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(InStyle.com) -- It takes a truly adventurous actress to pull off a razored Mohawk, a platinum pixie and a Louise Brooks bob, but we'd expect nothing less from the ever provocative Selma Blair, who experimented with all three looks in under a year. Selma Blair says she works with hairstylists and makeup artists who "have a vision." "I have no fears when it comes to my hair or clothes," proclaims the 36-year-old star of NBC's upcoming mom-and-daughter sitcom "Kath and Kim" and July's action flick "Hellboy II: The Golden Army." Makeup, however, is an entirely different matter for the self-declared "poor applier," who sticks with basics like nude lipstick and pink blush, and ducks whenever she sees a liquid liner. "I avoid anything difficult," she says. Blair's signature look: "A rosy cheek, a smudgy eye, a lot of mascara--I look like a doll that has too much makeup on, and I love it!" Have you always been a beauty chameleon? In high school I would mess with my hair and makeup all the time. I used to wear a shirt that said "Ms. Clairol" because I changed my hair color so much. I was blond for a long time, then what my mom called "barnyard red." Do you still dye it yourself? Only when I have to cover up stray grays. And I'll just use whatever color I find in the grocery store that looks good on the box, like Preference by L'Oréal--because I'm worth it [laughs]. But for my platinum hair, I went to Sheri at Román Salon in L.A. She was a saint. I had just dyed my hair dark brown, so she had to very slowly strip out all the color so that my hair wouldn't burn off. And the cut--are you keeping it short? I tend to like my hair whatever way it's not, so now I miss it being long. I think I'm more approachable with long hair. When it's short, I come across as being artsy and weird. What's your typical makeup look? I used to wear a lot of red lipstick, and when I got a pimple, I'd cover it up with eyeliner to turn it into a beauty mark. But everything has changed since I hit 35. I'm at an age where any makeup that's meant to look "slept in" really looks like I slept in it. That's for youngsters! Now less is more. I don't like to wear concealer or anything. I'd rather have uneven skin than feel like my face is cracking from too much foundation. Then you must be serious about your skin care. I go to a spa in L.A. called Kinara for its Skin Care BootCamp. You go once a week for 12 sessions and they'll look at your skin and tell you how to get it in better condition. They really helped me a lot. I also stay out of the sun. Any thoughts on Botox or plastic surgery? I wanted to get Botox once to make me feel younger. But I don't really have [enough wrinkles] to justify it yet. As for going under the knife, I can't say I wouldn't, but I haven't thought too much about it. Best beauty product? Egyptian Magic cream is my saving grace for everything. It works for my friend's baby's bottom, and I can also use it instead of Chapstick. So what's next? I'm really excited about having a perma-tan and wearing long highlighted hair extensions for my role on "Kath and Kim." And I've been gaining weight for the part by eating a little bit more of what I want and not moving around as much. I've already put on 15 pounds, and I'll probably gain another 10. It'll be a whole new me! Will this be your most drastic transformation? Actually I wore huge prosthetic boobs for a John Waters movie. They were glued on every day by a really handsome guy, but ripping them off every night was definitely outside my realm of comfort. After those bosoms, I didn't mind being flat-chested anymore! Get a FREE TRIAL issue of InStyle - CLICK HERE! Copyright © 2008 Time Inc. All rights reserved.

Actress Selma Blair wore huge prosthetic boobs for a John Waters movie . She's gained at least 15 pounds for her role on "Kath and Kim" She considered Botox but says she doesn't have enough wrinkles for it yet . Blair experimented with three completely different looks in less than a year .

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(CNN) -- Census-takers are fanning out across Sudan this week in a landmark headcount meant to determine how to divide power and wealth in the war-weary African nation. A south Sudanese soldier keeps watch, with the threat of civil war still high in the war-torn country. The census is a key component of a 2005 peace agreement that ended a 22-year civil war which killed 2 million people and displaced an estimated 4 million others. The war pitted a government dominated by Arab Muslims in northern Sudan against black Christians and animists in the south. Delays in starting the census were among the reasons cited when southerners withdrew last year from a government of national unity. They rejoined the government two months later, but tension and occasional fighting near the disputed territory of Abyei has threatened to reignite the civil war. "God forbid, that's a distinct possibility," said Andebrhan Giorgis, senior policy adviser for Africa for the International Crisis Group, a non-profit organization that seeks to prevent and resolve crisis. "It's quite worrisome." North-south tensions have worsened even as international attention has focused more on persistent violence in the Darfur region of western Sudan, where roughly 300,000 people have been killed since 2003 in a campaign of killing, rape and displacement that the U.S. calls genocide. Results from the national census, which began Tuesday, will be used to establish electoral districts and determine political representation in a national assembly, Giorgis said. "It's an important milestone," he told CNN on Wednesday. The U.N. peacekeeping mission in Sudan also hailed the census as vital, in a statement Tuesday. The census is key to establishing voting districts in advance of national elections scheduled for 2009. It is also critical in determining how oil wealth is to be shared between the north and south, who have a history of animosity and mistrust. It's unclear how census-takers will operate in Darfur - and how accurately they will be able to count the population there, Giorgis said. E-mail to a friend .

Census-takers fan out across Sudan this week in a landmark headcount . Count will be used to determine how power is shared in the war-torn country . North-south tensions continue to simmer, threatening the return of civil war .

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NAIROBI, Kenya (CNN) -- Ethnic fighting once again engulfed Kenya's western Rift Valley on Sunday as witnesses and Red Cross officials reported brutal attacks by members of President Mwai Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe on other ethnic groups. Police attempt to secure a street in Naivasha, where violence flared on Sunday. The violence spread to the Rift Valley town of Naivasha on Sunday, where the Red Cross said there were reports of people being burned alive in their homes. Kenya's main opposition party and the Red Cross said as many as 30 people were killed. Ethnic killings continued in the nearby Rift Valley town of Nakuru, where another 47 people have died since the latest wave of violence began on Thursday, according to the opposition Orange Democratic Movement. The opposition death toll is much higher than police figures, which do not include Sunday's violence in Naivasha. Police say 31 people have died in the Rift Valley region since last Thursday. Watch CNN's Zain Verjee report on the violence » . In a statement released Sunday, ODM leader Raila Odinga condemned reports of 30 people being burned alive in their Naivasha homes and blamed the Kibaki government for fomenting the violence in the region. "I condemn this murderous and evil act in the strongest terms possible," he said. "What is now emerging is that criminal gangs, in a killing spree, working under police protection, are part of a well-orchestrated plan of terror." It is a dramatic turn of events, considering Odinga was shaking Kibaki's hand three days ago after the two met under the auspices of former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Many had hoped Thursday's meeting, arranged by Annan who is mediating peace efforts, would bring an end to the outbreak of bloody ethnic battles that followed last month's contested presidential vote. But it seems to have had the opposite effect. Odinga blamed Kibaki's government for orchestrating the Rift Valley violence "to try to influence mediation efforts" and "to divert (attention) from election malpractice to security and violence." "After stealing the elections from Kenyans, Kibaki now wishes to deny them justice and peace," Odinga said. A Red Cross official said the agency had received reports of a non-Kikuyu family burned to death in their house in Naivasha. Television footage showed a man in the back of a police vehicle covered in blood with a large machete wound on the side of his head. Kenyan police dispersed large gangs and cleared rocks littering the streets of the lakeside town, which is dominated by Kikuyu. Tree branches, heavy boulders and oil drums littered the streets of Naivasha's town center as the Kikuyu gangs erected temporary road blocks, CNN correspondent Zain Verjee reported. She said the atmosphere was tense as the gangs checked cars to identify rival tribes. Verjee said there was a heavy police presence on the outskirts of the town. Some shops remained open but the town center was almost deserted except for the roaming gangs. It was a similar situation in Nakuru on Sunday, where ODM member the Rev. Mike Brawan said members of the Kikuyu tribe "are flushing out the non-Kikuyus from their houses." He said Kikuyus are going house-to-house, attacking civilians who are not members of the tribe, as well as looting and burning their property. Police, he said, "are not doing much." Brawan said he saw homes burned and people hacked to death in the violence. "They just die with a lot of pain," he said. It is estimated -- depending on the source -- that between 500 and 1,000 people have been killed in the violence that followed the December 27 election in which Kibaki kept his post. Odinga, the OMD candidate for president, and his supporters claim the election was rigged. International observers noted some irregularities in the voting. Fighting, centered in western Kenya and Nairobi's slums, broke out between tribes loyal to Kibaki and Odinga after Kibaki was declared the winner of recent elections. E-mail to a friend . CNN's Zain Verjee and Stephanie Halasz contributed to this report.

Red Cross reports people being burned alive . Ethnic fighting kills 47 people since Thursday in western Kenya, opposition says . Violence follows meeting between President Kibaki and opposition leader . More than 500 people have been killed in violence that followed the election .

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NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- Flight attendant Sheela Joshi is 5 feet, 4 inches and 148 pounds. Air India has strict weight parameters that all attendants must meet. When they don't, the airline grounds them. Her employer, Air India, says she is too fat to fly. Joshi, 50, has been an air hostess -- as they are still called in India -- for the national airline for 26 years. But she's been grounded because the airline has done away with its wiggle room on weight. Until two years ago, Air India allowed an attendant's weight to vary within 6.6 pounds (3 kilograms) of a specified limit. It has since put in place strict weight parameters that all attendants must meet. When they don't, the airline grounds them without pay until they shed the excess pounds. The airline says that someone who is Sheila's age, height and weight should weigh 143 pounds (65 kilograms). She misses the mark by 5 pounds. "It's very demoralizing," Joshi told CNN. "And ... it's quite humiliating." "Weight is always on my mind," she added. "They can tell you, 'You look overweight. Please go.'" Joshi and 12 other grounded attendants sued the airline for weight discrimination. Air India fought back, saying the employees knew the job requirements when they signed up and didn't express concern. Watch airline defend its position » . Furthermore, it said, appearance and physical fitness are vital parts of an attendant's job. "(A) safety concern is also there," said Air India's lawyer, Rupinder Singh Suri. "Because it's a high action job. And in case of emergencies, the person has to accelerate and move at a very, very fast pace." Weight used to be a consideration for airlines in the United States, as well. Then, a series of weight-discrimination lawsuits forced carriers to do away with it. Now "most airlines want candidates with weight proportionate to height," according to the U.S. Labor Department's Occupational Outlook Handbook. In the India case, the airline hasn't deemed any of the attendants medically unfit -- just over the weight limit. Their attorney contends the move is actually about getting rid of older, well-compensated women in favor of younger ones who will do the job for less money. "They have spent their entire life working for Indian airlines," said lawyer Arvind Sharma. "They were small girls when they came in now. They are 45-plus and they feel bad." The Delhi High Court recently sided with Air India in the case. Joshi's attorney has vowed to appeal to the Supreme Court. In the meantime, Joshi and some of her colleagues say they aren't taking any chances. They are going on diets to get airborne again.

Until two years ago, Air India allowed an attendant's weight to vary within 6.6 pounds . Weight-discrimination lawsuits forced U.S. carriers to do away with weight limits . In India, the attendants are not deemed medically unfit -- just over the weight limit .

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(CNN) -- Turkey snatched a last-gasp winner to eliminate Euro 2008 co-hosts Switzerland and keep their own quarterfinal hopes alive with a 2-1 victory in rain-drenched Basel on Wednesday night. Patrick Mueller, left, and Swiss goalkeeper Diego Benaglio battle for the ball with Arda Turan of Turkey. Arda Turan scored with a deflected effort in the third minute of time added on to set up a Group A finale against the Czech Republic on Sunday to determine who takes the second quarterfinal place behind Portugal. The Turks came from behind after Hakan Yakin gave the Swiss a 32nd-minute lead, with substitute striker Semih Senturk heading a 57th-minute equalizer through the hands of goalkeeper Diego Benaglio. The St Jakob Park stadium had been flooded by a deluge early in the match, with the downpour continuing until just before half-time. The treacherous conditions made defending a nightmare for both teams, and Arda almost put Turkey ahead in the 29th minute with a farcical effort. With minimal visibility in the heavy rain, Benaglio punched a vicious free-kick by stand-in captain Nihat Kahveci onto the head of the 21-year-old winger -- but the ball bounced to safety off the outside of the post. However, it was the Swiss who adapted the better and they took the lead through the veteran Yakin. He was on hand to awkwardly steer home from close range with his weaker right foot after Eren Derdiyok -- who like Yakin is of Turkish origin -- beat the offside trap to collect a long pass from defender Philippe Senderos. Derdiyok calmly check inside the defense in the penalty area and sent a low cross towards Yakin -- who had to wait anxiously at the far post as the ball was held up in a huge puddle of water. Yakin had earlier been denied by Turkey goalkeeper Volkan Demirel, who also did well to tip a swerving free-kick by Tranquillo Barnetta around the post. Yakin also missed an even easier chance than the goal he scored in the 34th minute when he stabbed the ball wide of the post following a superb right-wing cross by Valon Behrami which cut out the defense and goal custodian. Turkey, sensing a lucky escape, came out after the break with renewed purpose and posed a greater threat as the pitch slowly drained of the excess water. Semih justified his second-half introduction when he rose highest to meet Nihat's superb inswinging cross from the left flank, and Benaglio could only palm the powerful header into the back of the net. Tempers flared as both sides went in search of the victory, but there was no repeat of the violent scenes that followed Switzerland's World Cup playoff victory against the Turks in November 2005. Volkan made another superb save from Yakin, and Turkey held off the Swiss onslaught before Arda cut in from the right and fired a shot from just outside the penalty area which clipped the heels of Patrick Mueller and looped over the helpless Benaglio. "I did wish for rain to stop. I did pray to God for that," Turkey coach Fatih Terim told reporters. "We couldn't predict mud in the middle of the summer. "It's not easy to come back from a goal down at the European Championship, considering we hit the woodwork once. But we fought a lot in the second half and we created many opportunities." He added: "Tonight we reminded everyone a little bit about Turkey. Against the Czech Republic, we will be unforgettable." Defeat was a bitter blow for Switzerland, whose fellow co-hosts Austria will also be eliminated on Thursday if they lose to Poland in Vienna. "Of course the disappointment is huge," Switzerland coach Koebi Kuhn said. "But I can't blame it on any player or anyone else. We lost twice unluckily."

Turkey eliminate Euro 2008 co-hosts Switzerland with 2-1 win in rain-hit Basel . Match marred by torrential downpour which left the ground waterlogged . Arda Turan scores deflected winner in the third minute of time added on . Turks must now beat Czech Republic in final Group A match to qualify .

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KATHMANDU, Nepal (CNN) -- Nepal's former king said Wednesday he is not going to leave his country even though the monarchy has been abolished. Gyanendra came to power in 2001 following the assassination of King Birendra and his family. Ex-King Gyanendra, 60, made remarks to reporters before departing the Narayanhiti royal palace in Kathmandu. He will live as a civilian in the former Himalayan kingdom that was made a republic last month, and he will reside in a summer palace on a forested hilltop outside the capital. A few hundred journalists crammed into the opulent palace's lobby entrance to hear Gyanendra's remarks. It was a chaotic and undeferential scene replete with pushing, shoving and scuffling -- even while the former monarch was speaking. While the former king spoke, reporters looked around at the lavish furnishings, including a huge crystal chandelier, stuffed tigers, stuffed rhino heads mounted on the walls and paintings of previous monarchs. Gyanendra, who expressed his "love" for "independent Nepal," said all of his property will remain in the country and that he has no property outside the nation. "I have no intention or thoughts to leave the country," he said. "I will stay in the country to help establish peace." The monarchy's end after 239 years of rule was the culmination of a two-year peace process in which Maoist insurgents in Nepal gave up their armed struggle, joined mainstream politics and won the most seats in April's election for the Constituent Assembly. The assembly is tasked with rewriting the constitution, deciding the country's future political system and governing the nation. Gyanendra, who noted that the country is going through a "serious" stage now, said he accepts the new reality of a republic and reflected on the actions of the monarchy. "I have done all I can to cooperate with (the government's) directives," he said, and added that "the monarchy in Nepal has always been with the people of Nepal in good times and bad times." Gyanendra came to power in 2001 when his brother, King Birendra, and his family were massacred in the palace by the crown prince, who later shot himself. Gyanendra on Wednesday denied rumors that he had played a role in that event. The ex-monarch also discussed events of 2005, when he he took over the civilian government to take on the Maoist insurgency, an unpopular move that sparked protests. He said he hopes people "understand" he didn't intend to infringe on any of the rights of the people. He left the palace by a side entrance with pro-royalists and pro-republicans gathered outside to see his departure. His car had to stop momentarily as journalists took pictures of him. Gyanendra's royal scepter and a crown of peacock feathers, yak hair and jewels remain in the palace and have been handed over to the government. -- From CNN's Dan Rivers and Manesh Shrestha .

Former king will live as a civilian in a summer palace outside capital . Gyanendra: Will stay in the country to help establish peace . Left palace by side entrance while officials gathered outside to see his departure . Assembly tasked with rewriting the constitution, deciding future political system .

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LONDON, England (CNN) -- Nothing says true love like releasing a caged butterfly, don't you think? Wayne Rooney and Coleen McLoughlin are to be paid $5 million for the picture rights to their wedding. The butterflies are reported to be the piece-de-resistance of England's most anticipated celebrity wedding of the year. Wayne Rooney, the best English footballer of his generation, and Coleen McLoughlin, his High School sweetheart, were to marry in an estimated $10 million ceremony in Italy Thursday. As they kiss, guests are apparently meant to open boxes and release the butterflies. The moment has been pilloried widely in the British media, tacky and over the top they all think, but is it just sour grapes? It has been a long and, at times, bumpy road for the couple to the altar. One littered with fierce criticism from the British press, which has enjoyed nothing more than lampooning Rooney and McLoughlin for being 'common.' The Daily Mail once even asked: "Is this Britain's ghastliest couple?" Rooney has been dubbed "Shrek" and "Mr Potato Head" due to his looks and his background as the son of a school dinner lady who grew up on a council estate is often referred to in a disparaging way. McLoughlin, meanwhile, has been subjected to page upon page of bitter stories about her weight, shopping sprees and her lack of closeness to Victoria Beckham. There has also been fierce criticism over the fact she has managed to become a millionaire in her own right. It's all down to Rooney apparently, and nothing to do with her appearing to be quite a decent person, who did well at school and has cleverly managed to parlay some of her fame into various media and advertising projects. Anyone who has seen her television show -- Coleen's Real Women -- can see she is a decent, bubbly person, who is very good at putting people at ease. Much to the media's fury, the couple have sold the rights to cover the wedding to OK magazine for a record $5 million. However they're not pocketing all the cash themselves, with an undisclosed sum from the fee to be donated to the Claire House children's hospice in Cheshire -- where McLoughlin's disabled foster sister Rosie is cared for. The queen's grandson, Peter Phillips and his bride Autumn Kelly, recently received $1m from Hello magazine to cover their wedding but they didn't receive an eighth of the opprobrium now directed at the more generous, but lower class, Rooney and McLoughlin. Moreover, in lieu of presents, Rooney and McLoughlin have also asked guests to donate money to the Alder Hey children's hospital in Liverpool. The wedding might be over the top, with a private yacht and luxury jet for guests (they are covering the guests' costs), expensive plonk and a $200,000 wedding dress, but at least the couple have worked hard for what they have. Their success despite a working-class background appears to be the greatest source of frustration for critics. It's just not on that someone who wasn't born into privilege and didn't go to a posh school can enjoy their wealth. That would be ugly. If anything, the couple's relationship and success is a triumph over adversity. They have known each other since McLoughlin was 12, but she spent two years fending off Rooney's entreaties to go out on a date. He finally got his chance when he saw her struggling to fix a broken bicycle chain. He rode over to help, popped the question again and got a yes. Surely they should be congratulated for creating their own modern fairytale complete with butterflies? The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the writer.

English football star Wayne Rooney and sweetheart marry in lavish ceremony . Glen Scanlon says media have launched bitter attacks on the couple . Working-class background appears to be critics' greatest annoyance, he says .

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LONDON, England (CNN) -- Nothing says true love like releasing a caged butterfly, don't you think? Wayne Rooney and Coleen McLoughlin are to be paid $5 million for the picture rights to their wedding. The butterflies are reported to be the piece-de-resistance of England's most anticipated celebrity wedding of the year. Wayne Rooney, the best English footballer of his generation, and Coleen McLoughlin, his High School sweetheart, were to marry in an estimated $10 million ceremony in Italy Thursday. As they kiss, guests are apparently meant to open boxes and release the butterflies. The moment has been pilloried widely in the British media, tacky and over the top they all think, but is it just sour grapes? It has been a long and, at times, bumpy road for the couple to the altar. One littered with fierce criticism from the British press, which has enjoyed nothing more than lampooning Rooney and McLoughlin for being 'common.' The Daily Mail once even asked: "Is this Britain's ghastliest couple?" Rooney has been dubbed "Shrek" and "Mr Potato Head" due to his looks and his background as the son of a school dinner lady who grew up on a council estate is often referred to in a disparaging way. McLoughlin, meanwhile, has been subjected to page upon page of bitter stories about her weight, shopping sprees and her lack of closeness to Victoria Beckham. There has also been fierce criticism over the fact she has managed to become a millionaire in her own right. It's all down to Rooney apparently, and nothing to do with her appearing to be quite a decent person, who did well at school and has cleverly managed to parlay some of her fame into various media and advertising projects. Anyone who has seen her television show -- Coleen's Real Women -- can see she is a decent, bubbly person, who is very good at putting people at ease. Much to the media's fury, the couple have sold the rights to cover the wedding to OK magazine for a record $5 million. However they're not pocketing all the cash themselves, with an undisclosed sum from the fee to be donated to the Claire House children's hospice in Cheshire -- where McLoughlin's disabled foster sister Rosie is cared for. The queen's grandson, Peter Phillips and his bride Autumn Kelly, recently received $1m from Hello magazine to cover their wedding but they didn't receive an eighth of the opprobrium now directed at the more generous, but lower class, Rooney and McLoughlin. Moreover, in lieu of presents, Rooney and McLoughlin have also asked guests to donate money to the Alder Hey children's hospital in Liverpool. The wedding might be over the top, with a private yacht and luxury jet for guests (they are covering the guests' costs), expensive plonk and a $200,000 wedding dress, but at least the couple have worked hard for what they have. Their success despite a working-class background appears to be the greatest source of frustration for critics. It's just not on that someone who wasn't born into privilege and didn't go to a posh school can enjoy their wealth. That would be ugly. If anything, the couple's relationship and success is a triumph over adversity. They have known each other since McLoughlin was 12, but she spent two years fending off Rooney's entreaties to go out on a date. He finally got his chance when he saw her struggling to fix a broken bicycle chain. He rode over to help, popped the question again and got a yes. Surely they should be congratulated for creating their own modern fairytale complete with butterflies? The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the writer.

English football star Wayne Rooney and sweetheart marry in lavish ceremony . Glen Scanlon says media have launched bitter attacks on the couple . Working-class background appears to be critics' greatest annoyance, he says .

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(CNN) -- Croatia sent out a message of intent to the other Euro 2008 finalists as they stunned highly-fancied Germany 2-1 in Klagenfurt to secure a place in the quarterfinals. Ivicia Olic celebrates Croatia's second goal in their superb 2-1 victory over Germany. Darijo Srna and Ivica Olic struck the goals as Croatia, who had only ever beaten Germany once before, produced arguably the first major upset of the tournament. Lukas Podolski pulled a goal back late on for Germany with his third strike in two games to set up a nail-biting finale, but there was to be no way back for Joachim Loew's team, who finished with 10 men following the 90th-minute dismissal of substitute Bastian Schweinsteiger . Both sides came into the game having won their opening matches, although Germany had looked far more impressive in seeing off Poland than Croatia had in defeating Austria. However, it was Slaven Bilic's side who turned on the style at the Worthersee Stadion as they took control of Group B with two wins out of two. A frantic start to the match promised much but for all their huffing and puffing, neither side were able to create anything resembling a chance in the opening 20 minutes as defences held firm. The ball did find its way into the back of the net in the 22nd minute when Germany striker Mario Gomez slotted home past Stipe Pletikosa but the offside flag had already gone up against the Stuttgart man. The deadlock was broken for real just two minutes after that incident though, when Croatia went ahead through Srna. Danijel Pranjic sent over a superb cross from the left and Srna nipped in front of marker Marcell Jansen to slide the ball in at the far post, giving veteran Germany goalkeeper Jens Lehmann no chance. Croatia had a gilt-edged chance to make it 2-0 in the 30th minute, but Niko Kranjcar wasted it. Ivan Rakitic chipped a pass into the area which was flicked back towards the penalty spot by Olic, but the in-rushing Kranjcar was unable to cap a well-worked move as he blazed over. Germany knew they needed to step up through the gears and they finally made Pletikosa earn his keep with two efforts in rapid succession. The first saw Pletikosa push away a thunderous Michael Ballack free-kick, before the Spartak Moscow custodian awkwardly deflected away a Christoph Metzelder effort with his knee. Metzelder then headed a Torsten Frings corner just over from close range as the Germans stepped up their efforts for an equalizer before the break. However, Loew's side very nearly found themselves two goals behind in the 43rd minute, and they needed a fine reaction stop from Lehmann to deny Kranjcar, who chested down Olic's pass and smashed in a first-time volley. Having seen his side let off the hook, Loew opted for a more adventurous approach in the second half as he sacrificed full-back Jansen for jet-heeled winger David Odonkor during the interval. Aside from a Ballack shot over the crossbar though, Croatia looked fairly comfortable at the start of the period and also had a decent effort of their own with Luka Modric firing in a shot that Lehmann gathered, although not before seeing it squirm through his hands first. However, Lehmann's next task was to pick the ball out of the back of his net as Croatia stunned the Germans with a second goal in the 62nd minute. A Rakitic cross from the right took a deflection off Podolski before arrowing goalwards and although Lehmann, who had begun to come out for the initial cross, managed to dive backwards and get a hand on it, the ball struck his near post before rebounding back out to Olic, who had the easy task of slotting home. Germany looked for an immediate response but aside from a Schweinsteiger shot that fizzed across the face of goal, they were still finding it difficult to create chances against a well-organised Croatia backline. Loew's side earned themselves a lifeline with 12 minutes to go though when Podolski lashed home a shot on the half-volley after the ball had fallen kindly to him in the box. Germany could not build on that goal, though, and their final hopes of getting anything out of the match all but disappeared when Schweinsteiger was given a straight red card for shoving Jerko Leko in the final minute of an absorbing encounter. "I want to especially congratulate my players, not only for the fight they showed but for playing an excellent match," said a delighted Bilic. "There is no other way to beat the Germans than to play well. They're still a great team, though, and still one of the favorites for the title." Ballack said the Germans had to recognize they must improve. "Our movement was not fluid enough throughout the match and as a consequence we eked out few chances. "We played below our level in all departments. Now we absolutely have to win our last match against Austria," said the Chelsea midfielder.

Croatia stun favorites Germany 2-1 in their Group B encounter in Klagenfurt . Darijo Srna and Ivica Olic both on target as Croatia make it two wins from two . Lukas Podolski pulls goal back for Germany with his third strike in two games .

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LONDON, England -- Britain's Princess Eugenie has been reprimanded by her school after being caught frolicking naked on college grounds, it was reported Saturday. Princess Eugenie is sixth in line to the British throne. The 18-year-old daughter of Prince Andrew, Duke of York, and Sarah Ferguson, was apprehended for her involvement in end of term "high jinks" at the exclusive Marlborough College, west of London, the UK Press Association said. A royal source told the Press Association, "It was nothing more than high jinks at the end of term in May. A group of them were reprimanded and that's the end of the matter." The tabloid Sun newspaper reported that a college staff member woke to playful shrieks and found several young women dancing around without clothes. It said there was no suggestion boys were present or that drugs were involved but claimed a pupil said the students had been drinking. Princess Eugenie, the sixth in line to the British throne, is studying art, history of art and English at the $46,000-a-year college, PA said. It said the princess was expected to be among guests celebrating the official birthday of Queen Elizabeth II on Saturday. A spokesman for the princess made no comment about the claims, PA reported.

Britain's Princess Eugenie reprimanded for naked school frolic, reports say . Sixth in line to British throne involved in end of term "high jinks," insiders say . Princess due to attend queen's official birthday celebrations .

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(InStyle.com) -- It takes a truly adventurous actress to pull off a razored Mohawk, a platinum pixie and a Louise Brooks bob, but we'd expect nothing less from the ever provocative Selma Blair, who experimented with all three looks in under a year. Selma Blair says she works with hairstylists and makeup artists who "have a vision." "I have no fears when it comes to my hair or clothes," proclaims the 36-year-old star of NBC's upcoming mom-and-daughter sitcom "Kath and Kim" and July's action flick "Hellboy II: The Golden Army." Makeup, however, is an entirely different matter for the self-declared "poor applier," who sticks with basics like nude lipstick and pink blush, and ducks whenever she sees a liquid liner. "I avoid anything difficult," she says. Blair's signature look: "A rosy cheek, a smudgy eye, a lot of mascara--I look like a doll that has too much makeup on, and I love it!" Have you always been a beauty chameleon? In high school I would mess with my hair and makeup all the time. I used to wear a shirt that said "Ms. Clairol" because I changed my hair color so much. I was blond for a long time, then what my mom called "barnyard red." Do you still dye it yourself? Only when I have to cover up stray grays. And I'll just use whatever color I find in the grocery store that looks good on the box, like Preference by L'Oréal--because I'm worth it [laughs]. But for my platinum hair, I went to Sheri at Román Salon in L.A. She was a saint. I had just dyed my hair dark brown, so she had to very slowly strip out all the color so that my hair wouldn't burn off. And the cut--are you keeping it short? I tend to like my hair whatever way it's not, so now I miss it being long. I think I'm more approachable with long hair. When it's short, I come across as being artsy and weird. What's your typical makeup look? I used to wear a lot of red lipstick, and when I got a pimple, I'd cover it up with eyeliner to turn it into a beauty mark. But everything has changed since I hit 35. I'm at an age where any makeup that's meant to look "slept in" really looks like I slept in it. That's for youngsters! Now less is more. I don't like to wear concealer or anything. I'd rather have uneven skin than feel like my face is cracking from too much foundation. Then you must be serious about your skin care. I go to a spa in L.A. called Kinara for its Skin Care BootCamp. You go once a week for 12 sessions and they'll look at your skin and tell you how to get it in better condition. They really helped me a lot. I also stay out of the sun. Any thoughts on Botox or plastic surgery? I wanted to get Botox once to make me feel younger. But I don't really have [enough wrinkles] to justify it yet. As for going under the knife, I can't say I wouldn't, but I haven't thought too much about it. Best beauty product? Egyptian Magic cream is my saving grace for everything. It works for my friend's baby's bottom, and I can also use it instead of Chapstick. So what's next? I'm really excited about having a perma-tan and wearing long highlighted hair extensions for my role on "Kath and Kim." And I've been gaining weight for the part by eating a little bit more of what I want and not moving around as much. I've already put on 15 pounds, and I'll probably gain another 10. It'll be a whole new me! Will this be your most drastic transformation? Actually I wore huge prosthetic boobs for a John Waters movie. They were glued on every day by a really handsome guy, but ripping them off every night was definitely outside my realm of comfort. After those bosoms, I didn't mind being flat-chested anymore! Get a FREE TRIAL issue of InStyle - CLICK HERE! Copyright © 2008 Time Inc. All rights reserved.

Actress Selma Blair wore huge prosthetic boobs for a John Waters movie . She's gained at least 15 pounds for her role on "Kath and Kim" She considered Botox but says she doesn't have enough wrinkles for it yet . Blair experimented with three completely different looks in less than a year .

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HANNOVER, Germany -- Germany maintained the pressure on the Czech Republic in the race for top spot in Group D with a comfortable 4-0 win against Cyprus in Hannover. Lukas Podolski celebrates his goal as Germany cruised to a 4-0 victory over Cyprus. Both sides have already qualified for EURO 2008 but Germany showed no sign of letting up as Bayern Munich pair Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski struck either side of half-time to build on Clemens Fritz's second-minute opener. Thomas Hitzlsperger added the fourth in the 82nd minute as Germany claimed their eighth win in the group to move level with the Czech Republic on 26 points. Germany were quick out of the blocks and celebrated their first goal after less than 120 seconds. Podolski's determination paid off and he pulled the ball back from the goalline for Fritz to score with a far-post header. Klose added the second on 20 minutes, accepting a pass from the selfless Fritz in a central position and firing in from eight meters out. Podolski was Germany's main threat, and he finally got the goal an excellent performance warranted when he turned in Klose's low cross from the right eight minutes into the second half. The impressive Podolski turned provider for the final goal eight minutes from time, making a determined run to the goalline before squaring for Hitzlsperger, whose simple tap-in completed the scoring. Meanwhile, Arsenal midfielder Tomas Rosicky was among the goals for the Czech Republic as they beat neighbors Slovakia 3-1 in Prague to remain top of the group by virtue of their head-to-head with Germany. Germany conclude their qualifying campaign at home to Wales on Wednesday while the Czech Republic travel to Cyprus. Meanwhile, the Netherlands secured their place in the finals with a narrow 1-0 win over Luxembourg in Group G. Danny Koevermans scored the only goal for the Dutch two minutes before half time to seal their place in the finals alongside Romania -- who remain top of the group having already qualified, despite losing 1-0 to Bulgaria in Sofia. Spain beat Sweden 3-0 with goals by Joan Capdevila, Andres Iniesta and Sergio Ramos, while Northern Ireland maintained their slim chance of catching Sweden by beating Denmark 2-1. David Healy scored the winning goal to set a European Championship qualifying record of 13 goals, overtaking Davor Suker's 12-goal mark. Northern Ireland must now beat already-qualified Spain in Las Palmas on Wednesday and hope that Latvia can win in Sweden on the same night, if they are to reach the finals. E-mail to a friend .

Germany beat Cyprus 4-0 in Hannover as they keep pressure on the Czechs . Lukas Podolski scores and produces a superb performance for the Germans . The Czech Republic remain top of the group after defeating Slovakia 3-1 .

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NEW YORK (CNN) -- It's been five years since Carrie Bradshaw journeyed to Paris in search of true love on the series finale of "Sex and the City." She appeared to have found it in the arms of Mr. Big, and she returned to New York -- and her now-settled friends -- ready for a new start. Sarah Jessica Parker was a driving force in creating the "Sex and the City" movie. Then came the inevitable cry: That's it? What happens next? Sarah Jessica Parker, who played Carrie, wanted to find out as well. But the situation had to be right, she said, which prompted a cascade of rumors as plans for a movie came together, fell apart and came together again. Now that the movie is out, Parker -- who's a producer of the film as well as one of its stars -- talked about the journey to making a big-screen "Sex and the City" with "Showbiz Tonight" anchor A.J. Hammer. The following is an edited version of that interview. CNN: I think a lot of fans, maybe a lot of people, and those of you among the cast, didn't think this day would actually ever come ... but here we are. So how are you feeling deep inside, Sarah? Sarah Jessica Parker: I feel extraordinarily privileged. I've spent the last two years cobbling this movie together. ... It's a once-in-a-lifetime kind of professional experience and one really shouldn't be greedy enough to ask for it twice. Watch the cast talk about the thrill of "Sex" » . I have to say that, this last six, eight months, was better than those seven years [the show aired] and I think it's because we all recognize how lucky and unique those seven years were and that this is a story that you don't get to tell twice. It has been, I must say, worth every obstacle and dead end, and fit and start, and every moment that was seemingly impossible. It has been a dream. CNN: And I imagine sitting down for the first time in that room together for the table read, which was, from my understanding, the first time you all actually were in the same room [together] regardless of how much you kept in touch. Tell me a little bit about that moment. Parker: I started putting [the] script back together in April of 2006 ... and that [table read] was a really extraordinary day, because just the perfunctory details of getting people to a table read were complicated. Kim [Cattrall] had been away and Kristin [Davis] had been away and Chris [Noth] had been [doing] his other job, and this magnificent script had arrived and had been everything we hoped for and more. It was basically like being in an alternate universe for about three hours. ... It was a kind of reunion that is very, very special, because you really want to be there. It's not the reunion where you're forced by your parents to meet your aunts and uncles that you see rarely. It's the reunion that you want. I think even more so was that first day on [the] set. When we thought, good God, [writer/director] Michael Patrick [King] and I are actually making this movie, like we got it done, we're here, we're doing it -- what a privilege. CNN: I think we as fans and viewers actually got a sense of what that feeling was like when we saw you all together on "Oprah," because the energy was ... palpable. ... But we're talking about the perceived drama around this whole project. (Rumors have abounded about friction between the stars.) One of my producers said while we were watching the TV, "Are they going to sit near each other?" "Why are they putting Chris in the middle of all of them?" Hearing that, does it make you mad? Parker: I find it slightly -- it's not that I'm mad. I expect better from people. I think it's really beneath me, to keep defending myself. I have a 35-year career. I have an impeccable character, I really pride myself in my work ethic and the way I treat people. And I think Kim would say the same and Cynthia would say the same. And I love Kim, and I wanted her to be in this movie. We couldn't have done it without her, we couldn't have done it without Kristin, we couldn't have done it without Cynthia [Nixon], nor could we have done it without Chris. Watch Cattrall address the rumors » . You know, this is a story that people like to tell about women. Why? I don't know. Is it that interesting? Probably not. So once again I just have to say it doesn't define the experience. Nobody can take the experience away. It's far more interesting for me to talk about my affection for this cast than to start to deny a sad old beaten tale. CNN: You seem to have what goes on in the media in perspective -- and you have to, being at the game as long as you've been. To that end, one of the things that I've always admired about you and [husband] Matthew [Broderick] and I think a lot of people do, is how you've managed your public or your private life while being in the glare of the spotlight. ... Now I know one of the main reasons you guys are able to make it work is because you don't talk about your private lives, which is great and I applaud that. That said, is there something that you can tell me about what it is about your relationship that enables you to make it work separate from that? Parker: I wouldn't make any proclamations about why I have a marriage that, to me, is successful. I would just say that we've chosen to live in a city where we are not the most interesting people. This is a city that is about industry and finance and publishing and architecture and the arts and education and academia, and the movie industry fits into it in some small way, but there are a lot of people of important interest and I think that it's a conscious choice to live in a place where we're bumping up against humanity. We run to the market on our own, we take the subway, and we integrate into our city, and we become a part of the fabric and I think it's really been to our benefit and certainly to our son. Does it mean that we are not scrutinized and that we don't have paparazzi every single day at our house? No, but it is a city where you can't live behind a gate, you can't drive up in a car and be protected. You walk out the door and it is what it is. So you reconcile those things and you make the best choices you can. CNN: Is it the end of "Sex and the City"? What does your gut tell you? Parker: My gut tells me it's up to you and your colleagues and the critics and the people who show up. The future is dictated not by us at this point, and I think Michael Patrick and I have been so focused at getting this movie up on the big screen, that we haven't thought about the future. Doing this was more than we could have asked for. So anything beyond that is really kind of out of our hands in a perfectly wonderful way.

Sarah Jessica Parker: "Sex and the City" "has been a dream" Rumors of friction? "Beneath me to keep defending myself" Marriage to Matthew Broderick works because pair lives normal N.Y. life .

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(Mental Floss) -- Starting a legitimate business is hard, boring work. There's paperwork to fill out, employees to hire, and all sorts of other drudgery, not to mention the biggest hurdle of all: providing a product or service for which customers are willing to pay. President Ulysses S. Grant foiled a gold scam. In all likelihood, it would be much easier to just stumble upon some clever scam to line your pockets. Or so it would seem. As many aspiring scam artists quickly learn, when a business scam fails, it tends to fail in rather grand fashion. Just ask any of these four teams of not-so-smooth operators. A corny sea story . Xenothemis and Hegestratos may not have been the world's first white-collar criminals, but they were certainly noteworthy for their incompetence. In 360 B.C., the pair stumbled upon what seemed like a killer plan to make some quick cash. Shipping was extremely risky at the time, and boats went down at sea with alarming frequency. To exploit this uncertainty, Xenothemis and Hegestratos devised a plan in which they would receive a cash advance to ship a load of corn from Syracuse to Athens. Due to the dangers associated with shipping, the buyer would take on full risk if the shipment didn't make it to Athens, so if the boat sank Xenothemis and Hegestratos could keep their cash. Instead of loading the ship with expensive corn, the conniving pair made a plan to sail an empty ship out to sea for a few days, then sink it and escape in lifeboats. Since the boat itself was insured, this plot seemed airtight, and the potential profit was great. Unfortunately, though, the boat's other passengers allegedly caught wind of the scheme during the attempting scuttling of the ship. These passengers were understandably a bit peeved at Hegestratos' attempts to drown them for his own financial gain. Hegestratos panicked and jumped overboard, at which point he drowned. Unable to sink the ship by himself, Xenothemis had to sail on to the port, at which point the buyer, Protos, wanted to know why his shipload of corn was empty. A legal battle followed, and although the verdict has been lost by history, it's safe to say that the late Hegestratos regretted the scam. When Friday went black . Despite his prowess as a general, Ulysses S. Grant's presidency didn't go so smoothly. Ones of its most notable scandals occurred in 1869, when a group of speculators upended the U.S gold market. The plan started when financier James Fisk and robber baron Jay Gould formed a group of speculators with the goal of cornering the gold market, which would give the group the ability to manipulate the price. Of course, one can only corner the market if there's a fixed quantity of gold available. Otherwise, the government could just sell large quantities of gold, and the cornering effort would be an expensive failure. In an effort to avoid this fate, Gould and Fisk brought President Grant's brother-in-law Abel Corbin into their fold. Using Corbin's influence to get an audience with the President, the pair would argue to Grant that selling gold was a terrible idea that the government should avoid at all costs. The wily pair also used their influence at the White House to secure a position as assistant treasurer of the United States for Daniel Butterfield, who would warn them if the government started to sell gold. With their connections in place, Fisk and Gould started buying up gold in September 1869, quickly driving the price of gold up by around 30 percent. Once Grant and his advisors got wise to the situation, though, the government quickly sold off $4 million in gold to break the corner, effectively killing the inflated prices on September 24. As investors scrambled to get rid of their overpriced gold, the price plummeted sharply, and many involved in the scam lost huge amounts of money. Fisk and Gould managed to avoid big losses due to their connections in the treasury, but what would be known as Black Friday didn't earn them a huge windfall -- and significantly harmed the American economy. Bad moves . If you've ever hired movers, you know it can be pretty pricey. Erik Deri, the founder of Woodinville, Washington-based Nationwide Moving Systems, understood that most movers were expensive, so he drummed up business by offering super-cheap quotes to frugal clients. The customers were ecstatic to find a mover who could get their belongings to a new home so cheaply. That is, until the price went up. Deri's movers would load the company's vans with all of a customer's worldly belongings, then a foreman would inform the client that they'd have to pay an inflated price to actually get their stuff to their new digs. The price hikes weren't small, either; one man's estimate stated he could move for $3,000 but was later revised to $16,000 after loading. According to authorities, if customers balked at these demands, the movers would threaten to unload their boxes and furniture into the street...and then charge them an unloading fee. If things got really sticky, Nationwide's trucks could just take off with all of the clients' possessions. Deri supposedly paid cash bonuses to employees who successfully strong-armed customers into forking over the premiums. In the end, though, Deri learned that you can't scam that many customers and hope to get away with it. In 2005 he was found guilty of 27 counts of extortion and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and extortion. Three of his accomplices were also convicted in connection with the moving racket. Deri was sentenced to seven years in prison, after which he'll face deportation to his native Israel. Fools for gold . Bre-X Minerals Ltd. was a small Canadian mining company that made a big announcement in 1995. Geologists had discovered gold on a site Bre-X owned near Busang, Indonesia. Not just a little gold, either -- at least 30 million ounces, possibly as much as 200 million ounces. Given the high prices of gold, such a deposit would have been worth tens of billions of dollars. Bre-X's stock price shot through the roof; shares went from being valued at a few cents to over $280 Canadian. In fact, the deposit seemed so rich and so large that a small company like Bre-X could not possibly handle it all without some help. In 1997, the Indonesian government convinced Bre-X to take on an American firm as a partner to help extract the gold. When this firm, Freeport-McMoRan, started sampling the soil at the deposit site as part of its due diligence, it reached a confusing conclusion: there wasn't any gold in the soil. Subsequent examinations by independent auditors reached the same conclusion. The "natural" gold that in the original samples Bre-X had taken was mostly river gold from other regions or shavings off of gold jewelry. Although the company's market cap had climbed to $4.4 billion, this report quickly destroyed Bre-X's value. Share prices dropped 97 percent in a day following the announcement, the company was soon removed from the Toronto Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, and Bre-X quickly went bankrupt. Amazingly, no one ended up in jail from this scam, but you should still probably be wary if anyone offers to sell you an enormous gold mine on Borneo. For more mental_floss articles, visit mentalfloss.com . Entire contents of this article copyright, Mental Floss LLC. All rights reserved.

When a business scam fails, it tends to fail in rather grand fashion . 360 B.C. scam: Sink ship and collect insurance on goods . President Grant foiled a gold speculation scam . Moving company founder goes to prison for bait-and-switch pricing .

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TOKYO, Japan (CNN) -- Three people were killed and at least 84 were injured Saturday morning when a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck northeastern Japan, Japanese officials said. The quake struck at about 8:43 a.m. north of Sendai, Japan. Another five people were missing, national police said. Officials said the earthquake led to the buckling of highways and caused some bridges to collapse. Bullet trains were also stopped in the affected areas. Two nuclear power plants in the region were not affected, officials said. Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura said one man was killed when he was buried in a landslide in Fukushima Prefecture and the other was struck by a truck as he rushed out of his house in Iwate Prefecture. Officials have not yet released details of the third death. Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda sent priority orders for rescue operations, Machimura said. The quake, which struck at about 8:43 a.m. (11:43 p.m. GMT Friday), was centered 100 km (60 miles) north of Sendai in southern Iwate prefecture. The Japanese Meteorological Agency said several strong aftershocks followed the initial quake. The Iwate government office said it had received reports that eight children and a teacher were injured by breaking windows at a preschool and that the earthquake produced landslides in some areas. The Miyagi fire department said there had been some injuries caused by falling furniture, and some bus passengers were injured when the vehicle bounced on a bridge. Two houses collapsed, the fire department said. East Japan Railway suspended Shinkansen bullet trains in the Tohoku region, and many other train lines in the region suspended operation as well. Expressways in Miyagi were also closed. Tokyo Electric Power Co. said that operations at nuclear power plants in Fukushima prefecture were not affected, Kyodo said. There were no tsunami warnings issued after the quake. Local governments, fire departments and police were working to gather damage reports. CNN's Junko Ogura and Yoko Wakatsuki contributed to this report.

Three people dead, at least 84 injured after earthquake hits Japan . U.S. Geological Survey reports 7.0 magnitude quake on Japanese island of Honshu . Quake struck at around 8:43 a.m. Saturday .

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(CNN) -- The 19-year-old woman whose hospitalization exposed a shocking Austrian incest case is recovering well and wants to see the ocean and a pop concert, her doctors and a family lawyer said Wednesday. Dr. Albert Reiter, who treated Kerstin, is confident Kerstin will make a full recovery in time. She and other children who were held captive for years are slowly adapting to modern life, they said. Kerstin Fritzl, whom doctors placed in an artificial coma after she was admitted to a hospital in April for multiple organ failure, is now well enough to speak, stand and walk with assistance, her doctors said. Doctors said that "little novelties" such as seeing a cloud go by are now big events for the former captives. Kerstin has said she wants to see the ocean and go to a concert by British singer Robbie Williams, said Dr. Berhold Kepplinger, director of the clinic where the family is living. He described how excited Kerstin was to hear Robbie Williams songs in her hospital room and said she was moving around to the music so much that doctors had to quiet her down. It was then, Kepplinger said, that doctors became confident Kerstin can become fully healthy and develop normally. Her immune system has improved, and she is continuing to have physiotherapy, including strengthening exercises, he said. Watch doctors describe what happened when the teen opened her eyes » . The two parts of her family -- those who were locked in a basement, like Kerstin, and those who lived above ground, apparently unaware of the abuse of their mother and siblings -- are getting to know each other again, the doctors and the family's lawyer said. "We are so glad that things have turned out so positively so far," said lawyer Christoph Herbst, who appeared at a news conference at a hotel near Amstetten, west of Vienna, where Kerstin and her family are recovering. Kerstin is the oldest daughter of an incestuous relationship between Elisabeth, 43, and Elisabeth's father, Josef Fritzl, 73, according to police. He is awaiting trial. Police say he confessed to holding Elisabeth captive since 1984 and raping her repeatedly, fathering seven children with her. Six of the children survived. Kerstin fell unconscious in April, and Elisabeth convinced her father that she needed urgent medical attention. Kerstin was admitted to a hospital in Amstetten, where staff grew suspicious and called police, who opened an investigation and uncovered the abuse. Kerstin was suffering from kidney, lung, and liver failure when she arrived at the hospital, said Dr. Albert Reiter, director of the hospital. Doctors were able to turn her health around, but they kept her in a coma with artificial respiration for weeks, he said. Doctors started reducing Kerstin's medication May 12, allowing her to emerge from the coma, he said. Three days later, she opened her eyes and smiled at her carers, he said, and doctors were soon able to take the breathing tube from her throat. Her mother was at Kerstin's bedside regularly, and doctors credited that with helping Kerstin's health improve. On Sunday, Kerstin finally met with other family members and was able to say hello to them, he said. Kerstin and the rest of the family were also able to move into an apartment at a regional clinic nearby. "It was a special moment where, walking, we were able to support her and cross the threshold into a new house and into a new life," Reiter said. Kerstin and two of her brothers, ages 18 and 5, had spent their entire lives trapped in the cellar with their mother, never seeing daylight. A television was their only contact with the outside world. The other three children Josef Fritzl fathered with Elisabeth were taken as infants to live above ground with Fritzl and his wife, who says she had no idea her daughter was being held captive. In recent weeks, the wife and the three children have had several meetings with Kerstin and the others formerly held in the basement. The doctors said that all are receiving therapy and are getting to know each other. "It is clear that [the two sides] have a different temper of life," Kepplinger said. "These different ways of living, the two parts of the family, still have to come to some agreement." Still, the entire family is "very happy" to be reunited, Herbst said. "This is an incredible drawing-near to each other. There is incredible joy among them," he said. "It is wonderful to see the way they are living together." He appealed to the public and the media to give the family privacy. There continues to be "big ambivalence" about the "grandfather issue," as Kepplinger called it, and therapists are helping the family members cope with the complicated relationship they have with each other and with Fritzl, who is now behind bars.

Daughter of Austrian incest victim reunited with family, expected to make full recovery . Kerstin Fritzl, 19, has spent her entire life in cellar . The dungeon was uncovered after she was taken to hospital with illness . Josef Fritzl, 73, has allegedly confessed to incestuous relationship with teen's mom .

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LONDON, England (Reuters) -- Police closed streets near London's Canary Wharf financial district on Saturday after an unexploded German flying bomb from World War II was found on a construction site. WWII bombs are unearthed across Europe, often during building excavations, such as this one in France. Bomb disposal experts were called in to make the V1 missile safe after it was unearthed close to the east London complex that houses 80,000 office workers during the working week, police said. At weekends the area is busy with shoppers and visitors. Police closed several roads around the site in Millharbour, a road in the former docklands. "Ambulance, fire and police are there and the building site has been evacuated," a London police spokesman said. The area was cordoned off, he said. Thousands of V1s, nicknamed "Doodlebugs", were fired at the capital during the war, with the docks a prime target. Hundreds of unexploded bombs from the war are buried across the country, according to government figures. They are unearthed from time to time, often during building excavations. Canary Wharf's tenants include Bank of America, Barclays, Citigroup, HSBC, the Independent newspaper group and Reuters. E-mail to a friend . Copyright 2007 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Unexploded German WWII V1 bomb unearthed on London construction site . Police closed streets near London's Canary Wharf financial district . Bomb disposal experts were called in to make the V1 missile safe . Hundreds of unexploded bombs from the war are buried across the country .

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HARARE, Zimbabwe (CNN) -- Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has warned that veterans he commanded in his country's liberation war will take up arms again to prevent the opposition party from taking power. Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe says war veterans do not want the opposition in power. Mugabe -- Zimbabwe's only leader since that struggle ended in 1980 -- faces a June 27 runoff with Morgan Tsvangirai of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). Mugabe told supporters that Tsvangirai would turn the country back over to white control if he won the runoff. The veterans he led in a successful effort against a government dominated by the white minority were not prepared to recognize a Tsvangirai victory, Mugabe said. "They said they got this country through the barrel of gun, so they cannot let it go by a ballot," Mugabe said Thursday at a campaign rally in Murehwa. Tsvangirai was arrested twice Thursday. He was released Friday, but police impounded his two campaign buses. In the general election on March 29, the opposition won a plurality in parliament. Weeks after the election, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission announced that Tsvangirai won a plurality against Mugabe but that he failed to get the needed majority, making a runoff necessary. Human Rights Watch issued a report this week declaring the presidential election to be dead on arrival because of violence and intimidation by Mugabe's followers -- including war veterans - against opposition supporters. Mugabe, at a rally in Chikomba District -- about 120 miles (200 km) south of Harare -- seemed to support that conclusion. Learn more about Zimbabwe » . "These areas, where the party lost on March 29, need to be cleansed and I am confident this would be done on June 27 when we go to the polls." Mugabe said the MDC was a party "for whites and not blacks." He also said the party was created and funded by the British. "You saw the whites after the March elections running around thinking that they would repossess the farms," Mugabe said. "They thought they had won." He said the opposition would not be allowed to "give it back to whites." "Guard your country jealously," Mugabe told supporters. Meanwhile, Zimbabwean authorities put more pressure on opposition figures Thursday, seizing a top leader and accusing him of treason. Police and the MDC confirmed Tendai Biti's arrest and the charges he will face. Biti, secretary general of the MDC, was arrested when he arrived in Harare, Zimbabwe, from South Africa. Zimbabwe's national police spokesperson Wayne Bvudzijena told CNN that Biti would be charged with treason and the communication of false information. The treason charge relates to a document published by the MDC before the March 29 vote which, the state alleges, contains subversive statements authored by Biti.

President Robert Mugabe says war veterans will fight to prevent change . Opposition party's No. 2 facing treason charge after return to country . MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai was detained twice Thursday .

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(CNN) -- The Iowa Army National Guard's 1st Battalion, 133rd Infantry received an emotional welcome home July 25 -- more than a year and a half after leaving for Iraq. More than 600 soldiers marched on the field at Riverfront Stadium in Waterloo, Iowa, in front of thousands of friends and family members. I-Reporter Myke Goings captures Iowa National Guard soldiers celebrating their return from Iraq. The unit served 17 months in Iraq, as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom, said Master Sgt. Duff McFadden of the Iowa National Guard. Two soldiers were killed in action, both by a roadside bomb, Radio Iowa reported. I-Reporter Myke Goings captured the emotion of family members and soldiers on camera as well as the tributes to the soldiers around town. His wife works with Sara Barnard, who reunited with her husband Tim at the ceremony. "You could see the excitement of the look on her face as she finally found him in the group," Goings said. "To do that with everyone in camouflage was amazing." E-mail to a friend .

More than 600 soldiers returned to Iowa from service in Iraq on July 25 . Thousands of friends and relatives welcomed them back at ceremony . I-Reporter Myke Goings documented the event .

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LONDON, England (CNN) -- Graeme Le Saux played more than 400 matches for Blackburn, Chelsea and Southampton, winning a Premier League title and 36 international caps. CNN's Don Riddell talks to the former England star about homophobia and racism in the game. Graeme Le Saux, pictured here playing for Chelsea, endured homophobic abuse throughout his career due to false rumors he was gay. Don Riddell: Graeme, you're happily married with two children but during your football career everyone thought you were gay and the experience was pretty miserable. Graeme Le Saux: The culture of football back in the 80s was very different, something I found very hard to relate to and subsequently I found myself a little bit isolated and ostracized from certain people. That eventually led to rumors being spread that I was gay. In the context of modern life that's not defamatory but in terms of the dressing room culture that existed then -- and to an extent now -- it was very difficult for me to deal with and had the potential to damage my career. I think that the joke very quickly got out of hand. And I think where I was at fault was that I was probably a little sensitive about it, because I could actually see the potential of this sort of thing to get out of control. And it did. We played in a game at West Ham and the terraces started singing something particularly defamatory about me and I remember being, you know, really, really shocked that it got to that level so quickly. DR: And that carried on as well and the most notable incident is the one involving Robbie Fowler. Tell me about that? GS: It all culminated in a game that we played at Stamford Bridge against Liverpool and Robbie Fowler, he stood in front of 40,000 people and he bent over and invited me to perform a homosexual act upon him... That's the politest way I can put it! That really was the point at which it couldn't get any worse. It wasn't just people singing on the terrace, it was a colleague -- an international colleague -- humiliating you in front of all those people, an international audience. He will maintain to this day that it was just a laugh but that is exactly the point. If you look at anything like this, whether it is racism or homophobia or whatever, as if it is just a laugh that can be a very serious issue. I'm all for a good laugh but when you offend someone and you are damaging relationships then it goes way beyond being a laugh and you can't hide behind that as an excuse. DR: It's thought that only one professional soccer player in the world has ever declared himself to be gay. That was the Englishman Justin Fashanu and he committed suicide a decade ago. John Amaechi became the first gay player to be associated with the NBA last year, but such declarations are extremely rare. In many cases homosexuality remains pro sport's last taboo. GS: It's such a terrible reflection on a sport that has so much positive impact across the globe that there is still this issue about gay people within the sport. If you look at so many other professions in terms of business and politics, across the board the gay community is represented but in football it still isn't and I find that disappointing. There may not be many gay players in the game but the sport should be grown up enough to be able to support those people in the football environment. DR: Football's obviously made great strides, certainly in Britain, in the last 10 years with regards to racism, but how much prejudice is there generally in the game? Do you think we'll ever be free of it? GS: I think there's always going to be an undercurrent of prejudice. But ultimately I think it's important for any business really to be responsible, inclusive and representative of its employees. And football is in a very privileged position and can lead by example. And so I hope that, you know, the people in authority really make some serious attempts, I suppose to create parity between all walks of life. DR: We've come across a couple of black footballers who say that fans who shout racist abuse aren't really racist, they are just trying to put us off our game. How much do you buy into that approach? GS: Well, I can't speak for individual black players! But sometimes I think the perception of people it is not happening to is different to the individual. It used to baffle me when I first started playing that you'd have Chelsea fans being racist to black players from the opposition but there would be three or four black players on the Chelsea's team. And if you spoke to them or confronted them about it, they would be like, "Oh yeah, but we know them... they are, you know, they are fine." And it's like, well how do you pick the bones out of that? Because there is just no logic. But then you know prejudice is built on ignorance. You know it really is. I think that sometimes you know individuals have to take responsibility for themselves and actually take a step back and look at what they are doing and not use ignorance as an excuse and say, "Well, would I like to be on the receiving end of this sort of abuse?"

Graeme Le Saux says an "undercurrent of prejudice" exists in football . Ex-England star endured homophobic abuse amid false rumors he was gay . Le Saux says football needs to do more to tackle prejudice, homophobia .

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KATHMANDU, Nepal (CNN) -- Nepal's new government has converted its deposed king's opulent palace into a museum and unfurled the national flag on Sunday as a symbolic move to signify the end of monarchy. The Narayanthi Royal Palace has been converted into a museum. "The national flag is fluttering in the hands of the people in the royal palace now," said Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala at a ceremony at the former palace Sunday. Ex-King Gyanendra, 60, left Narayanhiti Royal Palace on Wednesday. He will live as a civilian in a summer palace on a forested hilltop outside the capital. Gyanendra's departure came following the declaration of the former Himalayan kingdom as a republic last month. The monarchy's end after 239 years of rule was the culmination of a two-year peace process in which Maoist insurgents in Nepal gave up their armed struggle, joined mainstream politics and won the most seats in April's election for the Constituent Assembly. The assembly is tasked with rewriting the constitution, deciding the country's future political system and governing the nation. Gyanendra came to power in 2001 when his brother, King Birendra, and his family were massacred in the palace by the crown prince, who later shot himself. Gyanendra last week denied rumors that he had played a role in that event.

Nepal's new government converts deposed king's palace into museum . National flag unfurled over building in symbolic end to monarchy . Himalayan kingdom was declared a republic last month .

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(CNN) -- A suspected arms dealer accused of conspiring to sell weapons to Colombian guerrillas was extradited Friday from Spain to the United States, the U.S. Justice Department said. Kassar is accused of conspiring to sell weapons to FARC rebels. Monzer al Kassar had been wanted for decades before he was arrested in an undercover operation in Spain last year. Justice Department officials say he has been a source of weapons and military equipment for armed combatants since the 1970s. He left Spain aboard a private plane accompanied by U.S. Drug Enforcement Agents and arrived in New York at 11:30 a.m. local time Friday (1530 GMT), a DEA spokesman said. He is expected to appear before a federal magistrate in Manhattan before the end of the day. Kasser was arrested in Madrid a year ago by Spanish police working with undercover DEA officers posing as members of the FARC. The U.S. accuses Kassar and two other men of conspiring to sell millions of dollars' worth of weapons to FARC, which the United States has designated a terrorist organization. The weapons included surface-to-air missile systems, rocket-propelled grenade launchers, thousands of machine guns, and millions of rounds of ammunition, according to a federal indictment. A Spanish court last week approved his extradition on four counts, including conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals. The two co-defendants, Tareq Mousa Al Ghazi and Luis Felipe Moreno Godoy, were both previously extradited to New York from Romania to face the same terrorism charges. All three could face life in prison. Kassar had told journalists before he was arrested that he had retired from arms dealing, but the U.S. says he had been involved since the 1970s, providing weapons and military equipment to armed factions in Nicaragua, Cyprus, Bosnia, Croatia, Iran, Iraq, Somalia, and elsewhere. CNN Justice Producer Terry Frieden contributed to this report .

U.S. Justice Department says accused arms dealer extradited to the U.S. Monzer al Kassar was arrested in Spain last year . U.S. accuses him of trying to sell millions of dollars of weapons to guerrillas . He is also accused of conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals .

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(CNN) -- A big part of being president is making decisions, and one of the key decisions a would-be president can make is who he or she marries. Cindy McCain has a master's degree in special education. She is part owner of her father's business. It's not like deciding whether to press the nuclear button, but first ladies in the United States can wield enormous influence in politics and in society. They're not elected. They're not paid. There's no precise job description. But whether it's an elegantly dressed Jacqueline Kennedy giving Americans a tour of the White House, Eleanor Roosevelt speaking on civil rights or Hillary Clinton saying "I suppose I could have stayed home and baked cookies," first ladies are praised, criticized, adored and scorned -- but never ignored. The two women poised for the job, 54-year-old Cindy McCain, wife of Republican Sen. John McCain, and 44-year-old Michelle Obama, wife of Democratic Sen. Barack Obama, come from strikingly different backgrounds. Watch the different styles of potential first ladies » . McCain is the only child of a wealthy Arizona businessman, James Hensley, founder of Hensley & Co., a major distributor of Budweiser beer. Her stake in the business is estimated to be at least $100 million. She refused to release her full tax returns, saying "I am not the candidate," but later provided summary pages of her 2006 taxes without details. Cindy McCain has a master's degree in special education. She met John McCain in 1979 when he was the U.S. Navy's liaison to the Senate. He was 18 years older than she. He divorced his wife and married Cindy in 1980. The McCains have four children, including a daughter adopted from an orphanage in Bangladesh. A tall, striking blonde with blue eyes, Cindy McCain has had health issues including a near-fatal stroke in 2004 and a battle with prescription drugs that she says is behind her. In an interview with CNN, McCain said her priority in life is charity. "I've been internationally involved in many, many things," she said. "Land mine removal, children's health care, poverty around the world -- and I will continue that." On the campaign trail, always dressed impeccably, she stays "on message" but did take a swipe at Michelle Obama after her statement, "For the first time in my adult lifetime, I'm really proud of my country." "I don't know about you," McCain said in February, "...I'm very proud of my country." Michelle Obama has a blunt style and a wry, quirky sense of humor that goes over well with supporters. She doesn't mince words. In an interview with CNN, she said, "I think race is always -- still, in this country, it's always on the table." Michelle Obama was raised in a working-class family in Chicago, Illinois, but educated at some of America's elite universities: Princeton and Harvard Law School. She was hired by a top-flight law firm in Chicago and met Barack Obama when she was assigned to mentor him. They married in 1992 and have two young daughters. Michelle Obama cuts an impressive figure -- tall, slim and dressed in Jackie-Kennedy-like sheath dresses. If her husband is elected, she will make history as the first African-American first lady. She has given insights into her husband's domestic behavior: He doesn't pick up his socks. Cindy McCain praises her husband as a fighter who won't give up. Will we learn more of substance? Their husbands offer starkly different views of what they would do in office and Americans often look to their first ladies as a window into the thinking of the president. We're all ears.

First ladies can wield enormous influence . Michelle Obama, Cindy McCain have sharply different backgrounds . But both are well-educated and successful in their own careers .

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LONDON, England (CNN) -- Britain's Queen Elizabeth celebrates her 82nd birthday Saturday with a parade and military ceremony known as "Trooping the Color." Britain's Queen Elizabeth attends the Derby Festival at Epson Downs horse race course on June 7. The queen's birthday is actually April 21, but she officially celebrates it every year on a Saturday in June when good weather is more likely, according to Buckingham Palace. During the ceremony, which is open to the public, the queen inspects the troops. They then march past the queen, who rides in a carriage back to the palace. The Royal Air Force then conducts a colorful fly-past over Buckingham Palace while the queen and her family watch from the balcony. The queen has attended Trooping the Color every year of her reign except for one -- 1955, when a national rail strike canceled the event, the palace says. The ceremony gets its name from a tradition where colors of the battalion were carried, or "trooped," down the ranks so they could be seen and recognized by the soldiers, Buckingham Palace says.

Queen's April birthday is celebrated in June to enjoy good weather . Parade, military ceremony will mark royal birthday . Troop inspection, flyover by Royal Air Force, part of ceremonies .

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CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (CNN) -- Floodwaters inundated Iowa City and the University of Iowa arts campus on Sunday despite what one official called a "Herculean effort" to hold back the water with sandbags. Residents surround Lt. Tobey Harrison at a Cedar Rapids checkpoint as they wait to see their homes Sunday. "We've had the [National Guard] working next to prisoner inmates, sandbagging," said David Jackson, the university's facilities manager. "Students, faculty and staff, leaders of the university, the president of the university -- out sandbagging." Some 500 to 600 homes were ordered to evacuate and others faced a voluntary evacuation order through the morning, said Iowa City Mayor Regenia Bailey. The Iowa River in Iowa City crested at 31.5 feet and was expected to remain at that level until Monday, city and state officials said Sunday. Classes at the university have been suspended until next Sunday, according to its Web site. "All of our theaters, our music building, Clapp Recital Hall, our fine arts building [the] new Art Building West designed by Stephen Holl, has taken on significant water as well," said Sally Mason, president of the university. "Fortunately we were able to save all the art," she said. The art was placed in crates shipped out of state last week. "We anticipated the worst a week ago." At least 8 feet of water rushed through the campus, officials said. Among the school's 30,000 students, Ann Barber told CNN she has been sandbagging for nearly seven days. "It's very hard to watch the devastation of our university," she said. This month's severe weather has trampled towns from North Dakota to Indiana. The Federal Emergency Management Agency says more than 11 million Midwesterners will be affected by flooding and tornadoes. Meanwhile, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, some of nearly 20,000 displaced residents began to return home Sunday as water there receded. People lined up for about a block in one part of the city waiting for a special wristband to allow them access to their homes. The flooding there caught many people by surprise. "We didn't think it would get this high," said Tina Fleischacker, whose Cedar Rapids home was soaked. "We moved everything upstairs and it's gone. It's gone. We left with the clothes on our backs." About 36,000 Iowans, most in Cedar Rapids, evacuated their homes due to the state-wide flooding. At least 472 people spent Saturday night in 18 shelters set up across the state, according to Dave Miller, the administrator of Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management. In Iowa City, the water is expected to drop no more than 3 feet by Saturday, said John Benson, spokesman for Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management. "There's that moment of 'phew,' but then there's that realization that the water will be going down very slowly," Bailey told reporters. She urged residents to be careful when returning to their homes and businesses, and asked them to abide by a 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew. "Water flows are still dangerous," she said. "We need people to be patient. We will get them into those homes and businesses as soon as possible." Iowa has been inundated with heavy rains in recent weeks that have caused several major rivers that feed into the Mississippi -- including the Cedar, Des Moines and Iowa Rivers -- to flood their banks. The flooding in the Midwest is "some of the worst" to hit the United States since Hurricane Katrina inundated the Gulf Coast nearly three years ago, FEMA administrator David Paulison said Sunday on CNN. The scenarios are much different, but "the aftermath is similar," he said. "The fact [is] that we have a lot of people whose homes have been destroyed." The agency has received more than 12,000 disaster assistance applications from the hardest-hit states -- Iowa, Indiana and Wisconsin. Starting Tuesday, the American Red Cross will set up kitchens in Iowa to serve up about 100,000 meals to residents each day. The agency, which is housing 720 flood victims in 30 shelters, plans to spend about $15 million on Midwest relief efforts. Iowans are very concerned about how they will afford to rebuild. "Most of the people here ... do not have flood insurance," said Steve Doser, director of a shelter in Cedar Rapids. "A couple people told us ... that they were told they didn't need flood insurance, 'Don't worry about it, you're in a 500-year [plain],' " he said. "Now they don't have anything." Iowa Gov. Chet Culver estimates agricultural damage could reach $1 billion, exceeding the costs of the big flood in 1993. He praised the strength and resilience of the people of Iowa and vowed to rebuild the state, noting that "will take a long time." There have been 16 storm-related deaths since May 25 in Iowa, 12 of them from recent tornadoes, Culver said Sunday. Four Boy Scouts were killed last week when a twister touched down at a camp in Iowa. Culver has declared 83 of the state's 99 counties disaster areas. More than 3,300 Iowa National Guard troops have been deployed to help primarily with sandbagging and staging resources, Maj. Gen. Ron Dardis of the Iowa National Guard said Sunday. That number is expected to rise to 4,000 by Monday, he said. Of those troops, 750 are stationed in Des Moines helping to shore up levees with sandbags along the Des Moines River amid fears that the historic flooding that has hit other parts of the state could soon take its toll on the Iowa capital. Early Saturday, rising waters breached a levee on the Des Moines River, prompting emergency officials to evacuate 270 homes in Des Moines' Birdland Park neighborhood, a state emergency official said. A high school in the neighborhood was also flooded. CNN's Jim Acosta and Julian Cummings contributed to this report.

About 500-600 homes evacuated in Iowa City on Sunday . Some 36,000 Iowans, most in Cedar Rapids, have been evacuated . Agricultural damage estimated at $1 billion or more .

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MEXICO CITY, Mexico (CNN) -- Helicopters were bringing 2,000 Mexican troops into the U.S.-Mexican border city of Juarez on Friday to quell a wave of drug-related violence blamed for 200 deaths since January, the city's mayor said. Mexico has ordered troops to move near Juarez, shown here with El Paso, Texas, in the distance. "Two rival drug cartels tried to push each other out of the city," Jose Reyes Ferriz told CNN. Among those killed were about 20 police officers representing the state, the military and the federal and city governments, he said. "Many [people] say the drug cartels targeted specifically the heads of the police departments," he said. "The violence got extremely bad in the city." He said no uninvolved civilians have been injured. "The two rival drug cartels in Mexico, one's from the Gulf, one's from the Pacific -- and Juarez being right down the middle, they tried to push the other one out of the area," he said. Watch police clash with suspected drug smugglers » . Juarez sits across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas. The majority of the troops will be based in the city. Defense Secretary Guillermo Galvan said Thursday 2,026 soldiers, 180 military tactical vehicles, three airplanes and more than a dozen drug detection devices would be used in the military operation. Mexican Attorney General Medina Mora stressed that the violence that goes along with drug trafficking is "not in any way a sign of strength, but a sign of weakness, deterioration and decomposition." E-mail to a friend . CNN's Ariel Crespo contributed to this report.

The majority of the troops will be based in Juarez, Mexico . Juarez sits across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas . Drug-related violence has claimed some 200 lives since the beginning of the year . Mayor: Two rival drug cartels tried to push each other out of the city .

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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The director of Federal Emergency Management Agency on Sunday defended giving away an estimated $85 million in hurricane relief supplies, blaming Louisiana officials for turning down the stockpiles. A New Orleans charity keeps goods in trash bags in an empty church. FEMA never told it about the free items. "We still have quite a few left if Louisiana needs those," David Paulison said. "But we did find out, we did ask Louisiana, 'Do you want these?' They said, 'No, we don't need them.' So we offered them to the other states." A CNN investigation revealed last week that FEMA gave away 121 truckloads of material the agency amassed after 2005's Hurricane Katrina. The material was declared surplus property and offered to federal and state agencies -- including Louisiana, where groups working to resettle hurricane victims say the supplies are still needed. Paulison told CNN's "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer" his agency distributed more than 90,000 "living kits" to people in Louisiana whose homes were destroyed or damaged by Katrina. The kits included cleaning supplies, mops, brooms, pots and pans. After CNN reported on the giveaway, Louisiana officials asked that the supplies be redirected to the state, which originally passed on them. John Medica, director of the Louisiana's Federal Property Assistance Agency, told CNN he was unaware Katrina victims still needed the items because no agency had contacted his office. Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, an outspoken critic of FEMA's response to the hurricane, told CNN the supply giveaway was "just a shame." "It's just another example of the failings of the federal bureaucracy," said Landrieu, who wrote Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff last week to request an explanation. "We're still trying to fix it. It's going to take a lot more work." Paulison said much of the stockpile included "things we don't normally store -- refrigerators, stoves, coolers, diapers, things like that." States, meanwhile, were requesting those items, he said. "It didn't make any sense for FEMA to sit on this much stuff and supplies we normally don't even keep. We have plenty of supplies in place if we have another disaster. We can duplicate that type of commodities and get them for people in need," he said. The agency's chief spokesman, James McIntyre, had declined a request for an on-camera interview and told CNN the giveaway was "not news." Paulison said the story "just really missed the mark" -- that the supplies given away were not exclusively for Katrina victims, but were "donated from disasters all around the entire country." But e-mails from McIntyre and from the General Services Administration, which manages federal property, contradict Paulison's account. In an e-mail sent in April, McIntyre told CNN "in many cases, items were purchased in the field by FEMA." And in a phone interview with CNN, McIntyre said, "That is property that was purchased in response to Katrina. We purchased most of that equipment because of the catastrophic nature of that disaster." General Services Administration spokeswoman Viki Reath wrote the supplies given away were "surplus from the Katrina and [hurricane] Rita disasters... some purchased by FEMA, some donated by foreign countries and federal government agencies." McIntyre said FEMA's storage costs were running more than $1 million a year, and that GSA officials wanted to tear down the Fort Worth, Texas, warehouses in which the stockpiles were being kept. CNN's Abbie Boudreau and Scott Zamost contributed to this report.

NEW: FEMA chief: Louisiana said it didn't want the supplies . CNN story revealed last week that FEMA gave away 121 truckloads of supplies . Katrina supplies were declared surplus property, offered to federal, state agencies .

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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Former terrorist suspects detained by the United States were tortured, according to medical examinations detailed in a report released Wednesday by a human rights group. A U.S. serviceman with his dog watches a detainee at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq in 2003. The Massachusetts-based Physicians for Human Rights reached that conclusion after two-day clinical evaluations of 11 former detainees, who had been held at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and in Afghanistan. The detainees were never charged with crimes. "We found clear physical and psychological evidence of torture and abuse, often causing lasting suffering," said Dr. Allen Keller, a medical evaluator for the study. In a 121-page report, the doctors' group said that it uncovered medical evidence of torture, including beatings, electric shock, sleep deprivation, sexual humiliation, sodomy and scores of other abuses. The report is prefaced by retired U.S. Major Gen. Antonio Taguba, who led the Army's investigation into the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal in 2003. Watch why a rights group says there's evidence of torture » . "There is no longer any doubt that the current administration committed war crimes," Taguba says. "The only question is whether those who ordered torture will be held to account." Over the years, reports of abuses at Abu Ghraib and allegations of torture at Guantanamo prompted the Bush administration to deny that the U.S. military tortures detainees. Since only 11 detainees were examined "the findings of this assessment cannot be generalized to the treatment of all detainees in U.S. custody," the report says. However, the incidents documented are consistent with findings of other investigations into government treatment, "making it reasonable to conclude that these detainees were not the only ones abused, but are representative of a much larger number of detainees subjected to torture and ill treatment while in U.S. custody." Four of the men evaluated were arrested in or taken to Afghanistan between late 2001 and early 2003 and later were sent to Guantanamo Bay, where they were held for an average of three years before being released without charge, the report says. The other seven were detained in Iraq in 2003 and released within a year, the report says. All the subjects told examiners that they were subjected to multiple forms of torture or ill treatment that "often occurred in combination over a long period of time," the report says. While the report presents synopses of the detainees' backgrounds based on interviews with them, the authors did not have access to the detainees' medical histories. Therefore, there's no way to know whether any of the inmates may have had medical or mental problems before being detained. Among the ex-detainees was an Iraqi in his mid-40s, identified only as Laith, whom U.S. soldiers took into custody in October 2003 and who was released from Abu Ghraib in June 2004. According to the report, Laith was subjected to sleep deprivation, electric shocks and threats of sexual abuse to himself and his family. "They took off even my underwear. They asked me to do some movements that make me look in a very bad way so they can take photographs. ... They were trying to make me look like an animal," Laith told examiners, according to the report. According to the report, Laith said the most "painful" experiences involved threats to his family: "And they asked me, 'Have you ever heard voices of women in this prison?' I answered, 'Yes.' They were saying, 'Then you will hear your mothers and sisters when we are raping them.' " The examiners concluded in the report that "Laith appears to have suffered severe and lasting physical and psychological injuries as a result of his arrest and incarceration at Abu Ghraib prison." Another detainee, Youssef, was detained by U.S. soldiers nearly seven years ago when he tried to enter Afghanistan from neighboring Pakistan without a passport, the report says. He initially was held in an Afghan prison, where he describes "being stripped naked, being intimidated by dogs, being hooded and being thrown against the wall on repeated occasions," the report says. A few months later, he was taken to the Guantanamo Bay facility, where he was subjected to interrogators who would enter his cell and force him to lie on the floor with his hands tied behind his back to his feet, the report says. Youssef said the interrogators wanted him to confess of involvement with the Taliban, the report says. Based on its investigation, the report calls on the U.S. government to issue a formal apology to detainees subject to torture and ill treatment by the military since fall 2001 in Afghanistan, Iraq, Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere. The rights group also demands that the Bush administration: . • "Repudiate all forms of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment"; . • Establish an independent commission to investigate and report publicly the circumstances of detention and interrogation at U.S.-run prisons in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo Bay; . • Hold individuals involved in torturing detainees accountable through criminal and civil processes; and . • Monitor thoroughly the conditions at U.S.-run prisons all over the world. CNN Radio contributed to this report.

Report reveals medical evidence of torture, including beatings and electric shock . Study calls on U.S. government to issue a formal apology to tortured detainees . Rights group gives list of demands to Bush administration .

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GAZA CITY, Gaza (CNN) -- A truce between Israel and Gaza's Hamas leaders will take effect Thursday and last for six months, Hamas officials said Tuesday. Palestinian Hamas security men stand to attention at a training academy in Gaza City last week. Israeli officials, however, stopped short of confirming that a cease-fire agreement has been reached. "It's still early to announce an agreement of calm," Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said in a statement. "When it starts, if it starts, it's hard to say how long it will last. The test will be how it's implemented." Hamas senior official Mahmoud Zahar and Hamas negotiator Khalil al-Hayya announced the Egyptian-brokered agreement at a news conference in Gaza. They said it will begin at 6 a.m. Thursday (11 p.m. Wednesday ET). On Sunday, Israel gradually will start to open its border crossing terminals, the Hamas officials said. Asked about initial reports of a cease-fire, one Israeli official would not confirm whether an agreement had been finalized but said any truce would involve a sequential process. Watch what truce may mean in Gaza » . The official said Israel would reopen some of its terminals along the Gaza border after calm had been established. He said Israel is still calling for the release of Cpl. Gilad Shalit as part of a broader cease-fire. Gaza militants kidnapped Shalit in June 2006. Egypt has been trying to broker a truce between Hamas and Israel for months. Militants in Hamas-controlled Gaza have pummeled Israel with thousands of rocket and mortar attacks, prompting Israeli military operations in the Palestinian territory. Referring to the Egyptian mediation efforts, Barak said, "It's important to exhaust the possibility. "The IDF [Israel Defense Forces] is prepared for any developments, but it is important to attempt to achieve a period of calm to bring back the peace and quiet for the [Israeli] people who live around Gaza in Sderot and Ashkelon and to try and renew negotiations for the release of Gilad Shalit." Militants in Gaza have launched more than 2,300 mortars and rockets since the start of 2008, more than the 2,000 launched in all of last year, according to Israeli military figures. While most of the attacks do not result in casualties, three Israelis have been killed in rocket and mortar strikes in recent weeks. The Israeli military responds to the attacks by carrying out airstrikes and ground operations in Gaza that target militants, but many times lead to civilian casualties -- further inflaming the Palestinian leadership. Israel also has restricted supplies of gasoline, diesel and electricity to Gaza, limited the amount of food and other goods entering the strip and made it virtually impossible for manufacturers and farmers in Gaza to export anything to the outside world. Hamas seized control of Gaza last year after routing Palestinian security agencies under the control of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah movement. The ouster forced Abbas to dissolve the Fatah-Hamas unity government, but Fatah still controls the West Bank. Representatives from the rival factions met recently in Senegal for talks aimed at restoring the political and territorial split. Earlier this month, Abbas called for "national unity" talks with Hamas with the goal of producing new elections for the Palestinians, who elected a Hamas-led Palestinian Authority government in a U.S.-backed vote in 2006. Meanwhile, Abbas' Western-backed government is working toward a peace agreement with Israel. The Bush administration has said it wants the two sides to reach an agreement by the end of the year. CNN's Shira Medding contributed to this report.

NEW: Hard to say how long any cease-fire will last, Israeli defense minister says . Israel has not confirmed cease-fire pact . Israel will begin to open Gaza border crossings Sunday, Hamas says . Hamas took control of Gaza a year ago .

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FLINT, Michigan (CNN) -- Sen. Barack Obama Monday proposed spending billions to revitalize the nation's economy, a plan the campaign of his likely Republican opponent said would slow economic growth with higher taxes. Sen. Barack Obama wants to spend $60 billion on America's infrastructure. During an economic speech in Flint, Michigan, Obama promised to spend billions to improve America's education, infrastructure, energy and health care systems. To improve America's competitiveness, the senator from Illinois said he wants to spend $10 billion on childhood education, $150 billion over 10 years on developing alternative energy and $60 billion over 10 years to build "21st century infrastructure." Obama said he would pay for these programs by ending the war in Iraq, reducing government waste, charging polluters for greenhouse gas emissions and ending the Bush tax cuts for wealthy individuals. During his speech in Michigan, a state hard hit by the decline of the American automobile industry, Obama also rejected protectionist trade polices that many unions say would help protect American jobs, saying "it is impossible to turn back the tide of globalization." Watch Obama call for America to compete in the global economy » . Obama said he disagreed with those who want to "build a fortress around America; to stop trading with other countries, shut down immigration, and rely on old industries." "Not only is it impossible to turn back the tide of globalization, but efforts to do so can make us worse off," Obama said. "Rather than fear the future, we must embrace it. I have no doubt that America can compete -- and succeed -- in the 21st century." A McCain spokesman attacked Obama's plan, saying the Democrat's "agenda to raise taxes and isolate America from foreign markets will not get our economy back on track or create new jobs." "To help create jobs in America, we need to lower taxes and open up foreign markets to American goods," said McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds. "Americans cannot afford Barack Obama's 'change' that takes us back to the failed policies of the past." But Obama said now was the time to commit to long-term investments in America's future and blasted McCain for wanting to continue President Bush's economic policies, saying "there is a clear choice in this election. Instead of reaching for new horizons, George Bush has put us in a hole, and John McCain's policies will keep us there. I want to take us in a new and better direction. "I reject the belief that we should either shrink from the challenge of globalization or fall back on the same tired and failed approaches of the last eight years," he said. "It's time for new policies that create the jobs and opportunities of the future -- a competitiveness agenda built upon education and energy, innovation and infrastructure, fair trade and reform." The two campaigns have been sparring over who would be a better steward of America's ailing economy, and both candidates have been reaching out to blue-collar voters, many of whom backed Republican President Ronald Reagan over the Democrats, in part, because of cultural issues. "I believe that there are stark differences between myself and Sen. Obama. ... And I believe that the same appeals that President Reagan made to the so-called Reagan Democrats will succeed there," McCain said during a campaign stop in Arlington, Virginia. Watch McCain vow to win Reagan Democrats » . A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll released Thursday suggested voters favor Obama over McCain to handle the economy 50 percent to 44 percent. The poll, conducted June 4-5, had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Sen. Obama offers plan to spend $10B on schools, $60B on infrastructure . Democratic presidential candidate would spend $150B on renewable energy . Obama rejects protectionist trade polices, says U.S. workers can compete . Sen. McCain's campaign says higher taxes to pay for programs would hurt economy .

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MOSCOW, Russia -- UEFA have confirmed that Slovakian referee Lubos Michel will take charge of Wednesday's Champions League final between Manchester United and Chelsea in Moscow. Michel refereed the 2003 UEFA Cup final when Jose Mourinho's Porto beat Celtic. Michel, 40 last week,is remembered by Chelsea fans for controversially awarding a goal to Liverpool against the Londoners in the semifinals of the 2005 competition. Chelsea's manager at the time Jose Mourinho always insisted that Luis Garcia's shot did not cross the line. Michel is regarded as one of the top referees in the world and officiated at Euro 2004 and the 2006 World Cup, including the tense Germany v Argentina game in the first knock-out round. He also refereed the 2003 UEFA Cup final when Mourinho's Porto triumphed over Celtic. Michel speaks English, Russian, German and Polish as well as his native language. Michel will be supported at the Luzhniki Stadium by the assistant referees who have partnered him at major tournaments - Roman Slysko (34) and Martin Balko (36). The fourth official will be Vladimir Hrinak (44), also from Slovakia. Meanwhile, senior police officers from Manchester traveled to Moscow on Monday to help prevent fan violence from marring the final. Manchester police will serve in an advisory role as Russian authorities prepare for Wednesday's match. "A number of my officers and I have flown out to Moscow to meet local police and help draw up arrangements to police the fixture," said chief superintendent Janette McCormick. "Although GMP officers have no powers of arrest abroad and ultimate responsibility for policing the game lies with the Russian authorities, we have been gathering intelligence on potential and known troublemakers and GMP officers will be in Moscow in an advisory role," McCormick added. As Manchester United flew out on Monday, plain-clothed intelligence officers were stationed at Manchester Airport to target known or potential troublemakers from heading to the Russian capital. Ban orders imposed on fans with soccer-related convictions will be rigorously enforced in the next two days to prevent them from flying to Moscow. "As with all operations like this, we are sending out a clear message to people intending to travel to commit violence to think again," said police chief inspector Robert Tinsley, who is based at the airport. The airport is expecting 20,000 more passengers than usual to be flying to Moscow. The British embassy in Moscow have announced that their consular section will stay open on May 21 and 22 to help English fans arriving for the final. "The consular department will extend their working hours on Wednesday and Thursday to support English citizens coming here to watch the Champions' League final," the embassy press service said. The press service report added that a 24-hour telephone "hot line" would be organized by the embassy.

Lubos Michel will referee Wednesday's Champions League final in Moscow . Fellow-Slovakians Roman Slysko and Martin Balko will be his two assistants . Vladimir Hrinak will be fourth official at the Manchester Utd v Chelsea clash .

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LONDON, England (CNN) -- Kimi Raikkonen has lambasted McLaren's Lewis Hamilton for the pit-lane accident that ended both of their races at the Canadian Grand Prix. Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen is far from happy after Lewis Hamilton pushed him out of the Canadian Grand Prix. Hamilton's McLaren rammed into the back of world champion Raikkonen's Ferrari as the Finn and Robert Kubica, the race's eventual winner, were waiting at a red light after the safety car was forced into action on lap 17. Raikkonen, while claiming not to be angry, was clearly far from impressed. "There's not much I can say. My race was ruined by Hamilton's mistake. "Obviously, anyone can make mistakes, as I did two weeks ago in Monaco, but it's one thing to make a mistake at 200 hundred [miles] per hour but another to hit a car stopped at a red light. "I'm not angry because that doesn't achieve anything and does not change my result. I am unhappy because I had a great chance of winning." Raikkonen, who has failed to score points in the previous two races, said he had to start winning again. "There is still a long way to go in the championship and it is still very close and we have everything we need to regain the ground we have lost." Ferrari team sporting director Stefano Domenicali said Hamilton had made a "serious mistake." "I think the penalty imposed by the FIA [Hamilton was given a 10-place grid penalty for the French Grand Prix at Magny-Cours] is in line with it, even if it does not restore what was a lost opportunity for us. "Kimi was in an excellent position to fight for the win" Hamilton, for his part, was apologetic. "I don't know what happened to be honest," Hamilton said. "I was comfortably in the lead, it was looking like an easy win. Then I went in for the pit stop. It was not a good stop and I saw the two guys in front of me battling in the pit lane. "I saw the red light but by that time it was a bit late. It was not exactly a racing incident as such, it was unfortunate. It was one of those things. It is different to if you crash into the wall and you are angry. It is not like that. I apologize to Kimi for ruining his race."

Kimi Raikkonen lambasts McLaren's Lewis Hamilton for pit-lane accident . Finn says his race was 'ruined' after Hamilton didn't see red light . Hamilton was given a 10-place grid penalty for the French Grand Prix .

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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (CNN) -- The British Foreign Office has warned its nationals -- traveling to or living in the United Arab Emirates -- about the increased threat of a terrorist attack. In 2006 over one million Britons visited the United Arab Emirates, according to the UK Foreign office. The alert, posted on its Web site, urged Britons in the oil-rich Gulf kingdom to be vigilant -- especially in public places -- because of a "high threat of terrorism." The UAE is among the most moderate Gulf states and is home to thousands of expatriates. "We believe terrorists may be planning to carry out attacks in the UAE," the Foreign Office statement read. "Attacks could be indiscriminate and could happen at any time, including in places frequented by expatriates and foreign travelers such as residential compounds, military, oil, transport and aviation interests." By Monday, the U.S. State Department had not issued any warnings about the UAE. The UAE, slightly smaller than the U.S. state of Maine, is in the midst of a building boom to position itself as one of the world's premier tourist destinations. It is already home to the world's largest mall, the world's largest tower, and -- despite being in the Middle East -- boasts the largest indoor snow park in the world. According to the British Foreign Office, more than a million British visitors traveled to the UAE in 2006, while over 100,000 British nationals live there. The country is an ally in the United States' "war on terror," and its ports host more U.S. Navy ships than any port outside the U.S., according to the U.S. State Department. Two of the attackers who took part in the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington came from the UAE. And it was among a handful of countries that recognized the fundamentalist Taliban regime before the September 11 attacks.

UK Foreign Office: Terrorists may be planning to carry out attacks in the UAE . It added that attacks could be "indiscriminate and could happen at any time" U.S. State Department has not issued any warnings about the UAE . UAE is a key ally in the United States' "war on terror"

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(CNN) -- Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden will address the West in a new message, according to a banner ad from the group's production wing posted on Islamist Web sites known to carry messages from al Qaeda and bin Laden. This image accompanied a message from Osama bin Laden in November. "To the western nations, soon, God willing, A new speech by the Lion of Islam Sheikh Osama Bin laden, The reasons of the struggle in the 60th anniversary of the Israeli Occupation," the banner reads. It was not known whether the message would be audio or video or when it might be posted. In the past, messages were available from an hour to two days after the initial posting. Bin Laden's last message came March 20, when in an audiotape he called Iraq "the perfect base to set up the jihad to liberate Palestine." In an audiotape released the previous day, bin Laden condemned European countries for siding with the United States in Afghanistan and for allowing the publication of cartoons considered insulting to Islam's prophet, Mohammed.

Banner ad on Islamist Web sites says al Qaeda leader will release message soon . It is not known exactly when the message will come . Bin Laden's last communication was an audiotape released March 20 .

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GLADSTONE, Illinois (CNN) -- Residents of this small town in Illinois, like many others who live along the banks of the surging Mississippi River, raced against the clock Tuesday to erect a makeshift levee as rising floodwaters threatened. Residents of Gladstone, Illinois, work with the National Guard to create a makeshift levee. "I'm not moving, not moving my business," said Byron Sebastian, a longtime resident of Gladstone, Illinois, who also serves on the city council. "We've got a lot of good people here helping to try to save this part of town." Gladstone is one of many towns under threat Tuesday after rising waters breached a 300-foot area of a levee near Gulf Port, Illinois, before 5 a.m. Levees all along the mid-Mississippi were being topped with sandbags Tuesday as the river, fed by its flooded tributaries, continued to rise. Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich called up 1,100 National Guard members to assist in sandbagging efforts, said Patti Thompson of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency. She also said inmates are helping on the levees and others are bagging sand in correctional institutions. "We were very, very disappointed that this levee broke today," said Thompson. "It's a very powerful river, and it can be hard to harness." With the help of the National Guard, Sebastian and his fellow residents hustled Tuesday to build a barrier between Gladstone and the encroaching floodwaters. Even though Gladstone is about four miles from the banks of the Mississippi, the rising floodwaters have submerged homes and created rivers where crop fields once stood. The muddy townspeople worked with anxious resolve, cracking the occasional joke, as they filled bags with sand and dirt and loaded them onto ATVs. On the receiving end were members of the Illinois National Guard, who piled up the sandbags as the tops of cornstalks rose above the waters behind them. "Threats can happen in all shapes and forms, so we are trying to help out," said National Guardsman Capt. Lanny Finn, whose unit previously served in Iraq. "We'll be here for as long as we're needed." Sebastian, who lived through floods in 1993, said he never thought he'd have to experience them again. "We thought that was bad, but this is a lot worse than it was in '93," said Sebastian. "Now we got some lakefront property." Elsewhere in Illinois, authorities closed the Great River Bridge on U.S. 34, which connects Illinois to Iowa over the swollen Mississippi, as authorities evacuated about 400 people in Henderson County. The sheriff of Henderson County, where the Mississippi River borders the entire western edge of the county, said authorities are still concerned about the communities of Gulf Port, Carman, Lomax and Dallas City. Watch aerial views of the rising Mississippi » . "It's been an uphill battle from the start, and the levee just broke loose," he said. Sheriff John Jefferson of Hancock County, Illinois, said water was "very, very close" to the top of some areas of the county's two levees. "We've had to evacuate some areas already, but the areas that have not been evacuated yet, we're just keeping our fingers crossed and hoping that the levee will hold," he said. In two of the county's communities, Rio Vista and Pontoosuc, power has been shut off in all but 20 residences, a spokeswoman for the sheriff's office said. Missouri also began to feel the force of the surging Mississippi Tuesday, as water began to top multiple levees east of Highway 79, forcing authorities to suspend sandbagging efforts at a levee near Foley, officials said Tuesday. In Northwest Missouri, towns and cities along the Mississippi River were bracing for flooding later this week as swollen waters head downriver. Communities at high risk of record flooding include Quincy, Illinois, and Hannibal, Missouri, according to National Weather Service modeling. Moderate flooding is possible later in the week in Alton, Illinois, and St. Louis, Missouri. The floods began heading downriver Monday to Illinois and Missouri, relieving Iowa somewhat after two weeks of natural disasters that killed 17 people, displaced 38,000 and caused more than $1 billion in crop damages. "The good news is the floodwater is receding in much of the state," said David Miller, administrator for the Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management Division. "The bad news is we're still in a flood fight." President Bush said he and a team will travel to Iowa this week. State and federal officials also plan to meet there this week to decide the best way to house displaced residents, said Bill Vogel, a federal coordinator with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. In Washington, Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa said the flooding has devastated his state's corn crop. Floods prompted farm-equipment manufacturer John Deere to idle two plants in Waterloo, Iowa, he said. Watch a farmer boat through his fields » . "Across eastern Iowa, the flooding rivers have washed out railroad lines; Mississippi barge traffic has come to a halt and [flooding has] closed major roadways," said Harkin, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee. "Thousands of Iowa businesses, large and small, have been impacted." Harkin said Iowans "are a resilient and resourceful people," but will need "generous federal assistance" to recover. FEMA has set up six disaster recovery centers in Iowa and has provided nearly $4 million in assistance, state and federal officials reported. So far, 24 counties are under federal disaster declarations, making residents eligible for individual aid, Lt. Gov. Patty Judge reported. By Tuesday afternoon, residents of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where the Cedar River inundated more than 400 city blocks, were beginning to return home as the rivers lessened, said Lu Barron, a Linn County supervisor. "We're doing pretty good," she said. "People are getting into their businesses, and getting into their homes." she said. She estimated that thousands of people had returned to their homes after authorities inspected them to make sure they were safe. The death of one woman whose body was found in her car Monday was determined unrelated to the floods, said Courtney Greene, a spokeswoman for the governor's office and the state Emergency Operations Center. Amtrak service from Chicago, Illinois, to St. Paul, Minnesota, and to Kansas City, Missouri, was disrupted by the flooding. CNN's Paul Vercammen contributed to this report.

NEW: Towns rush to build makeshift barriers to hold back rising floodwaters . NEW: Record flooding anticipated for towns in Illinois, Missouri . High water forces officials to close U.S. 34 span between Iowa, Illinois . FEMA sets up 6 centers in Iowa; 24 counties declared disasters .

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(Oprah.com) -- If you heard there was a weapon proven to prevent most crimes before they happen, would you run out and buy it? World-renowned security expert Gavin de Becker says this weapon exists, but you already have it. He calls it "the gift of fear." One chapter in Gavin's book "The Gift of Fear" has stuck with Oprah since she first read it. The story of a woman named Kelly begins with a simple warning sign. A man offers to help carry her groceries into her apartment -- and instantly, Kelly doesn't like the sound of his voice. Kelly goes against her gut and lets him help her -- and in doing so, she lets a rapist into her home. "We get a signal prior to violence," Gavin says. "There are preincident indicators. Things that happen before violence occurs." Gavin says that unlike any other living creature, humans will sense danger yet still walk right into it. "You're in a hallway waiting for an elevator late at night. Elevator door opens, and there's a guy inside, and he makes you afraid. You don't know why, you don't know what it is. Some memory of this building -- whatever it may be. And many women will stand there and look at that guy and say, 'Oh, I don't want to think like that. I don't want to be the kind of person who lets the door close in his face. I've got to be nice. I don't want him to think I'm not nice.' And so human beings will get into a steel soundproof chamber with someone they're afraid of, and there's not another animal in nature that would even consider it." For weeks, Nicole had a funny feeling that something odd was going on in her apartment. "My gut started feeling like something just wasn't right," she says. "I would come home, and there would be just weird lights on in my house -- lights that I didn't even remember turning on in the first place." Then one day, Nicole noticed a UPS delivery box where it shouldn't be. "I'm like, 'How did this brand of box get on my back balcony?'" Nicole began to feel uneasy -- but continued to brush it off. "I would just come home, you know, and almost feel nauseous," she says. "I kept trying to justify it saying, 'Okay, it is in my head.'" Nicole's funny feeling eventually escalated into full-fledged panic attacks, which Gavin says were her intuition's way of telling her that something was wrong. "And intuition records everything. So when she started getting panics attacks, her intuition is saying, basically, 'You're not going to listen? Okay, I'll ramp it up. I'll give you panic attacks. You want sleepless nights? I'll give you sleepless nights.'" Nicole eventually did listen to her intuition, starting with a simple test. "I dropped a tank top behind the door as I was leaving for work, thinking that when I come home that night, I'm going to peek my head around the corner. If [the tank top] had been pushed to the side, it would have been obvious that the door was opened." When Nicole got home, she says the tank top had moved. Caught on camera . The next day, Nicole says she set up a hidden camera to try and find out what was going on in her apartment. Once she came home, Nicole says she plugged the camcorder into her laptop. "And the first thing I see is this man's head peeking around the corner into my house," she says. "What I felt at that point was just complete terror. I'm sitting there watching this video --this story unfold -- and this person comes in my house, is looking around, going through my things, looking through my laundry, holding up my lingerie." As Nicole continues to watch in horror, the intruder undresses himself and puts her lingerie on. "So this person is in my clothes, proceeds to start pleasuring himself -- just very, very graphic things happening right there in my house with my belongings. And he finishes up, takes off my clothes -- and puts them exactly back as I had left them -- puts his clothes back on, checks to make sure nobody's outside the door and leaves." After watching the tape, Nicole says she ran around her apartment, screaming hysterically. She says she had never seen the man in the tape before. "Initially, I took my cell phone, called my boyfriend at the time, screaming hysterically. All I could say was, 'He's in my house. He's in my house.' Even picking up the phone, dialing, was difficult." Two weeks later, police found the man -- 39-year-old Shawn Rogers, a computer consultant with a young son and a wife at the time. Police were unable to charge Rogers with anything more than trespassing ... until he came back to Nicole's apartment to steal her camera. Police were able to charge Rogers with burglary, and he was sentenced to eight years in prison. Dangerous behavior . When Nicole found the UPS box on her balcony, Gavin says this was a warning sign. Gavin applauds Nicole for listening to her intuition and says that quieting her fear could have caused the situation to escalate. "He's already into behavior of wanting to get caught," he says. "You don't come back again and again and again and not want to get caught." Gavin says like Nicole, the intruder's intuition was probably trying to tell him something too. "Offenders as well can see what's happening in their lives. And talk about not listening to it -- he's in someone's apartment doing something sexual with their clothes on -- that's something to listen to." Because the intruder had a job and a family, Gavin says his behavior was not only reckless, but dangerous as well. "When people do listen, they can stop what's almost fate," Gavin says. "There's a great line that Carl Jung said. He said, 'What we do not make conscious emerges later as fate.' If he made it conscious, if he could talk to someone about it, if he could tell someone, he could get better also. But he didn't, and it does mean escalation. If she discovered him, that's dangerous. If he came in when she was there, that's dangerous." Your feelings are warnings . Doris, who says she endured years of sexual abuse at the hands of her husband, appeared on "The Oprah Show" after leaving her husband. Unfortunately, her battle didn't end there -- two months after she left him, Doris's ex-husband abducted her at gunpoint and raped her. After the show, Oprah spoke with Doris again to ask if her she had sensed any warning signs the night she was abducted. "As I was coming home from work, it was just a very eerie, strange feeling as I drove up," Doris says. "It was darker than normal in my driveway, and there was a trash can sitting where I normally park right in the middle. "I thought, 'Hmm, this is strange.' Because my mother lives with me, and she'll turn on the lights when it gets dark. It did give me a little eerie feeling -- the hairs on the back of your neck kind of stand up. But still, I didn't listen to my instincts." Gavin says that "eerie feeling" is exactly what he wants women to pay attention to. "We're trying to analyze the warning signs," he says. "And what I really want to teach today and forever is the feeling is the warning sign. All the other stuff is our explanation for the feeling. Why it was this, why it was that. The feeling itself is the warning sign." From "The Oprah Winfrey Show" Subscribe to O, The Oprah Magazine for up to 75% off the newsstand price. That's like getting 18 issues FREE. Subscribe now! TM & © 2008 Harpo Productions, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Security expert Gavin de Becker says fear can be a gift . Says humans only animal who senses danger and walks into it . Two victims recall feeling uneasy before crime happened .

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(CNN) -- A woman who gave birth to a stillborn boy was left distraught after she discovered his body was kept in a jar for four years by the hospital. Jo-Ann Burrows believed for years that her son had been cremated before making the grim discovery about his fate. The mother-of-five is now taking legal action against the hospital authorities in Hampshire, southern England, the UK's Press Association reported Thursday. PA reported that Ms Burrows had daughter Ellie in April 2004 at the Hythe Birthing Centre, in Hampshire, but gave birth to the stillborn twin two days later at home. She said that an ultrasound scan taken the previous December had not revealed that she was carrying a twin, according to PA. After the stillbirth, Ms Burrows, 44, was taken to the Princess Anne maternity hospital in Southampton, also in southern England, where she gave her consent for the body to be cremated. PA reported that she has spent the past four years asking for the funeral papers and ashes. The 44-year-old is now organizing a naming ceremony and funeral for the stillborn, whose twin sister survived. Ms Burrows was quoted in her local newspaper, the Southern Daily Echo, as saying: "This experience has made me suicidal, if it wasn't for my friends and family I wouldn't be here. "I kept asking for my baby's funeral papers because I was always worried that he might be in a jar somewhere. I still couldn't believe it when I found out." She was informed through her solicitor in February that the hospital still had the baby and has now filed a medical negligence claim against Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust. It claims the Trust failed to "exercise reasonable care and skill when performing the ultrasound and also focuses on Ms Burrows' repeated requests for confirmation of the cremation," PA reported. A Trust spokeswoman told the news agency: "Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust confirms that legal proceedings have been brought against it by Ms Jo-Ann Burrows. "The chief executive has already written to Ms Burrows apologizing for shortcomings in the treatment provided to her and, in particular, for the circumstances which led to Ms Burrows' second twin not being cremated in 2004 as they had previously advised and for the distress this discovery may have caused."

Woman's stillborn baby kept in jar for four years by hospital . Jo-Ann Burrows believed for years that her son had been cremated . The mother-of-five is now taking legal action against the hospital authorities .

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(CNN) -- Andre Berto claimed the vacant World Boxing Council welterweight title when he halted Miguel Rodriguez in the seventh round in Memphis. Berto took the WBC belt vacated when Floyd Mayweather retired. Berto (22-0, 19 KOs) picked up the WBC belt that became vacant when Floyd Mayweather retired. Rodriguez's record dropped to 29-3 with 23 KOs. Berto floored Rodriguez with an uppercut in the seventh round and when Rodriquez went down a second time referee Lawrance Cole intervened at 2:13. Dane Mikkel Kessler knocked out Dimitri Sartison in the 12th round in Copenhagen, to become World Boxing Association supermiddle champion . Kessler (40-1) dominated throughout in front of an enthusiastic home crowd at the Brondby Hall. Sartison, who was born in Kazhakstan but grew up in Germany, suffered his first loss after a 22-0 start in his pro career. Kessler won the WBA title in November 2004 by stopping Manny Siaca of Puerto Rico. He also lifted the the WBC super middleweight crown two years later when he knocked out Markus Beyer of Germany in the third round. But he surrendered both belts when Joe Calzaghe of Wales ended his unbeaten run in Cardiff last November. Britain's Amir Khan was floored before successfully defending his Commonwealth lightweight title with a fifth round stoppage of Michael Gomez in Birmingham. Khan, who has won all 18 of his fights since turning professional after winning a silver medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics, knocked Gomez down in the first round but found himself on the canvas in the second in a brief but rugged contest. Khan said: "This was one of my toughest fights but I learned from my mistakes. I will watch the video and work on them and continue my journey to the world title." Khan was on target with a powerful right uppercut in the first round and a combination of punches floored Gomez, who retaliated in the second round. A left hook over the top of a jab put Khan down and he had to take a standing count and looked unsteady on his legs for several seconds afterwards. Gomez landed a damaging hook to the ribs in the fourth but early in the fifth Khan put his opponent down again with a powerful body shot. Gomez began to take a lot of punishment and referee John Keane stopped the contest. Gomez looked disappointed but appeared to be all but out on his feet.

Andre Berto wins the vacant WBC welterweight title . He halts Miguel Rodriguez in seven rounds . Mikkel Kessler becomes WBA super-middleweight champion . Amir Khan successfully defends the Commonwealth lightweight title .

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(CNN) -- Michelle Obama, wife of Sen. Barack Obama, is honing her message for the fall, aides say. Sen. Barack Obama and wife, Michelle, have been thrust into the public eye. "Michelle wrote her own stump (speech). And you know, she's refining it now I think as we're going into the general election," said senior Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett. "We have an opportunity for her to kind of step back and think about the message she wants to deliver. So she's really working on it as we speak." Her new speeches will include more details about her family and humble upbringing on Chicago's South Side, aides said. Michelle Obama graduated from Harvard Law School, was a vice president at the University of Chicago and landed a job as a health care executive making $275,000 a year. But along with her success has come criticism -- that's she's too angry, too negative and too sarcastic. Now, the woman who would become the first black first lady is trying to connect with voters on a more personal level. Watch experts weigh in on how Michelle Obama is perceived » . On Wednesday, she made an appearance as a guest co-host on ABC's "The View," and later this week, she and her husband will grace the cover of Us Weekly. The magazine is headlined "Michelle Obama: Why Barack Loves Her," and includes details about her love for Target, "Sex and the City" and her daughters' recitals. Asked Wednesday while on "The View" if she's going through a makeover, she said she realizes "I wear my heart on my sleeve" and that "it's a risk you have to take." She said she thinks people will change their perception of her as they see her family more. Michelle Obama's spokeswoman, Katie McCormick Lelyveld, said earlier there is no "image makeover" in the works. Watch what Michelle Obama would be like as first lady » . "She has staff engaged in simply part of the process of growing to a general election campaign and putting a strategy together to help people get to know her," Lelyveld said. "It's what you do as you move from primary voters to general election voters." Carl Sferrazza Anthony, a first ladies historian, said it's important for Michelle Obama to define herself before others define her. "One comment made off-hand ... might be easily misinterpreted by the opposition," he said. Michelle Obama saw that in February when a Republican ad used a snippet from a campaign event in which, referring to record voter turnout in the Democratic primaries, she said, "for the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country." Obama's campaign says she was just excited about the grassroots support, but her words still provided fodder for her husband's opponents. The day after the comments, Cindy McCain, wife of presumptive Republican nominee John McCain, introduced her husband saying, "I don't know about you, if you heard those words earlier -- I am very proud of my country." Michelle Obama has been a vocal advocate for her husband while on the campaign trail, delivering sometimes impassioned speeches on his behalf. Robin Givhan, fashion editor with the Washington Post, said people see Michelle Obama in different ways. "Some people will see confidence, and others might see cockiness. I think some people will see strength. Others might see arrogance," she said. "She comes across as someone who is extraordinarily independent and very much a force to be reckoned with." Behind the scenes, she maintains that independence. According to the campaign, Michelle Obama picks out her own clothes. She received a lot of attention for the sleeveless purple dress and pearls she wore the night her husband became the presumptive Democratic nominee. Beyond her style, though, a sense of dignity may be what most defines a first lady. It's a job that requires the ability to strike a balance between queen and commoner. Exactly how Michelle Obama refines her approach on the stump remains to be seen, staffers said. "We'll see," Jarrett said. "She's learned a lot of stories along the way from the American people, I think she may incorporate some more of the stories that she's heard that resonate with what she's seeing in terms of the direction that people want the country to take. But the rest is up to her. We'll see what she comes up with." CNN's Randi Kaye contributed to this report.

Michelle Obama refining her speeches to emphasize family, upbringing . She has been criticized for coming across as angry, unpatriotic . She is co-hosting on "The View;" also on cover of Us Weekly . Her spokeswoman says this is not an "image makeover"

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Brazilian coach Zico is leaving Turkish club Fenerbahce, after failing to reach an agreement over a new contract. Zico guided Fenerbahce to a league and Super Cup double intheir centenary year . Fenerbahce recently suspended negotiations over a fresh deal with Zico because of reportedly high demands by the Brazilian. The Anatolia press agency published a club statement which said: "The contract of Arthur Antunes Coimbra (Zico) has now come to an end. " We would like to thank him for the successful work he has done with the club, and wish him all the best for the future." Last season Zico led Fenerbahce to the quarterfinals of the Champions League where they were defeated by Chelsea. Reports claimed that after that achievement Zico sought a new annual salary of $4.9 million. He has been earning $2.9million.. Zico, 55, joined the club in July 2006 on a two-year deal and he guided them to a league and Turkish Super Cup double in 2007, their centenary year. Spanish media reports have said that Fenerbahce have lined up current Spain coach Luis Aragones as a replacement. Aragones has led Spain to the semifinals of the Euro 2008 finals .

Coach Zico is leaving Turkish club Fenerbahce . He has been unable to reach agreement over a new contract . Media reports suggest that Spain coach Luis Aragones will replace him .

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OMAHA, Nebraska (CNN) -- Dozens of calls flooded the Omaha Police Department's 911 emergency line after a gunman opened fire inside the city's Westroads Mall, with witnesses calling in tones that ranged from almost matter-of-fact to near terror. Police make their presence known at the Westroads Mall in Omaha, Nebraska, Thursday. "I haven't seen anything. I'm hiding in a clothes rack," a woman said after a dispatcher asked her for a description of the shooter. "I mean, there's been like 50 gunshots." In one of the recordings, provided to CNN by the police department, a rapid burst of three gunshots can be heard, followed by two more a moment later before the line goes dead. A dispatcher asked one caller to move away from a woman shouting in the background. "Oh Lord God help us," the woman can be heard screaming. Hear some of the 911 calls » . "She said there is a bunch of people shot," the caller says. Robert Hawkins, 19, killed six employees and two customers of Von Maur department store on Wednesday before turning his AK-47 rifle on himself. Two employees remained hospitalized Thursday, one with critical injuries and one in serious condition. A woman who called 911 before ducking into a security office in the store said she heard the gunman demand that a vault be opened near the store's customer service area. Police have not described the shooting as a robbery attempt, saying Thursday they don't know why Hawkins chose the store as a target. The caller described the shooter as having "a very large gun" and said he came out of an elevator on the store's third floor and began firing shots into the air. "I heard the gunshots and I got down as soon as possible because I've got kids," she said. Later, she told the dispatcher she'd moved into the security office -- where she appears to have seen Hawkins' dead body on a surveillance camera. "Oh my gosh! It looks like the gun is laying over by customer service -- it looks like he might have killed himself," she said, breaking into tears. "I see him laying by the gun!" Police said Thursday that Hawkins had had "some mental health problems," including thoughts of suicide. He had lost his job and recently broken up with his girlfriend, according to a family friend. E-mail to a friend .

"I'm hiding in a clothes rack," a caller says . A rapid burst of gunshots can be heard in another call before the line goes dead . Robert Hawkins killed six employees and two customers before taking his own life . "I see him laying by the gun," a woman tells the dispatcher .

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(CNN) -- Australia's cricketers will pay tribute to Jane McGrath at their one-day international against West Indies in St Vincent on Tuesday. Jane McGrath died on Sunday at the age of 42. The English-born wife of former Australia fast bowler Glenn McGrath, died on Sunday, aged 42, after a long battle with cancer. The McGraths had two children, James, who is eight, and Holly six. The Australian players will wear pink ribbons and batsmen will use pink grips on their bats. The color pink represents the McGrath Foundation, an organization set up by the McGraths to raise money for the fight against breast cancer. The McGraths were recognized for their charity work this year when they were appointed as Members of the Order of Australia. Australia captain Ricky Ponting said: "Jane was a wonderful person who fought and maintained grace and dignity during her long-term illness." Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said: "Jane was an inspiration, whose legacy will continue to benefit so many others." Former Australia captain Steve Waugh, best man at the McGrath's 1999 wedding, said: "Courage is often associated with feats on a sport field but the true meaning of it lies elsewhere and someone like Jane best exemplifies that."

Australia's cricketers are to pay tribute to Jane McGrath . The 42-year-old wife of fast bowler Glenn McGrath, die on Sunday . She had had a long battle with cancer . The players will wear pink ribbons, the color of the McGrath Foundation .

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(CNN) -- An Alabama man whose wife died during a honeymoon scuba diving trip off the coast of Australia almost five years ago has been charged in her death. Tina Watson, background right, lies motionless after she drowned in 2003 while diving in the Great Barrier Reef. An Australian coroner ruled Friday that there was enough evidence to put Gabe Watson on trial for the death of Tina Watson, who was 26 when she drowned in October 2003 while diving around a historic shipwreck in Australia's Great Barrier Reef. Watson, 31, told police that his new bride appeared to panic 45 feet underwater and that he "looked into her eyes and saw her eyes were wide open, but there was no response," Townsville Coroner David Glascow said in his inquest findings. Glascow, however, cited what he said were inconsistencies in Watson's statements to investigators. The coroner said he was "unable to conclude that Tina's death was an accidental drowning." Watch Tina Watson's family demand justice » . The couple married just 11 days earlier in Birmingham, Alabama. They left their home in Hoover, Alabama, for their Australian honeymoon two days later, the coroner said. As possible evidence for the husband's motive, Glascow pointed to a statement by the woman's father that Watson asked her to maximize her life insurance and make him the beneficiary shortly before the wedding. The insurance company confirmed that Gabe Watson inquired about her life insurance policy after her death, the coroner said. The coroner noted that Watson, through his lawyers, contended that police had made a judgment that he killed his wife before they began their investigation and that they tailored their investigation to fit their theory. Glascow said he saw no evidence of police rushing to judgment. "It appears certain that at some point in time, investigators considered some of Gabe's explanations lacked credibility, and it further appears to me that investigators gave Gabe the opportunity to clarify matters which may have caused concern," the coroner said. The husband was an experienced diver, and his new wife was considered a novice, the coroner said. They were diving on the Yongala shipwreck about 42 miles off the coast of Townsville in the state of Queensland, Australia.

Gabe Watson has been charged with 2003 death of his wife during honeymoon . Tina Watson died while scuba diving in Australia's Great Barrier Reef . Coroner unable to conclude that Watson's death was accidental .

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KATHMANDU, Nepal (CNN) -- Nepalese authorities Thursday detained at least 650 Tibetan exiles protesting against China's policies in the province ahead of this weekend's Olympic torch relay in Tibet, security officials in Kathmandu said. A protester is grabbed by Nepalese police during a demonstration in Kathmandu. Police also arrested and charged three local Tibetan community leaders with organizing the protest, after seizing them from their homes Thursday morning. It is the largest single-day round-up of Tibetan protesters in Nepal since the demonstrations broke out in March following China's bloody crackdown on protesters in Tibet. It is also the first time that Nepalese authorities have charged any Tibetan exiles in connection with the protests. Nepalese police forcefully dragged some of the protesters to awaiting vans and drove them to police stations across the capital. Tibetan exile groups said 900 protesters were detained Thursday. Authorities said the three arrested leaders -- two women and a man -- were responsible for the near-daily protests since March and will be held for 90 days under Nepal's public security act. "They have been arrested for damaging the diplomatic relations between Nepal and China," said civilian security officer Jaya Mukunda Khanal. The two women arrested and charged for organizing the protests were Ngwang Sangmo, president of Tibetan Women's Association, and Tashi Dolma, vice president of the association. Also charged was Kelsang Chung, director of the Tibetan Reception Center, which helps Tibetan refugees in Nepal emigrate to India, where the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, lives in exile. While they are the first Tibetan exiles formally arrested, protesters have previously been detained and released hours later. The crackdown comes days before the Olympic torch relay in Tibet. The torch relay wrapped up in China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on Wednesday, and will continue in Tibet's capital of Lhasa on Saturday, according to China's Olympic Web site.

Nepalese authorities arrest at least 650 Tibetan exiles over China protest . Police forcefully dragged some of the protesters to awaiting vans . Protestors voice opposition to China's policies in Tibet .

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(CNN) -- The son of a man who died from intestinal problems says he now wonders whether his father's wife might have poisoned him. Betty Johnson Neumar is shown at her booking. She is charged with hiring a hit man to kill her husband. Betty Neumar, 76, was charged by North Carolina authorities last month with one count of solicitation of murder in the July 1986 death of Harold Gentry, one of her five dead spouses since the 1950s. Since the arrest, authorities have launched an investigation into the deaths of her previous husbands, including John Neumar Sr., her fifth husband. Neumar's son appeared on "Nancy Grace" on Wednesday along with Jay Almond, a news editor with the Stanly News and Press in North Carolina. "It wasn't long after my father married her that he started being sick," Neumar said. He said he learned of his father's death when he read it in a local newspaper. Betty Neumar has not been charged in connection with that death or her other three husbands. "She has only been charged in one state," her attorney Charles Parnell said. "I want to remind everybody she has only been charged in North Carolina, and obviously, she is presumed to be innocent. There is nothing with the other states because there are no charges at this particular time." Here is an edited transcript of the show: . Neumar: You know, actually, murder almost never crossed my mind until the Gentry case came up. In fact, we did not know she was married all this time. We just thought that she was married one time and she was a widow lady who married my father. Well, it wasn't long after my father married her that he started being sick and everything. And he was never sick a day in his life [before then]. And I figured something was wrong because he put -- such a wedge became between our families that shouldn't have existed. We were so close. And the longer she was married to him, the less we had to do with him and the more time it seemed like he was sick but she wouldn't let us know about it. In fact, when he did die, I read about it in the newspaper and didn't even know he was dead. And when I went to the funeral home, she already had him cremated. Grace: Had him cremated? Neumar: Correct. Grace: Mr. Neumar, what was the cause of death of your father? Neumar: Well, it's a complicated thing, and I'm not very good with these technical terms and all. But from what the doctors say, it was some type of stomach and bowel and, you know, intestine problem and everything, which I've been told later by some people that the symptoms that he had could be caused by arsenic poisoning. Grace: John, when you first met her, didn't you tell me you believed at that time she was a widow, a one-time widow that married your father? Neumar: Right. That was correct. We were told that her husband just passed away, and my mother had passed away a couple years before that. And we -- you know, we just figured it was a widow and a widower getting married. Grace: How did she meet your father? Neumar: A friend of his went up there to where she had a salon to get haircutting. My father, he went to go up there and get his haircut because I think his barber had retired. So he went up there to get his haircut, and that's where he met her. Grace: And how long after they met did they marry? Neumar: You know, I'm bad with time frame, but I'd say, I think within a year or something like that [1989]. Grace: Quick courtship. Neumar: Right. ... Jay Almond, news editor: The information I have is based on an investigation that the Stanly County Sheriff's Office is running, and information there is that the D.A.'s office and the Stanly County sheriff have gathered evidence from witnesses saying that Betty Neumar solicited to commit murder to her husband, Harold. Thomas Harold Gentry was shot to death in Norwood home near the back door inside the home. He was found by friends or family members -- I believe friendly members sent there by his employers. He didn't report to work. ... And [they] discover him there dead, and then the investigation there ensues but did not lead to anything enough to press charges against anyone. Grace: .. Jay, what can you tell me about this woman? What is her background? Almond: She's a 76-year-old widow ... and she's been married four other times. She initially was inviting to family members, but then sort of became more of a wedge in the family and has gone from there, got colder and -- with previous family members.

Son says his dad got sick shortly after he married wife two decades ago . Authorities launch probe into deaths of five husbands of Betty Neumar . Son says he learned of his dad's death in newspaper, body was cremated .

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(CNN) -- The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday morning that child rapists cannot be given the death penalty, effectively reserving the punishment only for murderers. CNN's Jeffrey Toobin said the court's ruling falls in line with other decisions on the death penalty. The 5-4 decision stems from a Louisiana case in which Patrick Kennedy, 43, was sentenced to die in 2003 for the sexual assault of his 8-year-old stepdaughter. Proponents of Louisiana's law, which allowed child rapists to be eligible for the death penalty, say that besides murder, no crime is more deserving of the death penalty than child rape. Kennedy would have been the first rapist in 44 years to be executed for a crime in which the victim was not killed. In the majority opinion, Justice Anthony Kennedy said "evolving standards of decency" forbid capital punishment for any crime other than murder. CNN's senior legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin, spoke with CNN's Heidi Collins outside the Supreme Court about the impact of the ruling. Collins: This is a huge decision here. What do you make of it? Toobin: It was just high drama in the court today. It's always dramatic at the end of the Supreme Court term. Here it was literally life and death, one of the big open questions in constitutional law about the death penalty: Can you execute someone for a crime other than murder? Anthony Kennedy, the swing vote on so many cases, decided this case, it was 5-4. ... He didn't diminish the seriousness of the crime, but he said the risks of expanding the death penalty are simply too great. He pointed out that there are more than 5,000 child rapes every year in the United States. All of them would raise the possibility of the death penalty. There are only a handful of states -- I think it was six -- that allow the death penalty for child rape. Forty-four states and the federal government say no. He said there is a national consensus that this is not an appropriate punishment. So, this really rules out not just the death penalty for child rape, but any crime other than murder. So it's a major, major decision. See more about the reach of the decision » . Collins: A national consensus except those six states. It's interesting when you look at the court of public opinion. How do you think this decision is going to go down in public? Toobin: Well, I think it's a tough call because support for the death penalty nationwide in the past 10 years has actually been going down. But child rape is such a horrendous crime and all of us have such a natural revulsion towards it that you're never going to get a lot of support for any sort of reduction in sentence. But I think, given the fact that this is a Supreme Court that said no death penalty for murderers under 18, no death penalty for the mentally retarded, this decision is consistent with a certain restriction on the death penalty, which is reflected in the court but also in a kind of national change that's going on. Collins: And in Sean Callebs' piece that we had, I don't know if you heard it. Toobin: I saw it, yeah. Collins: One woman, who actually brought up a very interesting point, when you think about all of this and when you think about the child, the victim, she said, you know, if they know they're going to die for this crime, why would they leave a living witness? Toobin: Justice Kennedy made precisely that point in the opinion. He said, allowing the death penalty here would create a perverse incentive for child rapists to murder their victims. He also pointed out what a difficult moral choice it would put child victims in testifying, giving children literally the power of life and death in their testimony over their attackers. That is something that he wanted to relieve children of -- that burden. Collins: Will they always have to testify? Toobin: Yeah, pretty much. There have been rare examples ... if a child, for example, is simply too young to testify. There are horrible cases of rapes of babies and things like that. But by and large there has to be some sort of testimony from a child. It can be in a noncourtroom setting. It can be sort of in a deposition, not in front of the jury. But you do have to have the child testify. Collins: It's just such a tough decision all around. 5-4 on that one, very interesting.

Toobin: Ruling falls in line with recent court decisions on death penalty . Justice Kennedy, in decision, said it would not be fair to place burden on child victim . Public support for executions down in recent years, Toobin said .

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YUSUFIYA, Iraq (CNN) -- Female suicide bombers, who often slip through security checkpoints untouched because of cultural norms, are taking a more deadly toll than ever across Iraq. A female suicide bomber struck northeast of Baghdad on Sunday, killing 16. But the U.S. Army has created a solution with "Daughters of Iraq," a program that trains Iraqi women to find female suicide bombers. Women carried out eight bombings in all of 2007, according to the U.S. military. Halfway through 2008, the number of female suicide bombers is 20. A suicide attack carried out by a woman on Sunday in Baquba killed at least 16 people and wounded another 40. "Daughters of Iraq" is a spinoff of "Sons of Iraq," which employs Iraqi men to run checkpoints and is credited with taking much of the steam out of the insurgency. The goal of the women's program is twofold: to protect against female suicide bombers, and to provide much-needed income to Iraqi women with few chances for employment. In the town of Yusufiya, southwest of Baghdad, some 30 women are being trained to search other females at security checkpoints -- something men are forbidden to do under Iraqi cultural norms. In mid-May, a female suicide bomber killed an Iraqi army officer in this town. "When he came out to meet her to help her with a problem she was having, she detonated the vest and killed him and injured some of his soldiers," said Michael Starz, a U.S. Army captain. The women will work two or three days a month, making up to $300, an Iraqi military officer explained to applicants. In a community, where families struggle to survive, that's good money. Watch how "Daughters of Iraq" works » . The women come from small farming communities. Many of them are widows with numerous children and almost no income. Such is the story of Fawzia, who has six children to support. Her husband was shot to death when his car broke down. "I am ready (to work) as long as it helps me financially," she said. "I have five children in school." Having women work in this tradition-bound society is a social revolution, according to Fatima, a volunteer leader, told CNN's Jill Dougherty. "Many women would like to do it but their parents would not agree because it's a rural society and it's shameful for girls to go outside the home."

Halfway through 2008, the number of female suicide bombers is 20 . "Daughters of Iraq" trains Iraqi women to find female suicide bombers . Women will work two or three days a month, making up to $300 .

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(CNN) -- Investigators looking for the source of a salmonella outbreak linked to tomatoes will focus on farms in Mexico and Florida, federal health authorities said Friday. Since April, more than 500 people have contracted the same strain of salmonella, linked to raw tomatoes. The tracebacks "have taken us from point of consumption all the way back to certain farms in Mexico and Florida," said Dr. David Acheson, associate commissioner for foods at the Food and Drug Administration. The agency will send teams of investigators to farms in both locations this weekend as well as to the pathways from those farms in an attempt to determine where the contamination occurred, he said. The tomatoes may not have been contaminated on a farm, he stressed; the contamination could have occurred in a packing shed, warehouse, supplier chain or distribution center. "We are going to all of those places to see if there are any problems that could indicate how or why these tomatoes got contaminated," he said. The reported advance in the investigation came as the toll mounted, with 552 people identified as having contracted the strain of Salmonella Saintpaul since April in 32 states and the District of Columbia. It is one of the biggest outbreaks of tomato-caused illness in history, officials said. See where the cases have been reported » . Though the number of reported victims has risen dramatically in recent days, that does not signify a large number of new infections, Acheson said. Instead, he credited improved surveillance and laboratory identification of previously submitted strains for the increased number. The bulk of the new reports were in Texas, which tallied 265 cases, according to Ian Williams, chief of the OutbreakNet Team at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At least 53 of the victims, whose ages range from 1 to 88 years, have been hospitalized. The victims are almost evenly split between males and females. Though no deaths have been officially attributed to the outbreak, a man in his 60s in Texas who had cancer also had the infection, which may have contributed to his death, Williams said. The outbreak began April 10, and the latest case was reported June 10.

FDA: Tomatoes suspected in salmonella outbreak traced to farms in Mexico, Florida . Tomatoes may have been contaminated after leaving the farm . Outbreak stands at 552 cases since April in 32 states, District of Columbia .

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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Congress passed a $300 billion farm bill over President Bush's veto for a second time Wednesday, a step made necessary by a clerical error when the original bill passed. Congress overrode President Bush's second veto of a $300 billion farm bill. The Senate voted 80-14 to approve the measure over Bush's objections, following a 317-109 vote in the House of Representatives. Both votes were well above the two-thirds majority needed to override the veto, which Bush delivered Wednesday morning. Congress overrode an earlier veto of the farm bill last month, even though lawmakers had discovered that 34 pages were missing in the version originally sent to the White House. In spiking the latest version, Bush said he objected to its continued subsidies for the wealthy and its use of budget gimmicks to hide a $20 billion increase in spending. But Sen. Kent Conrad, the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, said the measure actually saves the government $110 million. "This bill does not add to the deficit or debt, because this bill is paid for," he said. "That is not my claim. That is the finding of the Congressional Budget Office." The discovery of the missing section, Title III, prompted concerns from House Republicans that the override vote was improper. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the sections of the bill that were originally sent to the president had become law after Congress voted to override Bush's first veto. But to put Title III into effect, Congress re-passed the entire legislation, including the missing pages, and resent it to Bush. The House voted 306-110 at the end of May. The Senate voted 77-15 for the bill at the beginning of June. Two-thirds of the $300 billion in spending for the farm bill will go for nutrition programs such as food stamps. Another $40 billion will go toward farm subsidies, and $30 billion is allocated for payments to farms to keep land idle and other environmental programs. After vetoing the latest version of the farm bill, Bush scolded Congress on Wednesday for not "modifying certain objectionable, onerous and fiscally imprudent provisions. ... I am returning this bill for the same reasons as stated in my veto message." When he vetoed the first version of the farm bill, Bush said it "continues subsidies for the wealthy and increases farm bill spending by more than $20 billion, while using budget gimmicks to hide much of the increase." The president said it would hurt efforts to improve American farmers' access to overseas markets. Congress has passed one other bill over Bush's objections: legislation for a $23 billion water project that the president vetoed in 2007. CNN Capitol Hill producer Deirdre Walsh contributed to this report.

NEW: Senate votes 80-14 to approve measure over Bush's objections . President Bush vetoed $300 billion farm bill for second time . Bush says bill is too generous to wealthy farmers . Version originally sent to White House had 34 pages missing .

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LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Luke Russert, son of journalist Tim Russert, was part of a panel Wednesday that discussed youth voting on CNN's "Larry King Live." Luke Russert says dinner table political discussions were part of his upbringing. Besides the youth vote, Russert discussed his father's death, his upbringing and his own future in journalism and political commentary. Tim Russert, 58, was the host of NBC's "Meet the Press" and one of America's leading political journalists. He died of a heart attack after collapsing at the network's Washington bureau on June 13. The following is an edited version of the show's transcript. Watch video of the discussion » . Larry King: How did you learn of your dad's passing? Luke Russert: I was in Florence, and I was at an Italian sports bar watching the Italy versus Romania game, and I got a call from my dad's secretary that said he had fainted, and could I get in touch with my mother. Luckily, I was right across the street from the hotel where my mom was. I ran up to her room and said, "Dad has fainted." And we kind of learned in increments of what exactly happened. So it was basically about a half-hour after first hearing that he fainted that we actually knew he collapsed and had a heart attack. And at first, I was upset that I was so far away and removed. And I really wanted to be there. But in reality, it was really a blessing to be an ocean away, because it allowed my mother and me to have some real private time to collect our thoughts, to grieve in private, and not be inundated with all the media coverage and all the phone calls. So, you know, it was something that -- it was difficult, but to have that little cocoon, I think my mother and I really used it to our benefit. King: Must have been a long flight back. Russert: It was. It was a long nine-hour flight. But my mother has been so strong through this. And my family has been there for me every step of the way. My girlfriend has been wonderful. So I can't thank everybody enough. And obviously this happened, but it has made it a lot easier to have such good friends at NBC and all through Washington and my family personally. King: Were you brought up talking politics? Russert: I was. It was always something that was always talked around the dinner table with my father and my mother from a very young age. One of my earliest memories is being a young toddler and remembering Ronald Reagan's face on television. My dad was watching a press conference, most likely at that time on CNN. And it was just something that I always grew up around. And we also talked a lot of sports. We talked a lot of culture. But politics was something that I guess has been engrained in me at a very, very young age. King: Did he pick the brains of you and your friends? Russert: He did. We would actually have some fun discussions where I would assume the role of who his guest would be on Sunday and try to answer the questions that he threw at me. And sometimes, if I could answer a question pretty well, he'd say, "That question's too easy, I've got to get rid of it." So sometimes, I was a guinea pig for politicians. But it was a lot of fun. I enjoyed doing it. And he would also pick the brains of some of my friends. Some did pretty well, and some didn't. But he was always kind to all of us. King: When did you first vote? Russert: I first voted when I was 18, which would have been 2004. And I registered at the same time I registered for the Selective Service, which I think they do here in the District of Columbia. So I've been a registered voter since 2004, and that's the first time I cast an official ballot. King: How did it feel to vote? Russert: It felt great. It kind of felt like you became a man or at least an adult in some capacity. That your decision -- your decision -- became part of the country and its leadership. And I'll never forget the way I voted was I was in college my freshman year, 2004, so I had to go by absentee ballot. And I was going to meet my father in South Bend, Indiana, for the Notre Dame/Boston College game. And I said, "Dad, I'd rather you bring the ballot personally so it doesn't have to go through the mail, send it up to me in Boston." So he brought the ballot, and I filled out my absentee ballot in a South Bend, Indiana, hotel room, and he brought it back and put it right in the FedEx for me. King: We have an e-mail question for you from David in Cary, North Carolina. "Luke, my condolences," it said. "You've shown great strength and character in recent days. Any chance we'll see you reporting or doing commentary about the 2008 election?" Russert: Oh yes, you just might. It's something that I'm definitely interested in. I think that I will probably be part of the peacock network. But you never know. I still have the sports show on XM Radio and Carville, and I kind of go into politics. But I wouldn't mind. King: What if CNN made a bid for you? Russert: I'd be your assistant, Larry? King: You got it. You could come to work for us. I think I can speak for management. In fact, they'll probably talk to you tomorrow based on just how well you're handling yourself tonight. Russert: Well, I appreciate it. Everyone has been so kind. I'd love to have the opportunity to come out here and talk about something that is important to me. And it was important to my father, which was young people getting involved. That really is the important issue tonight. Not me. That's important.

Luke Russert says he learned of his father's death while he was in Italy . He thanks family, friends for helping him get through trying times . Politics "was just something that I always grew up around," he says . He says it "felt great" to vote for the first time, urges young people to get involved .

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(CNN) -- The first pictures from NASA's Mars Phoenix Lander, which successfully touched down near Mars' north pole Sunday, showed a pattern of brown polygons as far as the camera could see. The Mars Phoenix Lander took this image of the planet's surface at its landing site Sunday. "It's surprisingly close to what we expected and that's what surprises me most," said Peter Smith, the mission's principal investigator. "I expected a bigger surprise." The landing on the Red Planet's arctic plains -- which ended a 296-day journey -- was right on target, a feat NASA's Ed Weiler compared to landing a hole-in-one with a golf ball from 10,000 miles. The landing -- dubbed the "seven minutes of terror" -- was a nerve-wracking experience for mission managers, who have witnessed the failure of similar missions. In mission control at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, they celebrated the lander's much-anticipated entry. "It was better than we could have imagined," Barry Goldstein, project manager for the Phoenix mission, told CNN. Watch the celebration at mission control » . The Phoenix's 90-day mission is to analyze the soils and permafrost of Mars' arctic tundra for signs of past or present life. The lander is equipped with a robotic arm capable of scooping up ice and dirt to look for organic evidence that life once existed there, or even exists now. "We are not going to be able to answer the final question of is there life on Mars," said principal investigator Peter Smith, an optical scientist with the University of Arizona. "We will take the next important step. We'll find out if there's organic material associated with this ice in the polar regions. Ice is a preserver, and if there ever were organics on Mars and they got into that ice, they will still be there today." The twin to the Mars Polar Lander spacecraft, Phoenix was supposed to travel to Mars in 2001 as the Mars Surveyor spacecraft. They were originally part of the "better, faster, cheaper" program, formulated by then-NASA Administrator Dan Goldin to beef up planetary exploration on a lean budget. But Polar malfunctioned during its descent into Mars' atmosphere in 1999 and crashed. An investigation concluded that as many as a dozen design flaws or malfunctions doomed the spacecraft. The failure of that mission, as well as another spacecraft called the Mars Climate Orbiter the same year, led to NASA to put future missions on hold and rethink the "better, faster, cheaper" approach. Mars Surveyor went to the warehouse. Watch the challenges the mission faced » . But all was not lost. In 2003, Smith proposed a plan to re-engineer the Mars Surveyor and fly it on a mission to look for signatures of life in the ice and dirt of Mars far North. Mars Phoenix, literally and figuratively, rose from the ashes of Surveyor. Engineers set to work, testing and retesting the onboard system to ferret out and fix all the flaws they could find. iReport.com: Send your photos, video of space . "We always have to be scared to death," Goldstein said. "The minute we lose fear is the minute that we stop looking for the next problem." The team was concerned about the Phoenix landing system. NASA had not successfully landed a probe on Mars using landing legs and stabilizing thrusters since the Viking missions in the late 1970s. The other three successful Mars landings -- Pathfinder in 1997 and the Spirit and Opportunity rovers in 2004 -- used massive airbags that inflated around the landing craft just before landing to cushion the impact. Learn about NASA's past missions to Mars » . The Phoenix doesn't have airbags because the lander is too big and heavy for them to work properly. Its landing site was targeted for the far northern plains of Mars, near the northern polar ice cap. Data from the Mars Odyssey spacecraft indicate large quantities of ice there, likely in the form of permafrost, either on the surface or just barely underground. "Follow the water" has become the unifying theme of NASA's Mars exploration strategy. In 2004, the rover Opportunity found evidence that a salty sea once lapped the shores of an area near Mars' equator called Meridiani Planum. Astrobiologists generally agree that it's best to look for life in wet places. CNN's Kate Tobin contributed to this report.

The Mars Phoenix Lander landed on Mars on Sunday . Phoenix mission is to analyze planet's soils to find signs of life . Experts weren't optimistic about a smooth landing . Getting lander on Mars was dubbed the "7 minutes of terror"

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(CNN) -- Authorities in Fayetteville, North Carolina, are investigating the death of a pregnant soldier whose body was found Saturday morning in a motel, police said. Spc. Megan Lynn Touma, 23, was a dental specialist from Cold Springs, Kentucky, according to a statement from Fort Bragg, where Touma was assigned to the 19th Replacement Company. Fayetteville police found her body late Saturday morning when they responded to a call about a strong odor coming from one of the rooms. The body was sent to the state Medical Examiner's office in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, to determine the cause of death. Touma, who was seven months pregnant, arrived at Fort Bragg on June 12. In five years with the Army, she had served with the U.S. Army Dental Activity Clinic in Bamberg, Germany, and in Fort Drum, New York, before her assignment to Fort Bragg. Touma is the second pregnant service member to die in North Carolina in recent months. The remains of Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach and her fetus were found beneath in a fire pit January 11 in Marine Cpl. Cesar Laurean's backyard. Watch how police found body » . Authorities said Laurean killed Lauterbach on December 14, 2007, and used her ATM card 10 days later before fleeing to Mexico. He was taken into custody after he walked up to a roadblock set up by a local anti-kidnapping task force investigating another case. Laurean is awaiting extradition to North Carolina.

Authorities in North Carolina are investigating death of pregnant servicemember . Spc. Megan Lynn Touma was found dead Saturday in motel room . Touma is second N.C.-based pregnant solider found dead in recent months .

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Editor's note: Saturday marks one year since Hamas' defeat of Fatah in the fierce struggle for control of Gaza. CNN correspondent Ben Wedeman has been covering the region for over 15 years. He reports from Gaza on daily life and reality over the past year in this fractious land. CNN's Ben Wedeman reports on the past year in Gaza, where people are safer but out of food, gas, and patience. GAZA CITY, Gaza (CNN) -- "If you take pictures, I'll kill you! I'll kill you!" screamed a masked Fatah gunman, pointing his AK-47 assault rifle at my cameraman, Joe Duran. "Calm down! Calm down!" I shouted back at him, turning to Joe to tell him to put the camera down. Joe and I had ducked into a fruit and vegetable shop in Gaza City. We had been covering the funeral of a Fatah gunman killed in a clash with Hamas rivals when our third gunbattle of the day had broken out. The gunman left, much to everyone's relief, and I put my small video camera on the floor and pressed the button to record the constant roar of machine gun fire, which went on for more than half an hour. Earlier in the day, Joe and I were on a street corner videotaping Hamas militiamen when a jeep full of Fatah irregulars opened fire, just down the street from an elementary school. As guns blazed, schoolchildren ran for cover. I watched as shopkeeper Khadar Aliyan slammed shut the doors of his grocery store, the expression on his face one of fear and utter exasperation. "I'm going home," he told me. "I'm afraid. We're done for. It's never been this bad." It was violence like this, which we witnessed on December 2006, that reached a climax in the second week of June 2007. When it ended on June 14, 2007, with Hamas roundly defeating Fatah, Gaza went quiet. And quiet -- relative quiet, that is -- has been Hamas' biggest accomplishment since. No longer do you worry about being kidnapped. Gunbattles, though they can happen, are much less common. After last June's takeover (or coup d'etat, as Fatah supporters call it), Hamas quickly imposed law and order, tried to reacquaint Gaza's drivers with long-forgotten traffic regulations, launched a municipal cleanup campaign, and forced the release of kidnapped BBC journalist Alan Johnston, who had been held in captivity for almost six months. Chaos-weary Gazans applauded all of these initiatives. But the honeymoon ended quickly as reality sank in. Since Hamas won parliamentary elections in January 2006, and even more so since last year's takeover, Israel has tightened its siege of Gaza. Israel has restricted supplies of gasoline, diesel and electricity to Gaza, limited the amount of food and other goods entering the strip, and made it virtually impossible for manufacturers and farmers in Gaza to export anything to the outside world. Israeli officials say these measures are intended to pressure Hamas, which is on the U.S. government list of terrorist groups, to stop its members and other factions from firing mortars and rockets into Israel. Israel Defense Forces reports that 1,500 Qassam rockets were fired into Israel from Gaza in 2007, and 2,383 in the past six years. As a result, almost all of Gaza's factories have shut down and thousands of workers have lost their jobs. Between 70 and 80 percent of the population is dependent on food supplied by the United Nations Refugee Works Agency, set up after more than 700,000 Palestinians became refugees after the war that resulted in Israel's creation in 1948. Life in Gaza, never easy, in the last year has become a grinding daily struggle to make ends meet. For the vast majority of Gazans, it means they must spend much of their time trying to secure basic commodities. Such as cooking gas, which comes from Israel. In the past, when supplies were plentiful, it was sold from the back of trucks and donkey carts. Not anymore. When there are supplies, people flock to a few distribution centers. One is a hot, crowded compound north of Gaza City, where the stench of gas is so strong you shudder with fear that someone will light a cigarette and the whole place will go up in flames. People have to wait for their cooking gas for hours some claim days, in the hot sun. There I met a woman who identified herself as Um Wadi'a (the mother of Wadi'a), who at 2 p.m. told me she had been waiting since 5 a.m. She said she had run out of cooking gas three days before. Typical of so many people here, she blamed both main Palestinian factions for her woes. "Hamas hasn't done anything for us, nor has Fatah," she said. "All those people want is to sit comfortably on their thrones." In Gaza City, long lines of immobile cars and trucks wind around the block from gas stations, their owners waiting, surprisingly patiently, for supplies to arrive. The only other option is to go in search of black market gasoline, much of it smuggled through tunnels from Egypt. It goes for more than $10 a liter, which comes close to almost $50 a gallon. It is now common for families to divide up responsibilities for the day. One family member will go in search of cooking gas, another will join the line for gasoline or diesel, another for whatever else is in short supply. To get around the shortages, some motorists mix their fuel with cooking oil, a practice that isn't particularly good for the motor. Many people complain that it's unhealthy -- but it works. Others, like electrical engineer Wasim Khazandar, are thinking completely outside the box. Wasim has invented an electric car, which he is more than happy to show off. He's already received dozens of orders from motorists weary of the search for fuel. Beyond material concerns, there are worries here that Hamas has a barely concealed hardline Islamist agenda, and one often hears complaints that the group is intolerant of any form of dissent or criticism. One man who can testify to that is Ibrahim Abu Al-Naja, the most senior Fatah leader to remain in Gaza after most fled to safety in Ramallah. Abu Al-Naja is from the Fatah old school, a grizzled veteran of the group's wars in Lebanon. He told me earlier this year Hamas security officials showed up at his home late at night, bound his hands, put a blindfold on him and dragged him to their headquarters, where they shaved his head and cut off his moustache, then released him without apology or explanation. He makes no excuses for Fatah's dismal track record of corruption and mismanagement when it ran Gaza, but says the crisis that began with Hamas' rise to power is nothing short of a catastrophe. "Our people has been transformed," he said, "into a desperate people, who must search for food, for the minimum of survival. It's as if we returned to 1948, dependent on gifts and assistance and relief." Despite all the difficulties of life under Hamas, despite all the grumbling, the men who run Gaza are as confident today as they were a year ago that they will weather the crisis and emerge stronger. Last Wednesday I went to see Ahmed Yusif, a senior adviser to Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniya. "Whatever the Israelis think," said the U.S.-educated Yusif, "whatever pressure they put on us, it's not going to make us buckle or give concessions. "This is part of the Palestinian struggle for more than 60 years living in the refugee camps," he said. "We don't always enjoy a good life. It's the toughness and the suffering [that] are part of the struggle." Others here don't quite see it that way, like a man I met in Gaza's old market who would only identify himself as Abu Khalid. I asked him if he was better off today than a year ago. He laughed, cursed Israel, Hamas, Fatah, the United States, the European Union and the rest of the world, then made the following suggestion: "Let them open a market in Gaza so we can sell some of our children [in order to] feed the rest."

Wedeman describes violence, gunbattles, fear before Hamas . Reports on encounters with assault rifles, children running from gunfire last year . Now, it's safer but Gazans desperate for gas, cooking fuel, jobs . One woman: "Hamas hasn't done anything for us, nor has Fatah"

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HARARE, Zimbabwe (CNN) -- With polls closed for a Zimbabwe runoff that opposition politicians and international observers call a sham, alleged torture victims who support former candidate Morgan Tsvangirai said Friday that they back his decision to pull out of the race. Many of the injured being treated at a private hospital in Harare, Zimbabwe, asked not to be identified. "It's a good move by my president, Morgan Tsvangirai," said a 26-year-old Movement for Democratic Change activist who said he was forced to stand on hot coals and had boiling water poured on him about a week ago. "There's no use going for an election." The man, who displayed a large, pale, blistered patch on his back, asked not to be identified -- as did others being treated at a private hospital in Harare -- for fear of further attacks by gangs supportive of President Robert Mugabe. All of the victims said they were taken to "torture bases" by the gangs, made up of young men and soldiers. In the March 29 election, MDC officials said their polling showed Tsvangirai clearly defeating Mugabe, who at 84 is the only president Zimbabwe has had since it gained independence from Britain in 1980. But after delaying the release of results for more than a week, the country's electoral commission -- which is made up of Mugabe appointees -- said that although Tsvangirai got more votes, he didn't top the 50 percent needed to avoid a runoff. MDC supporters had already reported violence against them by police, military members and other supporters of Mugabe's Zanu-PF party. But in the weeks leading up to the runoff, the reports increased in frequency and intensity. More than 70 people were killed in attacks since the election, according to the MDC. Mugabe's supporters have claimed that those attacks were against his party members, a claim international observers, including the United Nations, have disputed. Watch victims say they were taken to torture camps » . Tsvangirai and other party leaders were repeatedly arrested by police or detained on their way to political rallies. And reports of beatings and other intimidation tactics were common in areas where the MDC had made strong showings in the election. "Mostly for the rural people -- the police would come in for the Zanu-PF, so the area was very tense," said a municipal worker at the hospital, who said he was kicked and had burning plastic poured on his skin about three or four days ago. "Everyone was beaten. Whether Zanu-PF or MDC. There was chaos in the country." George Charamba, a spokesman for Mugabe, insisted that the vote was "free and fair." Charamba denied that any pressure was being used. Asked about images from Zimbabwe showing what is reported to be violence against members of the opposition, he responded, "I thought we are long past the age where we could consider pictures as not lying. It's very, very easy for anyone to stage-manage a demonstration, and a violent one at that." Last weekend, Tsvangirai withdrew from the runoff, saying there was no way the result would be legitimate. He has spent much of the time since living in the Dutch Embassy in Harare in fear for his safety. Early Friday, the municipal worker said he was considering whether to heed Tsvangirai's call for his supporters to not vote in the election, but the question may be moot. The gangs took his identification card and threw it into a fire, he said. Another man and a woman treated for broken hands at the hospital said they were tortured and had boiling water poured on their genitals for being MDC supporters. The man said he was forced to drink sewage. Meanwhile, Mugabe laughed and mugged for reporters from Zimbabwe's state-run media as he cast his ballot at a high school. "Very optimistic, upbeat ... and hungry," he said when asked how he was feeling.

Morgan Tsvangirai's supporters back his withdrawal from runoff . Some say they were taken to "torture bases" by supporters of Mugabe . A man and a woman being treated for broken hands said they were tortured . Mugabe laughed and mugged for reporters as he cast his ballot at a high school .

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HARARE, Zimbabwe (CNN) -- Zimbabwe's opposition party said four of its activists and the wife of Harare's mayor -- an opposition member -- have been killed by supporters of President Robert Mugabe, just days ahead of next week's presidential runoff. President Robert Mugabe says war veterans will take up arms again if Tsvangirai wins. Thursday's report came as U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice accused Mugabe of sponsoring efforts to starve, beat and kill supporters of his opponent Morgan Tzvangirai so he can win the election. Rice was speaking on the same day that Tendai Biti, the opposition Movement for Democratic Change's secretary-general, was charged with treason after being held in jail without charges for a week. If convicted, he could face the death penalty. His arrest and treason charges have been criticized by African and international leaders who characterize it as a ploy by Mugabe supporters to intimidate the opposition party before his June 27 runoff against Tsvangirai. A spokesman for the MDC blamed Mugabe's Zanu-PF party for the five most recent deaths, saying they brought to 70 the number of MDC party members killed since a bitterly contested election three months ago. The body of the mayor's wife, 27-year-old Abigail Chiroto, was found in a mortuary close to the couple's house north of Harare. She had been beaten so severely with rocks and iron bars that her face was almost unrecognizable, MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said. Watch CNN's Nkepile Mabuse report on the violience » . Chiroto was kidnapped, along with her 4-year-old son, on Tuesday. Some of her kidnappers wore military uniforms, Chamisa said. Chiroto's son was released unharmed. Her husband, Emmanuel Chiroto, is an MDC member who was recently elected mayor of Harare. He was not home at the time of the kidnapping. Also Thursday, the MDC said that four other activists were found dead in Chitungwiza. The victims' bodies showed evidence that "they were heavily tortured until they died," an MDC statement said. "It's unbelievable the way people are being killed or murdered," Chiroto said. "It's almost mass butchering." Police confirmed the deaths of the activists but did not link the victims to any political party. Mugabe's party denied any part in the deaths, saying MDC officials made such accusations frequently. "They are claiming anyone who dies. They phone CNN," said Bright Matonga, a Zanu-PF spokesman. "Whenever someone dies in the hospital, they rush to claim them." Matonga said Harare was run by a commission. "There is no MDC mayor in Zimbabwe," he said. "There is no newly elected mayor in Harare." Learn more about Zimbabwe » . In New York, Rice convened a meeting about the situation in Zimbabwe at the United Nations on Thursday. "Mugabe is increasing violence against [the] opposition. ... President Mugabe has squandered the promise of the very nation that was hailed as the jewel of Africa," Rice said at a roundtable discussion attended by representatives from many international governments. "Clearly we have reached a point where broader, stronger, international effort is needed," she added. On Friday, a magistrate judge will determine whether prosecutors have enough evidence to proceed with a trial against Biti. The judge also will determine whether Biti will be granted bail or will continue to be jailed until the trial. Biti was charged Thursday with treason, communicating false information prejudicial to the state, bringing the office of the president into disrepute and causing disaffection among armed forces, according to a journalist who was in the Harare courtroom. He denies all the charges. Watch Biti arrive for his court hearing » . Biti, wearing a red jacket and looking exhausted, held his head in his hands as the proceedings took place in the packed courtroom. "I think that one must express very serious objection to the manner in which this whole case is being handled," said Tsvangirai, who was in court. "The accusations are frivolous." Three of the charges stem from a document titled "The Transitional Strategy," which Biti is said to have written ahead of the March 29 election. Biti is denying that he wrote the document, and his lawyers described it as "doctored." The fourth charge of communicating falsehoods alleges that Biti announced that Tsvangirai had won the March presidential election by an outright majority, meaning no runoff vote would be needed. In recent weeks, opposition groups and churches have reported numerous cases of kidnappings, torture and other violence in the country targeting opponents of Mugabe. Zanu-PF members have been suspected of being behind the acts. Zanu-PF claims that the MDC is behind the violence. It said MDC members attacked the mayor of Kadoma, a city 140 km (87 miles) southwest of Harare. It also accused MDC activists of causing millions of dollars damage to private business. Last week, Mugabe warned that veterans he commanded in his country's liberation war nearly three decades ago would take up arms again if Tsvangirai won. Watch an ad vilifying Tsvangirai » . The MDC is using word of mouth and file-sharing sites such as YouTube to disseminate its campaign advertisements, claiming that they are banned by state media. The group sent advertisements to supporters via e-mail, asking them to forward them to their friends and relatives. "Since the regime has denied the MDC access to state media, please send the adverts to as many people as you can," the e-mail says. "A new Zimbabwe is near. The dictator is finished. Let's finish it!" Mugabe has been Zimbabwe's only leader since the war ended in 1980 but is blamed for the economic collapse of a country once considered a regional breadbasket. Zimbabweans increasingly are unable to afford food and other essentials, with agriculture paralyzed by land reform and the world's highest rate of inflation. Police have arrested Tsvangirai several times in the weeks leading up to the runoff, most recently on Saturday, with 11 other officials and supporters from his party. South African President Thabo Mbeki met Mugabe and Tsvangirai on Wednesday in the hope of quelling tensions. Mbeki was visiting in his capacity as mediator with the 14-nation Southern African Development Community, the South African government said Wednesday. He is under domestic and international pressure for his perceived conciliatory stance toward Mugabe, but the South African leader recently said he would continue his quiet diplomacy despite recent events. CNN's Nkepile Mabuse contributed to this report.

Harare mayor's wife found bludgeoned to death, opposition says . Mayoress one of five people found murdered Thursday, according to MDC . Government strongly denies any involvement in latest deaths . U.S. says President Mugabe sponsors efforts to kill opposition supporters .

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(CNN) -- Sen. Barack Obama decisively defeated Sen. Hillary Clinton in North Carolina Tuesday, but Clinton's narrow victory in Indiana will likely send the race for the Democratic presidential nomination on to the next round of primaries. Sen. Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, greet supporters in Raleigh, North Carolina. As polls closed in Indiana, Clinton had a double-digit lead over Obama, but by the end of the evening, Clinton's lead had shrunk, dragging the race out until early Wednesday. A clear winner did not emerge until 1:15 a.m. Wednesday -- seven hours after the polls closed -- because results were slow to come in from Lake County, a Chicago suburb in northwestern Indiana with several precincts that went strongly for Obama. By Wednesday morning, all absentee ballots had been counted in Lake County and the final results showed Obama had taken the county by 12 percentage points. There were 115 delegates at stake in North Carolina and 72 in Indiana. Because Democratic delegates are awarded proportionally, Obama added four delegates to his lead, according to CNN estimates. Obama earlier claimed a decisive victory in North Carolina. With 99 percent of precincts reporting, Obama held a 14-point lead over Clinton. Watch analysis of NC, IN primaries » . "Some were saying that North Carolina would be a game-changer in this election. But today, what North Carolina decided is that the only game that needs changing is the one in Washington," Obama told supporters in Raleigh, North Carolina. Watch Obama thank his supporters » . Obama took an overwhelming 91 percent of the black vote in North Carolina, according to exit polls, while Clinton claimed only 6 percent. Clinton took 59 percent of the white vote compared to 36 percent for Obama, according to the polls. Clinton told her supporters in Indianapolis, "it's full-speed on to the White House." Watch Clinton greet her supporters » . Clinton made a strong pitch to blue-collar workers in Indiana. She pulled a majority of the votes in rural and suburban Indiana during Tuesday's primary. In CNN exit polling, Clinton took 53 percent of the vote in suburban areas, compared with 47 percent for Obama of Illinois. She took 68 percent of the rural vote compared with Obama's 32 percent. In all, 1,738 voters were polled. Clinton had pitched herself as the candidate best-suited to turn around a flailing economy and consciously courted working-class voters in the state -- even driving a pickup truck up to a gas pump once to help promote her proposed temporary rollback of federal tax on gasoline. "I believe that Americans need a champion in their corners," she said at a rally in Indianapolis. "For too long we've had a president who has stood up and spoken out for the wealthy and the well-connected, but I don't think that's what Americans need. "Standing up for working people is about the American dream and about the Democratic Party; standing up for the middle class is who we are and what we can be if we stick together." Eighty-nine percent of Indiana voters said they have been affected by what they called a recession. Clinton had a slight edge when voters were asked who is most likely to improve the economy -- taking 49 percent to Obama's 47 percent. The candidates now turn their attention to the upcoming contests in West Virginia, Kentucky and Oregon. According to early exit polls, half of Clinton's supporters in Indiana would not vote for Obama in a general election matchup with Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. Watch what the exit polls show » . A third of Clinton voters said they would pick McCain over Obama, while 17 percent said they would not vote at all. Forty-eight percent of Clinton supporters said they would back Obama in November. Obama got even less support from Clinton backers in North Carolina, where 45 percent of Clinton supporters said they would vote for him over McCain. Thirty-eight percent of Clinton supporters said they would vote for McCain while 12 percent said they would not vote. Obama voters appear to be more willing to support Clinton in November. In Indiana, 59 percent of Obama backers said they'd vote for Clinton, and 70 percent of Obama backers in North Carolina said vote for her against McCain. Obama on Tuesday said he didn't agree with those who said his party would not be able to unite. "Tonight, many of the pundits have suggested that this party is inalterably divided -- that Sen. Clinton's supporters will not support me, and that my supporters will not support her," he said. "I'm here tonight to tell you that I don't believe it. Yes, there have been bruised feelings on both sides. Yes, each side desperately wants their candidate to win. But ultimately, this race is not about Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama or John McCain. "This election is about you -- the American people -- and whether we will have a president and a party that can lead us toward a brighter future." Obama currently leads in pledged delegates and in states won, and he is ahead in the popular vote, if Florida and Michigan are not factored into the equation. Those states are being penalized for moving their primaries up in violation of party rules. With neither candidate expected to win the 2,025 delegates needed to clinch the Democratic nomination by June 3, the end of the primary season, the final decision will most likely fall to the 796 superdelegates: Democratic governors, members of Congress and party officials. Watch how superdelegates could come into play » . Both candidates have spent the past two weeks shuttling between Indiana and North Carolina, each arguing to crucial working-class voters that their rival is out of touch when it comes to the pocketbook issues that are dominating the campaign. CNN's Susan Candiotti, Dan Lothian and Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

NEW: Final votes counted in Indiana's Lake County; Obama dominates . Clinton wins squeaker in Indiana; Obama cruises in North Carolina . Obama says he does not believe his party is "inalterably divided" 187 delegates were at stake in Tuesday's primaries .

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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Bush administration hailed North Korea's declaration of its nuclear program as a success for the multilateral diplomacy it engaged in through the six party talks with South Korea, China, Japan and Russia. Workers remove fuel rods on the reactor floor at North Korea's Yongbyon nuclear facility this year. In fact, North Korea's confessions of many of its nuclear sins -- and its shutdown of its nuclear reactor at Yongbyon -- are the closest the international community has come to curbing North Korea's nuclear program. As a result of Pyongyang's handover of the 60-page declaration document -- and Friday's expected destruction of the cooling tower at Yongbyon -- President Bush ordered some sanctions against North Korea lifted and instructed the State Department to remove the reclusive communist nation from U.S. lists of enemies and nations that support terrorism. But as important as what the document says is what it doesn't say. There is no mention of how many weapons North Korea has or where they are hidden. Nor did North Korea admit to a suspected uranium enrichment program or what nuclear secrets it may have shared with Syria. Both issues are reduced in the declaration to "concerns" Pyongyang promises to address down the road. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have pledged a robust verification process to double-check North Korea's claims. And North Korea has promised to allow U.S. inspectors access to the Yongbyon facility and to interview its nuclear experts. But it is far from clear whether Pyongyang will allow the kind of intrusive inspections of its entire nuclear arsenal that the United States will need to get a complete picture of North Korea's program. Congressional Republicans not so sure about Pyongyang . The stiffest opposition to the deal is coming from conservative Republicans. Once considered President Bush's strongest allies in confronting North Korea's nuclear ambition, they feel that the Bush administration has let North Korea off the hook, especially when it comes to its enriched uranium program and suspected proliferation to Syria. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Florida, the top Republican on the Foreign Affairs Committee, expressed "profound disappointment" over Bush's announcement that North Korea would be coming off the lists of enemies and state sponsors of terrorism. And Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Michigan, the top Republican on the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, accused President Bush of sacrificing its principles for a foreign policy success. "A decision seemingly has been made that it is more important for the White House to reach a legacy agreement than to get to the bottom of North Korea's nuclear efforts," Hoekstra said. "Lifting sanctions and removing North Korea from the list of state sponsors of terrorism flies in the face of history and rewards its brutal dictator for shallow gestures." Rep. Ed Royce, R-California, called North Korea's declaration late and incomplete, alleging that North Korea built a nuclear facility for Syria, considered a terrorist state by the United States, while the nuclear negotiations were ongoing. That, he said, was proof that Pyongyang can't be trusted. "How do you have a meaningful declaration of your nuclear program without saying how many bombs you have?" Royce asked. "This is a signal to other proliferating regimes that nuclear weapons will be rewarded without ever having to give them up." Democrats, who once criticized Bush for not talking directly to North Korea about its nuclear program, are cautiously supportive of the deal. Howard Berman, the Democratic chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, called the North's submission of a declaration "encouraging." Even former presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry, D-Massachusetts, praised the Bush administration, saying "engaging our enemies can pay dividends." But Kerry added, "historians will long wonder why this administration did not directly engage North Korea before Pyongyang gathered enough material for several nuclear weapons, tested a nuclear device and the missiles to deliver them." Are we headed down the same road with Iran? In his 2002 State of the Union address, Bush termed Iraq, North Korea and Iran the "axis of evil," saying they were "arming to threaten the peace of the world." Fourteen months after delivering that speech -- and after dictator Saddam Hussein released a 12,000-page declaration that it had no weapons of mass destruction -- U.S. forces invaded Iraq. But no such program was found, nor were stockpiles of chemical or biological weapons of mass destruction. More than five years into the war, the United States is still battling al Qaeda and Iraqi insurgents there. Six-party talks with North Korea began in 2003, after North Korea withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Progress was limited until 2007, when North Korea agreed to shut down Yongbyon and allow international monitors back into the country for monitoring and verification. Progress has been even more limited for the third member of the "axis of evil," Iran. The Bush administration has joined the other members of the U.N. Security Council -- Britain, France, China and Russia, along with Germany -- in offering Iran a set of political and economic incentives similar to the ones North Korea was given in exchange for suspending its uranium enrichment program. But the United States has refused to sit down with Iran until that suspension takes place. The U.N. Security Council has passed three resolutions imposing sanctions against Iran, and the United States has worked with some success to isolate Iran from the international financial community. But unlike North Korea, which is isolated and desperately in need of international aid, Iran is rich in oil and a powerful force in the Middle East. And it's only getting richer and more immune to sanctions as oil prices skyrocket. And Iran seems to be running out the clock and waiting to try its luck with a new U.S. president. Sen. Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee, has pledged to engage Iran in direct talks to try to curb its nuclear ambitions. Sen. John McCain, the presumptive GOP nominee, has taken a much tougher line, refusing to rule out military action to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran. With the coming change in the U.S. administration, U.S. officials, diplomats and other Iran experts believe that it would be at least eight months to a year before the United States and Iran could seriously think about talking. Meanwhile, by its own admission, Iran continues to perfect its nuclear technology. If the North Korean experience can serve as a lesson for the next U.S. president, that lesson may well be that the longer the United States waits to talk to Iran, the higher the cost will be to get Tehran out of the nuclear business.

Just as important as what the nuclear declaration says is what it doesn't say . North Korea didn't admit to uranium enrichment or sharing secrets with Syria . Many Republicans say Bush administration has let Pyongyang off the hook . U.S. may be headed down the same road with Iran .

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(CNN) -- The last of six Texas A&M University mariners who went missing in the Gulf of Mexico was found dead Sunday afternoon, the Coast Guard said. The other five crewmates were rescued earlier in the day. Members of the Texas A&M Offshore Sailing Team are shown in this photo from the team's Web site. The deceased mariner was identified by the university as Roger Stone, the vessel's second safety officer. The survivors -- four university students and a safety officer -- told the Coast Guard they were forced off their sailboat after it took on water and capsized. "The flooding was so fast that the thing flipped over," Coast Guard Capt. William Diehl told CNN. The sailboat, named Cynthia Woods, was one of about two dozen boats heading from Galveston, Texas, to Veracruz, Mexico, for the annual Veracruz Regatta race, which began on Friday. Diehl said the boat was well-stocked with safety equipment -- including emergency radio beacons, life rafts and ring buoys -- but the crew could only manage to find four life jackets after the boat tipped over. "The survivors told us that [when] they went into the water, they had four life jackets among the five, and they huddled together and they exchanged the life jackets among them so that they could stay afloat," Diehl said. Communication with the boat was lost about midnight Friday, and the boat missed its 8 a.m. radio check the next morning, the Coast Guard reported. A sailboat matching the description of the missing 38-foot boat was found overturned about 5:15 p.m. Saturday, authorities said. The five survivors were found several hours later about 23 miles south of Freeport, Texas, according to the Coast Guard's press release. They were lifted to safety by a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter around 2 a.m. local time and taken to University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston for treatment. The search for the missing crew member involved two Coast Guard helicopters, a Falcon jet, a Marine Corps C-130 -- which has night-vision capabilities -- and the Coast Guard cutter Manowar. All of those on board the capsized sailboat were experienced sailors, Diehl said. "They were very well trained," Diehl said. "Obviously [they were] the more senior cadets at the university here, and they had very experienced safety people on board." When rescuers retrieved the capsized boat's hull, Diehl said the keel was missing. "That's the part that keeps the sailboat balanced in the water," he said. "And from talking to the survivors this morning, that's where the flooding started for them." The 725-mile Veracruz regatta began on Friday and boats are expected to arrive in Veracruz on Wednesday and Thursday.

Deceased mariner identified by the university as Roger Stone . Coast Guard rescues five sailors reported missing . Texas A&M sailboat was taking part in regatta from Galveston to Veracruz, Mexico . Boat's six-person crew missed 8 a.m. radio check Saturday .

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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- After wrapping up the longest presidential primary campaign in modern history, Sen. Hillary Clinton said Tuesday that she is ready to turn her attention back to being the junior senator from New York. Sen. Hillary Clinton is greeted with cheers as she returns to the Senate after a two-week vacation. "I look forward to being back with this great team," she said as she returned to the Senate at the end of a two-week vacation, taken after she conceded the 17-month-long primary contest to Sen. Barack Obama. The second-term New York Democrat pledged to "immerse myself in there," pointing to the chamber. She had just emerged from the party's weekly luncheon, which Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid called "one of the most emotional caucuses" he's ever attended on Capitol Hill. He said the New York senator entered the event to a sea of high fives, cheers and a standing ovation from her Democratic colleagues. Clinton said the opportunity to run for the Oval Office allowed her to "immerse myself in the extraordinary resilience and resourcefulness that is the American people." Watch Clinton being greeted with cheers » . "I come back with an even greater depth of awareness about what we have to do here in Washington," she said. "So many of the concerns that people have expressed to me over the course of this campaign are ones that they can't individually solve. They can't even really take it on just at the state or local level." Clinton said that in addition to working "very hard to elect Sen. Obama our president," she plans to campaign on behalf of Democratic Senate candidates. "We have been unfortunately stymied by the stalling tactics" of Republicans, she said, noting the need for 60 votes to get any legislation passed in the Senate. "It's going to be up to the Democratic Party, and particularly the Democratic Senate, to make progress on everything from health care and the economy to ending the war in Iraq," she said. "I look forward to being back with this great team that we have here and doing everything I can to make that happen." Clinton said she is not spending time on the possibility that she may be asked to fill the No. 2 spot on Sen. Barack Obama's presidential ticket. "You know, it is not something that I think about," she said. "This is totally Sen. Obama's decision, and that's the way it should be." But she made clear, as she tried to do in her ultimate concession speech June 7, that her supporters should not stray toward John McCain, no matter any hard feelings left over from a bruising primary. "Anyone who voted for me has very little in common with the Republican Party," she said. Thursday night, Obama and Clinton are set to meet with key donors in Washington. The next day, the two will appear jointly in Unity, New Hampshire, a small town on that state's western border where the two candidates tied in the January primary. "This is going to be a symbolic event that I hope will rally the Democratic Party behind the nominee," she said. Obama said he looked forward to working with Clinton and her husband, former President Clinton, on his campaign for the White House. "Bill Clinton is one of the most intelligent, charismatic political leaders that we have seen in a generation, and he has got a lot of wisdom to impart," Obama said Tuesday. "We are going to be working very closely with him and Sen. Clinton to make sure that we not only win in November, but we actually govern in a way that delivers on the promise of universal health care, good jobs and good wages, clean energy, lower gas prices, the things that are really going to make an impact on people's lives," he said. Watch Obama discuss Clintons' role » . Obama said the senator's presidential campaign had "enhanced" her stature in a way that would bolster her efficacy in the Senate. "She garnered not just votes but passion and support of so many millions of people," Obama said. "She's going to be a force to be reckoned with not only in the Senate, but hopefully, if I'm successful in the White House, she's going to be one of my key partners in making sure that were moving forward on issues like healthcare that she cares so deeply about." At an event in Riverside, California, Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, said Clinton is probably returning to the Senate with greater political clout. "I think, if I had to guess, that the fact that the she ran an honorable and incredibly long and dedicated campaign for the nomination of her party would indicate to me that she would probably return to the United States senate with enhanced prestige and enhanced influence," McCain said. He also praised Clinton for her work on military matters since joining the legislative body in 2001. "I think that Sen. Clinton has already attained a position of leadership in the United States Senate," he said. "She works hard at her job. She is a very important member of the Armed Services Committee, and I have worked together with her on a variety of national security issues." McCain is working hard to persuade Clinton supporters to back his campaign. CNN's Bob Costantini, Lisa Desjardins, Alex Mooney and Peter Hamby contributed.

NEW: Obama says he's looking forward to working with Clintons . Junior senator from New York returns after a two-week vacation . Clinton promises to "immerse myself" in the Senate chambers . Clinton, Obama to campaign together in Unity, New Hampshire, on Friday .

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LONDON, England (CNN) -- Britain's Prince William has helped the U.S. Coast Guard bust a drug smuggling boat carrying cocaine worth a minimum of $80 million. Prince William has helped bust a speed boat smuggling $80 million worth of cocaine. William, who is serving in the Royal Navy, helped make the bust last weekend when he spotted a speedboat found to be carrying nearly a ton of cocaine in the Atlantic Ocean, Britain's Ministry of Defense said Wednesday. William, 26, was one of the crew members aboard a helicopter attached to the frigate HMS Iron Duke who spotted the ocean-going speedboat hundreds of miles northeast of Barbados, the defense ministry said . The 50-foot-long power boat raised suspicions because it was a small vessel far out to sea and resembled a "go-fast" boat commonly used for drug smuggling, the ministry said. The boat's location suggested it was en route to Europe or North Africa, it said. The chopper's crew informed the ship's captain about the boat, and U.S. Coast Guard personnel who were on the frigate then boarded the boat. They found 45 bales of cocaine weighing a total of 900 kilograms (just under a ton), the defense ministry said. The cocaine has a minimum street value of $80 million, the ministry said. The bust went smoothly with no violence, defense officials said. Navy crew detained the five men on the boat, which was in poor condition and later sank. William is in the middle of a two-month attachment with the Royal Navy as part of his continued experience with various branches of the military. The prince, who is called sub lieutenant Wales in the navy, is also expected to spend time aboard a mine hunter and submarine during his attachment, which ends August 1. William's vessel, the Iron Duke, is a patrol boat which supports overseas British territories in the event of a hurricane and carries out counter-narcotic operations. William completed a four-month attachment with the Royal Air Force earlier this year and received his pilot's wings on graduation in April. He learned to fly three different aircraft during the attachment and is known as Flying Officer Wales within the RAF. William is already a second lieutenant in the British Army, where he serves in the Blues and Royals regiment of the Household Cavalry. The attachments are designed to give the prince, who as king will be the head of the armed forces, experience with the military.

Prince William has helped the U.S. Coast Guard bust a drug smuggling boat . Boat carrying cocaine with a street value of at least $80m, officials say . Prince William helped spot the boat hundreds of miles northeast of Barbados .

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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Senate Republicans on Tuesday blocked a Democratic initiative that would have taxed the windfall profits oil companies have enjoyed due to rising energy prices, with the minority leader calling the proposal a "gimmick." Record energy prices have led to record profits for oil companies. The measure failed to achieve the 60 votes required by Senate rules to proceed. The vote was 51-43. Six Republicans, including three seeking re-election in November, broke ranks to support the bill. Two Democrats -- Sen. Mary Landrieu of oil-producing state Louisiana and Majority Leader Harry Reid, who voted no to be able to bring the measure back to the floor under Senate rules -- voted against the measure. Along with placing a special tax of 25 percent on oil companies, the bill would have permitted lawsuits against the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, the oil-producing cartel, and suspended deposits into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Profits from renewable energy sources would be excluded from the tax. "We're not afraid, on this side, to go after Big Oil when they are not doing the right thing," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-New York. "And we are not afraid to go after OPEC because they are a cartel that squeezes us. "We're not afraid to do some strong tough things that will -- some in the short run, some in the longer run -- that will bring down the price, the all too high price, of gasoline." Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-North Dakota, said the measure was needed to "wring out" speculators he blamed for driving the price of crude oil to more than $130 a barrel in recent weeks . But Senate Republicans insisted the new taxes ultimately would hurt consumers and cut American oil supply, saying Democrats simply were playing election-year politics. The bill is "pure and simple a pathetic attempt to even call itself an energy plan," said Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said, "Hitting the gas companies might make for good campaign literature or evening news clips, but it won't address the problem. This bill isn't a serious response to gas prices. It is just a gimmick." The Kentucky Republican added, "They are hoping the idea of going after energy companies will create the illusion of action after a week in which they themselves fought for a bill that would make the problem worse. What a political charade." As the average cost of gas edged above $4 a gallon, high prices are definitely on the minds of voters. A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll released Tuesday shows 40 percent of respondents are more concerned about the cost of gasoline than long lines at the pump, which occurred during the energy crisis of the 1970s. But 55 percent of those surveyed are more worried about the long lines and rationing. The poll results reflect telephone interviews with 1,035 adults on Wednesday and Thursday. The margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points. CNN's Ted Barrett, Lisa Desjardins, Matt Smith, Virginia Nicolaidis and Scott J. Anderson contributed to this report.

Measure fails to get 60 votes needed to proceed . Bill would have added 25 percent supplemental tax on windfall profits . Democrats say legislation shows they are willing to take on Big Oil . Minority leader calls the bill "a gimmick" and "political charade"

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JAKARTA, Indonesia (CNN) -- Five Europeans rescued Saturday after an Indonesia diving trip went wrong had to fight off a Komodo dragon while they were waiting to be found, according to reports. Rescued diver Kath Mitchinso embraces fellow diver Ernest Lewandowsky as they arrive on Flores island. The group was found at Mantaolan, on the island of Rinca off the Komodo National Park, after going missing Thursday. The divers -- three Britons, a Frenchman and a Swede -- spent two nights on the deserted island, which is home to the large Komodo dragon, before rangers found them Saturday. Frenchman Laurent Pinel, 31, said the group had to fight off one dragon with rocks and scavenged for shellfish as they waited to be rescued, Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper reported. "On the beach a Komodo dragon came amongst us [Friday] afternoon," Pinel said, describing how the group had to pelt the dangerous reptile with rocks to scare it away. "We had nothing to eat. We ate some kind of mussels scraped from the rocks," Pinel told the newspaper. The husband of one of the other divers said he was told they were in good condition, although dehydrated. "I'm just so relieved," said Mats Kohler, husband of Helena Neva Lainen. They are both from Sweden. An official said they were being taken to a hospital for examination. Searchers using boats located the missing divers at 11 a.m. Saturday (11 p.m. ET Friday), the official said. They arrived at a hospital in Labuan Bajo, on the western tip of the island of Flores, about two hours later, an official said. Watch a report on the discovery of the missing group » . They were one of two groups of divers who entered the water off Komodo National Park on Thursday and were supposed to be gone for an hour, said an employee of the dive company, Reef Seekers. The second group came back after the hour passed, but the first group failed to resurface, she said. Earlier, an official with the Komodo Divers Association said the group that returned comprised six snorkelers. Among those who went missing was one of the owners of the dive company, Kathleen Mitchinson, the employee said. The seas that the divers were in are known to be dangerous because of their strong tides, and that's one theory being investigated in the divers' disappearance, the employee said.

Five European divers battled Komodo dragon before rescue . Group found at Mantaolan, on the island of Rinca off Komodo National Park . Missing divers included three Britons, one Frenchwoman and a Swede .

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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Bush administration has launched a "significant escalation" of covert operations in Iran, sending U.S. commandos to spy on the country's nuclear facilities and undermine the Islamic republic's government, journalist Seymour Hersh said Sunday. An Iranian flag flies outside the building containing the reactor of Bushehr nuclear power plant, south of Tehran. White House, CIA and State Department officials declined comment on Hersh's report, which appears in this week's issue of The New Yorker. Hersh told CNN's "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer" that Congress has authorized up to $400 million to fund the secret campaign, which involves U.S. special operations troops and Iranian dissidents. President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have rejected findings from U.S. intelligence agencies that Iran has halted a clandestine effort to build a nuclear bomb and "do not want to leave Iran in place with a nuclear program," Hersh said. "They believe that their mission is to make sure that before they get out of office next year, either Iran is attacked or it stops its weapons program," Hersh said. The new article, "Preparing the Battlefield," is the latest in a series of articles accusing the Bush administration of preparing for war with Iran. He based the report on accounts from current and former military, intelligence, and congressional sources. Watch Hersh discuss what he says are the administration's plans for Iran » . "As usual with his quarterly pieces, we'll decline to comment," White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe told CNN. "The CIA, as a rule, does not comment on allegations regarding covert operations," CIA spokesman Paul Gimigliano said. Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador in Baghdad, denied U.S. raids were being launched from Iraq, where American commanders believe Iran is stoking sectarian warfare and fomenting attacks on U.S. troops. "I can tell you flatly that U.S. forces are not operating across the Iraqi border into Iran, in the south or anywhere else," Crocker said. Hersh said U.S. efforts were staged from Afghanistan, which also shares a border with Iran. He said the program resulted in "a dramatic increase in kinetic events and chaos" inside Iran, including attacks by Kurdish separatists in the country's north and a May attack on a mosque in Shiraz that killed 13 people. The United States has said it is trying to isolate Iran diplomatically in order to get it to come clean about its nuclear ambitions. But Bush has said "all options" are open in dealing with the issue. Iran insists its nuclear program is aimed at providing civilian electric power, and refuses to comply with U.N. Security Council demands that it halt uranium enrichment work. U.N. nuclear inspectors say Tehran held back critical information that could determine whether it is trying to make nuclear weapons. Israel, which is believed to have its own nuclear arsenal, conducted a military exercise in the eastern Mediterranean in early June involving dozens of warplanes and aerial tankers. The distance involved in the exercise was roughly the same as would be involved in a possible strike on the Iranian nuclear fuel plant at Natanz, Iran, a U.S. military official said. In 1981, Israeli warplanes destroyed an Iraqi nuclear reactor. Iran's parliament speaker, Ali Larijani, warned other countries against moves that would "cost them heavily." In comments that appeared in the semi-official Mehr news agency Sunday, an Iranian general said his troops were digging more than 320,000 graves to bury troops from any invading force with "the respect they deserve." "Under the law of war and armed conflict, necessary preparations must be made for the burial of soldiers of aggressor nations," said Maj. Gen. Mirfaisal Baqerzadeh, an Iranian officer in charge of identifying soldiers missing in action. Journalist Shirzad Bozorghmehr in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.

New Yorker article says Congress authorized up to $400 million for covert ops in Iran . Journalist Seymour Hersh says program is being staged from Afghanistan . U.S. officials decline comment, deny the U.S. is launching raids from Iraq . Iranian general says troops are building graves for invaders in the event of war .

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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush on Monday signed a bill that will pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through the remainder of his presidency and into spring 2009. President Bush on Monday said the men and women of the armed forces deserve "our unflinching support." The supplemental spending bill provides nearly $162 billion in war funding without the restrictions congressional Democrats vowed to put into place since they took control of Congress nearly two years ago. After signing the bill, Bush said the men and woman of the armed services are owed "our unflinching support, and the best way to demonstrate that support is to give them the resources they need to do their jobs and to prevail." Bush also said he appreciated that "Republicans and Democrats in Congress agreed to provide these vital funds without tying the hands of our commanders and without an artificial timetable of withdrawal from Iraq." Watch as Bush thanks Congress » . "This bill shows the American people that even in an election year, Republicans and Democrats can come together to stand behind our troops and their families," Bush said. He also touted the success of the "surge" strategy he implemented last year. "Our troops have driven the terrorists and extremists from many strongholds in Iraq. Today, violence is at the lowest level since March of 2004," he said. "As a result of this progress, some of our troops are coming home, as a result of our policy called 'Return on Success.' We welcome them home." White Houses spokeswoman Dana Perino called the bill a victory for the president. "Because we have seen success in the surge, perhaps Congress decided that it was OK to allow the commander in chief to be able to move forward as he saw fit," said Perino, noting the $162 billion was the same amount that the president had requested. The supplemental spending bill also contains a new GI Bill that expands education benefits for veterans who have served since the 9/11 attacks, provides a 13-week extension of unemployment benefits and more than $2 billion in disaster assistance for parts of the Midwest that have been hit by record floods. The signing comes two weeks before the deadline that Defense Secretary Robert Gates had established for the funds. Gates said he would consider laying off Defense Department employees to balance the Pentagon's books if legislation was not signed by July 15. Watch a progress report from the U.S. ambassador to Iraq » . House Democrats had tried to include restrictions on war funding when they drafted the bill, but they were unable to overcome procedural hurdles that Republicans put up. A compromise version of the supplemental bill was later negotiated between Democratic and Republican leaders that included the war funding along with the GI Bill, unemployment benefits and disaster relief -- three top legislative priorities for the Democrats that Bush and congressional Republicans originally resisted. "At a time when 2 million men and women have fought in Iraq and Afghanistan and when our troops have had to endure multiple deployments, stop-loss policies, insufficient equipment and an unclear strategy, giving them the opportunity to fuel our future economy is the least we can do," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, said of the GI Bill after the Senate sent it to the president's desk Thursday night. Congressional Democrats regained control of the House of Representatives and Senate after the 2006 midterm elections in large part to due to displeasure over the Iraq war. But Democrats -- lacking the 60 votes to overcome GOP filibusters in the Senate, let alone the two-thirds majorities in both the House and Senate to override a presidential veto -- have been unable to pass significant restrictions on war funding because Republicans, for the most part, have stuck with Bush on the war.

NEW: White House spokeswoman calls bill a victory for President Bush . Bush signs supplemental spending bill with $162 billion for wars . Legislation funds Iraq and Afghanistan wars through spring 2009 without restrictions . Bill also contains veteran education and unemployment benefits and disaster relief .

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(CNN) -- Sen. Barack Obama defended his patriotism Monday, telling a crowd in Independence, Missouri, that his "deep and abiding love for this country" is the reason he is running for president. Sen. Barack Obama's speech on patriotism comes days before the Fourth of July. "At certain times over the last 16 months, I have found, for the first time, my patriotism challenged -- at times as a result of my own carelessness, more often as a result of the desire by some to score political points and raise fears and doubts about who I am and what I stand for," he said in President Harry Truman's hometown, just days before the Fourth of July. Obama vowed to never question the patriotism of others in the campaign, adding "I will not stand idly by when I hear others question mine." Obama has been defending his patriotism ever since the beginning of the primary season, when he was first criticized for not wearing a flag pin -- which he now does much more frequently -- and when false rumors began circulating that he did not say the Pledge of Allegiance. Watch excerpts of Obama's speech » . A widely distributed photo also seemed to show him failing to place his hand over his heart during a rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner." Obama's wife, Michelle, also was criticized about her patriotism, after telling an audience at a campaign event, "For the first time in my adult lifetime, I'm really proud of my country." Obama's campaign said she was just excited about the campaign's grassroots support, but her words still provided fodder for her husband's opponents. At his appearance Monday, Barack Obama appealed to unity. "Given the enormous challenges that lie before us, we can no longer afford these sorts of divisions," he said. "None of us expect that arguments about patriotism will, or should, vanish entirely; after all, when we argue about patriotism, we are arguing about who we are as a country, and more importantly, who we should be. "But surely, we can agree that no party or political philosophy has a monopoly on patriotism. And surely, we can arrive at a definition of patriotism that, however rough and imperfect, captures the best of America's common spirit." Obama said that for him, "patriotism starts as a gut instinct, a loyalty and love for country that's rooted in some of my earliest memories." Obama described how as he grew up, his patriotism matured to something that "would survive my growing awareness of our nation's imperfections: its ongoing racial strife; the perversion of our political system that were laid bare during the Watergate hearings; the wrenching poverty of the Mississippi Delta and the hills of Appalachia." Obama said he learned that "what makes America great has never been its perfection, but the belief that it can be made better." Patriotism, he said, must involve the willingness to sacrifice. He called attention to the service of John McCain, the presumptive Republican candidate. McCain's campaign has been calling on Obama to condemn comments from retired Gen. Wesley Clark, who said this weekend that McCain's service in Vietnam did not necessarily mean that he was qualified to serve as commander-in-chief. Read about what Clark said . Clark is a military adviser for Obama. In his speech Monday, Obama did not directly address Clark's comments, but after calling attention to McCain's service, he said "no one should ever devalue that service, especially for the sake of a political campaign, and that goes for supporters of both sides." "We must always express our profound gratitude for the service of our men and women in uniform. Period," he said. Just as Obama was finishing his speech, his campaign released a statement about Clark's remarks. "As he's said many times before, Sen. Obama honors and respects Sen. McCain's service, and of course he rejects yesterday's statement by Gen. Clark," Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton said. Meanwhile, McCain's campaign announced Monday it was launching a new Truth Squad to defend the Arizona senator's military record. Leaders of the latest group include McCain's fellow Vietnam prisoners of war Air Force Col. Bud Day and Marine Lt. Col. Orson Swindle, along with former Navy pilot Carl Smith, who served with him. McCain said Monday he was proud of his record of service. Watch McCain's response to Clark's comments » . "The important thing is that if that's the kind of campaign that Sen. Obama and his surrogates and his supporters want to engage in, I understand that," he said. "But it doesn't reduce the price of a gallon of gas by one penny. It doesn't achieve our energy independence or make it come any closer ... and it certainly doesn't do anything to address the challenges that Americans have in keeping their jobs, their homes and supporting their families." Obama was to follow up Monday's speech on patriotism with an address Tuesday about faith and remarks later in the week on service. He will spend his Fourth of July in Butte, Montana, campaigning with his family. McCain on Monday was campaigning in Pennsylvania, a battleground state in the general election. He was scheduled to speak with reporters in Harrisburg before holding a town hall meeting in Pipersville. McCain leaves for Colombia on Tuesday and will travel to Mexico later in the week. His campaign on Monday unveiled his new campaign airplane, a Boeing 737-400. The aircraft shares its name -- the "Straight Talk Express" with McCain's campaign bus, which has been a staple of the candidate's 2000 and 2008 campaigns. The 95-seat plane -- with seats for the candidate, his staffers and the press -- has the "Straight Talk Express" logo emblazoned on its fuselage. CNN's Tasha Diakides and Chris Welch contributed to this report.

NEW: Obama vows to never question the patriotism of others in the campaign . NEW: Obama camp: "Of course [Obama] rejects yesterday's statement" by Clark . NEW: McCain's campaign launches a Truth Squad to defend his military record . McCain unveils new campaign airplane .

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(CNN) -- Bangladesh police have detained or arrested more than 18,000 people in the last 11 days in a crackdown on crime they say is aimed at improving security ahead of December elections. People arrested by Bangladesh police in their latest round-up arrive at a jail in Dhaka. Human rights groups decry the actions as politically motivated. The round-ups began May 28, days after the two main political parties said they would not cooperate with the military-backed caretaker government on organizing the elections. Police told CNN that by Saturday 16,916 arrests had been made, while local media reported another 1,548 were arrested Sunday. The Awami League and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) said hundreds of their party members had been taken into custody. "The timing and targets of the arrests are a dead giveaway they are politically motivated," Brad Adams of the New York-based Human Rights Watch said in a statement. "It's obvious that they are paying the price for the political parties' refusal to accept the government's conditions to participate in the elections." The government rejects the allegations. The detentions, it said, are part of a planned sweep to rid the country of criminals. "Our IGP [Inspector General of Police, or chief of police] categorically said this special drive was being conducted to create a congenial atmosphere before the general election," said Kamrul Ahsan, a spokesman for Bangladesh Police. "It is not politically motivated," he said. "The intention is not to harass anybody politically." The crackdown began after the Awami League and the BNP said they would not cooperate with the government to develop a roadmap toward democracy unless it first releases the parties' leaders. The two women who head the parties -- Sheikh Hasina of the Awami League and Khaleda Zia of the BNP -- are in police custody on corruption-related charges. Hasina is charged with bribe-taking. Zia is being held on charges of graft for improperly awarding a multi-million dollar government contract. The current political crisis in the Muslim-majority South Asian country of 150 million can be traced, in large part, to the lingering animosity between the two women, political observers say. Their rivalry runs so deep that the women are known in the country as the "Battling Begums." Begum is an honorific given to women of rank in the country. Since the country's independence in 1972, the Awami League or the BNP has ruled Bangladesh for all but eight years. Both women have served as prime minister at one point or another. After its last stint in power ended in 2006, the BNP handed over rule to a caretaker government to conduct elections, as mandated by the country's constitution. But the Awami League refused to recognize the neutrality of the interim government. Hasina accused Zia of stocking it with BNP backers. Supporters and party members took to the streets in months of deadly clashes. To stem the tide of violence, a military-backed government took control in January 2007 and imposed an indefinite state of emergency. It also postponed elections until it said it could clean up the country's graft-ridden politics. The caretaker government adopted the Emergency Powers Rules. The rules allowed authorities to arrest people without a warrant as long as there was reasonable suspicion that he or she was connected to a crime, Human Rights Watch said. A wave of detentions followed. By some estimates more than 90,000 people were detained before some were released and others charged with crimes. Among those arrested were more than 150 top politicians, including Hasina and Zia -- leading to the current political stalemate. The government wants to hold elections in the third week of December, and said the crusade on crime is part of its plan to ensure trouble-free balloting. The political parties allege the arrests are intended to pave the way for the election of pro-government candidates. They want their leaders set free before they sit down and talk with the government about a roadmap toward a successful election. They also threatened to organize mass movements to secure their leaders' release. "It's kind of an impasse," said Taleya Rehman, founder and executive director of the Bangladesh-based non-profit Democracy Watch. "The government is conducting political dialogue with small parties. But they are of no significance. They need the two major parties." On Monday, the government announced it was releasing Hasina from custody on medical grounds so she can go abroad for treatment. A similar release for Zia was also expected. Party members say the government's move is a ploy to sideline the pair from the elections by sending them out of the country. Hasina has a damaged ear resulting from a bombing attack that targeted her four years ago. Zia is believed to have arthritis. Meanwhile, the detentions continue -- almost 1,800 a day. In addition to political party members, the crackdown has also swept up several journalists. "That actually makes the arrests suspicious in some people's minds," said Sultana Kamal, executive director of the legal aid group, Ain o Salish Kendro (Law and Adjudication Center). "If you just arrest any Tom, Dick and Harry saying this person may have arms, then people will legitimately raise questions about the mode of the whole operation."

Bangladesh police have detained or arrested 18,000 people in 11 days . Human rights groups decry the actions as politically motivated . Round-ups began after parties refused to cooperate with military government .

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HARARE, Zimbabwe (CNN) -- About 220 Zimbabweans congregated outside the U.S. Embassy in Harare on Thursday, seeking refuge from election-related violence, embassy spokesman Mark Weinberg said. People seeking refuge sit on a curb and sidewalk outside the U.S. Embassy in Harare on Thursday. By evening, embassy officials were moving "most of the women and children into safe houses," and were trying to get water and blankets for the growing crowd, Weinberg said. Some of the refuge-seekers, identifying themselves as supporters of the opposition party Movement for Democratic Change, said militia members supporting President Robert Mugabe's party destroyed their homes or were hunting them because of their affiliation, according to a journalist at the scene. CNN is not identifying the reporter for security reasons. The journalist said the refuge-seekers, some holding their possessions, sat outside the building Thursday afternoon, waiting to be addressed by a U.S. Embassy official. A few of the people had bandaged wounds, according to the reporter. "The people I can see right now look very miserable, dejected, confused," the reporter said. Watch the refuge-seekers wait outside the embassy » . The MDC has said its members were targeted by supporters of Mugabe during the weeks surrounding March's presidential election and last week's runoff. MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew from the June 27 runoff, citing violence, intimidation and allegations of vote-rigging. That left Mugabe as the only runoff candidate, allowing him to claim re-election. Tsvangirai himself fled to South Africa for a short time in March during the campaign season, saying he feared for his safety. He also sought refuge in the Dutch Embassy in Harare on June 22, shortly after announcing he was withdrawing from the runoff. He returned to his Harare home this week, a Dutch Foreign Ministry spokesman said. Several Western nations denounced the violence and declared Mugabe's runoff victory illegitimate. Reports of violence have continued after the runoff. On Monday, the MDC claimed that a politician from the party was abducted at gunpoint outside a courthouse in the city of Mutare. The assailants, who the MDC said wore military outfits, took Naison Nemadziva, a lawmaker who recently won a seat in parliament against a member of Mugabe's party, the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front. The MDC claimed in a press release that the kidnapping was by supporters of ZANU-PF and that police had not been able to find the lawmaker. This week, a resolution from the African Union in Egypt called for negotiations between Tsvangirai and Mugabe, and some European Union officials have called for a coalition government in Zimbabwe with Tsvangirai as its leader. But Tsvangirai this week said the "conditions prevailing in Zimbabwe ... are not conducive" to negotiations with Mugabe. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Wednesday said Mugabe "has blood on his hands" after the violence leading to the runoff and should step down. Mugabe has been Zimbabwe's only leader since its independence from Britain in 1980, when it was called Rhodesia.

Embassy spokesman: Officials exploring housing options for refuge-seekers . U.S. Embassy in Harare: 220 Zimbabweans seeking refuge from violence . People in crowd say they've been driven from homes by supporters of ruling party . Country in political crisis since disputed vote in March, presidential runoff last month .

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EDWARDSVILLE, Illinois (CNN) -- A man suspected of bludgeoning eight people to death is a methamphetamine addict with a history of fighting with police, an investigator said as the suspected spree killer made his first court appearance. Suspected spree killer Nicholas Troy Sheley, 28, did not enter a plea during his first court appearance. Nicholas T. Sheley, 28, is being held on $1 million bail in one slaying as police and prosecutors prepare additional charges in connection with a week-long killing spree in two states. Sheley, 28, appeared in an Illinois courtroom on Wednesday via closed-circuit television, but did not enter a plea. He was charged with first-degree murder in the death of Ronald Randall, 65, whose body was found behind a grocery story in Galesburg. Other charges include aggravated battery, vehicle hijacking and vehicle theft. Watch Sheley's perp walk » . Sheley, who wore a green-and-white striped jail jumpsuit, said little except to answer "yes, sir," to a series of questions from Judge Edward Ferguson. Authorities say Sheley's alleged burst of violence spanned 300 miles until he gave up without a fight when police confronted him as he smoked outside a bar in Granite City, Illinois, on Tuesday night. Map: See where the bodies were found » . Additional charges are being filed in a second Illinois county which encompasses two other towns where police believe Sheley killed five people, authorities said. Authorities also suspect Sheley in connection with the slayings of an Arkansas couple in Festus, Missouri. All eight victims, which include a child, died from blunt-force trauma to the head, officials said. Sheley's capture ended an intensive manhunt, which included a $25,000 reward offer. Sheley had stopped at Bindy's bar, a popular cop bar in a Granite City shopping center. Two patrons who recognized him from news reports called police. Bar owner Bill Watson told CNN Sheley came in, drank a glass of water and went to the restroom. When he returned from the restroom, Sheley asked for a lighter but was told he had to go outside to smoke. He was outside smoking when authorities arrived and arrested him. As bar patrons celebrated Sheley's arrest, a family member of one of the victims called and thanked them for their assistance, Watson said. "It really hit home and made us realize really what this guy was all about," Watson said. New of Sheley's capture calmed nerves in small towns from the Chicago to St. Louis areas. Police conducting a welfare check Sunday at an apartment in Rock Falls, Illinois, found four people dead, including the child. Sheley was a "known associate" to at least one of the Rock Falls victims, state police said. Rock Falls is across the Rock River from Sterling; both are in Whiteside County. The following day, Monday, authorities found Randall's body in Galesburg, about 80 miles south of Rock Falls, and obtained an arrest warrant naming Sheley. The couple found dead in Festus, Missouri, a St. Louis suburb, was in town for a graduation, authorities said, and were last seen at a Comfort Inn there. Sheley is not believed to have had a prior relationship with the couple, police said. During the hunt for Sheley, the St. Louis County Police Department issued a bulletin describing him as an "extremely dangerous" methamphetamine addict. "He has stated to his ex-wife that he has more killing to do," the bulletin said. According to a Tuesday affidavit by FBI Special Agent Susan Hanson, Sheley invaded a home in Sterling, Illinois -- just a mile from Rock Falls -- on June 14. A woman inside the home told police the man was Sheley, it says. Sheley then took off to Iowa where he made a phone call in Sterling on Saturday and then went to Missouri, according to the affidavit. A gas station attendant in Galesburg, less than 60 miles from where the call was placed near Davenport, Iowa, told police that he saw Sheley, who appeared to have blood on him, at the gas station, the affidavit stated. A stolen truck belonging to Randall, the victim in Galesburg, was recovered Sunday in Festus, near an Anheuser-Busch distribution plant, authorities said. CNN's Ismael Estrada, Susan Roesgen and Lee Garen contributed to this report.

NEW: Suspected spree killer described as meth addict . Nicholas T. Sheley, 28, did not enter a plea at first court appearance . Police say ex-con tied to eight killings over past week in Illinois, Missouri . All eight victims died of blunt-force trauma to head, authorities say .

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(CNN) -- A Paris court has ordered eBay to pay $63 million damages to luxury goods company LVMH for allowing copies of its goods to be sold on the Web auction site. Louis Vuitton took eBay to court for selling a range of fake luxury goods online. The fashion company -- home to brands including Louis Vuitton, Givenchy, Fendi, Emilio Pucci and Marc Jacobs -- complained it had been hurt by the sale of fake products on eBay. Pierre Godet, an adviser to LVMH Chairman and CEO Bernard Arnault, said the court's decision was "an answer to a particularly serious question, on whether the Internet is a free-for-all for the most hateful, parasitic practices." eBay said LVMH was trying to crack down on Internet auctions because it was uncomfortable with its business model, which puts sellers rather than brands in control. "If counterfeits appear on our site, we take them down swiftly," eBay spokeswoman Sravanthi Agrawal said. "But today's ruling is not about counterfeits. Today's ruling is about an attempt by LVMH to protect uncompetitive commercial practices at the expense of consumer choice and the livelihood of law-abiding sellers that eBay empowers every day." She said eBay intended to appeal the ruling. The case pit two pillars of their industries -- one old, one new -- in a country whose courts often challenge Internet companies on matters protected elsewhere by freedom of speech. The ruling faulted eBay for "guilty negligence" for not doing enough to prevent fake goods from being sold on its site. The court also ruled that eBay was responsible for the "illicit sale" of perfumes from the LVMH empire, which can be sold only through the brands' "selective distribution networks." The court barred eBay from running ads for the perfume and cosmetic brands or face a fine of $79,000 per day. Heather McDonald, partner at law firm Baker Hostetler, said: "eBay has policies and procedures in place where they will intervene in an action between a buyer and seller if there's a problem, and they profit directly on the basis of every item that is sold on their Web site. "This gives them an affirmative obligation to take steps to make sure that illegal goods aren't sold, and they certainly have the ability to do that. "They have been able to make sure that you can't buy a handgun and they have been able to make sure that you cannot buy pornography or prescription narcotics or other medicines on eBay. "They have the ability to do this, they have just chosen not do and to rest the entire burden of policing eBay on the shoulders of the trademark and copyright holders whose rights are being infringed here."

Paris court orders eBay to pay $63 million in damages to luxury group LVMH . The group sued eBay over sale of fake luxury goods online . Brands affected include Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Fendi and Givenchy . eBay said LVMH was trying to protect uncompetitive commercial practices .

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SEOUL, South Korea (CNN) -- Tens of thousands of South Koreans were demonstrating Saturday on the streets of the capital to protest the government's decision to import what they say is unsafe U.S. beef. South Korean protesters protest against government's policy on U.S. beef imports on Saturday. South Korean police estimate that the crowd in Seoul is about 50,000. No clashes were reported between the protesters and riot police, although ongoing protests have at times turned violent. South Koreans have protested regularly since April when the government announced it would resume importing beef from the United States after a five-year ban. That ban was instituted over a case of mad cow disease in the United States in 2003. The widespread public protests essentially paralyzed the government of President Lee Myung-bak, who replaced seven top aides this month and plans to reshuffle his Cabinet. Tens of thousands of auto workers in South Korea went on strike Wednesday to oppose the government's lifting of the ban. After a series of negotiations, Seoul and Washington came up with a revised agreement on June 21 -- one that limits imports to cattle younger than 30 months old. Animals older than 30 months old are considered at a greater risk for mad cow disease, which can be transmitted to humans. The revised agreement also excludes the import of certain parts believed more susceptible to mad cow disease. The initial deal would have allowed the import of all U.S. beef imports. Scientists believe mad cow disease spreads when farmers feed cattle recycled meat and bones from infected animals. The U.S. banned recycled feeds in 1997. Eating meat products contaminated with the illness has been linked to variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a rare and fatal malady in humans. Until the 2003 ban, South Korea was the third-largest market for U.S. beef exporters. South Korea's new pro-U.S. president agreed to lift the import ban in April before a summit with U.S. President George W. Bush. But the move provoked a backlash over health concerns spurred in part by false media reports about risks, along with a sense that South Korea had backed down too easily to American pressure. The government has vowed to get tough with the rallies. In Washington, the White House announced that Bush would visit South Korea on August 5-6 before heading to the Beijing Olympics. Bush had originally been expected to go to Seoul next week when he visits Japan for the G-8 summit, but the trip did not materialize amid the protests. CNN's Sohn Jie-ae contributed to this report.

Tens of thousands of South Koreans protest imports of U.S. beef . Beef imports largely banned since 2003 when mad cow disease found in U.S. Protests essentially paralyzed the government of President Lee Myung-bak .

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LONDON, England (CNN) -- Hollywood star Will Smith led a crowd of 46,664 in a chorus of "Happy Birthday" to Nelson Mandela on Friday at a party for the South African prisoner, president and Nobel Peace Prize winner. Nelson Mandela had a smile and a message. Smith introduced Mandela to the London crowd celebrating Mandela's life with the words "The one, the only, the birthday boy, Nelson Mandela, Nelson Mandelaaaaaaaaaa." London was the scene of a concert 20 years ago to celebrate Mandela's 70th and to raise awareness of his imprisonment. Mandela told cheering fans, "Your voices carried across the water to inspire us in our prison cells far away. Tonight, we can stand before you free. "We are honored to be back in London for this wonderful occasion. "But even as we celebrate, let us remind ourselves that our work is far from complete. "Where there is poverty and sickness, including AIDS, where human beings are being oppressed, there is more work to be done. Our work is for freedom for all." Watch Mandela at the party » . As Mandela walked on stage, Smith led the crowd in a chorus of "Happy Birthday." Proceeds from the concert in London's Hyde Park will go toward the 46664 Campaign, which Mandela founded in 2003 to raise awareness about the impact of AIDS, especially in Africa, and to promote HIV-prevention measures around the world. The name of the charity represents Mandela's prison number when he was incarcerated at Robben Island. Organizers put 46,664 tickets up for sale. The finale of the concert was scheduled as Queen, Amy Winehouse and Jerry Dammers performing "Free Nelson Mandela," a 1980s hit from the Specials that quickly became an anti-apartheid anthem, but pretty much every act joined them on stage. Dammers was also one of the driving forces behind the London concert in 1988 to awareness of Mandela's long imprisonment by the South African authorities. The former South African president turns 90 on July 18. Watch the crowd celebrate » . Speculation surrounded whether Winehouse would perform after being hospitalized with lung problems last week. More than a dozen African artists, including Johnny Clegg and the Soweto Gospel Choir, performed. Smith, music legend Quincy Jones and Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton were among the stars introducing acts. Other guests at the concert included British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, former U.S. President Clinton, talk show host Oprah Winfrey and actor Robert De Niro. Mandela served as his country's first democratically elected president from 1994 to 1999. In recent years, he has campaigned on behalf of HIV and AIDS awareness and has long called the battle against AIDS a basic human right. In 1964, a court sentenced Mandela to life in prison for plotting to overthrow the government by violence. He spent the first 18 years at Robben Island Prison, off Cape Town, South Africa, and later spent time at Pollsmoor prison and Victor Verster Prison, closer to the mainland. While in prison, Mandela became recognized as the most significant black leader in South Africa, and he became a potent symbol of resistance in the anti-apartheid movement. Mandela consistently refused to compromise his political position to obtain his freedom. South African President F.W. de Klerk released Mandela in February 1990 after 27 years in prison. Mandela was elected president of the African National Congress the following year, and in 1994, he was elected president of his country.

Celebrities, statesmen gather in London to celebrate Mandela's 90th birthday . Mandela at outdoor concert in his honor in London's Hyde Park . Crowd of 46,664 sing "Happy Birthday" led by Will Smith . Performers include Amy Winehouse, Queen, Annie Lennox, Simple Minds .

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(CNN) -- A mining company has found what may be the largest gold deposit ever found in the British Isles, the company's chairman said Tuesday. The price of gold is at historic highs, making new prospects very valuable. Drill samples indicate more than 1 million ounces of gold may lie below what is now rolling Irish countryside, said Richard Conroy, the chairman of Dublin, Ireland-based Conroy Diamonds and Gold. With the price of gold near historic highs, the find could be worth as much as $300 million on the market, Conroy told CNN. The company has been working for 10 years to find gold in a 1,500-square kilometer (600-square-mile) area spanning the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, he said. The site where the company found the gold is near Clontibret, a village in the northern part of Ireland, he said. "I think it's a major development in Ireland that we now have a significant gold resource," Conroy said. "It's the largest amount of gold, the largest number of ounces, that's ever been reported in Ireland, or indeed in either Britain or Ireland." The price of gold is currently around $900 an ounce on global commodities markets. Factoring in costs for mine construction and operation, Conroy said, the gold near Clontibret could fetch roughly $300 million. The company now plans to do more drilling at the site and conduct feasibility studies before moving ahead, he said. An analyst cautioned, however, that the reported amount of gold is still only an estimate. "Until you've actually mined the stuff, there's always a moderate level of uncertainty," said William Tankard, a senior analyst at metals consultancy GFMS in London. One million ounces, if confirmed, would be significant for both Conroy and Ireland, Tankard said. Ireland has small precious metal deposits but nothing as large as Conroy's reported find, Tankard said. Conroy said only one gold mine is currently active in Ireland. "By no means is it world-leading, but a million ounces is certainly worth thinking about," Tankard said. Tankard added that the quality of the gold -- including grade and how concentrated it is -- will also affect its value.

Company finds what may be largest gold deposit found in Britain or Ireland . More than one million ounces of gold may lie below rolling Irish countryside . With price of gold near historic highs, find could be worth as much as $300m .

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BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraq's most powerful Sunni Arab political party on Monday said a U.S. soldier's desecration of the Quran, the Muslim holy book, requires the "severest of punishments," not just an apology and a military reassignment. Maj. Gen. Jeffery Hammond apologizes after a U.S. soldier admitted using the Quran for target practice. The Iraqi Islamic Party, the movement of Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi, condemned what it said was a "blatant assault on the sanctities of Muslims all over the world." An American staff sergeant who was a sniper section leader used a Quran for target practice on May 9. The U.S. commander in Baghdad on Saturday issued a formal apology and read a letter of apology from the shooter. The sergeant has been relieved of duty as a section leader "with prejudice," officially reprimanded by his commanding general, dismissed from his regiment and redeployed -- reassigned to the United States. But the Iraqi Islamic Party -- which said it reacted to the news "with deep resentment and indignation" -- wants the "severest of punishments" for the action. "What truly concerns us is the repetition of these crimes that have happened in the past when mosques were destroyed and pages of the Holy Quran were torn and used for disgraceful acts by U.S. soldiers," al-Hashimi said. "I have asked that first this apology be officially documented; second a guarantee from the U.S. military to inflict the maximum possible punishment on this soldier so it would be a deterrent for the rest of the soldiers in the future." A tribal leader said "the criminal act by U.S. forces" took place at a shooting range at the Radhwaniya police station on Baghdad's western outskirts. After the shooters left, an Iraqi policeman found a target marked in the middle of the bullet-riddled Quran. Read how the soldier could have provoked a crisis . Copies of the pictures of the Quran obtained by CNN show multiple bullet holes and an expletive scrawled on one of its pages. On Saturday, Maj. Gen. Jeffery Hammond, commander of U.S. forces in Baghdad, appeared at an apology ceremony flanked by leaders from Radhwaniya. Watch as the U.S. formally apologizes » . "I come before you here seeking your forgiveness," Hammond said to tribal leaders and others gathered. "In the most humble manner, I look in your eyes today, and I say please forgive me and my soldiers." Another military official kissed a Quran and presented it as "a humble gift" to the tribal leaders. Hammond also read from the shooter's letter: "I sincerely hope that my actions have not diminished the partnership that our two nations have developed together. ... My actions were shortsighted, very reckless and irresponsible, but in my heart [the actions] were not malicious." Hammond said, "The actions of one soldier were nothing more than criminal behavior. I've come to this land to protect you, to support you -- not to harm you -- and the behavior of this soldier was nothing short of wrong and unacceptable." The soldier reportedly claimed he wasn't aware the book was the Quran, but U.S. officials rejected his assertion. Tribal leaders, dignitaries and local security officials attended the ceremony, while residents carried banners and chanted slogans, including, "Yes, yes to the Quran" and "America out, out." Watch as villagers protest the Quran incident » . Sheikh Hamadi al-Qirtani, in a speech on behalf of all tribal sheikhs of Radhwaniya, called the shooting "aggression against the entire Islamic world." The Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq also condemned the shooter's actions and the U.S. military's belated acknowledgment of what happened. "As the Association of Muslim Scholars condemns this heinous crime against God's holy book, the constitution of this nation, a source of pride and dignity," the group's statement said, "they condemned the silence by all those who are part of the occupation's agenda and holds the occupation and the current government fully responsible for this violation and reminds everyone that God preserves his book and he [God] is a great avenger."

Iraqi Islamic Party calls Quran incident "blatant assault" on Muslim holy book . U.S. soldier used Quran for target practice, military investigation found . U.S. commander in Baghdad has issued formal apology . Soldier relieved of duty, will be reassigned after sending letter of apology .

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BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (CNN) -- President Cristina Fernandez on Tuesday defended an increase in export taxes on grains that has riled many farmers, and she called on them to respect the law in protesting her policies. President Cristina Fernandez: Calls on rally Wednesday to support her policies. "All my life I have soldiered in this party, which always believed in social justice, in the redistribution of income, which caused us to win and lose elections," she said in a nationally televised address from the presidential palace. "But we were always respectful of the popular will." Fernandez, of the center-left Peronist movement, made her plea for comity a day after massive demonstrations in various cities blocked traffic and paralyzed much of the country. In a concession to her critics, Fernandez said the increase in taxes on exports of grains that she instituted in March by decree will be debated by Congress. But there is little likelihood that the Congress will order major changes, since her party controls both houses. But Hilda Duhalde, an opponent of Fernandez, was not persuaded. "It's true that they have a majority in both houses, but we have to put white on black and watch out for the small- and medium-sized producers, who are the ones suffering," she said. Argentina raised export taxes in March by more than 10 percent. Fernandez has said growers have benefited from rising world prices and the profits should be spread to help the poor. Farmers have countered that they need to reinvest the profits and that the higher taxes make it difficult for them to make a living. Fernandez said she was open to dialogue, but a dialogue that does not countenance the blocking of roads or other disruptions to the lives of Argentines. "Democracy for the people, not the corporations," she said. She called on Argentines to take to the Plaza de Mayo Wednesday in a show of support for her policies. "It doesn't matter what party, place or sector you're from," she said. "What is important is not where you're from, but where you are going -- what kind of country do we want?" To those who do not agree with her policies, she had other advice. "If they want to change the economic model, what they should do is organize a political party, participate in elections and win them," she said. CNN's Carolina Cayazzo contributed to this report.

President Cristina Fernandez appeals for dialogue, respect in national address . Fernandez says profits from higher food prices should be spread among poor . Farmers say higher taxes make it difficult for them to make a living .

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SAN ANTONIO, Texas (CNN) -- The three Americans rescued Wednesday after more than five years in captivity in the jungles of Colombia appear to be in good health, doctors said Thursday. Keith Stansell, left, Marc Gonsalves, center, and Thomas Howes sit in an aircraft after being rescued Wednesday. "They're very resilient, they're very stress-hardy and they're doing very well, and so I think that certainly is a good-news story," said Col. Carl Dickens, a psychologist at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas. Marc Gonsalves, Thomas Howes and Keith Stansell arrived there late Wednesday on an Air Force C-17 to undergo a battery of medical tests and debriefings. All three are U.S. government contractors who were captured by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, in February 2003 when their plane crashed in a remote region of the country. They will begin reuniting with their families Thursday. "They are very grateful, very excited to be home," said Air Force staff Sgt. Daryl Bradley, who accompanied the three men on the flight Wednesday from Colombia to Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio. Watch CNN's Brian Todd report on the hostages' return » . "They can't wait to see their families, can't wait to see the differences in the United States, and they're just absolutely pleased to be home." Learn about the freed hostages » . A plane the men were on crashed in February 2003 in a remote region of Colombia. They were among 15 hostages, including ex-Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, rescued Wednesday in a Colombian military operation. Read how the military faked out the rebels . The FARC still holds more than 700 hostages in camps scattered throughout the jungle. Bradley, who is a paramedic, earlier said all three Americans appeared to be in good medical condition. Marc Gonsalves' father said he would see his son Thursday. "We have a lot to talk about," George Gonsalves told CNN's "American Morning." "There's been a lot of things that have happened, and I'm sure there's a lot of things that have happened with him that we'd certainly like to exchange a little conversation for about two or three hours anyway." Keith Stansell said he was on the beach when his stepfather called with the news of his father's release. "I didn't even know what to do," he said. "I just started freaking out -- screaming, yelling. I ran as fast as I could off the beach." Watch the Stansell family eagerly await the former captive's return » . His sister, Lauren, said she was at home when the phone rang with the news. "I knew when I heard the other voice that she had good news. I knew it was good news about Dad," she said. Amanda Howes said she learned about her uncle Thomas Howes' release from a bulletin on her computer at a TV station, where she works in Boston, Massachusetts. "A news alert crossed on the bottom of the screen, I click on it and it's this wonderful news," she said. "I literally screamed with enjoyment. I started shaking. Of course, everyone was like ... 'What's the hot news tip?' " Adm. James Stavridis, head of the U.S. military's Southern Command, has kept a picture of the hostages on his desk since taking his post in 2006 and said their release has been one of his top priorities. "You could hear the cheers throughout the building when we announced the success of the rescue," he said. Watch the hostages land on U.S. soil » . The U.S. government considers the FARC a terrorist group and has refused to negotiate with it while publicly urging the rebels to release the Americans. The FARC, which has fought a long-standing and complicated conflict with Colombia's government and right-wing paramilitary groups, defends the taking of captives as a legitimate act of war. Background on FARC » . Before news of the rescue broke Wednesday, U.S. Sen. John McCain, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, said he had mentioned the three Americans in talks with government officials during his visit to Colombia -- part of a three-day trip to Latin America -- and that Colombian President Alvaro Uribe had briefed him on the planned raid Tuesday night. "It is great news," McCain said. "Now we must renew our efforts to free all of the other innocent people held hostage." Months after the men's capture, a Colombian journalist filmed the three at a rebel camp, where FARC commanders branded them CIA spies and prisoners of war. A few months ago, family members saw footage of their loved ones from a captured rebel video. "It's been a long haul here," George Gonsalves said at the time. "It has been a very trying experience, to say the least, not knowing how he is doing, what he is doing." The video showed Marc Gonsalves brushing bugs away from his face and Stansell staring silently into the camera. Only Howes spoke, giving details about his will and telling his wife that he was proud of her. "You think every year is going to be the year," George Gonsalves said. "That is what I thought last year and certainly I'll hope for that this year."

NEW: Three Americans had medical tests; doctors say they are healthy . Ex-hostages and relatives express joy at rescue operation . Marc Gonsalves, Thomas Howes and Keith Stansell U.S. government contractors . Colombian rebels captured three men in 2003 when their plane crashed .

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(CNN) -- An Ohio distributor is recalling about 6 million Chinese-made tire valve stems after concluding that some of them were improperly made and could increase the risk of accidents. An Ohio distributor is recalling 6 million Chinese-made car tire valve stems. Tech International, the part's Johnstown, Ohio-based distributor, estimates that just 8,600 of roughly 6 million of those valves are defective. The valve is a replacement snap-in tire valve -- Model No. TR413 -- manufactured between July and November 2006. It was imported by Tech International from manufacturer Shanghai Baolong Industries Co. in Shanghai, China, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. According to the recall, the rubber part of the valve may crack after being in use for about six months, causing a gradual loss of tire pressure. Continuing to drive on underinflated tires can cause them to burst, possibly leading to crashes. Tech International told the NHTSA that the company doesn't have records of the final purchasers of the valve stems. According to the company, the defect was identified after "a small number" of the valves were reported by customers and one distributor to have failed. The samples were shipped to China, and, in March, Baolong concluded that some valves could be defective. "The cause of the defect is likely improper mixing of the rubber compound in the manufacturer's facility," Tech International wrote in a letter to the transportation safety authority.

Ohio-based distributor says valves aren't working properly, could cause accidents . Tech International estimates that just 8,600 of 6 million are defective . Snap-in tire valve, Model TR413, was made between July and November 2006 . Continuing to drive on underinflated tires can cause them to burst .

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(CNN) -- British mercenary Simon Mann has been jailed for 34 years for his part in plotting a coup in Equatorial Guinea. Simon Mann was arrested after a plane carrying him and about 60 mercenaries landed in Zimbabwe. The former British military officer confessed to trying to topple long-time ruler Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo - but denied being the plot's leader. The goal of the plot was to install exiled opposition leader Severo Moto who is currently in Spain awaiting trial on charges of arms trafficking, and to gain access to the former Spanish colony's oil wealth. During the trial, Mann testified he was a "junior" in the organization which plotted to overthrow the tiny west African country's president in 2004, and that Lebanese businessman Eli Calil was the man in charge. "Eli Calil was known as the cardinal -- the cardinal -- which I think says it all," Mann told the court. Watch Mann's reaction to his sentences » . Footage of the proceedings was broadcast by Britain's Channel 4 News, which says it has the only camera in the courtroom. As Mann's trial progressed last month, South Africa rejected Mann's allegation that it had given its tacit support for the coup plot. "South Africa will never, tacitly or expressly, support the use of mercenaries to bring about fundamental political changes in any country in our continent or elsewhere in the world including Equatorial Guinea," the government said in a statement. Mann testified that several governments, including Spain and the United States, welcomed the idea of a coup. Mann is a former British army commando who was arrested four years ago after a plane carrying him and about 60 mercenaries landed in Zimbabwe. The government of Equatorial Guinea said the group was on its way to overthrow its president. Mann said at the time they were going to guard a diamond mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo. A Zimbabwe court convicted Mann of trying to buy weapons illegally. He served four years in jail there before being extradited to Equatorial Guinea's capital of Malabo earlier this year to face charges of leading an abortive coup. Mann testified that his former friend Mark Thatcher -- the son of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher -- was a main partner in the plot. Thatcher was arrested along with Mann in 2004, and he pleaded guilty in South Africa the following year to unwittingly bankrolling the plot. He escaped jail time by paying a fine. Thatcher admitted giving $275,000 toward the charter of a helicopter, saying he thought was for commercial purposes and discovered only later it was to be used by mercenaries. But Mann said Thatcher paid $350,000 for a helicopter and a plane which he knew would be used in the plot, and that he attended meetings about the plan with Calil in London. Calil, Mann said, initially asked him to assassinate President Obiang and talked about the possibility of staging a guerrilla war. Mann testified he refused both requests, considering them unethical, but he did agree to help stage a coup. Though he said Thatcher was a top figure in the plot, Mann testified that even Thatcher was under Calil in the group's hierarchy. Mann, appearing in a gray prison outfit, emphasized that he was not the man in charge. Mann's defense lawyer took 45 minutes to question Mann, Channel 4 reported, in contrast to the four hours of prosecution questioning Mann faced. Mann smiled often in the footage shown by Channel 4 and even stuck his tongue out playfully at the camera. After his stint in the British army, Mann was affiliated with the South Africa-based mercenary firm Executive Outcomes. The firm described itself on its now-defunct Web site as a "military advisory service" that had played a "crucial" role in ending two African civil wars.

NEW: British mercenary Simon Mann jailed for plotting a Equatorial Guinea coup . Mann testified he was "junior" in organization that plotted attempted coup . Mann implicated former friend Mark Thatcher in 2004 plot during testimony .

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(CNN) -- The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill student body president who was killed this year was shot several times, including in her head, according to her autopsy report released Monday. Unsealed warrants show Eve Carson was abducted and then shot by both men. Eve Carson, 22, was found slain on March 5. Carson's autopsy report lists six gunshot wounds, but says two were probably from the same bullet, according to North Carolina's Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. Carson's death shocked the community and drew national attention. An estimated 10,000 people turned out for a service remembering her. Her autopsy -- released after a North Carolina newspaper filed a court motion to have it unsealed -- describes wounds to various parts of Carson's body. It says shotgun wounds to her head and hand "most likely represent a single shot with the hand acting as an intermediate target." One of the other four wounds was also a gunshot to her head. A separate, handwritten summary of the medical examiner's report says Carson was "shot multiple times" and found lying on her back, with one arm bent behind her head. The autopsy says sexual assault testing was done. It does not say whether any sign of sexual assault was found. Two suspects, Demario James Atwater, 22, and Lawrence Alvin Lovette, 17, have been charged with first-degree murder. Lovette's attorney said the warrants against the suspects rely on hearsay. Atwater's attorney cautioned against "any rush to judgment." Court documents released Friday say Carson was kidnapped from her apartment and forced to provide her abductors with ATM access to her bank account before she was shot to death in the early hours of March 5. The documents -- applications for search warrants -- say a confidential informant told police in the days after the death that Atwater had told her he and Lovette had entered Carson's home through an open door and forced Carson to accompany them in her car. The informant said she had talked with Atwater after a picture was displayed on television showing someone attempting to use Carson's ATM card at a convenience store two days after Carson's body was found. The informant said the two men drove Carson to an ATM, obtaining her PIN number from her. "The CW [informant] learned that Carson was forced into the back seat with Atwater, and Lovette drove Carson's vehicle," the court documents said. "That information is consistent with video footage taken from an ATM camera on that date." The witness told police Atwater said the two got about $1,400 from Carson's account. Bank records show that was approximately the amount taken from the account over a two-day period, the documents said. And the informant said that both suspects shot Carson, according to one of the affidavits. "This information was corroborated by crime scene search information that two separate weapons were used in the homicide," the documents said. The documents said police believe Carson was subjected to a sexual assault "of an unknown nature" and asked for a search warrant to collect DNA swabs from the suspects. But Orange County, North Carolina, District Attorney Jim Woodall told CNN Friday the collection and testing done on Carson's body was routine, and authorities do not believe she was sexually assaulted. Prosecutors had fought to keep her autopsy sealed. Following a motion by the Raleigh News & Observer newspaper, prosecutors agreed to allow the report's release. Carson, a native of Athens, Georgia, was a pre-medicine student double-majoring in political science and biology. She was a recipient of the university's prestigious Morehead Scholarship and a member of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society, UNC has said.

Autopsy: There were shotgun wounds to Carson's head and hand . Report lists six gunshot wounds, but it says two were probably from same bullet . Warrant shows she was kidnapped from her home and robbed .

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(CNN) -- Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim came out of hiding Monday, and says he has damaging evidence that proves senior members of the government faked evidence for sodomy charges against him. Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim says he has proof sodomy charges against him were fabricated. "I have new evidence about the fabrication of evidence against me in 1998," Anwar told CNN Monday. "I totally reject these malicious attacks." Anwar was the heir apparent to former premier Mahathir Mohamad until 1998, when he was sacked and charged for corruption and sodomy. The sodomy conviction was overturned, but the corruption verdict was never lifted, barring him from running for political post until this year. In the CNN interview, Anwar rejected the sodomy charges and also said he had evidence of threats on his life that caused him to go into hiding at the Turkish embassy in Kuala Lumpur. Listen to Anwar Ibrahim defend himself » . CNN could not immediately reach members of Malaysia's ruling party. The ruling party, National Front Coalition, has led Malaysia since the country declared independence in 1957. Anwar's opposition party has gradually chipped away at the National Front's power. Recently Malaysian police have said they are investigating a new sodomy charge against him, Anwar said. The new charges were also false and were fabricated to usurp his political gains, Anwar said. "I will challenge these attacks on every ground," Anwar said.

Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim came out of hiding Monday . Says he can prove government members faked evidence for sodomy charges . Anwar also says he has evidence of threats against his life .

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(CNN) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration Tuesday ordered the makers of certain antibiotics to add a "black box" label warning -- the FDA's strongest -- to alert patients of possible tendon ruptures and tendonitis. Cipro is one of the drugs for which the FDA will require a "black box" label warning about tendon problems. "The new language will strengthen the existing warnings," said Dr. Edward Cox, director of the FDA's Office of Antimicrobial Products. The FDA is requiring the label warnings and a medication guide for fluoroquinolone drugs, which include Cipro, Levaquin, Avelox, Noroxin and Floxin. The consumer group Public Citizen asked the FDA in August 2006 to put the "black box" warning on Cipro and other fluoroquinolones, and also to warn doctors. Earlier this year, Public Citizen filed a lawsuit to force the FDA to take those actions. Public Citizen said Tuesday it was "pleased" with the FDA's order but added "there is still more that the FDA must do." "The FDA is silent on our request that it also send a warning letter to physicians clearly describing possible adverse reactions, such as tendon pain, so that patients can be switched to alternative treatments before tendons rupture," the group said. "We are troubled that the FDA is not doing everything within its power to prevent more people from needlessly suffering disabling tendon ruptures." When asked about the lawsuit and why it didn't order the "black box" label warning until now, Cox stressed that the FDA included warning information with the drugs from 2001 until 2004, and updated the information last year. Dr. Gupta explains more on antibiotic risks » . "There has been ongoing work to update the labeling of the fluoroquinolone drug products," Cox said. "We have been working on this issue and making progress over time." The companies that make the fluoroquinolone drugs will be required to submit label safety changes and the medication guide within 30 days of receiving the notification from the FDA or provide a reason why they do not believe such labeling changes are necessary, Cox said. Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals Inc., which holds licenses for Cipro and Avelox, said it would make the changes requested by the FDA but defended the drugs as "well-tolerated and effective in all approved indications." Schering-Plough markets Cipro and Avelox in the United States under agreement with Bayer. Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals, which markets Levaquin in the United States, also said it would abide by the FDA's request. Merck & Co., the maker of Noroxin, said it, too, would update the drug's label. But Merck noted it has stopped promotion of Noroxin because of the widespread availability of its generic form. Oscient Pharmaceuticals (Factive), Daiichi Sankyo (Floxin) and Dipomed (Proquin) did not immediately respond to CNN's requests for comment. The fluoroquinolones drugs can increase the risk of tendonitis and tendon rupture -- which is about 1 in 100,000 -- by three to four times, according to the FDA's Dr. Renata Albrecht. "This risk is further increased in those over age 60, in kidney, heart, and lung transplant recipients, and with use of concomitant steroid therapy," the FDA said in a statement. Albrecht said that sometimes patients have no symptoms before they experience a rupture in their tendon -- commonly their Achilles tendon. "Sometimes it's been reported on the first day of taking a fluoroquinolone ... a sudden snap or popping sound that is tendon rupture with no preceding warning," she said. Normally, she added, that patients experience some pain or inflammation "a week or two before the patient will rupture." Public Citizen, founded in 1971 by consumer activist Ralph Nader, said more than 400 cases of tendon rupture and more than 300 cases of tendonitis in patients using fluoroquinolones were reported between November 1997 and December 2007. "Because only a small fraction of cases are typically reported to the FDA, the actual number of ruptures and other tendon injuries attributable to the antibiotic is much higher," the group said. The FDA would only say that it has received "hundreds" of reports of tendon problems linked to fluoroquinolones, without being more specific, citing the ongoing lawsuit. But Cox said "the FDA continues to receive a considerable number of reports on tendon adverse effects." Patients should stop taking fluoroquinolone antibiotics at the first sign of tendon pain, avoid exercise and contact their doctor, the FDA said. Cox said the FDA would not require companies to send letters to doctors alerting them about the connection between tendon problems and the antibiotics. "It is possible under REMS [Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy] to ask for a letter [to doctors]," Cox said. "Certainly for sponsors that would choose to go forward with a letter, we'll be happy to work with them."

NEW: Consumer group pleased with order but says FDA must do more . The FDA ordered its strongest warning to be put on certain antibiotics . The "black box" label will alert patients of possible tendon problems . Relevant drugs include Cipro, Levaquin, Avelox, Noroxin and Floxin .

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UNITY, New Hampshire (CNN) -- The day began with a kiss. Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama leave Washington on Friday for a rally in New Hampshire. Sen. Barack Obama, on the tarmac at Reagan Washington National Airport, reached out to shake Sen. Hillary Clinton's hand and leaned down to kiss her cheek. It went on from there. Wearing a tie that matched her suit, he put his hand on her back, guiding the way up the plane steps. They sat side-by-side for the flight up to Manchester, New Hampshire, chatting amiably. One overheard conversation was about the plane. Clinton had used it during the primary season. They hopped on a souped-up bus for the 1½-hour ride to Unity, New Hampshire. The honorary mayor of Unity introduced the pair, admitting that he was a Republican who voted for John McCain in the primary. He didn't seem so sure about the general election. They walked onstage to the tune of "Beautiful Day." Arms around each other's waists, they smiled and waved at the crowd. Every camera angle had UNITY signs, big and little, in the backdrop. She said she wants to help elect him president. He gave an ode to Hillary: "She rocks." Watch more from Unity » . One woman stood at the back, periodically yelling, "Hillary for VP!" A few others, older women, stubbornly held up tattered Hillary For President placards. But the vast majority cheered her, "Thank you, Hillary!" and him, "Yes, we can!" They held new signs for the new times: "UNITY FOR CHANGE." As the dynamic duo glowed onstage, a Clinton staffer circulated through the press corps with word that Hillary and Bill Clinton had gone online to give the maximum contribution allowed by law to the Obama for President campaign. It was the picture-perfect day of togetherness that Barack Obama had wanted. It was not entirely believable, but politics is the art of pragmatism.

Sens. Clinton and Obama hold a unity rally in Unity, New Hampshire . Crowley: A "day of togetherness that Barack Obama had wanted" "It was not entirely believable, but politics is the art of pragmatism," Crowley adds .

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(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.

One baby dies in Texas hospital's neonatal intensive care unit . Hospital says medication mix-up apparently occurred in hospital pharmacy . Up to 17 babies receive too-concentrated form of blood thinner heparin . Last year, Dennis Quaid's twins given overdose of heparin at Los Angeles hospital .

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(CNN) -- Actress Gina Gershon is demanding a retraction from Vanity Fair after the magazine reported "high-end Hollywood dinner-party gossip" that former President Clinton "has been seen visiting" her in California. Actress Gina Gershon "is extremely offended" by the Vanity Fair article, her lawyers say. The lengthy article by the magazine's national editor, Todd Purdum, mentioned the actress along with several other women rumored to be associated with Clinton, all anonymously sourced. "Todd Purdum's insinuation is a lie, and it is irresponsible journalism," said Gershon's publicist, Mara Buxbaum. "We are demanding a retraction." A letter sent by Gershon's attorneys to Vanity Fair editor-in-chief Graydon Carter, obtained by CNN, demanded a published correction and retraction and threatened possible litigation for defamation. The actress appeared in 1995's "Showgirls" and the more recent "P.S. I Love You." Gershon "is extremely offended by the false and defamatory inference that she engaged in an adulterous relationship with the President," the letter says, adding that the actress has been in the same room with Clinton three times, always in the presence of at least a dozen people. "It is apparent that Vanity Fair was intent upon publishing unsubstantiated rumors, and that it avoided learning the true facts so that the truth would not get in the way," the letter says. "Such conduct is reckless and malicious, giving rise to substantial liability for defamation." In a statement, Vanity Fair denied that the article indicates any "improper relationship" between Clinton and Gershon. "The story merely examines the concerns of some of Clinton's aides about reports of his behavior," the magazine said. "We don't believe that any correction is warranted." Purdum's article, "The Comeback Id," quoted multiple anonymous sources questioning the former president's behavior since leaving the White House. The article suggested that Clinton's personality had changed since his 2004 heart bypass surgery and said there were reports of Clinton "seeing a lot of women on the road." Clinton issued a tirade against Purdum on Monday when asked by Huffington Post writer Mayhill Fowler what he thought of "the hatchet job somebody did on you in Vanity Fair," according to a recording of the exchange posted on the Huffington Post's Web site. "[He's] sleazy," Clinton responded. "He's a really dishonest reporter." Clinton said that he had not read the article but that he was told that "there's five or six just blatant lies in there. But he's a real slimy guy." Calling Purdum a "scumbag," Clinton said "he's one of the guys that propagated all those lies about Whitewater for Kenneth Starr. He's just a dishonest guy -- can't help it." Purdum "didn't use a single name, he didn't cite a single source in all those things he said," the former president said, adding that the article was "part of the national media's attempt to nail Hillary for Obama. "Anytime you read a story that slimes a public figure with anonymous quotes, it ought to make the bells go off in your head," he said. Jay Carson, a spokesman for Hillary Clinton's campaign, said late Monday that "President Clinton was understandably upset about an outrageously unfair article, but the language today was inappropriate, and he wishes he had not used it." Purdum, a former New York Times reporter who covered the Clinton White House and is married to former Clinton press secretary Dee Dee Myers, defended his article on CNN's "The Situation Room" on Monday afternoon, saying he was "very careful to say there is no clear-cut evidence that President Clinton has done anything improper." "I reject the notion that I'm making an insinuation," Purdum said. "But I'm very comfortable quoting the people I quote because I know who they are, and I know that they are very senior people who have known President Clinton for a very long time and work for him at very high levels."

Gina Gershon accuses Vanity Fair reporter of "irresponsible journalism," lying . Magazine stands by article and refuses to run a correction . Former president called reporter "a scumbag" but later apologized .

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BIG SUR, California (CNN) -- Thousands of people living in Paradise are fleeing their small northern California town Wednesday as wildfires charge into the area, officials said. A fire captain looks at the fire burning in southern Santa Barbara, California, on Tuesday. More than half the town's 26,000 residents have been evacuated as firefighters struggled to battle growing wildfires in the area, authorities said. Residents of the nearby town of Concow had already been told to leave their homes. As of 10 a.m. about 14,000 people had been evacuated from Paradise, said Chuck Rough, director of the emergency operations center in the town. "We don't have much containment," said Rough, who said thick smoke in the area had made it impossible to fight the fire by air Tuesday. "Today we are holding our breath literally and figuratively." The blaze -- one of several in Butte County -- has already torched 40 homes. It's just one of the 1,780 wildfires that have scorched more than 614,000 acres in the state in the last few weeks. Most of the fires have been caused by lightning strikes. There were still 323 active fires Wednesday that were being battled by about 20,000 federal, state and local firefighters, authorities said. The fires near Paradise, which is about 90 miles north of Sacramento, California, threatened thousands of homes, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, known as Cal Fire. Residents streamed to shelters in the area, some not knowing if their homes had been destroyed, said Jeannine Olson, a volunteer nurse at Neighborhood Church in the nearby city of Chico. Olson said the church shelter was filled to capacity with about 150 people, and 20 more were living in their cars in the church parking lot. "People are a little scared and are wondering what is going on," she said. "But people here are trying to handle this the best they can." Wind gusts of more than 40 mph pushed the fire dangerously close to many residential communities in the area, said Cal Fire spokesman Daniel Berlant. Watch TV crew driven into fire » . "We were lucky that the winds did not pick up last night as it was predicted," he said. "But there are still some immediate threats." Watch what's left of burned home in Big Sur » . Conditions seemed to be getting a little bit better in the fight against a wildfire near the central California coastal community of Big Sur. iReport.com: Share your photos, videos of the fires . The mandatory evacuations in that area had been downgraded to an advisory Tuesday, according to local and federal fire officials. But the Basin Complex Fire was only 27 percent contained Wednesday, according to federal fire authorities. It has torched more than 86,700 acres, and containment is not expected until the end of the month. Watch why fires could be related to global warming » . The nearby Indians Fire, in the Ventana Wilderness, was 97 percent contained after burning more than 81,000 acres, the U.S. Forest Service said. Further south, in coastal Santa Barbara County, the Gap Fire, which has burned 9,710 acres, was 55 percent contained, the Forest Service said.

NEW: Half of Paradise's 26,000 residents have been forced to evacuate . NEW: The blaze has torched 40 homes in the area, officials say . Wind gusts, high temperatures make task harder for firefighters . More than 614,000 acres have burned in California in past few weeks .

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KATHMANDU, Nepal (CNN) -- Lawmakers in Nepal will vote Saturday to pick the country's first president since it became a republic. Nepal became a republic after the deposal of King Gyanendra Shah earlier this year. The country's newly elected Constituent Assembly abolished a 239-year monarchy following elections in April. But with no one party winning a majority of the seats, it is unclear who may become president. The position is largely ceremonial. But a president will swear in whoever is picked as the new prime minister. The three main political parties continued to negotiate over whom to name president. The Nepali Congress wants outgoing prime minister and party president Girija Prasad Koirala for the position. The Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist) wants its leader. But the Maoists -- which won the largest number of seats but fell short of a majority -- do not favor either of the two men. They want a non-political figure as president. Journalist Manesh Shrestha contributed to this report .

Lawmakers in Nepal to to pick the country's first president since it became a republic . Unclear who may become president as no party had a majority in recent elections . Maoists, who won most seats, want a non-political figure as president .

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BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (CNN) -- Argentine farmers are planning their next move after the country's president announced plans to fund a public works program with revenues from a controversial agrarian export tax. Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has rejected demands for the repeal of an export tax. Eduardo Buzzi, president of the Argentine Agrarian Federation, said the organization's directory board will meet Friday to discuss what steps it plans to take in response to President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner's announcement. "We call on farmers across the country to stay calm but to stay on the alert," the organization said on its Web site Tuesday. The 44 percent export tax, which applies to soybeans, wheat, corn and sunflower seeds, has caused a three-month-old standoff between the government and farmers. Argentina is the world's second-largest corn exporter and third-largest soybean exporter. On Monday, farmers suspended roadblocks that had snarled traffic across the country, though reports indicated that groups in some rural areas were still blocking roads Tuesday. Kirchner has argued that the tax, which was implemented March 11, pays for increases in seniors' pensions and financial assistance for the poor. She has rejected the farmers' demands for a repeal of the export tax as "extortion." Monday marked the first time Kirchner revealed details of how the government plans to use profits from the tax, which has generated about U.S. $1.5 billion, to lift people out of poverty. "It is impossible to attack the problem of the poor without distribution of revenue and without touching extraordinary profits," she said in a televised address. Kirchner said the Social Redistribution Program will include the construction of 30 hospitals and more than 300 health-care centers, as well as investments in the country's rural roads and in housing. In an apparent criticism of the farmers, she lamented "the reaction of some who refuse to contribute in the redistribution" to "those who have least." She apologized, however, at the close of her speech for offending anyone. Analysts suggested that the tax was a "strong attack" on on the farmers and their arguments against it. Claudio Loser, a visiting senior fellow at the Inter-American Dialogue policy analysis center, said it could result in Argentine society being "less sympathetic to the farmers," noting that it was "surprising" that the government didn't come up with the plan until the tax was three months old. Loser, who is from Argentina, also predicted that a continuation of the tax would provoke farmers into not investing. Externally, the standoff has had a two-pronged effect on Argentina, he said. "The conflict has resulted in a loss of market for Argentina," he said, as other countries have gone elsewhere for products. Loser also said foreign investors may be more reluctant to invest in Argentina now. CNN's Carolina Cayazzo and Taylor Gandossy contributed to this report.

Argentine president says export tax will fund massive public works program . Farm leaders urge calm as they plan response to president's announcement . The 44 percent tax has caused a 3-month standoff between farmers, government . Analyst suggests president's plan could turn public tide against farmers .

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CHICAGO, Illinois (CNN) -- An Illinois man was charged with possession of a potentially deadly neurotoxin commonly found in puffer fish after the FBI led a raid at his home Monday. Edward F. Bachner, 35, of Lake in the Hills, was charged with one count of illegal possession of a toxin, according to a federal complaint filed in U.S. district court. Bachner is listed as the corporate secretary of Rosetta Wireless Corp. in Naperville, in suburban Chicago. Bachner was arrested after accepting a small amount of tetrodotoxin delivered by an undercover federal official at his home, the FBI said. Tetrodotoxin is a neurotoxin that in large doses can cause paralysis and death. It's often linked to consumption of puffer fish, a delicacy from the Indian and Pacific oceans that can prove fatal if not prepared properly, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Bachner, using the alias Edmond Backer, attempted to purchase 98 milligrams of tetrodotoxin through the Web site of a New Jersey chemical company, according to the FBI. Bachner claimed he was a doctor working for Illinois-based EB Strategic Research, which does not exist. The quantity of the toxin requested alarmed an employee at the chemical company, who alerted authorities, the FBI said. Bachner appeared before a magistrate judge at the federal court in Rockford and is being held without bond until his next court appearance. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison. Calls late Monday to Bachner's home and business went unanswered.

FBI: Edward Bachner tried to buy 98 milligrams of tetrodotoxin through the Web . Neurotoxin, commonly found in puffer fish species, can cause paralysis and death . Bachner was arrested after accepting a small amount from an undercover official . If convicted, the 35-year-old faces 10 years in prison .

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LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- California's director of adult prisons is recommending against "compassionate release" for a terminally ill former Manson family member, a spokeswoman said. Susan Atkins is led from a Los Angeles grand jury room after her indictment in the 1969 "Manson murders." Suzan Hubbard, director of the Division of Adult Institutions, decided that Susan Atkins' request should not be sent to the sentencing court for consideration, said Terry Thornton, spokeswoman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Hubbard's recommendation is advisory and will not necessarily prevent Atkins' release. The court -- not the department or the state Board of Parole Hearings -- has the final say on whether Atkins should be released, Thornton said. "They're the only ones legally who can recall the sentence," she added. Atkins, 60, was convicted in the 1969 slayings of actress Sharon Tate and four others. She had been incarcerated at the California Institution for Women in Corona, California, but has been hospitalized since mid-March. Her request is now before the Board of Parole Hearings, which is conducting an independent investigation and will hear the case during its monthly public meeting, Thornton said. The next meeting is scheduled July 15. Atkins had been held for years at the Corona prison, which earlier determined that she met the criteria for compassionate release under the law, and sent her request to the corrections department. The Board of Parole Hearings will receive public comment, discuss the request in closed session and then announce its recommendation. The board also can decide whether to refer the request to the sentencing court. The court, based in Los Angeles, can either grant or deny Atkins' request. It also can recall her life sentence and resentence Atkins to a lesser term, allowing for her to be paroled. In 2007, the department received 60 compassionate release requests, Thornton said. Ten were approved. Citing privacy rules, prison officials would not disclose the nature of Atkins' illness. Her husband and attorney, James Whitehouse, has been quoted as saying she has terminal brain cancer, according to a blog called Manson Family Today. She also has had a leg amputated, the Los Angeles Times has reported. Atkins, known within the Manson family as "Sadie Mae Glutz," has been in prison since 1971 and has been denied parole 11 times. She is California's longest-serving female inmate. Tate and three houseguests were slain in August 1969 by killers who burst into her Benedict Canyon home. A teenager who was visiting the home's caretaker in his cottage on the property also was killed. According to historical accounts of the murders, Atkins stabbed Tate, who was 8½ months pregnant, and wrote the word "pig" in blood on the door of the home the actress shared with her husband, director Roman Polanski. The following night, Leno and Rosemary LaBianca were slain in their home in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles. The two-day crime spree sent shock waves throughout Los Angeles. All of the killers remain behind bars. Atkins also was convicted in the earlier murder of music teacher Gary Hinman. Atkins, like family leader Charles Manson, received a death sentence. Her punishment was changed to life in prison when the California Supreme Court ruled the state's death penalty unconstitutional in 1972. Atkins is a born-again Christian, according to a Web site maintained by her husband. During her incarceration, the site says, Atkins has worked to help at-risk youth, victims of violent crimes and homeless children. Last month, authorities dug for buried bodies at the Inyo County, California, ranch where Manson and his followers once lived, after police became aware that testing had indicated humans might be buried there. Nothing was found, police said.

Decision puts case in parole board's hands, spokeswoman says . Susan Atkins is serving life sentence for role in Manson family murders of late 1960s . Web site quotes Atkins' husband as saying she has terminal brain cancer .

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MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- Hurricane Bertha -- the first hurricane of the 2008 Atlantic season -- increased in strength Monday evening, according to the National Hurricane Center. A satellite picture from 5:45 a.m. ET Monday shows Hurricane Bertha over the Atlantic. While Bertha's power may fluctuate over the next day, it is expected to begin gradually weakening by Wednesday, the center's 11 p.m. ET advisory said. Bertha's became a major -- or Category 3 -- hurricane Monday afternoon. A Category 3 has wind speeds of 111 to 130 mph. As of 11 p.m. ET, Bertha was 695 miles (1,115 km) east-northeast of the northern Leeward Islands and about 1,085 miles (1,745 km) southeast of Bermuda. The eye was moving toward the west-northwest at about 12 mph. Its maximum sustained winds were clocked at 120 mph (195 km/hr), up from the 115 mph mentioned in a 5 p.m. advisory. The hurricane is expected to turn to the northwest and decrease its forward speed in the next 24 to 48 hours, the center said. There is a very small chance Bertha will make landfall in the United States. Bermuda could be affected by the hurricane this weekend. See Bertha's projected path » . "It is still way too soon to determine whether or not Bertha will affect Bermuda," the center said. The storm formed Thursday in the far eastern Atlantic, off the coast of Africa, near the southern Cape Verde Islands. It strengthened into a hurricane early Monday. Learn more about hurricanes » . The first tropical storm of the season, Arthur, formed May 31 near the coast of Belize and dumped heavy rain on Central America and southern Mexico.

NEW: Bertha's winds increase from 115 mph to 120 mph . Bermuda could be affected by the hurricane this weekend . Likelihood of storm making landfall in U.S. is very small . Bertha is the first hurricane of the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season .

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LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- A group of anonymous software developers said they will soon start selling a program that will allow iPhone owners to use the hugely popular device on cell phone systems around the world and not just with AT&T. Apple's iPhone is yet to go on sale outside the U.S. Apple's iPhone, released in the United States two months ago, was engineered to operate for the first two years only on the AT&T system through an exclusive arrangement between Apple and AT&T. It has not yet been sold outside of the U.S. Los Angeles software consultant Brett Schulte, who is not affiliated with the developers, demonstrated the software for CNN Friday evening. An iPhone that had the new software appeared to work on the T-Mobile system just seconds after Schulte replaced the AT&T SIM card with a T-Mobile SIM card. "It's completely software hacked," Schulte said. "There's no case opening required. It's not required to do any kind of disassembly." It took Schulte about two minutes to unlock the iPhone. The developers would not give CNN their last names, saying "We don't want to be hounded." The said they would start selling the software, which they haven't yet priced, as soon as their online payment and customer service systems are ready. They're also waiting for more information from their lawyers. Apple spokeswoman Jennifer Bowcock told CNN her company has no comment. AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel said he couldn't speculate on the legality of unlocking the phone, but he added, "When you sign up, you're signing a two-year contract. You're obligated to pay the bill." "When people buy the iPhone it's clear from our materials it's designed to operate exclusively on AT&T," Siegel said. Schulte, however, said it is possible to buy an iPhone without being contractually obligated to AT&T. The developers recently created a Web site -- iPhoneSIMfree.com -- but there is very little information on it and no direct way for anyone to purchase the software. Internet records showed they bought the domain name less than two weeks ago. Two members of the group, who identified themselves only as "John" and "Liu," told CNN in a phone interview that a core group of six people on three continents worked to unlock the iPhone as a hobby. They said they are fans of Apple products who thought the iPhone should be made accessible to people who cannot use AT&T. "I'm not in America and I can't use it," said Liu, who would not reveal the country in which he lives. "It's not fair." Asked if he thought modifying the iPhone was legal, he said "That's a very good question. I truly believe it is." John and Liu said they have not been contacted by either Apple or AT&T, but said that could change the moment their software goes on sale. Earlier this month, a teenager figured out a way to unlock the iPhone, but his method required disassembly of the unit. E-mail to a friend .

Software developed enabling Apple's iPhone to be used on any phone network . Device can currently only be used on AT&T network in the U.S. Anonymous developers plan to start selling program soon .

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(CNN) -- Susan Atkins, a terminally ill former Charles Manson follower convicted in the murder of actress Sharon Tate, on Tuesday was denied a compassionate release from prison. Susan Atkins, Califorina's longest-serving female inmate, is shown in her most recent mug shot. Atkins, 60, has been diagnosed with brain cancer and has had a leg amputated, her attorney said. In June, she requested the release, available to terminally ill inmates with less than six months to live. The California Board of Parole Hearings' decision -- posted Tuesday on its Web site -- came after a public hearing on Atkins' request. It means the request will not be forwarded to the Los Angeles Superior Court that sentenced Atkins. The court would have had the final say on Atkins' release. Her attorney, Eric P. Lampel, called the parole board's decision "unfortunate." "[The board] ignored the vast majority of evidence presented," Lampel said. "There was a huge amount of pro-compassionate release testimony from many witnesses. It apparently fell on deaf ears." Known within the Manson Family as Sadie Mae Glutz, Atkins and four others were convicted in connection with the deaths of five people, including Tate, in August 1969. According to historical accounts of the murder, Atkins stabbed Tate, who was eight months pregnant, and scrawled the word "pig" in blood on the door of the home the actress shared with director Roman Polanski. By her own admission, Atkins held Tate down and rejected her pleas for mercy, stabbing the pregnant woman 16 times. Atkins' request roused long-dormant memories of the two-day killing spree that terrorized Los Angeles and left seven people dead. It polarized those who were involved in the case -- and even those who weren't -- over whether she should die behind bars. Atkins told a 1993 parole board that Tate pleaded for her unborn child's life as she held her down. "She asked me to let her baby live," Atkins said. "... I told her I didn't have any mercy on her." Three of Tate's houseguests were also slain by the killers, as was a teenager visiting the home's caretaker in his cottage out back. Atkins was also convicted in the earlier murder of music teacher Gary Hinman. One of the first people Atkins confessed to was Virginia Graham, who shared a cell with her before investigators determined the Manson Family was responsible for the murders. Graham said last month she believed Atkins should die in prison. "She showed that poor woman absolutely no mercy, none," Graham said. "So why should anybody show her mercy at this time?" Sharon Tate's sister, Debra, has staunchly opposed Atkins' release. "She will be set free when judged by God," Debra Tate has said. "It's important that she die in incarceration." Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley said Monday he was strongly opposed to the release, saying in a letter to the board it would be "an affront to people of this state, the California criminal justice system and the next of kin of many murder victims." Cooley noted in his letter that Atkins was initially sentenced to death, like others in the Manson Family, including its leader, Charles Manson. Their sentences were commuted to life in prison in 1972, when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the death penalty laws as they were written at the time. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Tuesday he was also opposed to releasing Atkins. "I don't believe in [compassionate release]," the governor told reporters. "I think that they have to stay in, they have to serve their time." Even if Atkins is dying, Schwarzenegger said, "Those kinds of crimes are just so unbelievable that I'm not for the compassionate release." Earlier, Suzan Hubbard, director of adult prisons in California, also recommended against granting Atkins' request. Vincent Bugliosi, who prosecuted Atkins and other members of the Manson Family, said he supported her release, if only to save the state money. Through Monday, the cost for Atkins' medical care since she was hospitalized March 18 totaled more than $1.15 million, and the costs for guarding her hospital room are more than $308,000, said California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokeswoman Terry Thornton. Terminally ill inmates rarely are allowed compassionate release, records show. In 2007, 60 such requests were made to the department, Thornton has said. Ten were approved. Atkins, who has been incarcerated since 1971, is California's longest-serving female inmate. According to a Web site maintained by her husband and attorney, James Whitehouse, she is now a born-again Christian. During her incarceration, the site says, Atkins worked to help at-risk youth, violent crime victims and homeless children, among others. The Web site does not mention Atkins' illness. Lampel said last month Atkins is paralyzed on one side. "She can talk a little bit," Lampel said. "She can't sit up in bed without assistance, and obviously she can't walk around because she's an amputee." Atkins has expressed remorse for her crimes. "I know the pain I caused Mrs. Tate," she said at a parole board hearing in 1985. ln May, authorities dug for buried bodies at the Inyo County, California, ranch where Manson and his followers once lived, after police became aware that testing had indicated human remains might be buried there. Nothing was found, authorities said. CNN's Ted Rowlands contributed to this report.

Manson follower, 60, terminally ill, expected to die within six months . Susan Atkins is bedridden, can barely speak . Atkins stabbed pregnant victim Sharon Tate 16 times . Atkins, who was convicted of five 1969 murders, has brain cancer .

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(CNN) -- Sen. Hillary Clinton said Sunday some people are using her controversial reference to Robert F. Kennedy's assassination to suggest that she meant something "completely unthinkable." Sen. Hillary Clinton says her supporters urge her to stay in the race until it is over. Her campaign also accused the rival Obama campaign of "inflaming" the situation and purposely taking her words out of context. But the Obama campaign said it was not trying to "stir the issue up." In an editorial in the New York Daily News, the Democratic presidential hopeful also acknowledged her dwindling chances of winning the nomination, saying she is aware of "the odds" against her. Headlined "Hillary: Why I continue to run," the editorial began with an explanation of her reference to the assassination when she was speaking to the Argus Leader newspaper in South Dakota. She said she was pointing out that presidential primary campaigns have continued into June. "Almost immediately, some took my comments entirely out of context and interpreted them to mean something completely different -- and completely unthinkable," she wrote. Watch Hillary's camp insist the remark had nothing to do with Obama » . Clinton said the newspaper's editor and Bobby Kennedy Jr. issued statements arguing that was the meaning of her remark. No other member of the Kennedy family has issued a public statement on the matter. "I realize that any reference to that traumatic moment for our nation can be deeply painful -- particularly for members of the Kennedy family, who have been in my heart and prayers over this past week," she said, in a reference to Sen. Edward Kennedy's diagnosis with brain cancer. "And I expressed regret right away for any pain I caused. "But I was deeply dismayed and disturbed that my comment would be construed in a way that flies in the face of everything I stand for -- and everything I am fighting for in this election." Some people -- particularly a number of bloggers -- have suggested she was imagining the possibility that Sen. Barack Obama, the likely nominee, could be assassinated. After Clinton's initial remarks to the newspaper were reported, the Obama campaign issued a statement saying the comment "was unfortunate and has no place in this campaign." But Obama himself later said, "I don't think that Senator Clinton intended anything by it," and that "we should put it behind us." Clinton campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe, in an interview Sunday, criticized the Obama campaign's first move. "It's unfortunate -- a hyped-up press over Memorial Day weekend, the Obama campaign inflaming it, tried to take these words out of context," he told "Fox News Sunday." Asked about the remark by Obama himself, McAuliffe responded, "That's great, but Friday they were all part of this process. The press secretary came out and attacked Senator Clinton and got it going so the story would be around for three days." Howard Wolfson, a Clinton adviser, told CBS' "Face the Nation" that the Obama campaign's first statement critical of Clinton was "unfortunate." But Obama's chief strategist David Axelrod told ABC's "This Week" that "we take her at her word," and he added, "We're beyond that issue now, so certainly we're not trying to stir the issue up." The program's host, George Stephanopoulos, noted that a member of Obama's staff sent to the media Saturday a "searing commentary" by MSNBC's Keith Olbermann slamming Clinton for her remark. "Mr. Olbermann did his commentary and he had his opinion," Axelrod responded, adding, "As far as we're concerned, this issue is done." On another front, Axelrod slammed Clinton for suggesting she leads Obama in the popular vote. Clinton has been making that argument, based on figures that include Florida and Michigan, even though Obama took his name off the ballot in Michigan and neither candidate campaigned in Florida. The Democratic Party discounted both states' primaries before they took place. "It would take some very tortured math and tortured logic to say that she's ahead in the popular vote," Axelrod told ABC. He added, "This isn't 'American Idol,' OK? This is a nominating process. We have rules. We elect delegates state by state." In her column, Clinton said she believes she can still "win on the merits." "I am not unaware of the challenges or the odds of my securing the nomination -- but this race remains extraordinarily close, and hundreds of thousands of people in upcoming primaries are still waiting to vote," she wrote. She added that her parents "did not raise me to be a quitter -- and too many people still come up to me at my events, grip my arm and urge me not to walk away before this contest is over." She also said she is running "because I believe staying in this race will help unite the Democratic Party. I believe that if Senator Obama and I both make our case -- and all Democrats have the chance to make their voices heard -- in the end, everyone will be more likely to rally around the nominee." She repeated her vow to campaign for Obama if he gets the nomination, and wrote, "No matter what happens in this primary, I am committed to unifying this party." Obama was in Middleton, Connecticut, where he was standing in for the ailing Edward Kennedy who was scheduled to deliver the commencement at Wesleyan University. Watch Obama tell graduates they have an obligation » . The theme of Obama's speech was service, and the senator asked graduates to volunteer their time at home and abroad to fight poverty, preserve peace and protect the environment . "But I hope you'll remember, during those times of doubt and frustration, that there is nothing naive about your impulse to change this world," he said. "Because all it takes is one act of service -- one blow against injustice -- to send forth that tiny ripple of hope that Robert Kennedy spoke of."

Barack Obama denounces remark, then says to "put it behind us" Hillary Clinton's camp says Obama intentionally stoking controversy . Clinton says in editorial she knows the odds are against her getting nomination . Obama mentions Robert Kennedy in imploring Wesleyan graduates to volunteer .

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(CNN) -- North Korea's apparent cooperation with nations seeking to end its nuclear weapons ambitions -- six years after a deal collapsed and two years after testing a bomb -- may lead to questions about why it would play ball now. Some signs show North Korean leader Kim Jong Il does intend to drop his nuclear weapon program, experts say. One school of thought: The communist nation, in desperate economic straits, has long been willing to drop its program for better relations with the United States. But mistakes on both sides interfered, according to Jim Walsh, a national security analyst. North Korea could be trying to achieve survival through deceit, intending to keep its nuclear weapons as blackmail for better treatment, analysts suggest. But those making a case for North Korea's sincerity, Walsh said, would say it must "do the things economically that [it needs] to do to avoid collapse." "Having nuclear weapons when the regime is collapsing won't do them much good," said Walsh, a research associate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. North Korea, following a 2007 agreement with five nations including the U.S., handed over a declaration of its nuclear program on Thursday. The nation also took steps to disable a reactor that officials acknowledge helped extract plutonium to build nuclear weapons. On Friday, it destroyed the reactor's cooling tower -- significant because the tower would take a year or longer to rebuild. Watch the tower being demolished. » . After North Korea's declaration, President Bush said Thursday that he intends to move North Korea from the U.S. list of states that sponsor terrorism. Down the line, North Korea would receive economic and energy assistance if the U.S. and other nations agree it is complying with other efforts to dismantle its nuclear program. North Korea has been heavily sanctioned in the past because of its nuclear program. Stephen Hadley, the U.S. national security adviser, told reporters Thursday that the terror list was one incentive for North Korea to drop its nuclear ambitions. "I think it is important to them not to be on a list that says 'enemies' and not to be on a list that says 'supporters of terror,'" Hadley said. Walsh said North Korea has been weakened by sanctions and its lack of arable land, leading to a population unable to feed itself. "It can't grow enough food," Walsh said. "And they've got to attract foreign investors." He said North Korea was better off in the days of the Soviet Union, when it had an ample amount of communist nations with which to trade. But the Soviet Union collapsed, and many other nations turned away from communism, leaving North Korea increasingly isolated. "Geostrategically, North Korea was growing weaker, and everyone around them was growing stronger," Walsh said. In 1994, North Korea pledged to the U.S. that it would freeze and eventually dismantle its nuclear program in exchange for international aid, including help building two power-producing nuclear reactors. By 2000, however, North Korea was complaining that not all the aid was coming as promised. In 2002, the U.S. accused North Korea of working on a secret nuclear weapons program, and the U.S. said North Korea admitted doing so. Countries including the U.S. halted oil supplies, and North Korea withdrew from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. It conducted an underground test of a nuclear weapon in 2006. Walsh said both sides haven't fully lived up to previous agreements. The U.S., he said, promised normalized trade at one point but didn't follow through. Jon Wolfsthal, senior fellow of the Center for Strategic and International Studies' international security program, said North Korea has been "remarkably consistent" regarding its reactions to U.S. positions. "When we've engaged them directly, they have responded. And when we have reduced our commitment, to our engagement ... they have responded negatively," Wolfsthal said. Wolfsthal said China -- which provides oil and food aid to North Korea -- has been instrumental in getting North Korea to cooperate. "China has gone from being an uninvested ... mediator to being a true participant in this process -- from a country that originally wanted to help the U.S. and North Korea work out their differences to a state that has worked to convince North Korea to meet its obligations," Wolfsthal said. Wolfsthal said he believes China was embarrassed by North Korea's nuclear test, and shifted course. "I think that over time, the United States has helped China see that North Korea's unpredictable behavior destabilizes their own backyard," he said. Walsh and Wolfsthal said another theory has it that North Korea is only playing with negotiators and intends to keep its nuclear program and weapons as a security blanket. Expanding on that possibility, Wolfsthal said North Korea leader Kim Jong Il could keep the country's nuclear arsenal but agree not to produce any more nuclear weapons. "Everybody's speculating. None of us has met Kim Jong Il," Wolfsthal said. Walsh said the West doesn't have hard evidence to determine North Korea's intentions. "But so far, the evidence is pretty strongly on the side of North Korea wanting a real bargain," Walsh said.

North Korea's negotiations driven by economic need, desire for survival, experts say . China, embarrassed by nuclear test, has prodded North Korea, expert says . Deceit possible, experts say, but nation's best interest is to be on West's good side .

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HARARE, Zimbabwe (CNN) -- Zimbabwe's troubled central bank introduced $100 billion banknotes Saturday in a desperate bid to ease the recurrent cash shortages plaguing the inflation-ravaged economy. A shopper displays a $500 million Zimbabwean bank note. The bills officially come into circulation Monday, although they were on the foreign currency dealers market Saturday. As high as they are, though, the bills still aren't enough to buy a loaf of bread. They can buy only four oranges. The new note is equal to just one U.S. dollar. Once-prosperous Zimbabwe has seen an unprecedented economic meltdown since it gained independence in 1980, with the official inflation rate now at 2.2 million percent. Gideon Gono, governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, said the new notes are for "the convenience of the banking public and corporate sector" in light of price hikes. "The RBZ has noted with concern the unjustifiable and incessant general increases in prices of goods and services. It is therefore appealing to the business community to follow ethical business practices as well as take an interest in the plight of the general public," Gono said in a statement dated Friday. Zimbabwe started issuing large bank notes in December, starting with denominations of $250,000. In January, the government issued bills in denominations of $1 million, $5 million, and $10 million -- and in May, it issued bills from $25 million and $50 million up to $25 billion and $50 billion. The new bills are actually bearer checks and have an expiration date of December 31. Zimbabwe has not had formal currency since the introduction of bearer checks as a temporary measure in 2003. "The RBZ is fighting a losing battle," economist John Robertson said in Harare. "As long as the inflation remains high, cash shortages will persist. There is need to address the inflation by increasing production so that too goods do not [cost] a lot of money."

New bills officially come into circulation Monday . Bills aren't enough to buy a loaf of bread. They can only buy four oranges . Gideon Gono: Notes for "convenience of the banking public and corporate sector" The new note is equal to just one U.S. dollar .

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LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Misha Di Bono zips around town in her Infiniti sport-utility vehicle, breezy and unconcerned about the price of gas. Misha Di Bono says people used to make fun of her rolling billboard. She gets $500 a month and free gas. That's because she gets $500 a month -- plus free gas -- for turning her car into a rolling billboard for Jobing.com, the online recruiting company she works for. "People used to tease me about the 'Jobing' mobile, and now they're like, 'Oh, we'll get Misha to drive,' " she said, standing next to her decal-covered car. Jobing.com might be the most extreme example of how companies are helping employees during the current gas crunch. But with gas averaging more than $4 a gallon, more and more companies are trying to figure out incentives to help ease the pain at the pump for their employees. Watch a rolling billboard for your company » . "There's no question companies are feeling the pinch," said John Challenger, the chief executive officer of global outplacement company Challenger, Gray and Christmas. "It's an important issue because no company wants to lose its people." His firm recently surveyed about 100 human resources executives at white-collar and blue-collar companies. The survey found that 57 percent of the companies offer programs to help ease commutes. The most popular option was reducing the work week from five eight-hour days to four 10-hour days. Twenty-three percent of the companies polled have such an option, Challenger said. Calculator: How much do you need to work to pay your gas? » . "We're at a watershed time of how people go to work," he said. "Maybe the gas crisis will be the real trigger." Other incentives: Twenty percent of the companies offer carpools, and 18 percent pay for the cost of public transportation. Only 14 percent of the companies offer telecommuting options, the poll found. The survey reports that companies had seen a recent jump in carpooling of 43 percent and a 23 percent increase in the use of public transportation. Still, 31 percent of the companies saw no increase in their employees' commuting behaviors. See gas prices around the country » . Some of the companies have had the incentives for years, but it's taken the soaring gas prices for employees to look more closely at the programs. "It's something that is much more important than two years ago," Challenger said. "It's hard to get away from, because you're constantly going back to the gas station." He added, "It's hitting people's radar screens now." One company offering generous commuting benefits is online giant Yahoo, which rewards employees who organize carpools, ride bikes to work and take company shuttles to and from offices. Yahoo rewards these green-conscious commuters with free movie tickets, lunches, massages and other benefits. iReport: How is your company helping you . The company recently hired an "employee transportation coordinator" to help devise even more incentives. "We've really been listening to our employees to make sure we help them find ways to make the cost of the commute a little less excessive," said Barbary Brunner, a Yahoo vice president. But it is the Jobing.com vehicle that is most eye-popping. Company spokesman Joe Cockrell says the company started the rolling billboard cars in 2001, but only three executives took part in it. But now, 60 percent of its 270 employees nationwide drive the cars. Watch a shift from marketing ploy to employee benefit » . "This year, for the first time, we've had a long waiting list for our wrap," Cockrell says. "It's basically a huge sticker that goes on your car and should last in theory about three to four years." It costs the company about $3,000 to $4,000 to turn the cars into rolling billboards. They do have rules: The car can't be older than three years, and employees must take a driving safety course and have clean driving records. Once the cars are wrapped, employees shouldn't flip the bird at other drivers. The company did have to "unwrap" one employee's car because he got too many speeding tickets. Cockrell says the program has proved to be a huge win-win. "These are mobile billboards, and wherever our employees go, so does that billboard." Di Bono, who works in community relations, says she loves it, too. She says the cost of filling her tank has doubled in recent years. Now, her company pays her to drive her car. "They pay for everything," she said. "They pay for me to go to all my appointments and anything I want to do on my own time." She added, "You'd be a fool not to take advantage of it." Although many people across the nation are seeking help from their offices, an iReporter in West Virginia recently stopped using his company car and began using his old clunker again. Maurice Alouf's company paid for his V-8 Chrysler sedan, but he says it guzzled gas on his 80-mile round-trip commute. The company didn't offer a gas allowance, and it was costing him more than $60 a week to fill up. So he dusted off his 50-mile-per-gallon Geo Metro. "It's not fun," he said. "I'd like to keep driving [the Chrysler], but I can't."

Woman gets paid $500 extra a month, plus free gas, for turning car into billboard . "People used to tease me," says Misha Di Bono . Survey finds companies are looking at ways to help ease commuting costs . CEO: "We're at a watershed time of how people go to work"

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(CNN) -- Radovan Karadzic's arrest after a decade-long hunt is the equivalent of catching Europe's Osama bin Laden, the U.S. diplomat who brokered peace in Bosnia says. Radovan Karadzic, seen here in 1995, has been arrested after a decade-long hunt. Richard Holbrooke, who negotiated the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement, led the chorus of congratulations from around the globe telling reporters it was "a historic day." "One of the worst men in the world, the Osama bin Laden of Europe, has finally been captured. A major, major thug has been removed from the public scene." "He was at large because the Yugoslav army was protecting him. But this guy in my view was worse than Milosevic [Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic]... he was the intellectual leader," Holbrooke told CNN. Watch Holdbrooke talk about the arrest » . David Miliband, Britain's Foreign Secretary, said it would "pave the way for a brighter, European future for Serbia and the region." The White House released a statement congratulating the government of Serbia, and thanked the people who arrested Karadzic on a bus in Belgrade for their "professionalism and courage." Paddy Ashdown, the former international administrator in Bosnia, told the BBC that it was a "longed hoped for day." "The four years that I was working with NATO to try and catch him were peppered by rumors of where he was -- in this cafe, on that mountain, in this valley." Watch Karadzic's lawyer slam arrest » . Ashdown also told Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper that it was a "major breakthrough for the Balkans region." "Karadzic was accused of being the architect of the worst war crimes that have been perpetrated in Europe since the Nazis. "It is a major credit to Serbia and at last brings the prospect of justice for Bosnia," Ashdown said. The arrest brought Serbia's hopes of joining the EU one step closer to realization, EU foreign affairs chief Javier Solana lauding the news. "This ... gives us immense satisfaction. The new government in Belgrade stands for a new Serbia, for a new quality of relations with the EU." Vuk Jeremic, Serbia's Foreign Minister, said the arrest was proof Serbia was "serious when it comes to her European fate." However, Serb Radical Party Secretary General Aleksandar Vucic said it was "horrible" news and that the country was "on its way to disappear." Karadzic, 63, is accused of leading the worst acts of brutality Europe has seen since the Nazi campaigns of World War II. He is wanted over he deadly siege of Sarajevo, which left an estimated 10,000 people dead, and the 1995 massacre of 8,000 Muslims in Srebrenica.

"Karadzic's arrest is the equivalent of catching Europe's Osama bin Laden" Former U.S. peace broker in Bosnia says arrest is an "historic day" "Major breakthrough for the Balkans," Former international administrator says .

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(CNN) -- Ghana international Michael Essien has followed goalkeeper Petr Cech in agreeing a new five-year contract with English Premier League side Chelsea. Michael Essien has made a big impression on new Chelsea coach Luiz Felipe Scolari. The midfielder, who is in China for the start of the club's pre-season tour, is now tied to the London outfit until the summer of 2013. The 25-year-old has made 143 appearances since moving to Stamford Bridge from French club Lyon in a $49 million transfer in August 2005, scoring 14 goals in total and helping Chelsea win the league title that season. Essien's decision to commit his long-term future to the club is a boost for new manager Luiz Felipe Scolari, who allowed veteran holding midfielder Claude Makelele to join Paris St Germain on Monday. "I have not been here long but it is clear to me that Michael Essien is one of the best midfield players in the world," Scolari said. "I have always admired him and it is good news for me and for Chelsea that he signs for so long." The Accra-born Essien, who started his career in France with Bastia in 2000 before moving to Lyon three years later, was also pleased with the deal. "I am really pleased to have extended my career with Chelsea," he said. "I am very happy here. We have a great team and fantastic fans who have always made me welcome. "With the addition of the new manager, I am feeling very positive about the season ahead." Chelsea announced on Monday that Czech Republic goalkeeper Cech signed a new five-year deal, while England full-back Wayne Bridge committed himself to four more years last week. Scolari is still seeking to keep England midfielder Frank Lampard, who has ended talks over a new deal and now appears to be resigned to waiting until his contract runs out before joining Inter Milan following the upcoming season. The Brazilian has so far added only Portugal playmaker Deco to his midfield ranks. His first match in charge will be Wednesday's friendly against Guangzhou Pharmaceutical, one of the three games the team will play in China. Striker Didier Drogba, who has been linked with moves to AC Milan and Barcelona, is not among the touring squad due to a recurring knee problem. Khalid Boulahrouz, meanwhile, completed his transfer from Chelsea to Stuttgart on a four-year contract with the Bundesliga club. The Netherlands central defender was released Monday by Chelsea and arrived in Stuttgart's training camp in Austria shortly before midnight after passing a medical exam in Stuttgart. The deal between Stuttgart and Chelsea was completed Tuesday. Details were not given. The Dutchman played for Hamburger SV for two seasons before going to Chelsea in 2006. He was loaned to FC Sevilla last season. Boulahrouz's departure came a day after 35-year-old former France international Claude Makelele signed a two-year deal with Paris-Saint Germain after joining from Chelsea on a free transfer.

Ghana international Michael Essien signs new five-year contract with Chelsea . Midfielder follows Petr Cech and Wayne Bridge in agreeing long-term deals . The 25-year-old has made 143 appearances since joining from Lyon in 2005 . Dutch defender Khalid Boulahrouz leaves Chelsea for Stuttgart on 4-year deal .

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(CNN) -- Marius Kloppers was born in South Africa on August 26, 1962. Marius Kloppers, CEO of BHP Billiton . He obtained a degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Pretoria in South Africa and a PhD in Materials Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the U.S. He began his career in South Africa, working in petrochemicals with Sasol and in materials research with Mintek. After receiving an MBA from Insead in France, he worked as a management consultant with McKinsey & Co in the Netherlands. Kloppers joined Billiton Group in 1993 as a core member of the team that created the Group's aluminum business, assuming a variety of operating and functional positions including General Manager, Hillside Aluminum, and Chief Operating Officer, Aluminum. Prior to the formation of BHP Billiton, he also acted as Chief Executive Samancor Manganese and Group Executive of Billiton Plc, responsible for its coal and manganese businesses. He played a central role in the merger of BHP and Billiton, as Chief Marketing Officer and then Chief Commercial Officer before being appointed Group President, Non-Ferrous Materials and an executive Director of BHP Billiton Limited and BHP Billiton Plc in January 2006. Kloppers was appointed Group Executive and Chief Executive Non-Ferrous in July 2007 and has been Chief Executive Officer of BHP Billiton since October 2007. He now lives in Melbourne, Australia, with his wife Carin and their three children, Noni, Reuben and Gabrielle.

He began career in petrochemicals and materials research in South Africa . Was core member of team that created Billiton's aaluminumbusiness . He has been Chief Executive Officer of BHP Billiton since October 2007 .

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NEW YORK (CNN) -- With Sen. Hillary Clinton beside him, Sen. Barack Obama emphasized the challenges women in his family had overcome as he reached out to female voters at a fundraiser Thursday. Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton appears together during a fundraiser in New York Thursday. The New York event was the third in which the former rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination have appeared together this week. In an attempt to close any remaining rifts with Clinton's backers, Obama has asked his supporters to help Clinton retire her roughly $22 million of campaign debt. Obama and Clinton have appeared together five times since Obama secured the Democratic presidential nomination in June. During the "Women for Obama" event, the Illinois senator recounted how his mother, a single mom who put herself through school, once had to "swallow her pride" and accept food stamps to feed her family. He also recalled how his grandmother worked her way from secretary to the vice president of a bank. "But I also saw how she ultimately hit a glass ceiling -- how men no more qualified than she was kept moving up the corporate ladder ahead of her," he said. Obama highlighted the struggles of his wife to balance the responsibilities of her job and parenting -- and admitted that he was somewhat complicit in the situation in which most of the parenting duties fall to his wife. Watch Obama talk about the women who shaped him » . "As the son, grandson and husband of hard-working mothers, I don't accept an America that makes women choose between their kids and their careers," Obama said. "We take it for granted that women are the backbone of our families, but we too often ignore the fact that women are also the backbone of our middle class. "And we won't truly have an economy that puts the needs of the middle class first until we ensure that when it comes to pay and benefits at work, women are treated like equal partners," he said, urging a commitment to equal pay for women. He urged "standing up for paid leave, and paid sick leave, because no one should be punished for getting sick or dealing with a family crisis." Later on Thursday, Obama traveled to Fairfax, Virginia, to unveil a plan meant to increase women's economic security. The plan includes a tax credit of up to $1,000 for families, an increase in the minimum wage and tax cuts to help working women pay for child care, among other provisions. Clinton, who introduced Obama, urged her supporters to back the Illinois senator, saying, "It is critical that we join forces. The Democratic Party is a family -- sometimes dysfunctional." Watch Clinton make her case for Obama » . "We shared this remarkable journey, and I could not be prouder to have this opportunity in front of so many of my friends and supporters to express my confidence in his candidacy and my commitment to ensuring that he will take the oath of office come next January 2009," she said. Obama, in turn, praised Clinton for her historic presidential run, saying, "While this campaign has shown us how far we have to go, we also know that because of what Hillary accomplished, my daughters and yours look at America and themselves a little differently today." Watch why Obama and Clinton are appearing together » . Despite the public calls for unity, some of Clinton's supporters have been hesitant to fall in behind Obama. With Clinton's debt yet to be paid off, some of her supporters are balking at the idea of donating to Obama -- especially if he does not choose her to be his running mate. "I certainly know there are lots of people who are withholding their money," said Lynn Forester de Rothschild, one of Clinton's "Hill-raisers" who raised over $100,000 for the former first lady. Watch why some Clinton backers are balking » . "This is a hard decision for me personally because frankly I don't like him. I feel like he is an elitist. I feel like he has not given me reason to trust him," Rothschild said. That sentiment may be sending some Clinton fans into Sen. John McCain's court. According to a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll released last week, the number of Clinton supporters who say they plan to defect to the Republican presidential nominee's camp is down from a month ago -- but numbers of those who say they plan to vote for Obama are also down. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Florida, spent two days in New York this week with disaffected Clinton supporters. "It's not unexpected that they wouldn't just automatically shift over to Obama, because they're not the typical Democratic supporters that just automatically shift over," she said. "They need to be wooed. They need to be won over."

Democratic nominee pledges to make it easier to balance work and family . Obama urges equal pay, help with child and health care, paid sick leave . Sen. Clinton joins Sen. Obama at "Women for Obama" fundraiser . Many Clinton supporters still are not ready to back Obama .

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BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Sen. Barack Obama and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Monday discussed a "general time horizon" for any American troop withdrawals from Iraq, al-Maliki's office said. Sen. Barack Obama rides in a helicopter Monday with Gen. David Petraeus in Baghdad, Iraq. Obama -- who has made ending the Iraq war a cornerstone of his run for office -- engaged in what were described as productive talks with al-Maliki during a trip to Iraq. The Iraqi government has been pushing for the United States to set a general timetable to spell out troop withdrawals. Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi also met with Obama Monday and told reporters afterward they discussed the security agreement. "I told Sen. Obama (that) Iraqi and American negotiations regarding this are ongoing, and today new Iraqi-American negotiations on this agreement have started with Iraqi written proposals and have a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq," he said. The Bush administration has opposed timetables for troop withdrawals. But al-Maliki and President Bush last week agreed to a "general time horizon for meeting aspirational goals" on troop cuts. The prime minister reiterated that principle with Obama, according to a statement from al-Maliki's office. "Developments of the situation and the circumstances is what will decide the presence of foreign troops in Iraq, but without keeping open-ended dates," al-Maliki said, according to a statement from his office. "With the developments on the ground, we can set a vision and clear horizons regarding this issue, and this is a view both sides agree on in the ongoing negotiations." Al-Maliki's office quoted Obama as saying he is "supportive and committed to preserving the gains achieved by the Iraqi government" under al-Maliki's leadership and that he admires the prime minister's courage. Obama has proposed withdrawing U.S. combat troops from Iraq within 16 months of taking office. Spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said the Iraqi government's "vision" is that most U.S. combat troops would be out of Iraq by 2010. Asked if that stance is part of the current negotiations, al-Dabbagh said, "No. This is the Iraqi vision." iReport.com: Tell us the most important thing the next president needs to know about Iraq . A German magazine on Saturday quoted al-Maliki as saying he backed Obama's proposal, but al-Dabbagh has said that his remarks "were misunderstood, mistranslated and not conveyed accurately." In a statement Sunday, the magazine, Der Spiegel, said it "stands by its version of this interview." In the magazine interview, al-Maliki did not indicate that he was endorsing Obama over Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee. McCain does not think American troops should return to the United States until Iraqi forces are capable of maintaining a safe, democratic state. He has been a strong advocate of the "surge" -- the 2007 escalation of U.S. troops -- and has said troops should stay in Iraq as long as needed. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal -- who's been mentioned as a possible vice presidential pick for McCain -- on Monday criticized Obama's push to remove troops in 16 months as an "arbitrary timetable based on politics versus a plan based on the actual results on the ground." "One of the reasons I'm supporting [McCain] -- he has made it clear he would rather lose an election than lose a war. He's made it very clear -- let's listen to the commanders on the ground," Jindal said on CNN's "American Morning." McCain last week chided Obama for laying out his plans for Iraq and Afghanistan before talking to Gen. David Petraeus, the head of U.S. troops in Iraq. Obama met with Petraeus and Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, in Baghdad on Monday. He also met with Tariq al-Hashimi, a Sunni Arab who is one of Iraq's two vice presidents; Lt. Gen. Lloyd Austin, commander of Multi-National Corps-Iraq; British Maj. Gen. Barney White Spunner, commander of Multi-National Division South East; and Maj. General Abdul Aziz, the Iraqi army's 14th Division commander. Obama's stop in Iraq marks his second visit to the country. The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee's trip abroad began in Kuwait and Afghanistan and will go on to Jordan, Israel, the West Bank, Germany, France and Britain. The senator from Illinois first visited Iraq in 2006. See the stops on Obama's trip » . Obama arrived Monday afternoon in the southern city of Basra, according to U.S. Embassy spokesman Armand Cucciniello. Obama is traveling with Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, a leading Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Sen. Chuck Hagel, a Nebraska Republican who serves on the Foreign Relations Committee and is an outspoken critic of the Iraq war. Obama has said that if he's elected, he would commit more troops to Afghanistan and would order the military to end the war in Iraq, which he has called a "dangerous distraction" from the Afghan battle. Obama spent Saturday and Sunday in Afghanistan, where he met with U.S. troops at three bases and with Afghan President Hamid Karzai -- a leader the Democratic senator has criticized for doing too little to rebuild the war-torn nation. Watch Obama meet Karzai, U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan » . The fight in Afghanistan recently has become a more pressing issue on the political radar. More coalition forces have died in Afghanistan than in Iraq in May, June and so far in July. Last week, in a major address laying out his foreign policy position, Obama said, "As should have been apparent to President Bush and Sen. McCain, the central front in the war on terror is not Iraq, and it never was." He said part of his strategy would be "taking the fight to al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan." CNN's Jomana Karadsheh, Frederik Pleitgen and Mohammed Tawfeeq contributed to this report.

NEW: Sen. Barack Obama, Iraqi prime minister reportedly hold "productive" talks . Sens. Jack Reed and Chuck Hagel accompany Obama on trip . Obama has talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Sunday . Obama says part of his strategy is "taking the fight to al Qaeda in Afghanistan"

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