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Prostitute denies Google exec murder
7/16/2014 9:42:46 PM
- NEW: Alix Tichelman, 26, pleads not guilty and is denied a reduced bond
- Forrest Timothy Hayes, 51, was found dead on his California yacht in November
- Hayes and Tichelman met through a "sugar daddy" website
- Through these sites, women are paid for the company by older men
Santa Cruz, California (CNN) -- The arrest of Alix Catherine Tichelman in the death of a Google executive has shed a new light on the so-called sugar daddy websites where women are paid, sometimes thousands of dollars a month, by older suitors for their company.
Tichelman, 26, is suspected in the death of Forrest Timothy Hayes, 51, a married father of five who was found dead in November on his 50-foot yacht.
On Wednesday, she pleaded not guilty to manslaughter and other charges in a Santa Cruz County, California, court. Her defense asked that she be released on her own recognizance, but a judge said no because he was "uncertain" that she would return to court. Her family was in the courtroom.
The judge also denied a request to reduce her bond, which remains at $1.5 million. She went back into custody, and her next court appearance is October 20.
Authorities say Tichelman gave Hayes an injection of heroin and then, as he began to die, she sipped her wine, gathered her belongings and walked away.
Prosecutors say the pair met through a site called Seeking Arrangement, which bills itself as "the leading Sugar Daddy dating site where over 3 million members fuel mutually beneficial relationships on their terms."
And what are those terms?
"The women who are on the site, or as we call them 'sugar babies,' are looking for men who can provide financial assistance for them," said Angela Jacob Bermudo with Seeking Arrangement.
"Aside from that, they're also looking for men who can help them in terms of mentorship, whether it's to find their own independence in the professional world or ... with providing life guidance."
CNN talked to one such woman.
For sugar baby "Bella," that financial assistance comes in the form of an allowance -- $3,000 to $5,000 a month.
"The way I see the allowance isn't anything more than enriching and empowering my life with something they have a lot of, their wealth," she said.
It's been a profitable arrangement for college grad Bella, who has managed to cut her college debt in half over the last two years, knocking $30,000 off the total.
"I'm able to live the lifestyle I want without slaving for it," she said. "I'm being taken care of by someone I truly care for and they're caring for me."
Georgia case reopened after alleged prostitute accused in yacht death
What about sex?
Bella, 28, said she's only been intimate with two men.
"They only want to date you. It has nothing to do with intimacy per se," she said. "They just want good conversation."
Critics say the sugar daddy sites are nothing but fronts for prostitution, one of the crimes Tichelman has been charged with.
"Seeking Arrangement is in no way or form a prostitution or escorting service," Bermudo said, instead calling it a dating website. "We provide a quality platform for successful individuals as well as those looking to date a generous partner who is willing to help better their lifestyle."
Complicating matters, the exchange of funds isn't clearly visible and the website profiles don't necessarily solicit sex.
"I don't think that makes it legal in California or any other state where prostitution is illegal," said Mel Robbins, a CNN contributor. "I just think it just makes it sticky to prosecute."
For the record, Seeking Arrangement doesn't say sex isn't involved.
"Just like traditional relationships you don't sign up and sex isn't part of the arrangement," Bermudo said. "Certainly as with any healthy relationship, if both parties do become a little bit more connected and do decide they want to become more intimate, then that's up to the two consenting adults."
For Bella, there's a clear distinction between what she's doing and prostitution.
"An escort gets paid to leave," she said. "I get a part of their wealth to see them again ... to give them a smile with a text before they sleep. I get paid to make them happy."
Death of Google executive
In the case of Tichelman, authorities say she had an "ongoing prostitution relationship" with Hayes.
Online, Tichelman has boasted of having more than 200 client relationships.
Security footage from Hayes' yacht shows her administer the heroin injection and what happened afterward, as he was dying, police say.
"Rather than provide first aid or call 911, Ms. Tichelman proceeds to gather her belongings including the heroin and needles," the police statement reads, adding that Tichelman stepped over Hayes' body several times.
The video also shows Tichelman leaving the boat and then reaching back to lower a blind, concealing the victim's body from outside view, police say.
How heroin kills you
Two months before Hayes died, Dean Riopelle, whom Tichelman identified online as her boyfriend, died at his home in Milton, Georgia. Tichelman was there at the time, and she called 911.
The medical examiner ruled Riopelle's death an accidental overdose from heroin and alcohol. "At the time, we never thought anything different," Capt. Shawn McCarty of Milton police said.
Now authorities are taking a new look at that death "to make sure there's nothing (else) to it," he said.
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CNN's Kyung Lah contributed from Santa Cruz and Ed Payne wrote from Atlanta. CNN's Michael Martinez, Doug Gross, Amanda Watts, Vivian Kuo, Augie Martin and Josh Levs contributed to this report.
Actress jailed for mailing ricin
7/16/2014 11:49:14 PM
- Shannon Richardson gets 18 years in prison, must pay $367,000 in restitution
- Texas actress had minor roles in "The Walking Dead" and "The Vampire Diaries"
- Richardson mailed ricin-laced letters to President Obama and Michael Bloomberg
- The woman gave birth to a baby boy, Brody, while in custody, CNN affiliate reports
(CNN) -- The Texas actress who admitted sending ricin-laced letters to President Barack Obama and then-New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg was sentenced to 18 years in prison Wednesday, the U.S. attorney's office said.
Shannon Guess Richardson, 36, also was ordered to pay $367,000 in restitution.
"Today's sentencing brings an appropriate and just end to what is surely one of our most unusual, even bizarre cases," John Bales, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Texas, said in a statement.
In December, the actress pleaded guilty to possession of a toxin for use as a weapon, prosecutors said.
Though the charge carried a maximum penalty of life in prison, prosecutors said at the time that Richardson entered into a plea deal under which she would not serve more than 18 years.
Three envelopes containing the natural, highly toxic compound derived from castor beans were mailed from Shreveport, Louisiana, in May 2013, after records showed Richardson made online purchases of castor beans and lye, another component of ricin.
Richardson lived in New Boston, Texas, about 90 miles north of Shreveport.
In addition to Obama and Bloomberg, Richardson also mailed a poison letter to Mark Glaze, then-director of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, which Bloomberg founded, an FBI arrest affidavit said. The group's office is in Washington.
The letters, which contained what the FBI described as "very low concentrations" of ricin, were discovered before causing any injuries or fatalities. They also issued a threat: "You will have to kill me and my family before you get my guns. The right to bear arms is my constitutional God-given right. What's in this letter is nothing compared to what I've got planned for you."
What is ricin?
Richardson -- who had minor roles in television shows, including "The Walking Dead" and "The Vampire Diaries" -- initially told FBI agents that her now-estranged husband had sent the tainted letters.
But authorities said Richardson was found to be "deceptive" in a polygraph exam.
Investigators found that her computer storage devices contained the text of threatening letters to Obama and the couple's computer records showed that her husband couldn't have printed them because he was at work at the time, according to an FBI arrest affidavit.
Eventually, Richardson admitted to investigators that she'd mailed the letters, though she claimed her husband had typed them out and forced her to print and mail them, the affidavit said.
Nathaniel Richardson denied any wrongdoing, telling investigators that his wife was "intentionally misleading" them and that she wanted to end their marriage, court papers said.
He filed for divorce in June 2013, and court papers indicated that Shannon Richardson was pregnant. According to CNN affiliate KYTX-TV, Shannon Richardson gave birth to a boy, Brody, in July 2013, four months before her due date.
CNN's Josh Levs, Greg Botelho, Ed Lavandera and Joe Sutton contributed to this report.
660 'pedophiles' arrested in UK
7/16/2014 6:44:24 AM
- A six-month UK-wide operation snares 660 suspected pedophiles, police say
- The operation targeted people accessing indecent images of children online
- Police say more than 400 children have been protected from harm as a result
- The operation comes amid public concern over the issue of sexual abuse of children
(CNN) -- UK police have arrested 660 suspected pedophiles -- including doctors, teachers and scout leaders -- in a six-month operation spanning the country, the National Crime Agency said Wednesday.
The operation -- which targeted people accessing indecent images of children online -- involved 45 police forces across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
More than 400 children across the United Kingdom have been protected from harm as a result, the National Crime Agency said in a statement.
Thirty-nine of the suspects were registered sex offenders, the statement said, meaning the vast majority were not previously known to police. Their number also included social care workers and former police officers.
The operation was kept under wraps until Wednesday to protect children and gather evidence against the accused, the statement said.
The National Crime Agency is not revealing the methods used to track down the suspects because it hopes to deploy them again in the future.
The charges brought so far range from possession of indecent images of children to serious sexual assault, it said. Many suspects have yet to be charged in the case.
"This is the first time the UK has had the capability to coordinate a single targeted operation of this nature," said Phil Gormley, the agency's deputy director general.
"Our aim was to protect children who were victims of, or might be at risk of, sexual exploitation. A child is victimized not only when they are abused and an image is taken. They are re-victimized every time that image is viewed by someone."
Some of those who start by looking at indecent images online go on to abuse children directly, he said, so arresting them now may prevent them from crossing that line.
The operation comes amid wide public concern over the issue of sexual abuse of children in the United Kingdom.
Children's TV entertainer Rolf Harris was sentenced this month to five years and nine months in prison for a string of indecent assaults against women and girls.
His trial came in the wake of shocking revelations of predatory sexual behavior by the late TV host Jimmy Savile against vulnerable children and adults.
The publicity around those high-profile cases appears to have encouraged others to come forward with allegations of abuse.
Chief Constable Simon Bailey said the majority of police forces in England and Wales are dealing with an "unprecedented increase" in reports of sexual abuse of children.
"Forces are investigating exploitation of children and young people by groups and gangs, non-recent abuse including large-scale investigations into abuse in institutions over many years and sexual abuse by parents and family members," he said.
READ: Entertainer Rolf Harris sentenced to 5 years, 9 months for abusing girls
READ: Victims' ages from 5 to 75: Jimmy Savile sex abuse revealed
CNN's Carol Jordan contributed to this report.
Leaving Afghan allies behind to die?
7/17/2014 9:00:44 AM
- Matt Zeller's Afghan translator saved his life by killing two Taliban fighters
- Writers: Taliban put translator on top of its kill list: Took five years to get him and family to U.S.
- U.S. has visa program to get interpreters to America, but visas running out
- They say U.S. is abandoning allies to death as we retreat: We need to expand visa program
Editor's note: Matt Zeller is a captain in the U.S. Army Reserve, a fellow at the Truman Project for National Security, an adjunct fellow at the American Security Project, and a former officer of the Central Intelligence Agency. He is a co-founder of No One Left Behind with Mohammed Janis Shenwari, who served as an interpreter for the U.S. military in Afghanistan for seven years. He is credited with saving the lives of at least five U.S. soldiers in combat and has received many U.S. military commendations. He works for Rep. Jim Moran of Virginia. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the writers.
(CNN) -- I never thought my Afghan translator would save my life by killing two Taliban fighters who were about to kill me. Janis did just that. I'm here today because he had my back in a way I only thought an American soldier would.
On April 28, 2008, I found myself in the worst ambush of my life -- surrounded by 45 Taliban fighters, out of grenades, and running low on bullets. We had been fighting nonstop for an hour. A mortar round landed within a few meters of my position and sent me flying into a ditch.
Coming into to consciousness I realized I would likely die on that desolate Afghan hillside -- the mortars were too close and accurate to miss me again. At that moment, I felt a body slam into the ditch next to me and simultaneously heard the unmistakable sound of an AK-47 firing next to my head.
I turned and saw my Afghan interpreter Janis Shenwary glaring down the barrel of his rifle at the bodies of the two Taliban fighters he had just killed. They had me dead to rights until Janis acted to save mine. On that April day he taught me the true price of loyalty and brotherhood forged through combat.
The Taliban retaliated by placing him on the top of its kill list.
For the next five years, we tried to secure him and his family the U.S. visas he clearly had earned. After an extensive effort that involved a national media campaign, the legal and political guidance of the Iraqi Refugee Assistance Project and the Truman National Security Project, working with more than a dozen members of Congress, we eventually prevailed.
He now lives in Washington with his family. Together, we run No One Left Behind, an organization dedicated to ensuring we fulfill our nation's promise to bring these allies to America after their service and provide them with housing, furniture, and employment assistance. We consider keeping that promise a matter of national security -- nothing less than the credibility and honor of the United States is at stake.
Wars have consequences, many unforeseen. One of the most profound and seldom-discussed consequence is what happens to our Iraqi and Afghan allies.
The majority of the Iraqi and Afghan people did not seek these wars -- they were at best begrudging participants hopeful that our promise of a better life came to pass. Moreover, most of these people did not pick up arms and fight us -- indeed, the bulk of the fighting in both wars has always been confined to limited segments of the population.
Most important, many of these people chose to fight with us because we implored them to -- and now they are going to die because we failed to truly defeat our common enemies and we're apparently comfortable with abandoning our allies as we retreat.
A common truth among U.S. military veterans of the Iraq and Afghan wars (especially those of us who served on the front lines) is that our interpreters most likely saw more and worse combat than the majority of us. As a result, we tend to view our "terps" as full and equal combat veterans.
They may have not been full soldiers, but they wore our uniforms, ate our food, bled our blood, saved our lives countless times, and fought and killed our enemies. When we left, they remained behind to join our replacements for yet another tour. And we told them we would give them all U.S. visas if, after at least a year's worth of faithful and honorable service, they found themselves under duress.
Almost all interpreters face some threat -- being a collaborator also has consequences. But many end up on the Taliban or al Qaeda's hit lists. And that's where we can't understand our government's treatment of these fellow veterans.
If they were American citizens, we'd spare no expense protecting them and helping them flee to the safety of U.S. soil. But, because they were born Afghan or Iraqi, they're somehow subject to a lower standard of treatment. The truth is, these translators did a lot more than most Americans to protect and defend our country. They have earned their place in America.
Sadly, the bureaucrats in Washington do not feel as strongly about saving these allies as the veterans who actually fought these wars.
Sometime in this week or the next, the State Department will run out of visas it can issue to Afghans. To its credit, the State Department has pleaded with Congress to pass the Afghan Allies Protection Extension Act of 2014, which would renew the Afghan Special Immigrant Visa program for another year and add 6,000 new visas for eligible Afghans.
The State Department estimates that it has a backlog of 6,000 Afghan applicants. If Congress fails to pass the law by September 30, 2014, the program will end and these applicants, many who have been waiting years for a ruling on their application, will likely never receive the visas they so bravely earned. We will simply abandon them to a gruesome and torturous death at the hands of the Taliban.
As an American soldier and a former Afghan translator who lives in America and dreams of the day he becomes a citizen, the prospect of abandoning our allies and breaking our promise disgusts us.
How many times in the last century have we vowed "never again" after profound human suffering? We said it after we left Saigon in 1975. And again as we watched from the sidelines in horror at Rwanda in 1994. I fear we may be already saying it in Iraq.
The coming tragedy in Afghanistan is entirely preventable. We haven't yet abandoned our closest Afghan allies to Taliban slaughter. All we have to do is have the courage to act -- if we don't soon, we'll once more absently vow "Never Again."
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Exchange of fire signals end of Gaza cease-fire
7/17/2014 10:17:52 AM
- NEW: "We didn't want to kill those four boys," Israeli official says of strike on Gaza beach
- Humanitarian cease-fire expires; rocket fire and reported Israeli strike follow
- Temporary cease-fire "mostly respected," U.N. chief says
- Officials are in Cairo for talks on a new cease-fire
Gaza City (CNN) -- A temporary cease-fire between Hamas and Israel expired Thursday, followed quickly by new rocket attacks from Gaza and a resumption of Israeli military airstrikes.
Two Palestinians were injured in one of the Israeli airstrikes, which came after a five-hour lull requested by the United Nations for humanitarian reasons.
At least three mortar shells were fired from Gaza during the cease-fire, and the Israeli military said a soldier was injured by an explosion during an "operational activity" near southern Gaza. Troops responded with mortar fire, the Israel Defense Forces said.
Despite those incidents, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said both sides had "mostly respected" the cease-fire.
"The pause shows that a cessation of hostilities is possible if all the parties demonstrate the necessary will and put the interests of civilians, who have borne the brunt of this escalation, first," Ban said in a statement.
At least 230 Palestinians have been killed and close to 1,700 have been injured since Israel began its anti-Hamas military operation July 7, according to Palestinian health officials.
One Israeli death has been reported.
Cairo talks
In Cairo, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Al-Arabi held talks Thursday aimed at reaching a cease-fire agreement.
An Israeli delegation also attended, leaving after several hours, the state-run al-Ahram news agency reported.
"I expect that we will reach an agreement very soon; the efforts of a cease-fire is to stop the bloodshed, killing and destruction in Gaza," said Nabil Shaath, an Abbas adviser and member of the central committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
He said negotiators were focusing on stopping bloodshed above all else. He said they would later discuss Hamas demands, including opening Gaza border crossings and freeing prisoners whose exit from jail was negotiated in exchange for the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
"These are all legitimate demands by Hamas, but the priority is for an immediate cease-fire," Shaath said.
Hamas leaders had rejected an earlier Egyptian cease-fire proposal, saying they had not been consulted on the deal and complaining that it did not address their broader demands.
Hamas officials had said Wednesday they would not participate in the Cairo talks, but PLO official Saeb Erakat -- who was in the Egyptian capital with Abbas -- said the Palestinian Authority leader had met with representatives of Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
Erakat said negotiators are trying to extend the U.N.-sponsored temporary humanitarian cease-fire on a "rolling basis."
"While there is no plan at this point for a comprehensive cease-fire agreement ... we are trying to extend the current one by another six or 10 hours, or even several days if possible," he said.
Egypt is playing a large role in the talks despite its distrust of Hamas.
Like Israel, Egypt considers Hamas a terror organization because of the group's roots in the Muslim Brotherhood, which Egypt's military-led government banned after the country's 2013 coup.
Temporary cease-fire
During Thursday's temporary cease-fire, Gaza banks opened for the first time in 10 days. Residents poured into the streets.
Red Cross officials visited hospitals and damaged houses to assess medical needs, and worked with local officials to fix water pipelines. Some work was also done to repair power lines, the United Nations said.
At least 10 to 15 trucks entered Gaza through the Karem Shalom border crossing once it opened at 1 p.m. (6 a.m. ET), according to Ra'ed Fatooh, the Palestinian official in charge of the crossing in Gaza.
Goods were limited to medical supplies and basic foodstuffs such as rice, sugar, oil, canned food, flour and other basic goods, he said.
"The trucks are being subjected to strict and difficult search by the Israeli security before entering the crossing," he said.
The search, he said, illustrated one of the chief complaints of Gaza residents -- fluctuating border controls that often stymie the flow of goods into the territory.
"We want the crossing to open in a normal fashion to go back to how it was before 2007 and to bring the required goods and products for Gaza for the people and residents to live in dignity as the rest of the world," Fatooh said.
Gaza crisis: Who's who in Hamas
Deaths on Gaza beach
Fallout continued Thursday from the deaths the day before of four cousins ages 9 to 11 who died in an Israeli military strike on a Gaza beach.
The results of a preliminary investigation suggests the deaths were the result of a "a tragic misidentification of the target," a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told CNN on Thursday.
"We didn't want to kill those four boys. That was not our intention," Mark Regev said. "I'd even say the opposite is true. Had we known that that missile was aimed at four young men like that we would have not sent the missile."
A Hamas official called the killings a "war crime."
"Those children were not firing rockets, they were just playing," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zhuri told reporters Wednesday.
Regev, however, said a legitimate Hamas target was nearby, highlighting what he called a "complex combat environment" in crowded Gaza City and surrounding areas.
Israeli officials say militants often use mosques, schools and other crowded places to hide rockets and other weapons.
Indeed, the U.N. Relief and Works Agency said it had found 20 rockets hidden in a vacant school in Gaza, the first time the agency had made such a discovery.
The group didn't say who placed the rockets there but condemned the act as a "flagrant violation" of rules meant to keep U.N. aid workers safe.
For the hundreds of people gathered for the boys' funeral Wednesday, however, the legal and ethical arguments made little difference.
"I felt as if the world had come to an end when I heard the news," said Ramiz Bakr, the father of one of the boys. "I wish I had died before hearing he was dead."
Israeli military's 'knock on roof' warnings criticized by rights groups
War-scarred Gaza medical crews also in harm's way
Opinion: A smart way out of the Gaza confrontation
CNN's Ben Wedeman reported from Gaza City, and CNN's Michael Pearson reported and wrote from Atlanta, while Jethro Mullen reported and wrote from Hong Kong. CNN's Ali Younes, Samira Abdelaziz, Kareem Khadder, Tim Lister, Ian Lee, Diana Magnay, Samira Said, Michael Schwartz, Salma Abdelaziz and Tal Heinrich also contributed to this report.
Mortars fired into Israel 2 hours into cease-fire
7/17/2014 5:09:58 AM
- NEW: At least three mortars are fired into southern Israel, the military says
- NEW: An Egyptian official says talks about cease-fire proposals are happening in Cairo
- Hamas rejected an earlier Egyptian proposal for a more permanent cease-fire
- Anger over civilian deaths increases after four boys are killed on a Gaza beach
Gaza City (CNN) -- At least three mortars were fired from Gaza into southern Israel on Thursday morning, some two hours after a temporary lull in hostilities went into effect to allow humanitarian supplies into the area.
The mortars fell in open areas and no injuries were immediately reported, the Israeli military said. Mortars are smaller and have a more limited range than rockets.
Israel, which said it would honor the cease-fire but not sit idle if attacked, did not immediately respond.
The five-hour long temporary halt in fighting went into effect at 3 a.m. ET, requested by the United Nations to offer a brief respite in a conflict that has killed more than 220 people.
Banks opened for the first time in 10 days in Gaza and residents poured into the streets.
Red Cross officials visited hospitals and damaged houses to assess medical needs, and worked with local officials to quickly fix water pipelines, which has left hundreds of thousands without water.
There were no reported air strikes since the cease-fire began. Still, the fear of death hung heavily over Gaza. The health ministry warned civilians to avoid gathering in squares.
"Should the humanitarian window be exploited by Hamas or other terror organizations for the purpose of launching attacks against Israeli civilian or military targets the IDF will respond firmly and decisively," the Israeli military said.
Attack foiled
Shortly before the cease-fire's start, Hamas's military wing said it fired five rockets at the city of Beer Sheeva. And the Israeli military said it foiled an attempt by 13 Hamas militants who tried to enter the southern Israeli community of Sufa through a tunnel.
"We were sitting at home while we heard the sounds of gunfire and bombardments from behind our house. Later on, all residents were informed that it was an infiltration attempt," said Eyal Brandeis, the director of the Sufa kibbutz.
"Our community is now back to its routine. I think routine is the best way to keep your sanity".
A rejected deal
On Tuesday, an effort to permanently stop more than a week of killing stalled when Israel resumed airstrikes following a brief, one-sided cease-fire brokered by Egypt. While Israel paused for six hours, Hamas leaders rejected the deal and continued firing rockets.
They said they had not been consulted, and complained the deal did not address their demands for greater freedom for Gaza's 1.8 million residents.
"The initiative is no longer acceptable, and there is no basis for the continuation of this initiative," Hamas spokesman Zhuri had told CNN.
Deaths on Gaza beach
Anger is rising over civilian deaths -- including those of four children killed while playing on the beach.
The boys, ages 9 to 11, died Wednesday when a shell from an Israeli gunship exploded near them on a beach near Gaza City, according to Palestinian officials.
Their names were Ismail, Zakaria, Ahed and Mohamed -- all of them cousins from the extended Bakr family.
Deaths of 4 children add to growing toll in Gaza conflict
An Israeli official said the shelling was another example of Hamas using civilians as human shields -- intimating that the boys had been left to play near a rocket launcher.
"What they are deliberately doing is seeking to kill as many Palestinians as possible in order to yell to the world to, 'Help us,' " Israeli Cabinet member Naftali Bennett told CNN. "This is cynical and this is cowardly."
A Hamas official, however, called the shelling by an Israeli gunship a "massacre" and a "war crime" and demanded U.N. action.
"Those children were not firing rockets, they were just playing," Hamas spokesman Zhuri told reporters.
Grief-stricken family
Hundreds of people gathered for the boys' funeral Wednesday, where there were angry chants and deep grief.
"I felt as if the world had come to an end when I heard the news," said Ramiz Bakr, the blind father of 11-year-old Mohamed. "I wish I had died before hearing he was dead."
Israel's military said it was aware of the deaths and was investigating. The military never intentionally targets civilians, said spokesman Brig. Gen. Moti Almoz.
"Based on preliminary results, the target of this strike was Hamas terrorist operatives. The reported civilian causalities from this strike are a tragic outcome," the IDF said in a statement.
The event inflamed already raw emotions over civilian deaths in Gaza, where at least 230 Palestinians have been killed and close to 1,700 have been injured since Israel began its anti-Hamas military operation July 7, according to Palestinian health officials.
The one fatality on the Israeli side occurred Monday when a mortar shell hit a man at the Erez border crossing, Israeli Rescue Services said.
Talks in Cairo
Diplomats continued Thursday to try to find a more lasting halt to the violence.
A senior Egyptian official told CNN that an Israeli delegation is in Cairo to discuss proposals for a cease-fire in Gaza.
"The initiative is ongoing and we are in touch with all relevant parties," the official said, mentioning the United States, Israel and the Palestinians. But he would not say specifically that Hamas was involved.
"We hope the Palestinian leaders will accept the initiative for the sake of the protection of the Palestinian people," the Egyptian official said. "We urge them to stop fire immediately and accept the initiative to avoid further bloodshed."
Hamas had declined to join talks Wednesday in Cairo between Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
Like Israel, Egypt considers Hamas a terror organization because of the group's roots in the Muslim Brotherhood, which Egypt's military-led government banned after the country's 2013 coup.
Hamas officials have said they are not opposed to a cease-fire, but want to see a broad agreement that would, among other things, end restrictions on border crossings that they say are choking the life out of Gaza's 1.8 million residents.
Gaza crisis: Who's who in Hamas
"I think what they want is to see a cease-fire agreement that addresses the real problems that they face and the system of violence that is this siege, that is the occupation, so that it can be a genuine cease-fire agreement that brings an end to hostilities, not just from one side," Yousef Munayyer, executive director of the Palestine Center, a pro-Palestinian think tank, told CNN's "New Day."
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Hamas had brought the continued Israeli operation on itself after rejecting the Egyptian-brokered cease-fire.
"We held our fire for six hours and during that time, Hamas continued to barrage our cities with rockets," Netanyahu said. "Hamas thus shut the door to a diplomatic solution, and it therefore bears sole the responsibility for the continuation of the violence."
Israeli military's 'knock on roof' warnings criticized by rights groups
War-scarred Gaza medical crews also in harm's way
Opinion: A smart way out of the Gaza confrontation
CNN's Ben Wedeman reported from Gaza City; Jethro Mullen reported and wrote from Hong Kong. CNN's Kareem Khadder, Tim Lister, Ian Lee, Diana Magnay, Samira Said, Michael Schwartz, Salma Abdelaziz and Tal Heinrich also contributed to this report.
'We need agents of peace'
7/17/2014 2:02:14 AM
Israeli author and intellectual David Grossman speaks with CNN's Becky Anderson about the prospects of peace in the Middle East.
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Protests echo across the world
7/17/2014 12:10:28 AM
- While missiles fly in Mideast, tensions soar outside the region
- Hatred, even violence, erupts at demonstrations in France and United States
- People on both sides of the issue talk of death threats
- The battle is also being waged in venomous words on social media
(CNN) -- A mob, wielding baseball bats, broken bottles and knives, swarms a Paris synagogue. Violence erupts at a pro-Israel rally in Los Angeles after a demonstrator reportedly stomps on a Palestinian flag. Phone calls and text messages threaten a Palestinian-American who organized a protest in Atlanta. A trending Twitter hashtag says Hitler was right.
As missiles and rockets fly in the Middle East, tensions are boiling over around the world between activists at demonstrations on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Plenty of protests have been peaceful, but not all of them.
On Monday, the Anti-Defamation League warned Jewish institutions to step up security in light of violence and anti-Semitic expressions at what it described as anti-Israel rallies across the United States and around the world. An ADL website tracking recent protests listed events in New York; Washington; Dallas; Portland; and Tempe, Arizona.
"The tenor at some of the anti-Israel rallies has been extreme," the ADL said, "with protesters chanting 'Death to Israel' and other hateful messages and slogans."
In France, where anti-Semitism has flared up in recent years, some warn that hostilities have entered a different realm.
"The level of danger is very new," said Serge Benhaim, who was trapped for hours inside a Paris synagogue on Sunday. "Today and tomorrow for the Jewish people in France is fully different from what it was yesterday."
In the United States, too, Aysha Abdullatif says she's sensed something is changing.
After organizing a pro-Palestinian protest in Atlanta this month, Abdullatif said she started getting threatening phone calls, text messages and social media posts accusing her of supporting terrorism. It's the first time she's felt personally targeted after years of activism.
"People are getting really fanatical. ... I've never seen it get this ugly," Abdullatif said.
'It looked like a war'
A 17-year-old Jewish girl reported that she was grabbed by the jaw and pepper-sprayed in the face on a Paris street the day Israel launched its latest operation in Gaza. She told police her attacker called her a "Dirty Jew," and said, "Insha'Allah, you will die," according to the National Bureau of Vigilance against Anti-Semitism, a French watchdog organization.
A local chapter of the Jewish Defense League, a far-right Jewish group, bragged on social media the next day about fighting with anti-Israel demonstrators.
"We were 30 facing 200 supporters of Hamas. And yet all will remember our visit ... especially the 6 wounded on their side," the group posted on Twitter.
A French watchdog organization, meantime, has since reported telephone death threats against Jewish merchants. Synagogue-goers in the Belleville neighborhood of Paris were recently greeted by demonstrators who screamed "Death to the Jews," and a firebomb was tossed at the entrance of another synagogue in the northeastern suburb of Aulnay-sous-Bois, the National Bureau of Vigilance against Anti-Semitism reported.
And then, on Sunday evening, a perfect storm brewed. Just as a community gathered in Paris' Don Isaac Abravanel Synagogue to pray for peace, thousands of demonstrators marching in support of Palestinians finished up nearby, Benhaim, the synagogue's president, said. A fraction of those demonstrators broke off with other plans.
Aline Le Bail-Kremer, 36, lives across the street from the synagogue and said she saw -- and heard -- them coming.
"From my windows, I saw two groups (around 100 persons), from the two sides of the street, converging [at] the synagogue," she wrote in an e-mail to CNN late Monday.
They carried baseball bats, she said. They threw chairs and tables, taken from nearby cafes, and headed toward the entrance gate. And then, she said she heard them scream, "Death to the Jews."
From inside, where he'd gathered with about 400 others, Benhaim said he saw men outside brandishing broken bottles and knives. The synagogue president, who CNN spoke to Monday night, also said he heard cries of "Jews to the oven" and "Allahu akbar!"
A small band of security guards managed to block entry, Benhaim said. Young Jews, some affiliated with the Jewish Defense League, also stepped into the fray -- spewing their own vitriol, Le Bail-Kremer said.
The Jewish Telegraphic Agency, a wire service for global Jewish news, reported that "at least three Jews were taken to the hospital as a result of the clashes." This chaos went on for about 40 minutes, Le Bail-Kremer said, before police arrived in droves.
"The scene was very violent, with terrifying and anti-Semitic slogans," said Le Bail-Kremer, who happens to be involved with SOS Racisme, a French anti-racism organization. "I was very, very anxious and shocked. It looked like a war."
Trying to 'turn the other cheek'
As she stepped forward to make closing remarks at a pro-Gaza demonstration she organized over the weekend in Atlanta, Abdullatif said she saw the crowd turn the other way.
Across the street, she said, there were two men with Israeli flags who discharged pepper spray toward the crowd.
"I kept telling everybody, just keep your backs facing them, don't give them any attention," said Abdullatif, a Palestinian-American who helped found the Atlanta-based Movement to End Israeli Apartheid-Georgia.
But on the fringes of the crowd, she said, pro-Palestinian demonstrators started shouting back.
"I said, 'Stop talking to them. This is only fueling a lot of this. Ignore them. Turn the other cheek,' " she said. "But easier said than done."
Eventually, things simmered down, but hours after the protest, Abdullatif said her phone rang with a surprising message.
A man on the other end, she said, threatened to report her to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, accusing her of aiding terrorism. He said he was happy about recent bombings in Gaza, "that everybody deserves to be killed, and that I should be careful, my name is out there," Abdullatif said.
Abdullatif told him that she did nothing wrong. But she said the conversation, which was followed by days of text messages and Facebook posts in the same vein, rattled her.
"I've never seen an opposing side go to that extreme," she said.
What if they found where she lived or targeted her family?
"My biggest concern is if we have another demonstration, I don't want anything like this to happen," Abdullatif said. "This is the exact stuff we're protesting against. I don't want to be connected to people fighting people over anything."
But that doesn't mean she'll stop speaking out. She sent photos of the weekend protest to her uncle in Gaza City, whose neighborhood was recently destroyed in a bombing. She hopes the photos will let him know that the world is watching.
"It's just such a sad situation. It's 2014. We should have figured out by now that barbaric acts of violence don't accomplish anything from any side of it," she said. "We live in a modern society. We know that this is never a way to create a solution."
'I saw my flag on the ground'
On Sunday, a peaceful pro-Israel rally in Los Angeles turned ugly after demonstrators came face-to-face with counterprotesters in a pickup who were waving Palestinian flags.
What exactly happened, however, depends on who you ask.
Four people were arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, accused of driving up to the protest in a truck and hitting pro-Israel demonstrators with handheld flagpoles, CNN affiliate KTLA reported, citing police.
This, however, came after a demonstrator reportedly snatched one of the Palestinian flags from the truck and stomped on it.
"I saw my flag on the ground," Hany Reai, a Palestinian supporter, told CNN affiliate KCAL, "and I saw a man step on it. I'm not here to fight. I just need my flag, and I ran to take it."
But one witness told the Los Angeles Times the clashes were deliberately provoked by the men in the truck with Palestinian flags.
"They were looking for a fight," Judy Friedman told the newspaper. They were "taunting and threatening" people, thrusting their sticks toward demonstrators on the sidewalk.
A video purportedly recorded by a student at the protest and published on the website of the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles shows insults flying in both directions.
The Federal Protective Service called for an ambulance to treat a woman allegedly hurt by the men, who were later picked up and booked on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon. They've since been released on bail, deny the charges and say they were "falsely arrested," the Los Angeles Times reported.
And as if this ruckus wasn't already heated enough, as the pickup drove off, an officer with FPS -- who was trying to stop the men from leaving -- fired his weapon. No one was hurt. That officer has been placed on paid administrative leave while the incident is investigated, officials said.
From clicks to clashes
As the rocket attacks from Gaza and Israeli airstrikes show no signs of slowing, hostilities are flaring online as much as they are in the streets.
Over the weekend, #HitlerWasRight trended on Twitter, part of what the ADL described as an "online outpouring of anti-Semitism."
The group said Wednesday that a surge in Hitler-related hashtags might be fueling hatred at rallies as well.
Anti-Arab statements have also run rampant online.
A now-discontinued Facebook page called "The People of Israel Demand Vengance," racked up thousands of likes earlier this month, the Times of Israel reported.
On the page, according to the newspaper, users posted photos with captions like "death to the whole Arab nation" and "Hating Arabs is not racism; it's morality."
Hamas: Who's who?
7/16/2014 2:09:51 AM
- Amid the Gaza conflict, experts try to figure out who's in charge
- Movements like Hamas aren't "monoliths," one analyst says
- The military wing in Gaza appears to be asserting its control
- The group's political leader in Qatar may have lost favor with Iran
(CNN) -- They call themselves "the resistance."
Israel and the United States call them terrorists.
What's unclear is who's calling the shots within the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
The political and the military arms of Hamas appear to have contrasting mission statements -- a push-and-pull that became apparent after Israel agreed to an Egyptian-proposed cease-fire in Gaza.
Mousa Abumarzook, a senior Hamas member, said the group was still "discussing" how to respond and "there is no official position yet from the movement on the Egyptian inititive."
But the military wing, the Qassam Brigades, didn't mince words.
"We in the Al-Qassam Brigades reject altogether the proposal, which for us is not worth the ink that it was written with."
So who's in control?
Analysts say it's hard to pin down precisely who has the final word on making decisions and guiding strategy.
"It's very much believed that the political wing, the political leadership inside Gaza and externally, was counseling for restraint," said Neri Zilber of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. "The military wing very much had other ideas,"
Here's an introduction to Hamas' key players:
THE POLITICAL WING
KHALED MESHAAL
He's Hamas' top political leader and often its public face. He's had the role since 2004 after Hamas' then-leader, Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi, was killed in an Israeli airstrike.
A former teacher, Meshaal operates mostly from Qatar and is known as Hamas's external deal-maker, raising money from supporters in the region.
"Despite his George Clooney-type looks, he's very much a dangerous man because he aids and abets Hamas' very destructive policies and strategy," Zilber said.
A bizarre assassination plot: In 1997, Meshaal was the target of a bizarre assassination attempt by the Mossad, Israel's intelligence service.
Mossad's agents confronted Meshaal in Jordan and injected poison into his ear.
It might have ended right there. But Jordan's King Hussein, who had a peace treaty with Israel, threatened to break off relations unless Mossad delivered the antidote to the poison. And they did.
"Allah saved me. Then King Hussein," Meshaal told CNN in 2002.
A $70 million budget: In 2012, Meshaal left his previous base of operations in Syria as the country's civil war deepened. That decision is believed to have led to a breakdown in his relationship with Iran, Hamas' key backer, said Firas Abi Ali, head of Middle East and North Africa Country Risk and Forecasting at IHS.
"The Qataris, who are backing him now, are not able to provide the military expertise and training on rockets and drones that the military wing needs to fight Israel," he said. "These are things that only the Iranians can provide."
But there are other members who still enjoy the support of Iran. And, as Meshaal told CNN's Christiane Amanpour, Hamas enjoys the support of expatriate Palestinians, private donors in the Middle East and Muslim charities -- enough to bankroll its $70 million annual budget.
"Hamas -- as a movement of resistance, with a cause, for a people living under occupation -- we seek, not just wait, to get support, financial support, military support, political support from all over the world, from all the states in the world," he said. "Everyone giving us support, whether it's from Iran or Europe, from anywhere."
ISMAIL HANIYEH AND MOUSA ABU MARZOUK
Hamas formed in 1987 at the start of the first Palestinian intifada, or uprising, as an Islamic resistance movement against Israel. In 2006, Hamas won a majority in Palestinian legislative elections and formed a unity government with its rival Fatah. But the coalition collapsed into deadly violence in 2007, leaving Hamas in control of Gaza and the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority in power in the West Bank.
During Hamas' short-lived coalition with Fatah, Haniyeh became Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority. After their 2007 split, he retained the role for Hamas in Gaza.
The group's second political leader is Mousa Abu Marzouk.
In Iran's good books: Haniyeh is a former leader of the Hamas' student movement. He was considered to be a close associate of the group's founder and spiritual leader, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. Yassin was assassinated by an Israeli airstrike as he was leaving a Gaza City mosque in 2004.
"The faction in Gaza led by Ismail Haniyeh and Mousa Abu Marzouk appears to still be in Iran's good books," said Abi Ali. "It still has good relations with Iran, given the increased sophistication of rockets used by Hamas and Islamic Jihad."
Haniyeh and Abu Marzouk are believed to operate between Egypt and Gaza.
But the Egyptian government has made movement between Egypt and Gaza a lot harder for Hamas leaders.
"The siege has led the Gaza-based factions to band together," Abi Ali said. "They're more coherent and cohesive."
Goodwill among the people: Part of the pair's job is to ensure that Hamas continues to enjoy widespread backing from the general population in Gaza. The group does it through its many social welfare programs.
According to the Council on Foreign Relations, "(its) efforts in this area -- as well as a reputation for honesty, in contrast to the many Fatah officials accused of corruption -- help to explain its broad popularity."
THE MILITARY WING
MOHAMMED DIEF
Since Hamas took over Gaza, the armed wing, Qassam Brigades, have morphed into a military force aimed at protecting the territory. They have also continued to periodically fire rockets into Israel. The Israeli military estimated last week that Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza have between them roughly 10,000 rockets of varying ranges.
The military wing is led by Mohammed Dief, a shadowy, savvy figure who analysts say has survived multiple Israeli assassination attempts.
Always on the move: The Qassam Brigades' website says that Dief's real name is "Mohammed Diab." It says he took the name "Dief," which means "guest," because under the pursuit of Israeli security forces, "he kept moving from village to village and from place to place."
Dief was wounded years ago and is believed to have handed some operational parts of his role to other top Hamas military leaders like Marwan Issa.
"Over the years, it's lost a lot of military commanders during assassinations and military conflicts," said Abi Ali. "It's proven that it's robust enough to take this kind of event and keep improving its capability."
MARWAN ISSA
Marwan Issa's forte is believed to be unconventional attacks on Israel.
"It could be these kidnapping or offensive-type operations through attack tunnels underneath the Gaza border inside Israel," Zilber said.
The Qassam Brigades also said it has sent several drones on missions inside Israel. The Israel Defense Forces said it shot down a drone off the country's coast on Monday.
"What we are seeing in this conflict is the military wing asserting itself as the one in control," said Abi Ali.
Always a target: And it's that kind of tactic that may, according to analysts, have made Issa one of Israel's chief targets in its offensive. In 2006, he survived an Israeli military assassination attempt. This week, his house was targeted in Israeli airstrikes. He's believed to be in hiding elsewhere.
SALEH AL AROURI
Al Arouri is the head of the Qassam Brigades in the West Bank, and he is accused of catalyzing this latest conflict. Israeli officials say he's the person who ordered the abduction of the three Israeli teens, whose bodies were later found in a field in the West Bank. "Al Arouri, who used to live in a village north of Ramallah, has urged West Bank operatives incessantly to set up terror cells and perpetrate kidnappings," The Times of Israel reported last month, quoting an Israeli security official.
Sitting safe in Turkey: Last month, Israeli military demolished what is believed to be Al Arouri's home in the West Bank. But he wasn't there. His base of operation is Turkey, where he's safe from the reaches of the Israeli forces. Turkey cut all diplomatic relations with Israel after commandos boarded a boat carrying supplies to Gaza and killed nine people in 2010.
Act of desperation: So, who exactly is in charge?
"None of these movements are monoliths," said Abi Ali.
Still, he said, "what we are seeing in this conflict is the military wing asserting itself as the one in control."
Khaled Elgindy, who was a former adviser to the Palestinian authority, said Hamas is in one of the weakest positions it's been in in several years.
"The changes that have happened in the region and especially in Egypt; their closure of the tunnels and its access to finances and weapons have been severely diminished over the last year in particular. So they're in a much weaker position," he said.
And that weakened position, he says, is fueling the military wing's belligerence.
"I think part of the motivation for sort of, you know, taking the Israeli bait, if you will, in this latest round of violence has been, I think, the fact that they're in a state of disarray and, you know, in a way I think it's an act of desperation by a very weak Hamas."
CNN's Tim Lister and Bryony Jones contributed to this report.
Assange detention order to stand
7/16/2014 9:35:10 PM
- Swedish judge keeps in place detention order against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange
- Assange has been holed up in Ecuadorian Embassy in London for more than two years
- Assange faces accusations of sexual assault in Sweden
Stockholm, Sweden (CNN) -- A detention order against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on sexual assault allegations should remain in place, a Swedish judge ruled Wednesday.
Assange has been holed up in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London for more than two years in a bid to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning about allegations that he raped one woman and sexually molested another.
Assange calls the charges false and politically motivated, but has said he fears that Sweden will transfer him to the United States -- where he could face the death penalty for the work of WikiLeaks -- if he were charged and convicted of a crime.
He was represented at a hearing Wednesday in Stockholm by lawyers Thomas Olsson and Per Samuelsson, who argued that the detention order against their client should be revoked.
But Stockholm District Court Judge Lena Egelin ruled that Assange was still suspected, with probable cause, of sex crimes and that his detention order should remain in place.
Elisabeth Massi Fritz, a lawyer representing one of the women making the allegations against Assange, called the decision "correct and expected."
Prosecutor Marianne Ny told reporters after the verdict that it was now up to the UK police to enforce the arrest warrant for Assange.
"It is in the hands of Julian Assange, who has taken refuge at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, whether or not he decides to leave the embassy," she said.
Ny said the warrant could remain in place until the statute of limitations takes effect -- five years for unlawful coercion and 10 years for rape.
In court, Olsson said the case has dragged on for too long, harming his client, and claimed there was no valid reason for the prosecutor not to agree to interrogate Assange in London, rather than Sweden.
"I've been sitting in on interrogations where the FBI has traveled all the way from the United States to conduct interrogations. And if the FBI can travel from the United States, then surely the Swedish prosecutor can travel to London," he said.
Olsson noted that Assange hadn't gone outside for the past two years, a basic right usually granted to detainees.
Defense argues that Assange has political asylum
The attorney also charged that his client had a right to political asylum in Ecuador.
Assange did make himself available for questioning once in Sweden, Olsson said, and when he left the country for work reasons, he had been unaware the prosecutor would want to question him again. Assange had had only sporadic contact with his then-lawyer, Bjorn Hurtig, because of a very serious threat to his safety, Olsson said.
Samuelsson said the case was in deadlock, and appealed to the court to end the stalemate.
Swedish authorities will not move forward with the investigation until Assange is in Sweden, he said, while the defense has not been able to start its work "since we are not given all the information that the prosecution has."
"The detention order cannot be executed," Samuelsson told the court. "It will not lead to Assange being transferred to Sweden within the near future because of the political asylum. And thus, this detention order will not provide anything positive for the Swedish state, but it will lead to more harm for Julian Assange."
Prosecutor Ingrid Isgren, speaking on behalf of the prosecution authority, said the detention order should remain in place. There are sufficient grounds to believe Assange could be found guilty of the allegations against him, she said, and his evasion risk remains the same.
Isgren told the court Assange had intentionally stayed away and had no intention of appearing for questioning in Sweden.
The prosecution does not want to question Assange in London because of the nature of the crimes, and because it would be difficult to get all the necessary evidence if it had to be done via another country's judicial system, Isgren said.
She also rejected his claim that the defense had not been given access to all the relevant evidence against him.
It is "likely" but not certain that Assange would be indicted after questioning, the prosecution told the court. However, the prosecution intends to go forward with the case.
WikiLeaks vows an appeal
The prosecution presented evidence that would constitute probable cause for the case against Assange behind closed doors, in order not to interfere with the investigation.
The prosecution's written statement to the court rejected the claim that Assange's lawyer was unaware he was wanted for further questioning.
A representative for the lawyer for the two alleged victims was also present in court.
Kristinn Hrafnsson, a WikiLeaks spokesman, expressed disappointment after the court's verdict.
"I had been moderately hopeful, but this didn't come as a surprise," Hrafnsson said. "Now we will appeal and we hope the higher court will reconsider all the solid arguments we have presented. This has to come to an end."
Assange rocketed to international fame, and infamy, in 2010 after WikiLeaks began helping publish secret government documents online. Ecuador granted Assange asylum in June 2012 and he fled to the country's embassy in London to avoid extradition.
Assange to SXSW: We're all being watched
Journalist Per Nyberg reported from Stockholm and CNN's Laura Smith-Spark wrote in London.
Rapper: Why I cut off my penis
7/16/2014 6:30:33 AM
- Andre Johnson told E! he wasn't attempting suicide
- He said he had done drugs but knew what he was doing
- "I'm alive, penis or no penis," Johnson said
(CNN) -- The rapper who mutilated himself and then jumped from a Los Angeles building has broken his silence about what happened.
Andre Johnson was severely injured in April after he severed his penis and leaped from the second level of a building in North Hollywood. He told E! that he was under the influence of drugs at the time but insisted that he knew what he was doing.
"Yes, I was using drugs that night, but I was in complete control," he said. "I cut it off because that was the root of all my problems. My solution to the problem was the realization that sex is for mortals, and I am a god. ...Those kinds of activities got me into trouble, and I came here to be a god."
Johnson performs under the name Christ Bearer and his group Northstar was affiliated with the Wu-Tang Clan. Johnson said he hadn't spoken out on the incident before because "People perceived me as crazy, so I never wanted to speak wholeheartedly on the matter."
Doctors weren't able to reattach the penis, he told E!.
He said he had been seeing a psychologist after he was discharged but that he has been deemed okay. He said he was thankful to God when he awoke in the hospital still alive.
"I didn't want to kill myself," Johnson said. "That was just my response to the demons. They were doing their best to get to me, but being alive solidified my thoughts. ...I'm alive, penis or no penis."
Photos: Celebrity substance abuse confessions
Seaplane almost lands on whale
7/16/2014 10:06:04 AM
- The whale was swimming just under the surface
- It happened in tiny, remote Angoon
(CNN) -- Wise men say to look before you leap. In Alaska, it's advisable to look before you land.
That's because, in Alaska, where seaplanes are common, you just might land on a whale.
Last week in tiny, remote Angoon, Thomas Hamm was shooting video of a seaplane coming in for a landing.
It was a mundane scene in the island community that's only accessible by boat or seaplane.
The video starts out normal. But as the plane lowers, it's clear something is different about this approach.
"All the sudden, the pilot advanced the throttle and I didn't know why. I thought, 'Oh something must be wrong,'" Hamm told CNN.
That something was a whale, a humpback, swimming just under the surface.
For a moment, it appeared the whale and plane would collide.
But the pilot pulled up, getting just enough lift to avoid the mammal.
The plane landed safely seconds later.
Later Hamm showed the pilot the video he shot.
Hamm said the pilot told him he didn't notice the whale; he reacted to the commotion on the shore. Guys were pointing and yelling.
Right as the pilot pulled up, the whale breached, clearing his blowhole and drenching the plane's windshield.
That's one way to make a splash.
Jetliner diverts to Pacific atoll, mechanical glitch blamed
Rare albino whale 'parades' off Australian coast
Why Libya cannot rely on general
7/16/2014 9:50:25 AM
- Libya's instability is indicative of an ineffective government, says Sara ElGaddari
- General Khalifa Haftar and the Zintan militia are stepping into the power vacuum, she says
- But ElGaddari says Haftar and rebel militias are directly contributing to Libya's instability
- She says the international community cannot let Libya fail and must help its government
Editor's note: Sara ElGaddari is a Libyan-British national and doctoral researcher at the University of Hull. Sara has expertise in North African affairs and in particular, on diplomatic relations between Libya and European states. Follow @selgaddari on Twitter. The views expressed in this commentary are solely the author's.
(CNN) -- While the Zintan militia leads the battle for control of Tripoli's airport, another set of militia and radicalized Islamist insurgents in the east are threatening a fragile Libya.
The increasingly unstable political and social climate in the country is indicative of a weak and ineffective government that is failing to answer internal security concerns as well as the basic aspirations of its citizens.
For these reasons primarily do the Zintan militia and renegade General Khalifa Haftar feel they have a mark to make in the security and political vacuum left by a corrupt and inept national government.
While politicians in the highest echelons continue to siphon the country's oil wealth, the armed militias in response are taking over oil terminals in the east, including Marsa al Hariga.
Haftar, a Libyan exile since 1987, returned to his home city of Benghazi from the United States, and was frequently seen in the city's old courthouse, the headquarters of the revolution in the east.
Along with the former NTC Chairman Mustafa Abdel Jalil, Haftar directed and advised in the crucial months of the revolution. As a retired General, many Libyans are unsure of the longer-term motives and personal ambitions of a man who once attempted to overthrow Moammar Gadhafi.
It is no small irony that Haftar, like the rebel militias that are still fighting for control of strategic bases in the country, is directly contributing to the instability of the country and undermining what little authority the government possesses.
From Sirte to Tobruk, and down to the border with Chad, there is no effective government influence. While elders in Benghazi want to negotiate with the Islamist fundamentalists, Haftar will not. His imposed policy is for these insurgents to surrender or be killed.
Recently, a car bomb was detonated outside Haftar's house, killing and injuring many. Like the brutal murder of Salwa Bugaighis on June 25, 2014, it is a further sign of the dangerous pitch of instability that the country has reached. Ordinary Libyans are now owning and bringing guns into their homes. Friends in Libya tell me the feeling of insecurity has permeated every household and shows no signs of abating.
Meanwhile, the government is continuing to fail to live up to its promises and has not provided security or jobs to ordinary citizens. At the same time, the quest for a secular society also continues, albeit whilst people purchase guns for their households and politicians steal the country's revenues.
The United States, Britain and Europe cannot afford Libya to become a failed state like Somalia. The division of Libya into east and west is not a viable option and is not in the long-term interests of Libyans or wider regional security. This debate does however highlight the old argument that the majority of the country's oil revenues still continue to go to Tripoli and surrounding areas.
Libya can be pulled back from the brink, but, the West must not leave Libya to its own (current) inept devices.
The government and the military need continued specialist training, advice and resources to fight the Islamist insurgents and the disparate rebel militias across the country, and to face the new security threats coming from the south and the Middle East. This process has already begun, with the United States' capture of the leader of the attack on the American Embassy in Benghazi in September 2012, which killed Ambassador Stevens.
The international community also needs to put pressure on the Libyan government to weed out endemic corruption.
The Libyan leadership need to maintain democratic credibility, unlike the last prime ministerial run that necessitated the intervention of the Supreme Court to rule the appointment of Ahmed Mitig as Prime Minister as illegal, to order that a new election be held, this time with a full Parliament in session.
The struggle to tackle armed groups in Libya continues, and it simply cannot be left to one renegade general to remove Islamic insurgents and keep armed militia groups in check.
Read: It's unclear whether Libya has a new PM
Read: Benghazi suspected ordered held until trial
Read: Libyan government considers requesting international troops
The views expressed in this commentary are soley those of Sara ElGaddart.
Should the U.S. lower its drinking age?
7/16/2014 11:38:08 AM
- Thursday is 30th anniversary of bill that effectively raised U.S. drinking age to 21
- Proponents say higher drinking age reduces alcohol-related accidents
- Opponents say it creates a "forbidden fruit" syndrome that leads to binge drinking
- U.S. is one of only a few developed countries with a minimum drinking age over 18
Editor's note: Editor's note: This story is part of a series on the 30th anniversary of the National Minimum Age Drinking Act, passed by Congress on July 17, 1984.
(CNN) -- Dwight B. Heath knows what he is about to say will sound a little crazy to most people.
When asked what the minimum legal drinking age should be in the U.S., Heath says 8, or maybe even 6.
No, the Brown University anthropology professor is not advocating getting kids drunk. Instead he favors a cultural model, common in countries like France or Italy, where parents serve small amounts of wine to their children at family meals.
By doing this, he says, parents educate their kids about alcohol and rob drinking of its taboo allure, which can make rebellious teenagers sneak off to basements and backwoods to binge drink far from adult supervision.
"In general, the younger people start to drink the safer they are," said Heath, who has written several books and hundreds of scholarly articles on cultural attitudes towards alcohol. When introduced early, he said, "Alcohol has no mystique. It's no big deal. By contrast, where it's banned until age 21, there's something of the 'forbidden fruit' syndrome."
Of course, Heath's idea has no chance of becoming law anytime soon. Thirty years ago this week, Congress passed a bill that effectively raised the national drinking age to 21. Despite subsequent efforts to lower it in some states -- and the fact that most developed countries allow young people to legally drink at 18 -- that threshold has remained firmly in place ever since.
Proponents of the higher drinking age says it reduces traffic fatalities and alcohol-related accidents while keeping booze out of the hands of teens, whose brains are still developing.
But as the U.S. marks Thursday's anniversary of the National Minimum Drinking Age Act, Heath and some other scholars still dare to ask an unpopular question: Would America be better served by reducing its drinking age -- or at least encouraging states to set their own limits?
The World Health Organization cites the U.S. as one of only a handful of developed countries -- Iceland, Japan, South Korea and Thailand are others -- with a minimum drinking age over 18. Several countries, including Belgium, Denmark and Germany, even allow 16-year-olds to buy beer and wine.
"I think 18 is viewed (by most countries) pretty much as a reasonable age limit," said Marjana Martinic, deputy president of the International Center for Alcohol Policies or ICAP.
"The Puritan ethic has really shaped the way alcohol is regulated in the U.S.," Martinic said. "Alcohol is seen more as a drug, and not something that's integrated into everyday life."
MADD about underage drinking
Two generations of younger Americans have never known anything but needing to be 21 -- or owning an ID that says you are -- to buy a six-pack or drink in a bar. But in the wide-lapeled 1970s, things were very different.
After Congress in 1971 dropped the voting age from 21 to 18, many states followed suit by lowering decades-old barriers to drinking. The rationale went something like this: If young Americans could be entrusted to vote, serve on a jury and fight in Vietnam, why couldn't they order a beer?
By the late 1970s, more than half the states in the U.S. had lowered their minimum drinking ages, usually from 21 to 18. But when research showed an increase in traffic fatalities in these states, state legislatures began to reverse course.
Mothers Against Drunk Driving, founded in 1980, quickly gained national clout and lobbied lawmakers to raise the legal limit. On July 17, 1984, Congress passed a law that withheld federal highway funding from every state that continued to allow people under 21 to buy alcohol -- effectively forcing them to raise their drinking ages. By 1995, faced with this strong financial incentive and pressure from MADD, all 50 states and the District of Columbia had complied.
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Many studies have since attempted to gauge the law's impact on public health. One found that among young drivers (ages 16-20) killed in car wrecks, the percentage with positive blood-alcohol levels declined from 61% in 1982 to 31% in 1995 -- a bigger decline than for older age groups.
"Minimum legal drinking age laws have proven to be a very effective and important countermeasure for reducing drunk driving when younger drivers are involved," said the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration in a statement. The NHTSA estimates that raising the national legal drinking age from 18 to 21 has saved more than 500 lives each year.
"Research shows that it saves lives," agreed MADD National President Jan Withers. "In fact, it is one of the most researched public health laws on the books. When the law was raised to 21, alcohol-related deaths for young people decreased; when the drinking age was lowered, deaths increased."
A recent study in New Zealand, which lowered its drinking age in 1999 from 20 to 18, found that drivers aged 18 or 19 now face a higher risk of being involved in alcohol-related crashes that cause death or injury.
The 21-year-old limit may be less effective at curbing binge drinking on college campuses, however. A University of Indiana study of students at 56 colleges found that in the immediate aftermath of 21 becoming the national drinking age, significantly more underage students drank compared to those of legal age.
A stalled movement
There's a movement to lower legal drinking ages in the U.S., and its leader is not a college student or a brewery owner. He's a university president.
Weary of battling drinking on campus during his tenure as president of Middlebury College, John McCardell Jr. penned a column in The New York Times assailing the 21-year-old drinking age as "bad social policy and terrible law."
"Right now we're in an impossible position (on college campuses). Why should we be expected to enforce a law that's ignored by 70 percent of students before they even come (to college)?" McCardell, now president of the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, told CNN this week.
"It's taking place behind closed doors, where it's much more dangerous. It's unsupervised," he said. "It's out of step with social reality."
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Instead, he argues, colleges should be given the chance to educate students on how to drink responsibly, within campus boundaries and out in the open.
In 2008 McCardell recruited more than 130 college presidents to sign the Amethyst Initiative, which pushed for a new federal transportation bill that wouldn't penalize states for setting drinking ages under 21. He said he and other college presidents were set to testify before Congress that fall when the economy tanked and legislators' priorities turned elsewhere.
"We missed our moment," he said.
Lawmakers in a handful of states have proposed lowering the drinking age from 21 to 18, but none have gained traction so far.
Experts say lowering the drinking age remains a tough sell to politicians worried about re-election. A 2007 Gallup poll found that 77% of Americans opposed lowering the drinking age in all states to 18.
"There isn't much appetite to change something that appears to be working," said Martinic of ICAP. "It's not a very popular issue and it could potentially be damaging to a politician to advocate for a lower age, because nobody wants more traffic accidents. It's pretty much a no go."
But McCardell is not giving up. He believes legal limits for drinking should be set by the states, not the federal government.
And he proposes that American teens be eligible for an alcohol permit -- not unlike a driver's license -- upon turning 18, graduating from high school and completing an alcohol-education course. They would need the permit to buy beer, wine or liquor, and the state could revoke the permit for those convicted of alcohol-related offenses such as drunk driving.
Do you think the drinking age in the U.S. should be lowered? Why or why not? Let us know in the comments.
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