740aef64 | Who says he was 'publicly slandered'? | [
"Phil Mickelson"
] |
NewsQA | (CNN) -- Residents of a western Pennsylvania neighborhood can return home Sunday after a chemical leak forced them to evacuate the night before.
Hundreds of residents were forced to flee Saturday after a chemical leak in Petrolia, Pennsylvania.
Authorities surveyed the neighborhood in Petrolia and determined that no traces of the toxic chemical remained, said Freda Tarbell, spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
A leak at the Indspec Chemical Corp. plant in Petrolia on Saturday formed a cloud affecting at least 2,000 residents -- some of whom fled their homes. Others huddled indoors with their windows shut, authorities said.
Three people were taken to hospitals, but officials could not immediately say why. Watch why residents were asked to evacuate »
It was not immediately clear how many people were injured, though plant manager Dave Dorko said all employees and inspectors at the plant were safe and accounted for.
Tarbell described the chemical as fuming sulfuric acid, which is also known as oleum.
The plant uses the chemical during its production process, she said. The plant produces a chemical called Resorcinol -- essentially a strong glue used in the tire industry.
The leak affected between 2,000 and 2,500 residents, Tarbell said. Some stayed the night with friends and relatives and some sought refuge in shelters. Others opted to stay indoors and "shut their windows and doors to make sure the acid cloud was not entering their home," she said.
Ed Schrecengost, a former Indspec employee, said firefighters showed up at his son's wedding reception, urging the guests to leave.
"It's about as dangerous as you can get," Schrecengost told CNN affiliate WPXI. "It's a very fuming acid. A quart bottle of this material could fill a household in two seconds."
Dorko said the leak was caused by an overflow from a tank. The material, he said, evaporates easily, creating a toxic cloud.
CNN's Saeed Ahmed and Janet DiGiacomo contributed to this report. | 7a271fbbc4714691904a6277c4bf97a1 | Does the area show traces of chemical? | [
"no"
] |
NewsQA | Cancun, Mexico (CNN) -- The storm known as Rina fizzled Friday as it moved over the Yucatan Channel, the strait between Mexico and Cuba, the National Hurricane Center said.
No coastal watches or warnings were in effect after Rina lost much of its punch. The storm had diminished in strength from a Category 2 hurricane that raised fears in and around some of the most popular resort communities in Mexico.
It was classified as a remnant low Friday afternoon, with maximum sustained winds of 30 miles an hour, the hurricane center said.
Rina's eye was about 75 miles west of the western tip of Cuba and 110 miles north-northeast of Cozumel, moving east-northeast at 5 mph.
"A turn toward the southeast is expected on Saturday, with a turn toward the south expected on Sunday," the hurricane center said in what was its last public advisory on the system.
Continued weakening is forecast for the next two days.
Rina had been expected to drop between 3 to 6 inches of rain over the eastern part of the Yucatan Peninsula and Cozumel through Friday, with isolated amounts of up to 10 inches, according to the Miami-based weather agency.
A storm surge of as much as 1 to 2 feet above normal tide levels along the coast was also expected, "accompanied by large and dangerous waves," forecasters had said.
Authorities took precautionary measures ahead of the storm, while numerous businesses in Cancun and elsewhere shut down.
"First we're thinking, we're stranded in Cancun; there could be worse things," said Amelie Jarvis, a tourist from Canada. "But then we noticed that everything is closed. I don't know what we're going to do."
CNN's Ed Payne contributed to this report. | 5e3f04da1dc14327841b47561f9f23ff | The storm has sustained winds of what speed? | [
"30 miles an hour,"
] |
NewsQA | (CNN) -- Veteran striker Raul Gonzalez scored his 71st Champions League goal to help Schalke beat holders Inter Milan 2-1 on the night and 7-3 on aggregate to reach the semifinals of the competition on Wednesday.
Already in the driving seat after their stunning 5-2 first leg win at the San Siro, the German Bundesliga side never looked likely to relinquish their advantage and eased through to the last four, where they will now face Manchester United.
Raul opened the scoring on the stroke of half-time, controlling an inch-perfect pass from compatriot Jose Manuel Jurado, before rounding goalkeeper Julio Cesar to slip the ball home.
However, the Italian side levelled the scores just four minutes later when Thiago Motta was left unmarked from a corner to head home.
Benedikt Hoewedes then had a header ruled out for offside, but the Schalke defender was not to be denied and he hit the winner with nine minutes remaining, firing home after latching onto Raul's pass.
Schalke coach Ralf Rangnick told reporters: "We have produced two great performances against Inter.
"If you only allow the Champions League winners a couple of chances, you know you have played well.
"Each player worked hard for each other and that was the key to our success," he added.
Schalke will host United in Gelsenkirchen on April 26 in the first leg, with the return at Old Trafford on May 4. | 1f3a03ed1968428da939fd000692ecfe | who defeated Inter Mialn | [
"Schalke"
] |
NewsQA | LONDON, England (CNN) -- Love hurts, especially for jilted lovers on Valentine's Day.
With that in mind, a London tourist attraction is offering visitors the chance to curse former boyfriends, girlfriends or spouses -- and get a discount on the entry price at the same time.
"Hex your Ex" is the Valentine's Day promotion at the London Dungeon, a house of horrors that takes visitors through elements of the city's bloody, gruesome, and torturous past.
To qualify, visitors must bring a picture of their ex -- or anyone who has shunned them -- then rip it up and throw it in a smoking cauldron, spokeswoman Kate Edwards told CNN. Visitors can then select from a range of curses to inflict on their ex.
"If you happen to be single or freshly shunned, this is a way to move on and have a great way of doing it," Edwards said.
Hexing your ex will earn you £5 ($7.20) off the entry price.
"It's very therapeutic, but it means in times of the credit crunch, you get money off as well," she said.
The "curses" are meant to be taken lightly, she said. All were developed by the Dungeon's creative team.
"They involve marvelously bad things happening to your ex," she said. "Nothing deadly, obviously. It's obviously tongue-in-cheek." | 1d59b7fc72d840e28a4871fbbe6a5523 | What is offered by the London attraction? | [
"the chance to curse former boyfriends, girlfriends or spouses"
] |
NewsQA | (CNN) -- President Obama said Thursday that watching the arrival of 18 flag-draped cases containing bodies of Americans killed in Afghanistan was a "sobering reminder" of U.S. sacrifice as he prepares to decide on sending more troops there.
At a brief media appearance with visiting Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore, Obama was asked whether his unannounced appearance at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware for the pre-dawn dignified transfer of the bodies would influence his decision on troop levels in Afghanistan.
"Obviously, it was a sobering reminder of the extraordinary sacrifices that our young men and women in uniform are engaging in every single day," the president said.
Obama said the burden of war on U.S. troops and their families will "bear on how I see these conflicts."
"It is something I think about each and every day," he said.
Also in attendance for the transfer of the bodies were Attorney General Eric Holder and Michele Leonhart, acting administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration.
The bodies included three DEA special agents and 15 U.S. troops who died in Afghanistan this week.
The agents were killed Monday as they returned from a raid on a compound believed to be harboring insurgents tied to drug trafficking. Seven U.S. troops also died when their helicopter went down in western Afghanistan.
The military transport that landed in Delaware also included the bodies of eight U.S. soldiers killed Tuesday when their vehicles were hit by roadside bombs in two incidents in southern Afghanistan.
The soldiers were from the 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team of the 2nd Infantry Division, based at Fort Lewis, Washington.
The DEA identified the agents killed Monday as Forrest N. Leamon, 37, of Woodbridge, Virginia; Chad L. Michael, 30, of Quantico, Virginia; and Michael E. Weston, 37, of Washington.
Leamon and Michael were members of the DEA's Foreign-deployed Advisory and Support Teams, and Weston was assigned to the agency's Kabul office.
CNN's Carol Cratty contributed to this report. | 00d5db6324b74badb684adc2f0896d2c | What did the US troops die of? | [
"hit by roadside bombs"
] |
NewsQA | (CNN) -- A single-engine plane crashed Saturday outside a bank in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, seriously injuring the five people on board, authorities said.
A damaged airplane lies on the ground Saturday next to a busy road in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
The pilot reported engine problems shortly after leaving the city's Wiley Post Airport, about a mile away from the crash site, at midmorning, said Lynn Lunsford, spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration.
The plane hit two trees as it came down, and video showed the damaged Beechcraft Bonanza resting on the grass near a busy thoroughfare in the northwest section of the city.
Fire Department Deputy Chief Cecil Clay said the two men and three women on the plane were taken to hospitals. Lunsford said they suffered multiple injuries. Watch footage of the plane at the crash site »
The plane was headed to Enid, Oklahoma, about 100 miles north of Oklahoma City. The pilot tried to return to Wiley Post Airport after he recognized the engine trouble, Lunsford said.
"I heard what I thought was a Dumpster being unloaded in the complex," said Shaddy Ahmad, who manages the U-Haul business across the street from the bank.
He said emergency responders used special equipment to extricate the people from the plane, the top of which was peeled back.
"They were very lucky because this is a high-traffic area," Ahmad said. "You have the expressway, the bank and stores in the area. They were blessed to land how they did." | 3b0b857ab56747ba8cc38104c69c9a74 | Where were the fliers headed? | [
"Enid, Oklahoma,"
] |
NewsQA | Washington (CNN) -- The public may have seen the last video images of the failed blowout preventer from the BP oil well disaster, as authorities expressed possible security concerns.
The feed from a camera on board a salvage ship was discontinued Saturday after the apparatus was raised from the sea floor and placed on the vessel Q4000.
At his regular briefing with reporters Wednesday, National Incident Commander Thad Allen said additional questions about the unit would now have to go to the U.S. Justice Department and the Joint Investigation Team.
When pressed about the video feed, Allen said, "We'll have to refer that to the Department of Justice. There were some constraints put on that videotaping based on the people that are looking at the blowout preventer and their identities and so forth, and I think there's, there may be some security issues associated with it."
Allen said the ship will carry the unit to shore, but that the timetable and other questions will no longer be something he can address as part of the disaster operations that he heads.
As of Wednesday, he said, "the blowout preventer is already up on deck on the Q4000. The lower marine riser package has been separated, and they're putting it on latching skids getting ready to move it closer to shore."
He said "exactly when it arrives and what the disposition would be, I would refer you to the Department of Justice, or the Joint Investigation Team," since "from this point out it doesn't involve the spill itself."
Allen said after the ship moves off-scene, "this will cease to be part of the national response that I'm coordinating as the national incident commander." | ce14d7f8c7c84ba2936127dc26c44178 | When was the camera feed discontinued? | [
"Saturday"
] |
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