National News

Hurricane warning issued as 'Bud' threatens Mexico's west coast

Thu, 24 May 2012 23:52:22 GMT

The Mexican government has issued a hurricane warning for part of its western coast due to a powerful storm that could get even stronger in the coming hours, the National Hurricane Center said.

Earlier Thursday, the Miami-based weather agency reported that Hurricane Bud had grown to become a Category 2 storm. A new advisory from three hours later, at 2 p.m. (5 p.m. ET), indicated that the hurricane continued to pack sustained winds of around 110 mph.

"Slight strengthening is possible (Thursday) evening and tonight, and Bud could become a major hurricane before weakening begins on Friday," the center said.

A hurricane warning has been issued for Manzanillo northwest to Cabo Corrientes, where winds are expected to exceed 39 mph within the next 36 hours and eventually top 74 mph. There are hurricane and tropical storm watches and warnings in effect for larger swaths of the country, including San Blas and Punta San Telmo, the hurricane center said.

As of Thursday afternoon, the system's center was located about 225 miles (365 kilometers) southwest of Manzanillo and 280 miles south of Cabo Corrientes. It was moving northeast at a rate of about 9 mph.

Whereas it was once unclear if the storm would make landfall in Mexico, the latest forecast has Bud's center moving over the Latin American nation's mainland "late Friday."

"Hurricane conditions are expected to reach the coast within the hurricane warning area by Friday afternoon," the hurricane center said in its advisory.

By Thursday night, meanwhile, the winds should already be strong -- in excess of 39 mph -- "making outside preparations difficult or dangerous. Preparations to protect life and property should be rushed to completion," said the center.

Bud is the second named tropical storm of the East Pacific hurricane season.

The National Hurricane Center warned that Bud is expected to bring 4 to 6 inches of rain along Mexico's southwestern coast, with possible isolated amounts of 10 inches.

"These rainfall amounts could produce life-threatening flash floods and mudslides," added the U.S. agency.

Swells generated by Bud had already begun to affect some coastal areas on Mexico's southern and southwestern coasts Thursday, and "are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions," the hurricane center said.

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Unabomber lists life sentences as achievement

Thu, 24 May 2012 23:48:07 GMT

At a college reunion, it's common for alumni to share post-collegiate achievements with each other.

But a report compiled for this year's 50th reunion class at Harvard University contained an unusual entry.

Ted Kaczynski, the so-called "Unabomber" and Harvard alumnus, listed his eight life sentences for a string of bombings that killed three people and wounded 23 others as an "award" in the class of 1962 report.

The Harvard Alumni Association said in a statement Thursday that they "regret publishing Kaczynski's references to his convictions and apologize for any distress that it may have caused others."

The Boston Globe published an apparent photo of the entry, which lists Kaczynski's occupation as "prisoner" and his address as "No 04475-046, US Penitentiary-Max, P.O. Box 8500, Florence, CO 8126-8500."

In the section where alumni list their awards, Kaczynski's entry reads: "eight life sentences, issued by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California, 1998."

Kaczynski's entry was published in a class reunion report, which was distributed in advance of the 1962 reunion.

All members of the class who submit their own entries are included in each year's report, according to the alumni association.

Kaczynski was arrested in 1996 and pleaded guilty in 1998 for sending bombs through the mail from 1978 to 1995.

Former stock clerk arrested in death of Etan Patz

Thu, 24 May 2012 23:48:05 GMT

Pedro Hernandez, a former Manhattan stock clerk who once lived in the same neighborhood as Etan Patz, was arrested Thursday in connection with his murder, more than three decades after the 6-year-old went missing.

A then-19-year-old Hernandez allegedly lured Patz to the store with the promise of a soda, choked him in the basement and then disposed of the body using a plastic bag, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly told reporters.

"Detectives believe in the credibility of the statement," Kelly said, referring to the man's earlier confession. Authorities were alerted of the suspect by a tip.

Hernandez, who had since been working in construction until an injury sidelined him, is expected to be charged with second degree murder, Kelly said.

He has no prior criminal record and is the father of a teenage girl, he said.

The boy's disappearance exactly 33 years ago on Friday helped spawn a national movement to raise awareness of missing children, which involved a then-novel approach of splashing an image of the child's face across thousands of milk cartons.

In her book detailing the investigation, author Lisa Cohen describes the plan Etan had the day he went missing. Just prior to his disappearance, according to the book, Patz told his parents that he planned to stop at a store to buy a soda with a dollar that he'd earned by helping a neighborhood carpenter.

The carpenter, Othniel Miller, 75, had met Etan the day before and was recently the focus of media attention when investigators announced they were again questioning him.

"Mr. Miller is relieved by these developments, as he was not involved in any way with Etan Patz's disappearance," said Miller's attorney Michael C. Farkas. "At the same time, Mr. Miller is very pleased that those responsible for this heinous crime may be brought to justice, and the Patz family may finally have the closure they deserve."

But a separate law enforcement source said Thursday that Hernandez's claims were being treated with "a healthy dose of skepticism." The New Jersey resident was picked up Wednesday in his home state, two law enforcement sources added.

Hernandez had once lived and worked in the same Manhattan neighborhood where the Patz family lives.

Hernandez's name "came up more than once while interviewing others recently," said a law enforcement source, who added that authorities had been familiar with him years ago.

Renewed attention over the Patz case sprung up last month when investigators scoured Miller's SoHo basement, where Etan had been seen a day before he went missing.

But their search produced no apparent clues.

The tipster contacted authorities months ago after news coverage of their renewed search. That contact, at least in part, prompted investigators to question Hernandez.

A spokeswoman for the Manhattan district attorney's office, which reopened the case in 2010, declined to comment on the recent development.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg added that there's "still a lot more investigating to do."

"To his credit, District Attorney Cy Vance reopened (the investigation) in hopes not only of bringing justice, but also offering some closure to Etan's parents," the mayor told reporters Thursday. "And as a father, I just can not imagine what they've gone through."

Etan went missing on May 25, 1979, a block from his home in the Manhattan neighborhood of SoHo. It was the first time that he had walked to his school bus stop by himself.

His mother, Julie, learned after her son failed to return home that he hadn't been in classes that day. After calling the school and Etan's friends, she then called police.

The boy was officially declared dead in 2001 as part of a lawsuit filed by his family against a drifter, Jose Antonio Ramos, a convicted child molester acquainted with Etan's babysitter.

A judge found Ramos responsible for the boy's death and ordered him to pay the family $2 million -- money the Patz family has never received.

Though Ramos was considered a key focus of the investigation for years, he has never been charged in the case. He is serving a 20-year prison sentence in Pennsylvania for molesting another boy and is set to be released this year.

A source has previously said investigators wanted to expand the pool of possible suspects beyond Ramos.

Parents Stan and Julie Patz still live in their SoHo home and have not commented on the new developments.

Cohen, author of "After Etan: The Missing Child Case That Held America Captive," told CNN earlier that "the family's been living through this for 33 years. They've had many moments like this. They've learned how to deal with it."

Just weeks after Etan disappeared, an attacker abducted the first of more than 20 children to be kidnapped and killed in Atlanta. A suspect in that case was arrested two years later.

In 1984, Congress passed the Missing Children's Assistance Act, which led to the creation of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

President Ronald Reagan named May 25, the day Etan went missing, as National Missing Children's Day.

Chinese activist Chen gives first in-depth TV interview since escape

Thu, 24 May 2012 23:43:01 GMT

In his first in-depth TV interview since his dramatic escape from house arrest, Chinese human rights activist Chen Guangcheng told CNN about his departure from China and his continuing concern for family and friends he left behind.

He also spoke about tasting freedom recently.

"I haven't been able to feel (nature) for a long time," said Chen, who is blind. "I had some time to soak in the sun and feel the breeze. I just felt I hadn't been able to do that in so long. I have missed out for too long. "

Asked about speaking out against China, he said, "It was natural for me, it was very natural for me. I feel it's in people's nature to want to stop evil and embrace the good."

His experience being under house arrest in China, he said, brought much suffering.

"I want to correct one thing here," Chen said. In the future, he continued, "let's not use the word 'house arrest,' but instead let's use the term 'illegal detention.' It's hard for me to describe what it was like during that time. But let's just say that my suffering was beyond imagination."

He made his comments Thursday morning in an exclusive with CNN's Anderson Cooper.

Chen's arrival in the United States on Saturday brought an end to a diplomatic firestorm between Beijing and Washington that erupted after he escaped from house arrest in the Shandong province.

Chen, 40, and his wife and children are in the United States for Chen to study at New York University under a fellowship.

Chen told CNN that he and his wife were beaten periodically in China.

"Yes, it was beyond everybody's imagination," Chen said. "But I don't want to talk about it right now."

Five days after arriving in the United States, Chen said he was still gathering his thoughts about his escape.

"After evading danger and the obstacles, I was able to get out of Dongshigu village (his home town) and then I called my good friend Guo Yushan in Beijing.

"He quickly led a team to find me and drove me to Beijing. I was able to talk extensively with him during the journey and found out what had been going on in the outside world. So Mr. Guo played a very important role in this process," Chen said.

Though staying in a safe place in Beijing, he began to worry about his safety, he said. He was also getting treatment for a foot injury, he said. He came up with a safer place to stay, he said.

He noted how acquaintances in China helped him.

"There's one thing I want to mention that may be a surprise to many people," Chen said. "When a group of people come together and accomplish something, they often fight for credit. In my case, all those people who went to Shandong to pick me up, when the news broke, they were fighting for risk instead of credit. They were all trying to claim responsibility to make others safer."

Chen, who's blind, fears the Chinese government may retaliate against acquaintances who helped him, he said.

"Of course, I'm very worried. We can see their retribution against my family since my escape has continued and been intensified," Chen said.

Shortly after Chen escaped from his village, his nephew, Chen Kegui, was arrested and accused of murder. Chen Kegui's father, who's Chen Guangcheng's brother, has fled his village in eastern China to Beijing to seek legal advice, his lawyer said Thursday.

"When dozens of men break into someone's house with weapons in the middle of the night, taking away your parent with a hood over his head and detain him without any legal basis and then go back to assault my nephew, he only reacted when he could no longer bear the beatings, and his actions would be self defense according to any Chinese law," Chen told CNN.

"They injured his head, and made him bleed for three hours, and his clothes were shattered and the sticks they used to beat him were bent, and if actions under such circumstances (were) not called self-defense, would there be any meaning left in having the term self-defense in Chinese law?" Chen added.

Chen asserted that the Chinese government seeks to convict his nephew under an unfair legal process.

"What they're doing now is not very different than what they did to me in 2006," Chen said. "They told my nephew no lawyers are willing to defend you. Then they tell lawyers outside (that) Chen Kegui has already hired lawyers. I experienced the same thing in 2006. Back then I told them clearly I have my own lawyers. I don't need you to appoint lawyers for me. But they forced ... a government-appointed lawyer onto me despite my protest."

In 2006, Chen was sentenced by a local Chinese court to four years and three months in prison on charges of damaging property and "organizing a mob to disturb traffic" in a protest, charges that his supporters called preposterous.

Chen rose to fame in the late 1990s because of his legal advocacy for what he called victims of abusive practices, such as alleged forced abortions, by China's family planning officials.

After he was released from prison in September 2010, he had been confined to his home along with his wife, mother and daughter.

Regarding his 2006 trial, Chen told CNN: "That whole process was just a farce of them investigating, prosecuting, trying and convicting all by themselves."

To ensure his nephew receives a fair trial, his case should be assigned to a court outside of Shandong, Chen said.

"Chen Kegui's case should be moved elsewhere, so he can have a fair trial and have his innocence and freedom back," Chen said. "China's own criminal procedure law means Shengdong authorities cannot be involved in Chen Kegui's case."

The case "is going to be a benchmark in testing China's rule of law. It's going to be a litmus test," Chen continued, "because in his case, what happened was not difficult to verify. The facts are clear. The key is whether or not they want to act based on facts and accordance with law."

On Saturday, the activist indicated through a translator that the U.S. government granted him partial citizenship rights. He asked people to work with him to "promote justice and fairness in China." And Chen said he was looking forward to recuperating in "body and spirit."

Store clerk arrested in death of Etan Patz

Thu, 24 May 2012 23:40:32 GMT

Hernandez allegedly lured Patz to the store with the promise of a soda, choked him in the basement and then disposed of the body using a plastic bag, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly told reporters.

Authorities were tipped off to Hernandez by someone who knew him, and whom Hernandez had confided in, a law enforcement source said.

CNN's Ross Levitt contributed to this report.

Airplane door falls onto golf course

Thu, 24 May 2012 23:38:16 GMT

The FAA is investigating what caused a private jet to lose its door as it flew over a Florida golf course.

The Canadair CL600 jet was traveling from Opa-Locka to Pompano Beach, Fla., on Wednesday when it was diverted and landed safely at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, according to FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen.

"An airport vehicle met the aircraft as it exited the runway and escorted it to Bombardier Aviation (a maintenance facility on the airport) where it was discovered that the main cabin door was missing," she said.

Air traffic control audio recorded by LiveATC.net captured controllers ordering takeoffs on runway 9L so it could be inspected.

"Before your next arrival or departure, I need to do a runway inspection. I just had an aircraft (that) lost a door. Want to make sure nothing is on the runway," a ramp controller radioed the control tower.

The door, with retractable boarding stairs attached, crashed through trees, bouncing onto a golf course near Hallandale Beach, according to CNN affiliate WSVN, which shot video of it being removed by a tow truck.

The golf course was closed at the time.

The aircraft was assigned the unique identifying number, often called a tail number, N207JB. The same number had been assigned to another aircraft before it crashed in 2009, according to National Transportation Safety Board records.

Ashes of 'Star Trek' actor on private rocket

Thu, 24 May 2012 22:20:10 GMT

In the end, it was Scotty who got beamed up.

The ashes of late actor James Doohan, who played chief engineer Montgomery Scott in the original "Star Trek" television series and a series of subsequent films, were on the SpaceX rocket that launched a private spacecraft into orbit this week.

Doohan's character was referenced in the "Beam me up, Scotty" catchphrase associated with "Star Trek."

In various versions of the command, Capt. James T. Kirk, played by William Shatner, would ask his Scottish-descended colleague to activate a matter teleportation device that would transport Kirk or others to the starship Enterprise.

While it is unclear if the exact phrase "Beam me up, Scotty" ever was uttered in a "Star Trek" episode, it became a popular bumper sticker and Doohan chose it for the title of his autobiography published in 1996. He died in 2005.

Celestis, a company that provides memorial spaceflights, confirmed that some of Doohan's cremated remains were among 320 sets on the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched Tuesday.

In addition, a portion of the cremated remains of Mercury 7 astronaut Gordon Cooper also were on board, the company confirmed.

The Falcon 9 rocket, which carried up the SpaceX Dragon craft for a possible rendezvous this week with the International Space Station, is expected to remain in orbit for months until burning up when it falls back into the Earth's atmosphere.

"He would rather have flown when he was alive, of course," said Doohan's widow, Wende Doohan, who watched the SpaceX launch Tuesday with the couple's 12-year-old daugher, one of three children from a 31-year marriage.

Doohan always told her he wanted his ashes flown in space, she said Thursday, adding that the contract with Celestis was not signed until after Doohan died.

"He was this enormous fan of technology, future technology, space exploration, NASA and anything with mankind reaching out," Doohan said.

Doohan and Cooper's ashes also were launched in 2007, but that flight failed to make it into space.

Charles Chafer, the CEO of Celestis, said Thursday the remains aboard the Falcon 9 rocket came from 18 countries and included many people linked to the space industry, such as workers on the Apollo program.

According to Chafer, another celebrity whose remains were included was Randy VanWarmer, who wrote the song "Just When I Needed You Most." VanWarmer died of leukemia in 2004, Chafer said.

A common theme among those on board was their interest in traveling in space when alive, Chafer said, adding "but there's also a bunch of folks sort of new age; they wanted to be part of the universe."

In Doohan's case, timing led his acting career to the stars instead of the depths of the ocean, according to his widow. He read for parts on both "Star Trek" and "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea," and got a call back first from "Star Trek" producer Gene Roddenberry, she noted.

"No one would know him today if he'd gotten the other call first," she said.

Tape showed Zimmerman's anger over black man's beating

Thu, 24 May 2012 21:40:22 GMT

George Zimmerman gave a scathing review of the Sanford Police Department and accused its chief of engaging in a cover-up during a public meeting in January 2011.

Zimmerman's anger stemmed from the case of Sherman Ware, a black homeless man who was beaten by the son of a white police lieutenant.

Since Zimmerman shot and killed unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin in February -- in what he insists was self-defense -- Zimmerman's family has pointed to his efforts to "get justice" for Ware in response to people around the country who have accused him of racially profiling the 17-year-old. Zimmerman is Hispanic; Trayvon Martin was black.

Last year in September, Zimmerman wrote an e-mail to Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee saying, "In the past, I have not had a positive perspective of Sanford Police Department, due primarily to the Sherman Ware incident."

A video from the night of Ware's beating showed Justin Collison hitting the young man. Collison ended up pleading guilty to misdemeanor battery

Zimmerman's outrage over the incident was clear at the public meeting the previous January.

"I would just like to state that the law is written in black and white. It should not and cannot be enforced in the gray for those that are in the thin blue line," he said at the hearing. CNN obtained a recording this week.

He mentioned Brian Tooley, who was Sanford's police chief at the time of the Ware incident. "I'd like to know what action the commission intends on making in order to repeal Mr. Tooley's pension. I'm not asking you to repeal his pension. I believe that he's already forfeited his pension by his illegal cover-up and corruption and what happened in his department."

While Zimmerman is not heard specifically mentioning Ware in the recording, the official minutes from the hearing state that citizen demands included "a full review of the Sherman Ware cover-ups on behalf of" Sanford police.

Public outcries of police misconduct forced Tooley into early retirement. He was not charged with illegal activity.

Despite his previous frustration with police, the September e-mail included thanks to Lee and praise for the department's "professionalism."

The e-mail, eight months after the public meeting, shows a significant shift in Zimmerman's relationship with police, months before officers responded to the Trayvon Martin shooting.

However, a spokesperson for Lee said in a e-mail to CNN that the police chief "has never met Mr. Zimmerman and does not know him."

"The email Chief Lee received in 2011 was not unique among the numerous complimentary emails Chief Lee has received from Sanford residents," Sara Brady wrote. "As is his practice, Chief Lee responded to a positive comment from a citizen. Based on comments that Mr. Zimmerman is reported to have made in a public forum before Chief Lee was hired, it is not likely that Mr. Zimmerman would have endeared himself to members of the police department."

Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer, is charged with second-degree murder in the death, which sparked nationwide protests and inflamed public passions over race relations and gun control.

Critics of the case have questioned his relationship with police, noting that Zimmerman worked closely with officers as part of his work with the neighborhood watch program he started.

The January 8, 2011, recording from the meeting at Sanford's City Hall is a reminder that the relationship wasn't always positive.

"I also have had the opportunity to take ride-alongs with the city of Sanford Police Department and what I saw was disgusting," Zimmerman said at the time. "The officer showed me his favorite hiding spots for taking naps. ... He took two lunch breaks and attended a going-away party for one of his fellow officers."

Sanford Police Capt. Robert O'Connor told CNN that the department does not have specific details about when Zimmerman rode with police or whom he rode with, "if in fact he ever did ride with SPD."

In the September 18, 2011, e-mail, obtained by CNN after a records request, Zimmerman said he had "a completely new perspective" after working closely with the department's community volunteer coordinator.

He praised the volunteer coordinator's quick responses to e-mails and phone calls, saying she went "above and beyond to help launch a neighborhood watch" and calling her "a testament to the highest level of professionalism of (the chief's) administration."

"I have high hopes for, and restored faith in your administration and the Sanford Police Department in its entirety," he wrote.

Sanford interim Police Chief Richard Myers declined comment to CNN, but told the Miami Herald newspaper in a written statement, "Based upon the questions being posed, it would be inappropriate for any of us to speculate or conclude anything gleaned from the recording or any e-mail documents.

"Neither the city manager nor the interim police chief were with the City of Sanford at the time the recording was made, and neither were here during the tenure of the former chief cited in one of the questions," the statement said. "As a police chief I embrace the notion that transparency helps build public trust, but in this case, the need to preserve the sanctity of a criminal prosecution for both the prosecutor and the defense requires us to eschew making any comments that could taint the process."

Documents released last week showed a cordial relationship between Zimmerman and the police.

Beginning in August 2011, Zimmerman exchanged e-mails with the Sanford police department at least three times, the documents show. A rash of burglaries that began in July prompted the watch captain to ask the police department to host a neighborhood watch presentation for members of the community.

Zimmerman's e-mails with Sanford police show a pleasant, even friendly, relationship. In an e-mail dated September 19, Sanford police volunteer coordinator Wendy Dorival thanked Zimmerman for his "kind words" sent to the chief. He responded, "It was with great pleasure that I sent that e-mail, you deserve the recognition!"

Police records indicate that five burglaries were documented in the neighborhood where Zimmerman lived in less than three months, starting in mid-July.

Five months before the Martin shooting, at the neighborhood watch meeting on September 22, Sanford police distributed contact cards and hosted a presentation on crime-prevention and security measures, according to the documents. Some of the fliers distributed read, "Report suspicious persons ... activities ... or vehicles." Another reads, "Know your neighbor" -- going on to issue advice on how to "profile" your neighborhood block.

Zimmerman was charged with second-degree murder in April.

Edwards trial jury ends fifth day of deliberations without a verdict

Thu, 24 May 2012 21:29:17 GMT

Jurors in John Edwards' corruption trial went home Thursday, after their fifth day of deliberations, without a verdict -- leaving the former Democratic presidential candidate in limbo for yet another day.

Earlier in the day, the eight-man, four-woman jury had asked to review another 20 exhibits in the case. That prompted Judge Catherine C. Eagles to say, "If you would like, we could send back all of the exhibits."

When the foreman responded, "Sounds like a great idea," the judge ordered the court record to reflect that at least six jurors nodded affirmatively that they would like all of the exhibits.

After four weeks of testimony, deliberations began last Friday. Jurors had also requested Monday and Tuesday to see several exhibits relating to various counts against Edwards, who was the 2004 Democratic vice presidential nominee.

Edwards himself spent part of Wednesday a few blocks from the courthouse at NewBridge Bank Park, where he and his daughter Cate watched part of the 2012 Atlantic Coast Conference championship baseball tournament.

CNN affiliate WRAL showed video of the one-time U.S. senator from North Carolina purchasing his ticket and sitting in the stands, as well as one man displaying his game ticket that Edwards autographed for him.

The jury weighing his fate will reconvene at 9:30 a.m. Friday to continue its efforts to reach a decision on Edwards, who is charged with accepting illegal campaign contributions, falsifying documents and conspiracy to receive and conceal the contributions. The charges carry a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and a $1.5 million fine.

Prosecutors said Edwards "knowingly and willingly" accepted almost $1 million from two wealthy donors to hide former mistress Rielle Hunter and her pregnancy, then concealed the donations by filing false and misleading campaign disclosure reports.

Defense attorneys argued that Edwards was guilty of nothing but being a bad husband to his wife, Elizabeth, who died in 2010. They also argued that former Edwards aide Andrew Young used the money for his own gain and to pay for Hunter's medical expenses to hide the affair from Edwards' wife.

Neither Edwards nor Hunter testified during the trial. The affair occurred as Edwards was gearing up for a second White House bid in 2008, and he knew his political ambitions depended on keeping his affair with Hunter a secret, Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Higdon told jurors in closing arguments.

"There is no question it would destroy the campaign of John Edwards," Higdon said.

Prosecutors argued that Edwards knowingly violated campaign finance laws by accepting the large contributions from Rachel Mellon and Fred Baron that went to support Hunter. Edwards "knew these rules well," Higdon said, and should have known that the contributions violated campaign finance laws.

Edwards accepted $725,000 from Mellon and more than $200,000 from Baron, prosecutors said. The money was used to pay for Hunter's living and medical expenses, travel and other costs to keep her out of sight while Edwards made his 2008 White House run, prosecutors say.

Defense attorneys argued that the donations cannot be considered campaign contributions.

Prosecutors said Edwards manipulated Young and others to help keep his affair out of public view. Young testified that he allowed Hunter to move in with him and his wife at Edwards' request after newspapers began looking into a possible affair within the Edwards campaign. Young initially claimed to be the father of Hunter's baby girl and testified that Mellon was already funding Hunter's living expenses when he called Baron to complain about the situation.

Baron offered to help out, telling Young to write up Hunter's expenses so that Baron could reimburse them, the aide testified.

Neither Baron nor Mellon appeared to know that the other was reimbursing Young for the same expenses, raising questions about whether and how much Young may have profited from the situation. Young acknowledged during the trial that he had used some donations for his own personal benefit, including paying for the construction of a home.

Another former Edwards aide, speechwriter Wendy Button, testified that Edwards knew Baron was supporting Hunter and her child in 2009. And defense lawyer Abbe Lowell urged jurors to focus on Young's role in the case, saying he was a biased and unreliable witness with a financial and legal interest in the outcome.

"There is nothing he won't lie about, nothing," Lowell said.

Young, the author of a tell-all book about the Edwards scandal, testified under an agreement with the government in hopes that he will not be prosecuted. Prosecutors agreed that Young made several mistakes over the years, including keeping some of the money, failing to confront Edwards earlier about his behavior and falsely claiming paternity for Edwards' child with Hunter.

But David Harbach of the U.S. Justice Department's public integrity section told jurors in a rebuttal argument that Lowell was merely trying to distract jurors from focusing on the charges against Edwards.

"The defense is overplaying their hand," Harbach said.

Official: 50% turnout through final day of Egypt's historic presidential vote

Thu, 24 May 2012 21:09:06 GMT

About half all Egypt's registered voters had cast ballots through the second and final day of the country's historic presidential election, a top elections official said Thursday.

Voting continued into the night Thursday. Farouk Sultan, head of the Higher Presidential Committee, vowed on state television that the election would continue until the last person in any given polling station had cast his vote.

Amid worries by some that Egypt's current military rulers might somehow hijack the election, Sultan detailed the vote counting process -- including checks and balances aimed at insuring credibility.

According to the committee head, votes will be tallied in the various polling locales by a judge and in the presence of representatives of the candidates. Each final count will be announced aloud, then an official report will be filed that can be viewed by nonprofit groups, the media and candidates, said Sultan.

There are 13 candidates on the ballot, although two withdrew from the race after ballots were printed. If no candidate gets a majority of the vote in the first round, a second round will be held June 16-17.

Results of the first round are not expected before the weekend.

Government employees were given the day off work to vote to decide who will be Egypt's first president since Hosni Mubarak, who led the North African nation for 30 years before resigning amid a popular outcry. He is awaiting the court's verdict and could potentially face the death penalty after going on trial for allegedly ordering the killing of anti-government protesters and corruption.

Voting went smoothly in a northern suburb of Cairo earlier Thursday, where women waited between 30 and 45 minutes to cast their ballots.

A day earlier, a wave of enthusiasm swept across polling stations, with some waiting up to four hours to vote.

"Finally, Egypt is born," one weeping 80-year-old man told U.S. Rep. David Dreier, a California Republican who is in Cairo as an election observer.

Grandmother Nadia Fahmy, 70, was so determined to be the first one to vote at her polling station that she camped out in a plastic chair for 2½ hours before it opened on Wednesday.

"I am here to vote for the first time in my life," said Fahmy. "I want to see a new generation for my country. I want everything to change."

After polls closed that day, a former top U.N. official called the election a potential turning point for the country.

If "ordinary Egyptians see this as a legitimate expression of their own popular will," regardless of who wins, "then it can be a prelude to the real return of security and stability in the country," said Mark Malloch Brown.

The former top diplomat and development expert said he was very optimistic about what lay ahead for Egypt in a few years down the road, even if the country was probably in for a "bumpy ride" in the short term.

"We went through this with Eastern Europe after 1989," when the Communist regimes there fell, Malloch Brown told CNN's "Connect the World" program. "It just takes time. People need to settle into a new political order. Whatever happens in the next months, people need to just hold onto the fact that (Egypt) will get there."

He predicted that a post-revolutionary Egypt would be "a little bit more Islamic than it was before, a little bit more feisty and independent vis-a-vis the U.S. and Israel," while domestically, it would "really try and focus on doing a much better deal for poor Egyptians."

The voting is a monumental achievement for those who worked to topple Mubarak in one of the seminal developments of the Arab Spring more than a year ago. And it could reverberate far beyond the country's borders, since Egypt is in many ways the center of gravity of the Arab world.

"Egypt has always set trends in the Arab world and for Arab political thought. Trends spread through the Arab world and eventually affect even non-Arab, Muslim-majority countries," said Maajid Nawaz, the chairman of Quilliam, a London-based think tank.

Egypt's election "bodes well for the rest of the Arab world and particularly those countries that have had uprisings," said Nawaz, a former Islamist who was imprisoned in Egypt for four years for banned political activism.

In a report released Thursday, Amnesty International was critical of the military leaders who rule Egypt in its annual report on human rights around the world.

"In some cases they've continued the abuses of the Mubarak regime, in that over 100 people have been killed in the streets in demonstrations as a result of excessive force used by security or military forces," said Philip Luther, deputy director for the advocacy group's Middle East and North Africa program.

Amnesty is also opposed to the use of "virginity testing" on some women protesters, saying it is "tantamount to torture and totally unacceptable."

The authorities have not done enough to ensure that women can contribute on an equal footing with men to the ongoing process of political reform, Luther also said.

Amnesty wants whoever takes office as president to end the state of emergency and end the use of military trials for civilians.

The concern about the powerful military possibly swaying this week's vote persists despite the insistence of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces that it will hand over power to an elected civilian government. The military leaders put armored personnel carriers on the streets with loudspeakers broadcasting a message that they will relinquish power, but that did not convince doubters.

Some 30,000 volunteers have fanned out to make sure the voting is fair, said organizers with the April 6 youth movement, which has long campaigned for greater democracy and rule of law in Egypt.

They reported only minor violations on Wednesday, mostly supporters of one candidate or another trying to influence voters at polling stations.

Nawaz, the analyst in London, said Egypt probably is not heading toward a simple case of the military either giving up control or rejecting the results of the election.

Instead, he anticipated, there will be an "unhappy settlement" where the military remains "ever-present, in the shadows," influencing the civilian government without controlling it.

"Egypt is going along similar lines to Turkey or Pakistan," he said, naming two other countries that have formal democracies in place but where a powerful military can affect events.

The degree to which the military continues to exercise control in Egypt will depend on who wins the election, Nawaz anticipated -- but he laughed aloud when asked to predict who that would be.

Whoever wins the election, Nawaz said, will face tremendous challenges, even without worries about the army.

"They are inheriting a failed economy, an abysmal bureaucracy, a frustrated people, and a deep distrust on behalf of the people towards their military and any policing," Nawaz said.

Protesters are upset at what they see as the slow pace of reform since Mubarak's ouster. Some are also concerned that the country's military leadership is delaying the transition to civilian rule.

And Egypt has an elaborate political mosaic where alliances shift quickly, he added.

Secular democrats oppose military rule, for example, but if an Islamist candidate wins the presidency, "Some of the democrats would switch because they would rather have military rule than the Islamists," Nawaz said.

"It's far more complicated than 'Islamists vs. liberal democracy.' It's rich vs. poor, (hardline) Salafists vs. the (more moderate) Muslim Brotherhood, secularists vs. Islamists," he said.

On top of that, the country does not yet have a new constitution defining the powers of the president or the parliament, after a court last month suspended the committee charged with writing it. The court ruled that the members of the committee did not reflect the national population well enough.

Among the candidates vying for the presidency are Mohamed Morsi, of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party; Amre Moussa, who served as foreign minister under Mubarak and headed the Arab League; Abdelmonen Abol Fotoh, a moderate Islamist running as a respected independent; Ahmed Shafik, who was Mubarak's last prime minister; and Hamdeen Sabahy, a leftist dark-horse contender.

In January, two Islamist parties -- the Freedom and Justice Party with 235 seats and the conservative Al Nour party with 121 seats -- won about 70% of the seats in the lower house of parliament in the first elections for an elected governing body in the post-Mubarak era. The rest of the assembly's 498 seats were divided among other parties.

NOAA predicts near-normal hurricane seasons

Thu, 24 May 2012 21:08:02 GMT

Despite some early storms this year, forecasters Thursday predicted a near-normal Atlantic hurricane season with nine to 15 named storms, including four to eight hurricanes and one to three major hurricanes.

Gerry Bell, lead hurricane season forecaster at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Climate Prediction Center, told reporters that uncertainty about whether the El Nino weather pattern will form made it difficult to be more precise.

The hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30.

For the Atlantic Ocean, a normal season would produce 12 named storms, including six hurricanes and three major ones.

A major hurricane, designated as Category 3 or greater, packs winds of well over 100 miles per hour.

In addition, forecasters predicted a near-normal Eastern Pacific hurricane season, with 12 to 18 named storms, including five to nine hurricanes and two to five major hurricanes.

An average season in the Eastern Pacific produces 15 named storms, eight hurricanes and four major hurricanes.

It is extremely rare for an Eastern Pacific hurricane to affect the U.S. mainland, though some do have an influence on Hawaii.

Thursday's announcement came as Hurricane Bud strengthened to a Category 2 storm as it churned toward the southwestern coast of Mexico in the Eastern Pacific.

In addition, Tropical Storm Alberto broke up in the Atlantic this week and another tropical depression was causing heavy rainfall in southern Florida, Bell said.

However, he said the early storms were no harbinger of a more active season than normal.

Facebook launches 'Camera' photo app

Thu, 24 May 2012 20:10:31 GMT

So much for Instagram?

Facebook on Thursday launched a photo-sharing app called Facebook Camera, which aims to make it simpler for the social network's users to upload and browse photos on smartphones.

The news comes only weeks after Facebook spent $1 billion on a similar photo-sharing app called Instagram. And only days after the company's initial public offering got a lukewarm reception from Wall Street and raised the eyebrows of financial regulators.

The company says the app, which will be available late Thursday for Apple iOS devices, makes Facebook photos more fun and accessible.

"When you launch the app, you'll see a feed of just great photos from the people you care about," the company said in a press release. "You can swipe to see more of any album or tap to enlarge an individual photo."

The app lets users crop photos and add colorful filters. And people who use the app also can upload multiple pictures at once. "Just select the shots you want to share by tapping the check-mark on each photo and then hit post," Facebook's statement says. "You'll have a chance to add a caption, say where you were and tag friends before you share."

The app gets generally good marks from early reviewers, who say it is much faster than the primary Facebook app and displays photos in a large, crisp fashion.

But the comparisons to Instagram are confounding tech bloggers, who are trying to figure out to what degree Facebook was influenced by the company it purchased.

Mike Isaac, a writer at the blog All Things D, calls the app "Instagram redux," since the release comes so closely on the heels of the company's purchase of that startup.

While there are key similarities between the apps, he writes, Facebook "was most likely working on this product long before buying Instagram was ever a real possibility."

The New York Times' Bits blog also says the similarities between the apps could be overstated.

"It might seem strange for Facebook to release a camera application with built-in filters just weeks after announcing plans to buy Instagram, the social photo app," the Times writes. "But Facebook Camera is aimed at a different audience. Instagram has 40 million users, while Facebook has 900 million. This leaves a large swath of people who are not on Instagram but are actively taking photos and uploading them to Facebook. The filters in Facebook Camera were developed by Facebook and are not borrowed from Instagram."

At the blog VentureBeat, Sean Ludwig writes that Facebook Camera was "clearly influenced by it [Instagram]. Once the Instagram deal does close, we expect the lines to blur even more," he says.

Ellis Hamburger, writing for The Verge, had a more critical take:

"Had the Instagram deal never occurred, Facebook Camera wouldn't really be much of an Instagram competitor anyway, lacking any mobile-only social circles, hashtagged sharing around specific topics, tilt-shift, and interesting filters, for that matter," he wrote.

Ohio school shooting suspect to be tried as an adult

Thu, 24 May 2012 18:56:38 GMT

The teenager charged with killing three classmates at his Ohio school and wounding three more will be tried as an adult, a judge ruled Thursday.

T.J. Lane is faces three counts of aggravated murder, two counts of attempted murder and one count of felonious assault in the February 27 killings at his high school in Chardon, about 25 miles east of Cleveland. Geauga County Judge Timothy Grendell has ordered Lane's case tried in adult court.

Witnesses told police Lane, 17, silently walked up to a table of students in the Chardon High School cafeteria and opened fire. An assistant football coach chased him out of the school, and police arrested him nearby a short time later.

Lane could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted, and Grendell ordered him held without bail. the teen appeared in court in an open-necked, pale blue button-down shirt.

Defense lawyers opposed his transfer, arguing Lane suffers from mental illness. Grendell said he had no choice under state law but the make the transfer -- but he delayed sending him from the county's juvenile detention facility jail until June 8 to let authorities make arrangements to keep him in juvenile detention.

"The court feels there is ample opportunity for (Lane) to get whatever care he needs while he is in either the detention center or the Geauga County Safety Center," Grendell said.

Romney defends class size stance to teachers

Thu, 24 May 2012 18:44:20 GMT

Mitt Romney, who is spending this week promoting a plan for America's public school system, spent Thursday morning defending his stance that smaller class sizes don't necessarily equate with better learning in schools.

Romney participated in an education roundtable at a charter school in Philadelphia the day after laying out his education plan to Latino small business owners in Washington. Romney's plan emphasizes school choice over other factors, including efforts to reduce the number of students in classrooms.

Speaking of his time as governor of Massachusetts, Romney said he was frequently told that smaller class sizes would lead to better learning, but that certain studies advised otherwise.

"I came into office and talked to people and said, 'What can we do to improve our schools?'" Romney said at his Thursday event. "And a number of folks said we need smaller classroom sizes, that will make the biggest difference."

Romney went on to cite a study that showed no correlation between classroom size and performance, naming schools in Cambridge, Massachusetts as an example.

"The schools in the district with the smallest classroom sizes had students performing in the bottom 10%," Romney said. "Just getting smaller classrooms didn't seem to be the key."

Romney was pressed on his stance by a music teacher at the charter school who questioned the research Romney cited.

"I can't think of any teacher in the whole time I've been teaching, for 10 years, 13 years, who would say that more students would benefit them," the man said. "And I can't think of a parent who would say 'I would like my student to be in a classroom with a lot of kids with only one teacher.' So I'm kind of wondering where this research comes from."

Another teacher participating in the roundtable said unequivocally that he had too many students in his classroom.

"It's too large," the second teacher said. "It varies between classes, anywhere between 20 and 28. You can give more personalized attention to each student if you have a smaller class size."

Romney responded by naming a study from the McKinsey Global Institute, which is associated with the management consultancy McKinsey and Co. The presumptive GOP presidential nominee said the group's research compared class sizes in countries around the world, and showed the highest performing schools had class sizes the same as in the United States.

"So it's not the classroom size that's driving the success of those school systems," Romney concluded. More important, he said, was recruiting the best teachers and ensuring administrators have the correct priorities in leading schools.

While Romney cited one study to seemingly questioning the benefit of smaller class sizes, the majority of research does point to improved learning from smaller classes, according to Education Week.

http://www.edweek.org/ew/issues/class-size/

One large study in Tennessee, which was conducted over a nearly thirty year period, showed students who were placed in a smaller-sized classroom made measurable gains, and performed better even when they were put back in larger classes.

Other studies show that smaller classes lead to higher achievement for minority students and students living below the poverty line.

Education Week notes that initiatives to promote smaller class sizes are costly, and sometimes lead to the hiring of under-qualified teachers.

Lis Smith, a spokeswoman for President Barack Obama's re-election team, responded to Romney's class size stance with a question: "What planet does he live on?"

"At his event today in Philadelphia, we saw Mitt Romney's vision for education and it truly tests commonsense," Smith wrote. "When confronted by teachers who know firsthand the benefits of smaller class sizes, Mitt Romney continued to insist -- against all evidence -- that larger class sizes are the answer to a good education. And he has even claimed that smaller class sizes 'hurt' education."

Campaigns target voters through their phones

Thu, 24 May 2012 18:14:52 GMT

Even as the head of the Young Republicans at Samford University, Weathers Veazey didn't have a lot of time for politics this primary season.

Immersed in tough pre-law classes at the conservative Baptist university in Birmingham, Alabama, she barely paid attention to the nonstop political ads that ran on TV during the state's presidential primary.

"Classes are all-consuming for college students," Veazey said. "We don't have a lot of time to watch TV."

What would have caught her attention? Ads sent directly to her smartphone. "I would definitely have clicked on an ad texted to me," she said. "That's a perfect way to reach college students. We always have our cellphones in our backpacks or in our hands."

That's what digital political guru Vincent Harris was counting on when he sent the campus conservative-themed text ads for former House Speaker Newt Gingrich before the Alabama primary. He says his ads typically said things like "Stop Obama's War on Religion" or "Newt Gingrich: a Man of Faith." Some were as simple as "Bulldogs for Gingrich," with a clickable "Help the Campaign" button.

"In the industry, Yahoo will tell you that a 0.2 or 0.3% click-through rate for ads is considered successful," Harris told CNN. "With the Samford campaign I created, those ads were getting a 4% click-through rate. That meant the people we needed to mobilize were seeing our message. It was an enormous success."

Political advertising has gone mobile this election season, which means you're likely to see more political ads texted to you, particularly if you live in a swing state.

"These are sophisticated online campaigns that consider mobile an essential element of what they are doing," said Kate Kaye, who wrote the book "Campaign '08: A Turning Point for Digital Media." "The last time around it was much more of a -- well, 'novelty' might not be the right word. They were much more in an experimental mode."

In the 2008 presidential campaign, Barack Obama's digital team generated headlines when he announced his running mate via a text message. There was even more mobile organizing going on quietly behind the scenes, according to Kaye.

Obama's digital team sent out early voting reminders to supporters' phones. Texts pointed people to the nearest voter registration drive. His campaign even bought ad space in some swing states on 1-800-FREE411. That meant when people called requesting a number for the nearest pizza delivery, they first had to listen to an Obama ad.

Chris Newell, who ran mobile efforts for Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential run, says its text-messaging campaign debuted two months before Obama's did.

"While the Obama people run a sophisticated campaign now, we think they were sitting on the fence about texting until they saw Hillary pull out her phone at an event in New York, and there -- live on TV -- she told voters that's how they could reach her now," said Newell, who now runs ImpulsePay, a mobile payment site in the UK.

Newell admits the campaign was still learning back then how to most effectively use the technology. One important lesson, which still holds up today, is that the most effective texts help the campaign feel more personal.

"We learned, 'Hello, will you please vote for me?' wouldn't work," Newell said. "What does appeal is, 'I need your help,' or 'Help get this message out,' or 'What do you think of this issue?'"

Newell said the text campaigns generated thousands of volunteers. He reports about 30% of the people who received the texts clicked on them.

Sometimes, though, old-fashioned technology can't keep up with demand. Newell said the Clinton campaign once sent a text that asked people to join a conference call to discuss a certain issue. Thousands jammed up the lines, but the call only allowed 2,000 people in.

"The flip side is, politicians saw the power of this kind of advertising right there, and they saw this as an immediate way to mobilize thousands of volunteers," he said. "They were sold."

Zac Moffatt, digital director for presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, says mobile devices are now so powerful that he can do a lot more with a mobile campaign than he could back in 2008. He says 10% of Romney's advertising budget was spent on digital efforts during the 2012 primary season.

"Screens are so much larger and we can send a much more dynamic message to people now," said Moffatt. Romney was the only candidate in the 2012 primaries with a mobile-specific campaign site, he said. Moffatt also designed a mobile ad campaign to heavily target people involved in the Iowa caucuses.

"We sent these ads with a click-to-call button to find out where the closest caucus was," he said.

"I think we use mobile a little bit differently than the other campaigns. We built the site for what we call the 'Google moment of truth' when people are using their phones to search for an answer about the campaign," he added. "Our mobile site is really stripped down. It is simpler, but we think provides a better user experience."

A spokeswoman for Obama's re-election campaign says the campaign doesn't discuss its mobile strategy. But Obama, who drew acclaim for his savvy use of digital media in 2008, is once again using mobile tools such as text messaging to communicate with supporters. People who download the Obama 2012 mobile app on their GPS-enabled devices if they opt in are essentially allowing the campaign to track their location, which could let strategists target messages to voters in certain areas.

But in 2012, voters don't even need to opt into campaigns to receive these kinds of political texts. Technology is so advanced that campaigns can target anyone who has enabled geolocation services on their smartphone, and pinpoint their location within a three-yard radius, said Harris, who also ran digital operations for Texas Gov. Rick Perry during the 2012 primary campaigns.

Many people, he said, don't even realize they've made their cell phone findable, although they've downloaded apps like Fandango or Yelp to help them locate the nearest movie or restaurant.

For a conservative client, Harris will target phones on conservative campuses, as he did with his Samford University campaign. Or if his candidate in Plano, Texas, wants to get his message out to one particular neighborhood, Harris will set the text to ping only phones in the local Panera restaurant at lunchtime, for example.

His latest trick? Target people who have downloaded apps that are philosophically in keeping with a conservative message. For the Perry campaign in Iowa, he sent an ad to everyone in the state who had downloaded a Bible app.

"Folks who got those texts were signing up to support Perry at a fantastic conversion rate," said Harris, who heads Harris Media, a digital marketing firm. "That's a very successful campaign, I can tell you."

Overall, mobile outreach seems to be connecting with voters. After the 2010 midterm elections, a Pew Research Center poll found more than a quarter of the American adults they surveyed had used their mobile phones to learn more about, or even to participate in, the elections.

And as phones become more sophisticated, the number of people who learn about elections on their phones is sure to grow.

"There is no excuse as to why candidates are not doing this," Harris said. "It's that easy."