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The Pistorius I knew
7/8/2014 2:41:10 PM
CNN's Robyn Curnow, who visited Oscar Pistorius at the house where he killed his girlfriend, reflects on his murder trial.
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Tech leaders 'looking less heroic'
7/8/2014 2:03:28 PM
- Norman Matloff: Leaders of the tech industry are looking a lot less heroic these days
- Executives at tech giants colluded in a secret wage theft pact, Matloff says
- He says tech leaders shouldn't get a pass for pushing the boundary of ethical behavior
- Matloff: Labor and age discrimination issues won't go away; ethics are key
Editor's note: Norman Matloff is a professor of computer science at the University of California, Davis. He is teaching a course in the fall about ethics in tech. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.
(CNN) -- Leaders of the tech industry, long treated as national heroes, are looking a lot less heroic these days.
In case after case, we see tech titans and entrepreneurs misbehaving or breaking the law. They push the boundary of acceptable or ethical behavior that most of us have to play by. Even if some of them provide the technologies of tomorrow, it doesn't mean they can operate under different set of rules.
The biggest case to rock Silicon Valley in decades is a class-action lawsuit brought on behalf of former engineers against tech giants such as Google, Apple, Intel and Intuit. The leaders of these companies -- Apple's Steve Jobs, Google's Eric Schmidt and others -- are accused of conspiring to avoid poaching each other's engineers.
These executives didn't want to bid against each other for talent and risk disruption of projects caused by departure of key personnel. By secretly colluding to halt the labor competition, their companies got to keep the engineers and put a brake on their salaries.
The plaintiffs, who claimed heavy lost wages as a result -- about $9 billion for the estimated 100,000 engineers who were affected -- submitted as evidence damning e-mail messages, such as ones written by Schmidt that show he not only agreed to the plan but admonished others to not leave a paper trail. While Google's noble motto is "don't do evil," its corporate practice has at times failed to match what the company preaches.
Artificially suppressing wages is not the only labor ethics issue.
Age discrimination is one of Silicon Valley's dirty little secrets. Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook once made a comment tantamount to admitting that his company engages in age discrimination in hiring. And last year, Facebook quietly settled an age-related EEOC case.
In 2011, Google settled a multimillion dollar age discrimination suit brought by a former director, Brian Reid, who was 52 when he was fired. He had been subject to verbal slurs regarding his age, and data obtained during the legal discovery process suggested general ageist behavior by Google. (Disclosure: I served as an expert witness in that case.)
Then there's the issue of privacy.
Google has tried to get users to press Congress to support the company on the proposed Stop Online Piracy Act, which it opposed as going too far in combating copyright infringement. Schmidt's chilling 2010 comment, "We know where you are. We know where you've been. We can more or less know what you're thinking about," hasn't exactly inspired trust.
Facebook has repeatedly faced howls of protest over its privacy policies, and Zuckerberg didn't help matters with his feeble protestation that privacy is no longer a "social norm."
Joe Green, head of the immigration lobbying group FWD.us, which was founded by Zuckerberg, noted last year that the tech companies "... control massive distribution channels" that they could use to influence elections.
Harvard law professor Jonathan Zittrain described hypothetical scenarios in which this could be done surreptitiously, with both Facebook users and the public being unaware. Sounds creepy, doesn't it?
It's not all bad. Facebook declined to join the anti-poaching scheme, and Zuckerberg and his wife have given generously to California and New Jersey schools. And in 2010, Google withdrew from China rather than be complicit in China's Internet censorship -- an instance in which the company did live up to its noble motto.
Yet, there is no doubt that many tech leaders feel an almost messianic sense of entitlement. They consider their products as so beneficial to humanity that they act as though they are "boy kings."
Must we resign ourselves to these boy kings' shenanigans? What can we do?
For one thing, we should teach more ethics courses to people in tech. Engineering education has long included a component of ethics and social responsibility.
The Accreditation Board for Engineering Technology requires ethics instruction in all accredited university engineering curricula. The ABET code of ethics consists of tenets such as "serving with fidelity the public, their employers and clients," and cites lofty goals of "integrity, honor and dignity."
The stated principles for the Association for Computing Machinery, the main computer science professional body, are similar but more detailed, notably in including a section on information privacy.
Yet idealistic instruction in ethics may be undermined by the perceptions that one can't fight the system.
For example, there seems to be no plan to bring criminal charges against the anti-poaching colluders, even though federal judge Lucy Koh indicated she is still not happy with the proposed settlement for the engineers who experienced lost wages as a result of the secret wage-theft pact. And it is doubtful that a jury of libertarian Silicon Valley peers would vote to convict the tech bigwigs anyway.
Perhaps the most effective method of ethics enforcement is the old-fashioned one: Public shaming. When startup CEO Greg Gopman made insensitive, condescending remarks in reference to San Francisco's very visible homeless population, or when fellow entrepreneur Peter Shih made demeaning public remarks about women, public uproars made them both apologize.
And the recent revelation that Facebook experimented on nearly 700,000 users without their knowledge has sparked outrage over the company's ethics policy -- or lack thereof. The company blamed the incident on a rogue research team and said to take "a very hard look at this process."
We may have to give the tech boys some time, but hopefully they'll be smart enough to realize that codes of ethics are just as important as computer codes.
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Lawyers' smart move in hot car death
7/8/2014 12:54:40 PM
- Danny Cevallos: Justin Ross Harris charged with felony murder, a controversial charge
- Usually murder is intentional or behavior so dangerous it might have been intended
- Cevallos: But felony murder is when someone is killed during a felony, which child abuse is
- Cevallos: Legal experts think the real charge will be malice murder, or murder with intent
Editor's note: Danny Cevallos is a CNN legal analyst, criminal defense attorney and partner at Cevallos & Wong, practicing in Pennsylvania and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Follow him on Twitter: @CevallosLaw. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.
(CNN) -- Following the preliminary hearing of a Georgia father accused of allowing his child to die in a hot car, most legal experts agree that the prosecution will likely upgrade the charges to malice murder after the case is presented to a grand jury.
For now, until those charges are upgraded, Justin Ross Harris is charged with felony murder, perhaps the most widely criticized legal construct in American jurisprudence. To many legal scholars, the felony murder rule is logically and morally indefensible. To many members of the law-and-order public, the ends of the felony murder rule justify the means. And in Georgia it is liberally employed. It offers an end run around the very difficult standard of proof to find a killing was intentional.
First, let's define murder. Most Americans have a working definition of murder, formed not only by what they've gleaned about the law, but also their personal morality. Murder is generally understood to be an intentional killing, without justification.
There are subcategories of intentional murder: For example, killing by poison, torture, or ambush are considered worse; these show intent and take a more prolonged period.
In addition to intentional killings, those resulting from incredibly reckless behavior qualify for murder, too. It makes sense: If someone shoots a gun into a crowd of people, someone is highly likely to die -- even though the defendant could truthfully say he didn't actually aim for the victim. It's important to remember that this kind of murder is not defined simply by the stupidity of the actions -- the defendant must have been aware of the risk, and have acted with a depraved indifference to human life.
These are two main kinds of murder. One is intentional, and the other involves behavior so indifferent to human life and so close to intentional that it might as well have been. Those definitions make sense.
But then there's felony murder.
Call it what you will, but the "felony murder rule" is murder in name only. In fact, it's a first-degree murder charge for an admittedly unintentional killing. More specifically, it's a killing that happens during the commission of an inherently dangerous felony.
With this definition, the policy behind the felony murder rule becomes immediately apparent: deterrence. The rule sends a powerful message to would-be felons: burglary, arson, rape, robbery, and kidnapping are so dangerous that a defendant should know that an innocent person is likely to die. If you intend to rob a bank, then you know a bank teller might die. Therefore, you, too, should be charged with murder, along with that robbery -- even if you were driving the getaway car and not the one who pulled the trigger.
To felony murder supporters, it doesn't matter that a defendant is charged with murder, even a defendant they know didn't actually kill anyone and who didn't want anyone to die. To them, the ends of the felony murder rule justify the means: If you don't want to catch a murder case, don't rob banks.
It's the cases like Justin Ross Harris that really test the morality of the rule, while exposing some logical problems with its application. Georgia has a very broad felony murder statute: The only limitation on the type of underlying felony for a felony murder conviction is that the crime must be "inherently dangerous to human life."
Also in Georgia, a conviction for felony murder may be predicated on second degree child cruelty, which qualifies as that "inherently dangerous felony." That's what has happened so far in this case. The prosecution has charged Harris with second degree child cruelty, and used that charge as the predicate felony for the murder charge. There's just one problem: The second degree cruelty charge is a negligence crime.
That means Harris is charged with murder using a felony charge that is an unintentional crime. In other words, Georgia reserves the charge of murder for the most intentional, depraved conduct, but if you do something unintentional but negligent, that can be a qualifying felony.
So, charging Harris with felony murder predicated on child neglect was a brilliant strategic move by the prosecutors. Proving a specific intent to kill in this case will be more difficult than proving mere carelessness in parenting. And if both are murder, then there's no reason to charge the more difficult crime to prove.
Key role of digital evidence
Of course, at the preliminary hearing, you'd never know that the charge was negligence, because we heard ample evidence of malicious intent. The defense attorney made a reasoned argument that the prosecution's state-of-mind evidence was thinly disguised, improper character evidence, but the judge sided with the prosecution and allowed this damning evidence in against Harris. The sexting, the life insurance policy, the Internet searches, had nothing to do with Harris' alleged negligence -- remember, right now, negligence is the only basis of the felony murder charge.
It's as if the prosecution put on a hearing for a specific intent crime, malice murder, that hasn't been charged yet. That's why the preliminary hearing was just a harbinger of things to come. Why put on evidence of so much malice if it wasn't really germane to a charge of neglect? Because we'll probably see upgraded charges in the near future, once this case goes to a grand jury.
It's very likely that the felony murder charges will only be a short chapter in the prosecution of Justin Ross Harris. However, they present an opportunity to open a debate traditionally reserved for legal scholars and philosophers: Is felony murder an unfair legal fiction that overly punishes people for unintentional killings? Or, is the overall message to would-be felons worth ignoring the logical inconsistencies of the felony murder rule? In law, as in many things, legal minds can differ on whether the ends justify the means.
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Intense attacks across Israel-Gaza border
7/8/2014 3:19:13 PM
- Islamic JIhad claims responsibility for rocket fired at Tel Aviv
- Five Hamas militants killed trying to "storm" into Israel from sea, Israel says
- Israeli minister tells CNN a ground operation "might become necessary"
- Palestinians say 16 killed in Israeli attacks targeting militants
Jerusalem (CNN) -- Israel intercepted a rocket fired at Tel Aviv on Tuesday and killed militants who stormed into Israeli territory, the military said, as people on both sides of the Gaza border were living under a barrage of attacks from the air.
In a dramatic escalation of the conflict, militants fired more than 130 rockets at Israeli civilians, Israel said. Palestinians reported 16 people killed in Gaza were killed in Israeli airstrikes targeting militants. Israel said it targeted about 150 "terror sites" in Gaza.
The warning sirens that blared in Tel Aviv, one of Israel's most populated areas, showed a threat Israel had warned of. The country said militants' rockets from Gaza are powerful enough to reach 3.5 million Israeli citizens. "Hamas will pay a heavy price for its vicious attacks on millions of Israeli civilians," the Israel Defense Forces said on Twitter.
"No nation would accept constant rocket fire. Neither will we," the IDF said, using the hashtag #ItMustStop.
Islamic Jihad, another Palestinian militant group, took responsibility for the rocket fired at Tel Aviv. In a statement, the group called it a "response to the ongoing Zionist aggression."
Hamas controls Gaza. Israel has said it holds Hamas responsibility for the actions of militant groups inside the territory.
Hamas, on Twitter, used the hashtag #Gazaunderattack and warned, "Retaliations are coming, it is a matter of time."
Flare-up in Israeli-Palestinian violence: Why now?
Hamas later claimed responsibility for firing rockets on Jerusalem and Haifa. Three explosions sounded just west of the capital. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
The possibility of an Israeli incursion into Gaza loomed, with the Cabinet authorizing the military to call up 40,000 troops if needed -- 10,000 more than were called up during Israel's offensive into Gaza in November of 2012. Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, a military spokesman, referred to "possible ground maneuvers."
Israeli Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz told CNN a ground operation "might become necessary."
But it was Hamas that claimed responsibility for "storming" into Israeli territory Tuesday. Hamas-controlled television reported "from the heart of the battlefield" that a group of its "commandos" was "conducting its duties in Zikim Zionist military base according to plan."
Zikim lies just north of Gaza and south of the Israeli city of Ashkelon. The group of militants tried to enter Zikim through the water, Israeli media reported. Israeli soldiers spotted the divers in the water and called in an infantry force, Israel's Channel 10 reported. An exchange of fire ensued.
Israel responded by infantry, air force, and navy, Lerner said. Five attackers -- armed with Kalashnikoves and hand grenades -- were killed, the Israel Defense Forces said. One Israeli soldier was lightly wounded, and the situation was ongoing as of Tuesday evening on the beach near the military's base in Zikim, he said.
Meanwhile, Hamas said it blew up a tunnel under Karem Shalom, an Israeli town near Gaza's southern border. The town's residents were ordered to turn off all lights in their homes, Channel 10 reported. Israeli aircraft hovered above and fired toward Gaza, the station said.
People in 'human shield' killed on Gaza rooftop
Among the dead in Gaza, meanwhile, was Mohammad Sha'aban, a leader of Hamas' militant wing, Palestinian sources said. Israel confirmed that Sha'aban, "a senior Hamas terrorist," was killed. Another militant was killed in an Israeli airstrike on an open field in Gaza.
Several Palestinians were killed in an airstrike on a Gaza rooftop. Palestinian medical sources told CNN the death toll was 10, but then lowered it to seven. Official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported that six were killed. Those killed were forming a "human shield" on the roof of a home belonging to members of Hamas' militant wing, Palestinian sources said. Two were children, WAFA and Palestinian medical sources said.
The home was near another home belonging to the same Hamas members that Israel struck Monday night, Palestinian sources said.
Palestinians said another of the 16 killed was a child who died of wounds after an airstrike on a motorcycle.
The Israeli military, on Twitter, said Hamas "uses Palestinians as human shields when firing rockets at Israel." The tweet included a photo of what Israel said showed Hamas "caught firing a rocket" from a civilian area.
Israeli warnings: Stay away from Hamas
A CNN producer was among those who received an automated phone call from the Israeli military. It warned people in Arabic to stay away from members of Hamas and other terrorist groups in Gaza and not to cooperate with them "because they are risking your lives." The message told people not to use their homes to store arsenals for terrorist groups. "Anyone who is present in these buildings risks their lives."
On Monday, Israel dropped fliers telling residents that terrorist groups and those who smuggle weapons continue to hide among residents even though they know they are "always a target for the Israel Defense Forces." It warned that those activities create dangers for residents and their children. The fliers provided phone numbers and e-mail addresses for Gazans to secretly provide information about militant activities.
The Israeli military's Operation Protective Edge against Hamas is part of an effort "to restore a state of security," Lerner, the Israeli military spokesman, told CNN on Tuesday.
Teens' deaths sparked new violence
Tensions in the region reached a fever pitch after three Israeli teens, including one dual U.S. citizen, on their way home from school in the West Bank were kidnapped last month. Israel blames Hamas. Their bodies were found last week.
Later in the week, a Palestinian teen was abducted and then found dead within an hour in Jerusalem. Israel has arrested suspects and says there's "strong indication" it was a revenge killing. Amid clashes in the days following, the Palestinian teen's American cousin, who was visiting, was beaten by men in Israeli security uniforms.
Israel also announced a confession in the May killing of another Israeli Jewish teen. The suspect is an Arab resident of northern Israel, and police believe the attack was fueled by Palestinian "nationalism."
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who was criticized by Palestinians when he condemned the Israeli teens' kidnappings, called on Israel on Tuesday to immediately stop its strikes, warning the operation would drag the region into instability.
Abbas said a truce was needed to "spare the innocent from mass destruction."
And presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rdainah accused Israel of carrying out an "open massacre" against children, women and the elderly, WAFA reported. He said Israel is making a "decision to expand the war," which he said will drag "the region into a spiral of bloody violence" that "will burn everyone."
Long-range threat
Israel says the aim of its offensive is to strike Hamas in Gaza and stop rocket fire into Israel that threatens civilians. Hamas is estimated to have 10,000 rockets of varying ranges, Lerner said, including some that can reach as far north as Tel Aviv and beyond.
"They have substantial armaments which can strike the soft underbelly of Israel," he said.
Lerner said the Israel Defense Forces' position had changed from focusing on de-escalation to preparing for a deterioration of the situation.
'Red lines' crossed
The conflict between the two sides has worsened in the past few days.
"The enemy has crossed the red lines and will be made to pay the price for its crimes," Mushir Al-Masri, a Hamas leadership figure and member of the Palestinian parliament, wrote on his Facebook page Monday. "The blood of our martyrs is precious ... and is fuel for the intifada and the resistance."
After that statement, the barrage of rockets from Gaza into Israel increased, with Hamas claiming responsibility.
Political strains
The conflict is creating strains within the governing coalition of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, head of the Yisrael Beiteinu party, said in a news conference Monday that he told Netanyahu of his intention to dissolve his party's joint faction with Netanyahu's Likud party, saying it was "not working."
Lieberman criticized Netanyahu's handling of Gaza.
Tensions are also increasing between Hamas, which controls Gaza, and the more moderate Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.
Has the Middle East crisis reached a tipping point?
Israel resident: What I don't want to happen at my daughter's wedding
READ: Was teen's death a revenge killing?
READ: Palestinian teen burned alive, autopsy shows
READ: Relatives accuse Israeli forces of attacking, detaining U.S. teen
CNN's Diana Magnay reported from Jerusalem; and Ed Payne and Josh Levs reported from Atlanta. CNN's Kareem Khadder, Ben Wedeman, Jethro Mullen, and Jason Hanna contributed to this report.
Kidnapped girls flee Boko Haram
7/8/2014 4:35:12 AM
- The women and girls escaped while militants left to launch an attack
- Hundreds of girls abducted in April are still believed held hostage
- Boko Haram has recently increased abductions of females
- Boko Haram is trying to impose strict Sharia law across Nigeria
Kano, Nigeria (CNN) -- Sixty-three women and girls kidnapped by Boko Haram last month in Nigeria escaped from their captors and have returned to their burnt village, a security source and a local vigilante fighting the militant group said.
The hostages were seized from the Kummabza village in northern Borno state on June 18 after a four-day invasion of the village by Boko Haram insurgents. The militants killed 30 men and burned the entire village.
Their escape is good news, but the Islamist terrorist group is still believed to be holding about 200 schoolgirls abducted April 14 from their hostels in the town of Chibok -- a case that drew international outrage and prompted a global campaign for their release.
Boko Haram has been active as a violent group since 2009 and has killed Nigerians, both Christian and Muslim, at rates frequently exceeding 100 people weekly.
The name "Boko Haram" translates to "Western education is sin" in the local Hausa language. The militant group is trying to impose strict Sharia law across Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa.
The group especially opposes the education of women. Under its version of Sharia law, women should be at home raising children and looking after their husbands, not at school learning to read and write.
'Rare opportunity to escape'
The female hostages escaped Friday while their captors left their camp to launch an attack against the military and police in the nearby town of Damboa, said Bukar Kyari, a local vigilante fighting Boko Haram in Maiduguri.
Soldiers overwhelmed the insurgents, forcing them to mobilize all their men and leave the abducted women in the camp, Kyari said.
"The women seized that rare opportunity to escape when they realized they were alone in the camp," Kyari said. "But we still have five women, including a nursing mother, missing."
News of the escape was slow to emerge due to trouble with telecommunication towers in the area damaged by previous Boko Haram attacks.
Boko Haram has recently intensified abductions of women in northeastern Borno state, where its five-year insurgency is largely concentrated.
When a group of women and girls abducted in November was later rescued from Boko Haram, some were pregnant. Others had been forcibly converted to Islam and married off to their kidnappers.
#BringBackOurGirls
The April kidnapping galvanized international opinion against Boko Haram and inspired the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls.
The terror group abducted an estimated 276 girls April 14 from a boarding school in Chibok in northeastern Nigeria. Dozens escaped, but more than 200 girls are still missing.
Since then the insurgents, seemingly galvanized by the attention, have stepped up the frequency and brazenness of the attacks on villages in the region. Other girls have been kidnapped, but in lesser numbers.
The Nigerian government has come under fire for not doing enough to find the girls. About a month ago the government tried to stop organized protests for the abducted girls, then backtracked and allowed the protests.
Deadly battles rage on
Meanwhile, the group continues battling Nigeria's military.
Its ambitions have apparently expanded to the destruction of the Nigerian government.
On Friday, at least six soldiers, five police officers and 53 Boko Haram fighters were killed after the militants launched an attack in the town of Bama, the Nigerian Defense Ministry said.
Local residents said half the town was burnt, including the police station.
Many of Boko Haram's attacks take place in the northern part of the country, despite the fact that Nigeria's northern half is mainly Muslim and the south is mainly Christian.
But the radical militant group does not consider all Muslims as supporters and allies. Boko Haram has allegedly killed Muslim clerics who have dared to criticize the group.
And there have been suggestions that it attacks certain mosques because members have spoken out against it and helped federal officials with their crackdown. Analysts say attacks are aimed at instilling fear in the local population to prevent cooperation with the government.
Mohammed Yusuf, a charismatic young cleric, founded Boko Haram 12 years ago as part of his push for a pure Islamic state in Nigeria. He was killed in 2009, but his group lived on.
Boko Haram became more violent after his death as his supporters vowed to strike back. Human Rights Watch estimates that in the past five years, more than 3,000 people have been killed in the violence.
Nigeria: Arrested women recruited for Boko Haram
Aminu Abubakar reported from Kano; Holly Yan reported and wrote from Atlanta. CNN's Faith Karimi contributed to this report.
Forgotten vials of smallpox found
7/8/2014 5:34:45 PM
- Vials of smallpox virus that appear to date back to the 1950s found at NIH laboratory
- Only two sites around the globe are allowed to hold the smallpox virus
- The NIH has not identified any infectious exposure risk to lab workers or the public
(CNN) -- You never know what you're going to find in an unused storage room. Employees at the National Institutes of Health, for example, recently discovered some old vials of variola.
You may know variola by its less formal name -- smallpox. Yes, the deadly virus that was the scourge of civilization for centuries. It's been considered an eradicated disease ever since 1980, following successful worldwide vaccination programs. The last known outbreak in the U.S. was in 1947 in New York.
Childhood vaccination programs are safe, seriously
The vials appear to date back to the 1950s, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which released a statement on Tuesday about the discovery.
Scientists made the discovery when they were preparing to move a lab from the Food and Drug Administration's Bethesda, Maryland, campus to a different location. The laboratory had been used by the NIH but was transferred to the FDA in 1972. The vials were located in an unused part of a storeroom.
When the scientists found the vials, they immediately put them in a containment lab and on July 1 notified the branch of the government that deals with toxic substances, called the Division of Select Agents and Toxins.
The CDC says there is no evidence that any of the vials was breached, nor were any of the lab workers exposed to the virus.
On Monday, law enforcement agencies transferred the vials to the CDC's high-containment facility in Atlanta. Testing confirmed that there was variola virus DNA in the vials. Scientists will do some more testing to see if it could grow in tissue culture. Once the tests are done, the CDC will destroy the samples.
The CDC is one of only two official World Health Organization designated repositories for smallpox. The other is in Novosibirsk, Russia. The CDC let the WHO know about the find and invited the WHO to witness the destruction of the vials, which is the standard protocol any time anyone finds smallpox samples unexpectedly.
The FBI is investigating how the samples ended up where they did.
Smallpox Fast Facts
Voice of Pinocchio dies
7/8/2014 7:23:04 PM
- Richard Percy Jones, known in film and TV as Dick Jones, was 87
- Disney Studios named Jones a "Disney Legend"
- "At the time, Pinocchio was just a job," Jones said
- Jones appeared in nearly 100 films and 200 TV shows
Los Angeles (CNN) -- The actor who gave voice to Pinocchio in Walt Disney's 1940 animation movie, died at his home Monday night, the Los Angeles County coroner's office said Tuesday.
Richard Percy Jones, known in film and television as Dick Jones, was 87.
The cause of death has not yet been determined, according to Fred Corral of the coroner's office. A daughter found Jones on a bathroom floor of his Northridge, California, home, Corral said.
Disney Studios named Jones a "Disney Legend" in 2000 in recognition of his work on the iconic film.
"At the time, 'Pinocchio' was just a job," Jones said at the time of induction. "Who knew it would turn out to be the classic that it is today? I count my lucky stars that I had a part in it."
In addition to voicing the script, Jones also wore a puppet costume and acted out scenes to help Disney animators draw the cartoon.
Born in McKinney, Texas, on February 25, 1927, his acting career started when he was just 3 years old. Cowboy film legend Hoot Gibson discovered the child while appearing in a rodeo in Jones' hometown, according to his Disney biography.
"Hoot told my mother I ought to be in pictures and sponsored our trip to Hollywood," Jones said.
Jones acted in Jimmy Stewart's "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" and "Destry Rides Again" during the same 19 months he was working on Pinocchio, according to his bio.
He was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1944, but returned to Hollywood after the second world war.
Jones acted in Errol Flynn's "Rocky Mountain" and several other movies before the start of his television acting career in 1949.
He used his skills as a horseman to work as a stuntman for Gene Autry's Flying A Productions.
Jones played the sidekick in "The Range Rider" television series before getting his own western series, "Buffalo Bill, Jr." in the 1950s.
His 200 TV appearances include guest star roles in "Gunsmoke," "Annie Oakley" and "The Lone Ranger."
When he left acting to start a career in real estate in 1959, he had appeared in nearly 100 movies, according to Disney.
People we've lost in 2014
Solange speaks on Jay Z fight
7/8/2014 6:09:18 AM
- Solange Knowles speaks about her elevator fight
- She says she and her family are at peace with what happened
- She also says she and her sister stick by one another "no matter what"
(CNN) -- Solange Knowles still isn't saying what prompted her elevator confrontation with her brother-in-law, Shawn "Jay Z" Carter, but she will tell you one thing:
She's at peace about it.
The 28-year-old singer and younger sister of Forbes' world power Beyonce talks about the altercation in the August issue of Lucky magazine. Without going into detail about the brouhaha, which was caught on elevator surveillance video and dropped a bomb on Beyonce's otherwise composed and inaccessible public persona, Solange says that she's not dwelling on the past.
"What's important is that my family and I are all good," the younger Knowles says. "What we had to say collectively was in the statement that we put out, and we all feel at peace with that."
Solange, Jay Z and Beyonce break their silence on elevator incident
The now-infamous standoff occurred after the Met Gala on May 5, when Solange, Beyonce and Jay Z were seen leaving New York City's Standard Hotel. As security footage released by TMZ showed, Solange Knowles appeared to attack her brother-in-law, taking several swings at him and kicking, while her sister stood calmly next to her.
The speculation surrounding the private moment could fill a book (or three), and in response, the Knowles-Carter family addressed the rumors with a statement declaring their unity.
Solange and Jay Z: The Internet knows
"(T)he most important thing is that our family has worked through it," the statement said of the "unfortunate incident."
"Jay and Solange each assume their share of responsibility for what has occurred. They both acknowledge their role in this private matter that has played out in the public. They both have apologized to each other and we have moved forward ... At the end of the day, families have problems and we're no different."
In the aftermath of the video, much of the gossip zeroed in on Knowles' relationship with her sister, as the curious public watched closely for signs of either sibling discord or solidarity.
Yet according to Knowles, she and her sister have held tight to the values that were instilled in them as kids, to love and protect one another through anything.
"We've always held each other down no matter what," Knowles tells Lucky magazine. "That's something I'm drilling into (my son) Julez now."
Israel launches 160 raids on Gaza Strip
7/9/2014 3:10:06 AM
- Israeli intelligence minister tells CNN a ground operation "might become necessary"
- Palestinians say 26 killed in Israeli attacks targeting militants
- Islamic Jihad claims responsibility for rocket fired at Tel Aviv
- The range of Palestinian rocket attacks expands
Jerusalem (CNN) -- As rockets and missiles fly back and forth between Gaza and Israel, the Israeli military -- saying it doesn't expect the crisis to resolve itself soon -- is preparing for a ground incursion.
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it targeted about 160 "terror sites" in Gaza in the early hours of Wednesday, after carrying out 150 airstrikes the day before. Militants fired more than 130 rockets at Israeli civilians, Israel said.
Palestinian officials report 26 people in Gaza were killed and more than 150 injured in Israeli airstrikes since Operation Protective Edge began Monday. The Palestine Red Crescent Society said it provided medical services to 678 wounded people. And the Defense for Children International-Palestine said eight of the dead were children.
Recent days have brought a dramatic escalation in the conflict.
Israeli Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz told CNN such an operation "might become necessary," and Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon said the security operation against the militant group Hamas "will probably not end within several days."
On Tuesday, the Israeli Cabinet gave the authorization for the military to call up 40,000 troops if needed, 10,000 more than were called up during Israel's offensive into Gaza in November of 2012. Only about 1,000 have been called up so far.
"I hope ... that it's not going to escalate into an all-out war," said Maen Rashid Areikat, the Palestinian representative to the United States. "For the Israelis, they have to know that there's no military solution to this problem."
Flare-up in Israeli-Palestinian violence: Why now?
New threat
Rocket attacks into Israel are nothing new, but their reach has grown.
Warning sirens that blared in Tel Aviv, one of Israel's most populated areas, showed a threat Israel had warned of. The country said militants' rockets from Gaza are powerful enough to reach 3.5 million Israeli citizens.
The attacks sent U.S. embassy personnel in Tel Aviv scurrying to an underground shelter, U.S. officials told CNN. It was just a precautionary measure, they said.
Hamas is estimated to have 10,000 rockets of varying ranges, Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, a military spokesman, said, including some that can reach as far north as Tel Aviv and beyond.
Israel confirmed that a rocket hit the city of Hadera, which is some 62 miles (100 kilometers) from Gaza.
Islamic Jihad, another Palestinian militant group, took responsibility for the rocket fired at Tel Aviv. In a statement, the group called it a "response to the ongoing Zionist aggression."
"The Palestinian people will defend themselves," said Osama Hamdan, a foreign policy spokesman for Hamas. If there is a "clear ceasefire, the Palestinians will deal with that."
Hamas later claimed responsibility for firing rockets on Jerusalem and Haifa. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat said he finds the rocket attacks surprising.
"It is amazing to find terrorist groups that are willing to fire indiscriminate rockets targeted at civilians," he said.
Has the Middle East crisis reached a tipping point?
Teens' deaths sparked new violence
Tensions in the region reached a fever pitch after three Israeli teens, including one with dual U.S. citizenship, were kidnapped last month on their way home from school in the West Bank. Their bodies were found last week.
Israel blames Hamas, but the group has denied any involvement.
"Hamas said it clearly ... We don't have information about what had happened," Hamdan told CNN's Michael Holmes.
Only days after the bodies of the Israelis were discovered, a Palestinian teen was abducted and then found dead within an hour in Jerusalem. Israel has arrested suspects and says there's "strong indication" it was a revenge killing.
READ: Was teen's death a revenge killing?
READ: Palestinian teen burned alive, autopsy shows
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who was criticized by Palestinians when he condemned the Israeli teens' kidnappings, called on Israel on Tuesday to immediately stop its strikes, warning the operation would drag the region into instability.
Abbas said a truce was needed to "spare the innocent from mass destruction."
And a similar call for an end to hostilities came from the Arab League.
Secretary-General Nabil al-Arabi asked for the U.N. Security Council to convene on the matter.
Israel resident: What I don't want to happen at my daughter's wedding
CNN's Diana Magnay reported from Jerusalem; and Ed Payne reported from Atlanta. CNN's Kareem Khadder, Ben Wedeman, Tal Heinrich, Josh Levs and Jason Hanna contributed to this report.
Brazil stunned in semifinal
7/8/2014 5:17:46 PM
The World Cup semifinal match between Germany and Brazil has left the host country in shock. CNN's Alex Thomas reports.
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Magic spray: It's not shaving foam
7/8/2014 7:51:35 PM
- Special spray to mark out distances at free kicks being used in World Cup
- FIFA gave go-ahead after successful tests in junior tournaments
- The spray quickly disappears after being used by referee
- 9.15 Fair Play was developed by a former Brazilian amateur player
Editor's note: How are you celebrating the World Cup? Join the global conversation on CNN Facebook Pulse
(CNN) -- It's been a World Cup notable for late drama in most of the matches and a high number of goals scored, particularly in the preliminary stages.
New heroes like James Rodriguez of Colombia have also emerged, while modern technology has been introduced for the first time to decide if the ball has crossed the goal line.
But for some, the real star of Brazil 2014 comes in a small spray can, a "magic foam" which allows referees to make sure players retreat the requisite 10 yards (9.15 meters) when a free kick is awarded against them.
Referees have been brandishing the spray with flourish, pacing out the distance then marking it with a line of the spray, over which they can see if a player has edged too close to the taker of the free kick.
It has also been used to mark the exact location of a free kick, stopping players from gaining an advantage by edging forwards nearer the goal.
Due to its properties of butane, isobutane, propane gas, water and other chemicals, the line on the pitch made by the spray quickly disappears.
It is also environmentally friendly as it is biodegradable and doesn't damage the pitch of the atmosphere.
"It is very good," FIFA president Sepp Blatter said of the spray's impact. "It disciplines the players.
"It gives the attacking teams the chance to take the free kick from the real distance, not from where the wall is always moving.
"Some players have said now we have nine meters but in our leagues we have six or seven meters."
The brainchild of a former amateur player from Brazil, with a German-sounding name, Heine Allemagne, it was used as first used as far back as 2000 in a junior football tournament in the Brazilian city of Belo Horizonte.
The spray was then known as "Spuni," but after Allemagne joined forces in 2006 with an Argentine, journalist Pablo Silva, to refine the product, it has been renamed "9.15 Fair Play."
The big breakthrough for the spray came in 2012, when the IFAB (the law-making body of the game) authorized the product for international use.
Google has gone the magic spray today #worldcup http://t.co/7mcnJBEgiB
— Stuart Fazakerley (@stuartfaz) July 8, 2014 FIFA tested the spray in 2013 at its Under-17 and Under-20 World Cups and gave the go-ahead for this year's senior showpiece soon after.
"It is literally a dream come true to see 9.15 Fair Play being used at this World Cup and seen by billions of people across the globe," said Allemagne.
Judging by its success, with statistics pointing to more goals coming from free kicks and less time needed to take them, the little spray cans are set to be a permanent addition to the back pockets of referees for many years to come.
Read: Is this the end of the road for Brazil?
Read: A casual fan's guide to Brazil-Germany semifinal
All the goals from every game
7/8/2014 5:18:25 PM
Oscar of Brazil scores a late second-half goal against Germany during a World Cup semifinal match played Tuesday, July 8, in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. But it was no consolation for the home team, which was knocked out of the tournament by a stunning score of 7-1. Click through the gallery to see all the goals scored so far in the World Cup.
Will Messi or Robben succeed?
7/8/2014 5:55:16 PM
- Argentina and the Netherlands contest World Cup semifinal in Sao Paulo
- Dutch winger Arjen Robben has been the Netherlands standout performer in Brazil
- Argentina relying on Lionel Messi to inspire the two-time winners to final at Maracana
- Dutch looking to reach back-to-back finals; Argentina seek final spot for first time in 24 years
(CNN) -- All eyes will be on Lionel Messi and Arjen Robben when Argentina face the Netherlands in the World Cup semifinal in Sao Paulo to discover who will meet Germany in the final.
The Dutch will be looking to their mercurial winger to steer them to a second successive World Cup final while Argentina will likely need some Messi magic if they are to reach a first final in 24 years.
Both men have been central to the success of their sides so far in the competition earning glowing tributes from team managers past and present.
Argentina coach Alejandro Sabella said his midfield maestro was like "water in the desert" following his side's 1-0 victory over Belgium in the quarterfinals.
"Each time he gets the ball, it represents hope for all of us and a threatening situation for our opponents," Sabella told reporters after the game.
"Regardless of whether he scores goals or not, his influence is decisive. A game has many aspects, apart from goals.
"When you have a player such as Messi, who never, or almost never, loses the ball, it's water in the desert and not just when he scores."
Dutch praise for Robben has been equally fulsome.
Former Dutch coach Bert van Marwijk, who steered the Oranje to the final in 2010, believes Robben may be a better player than the Barcelona midfielder.
"Argentina have got Messi, we've got Robben. And quite frankly, I think the better player is Arjen," van Marwijk told Dutch broadcaster NOS TV.
"Four years ago, Arjen was injured just before the start of the tournament in a friendly against Hungary. He was carrying the injury for the whole tournament and was never really 100%. But this year he's been unstoppable."
Current teammate Dirk Kuyt has also lauded the Bayern Munich star's contribution in Brazil.
"I wouldn't swap Robben for any player in the world," Kuyt told FIFA.com earlier in the tournament.
"He is having an amazing World Cup. He's scored goals and created goals, he's so fast and he is a very important player for us."
Three goals and one assist at the finals attest to Robben's value, though he's also attracted plenty of criticism for his theatrical habit of going down in the penalty area during the tournament.
Coach Louis van Gaal will need the 30-year-old to put in a flawless performance if the Dutch are to progress.
As Sabella has hinted, two-time champions Argentina are perhaps even more reliant on Messi.
The 27-year-old has scored half of Argentina's eight goals in the competition so far.
With Angel di Maria ruled out with a thigh injury, strikers Gonzalo Higuain and Sergio Aguero (if passed fit) will be relying on Messi more than ever to set them free in front of goal.
With three Ballon d'Or awards, three Champions League winners medals and six La Liga titles to his name, Messi would seal his place in football's pantheon if he became the first Argentine since Diego Maradona to lift the trophy.
But he's not getting carried away just yet.
"To play a World Cup final with the great atmosphere of the Maracana is something what every player dreams of, but first we have to make sure we get there," Messi said, FIFA.com reported.
Previous matches between the two sides have produced moments of individual brilliance -- Dennis Bergkamp's exquisite 90th-minute winner in the quarterfinal in 1998 was one of the greatest goals ever seen at a World Cup finals.
Twenty-four years earlier it was Johan Cruyff who was strutting his stuff, scoring two goals for the Dutch in a 4-0 win at the 1974 finals hosted and won by Germany.
Argentina's only victory against the Netherlands at a World Cup came in the 1978 final -- legendary striker Mario Kempes scoring twice in a 3-1 extra time win at the Estadio Monumental in Buenos Aires.
Argentina has won the World Cup twice (1978 & 1986).
The Netherlands has reached the final three times (1974, 1978, 2010) but never won.
Arjen Robben has scored three goals in the tournament so far.
Lionel Messi has scored four goals -- half of Argentina's total during the 2014 World Cup
The teams have met three times in the knockout stages of the World Cup -- Netherlands lead 2-1.
For all the attacking flair on the pitch, the result, in the end, may hinge on the tactical nous of the men in suits standing on the touchline.
Since taking over in 2011, Sabella has overseen just four losses in 39 matches.
Van Gaal, meanwhile, has seen his side lose just twice in 26 matches during his second stint as the national coach.
The 62-year-old, who will take over as manager at English Premier League side Manchester United after the World Cup finishes, has won plaudits for some cunning substitutions during the finals.
The introduction of Klaas-Jan Huntelaar late in the game against Mexico helped turn the tide in the European side's favor.
The Schalke striker, who came on for Robin van Persie in the 76th minute, laid off the ball for Wesley Sneijder's sumptuous 88th-minute strike before scoring a penalty in injury time as the Oranje snatched a 2-1 victory.
Against Costa Rica in the quarterfinals, Van Gaal sent on goalkeeper Tim Krul in the dying seconds of extra time.
The bold move worked as the Newcastle United keeper pulled off two saves in the shootout to send the Dutch into the semis and a step closer to a first World Cup title.
"Maybe Louis does have a golden willy," Robben cheekily said following the last-gasp win over Mexico in the last 16.
On Wednesday we may be one step closer to finding out.
The Pistorius I knew
7/8/2014 7:23:36 PM
CNN's Robyn Curnow, who visited Oscar Pistorius at the house where he killed his girlfriend, reflects on his murder trial.
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