ACOZO.COM: May 2014

Saturday, May 31, 2014

Make Your Day One To Remember With These Wedding Tips

Weddings can bring lots of stress, you have to go in with an optimistic mindset so things can fall into place. Here are some advice that can make that come true.
When planning your wedding, think about what type of alcohol serving you want, as well as what the costs are going to be. Ask about...
Make Your Day One To Remember With These Wedding Tips

How To Find The Most Reliable Legal Advice For Your Needs

There are many different things you must do to find the correct lawyer for when choosing a lawyer.This is an important that picking a pack of gum at the store! Read on and learn more about choosing a great lawyer.
You should not hire the first lawyer you come across. Do some research for the...
How To Find The Most Reliable Legal Advice For Your Needs

Tips On How To Save Money On Insurance

With so many types of policies, payments and red tape, it can all be very confusing. In this article, you will find numerous tips that will teach you about insurance, and how to get the best deals on insurance policies.
When searching for insurance, look for a company that offers the best...
Tips On How To Save Money On Insurance

Helpful Credit Card Information You Should Keep Close By

Credit cards are helpful to people who want to build up their good credit and really manage money. Knowing how the card works and the laws that govern it will allow one to make an educated decision. The following article discusses some of the best basic ideas on credit card information for...
Helpful Credit Card Information You Should Keep Close By

Find Out The Personal Injury Trial Methods Which Are Being Hidden From You

Personal injuries can be devastating; however, and even if they don’t, compensation may still be appropriate. You might not know of a personal injury lawsuit. This handpicked selection of tips is perfectly suited to helping you to prepare better in regards to your lawsuit.
Personal...
Find Out The Personal Injury Trial Methods Which Are Being Hidden From You

Friday, May 30, 2014

Rick Eichhorn - The Henry B. Tippie Associate Professor of Business Administration and Economics

Not Sure What To Look For In An Attorney? Read On!

It is likely that you will someday need the help of an attorney. How can you hire someone? What do you to? The article below can help you choose the best lawyer for your situation.
Lawyers have the experience necessary to take care of your issue.
This is typically a scam and may cost you more...
Not Sure What To Look For In An Attorney? Read On!

The Best Tips To Follow When Choosing Life Insurance

Like many forms of insurance, life insurance can seem complicated. Obtaining the most suitable policy at a reasonable price and anticipating the needs of your loved ones is a most formidable task. Understanding exactly what you are getting is complicated. The following article will guide you...
The Best Tips To Follow When Choosing Life Insurance

Tired Of Running In Circles, Get Off The Hampster Wheel With These Suggestions To Repair Your Credit

It might be hard to figure out how to repair your credit when you are experiencing difficulties. There is a lot of information that can help you start on your credit. Using these tips could save you time and prevent headaches.
The first step in credit is develop an effective plan and make a...
Tired Of Running In Circles, Get Off The Hampster Wheel With These Suggestions To Repair Your Credit

Solid Financial Options In A The Current Employment Market

The following article below can help you reach that goal.
If you can’t find a job, you might have to change your methods for job hunting. Just because there aren’t hiring doesn’t mean you should give up.You may consider going to another area, but make sure that you can afford...
Solid Financial Options In A The Current Employment Market

Win Your Personal Injury Case By Finding The Perfect Attorney

It can be a pain to deal with legal issues, it’s a bigger pain not to. You’ll also know that the world is a safer environment for everyone else. Use the advice below if you have had an injury.
You should write everything down the details of your accident and describe your injuries...
Win Your Personal Injury Case By Finding The Perfect Attorney

Thursday, May 29, 2014

Maggie - Business Administration - Alumni Profile - Bucks County Community College

What Is A Lawyer And Why Would I Need One?

It can feel confusing and secure an excellent lawyer. With so many different lawyers vying to work for you, it is difficult to distinguish between them. This article is filled with tips that will help you find a lawyer.
This is common practice among scammers and unscrupulous legal types; it is...
What Is A Lawyer And Why Would I Need One?

Making Sure You"re Taking Great Care Of Your Cats

Feral cats are felines that live their lives wandering loose on the street. These cats are overpopulated and can be a troublesome pest if you live in urban areas.Keep reading for the cat care of your pet.
Wrap the tile inside an old towel and place it under your kitty’s favorite resting...
Making Sure You"re Taking Great Care Of Your Cats

How To Successfully Buy And Maintain Insurance

You probably want to know the real facts about insurance. There are many people who profess to be experts, but what you really want to know is the correct, legitimate information. This article should guide you in your decisions.
When it’s time to renew your insurance policy or change...
How To Successfully Buy And Maintain Insurance

Use These Credit Card Tips To Keep You On Track

Charge cards are useful because they allow people to purchase items without paying for them instantly. Read on to find some great bank cards.
Pay 100% of your whole card balance every month if you can. In an ideal situation, credit cards are just used for convenience, using it only for...
Use These Credit Card Tips To Keep You On Track

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Raw MH370 satellite data released
5/27/2014 10:34:34 PM

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

NEW: "You shouldn't read anything into any gaps in the data," Inmarsat official says
Inmarsat CEO: We didn't release model we used to crunch data; it's up to Malaysian government
The information is lacking important elements, a CNN safety analyst says
A passenger's partner says she's annoyed more information wasn't released

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (CNN) -- Data from communications between satellites and missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 was released Tuesday, more than two months after relatives of passengers say they requested that it be made public.

But criticism quickly emerged suggesting that the information provided lacks important elements that would help outside experts put the official version of events to the test.

Malaysian authorities published a 47-page document containing hundreds of lines of communication logs between the jetliner and the British company Inmarsat's satellite system.

The information provided isn't the whole picture but is "intended to provide a readable summary of the data communication logs," the notes at the beginning of the document say.

In the weeks following the plane's March 8 disappearance, a team of international experts used the satellite data and other information, including radar data and engine performance calculations, to conclude that the aircraft ended up in a remote area of the southern Indian Ocean.

Some passengers' families, unsatisfied by the official explanation of the plane's fate, say they want an independent analysis of the complex information, a process that could take some time.

Michael Exner, one of the most vocal experts among those calling for the release of the data, said a very preliminary review suggested that there were gaps in the notes explaining the data.

The explanatory notes at the start of the document "answer a few of the questions we have had, but leave many questions unanswered," he told CNN.

CNN safety analyst David Soucie said certain key elements, which would allow independent experts to fully test the official conclusion, are missing from the data in the document.

"There's not enough information to say whether they made an error," he said. "I think we're still going to be looking for more."

Inmarsat CEO Rupert Pearce acknowledged Tuesday that the company didn't release the model to which it applied the data to estimate the plane's path -- and said the decision on whether to release the model lies with the Malaysian government, which is leading the search.

"We'd be perfectly happy to put that model out," Pearce told CNN's "New Day."

But Pearce also told CNN that the released data is enough -- along with engine and radar data -- for experienced third parties to plug into their own models and reach their own conclusions.

"You shouldn't read anything into any gaps in the data," Inmarsat Senior Vice President Chris McLaughlin told CNN's "Erin Burnett OutFront" on Tuesday. "This is a very goodwill and focused way that we're trying to communicate our best impression of what happened."

Sarah Bajc, whose partner, Philip Wood, was on the missing jet, said she was "annoyed" that Inmarsat and Malaysian authorities hadn't released everything they used to reach their conclusions.

"I see no reason for them to have massaged this before giving it to us," she said.

Is Inmarsat right?

Data guided search

For weeks, Inmarsat said it didn't have the authority to release the data, deferring to Malaysian authorities, who are in charge of the search for the plane that disappeared over Southeast Asia while on a scheduled flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

Last week, the two sides announced that they would aim to make the information available to the public.

The satellite signals -- called "handshakes" -- with MH370 were part of a larger set of data that investigators have used to try to establish the whereabouts of the missing Boeing 777 with 239 people on board.

The handshakes continued to take place for roughly six hours after the aircraft dropped off radar screens.

Months of searching by dozens of planes and ships in the southern Indian Ocean has so far turned up no wreckage, and investigators have not been able to say for sure where the remains of MH370 might be.

The underwater search for the missing plane will effectively be put on hold this week, and may not resume until August at the earliest, according to Australia's top transport safety official.

Analysts have said the release of the satellite data could help discount some theories about what happened to the jetliner, and potentially fuel new ones.

Relatives of people who were on the passenger jet, scientists studying its disappearance and media covering the search have become increasingly critical about the lack of public information about why the search has focused on the southern Indian Ocean.

"I think far too much has been left to experts who have remained behind the curtain," said K.S. Narendran, whose wife, Chandrika Sharma, was on the flight.

Inmarsat confident

Even though more than 80 days have passed without searchers finding any wreckage from the plane, Inmarsat officials say they remain confident in their data.

"Yes, to a high degree of probability, we are certain that our data is right," McLaughlin said Tuesday.

In an exclusive interview with CNN's Richard Quest last week, Inmarsat's vice president of satellite operations said the company's calculations have been tested by other people.

"No one has come up yet with a reason why it shouldn't work with this particular flight when it has worked with others," Mark Dickinson said. "And it's very important this isn't just an Inmarsat activity. There are other people doing investigations, experts who are helping the investigation team, who have got the same data, who made their own models up and did the same thing to see if they got the same results and broadly speaking, they got roughly the same answers."

Experts came to the conclusion that the plane had ended up in the southern Indian Ocean by piecing together three types of information, he said.

"We have actually the messages from the ground station to the plane and back again. That essentially tells you the terminal is switched on and powered up. We have some timing information and in addition to that there were some frequency measurements," he said.

The timings told them the distance between the plane and the satellite, enabling them to map out arcs. Then they factored in frequency differences, determining that the plane had headed south.

'The right work'

It was a startling conclusion -- and Dickinson says investigators made sure to repeatedly check their calculations before sharing them.

"You want to make sure when you come to a conclusion like that, that you've done the right work, the data is as you understand it to be," he said.

Now, Dickinson says he's well aware that the entire weight of the search rests on the Inmarsat data.

"This is all the data we have for what has happened for those six or so hours," he said. "It's important we all get it right and particularly that everyone looking at the data makes the best judgments on it and how it's used. And particularly for the families and friends of the relatives on board, try and make sure that we can help bring this sad incident to a close."

Quest said he thinks the expertise of the Inmarsat team and the level of testing to which their work was subjected justifies their confidence in their conclusions.

"It is up to the detractors and doubters to come up and say why they believe it's wrong," he said. "Not the other way around."

Bajc acknowledged that independent analysis of the data may support Inmarsat's conclusions.

"That would be a fine outcome as far as I'm concerned," she said.

But if the independent experts come up with alternative flight paths based on the data, Bajc said, then "those need to be investigated."

The wait for data

The issue of making the satellite data public has become the cause of confusion and contradictory statements.

Bajc said the families had first asked for the data more than two months ago.

"It seemed a relatively innocent request" at the time, she said, but authorities refused to release it.

Malaysian officials told CNN earlier this month that their government did not have the data. But Inmarsat officials said the company provided all of it to Malaysian officials "at an early stage in the search."

"We've shared the information that we had, and it's for the investigation to decide what and when it puts out," McLaughlin said earlier this month.

But a senior Malaysian official told CNN that the government needed Inmarsat's help to pass on the data to families "in a presentable way."

"We are trying to be as transparent as possible," the official said. "We have no issues releasing the data."

Bajc said the delay only added to questions surrounding the information.

"It's a little curious to me why this had to become such a big deal," she said Tuesday.

Did Inmarsat data point Flight 370 searchers in wrong direction?

Cannes: Movie maker courts controversy with MH370 thriller

CNN's Saima Mohsin reported from Kuala Lumpur, and CNN's Jethro Mullen reported and wrote from Hong Kong. CNN's Catherine Shoichet, Mike Ahlers, Mitra Mobasherat and Holly Yan contributed to this report.

Vietnamese, Chinese boats collide
5/27/2014 7:39:37 PM

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Xinhua: Vietnamese fishing boat sank after colliding with Chinese vessel off Paracel Islands
Beijing has been drilling for oil near the island chain in the South China Sea both nations claim
Vietnamese coast guard officials say the fishing boat was rammed amid rising tensions
All 10 crew aboard the fishing boat were rescued by nearby vessels

(CNN) -- A Vietnamese fishing boat has sunk after colliding with a Chinese vessel near an island chain in the South China Sea at the center of a territorial dispute between the two Communist neighbors.

According to China's state-run Xinhua news agency, the Vietnamese vessel had been "harassing" a Chinese fishing boat at 5 p.m. local time on Monday in waters near the Paracel Islands, a largely uninhabited archipelago also known by the Chinese as the Xisha Islands.

However, Luu Tien Thang, a senior officer aboard a Vietnamese coast guard boat patrolling waters nearby, told CNN Tuesday the Vietnamese vessel reported that it had actually been rammed by the Chinese ship during a distress call.

While the Chinese vessel was purportedly a fishing boat, Luu said there were "usually Chinese military boats in the area with the fishing fleet."

Other Vietnamese fishing boats and coast guard ships picked up the 10 crew members aboard the Vietnamese vessel, Luu added.

Chinese ships reach Vietnam to extract thousands of citizens

'Forcefully intruded'

Relations between China and Vietnam have soured in recent weeks after a state-owned Chinese oil company began drilling for oil some 17 nautical miles off the Paracels. Vietnamese officials say Chinese military and civilian ships have been harassing their vessels around the islands -- which are controlled by Beijing but claimed by Hanoi -- even accusing the Chinese of repeatedly ramming into them and shooting water cannon.

READ: How an oil rig sparked anti-China riots in Vietnam

China maintains that its current drilling activities are legitimate and blames the Vietnamese for provoking the conflict.

At a daily press briefing in Beijing Tuesday, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Qin Gang said the Vietnamese vessel had "forcefully intruded" into the area where its drilling rig was operating, then ran into the left side of a Chinese fishing boat before capsizing.

"I want to stress that the direct cause for this incident is that the Vietnamese side ... insisted on disturbing the normal operation by the Chinese side and took dangerous action on the sea," said Qin. "We once again urge the Vietnamese side to stop immediately all kinds of disruptive and damaging activities."

He said there is "no dispute concerning the sovereignty of the Xisha islands," and that they are Chinese territory.

"We hope the Vietnamese side will stop its disruptive actions and bear in mind the overall interests of the stability of the region. Only by doing so can the Vietnamese side uphold the overall interests of bilateral relationship," Qin added.

The spat recently spilled into violent anti-Chinese protests across Vietnam two weeks ago, prompting Beijing to evacuate thousands of its nationals. Recent video aired by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV showed some limping or being carried down the stairs of a medical flight arriving in the city of Chengdu, many with limbs bandaged. Two Chinese nationals were killed in earlier clashes, authorities said.

Vietnam characterized the protests as "spontaneous acts" by individuals who were exploiting the situation to "cause social disorder."

READ: What's behind China's territorial spats?

CNN's Euan McKirdy contributed to this report.

Deck stacked against millennials
5/28/2014 10:20:10 AM

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Matthew Segal: Jobless rate for millennials is higher than overall rate
Segal: Millennials are saddled with student loan debt for colleges with skyrocketing costs
Exploitative unpaid internships only way to work in your field, he says. Why work for free?
Segal: Faith in government falling, but millennials cannot stand on the sidelines

Editor's note: Matthew Segal is the co-founder and president of OurTime.org, an advocacy organization for young Americans, and the host of "OurTime with Matthew Segal" on SiriusXM POTUS, a new series produced by and for millennial listeners. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the writer.

(CNN) -- There is a Washington adage that if you don't help write the menu, you might end up on it. And make no mistake: The classes of 2014 that walked across graduation stages recently just provided more young people available to be served for lunch.

Despite positive news about America's reduced 6.3% unemployment rate in April, it turns out the jobless rate for 18- to 29-year-olds is 9.1%. If you include "discouraged workers," or those who have given up looking for work, unemployment for 18- to 29-year-olds is 15.5%. The unemployment rate for young African-Americans is even worse: 16.6%, and if you add discouraged workers, it's a whopping 23.3%.

Matthew Segal

With job opportunities scarce, employers feel little pressure to raise wages. Unpaid internships are pervasive, and the allure of "experience" in their chosen field is enough to entice eager young people to work for free, unless their parents can't afford to subsidize them. Those young people must either accumulate additional debt while working unpaid internships or look toward minimum wage positions, which are becoming more the norm, and less the teenage avocation to score some extra cash.

According to the Economic Policy Institute, 88% of workers making the minimum wage are 20 years old or more, and about 4 in 10 are college graduates or have some level of college education. The system is unfortunately stacked against these low earners, because without savings, the ability to buy goods that can appreciate in wealth -- such as a house -- are negligible. According to the Census Bureau, about 1 in 3 Americans under 35 own homes, dropping by 4.2% from 2007 to 2013.

As James Hauser, a 28-year-old college graduate who works in Washington, told me: "I am debating for my next paycheck whether to make a credit card payment or replace my current pair of shoes. I take public transit for most things, so I walk a lot."

Hauser, like many people his age, feels stunted without assets: "My parents were already in a house with three children when they were my age," he said.

The allure of 'experience' in their chosen field is enough to entice eager young people to work for free. Unless their parents can't afford to subsidize them.
Matthew Segal

Of all the economic trends holding back America's young people, perhaps the most disturbing is the soaring cost of a post-high school diploma. So many young people have been sold the imperative nature of a higher education. "I ask every American to commit to at least one year or more of higher education or career training," President Obama said in February 2009. "This can be community college or a four-year school, vocational training or an apprenticeship. But whatever the training may be, every American will need to get more than a high school diploma."

Although the President's goal is a noble one, the cost of a college degree has risen by 1,120% since 1978 -- far outpacing increases in food, health care and housing prices. As a result, we have more than $1.1 trillion in student loan debt, and 7 million Americans are in default on their student loans, meaning they are more than 270 days late on a payment.

"With almost a fourth of borrowers in default, we are creating a generation with nothing left to lose," said Natalia Abrams, executive director of Student Debt Crisis, a national advocacy organization.

Hauser also struggles with debt. "It's hard to think about, especially with the hundreds of dollars of interest that accumulates each month." To make matters worse, there are few protections for student borrowers under U.S. bankruptcy law, which is not true for credit card debt, mortgage debt or even gambling debt.

To file for bankruptcy you must prove "undue hardship," which, in essence, translates to being severely disabled. College students who had taken out loans graduate with an average $25,000 debt because of rising tuition costs. And the government is profiting tens of billions of dollars from federal student loan interest rates, which are projected to climb even more (up to 10.5% for graduate students) over the next five years.

Not surprisingly, faith in government is vanishing. According to a recent Harvard Institute of Politics survey, only 1 in 5 young people trust the federal government, and most pernicious of all, only 23% of young people are positive they will vote in November. "There's an erosion of trust in the individuals and institutions that make government work," said John Della Volpe, the Harvard pollster. "Now we see the lowest level of interest in any election we've measured since 2000."

While it is easy to empathize with young people's frustration in government, abstaining from the political process is arguably the worst move to make. Because politicians assume that young people don't vote, funding for job creation, national service and education is on the chopping block. The class of 2014 must confront this reality: discounting Washington as tone deaf and ineffective seems fair enough, but it will only get worse if we sit on the sidelines.

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Join us on Facebook.com/CNNOpinion.

Let teens talk about mental illness
5/27/2014 6:49:45 AM

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Two high school students tried to tell stories about teen mental illnesses
Susan Antilla: Schools need to have open conversations about mental health
She says kids suffering from mental illness crave information that can help them
Antilla: A town in Connecticut has seen good results when it fosters discussion

Editor's note: Susan Antilla is an award-winning financial writer and author of "Tales From the Boom-Boom Room: The Landmark Legal Battles That Exposed Wall Street's Shocking Culture of Sexual Harassment." Follow her on Twitter @antillaview. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.

(CNN) -- Two high school students -- managing editors at their school newspaper in Ann Arbor, Michigan -- wrote a distressing op-ed that appeared recently in The New York Times.

Madeline Halpert, a junior, and Eva Rosenfeld, a sophomore, had undertaken a Herculean task. After bonding over the discovery that both were being treated for depression, they linked up with other journalism students and gathered highly personal stories about mental illness from teenagers in their school district.

Incredibly, all their subjects agreed to be identified. No unnamed sources. No pseudonyms. These were reporters who did their homework, and subjects who saw the merit of going public about their experiences with everything from depression and anxiety to eating disorders and drug abuse.

Susan Antilla

The two student editors were gearing up to devote an entire edition of the paper to telling the mental health stories of their peers.

And then, the head of their school put the kibosh on the project. The stories were not to be published lest they trigger bullying or further mental health problems for the afflicted students.

I read the two girls' story the morning after a remarkable night of witnessing just the opposite -- the progress that comes when school administrators encourage their students to speak and write openly about mental illness.

High school students in the tiny New England town of Ledyard, Connecticut, population 14,687, for six years have been competing in an essay contest called "Breaking the Silence about Mental Illness." The project got started when two Ledyard high school health teachers teamed up with the leader of a local mental health support group to invite kids to compete for annual prizes of $250, $150 and $100. The prize money comes from the local chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

I was one of four judges, which has given me a ringside seat to this work in progress at changing attitudes. Importantly, if you include our contest coordinator who oversees the project, three in our group of five are mental health professionals who can spot when an essayist hasn't gotten the facts right, or displays red flags that should be brought to the attention of a parent. All of us have a connection to mental health issues, whether it is in a lifelong professional devotion, our own mental illness, or the care of a loved one.

On Wednesday night, we honored our latest crop of courageous teenage writers in a meeting room at a state mental health center in Norwich, Connecticut.

Ben Coffing read his third-place essay, "ADHD Though My Eyes" and taught the audience a little something about the pain of feeling different.

"Imagine being called SPED in the hallway just because you have to work harder at school than someone else," he said, referring to the derogatory slang that some students throw at special education kids. As far back as Ben can remember, kids thought he was weird because he was "a little bit different." But he also thinks having ADHD has made him "a very caring person when others have a problem or issue."

I mean, can you top that, or what?

Molly Barnett read her second-place winning essay, "Breaking The Silence About Mental Illness." "Try to put yourself in their shoes," she said of people struggling with a mental health condition. "Imagine going through each day, each hour, fighting the voices screaming in your head, as if you have schizophrenia."

Kathleen Ferry, the first-prize winner, began to sob just a few paragraphs into reading her gripping essay about what she called the "alternate reality" of two weeks in a psychiatric hospital.

I offered to read the rest, and Kathleen stood beside me as I shared her words about "going from ER visit to ER visit" in her struggle with a worsening depression. After her last line -- "I am living proof that things do get better; all you need is guidance" -- Kathleen got a standing ovation from the audience of parents, siblings, friends and local residents.

And then she posed for a picture with her $250 check, and took a seat next to her mom, who wrapped her arms around Kathleen and planted two big kisses on her right cheek. Parents or guardians of our winners always show up for the big night.

The contest drew 36 entries in 2008, its launch year. That inched up to 40 in 2009 and then a record-breaking 92 by 2013, just months after students in another Connecticut school got a crash course on mental illness in the Sandy Hook massacre. This year, 149 Ledyard students submitted essays -- another record. The wisdom, honesty and emotion of the entries compounds with each cycle.

Mental illness in children: Where to turn

What's always striking is how wide a population is affected by mental illness in such a tiny community. The two student editors in Ann Arbor observed the same thing on a larger scale.

Cheryl Jacques, an essay contest judge and executive director of the Southeastern Mental Health Authority, a division of Connecticut's Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, said kids suffering with mental illness are craving information that can help them make sense of what they're feeling.

Ann Arbor, consider the great results of the open conversation about teenage mental health in Ledyard. Your high school editors are on to something.

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Join us at Facebook/CNNOpinion

Condemned Christian gives birth
5/27/2014 5:08:36 PM

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Meriam Yehya Ibrahim, 27, gave birth in prison Monday
Sources: Her husband was not allowed to attend the birth
Ibrahim was convicted of apostasy

(CNN) -- A Sudanese woman sentenced to die for refusing to renounce her Christianity has given birth to a girl in prison, her lawyers said Tuesday.

Meriam Yehya Ibrahim, 27, delivered her baby Monday at a women's prison in Khartoum, but her husband was not allowed to be present for the birth, sources told CNN. They asked not to be named for safety reasons.

Ibrahim was convicted of apostasy, or the renunciation of faith, about two weeks ago while she was eight months pregnant.

A Sudanese lawyer filed an appeal last week to reverse the verdict by the lower court.

She is in prison with her 20-month-old son, but Sudanese officials have said the toddler is free to leave any time, according to her lawyer, Mohamed Jar Elnabi.

Her husband, Daniel Wani, is a U.S. citizen who uses a wheelchair and "totally depends on her for all details of his life," her lawyer said.

The appeal

The appeals court in Khartoum will issue a ruling on the case in the next week, but it will first ask the lower court to submit the documents it used to make the ruling, according to her lawyer.

Once that's done, it will issue a case number, he said.

"We will continue checking with the appeals court, but Inshallah (Allah willing) ... the appeals court will reverse the sentence and set her free," he said.

Christian or Muslim?

Ibrahim says her father was a Sudanese Muslim and her mother was Ethiopian Orthodox. Her father left when she was 6, and she was raised as a Christian.

The court had warned her to renounce her Christianity by May 15, but she held firm to her beliefs.

Sudanese Parliament speaker Fatih Izz Al-Deen said claims that Ibrahim was raised as non-Muslim are untrue.

She was raised in an Islamic environment, and her brother, a Muslim, filed the complaint against her, according to Al-Deen.

The complaint alleges that she went missing for several years, and her family was shocked to find out she married a Christian, according to her lawyer.

However, because her father was Muslim, the courts considered her one too, which would mean her marriage to a non-Muslim man is void.

Attempts to contact Sudan's justice minister and foreign affairs minister for comment were unsuccessful.

Daniel Wani and his son Martin.

100 lashes

In addition to the death sentence, the court convicted Ibrahim of adultery and sentenced her to 100 lashes.

The Parliament speaker has said the verdict is not final and will go through all the judicial stages to reach the constitutional court.

Worldwide condemnation

Rights groups and foreign embassies worldwide condemned the verdict.

"The fact that a woman could be sentenced to death for her religious choice, and to flogging for being married to a man of an allegedly different religion, is abhorrent and should never be even considered," said Manar Idriss, Amnesty International's Sudan researcher.

Katherine Perks with the African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies said the verdict goes against Sudan's "own constitution and commitments made under regional and international law."

Foreign embassies in Khartoum, including those of the United States, United Kingdom and Canada, urged the government to reverse course.

In past cases involving pregnant or nursing women, the Sudanese government waited until the mother weaned her child before executing any sentence, said Christian Solidarity Worldwide spokeswoman Kiri Kankhwende.

Opinion: Why marrying for love should never mean death

Exec fired for remarks on shooting
5/27/2014 6:44:05 PM

Mahbod Moghadam, co-founder of Rap Genius, speaks at a tech conference in New York City in 2013.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Rap Genius co-founder made insensitive comments about killer's manifesto
Mahbod Moghadam called Elliot Rodger's writing "beautiful"
He also speculated on the sex appeal of Rodger's sister
Rap Genius CEO: "I cannot let him jeopardize the Rap Genius mission"

(CNN) -- The co-founder of Rap Genius, an online-annotation website, has been fired after marking up the 137-page manifesto of California killer Elliot Rodger with comments that are being called tasteless and creepy.

Mahbod Moghadam used his site, which lets users post notes interpreting rap and hip-hop lyrics, to comment on Rodger's exhaustive autobiography, which includes his reasons for killing six people in Santa Barbara, California, on Friday before apparently turning a gun on himself.

In more than one note, Moghadam called Rodger's writing "beautiful," and in another he speculated on the attractiveness of Rodger's sister.

In a journal and in a video posted online, Rodger had expressed frustrations about not finding women to date and resentment toward couples who kissed in front of him.

He also wrote that his anger toward women intensified after he overheard his sister having sex with her boyfriend. "MY GUESS: his sister is smokin hot," Moghadam wrote.

Moghadam also made comments about a girl Rodger described as the only female his age he ever saw naked.

"Maddy will go on to attend USC and become a spoiled hottie," Moghadam wrote, before adding, "This is an artful sentence, beautifully written... ."

Rap Genius has removed the notations. But they were captured and reposted online by Gawker, Re/code and other news sites.

Why #YesAllWomen took off on Twitter

On Monday, Rap Genius co-founder and CEO Tom Lehman released a written statement saying that Moghadam had resigned.

"Mahbod Moghadam, one of my co-founders, annotated the piece with annotations that not only didn't attempt to enhance anyone's understanding of the text, but went beyond that into gleeful insensitivity and misogyny," he wrote. "All of which is contrary to everything we're trying to accomplish at Rap Genius."

Lehman continued: "Mahbod is my friend. He's a brilliant, creative, complicated person with a ton of love in his heart. Without Mahbod Rap Genius would not exist, and I am grateful for all he has done to help Rap Genius succeed.

"But I cannot let him compromise the Rap Genius mission -- a mission that remains almost as delicate and inchoate as it was when we three founders decided to devote our lives to it almost 5 years ago."

Lehman said the site, which describes its mission as helping users "discover the meaning of rap lyrics," decided to post Rodger's writings in hopes that users' annotations "will eventually be a good resource for people looking to understand this tragedy."

Part One of Rodger's writings currently appears on Rap Genius between breakdowns of the lyrics to "Believe Me" by Lil Wayne and John Legend's "All Of Me."

In December, Google penalized Rap Genius after a user exposed what he called a scheme to manipulate search results and drive traffic to the site. The site removed the offending links and regained its Google ranking.

As is frequently the case in today's digital world, the social-media backlash against Moghadam's comments was fast and brutal.

"Appalling use of technology by already questionable behaving site," Re/code co-executive editor Kara Swisher wrote on Twitter with a link to that site's story.

"What's most newsworthy about the story of the Rap Genius founder isn't that he was fired but that he didn't think his words were wrong," tweeted author and tech journalist Ed Bott.

Observers also criticized Moghadam's own Twitter feed, which features many posts that could be viewed as crude at best and sexist at worst.

On Monday, Moghadam took to Twitter to beg forgiveness for his comments.

"I want to apologize to everyone," he wrote. "I need to hear these criticisms, reflect for real, and work on becoming a better person."

Rolling Stones back on tour
5/28/2014 6:44:31 AM

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Rolling Stones are on tour in Europe
Norway show was first since death of Mick Jagger's girlfriend, L'Wren Scott
Scott committed suicide in March, shocking band's frontman

(CNN) -- Ladies and gentlemen, the Rolling Stones are back on tour.

The "world's greatest rock 'n' roll band" resumed its #StonesOnFire trek, part of its 50th-anniversary travels around the globe, with a show Monday night in Oslo, Norway. The group's tour had been put on hold since the March 17 death of Mick Jagger's girlfriend, fashion designer L'Wren Scott.

Scott's death, which was ruled a suicide, stunned Jagger, who had been with the designer and former model since 2003.

"I am still struggling to understand how my lover and best friend could end her life in this tragic way. We spent many wonderful years together and had made a great life for ourselves. She had great presence and her talent was much admired, not least by me," he said in a statement two months ago.

$Fashion designer L\'Wren Scott died in March. She and Mick Jagger had been in a relationship since 2003.$

Fashion designer L'Wren Scott died in March. She and Mick Jagger had been in a relationship since 2003.

Scott left her $9 million estate to Jagger, according to the late fashion designer's will. Though she had reportedly been having financial difficulties, a representative for Scott said, "The figures quoted in the media regarding the financial status of LS Fashion Limited are not only highly misleading and inaccurate but also extremely hurtful and disrespectful to the memory of L'Wren Scott."

The Stones were in Australia at the time of her death, and the band canceled seven shows there and in New Zealand. The shows have been rescheduled for October and November, according to the Stones' official site.

The Stones' Oslo set list included "Jumpin' Jack Flash," "All Down the Line," "Let's Spend the Night Together," "Emotional Rescue" and a version of "You Can't Always Get What You Want" accompanied by the Edvard Grieg Youth Choir.

Man who made a nation cry
5/28/2014 12:31:42 PM

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Brazil will host the football World Cup for first time in 64 years in 2014
The South American country lost to Uruguay in the final match of the 1950 tournament
Flamboyant attacker Neymar is the star of the current Brazil team
Brazil hosts the Confederations Cup, which begins on Saturday

Editor's note: Ready to Play debuts on CNN International on July 26 at 1530 GMT.

(CNN) -- Rio de Janeiro's Maracana Stadium was packed to the rafters: 200,000 expectant spectators prepared to celebrate Brazil's first World Cup triumph and its arrival as a football superpower.

It was the moment the South American country's love of the game, and of its most prestigious competition, became a dangerous obsession.

July 16, 1950, the final match of the final group stage. Brazil faced Uruguay, and a draw would be enough to see the host crowned as champion.

The champagne was put on ice when winger Friaca gave Brazil a 1-0 lead just after halftime.

But the samba beat was silenced when Juan Alberto Schiaffino equalized for Uruguay -- and then the unthinkable happened.

World Sport Presents: Racism in Football

Uruguay came forward, Brazil goalkeeper Barbosa stepped off his line, Alcides Ghiggia scuffed a low shot towards the near post ... and the ball nestled in the back of the net.

Brazil had lost.

A nation's hearts were broken. Lives were forever altered and a national obsession was born.

The 63 years since have seen Brazil become football's dominant force. The five World Cups won by "A Selecao" is more than any other country in the quadrennial competition's 83-year history.

But not one of Brazil's quintet of triumphs has banished the shadow cast by the failure of Moacyr Barbosa Nascimento and his teammates.

"The idea the rest of the world has about Brazil, and perhaps Brazil has about itself to a certain extent, is that it is all about 'joga bonito,' it is all about the beautiful game," says Jonathan Wilson, journalist and author of "The Outsider: A history of the goalkeeper."

Read: German football embraces Israel

"Actually it is all about winning in Brazil, far more than anywhere else despite the perception," he told CNN. "There's no such thing as heroic failure in Brazil.

"Barbosa was named goalkeeper of the tournament, but he was scapegoated in Brazil because of what happened in the final game.

"He didn't get picked for the next couple of years. He was a very good goalkeeper, but all he is remembered for is that one mistake."

The error which led to Uruguay's second goal hung over Barbosa until his death in 2000.

But the saddest moment of his life, he said, was not in the final or its immediate aftermath.

Read: Year Zero in football's racism fight?

Some 20 years later, a woman in a supermarket pointed towards him and declared to the young boy by her side, "Look at him, son. He is the man that made all of Brazil cry."

"Under Brazilian law the maximum sentence is 30 years," Barbosa remarked on his 79th birthday, just two weeks before he passed away. "But my imprisonment has been for 50 years."

The disappointment looms large in Brazil's national psyche, and all the more so with the country to host the World Cup again next year for the first time since that fateful day.

"Nelson Rodriguez, the playwright, spoke about 'Our Hiroshima," Wilson said. "It seems monstrously disproportionate and it is, but I think what he means is that it's Brazil's national disaster.

Read: Mourinho the "Stable One"?

"They've never been in a war, they've never really had a great disaster. They just expected to win. The newspapers on the morning of the game were saying 'Brazil World Champions.' "

The newspapers were wrong.

It is this weight which the present day team must carry as it prepares to host the Confederations Cup, a warmup event for the World Cup, which Brazil kicks off against Japan on Saturday.

Once again the World Cup is coming to Brazil and once again a nation expects.

"Everybody knows the bad experiences we had in the World Cup in Brazil in the '50s -- we lost, but now we have to recover," says Pele, one of football's greatest players and a triple World Cup winner with Brazil between 1958 and 1970.

Barbosa's tale is a cautionary one for the current Brazil squad. A mistake by any player next year could be the costliest they ever make.

Luiz Felipe Scolari, coach of the last Brazil team to lift the World Cup in 2002, was reinstated in November 2012 to inspire a floundering team.

The results have been unspectacular.

Scolari has won two, drawn four and lost one of his seven matches back at the helm and the team languishes in 22nd in the FIFA world rankings.

A 2-2 draw with England in June was the first match at the refurbished Maracana, a stadium which is both a monument to Brazil's sporting prowess and a mausoleum for past failure.

"We always have good players, but we don't have a good team right now," Carlos Alberto, captain of Brazil's World Cup winners of 1970, told CNN. "We don't have experience, the players are very young.

"Everybody says to these players, 'You have to win, you have to win.' It's not good because they are young, they don't have the experience to play an international tournament."

That 1970 team is often referred to as the greatest of all time, given the style and swagger with which it crushed Italy 4-1 in the final match of the Mexico tournament.

The advent of color television made the players, bedecked in iconic vibrant yellow with green trim, appear as if soccer stars from another planet.

Alberto does not think the current generation is yet capable of emulating his team's achievements, but he is backing his countrymen to succeed four years later.

"They are going to take the experience of playing in the World Cup next year into 2018. In Russia, I bet you any money Brazil will win!" he declared.

"Next year, if they get to the semifinals it is OK."

Edu, a midfielder capped 15 times for Brazil between 2004 and 2005, shares Alberto's reservations.

The former Arsenal player is concerned a change of management has disrupted a squad short on international experience.

"We're not prepared yet," Edu, now director of football at Club World Cup winners Corinthians, told CNN. "We've changed the coach, which is not normal.

"Usually a coach has four, five, six years to get used to his team. Scolari is lucky, because Brazil has a lot of players to build a good squad. But I'm not sure if they will be prepared enough for the World Cup.

"The Brazilian team is not in the best moment."

One player of whom a huge amount is expected is Neymar, a flamboyant attacker recently signed by Barcelona who is frequently hailed as "the new Pele."

If Brazil is to finally win the World Cup on home soil, the fleet-footed, shock-haired attacker will have to prove he has shoulders broad enough to carry a nation's hopes.

"Listen, winning the World Cup is very hard because it is a box of surprises. No doubt Brazil is one of the best, but this doesn't mean Brazil is going to win ... The best players in Europe, they are Brazilian," Pele told CNN.

"In Brazil we have had a lot of excellent players like Zico, Tostao, Rivelino, Pele, Ronaldinho, but the last two years we have had Neymar.

"He is very talented. I hope he has luck in Barcelona. I didn't like it so much because he used to play in my team, Santos, I lost a good player. He deserves to go to the best team.

"I said to be the new Pele would be very difficult, because my mother and my father, they closed the machine (gestures). But no doubt he is one of the best players who we have in Brazil."

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Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Seeking Expert Advice About Personal Injury Law? Read This

Are you considering a personal injury claim? The following article will help you figure out crucial facts regarding personal injury case.
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Plenty Of Tips To Help Your Employment Situation

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The Qualifications For The Best Trial Lawyers

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Far-right gains rock Europe
5/26/2014 5:10:53 PM

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

NEW: Vote shows the French "no longer want to be directed from the outside," Le Pen says
"The result is a shock, an earthquake," French Prime Minister Manuel Valls says
France's far-right National Front party poised to win a nationwide vote for the first time
Voters across Europe have been casting ballots for 751 seats from 28 countries

Editor's note: Explore Europe's main protest parties in the map above. Click on each country to find out more. Watch The Business View with Nina dos Santos, weekdays at 12pm CET, for more on the European elections. This interactive map may not work on all mobile devices.

(CNN) -- France's far-right National Front has won a nationwide election for the first time, as far-right parties across Europe caused a political "earthquake," with a string of victories in voting for the European Parliament.

The National Front, led by Marine Le Pen, notched up 24.95% of the vote in France, according to official estimates, well ahead of mainstream parties UMP and the Socialist Party. Le Pen said the win showed that people want to see change in Europe.

France's Socialist Prime Minister Manuel Valls said the result was "more than a warning. It is a shock, an earthquake."

Right-wing parties also gained ground in the UK, Denmark and Austria, according to projections posted on the European Parliament's official elections website.

Voters across Europe have been casting ballots for days in the parliamentary vote. There are 751 seats from 28 countries up for grabs.

With most of the ballots counted, provisional results indicate that left-center and right-center parties will still hold a majority of seats in the European Parliament, which plays a key role in shaping European laws and will weigh in on who the European Commission's next President should be.

But right-wing parties and other so-called Euroskeptic groups who oppose the European Union are gaining ground, said Simon Usherwood, an expert on European politics at the University of Surrey.

"I think what's really changed is you're seeing a lot more groups on the edges, particularly with the far right, who are going to be much more of a feature of the next five years of the parliament," he said.

So what does that mean?

"They don't have enough votes to stop legislation going through," Usherwood told CNN, "but what they will get, particularly on the far right, is the time for speaking in debates, the chairmanship of certain committees, which means that they're going to have much more of a platform on which they can sell their message to voters."

In France, which has 74 seats in the European Parliament, the National Front won 24.95% of votes, according to official estimates, coming in ahead of the center-right UMP, which scored 20.8%, and President Francois Hollande's Socialist Party, which came in third with 14%.

Even though the vote was for a regional legislative body, the potential impact on France's national political landscape was clear on Sunday. The results sparked stunned reactions from some French politicians and triumphant victory speeches from others.

PM Valls described the election as "a very serious moment for France and for Europe," noting that projections indicate that voters are skeptical of the European Union. "None of us can shirk their responsibilities," he said, according to a summary of his remarks posted on the French government's website.

Meanwhile, National Front leader Marine Le Pen said the results showed that French voters wanted more control.

"The sovereign people have proclaimed that they want to take back the reigns of their destiny into their hands. Our people demand one type of politics: politics of the French, for the French, with the French. They no longer want to be directed from outside," she said.

She said the vote shows that President Francois Hollande should dissolve France's parliament, where most lawmakers come from mainstream political parties.

Nearly 400 million Europeans were eligible to vote in the parliamentary elections. Turnout was just over 43%, slightly higher than it was during the last vote in 2009, Parliament spokesman Jaume Duch said.

"The clear message here is that people are unhappy with the way mainstream political parties have handled the economic crisis, and they're giving them a good kicking," said Petros Fassoulas, chairman of the pro-Europe European Movement.

Before the election, analysts predicted that protest parties were likely to triumph at the polls.

Those parties are demanding tighter border controls, nationalized decision-making and a dissolution of the currency union.

But they have little in common aside from a dislike of the Brussels bureaucracy, so it's difficult for them to find much common ground, Usherwood said.

"They can agree they don't like the EU," Usherwood said, "but they can't agree what they like and what the answer is."

CNN's Pierre Meilhan, Jim Bittermann, Ivana Kottasova, Jonathan Mann and Bryony Jones contributed to this report.

Wives of jailed politicians win votes
5/26/2014 11:09:42 PM

Patricia Gutierrez de Ceballos, the wife of jailed politician Daniel Ceballos, said that each ballot cast in her favor represented a sentence of justice and freedom and a blow against what she called the country's dictatorship.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

The local election victories are significant symbolic triumphs for Venezuela's opposition
Patricia Gutierrez de Ceballos says the votes were sentences of justice and freedom
Her husband was arrested after authorities said he failed to stop anti-government protests
"The people will remain peacefully in the streets," Rosa Brandonisio de Scarano says

San Cristobal, Venezuela (CNN) -- The wives of two jailed Venezuelan opposition politicians have won landslide election victories while their husbands remain behind bars.

The votes Sunday in the cities of San Cristobal and San Diego were symbolic triumphs for the South American country's opposition, which has argued that the cities' former mayors were politically persecuted when authorities arrested them in March.

Daniel Ceballos was accused of civil rebellion and conspiracy after the government said he failed to stop violent protests in San Cristobal. He was given a 12-month sentence. San Cristobal is in the southwestern part of the country, near the border with Colombia.

Enzo Scarano was jailed for 10 months after the government accused him of ignoring an order given by the Supreme Tribunal of Justice to stop protests in San Diego, a city near the coast and west of the capital of Caracas.

After winning more than 73% of votes in the mayoral election Sunday, Patricia Gutierrez de Ceballos said that each ballot cast in her favor represented a sentence of justice and freedom and a blow against what she called the country's dictatorship.

"They have converted me into mayor and ratified Daniel Ceballos as mayor. And today, San Cristobal has the privilege of having two mayors governing its city," the 30-year-old engineer said.

When protests erupted against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government earlier this year, San Cristobal, capital of the border state of Tachira, quickly became a flashpoint, and Daniel Ceballos was an outspoken critic of Maduro.

Clashes between anti-government protesters and security forces have left more than 40 people dead and around 800 injured across the country since February, according to officials.

Maduro has said protesters are "fascists and extreme-right thugs" who are trying to destabilize the government to promote a coup. Protesters call Maduro a dictator who has ruined the Venezuelan economy with failed socialist policies.

Rosa Brandonisio de Scarano, formerly a City Council member in San Diego, won nearly 88% of votes in the mayoral election there Sunday, officials said.

After casting her ballot, she said her vote was a protest against the government's sentence of her husband.

"The people will remain peacefully in the streets, making people listen, so that it echoes throughout the world that Venezuela right now is going through a very difficult time, economically, socially, morally and politically," she told reporters.

One official from the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela praised the San Diego election results.

Carabobo state Gov. Francisco Ameliach said the results signal that the government's election authority is impartial, the state-run AVN news agency reported.

Earlier this month, a State Department official pointed to the arrests of Ceballos and Scarano as signs that Maduro's government "continues to persecute political opponents."

"While dismantling the independent media and jailing local officials who dare to dissent, the Maduro government is simultaneously empowering armed civilian thugs, or 'colectivos' to intimidate and kill those Venezuelans who continue to march," Tom Malinowski, assistant secretary of the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, said in a statement prepared for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

CNN team denied permission to cover Venezuelan local elections

Opinion: The Venezuelan nightmare

Journalist Osmary Hernandez reported from San Cristobal, Venezuela. CNN's Elwyn Lopez and Catherine E. Shoichet reported from Atlanta. CNN's Claudia Dominguez also contributed to this report.

Egypt elections: 5 things to know
5/27/2014 6:47:13 AM

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

There are just two candidates in Egypt's presidential election, with polling due on May 26, 27
Ex-general Abdel Fattah el-Sisi faces left-leaning politician Hamdeen Sabahi
The election follows last year's ouster of Muslim Brotherhood President Mohamed Morsy
CNN's Reza Sayah says both candidates have generally remained vague on policy details

Editor's note: For full coverage of the Egyptian election in Arabic, visit CNN Arabic.

Cairo, Egypt (CNN) -- Egyptians head to the polls to vote for their next president on Monday and Tuesday.

There will be just two candidates, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Hamdeen Sabahi.

Egypt had an election recently. So why are they having another one?

Egyptians are voting again because Mohamed Morsy -- Egypt's first freely elected president -- was removed from power last year in a popular military coup.

Morsy's ouster last July was the culmination of a months-long petition campaign to remove him from office and days of mass demonstrations against the former Muslim Brotherhood leader.

Critics accused Morsy of hijacking the 2011 revolution, pushing aside moderate and liberal voices, and botching Egypt's already ailing economy.

Morsy rejected the allegations and accused Egypt's military backed establishment and Mubarak-era loyalist of undermining his presidency.

In a remarkable reversal of fortune the man who removed Morsy from power - then army chief Abdel Fattah el-Sisi - is now heavily favored to win the presidential election.

Morsy and scores of fellow members of the Muslim Brotherhood are in prison facing a variety of charges.

How will Muslim Brotherhood supporters vote?

The Muslim Brotherhood is not represented in the election, which is due in large part to an aggressive campaign by Egyptian authorities to eliminate the movement from Egypt's political landscape.

Despite initial promises of an inclusive transition to a democratically elected government, Egypt's military backed interim government banned the Muslim Brotherhood last year and declared it a terrorist organization.

Today most of the group's leadership is either in jail, in hiding, or taking refuge outside Egypt.

Both candidates - Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Hamdeen Sabahi - have promised to keep the Brotherhood out of Egyptian politics if elected president.

The Strong Egypt Party - led by former Muslim Brotherhood leader Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh - has decided to boycott the vote.

The ultra-conservative Salafist Nour Party supported the 2012 election of Mohamed Morsy but is now drawing criticism from Islamist groups for supporting candidate el-Sisi.

What are the policies of each candidate?

Both candidates have generally remained vague on policy details, choosing instead to make populist promises that play well in television interviews.

And, both promise to fix Egypt's failing economy, though neither has detailed how they plan to create jobs, generate revenue, and cut costly food and fuel subsidies -- a move many fear will anger Egypt's poor.

El-Sisi vows to keep Egypt safe by continuing the "war on terrorism," a reference to the recent rise in low-level insurgent attacks against security forces.

Critics fear el-Sisi will exploit that narrative to stifle free speech and continue a crackdown against dissent that has been sharply criticized by international rights groups.

Sabahi promises to release what rights groups describe as thousands of political prisoners and ban a controversial protest law, which says groups of ten or more cannot gather in public without prior government permission.

Who is likely to win? And will the winner finally bring stability to the country?

El-Sisi is heavily favored to win due in large part to widespread support from Egypt's powerful establishment, which includes the military, the private and state media apparatus, and Egypt's political and financial elite.

El-Sisi also has popular support from Egyptians who see him as the man who saved Egypt from a Morsy presidency that was perceived by many to be pursing an Islamist agenda.

Less certain, however, is whether the next president can bring stability to Egypt, and lure back millions of tourists who have stayed away due to more than three years of political unrest.

To establish stability Egypt's next president must make tangible improvements to the economy, improve security, and address mounting criticism from rights groups and pro-democracy activists who fear a return to a Mubarak-era style police state.

How will the election result affect the region and the rest of the world?

The outcome of the vote will likely bolster Egypt's relations with key allies Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and United Arab Emirates -- Gulf states that poured in billions of dollars in funding to support the Egyptian government after the ouster of former President Morsy.

Relations with Qatar and Turkey -- staunch supporters of Morsy and the Muslim Brotherhood --- will remain tense.

The United States and Western powers will likely continue to voice concern about Egypt's alleged human rights violations but will continue relations as long as Egypt honors its peace treaty with Israel and isn't viewed as a disruptive force in an already volatile region.

An el-Sisi presidency would be a potential blow to pro-democracy movements in other Arab states who hoped the 2011 Arab Spring would mark the end of regimes led military strongmen.

READ: Opinion: Egypt's youth needs more than tinkering at the edges

READ: Egypt's el-Sisi vows to finish off the Muslim Brotherhood if elected

READ: Can Egypt's presidential candidates transform economic fortunes?

Rapper Wiz Khalifa's jail selfie
5/26/2014 11:09:22 PM

Wiz Khalifa and his wife Amber Rose on the red carpet of the 2014 Billboard Music Awards.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

The rapper was reportedly detained in Texas
He tweeted a pic with the caption "Jail selfie"
Fans started hashtag "Free Trap Wiz"

(CNN) -- Allow us to take a moment to recognize Wiz Khalifa as the new king of #selfies.

According to TMZ, the rapper -- who has a well-documented penchant for toking -- was arrested early Sunday morning at a Texas airport after a "green leafy substance" was found during a security check.

But it looked like Wiz, who was born Cameron Jibril Thomaz, wasn't too stressed about the situation as he tweeted a pic of himself in jail with the caption "Jail selfie."

Jail selfie. pic.twitter.com/l01qB8oLrm
— We Dem Boyz (@wizkhalifa) May 25, 2014

Talk about making lemonade out of lemons.

He also tweeted a picture of the barred jail door saying "Free Trap Wiz." That cry was quickly picked up by fans on social media who turned it into a hashtag, naturally.

Free Trap Wiz. pic.twitter.com/E39UYWTG8d
— We Dem Boyz (@wizkhalifa) May 25, 2014

MTV reported that he was released after a few hours and charged with being in possession of 0.5 grams of marijuana. He has been cited for simple possession of marijuana in the past, including in 2012 before one of his concerts in North Carolina.

The rapper's new project is titled "28 Grams" and is expected to be released soon.

World's most unlikely political union?
5/27/2014 6:48:57 AM

German web tycoon Kim Dotcom and Maori nationalist Hone Harawira have been labeled a political odd couple.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Kim Dotcom's political party has formed an alliance with a Maori nationalist's party
The alliance is seen in New Zealand as an unlikely political marriage of convenience
The move will give both parties a better chance of winning seats in elections in September
The U.S. is seeking to extradite German-born Dotcom on criminal digital piracy charges

(CNN) -- The New Zealand political party founded by German Internet tycoon Kim Dotcom has joined forces with a firebrand Maori activist, in what is being described as one of the world's most unlikely political marriages of convenience.

"It's a very unusual alliance... It's like Mark Zuckerberg getting into alliance with Fidel Castro," political scientist Bryce Edwards, of the University of Otago, told CNN. "The individuals involved are larger than life and dynamic people, but their ideological backgrounds are pretty disparate."

The Internet-Mana Party alliance between Dotcom's recently-formed Internet Party and the left-wing, indigenous-focused Mana Party was announced Thursday by Mana's leader, the controversial Maori nationalist MP Hone Harawira.

"It's completely new ground, but politics is about the art of the possible and I'm looking forward to what we can achieve," Harawira, seated next to the Internet Party's chief executive Vikram Kumar, told reporters.

Dotcom, the controversial founder of the shuttered file-sharing site Megaupload, was not at the press conference.

Dotcom cannot personally run for office as he is not a citizen of his adopted home of New Zealand. The wealthy Web entrepreneur, who is battling extradition to the U.S. on criminal digital piracy charges, launched his party in January, with a pledge to focus on Internet privacy and government surveillance, and to make politics exciting.

It's like Mark Zuckerberg getting into alliance with Fidel Castro
Bryce Edwards, political scientist

Critics, including New Zealand Prime Minister John Key, have described Dotcom's political activities as part of an attempt to protect himself against U.S. extradition efforts.

But Harawira said the issue of whether Mana would support Dotcom's efforts to remain in New Zealand had "not even come up once" in discussions. "It's not a matter on the table at all."

'Gaming the system'

Bryce said the alliance represented an attempt by the two political minnows "to game the electoral system and help each other get their politicians into parliament" at the general elections in September.

Under New Zealand's proportional voting system, a party must win either an electorate seat or at least 5% of the nationwide vote to get into parliament -- a situation that hindered new parties, said Edwards, because potential supporters feared their vote would be wasted.

But if Harawira retained his electorate seat, it would remove the need for the party to cross the 5% threshold, and both parties could expect their share of the national vote to count towards a representative share of seats in the 120-member parliament.

Individually, both parties are currently polling at about 1%, said Edwards, but he tipped the buzz around the new alliance would see it fare better in the September vote, where it could stand to win in the order of six seats. "New Zealanders like to see outsiders having a go," he said. "The sum of the whole is going to be greater than the two parts."

Odd couple

It's completely new ground, but politics is about the art of the possible
Mana Party leader Hone Harawira

The two parties make strange bedfellows, apparently sharing little common ground beyond their opposition to the current center-right National government.

"On the two issues these parties are principally known for, Internet freedom and Maori nationalism, there doesn't seem to be any crossover whatsoever," said Edwards. "They're quite different versions of anti-establishment. One's an urban, middle-class, tech version, the other's more traditional left-wing, almost anti-capitalist."

Harawira, the son of a veteran Maori radical, has a long history of strident Maori activism and is seen as a figure of the far-left.

He has been a polarizing presence in parliament since he was elected in a seat reserved for Maori voters in 2005, criticized for remarks perceived as racist against white New Zealanders, and for calling for an opposition leader to be shot.

He eventually split with the Maori Party in 2011 over their support of the government. His new party, Mana, was established primarily as a vehicle to represent the interests of indigenous New Zealanders but also attracted support from non-Maori left-wing activists.

Dotcom's political tendencies are less well-known. He has previously made a NZ$50,000 ($42,792) donation to a right-wing New Zealand politician at the opposite end of the political spectrum to Mana, but the yet-to-be announced leader of the Internet Party, who will be named on Thursday, is somebody Harawira says he can work with.

Internet Party chief executive Kumar said the two parties would retain their separate policies, and acknowledged his party was providing the bulk of the financial backing to the alliance.

'Big mistake'

Sucking up to a German millionaire is not in my future
Departing Mana member Sue Bradford

Harawira's decision to team with Dotcom's party has already drawn criticism.

One of the Mana Party's founding members, the left-wing activist and former lawmaker Sue Bradford, quit the party over the move, which she labeled a "big mistake."

"Sucking up to a German millionaire is not in my future," she told reporters. "There's no way I can continue to be in a party where we are all really just the political plaything of a millionaire Internet mogul."

Harawira's former party has also attacked the move, with Maori Party co-leader Te Ururoa Flavell telling CNN affiliate TVNZ that "utilizing Maori seats to drag in somebody who is questionable about their knowledge about things Maori... it's not on."

See also: Gas fields could unite Cyprus

In shooter's world, victims get blame
5/28/2014 1:34:50 AM

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Emily Lindin: Elliot Rodger is part of a culture that says nice guys are entitled to sex with women
Lindin: Extremely misogynistic sites promote view that women are prizes, not actual people
Lindin: Facebook page created by proponents was called "Elliot Rodger Is an American Hero"
She says we need to eradicate this hate by openly talking about it to children, communities

Editor's note: Emily Lindin is a graduate student at University of California, Santa Barbara, and the founder of The UnSlut Project, which works against sexual bullying and "slut shaming." She is the creator of the upcoming "Slut: A Documentary Film." Follow her project on Twitter and Facebook. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.

(CNN) -- A powerful reaction to women-hater Elliot Rodger's killing rampage Friday night has been the Twitter hashtag #YesAllWomen, where women point out how misogyny and sexism damage them and restrict their lives. It emerged in response to the common, misguided argument that "not all men" are like that.

Of course not all men are like Elliot Rodger. But he is the product of a culture that condones and in many cases endorses the belief that if you are a "nice guy" -- or a "supreme gentleman" as Rodger described himself -- you are somehow entitled to sex with women.

Gun control, campus safety and mental illness are all issues raised by the massacre, but hatred of women concerns me most. I am the founder of The UnSlut Project, which fights "slut shaming" and sexual bullying in our schools and communities. I'm also a graduate student at University of California, Santa Barbara, where the rampage took place.

Emily Lindin

Rodger and others like him believe that sex is a reward to be earned, not a consensual activity between adults who respect each other, and that women are prizes to be won, not actual people with the agency to make decisions about their own bodies.

Nowhere is this mindset more obvious than in the reactions of some men who actually sympathize with Rodger. Many of these men are self-described Pick-Up Artists, or PUAs, who employ a series of strict rules in order to manipulate women into having sex with them, referring to those women as their "targets."

Rodger allegedly participated in forums on the site PUAHate, which criticizes Pick-Up Artists not because of their obviously misogynist tactics, but because those tactics didn't work for him and other PUAHate members. The site shut down Saturday morning with the message: "PUAHate is about to get a massive amount of press," according to the watchdog Southern Poverty Law Center.

After the killings, the extent of misogyny in this community was revealed in the creation of a Facebook page called "Elliot Rodger Is an American Hero," with the advice for everyone to "share your thoughts and pay your respects to Elliot Rodger here. Also, view this final message from our beloved hero," which links to his videotaped rant, with commenters expressing solidarity with his desire for revenge against women. The page has since been taken down.

The creator of the popular PUA site "Return of Kings" -- where "women and homosexuals are prohibited from commenting" -- claimed, "More people will die unless you give men sexual options." "Manosphere" sites like Return of Kings admire "alpha males," disparage "beta males," and promote hypermasculinity.

But again, most men are not members of these hate communities and not all men hold similar beliefs. That's not the point. These views are just extreme versions of very common, socially acceptable ideas about women and sex. Rodger was undoubtedly mentally unstable, but some of the sexist ideas in his manifesto are, unfortunately, not the invention of a madman. They're the norm.

This is the first time I have publicly identified myself as a graduate student at UCSB. I founded The UnSlut Project by blogging my own middle school diary, so I use a pen name and guard my identity in order to protect people I mentioned in those diary entries.

But in the wake of this crisis, I want to speak out. The university has responded in an admirable way: setting up a 24-hour call center and extensive counseling options to help students cope, establishing the U.C .Santa Barbara Community Fund to honor the victims, and organizing campuswide memorial events.

As the details of Rodger's history and the crime itself continue to emerge, we will have a better idea of the institutional steps that could have been taken to prevent it. We will write letters to our representatives and use our votes to speak up about what we believe should be done to prevent future tragedies. But in the meantime, on a personal level, we need to take responsibility for our own reactions to this story.

We teach our children from a young age that a girl's value as a human being is inextricably linked to her sexual behavior. Her virginity is something to be "given up" or even "lost." Sex with her is a prize to be won -- and she herself is equated with that "prize."

In stark contrast, boys are taught that their virginity is something to be ashamed of. Their masculinity depends on sexual prowess and physical dominance. It is from this understanding that the PUA movement arises, populated by boys and men who feel worthless because they don't have sex. Their anger is directed at the women -- the "prizes" -- who refuse to "give" them what they feel they deserve.

So where do we go from here? Although it brought to light the various struggles of women across the country, #YesAllWomen is, ultimately, just a hashtag. It will stop trending. When it does, let's continue the conversation outside the realm of social media.

Tuesday afternoon, I will join the rest of the UCSB community at a memorial service for Rodger's victims. As we mourn Katherine Cooper, Christopher Martinez, Veronika Weiss, Weihan Wang, George Chen, and Cheng Yuan Hong, conversations will focus on their lives, personalities, and accomplishments. But as we move forward and try to make sense of what happened, it's our responsibility to start productive, respectful conversations about the misogyny behind Rodger's actions.

Instead of avoiding talking about sex, let's start age-appropriate conversations with our children about consent and respect. Let's speak up when a man in our group of friends speaks disrespectfully about a woman he's had sex with. And most important, let's analyze our own assumptions about what sex means with regard to different genders. Most men are not killers like Elliot Rodger. Most men don't sympathize with his motives. But all of us, regardless of gender, can contribute to changing the misogynist culture that inspired him.

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India, Pakistan leaders meet
5/27/2014 5:50:14 AM

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

NEW: Pakistan's Nawaz Sharif says meeting with India's Narendra Modi was warm, constructive
NEW: The two prime ministers will try to overcome mistrust and work together, says Sharif
NEW: Sharif: "We agreed our meeting should be a historic opportunity for both our countries"
The leaders shook hands on Monday at Modi's inauguration

(CNN) -- Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif hailed his first one-on-one meeting Tuesday with India's newly elected Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a "historic opportunity" for the two nations.

A firm but simple handshake had sent a message to the world on Monday that the heads of India and Pakistan were ready to talk.

And talk they did on Tuesday, in a meeting at Hyderabad House, a former palace in New Delhi, that lasted almost 50 minutes.

Briefing reporters after the encounter, Sharif described the meeting as "good and constructive" and "held in warm and cordial atmosphere."

Sharif said both countries should work to overcome their mutual mistrust, and that regional peace and stability were key to achieving their common goals of development.

Sharif said he intended "pick up the threads" of the Lahore Declaration, referring to a pledge both countries made in 1999 to cooperate more closely to ease tensions.

The Pakistani premier also said that accusations and counter-accusations are not productive -- a comment on the regular political back-and-forth between their two nations.

"We agreed that our meeting should be a historic opportunity for both our countries," he said.

He added that he was "very pleased" to be in New Delhi at Modi's invitation, having flown in for his counterpart's inauguration on Monday.

Sharif was part of the biggest gathering of South Asian leaders ever assembled for an Indian prime minister's swearing-in.

Emotional response

In a series of tweets posted after Monday's inauguration ceremony, Modi revealed the two had exchanged remarks.

$The image said to have moved Sharif\'s mother: Modi\'s mother feeding him sweets on May 16, 2014.$

The image said to have moved Sharif's mother: Modi's mother feeding him sweets on May 16, 2014.

Sharif "shared some very emotional things," Modi said, before recounting a rather strange story Sharif told him about how his mother became emotional while watching television images of Modi's own mother offering him sweets.

In an interview with Indian television station NDTV, Sharif was reported to have described his attendance at Modi's inauguration as a "great opportunity, a great moment."

"He said that this strong mandate frees up leaders on both sides ... to actually turn a new page in the history of India and Pakistan," NDTV's Barkha Dutt said.

The visuals touched both Nawaz Sharif ji & his Mother. He told me that after seeing the visuals his Mother got very emotional.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 26, 2014

Long dispute

Relations have been strained between the two countries since 1947, the year the Asian subcontinent partitioned into Islamic Pakistan and Hindu-majority India as it gained independence from British rule.

In the decades since, they have fought a number of wars and clashed over Kashmir, an 86,000 square-mile region to the north.

Efforts to agree a peace deal took a major step back in 2008 when Pakistani militants attacked the Indian city of Mumbai, killing more than 160 people in a series of co-ordinated assaults.

In 2011, the two countries agreed to return to the negotiating table and since then relations have continued to thaw.

In 2012, former President Asif Ali Zardari became the first Pakistani leader to visit India in seven years.

He held talks with then Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who emerged from the 30-minute meeting saying both nations were willing to find "practical and pragmatic" solutions to their differences. Zardari described the talks as "fruitful."

Sharif is said to have expressed the same optimism for the countries' relationship in his interview with NDTV on Monday.

"Both governments have a strong mandate. This could help in turning a new page in our relations," Sharif told NDTV. "We should remove fears, mistrust and misgivings about each other. Both countries should rid the region of instability and security that has plagued us for decades."

Modi's meeting with Sharif is one of a series of bilateral meetings scheduled with regional leaders on his first day as India's 15th prime minister.

In shooter's world, victims get blame
5/27/2014 7:36:27 PM

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Emily Lindin: Elliot Rodger is part of a culture that says nice guys are entitled to sex with women
Lindin: Extremely misogynistic sites promote view that women are prizes, not actual people
Lindin: Facebook page created by proponents was called "Elliot Rodger Is an American Hero"
She says we need to eradicate this hate by openly talking about it to children, communities

Emily Lindin

Follow us on Twitter @CNNOpinion.

Join us on Facebook/CNNOpinion.

Outing could end a covert career
5/27/2014 3:27:18 PM

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

NEW: "To me, it's unforgivable and the message has to be sent," Rep. King tells CNN
CIA chief of station in Afghanistan accidentally named in White House media report
If forced to leave Afghanistan, the official's absence could hurt the U.S. mission
Analyst: "They are going to have to pull him out"

Washington (CNN) -- A clerical misstep? Failure to double-check a routine process? Whatever the cause, the seemingly accidental outing of the CIA's top intelligence official in Afghanistan could put the life of the spy and any family members in danger.

It also raised the question of whether the official can continue working in Afghanistan after the revelation in a White House media report sent to about 6,000 journalists.

"I think they are going to have to pull him out, now that he's been identified publicly," said CNN National Security Analyst Robert Baer, noting the Taliban would likely attempt to assassinate the official. "It will affect his career over the long term, too."

Josh Rogin, who covers national security issues for The Daily Beast, told CNN on Tuesday the mistake was "catastrophic" for the official's career and "potential future as a covert operator, both in Afghanistan or anywhere else."

The official "was in the middle of a very dangerous mission, which was to govern the transition of CIA forces in Afghanistan," Rogin noted.

If forced to leave now due to danger over being exposed, the official's absence could hurt the mission, according to Rogin.

Given the potentially dangerous nature of the situation, CNN has not broadcast or published online the name of the official.

Administration officials expressed alarm over the mistake.

Deputy National Security Adviser Antony Blinken told CNN's Wolf Blitzer that steps are being taken.

"It shouldn't have happened. We're trying to figure out why it happened. In fact, chief of staff Denis McDonough asked the White House counsel to look into it, to figure out what happened and to make sure it won't happen again," Blinken said.

Asked whether the official will have to leave Afghanistan, Blinken added, "You'll understand that I can't comment on the details, but you can rest assured that the security of this person is foremost in our minds and will be taken care of."

The official's name was included on a list of people attending a military briefing for President Barack Obama during his surprise visit to Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan on Sunday.

It's common for such lists to be given to the media, but names of intelligence officials are rarely provided. In this case, the individual's name was listed next to the title, "Chief of Station."

The common practice is for the print pool reporter -- a journalist representing the wider media contingent who relays information about an event to other reporters -- to copy and paste the list provided by the White House into what is called a media pool report.

It then gets distributed to a large list of media outlets by the White House, which does not edit the list.

In this case, the print pool reporter that day -- Scott Wilson, the White House bureau chief for the Washington Post -- noticed the unusual entry after the White House distributed the list.

Wilson checked it out with officials, and the White House later distributed a shorter list from a different reporter that did not include the station chief's name.

In his account to CNN, Wilson said that when the media pool accompanying Obama arrived in Afghanistan, he asked White House officials for a list of who would be briefing the President.

That e-mail was forwarded to Wilson, and he proceeded to copy and paste it for the pool report. Wilson then sent it to the White House official, who sent the report to the distribution list that reaches some 6,000 journalists.

After the initial report was issued, Wilson noticed that the chief of station had been identified in the list. He flagged the White House official, who checked with the military and then said: "This is a problem."

The White House official asked if Wilson would write another pool report that would advise journalists to disregard the previous report, which contained the chief of station's name.

Wilson said he was open to the request and sent the White House a new report, but he was unsure if it got distributed.

According to Wilson, another pool report from a different reporter that was distributed later included details from Obama's speech to the troops, as well as the shorter list of names that excluded the CIA official and a note saying, "This is the correct list of participants."

Rep. Peter King, R-New York, called the accidental outing "unpardonable."

"This is something that they had a chance to look at and look at again, and they still allowed it to be out," he told CNN's "Erin Burnett OutFront" Tuesday night.

"To me, it's unforgivable and the message has to be sent that this type of incompetence -- six years into an administration -- is just inexcusable."

A station chief heads the CIA's office in a foreign country, establishing a relationship with its host intelligence service and overseeing agency activities. The identity of station chiefs, like most CIA officers, are rarely disclosed to protect them and their ability to operate secretly.

In the most recent case of a spy being outed, the Bush administration infamously leaked the name of former CIA officer Valerie Plame to a journalist in 2003. Plame, who resigned from the CIA after the incident, tweeted on Monday that the White House's mistake this past weekend was "astonishing."

No one was punished for leaking Plame's CIA role to the media. Scooter Libby, the chief of staff to then-Vice President Dick Cheney, was convicted of perjury, obstruction and lying to the FBI about the Plame leak. President George W. Bush later commuted Libby's 30-month prison sentence.

Top U.S. spy pulled from Pakistan after terror threats

CNN's Jim Acosta, Ashley Killough and Matt Hoye contributed to this report.

Why did Pope Francis pray at wall?
5/27/2014 7:12:31 PM

Pope Francis touches the wall that divides Israel from the West Bank, on his way to celebrate a mass in Manger Square next to the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Jay Parini: On Bethlehem trip, Pope makes significant gesture by praying at separation wall
He says Bethlehem hugely powerful for Christians, a place of pilgrimage for Palestinians
Bethlehem a long disputed site among Palestinians, Israel. Pope's move symbolic, he says
Parini: In stopping to pray there, Pope Francis implicitly cries: Tear down this wall!

Editor's note: Jay Parini, a poet and novelist, teaches at Middlebury College. He has just published "Jesus: the Human Face of God," a biography of Jesus. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.

(CNN) -- "Something there is that doesn't love a wall," wrote Robert Frost. This something is someone now: Pope Francis.

In a strong, apparently unscripted move on his recent visit to Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, on Sunday the pontiff suddenly waved to the driver of his Popemobile, asking to get out. Surrounded by guards and by children waving Palestinian flags, he got out, walked over to the wall that separates Israel from its Palestinian neighbors, and he did something remarkably simple but with astonishing power: He prayed.

Jay Parini

This symbolic gesture occurred at a well-known portion of the wall, a segment covered with graffiti. Somebody had spray-painted a message in black: "Pope we need some 1 to speak about justice Bethlehem look like Warsaw ghetto." In bold red letters the Pope could read: "Free Palestine." While Israeli guards looked anxiously down from a nearby tower, wondering what on Earth was going on, Francis touched the wall with his right hand, bent his head, and prayed for several minutes. Afterward, he kissed the wall, then walked slowly back to his vehicle.

I've myself experienced several times the haunting power of Bethlehem for Christians. My father was a Baptist minister, and once -- in 1989 -- I took him to the Church of the Nativity, the spot where (by tradition) Jesus was thought to have been born.

This is a place of pilgrimage for those devoted to the Christian path, and it's also an important city on the West Bank for Palestinians (among them a mix of Muslims and Christians, with Muslims the vast majority).

This holy city, described in the Hebrew scriptures as the City of David, was under Ottoman and Egyptian rule for centuries. The British controlled much of Palestine from 1920-1948 during the period known as the Mandate. The United Nations partitioned Palestine after the war, but Jordan took possession of Bethlehem after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. It became a refuge for Palestinians at this time, largely under the control of Jordan until the Six Day War in 1967.

The Israelis kept control until 1995, when an agreement was reached with the Palestinian National Authority, although it has been a place of unease, especially during the 2000-2005 era known as the Second Intifada, when for a period (in 2002) the Church of the Nativity itself became a battle zone for 39 days.

Some 150 people then (mostly Palestinian civilians, with numerous Catholic and Orthodox monks and nuns) took refuge in the Church of the Nativity from an Israeli siege known as Operation Defensive Shield. A tense stalemate occurred, with the Franciscan Order asking the Israeli government to let everyone inside the church go free on the 10th day. There was no response, although an Armenian monk was shot and wounded that day.

Ultimately, Israeli snipers shot dead eight people in or around the church; they wounded at least 22, all of them designated as terrorists by the Israeli army.

Against this history, this pope exercised his unerring sense of symbolism. It's not for nothing that he took the name of Francis of Assisi, in memory of a saint who, in the 12th century, was regarded as the person who most embodied the life and teachings of Jesus. Although born into a rich merchant family, he humbled himself, trying his best to conform to the pattern of life established by Jesus, with a dedication to peace, to bringing down barriers, to expressing love in whatever ways he could.

Pope Francis invites Israeli, Palestinian leaders to Vatican peace talks

Francis of Assisi lived without pretense. He understood symbolic gestures like Jesus himself, who washed the feet of those around him, who sought out those -- such as prostitutes, lepers and beggars -- on the margins of society.

Through the Middle Ages, that earlier Francis was commonly known as alter Christus -- "the second Christ." One could say that Pope Francis, in turn, follows him as a man who lives without pretense, who understands symbolic gestures.

In stopping to pray by this wall of separation, he implicitly cries: Tear down this wall! He has pointedly asked Mahmoud Abbas and Shimon Peres -- the Palestinian and Israeli presidents -- to join him for a time of prayer and reconciliation in Rome. He has called the conflict in Israel "increasingly unacceptable," which is a marvel of understatement. (In a gesture of reconciliation, the pope did — on Monday — accede to an Israeli request to pray before a memorial to Israeli victims of the conflict as well. As ever, he understands that it will be necessary to listen carefully to both sides in this tragic dispute.)

As the pope's unexpected pause by the wall near Bethlehem makes terribly clear, this ugly partition that weaves through the West Bank has become a potent symbol of the Israeli occupation, and it's an affront to all reasonable Christians, Muslims, and Jews. Good fences do not, in this case, make good neighbors. It's time to pull down this barrier to freedom.

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Should you climb Everest?
5/27/2014 7:12:18 PM

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Cleonice Pacheco Weidlich refuses to abandon her Everest climb after 16 killed in mountain tragedy
Disaster prompted concerns over conditions on mountain and calls for an early end to climbing season
Some Sherpas complained over pay and a lack of respect for their traditions and towards those who died
Weidlich says her solo attempt on Lhotse peak had the backing of Sherpas who she says treated her well

(CNN) -- At Camp 3 of Mount Everest at an altitude of 7,200 meters, an American woman, 50-year-old Cleonice Pacheco Weidlich, sits in a solitary tent.

Outside, fierce winds of more than 50 knots are raging.

She waits.

Soon blizzard-bearing monsoon clouds will gather around Everest and bring an end to the climbing season on the high Himalayas.

It will also draw a shroud over one of the single deadliest tragedies the world's highest mountain has ever witnessed.

Before she can make begin her ascent, Weidlich must not only find a gap in the weather and a way over the avalanche, but also face down the growing controversies that erupted around continued activity on Everest in the wake of the disaster.

More than 300 international climbers abandoned their goal of reaching the mountain's summit after an April 18 avalanche in the mountain's treacherous Khumbu Icefall killed 16 Nepalese Sherpa mountaineers.

The immediate aftermath of the disaster brought confusion and anger to the mountain as arguments raged over whether climbing should continue, the money paid to Sherpas and compensation for the sacrifices made.

After avalanche, Nepal opens up unclimbed peaks

Domino effect

Some Sherpas called an unofficial moratorium on further climbs, with one group even reportedly sabotaging equipment.

With safety in doubt, many international climbing companies decided to pull the plug, leading to a domino effect that also swept up the independent climbers who rely on shared resources.

"If 30% of your workforce walks away, it compromises your operational capabilities, given the difficulties of finding new porters, cooks, and guides in short time in the Khumbu," said one guide from a leading operator.

Many were resigned to the sudden end to the season.

"I feel very sad about the Sherpas," said Ake Lindstrom, an adventure operator from Tanzania.

"Everybody knows each other; it is a small community and their loss is very tangible. It takes a small amount of empathy to let go of one's frustration."

Weidlich, however, stayed.

Later she was joined by Wang Jing, a 41-year-old Chinese woman also determined to press ahead with an attempt on the summit.

Despite their determination in the face of calls for a halt to climbing, many Sherpas CNN Travel spoke to were not unhappy with their plans.

Instead, they voiced other concerns, including the disparity they perceive between local and international guide salaries, overcrowding on the mountain, a lack of respect to their mountain god and those who died.

There was also anger towards the Nepalese government over its response to the tragedy.

Among the Everest climbing community questions were raised about the safety prior to the deaths.

Some Sherpas said there had been too many on the mountain on the day of the disaster, with long lines forming as people traversed the ladders over crevasses.

Mourning in an Everest Sherpa village

'One mistake and you are done'

"It was so packed that for some, there was no place to hide when the ice started to fall," one said. "We never saw so many people on the icefall on one day."

One expert expressed strong concerns about renewed climbing.

The Pyramid high-altitude research center.

"The mountains are in constant movement, which is what makes the icefall dangerous," said Gian Piero Verza, of the Pyramid high-altitude research center, located at 5,050 meters on Everest.

"You have to consider that in two months of expeditions, some Sherpas spend an average of three hours daily on the icefall to carry their load. For some that is 200 hours in a very dangerous place."

Veteran expedition leader Jamie McGuinness, however, said he was surprised that more did not defy the exodus to take advantage of conditions similar to those when Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay first summited in 1953.

"Hard-core mountaineers would jump at the chance to have Everest and Lhotse all for themselves during the best climbing season," he says.

"But being there without backup is like being back in epic Hillary's time: one mistake and you are done."

Back at Camp 3, in her gale-battered tent, Weidlich is convinced she is doing the right thing by continuing with her plan to summit Lhotse, a peak connected to Everest's South Col.

She says she knows the family of one of the victims and when she visited them after the disaster was not met with hostility and was invited to stay for the funeral.

"I asked them if they felt it would be disrespectful if I continued with my climbing plan," she says. "They were concerned about my safety, but they never brought up the issue of respect."

Weidlich, who is on a personal mission to climb all 14 of the world's mountains over 8,000 meters, says the problem lies with assisted climbing.

"High mountains are dangerous, and climbing is all about the experience. You have to evaluate the risks. But Everest has become a completely different place: it is a showtime place. People come here to make silly records.

American climber recounts how Sherpa saved his life

Climbing in isolation

Weidlich eventually had to abandon her summit attempt.

"This is not real mountaineering. To me, if you cannot free climb a mountain and you need someone else to help you up or down, you don't belong on it."

Weidlich hits out at claims that Sherpas had forced people to abandon the mountain saying they had treated her well.

She also speaks of the excitement of climbing in isolation.

"I am very much looking forward to experiencing the mountain for what it is, without the crowds. It will be rewarding to be in contact with nature -- to hear the cracking of the ice and not the generators."

When at last the gales ease, it is finally time for Weidlich to face the mountain, but she is ultimately unable to reach her goal.

Because of the dangers on the Icefall, both Weidlich and Wang bypass it using helicopters -- a highly controversial move that could invalidate any claim to a successful climb.

Wang reaches the summit of Everest on May 23 along with five Sherpas.

Weidlich, however, decides to abandon her attempt on Lhotse because "that would be like claiming a whole mountain when I would only have climbed half of it."

Shortly afterward, the monsoon closes in for good, leaving Everest to brood alone over another season of triumphs for some and tragedies for others.

Andrea Oschetti is a Hong Kong-based freelance travel writer currently traveling through Bhutan and Nepal.

In shooter's world, victims get blame
5/27/2014 10:02:31 PM

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Emily Lindin: Elliot Rodger is part of a culture that says nice guys are entitled to sex with women
Lindin: Extremely misogynistic sites promote view that women are prizes, not actual people
Lindin: Facebook page created by proponents was called "Elliot Rodger Is an American Hero"
She says we need to eradicate this hate by openly talking about it to children, communities

Emily Lindin

Follow us on Twitter @CNNOpinion.

Join us on Facebook/CNNOpinion.

Why did Pope Francis pray at the wall?
5/27/2014 7:20:13 AM

Pope Francis touches the wall that divides Israel from the West Bank, on his way to celebrate a mass in Manger Square next to the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Jay Parini: On Bethlehem trip, Pope makes significant gesture by praying at separation wall
He says Bethlehem hugely powerful for Christians, a place of pilgrimage for Palestinians
Bethlehem a long disputed site among Palestinians, Israel. Pope's move symbolic, he says
Parini: In stopping to pray there, Pope Francis implicitly cries: Tear down this wall!

(CNN) -- "Something there is that doesn't love a wall," wrote Robert Frost. This something is someone now: Pope Francis.

Jay Parini

Ultimately, Israeli snipers shot dead eight people in or around the church; they wounded at least 22, all of them designated as terrorists by the Israeli army.

Pope Francis invites Israeli, Palestinian leaders to Vatican peace talks

Follow us on Twitter @CNNOpinion.

Join us on Facebook/CNNOpinion.

Everest empty: But should you climb?
5/27/2014 6:48:18 AM

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Cleonice Pacheco Weidlich refuses to abandon her Everest climb after 16 killed in mountain tragedy
Disaster prompted concerns over conditions on mountain and calls for an early end to climbing season
Some Sherpas complained over pay and a lack of respect for their traditions and towards those who died
Weidlich says her solo attempt on Lhotse peak had the backing of Sherpas who she says treated her well