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Besieged city draining of life
8/27/2014 11:23:52 AM
- Photojournalist Jonathan Alpeyrie returned to Donetsk, Ukraine, two weeks ago
- Donetsk is held by pro-Russian rebels but the Ukrainian Army has gradually encircled it
- Alpeyrie's photographs show the life of the residents surviving under siege
- The images show them sheltering in cellars or clearing rubble from their homes
(CNN) -- Bodies torn apart by the weapons of war. The bloody corpse of a man hit by shelling as he walked under trees, a shopkeeper's mutilated body in front of her store, a broom lying nearby.
Some three months after pro-Russian rebels declared an independent "Donetsk People's Republic," Ukrainian government forces are encircling the city of Donetsk.
Photojournalist Jonathan Alpeyrie was in the city in May and returned two weeks ago to find it battle-scarred and slowly draining of life as its people flee.
Photojournalist Jonathan Alpeyrie
The images he has captured show the anguish of the immediate aftermath of shelling -- the relatives of victims, people left homeless, the dead. Others depict those left behind sheltering in Soviet or WWII-era cellars and boarded-up buildings as their homes are engulfed by the conflict.
The photographs, many too graphic to show here, leave no doubt about the true horror of the destructive conflict.
"If you go north of the city towards the airport you have entire areas that are no-man's land -- they are not controlled by anybody and they are being shelled daily ... with mortars and tanks," Alpeyrie tells CNN.
"You see some families that have remained there -- mostly elders and a lot of people that don't really have any money, they have to stay. You also get people who stay because they don't want to leave their homes. It's been their family home for a long time and they have their belongings inside, so they want to stay close to that. "You do have a lot of elders who are pretty tough and they're very pro-Russian, so for them that's also their struggle but a lot of them are hoping that this will end quickly."
The center of Donetsk, in peacetime much like any other modern city, is less damaged, though suffering from water shortages and largely shut down, he says, abandoned by an estimated half of Donetsk's population of around one million. "People do get killed. If you're walking down the street it's like a lottery, you just don't know," Alpeyrie says.
The day before Alpeyrie spoke to CNN, the group he was with -- fellow photographers and a local driver/translator -- had almost been killed in the town of Marynivka. Four people died nearby.
"It's always hard when we see people getting killed where you are, that's tough, because they're just regular people and they're not really involved in the war," he says.
The team's driver was one of the residents trying to earn a living while it was still possible. Many of those still facing the dangers of Donetsk have sent their children away, Alpeyrie says. The trains have stopped running from Donetsk, so the refugees travel by bus, many making the perilous journey through fighting in Luhansk region to reach Russia.
Others go south to Mariupol, traveling through the conflict's front line to safety, Alpeyrie says.
There, where the fighting is at its most intense, photography is not welcomed by the rebels.
"You can hang out with them if you want, but since just they get hit all the time and as you can't take pictures or photos there's no reason to hang out with them," Alpeyrie says.
However, recently Alpeyrie and some colleagues got lucky -- obtaining rare images of a rebel funeral.
Click here to read the backstory and the unique images he captured.
Compensation for Fukushima suicide
8/27/2014 5:57:52 AM
- TEPCO ordered to pay out in suicide case linked to Fukushima
- Woman set herself on fire four months after Fukushima disaster
- Fukushima government releases data showing more cases of thyroid cancer
Tokyo, Japan (CNN) -- Four years after the meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, questions about the lingering physical and mental health toll of the disaster persist.
The Fukushima District Court ruled Tuesday in favor of a family who filed a landmark lawsuit blaming Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), the plant operator of the crippled nuclear reactor, for the suicide of a woman in 2011.
Four months after three reactors melted down at the Fukushima plant following a devastating earthquake and tsunami, Hamako Watanabe and her husband lost their home, their jobs and the prospect of restoring their lives.
She doused herself in kerosene and set herself on fire after slipping into depression. Her husband, Mikio Watanabe, found her charred body.
"We lost everything," her widower told CNN in 2012. "We were forced to evacuate. We lost our jobs. I lost my wife in such a terrible way. I really lost everything."
The Fukushima District Court ordered TEPCO to pay 49 million yen ($471,063 U.S.) to her family, in a ruling that found a link between the nuclear accident and Watanabe's death.
"It is well assumed that the stress caused by sudden loss of the base of her life against her will and unknown future in evacuation was unbearable for her," according to the court ruling.
A spokeswoman of TEPCO Mayumi Yoshida said: "We express deep condolence for the loss for Mrs. Hamako Watanabe. We will examine the ruling closely and continue to deal with it sincerely."
Fukushima residents cleared to return
Thyroid cancer cases monitored
In the wake of the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986, the local government began monitoring the health of residents who were under the age of 18 at the time of the March, 2011 incident.
The Fukushima Prefectural Government found more cases of thyroid cancer, with 57 people confirmed cases and 46 others listed as possible cases, according to data released this week.
The risk of thyroid cancer increases in people who've been exposed to high doses of radiation. Children are more sensitive to radiation and at risk for a longer period of time than adults, according to medical literature on thyroid cancer.
The cancer rate -- 57 out of 296,026 -- is high compared to known international statistics, but it's difficult to link the nuclear accident to the rates of pediatric thyroid cancer, according to the Fukushima prefecture's health office.
The high rate may be attributed to the thorough method of testing for thyroid cancer, according to the office.
Hisakatsu Kotani, from the Fukushima prefectural government's health research section, said there were no patterns detected between the cases of thyroid cancers and high radiation areas.
"Experts have been saying this is not the time yet to see any health impact by the accident," he said.
In the case of Chernobyl, thyroid cancer cases in children reached a peak about 10 years after exposure, according to a report analyzing radiation exposure and the risk of pediatric thyroid cancers.
A scientific review published in 2011, found that pediatric thyroid cancers only account for 0.5 to 3% of all types of cancers. That review also found that girls have four times higher frequency for pediatric thyroid cancer than boys.
Of the 104 people who were diagnosed with potentially cancerous tumors at Fukushima, 68 were females and 36 were males. More than half of them, 58, had surgery to remove the growth.
Inside Fukushima Daiichi: Visiting one of the most dangerous places on earth
Japanese MP denies meth charges
8/27/2014 3:28:51 AM
- Takuma Sakuragi, a 71-year-old lawmaker, is facing drugs charges in China
- He is accused of trying to board a flight with 3.2kg of methamphetamine in luggage
- The charges carry the death penalty in China, which executed a Japanese trafficker in July
- Sakuragi has pleaded not guilty, saying he was helping take a friend's luggage
(CNN) -- A Japanese lawmaker facing drug charges punishable by death has pleaded not guilty in a Chinese court, Chinese state media reports.
Takuma Sakuragi, a 71-year-old member of the Inazawa municipal assembly in Japan's Aichi prefecture, was taken into custody on October 31 when staff at the Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport found more than 3kg of methamphetamine in his suitcase, Xinhua reported.
Sakuragi was preparing to board a flight to Shanghai en route back to Japan when he was stopped, the state-run China Daily reported.
After his arrest, he denied trafficking drugs, saying he was taking the luggage to Shanghai for a friend, the report continued. Two others -- Aly Yattabare, from Mali, and Guinea citizen Mohamed Soumah -- were arrested in relation to the case and are also standing trial.
On Tuesday, Sakuragi pleaded not guilty in the Guangzhou City Intermediate People's Court to charges of transporting illegal drugs.
The indictment against him claimed the politician flew from Nagoya to Guangzhou two days before he was detained last year, checking into a hotel with the help of a Nigerian named as Gemadi Hassan, the South China Morning Post reported.
He testified that he made the trip after extensive email communication with Hassan, who promised to help Sakuragi recoup hundreds of thousands of dollars of losses in Nigerian investments if he signed a document in Guangzhou, the newspaper reported.
The indictment continued that Yattabare gave Sakuragi a suitcase containing women's platform shoes to give to a third party in Japan. Airport security staff subsequently found 28 bags of methamphetamine inside the soles of the shoes and in the suitcase's handle, weighing 3.28kg in total, the South China Morning Post reported.
If found guilty, Sakuragi could face the death penalty, which can be applied under Chinese law in cases involving seizures of 50 grams or more of methamphetamine or heroin. An unidentified 50-year-old Japanese drug trafficker was executed on July 26 in the northern Chinese city of Dalian, China Daily reported.
While Japan has the death penalty on its books, it is not applicable for drug crimes.
Yoshihide Suga, Japan's chief cabinet secretary, told reporters in a press conference in July that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would provide whatever support was needed by Sakuragi, as it would to all Japanese citizens.
But he added that drug crimes were punished severely not only in China but in the wider international community.
Legroom fight diverts flight
8/27/2014 12:19:58 AM
- An argument over legroom resulted in a flight diversion
- A passenger's use of a Knee Defender did not sit well with another flier
- The two were removed from the plane before it continued to its destination
(CNN) -- Do airline passengers have the right to recline?
That simmering debate among fliers escalated Sunday aboard a United Airlines flight that was diverted after two passengers argued over the use of a device that blocks reclining.
A Knee Defender, a gadget that "helps you stop reclining seats on airplanes so your knees won't have to," was at the root of the disturbance.
United Flight 1462 from Newark to Denver was forced to divert to Chicago's O'Hare airport, according to United Airlines. The airline said that it does not allow the use of the recline-blocking device on its aircraft.
Should the Knee Defender be banned?
A federal law enforcement source, speaking on background, said the incident involved a male and a female passenger, both 48 years old.
The female passenger was unable to recline her seat and flagged a flight attendant.
The flight attendant told the man seated behind her to remove the Knee Defender device, but he declined. The female passenger then threw water in his face. The pilot decided to divert the flight to Chicago, where authorities met the aircraft.
The two passengers were removed from the plane before it continued on to Denver, United said. The passengers were not arrested.
The argument occurred in the Economy Plus section, which provides United passengers up to 5 inches of extra legroom compared with standard coach seats.
Inside the inflight movie industry
Window flier or aisle seater?
Airline seat squeeze: It's not you, 'it's the seat'
CNN's Rene Marsh contributed to this report.
Does Britain have a jihadi problem?
8/27/2014 12:13:30 PM
- Masked man in video of James Foley's murder had London accent
- UK officials say roughly 500 people linked to Britain have joined ranks of ISIS
- Radical British cleric Anjem Choudary says Islamic caliphate will spread to Europe, U.S.
- Chairman of south London mosque says Britons fighting for ISIS don't understand Islam
London (CNN) -- "Any attempt by you, Obama, to deny the Muslims their rights of living in safety under the Islamic caliphate will result in the bloodshed of your people" may have been the last words James Foley ever heard.
Moments later, the U.S. journalist was beheaded by ISIS militants, and the grisly video of Foley's murder was beamed around the world on YouTube. The masked man's London accent is hard to miss -- and it has ignited a debate about whether Britain, America's closest ally, is now one of the West's biggest incubators of Islamic extremism.
About 500 people linked to Britain have joined the ranks of ISIS -- the militant group that has declared an Islamic state in Syria and Iraq -- in the past several years, according to the UK's Home Office. Roughly half have now returned to Britain, prompting fears that these radicalized recruits are preparing to wage jihad against targets in the West.
Does Britain have a jihadi problem? According to CNN calculations -- based on government estimates of the number of people who have traveled from their country to Syria, and Pew Forum estimates of the number of Muslims in each country -- Britain has roughly the same proportion of ISIS recruits as France, and a much lower proportion than Australia, Belgium and a number of northern European countries.
But there is a deep concern amongst experts that Muslim extremism is a growing threat in the UK -- and as CNN's reporting reveals, there are a number of British extremists who believe ISIS' Islamic caliphate will spread across the world.
Who are ISIS' British recruits?
The video of Foley's killing wasn't just a message to America -- it was also a recruitment video for young men like Abu Bakr and Abu Anwar, foreign fighters inside Syria.
Abu Anwar is from Britain. He said he would be "more than honored" to take part in a similar act against ISIS' opponents. "I hope that Allah gives me a chance to do to James Foley to another enemy," he told CNN. "My hands are ready to commit to this blessed act."
Is there a profile for young militants like Abu Anwar? Experts paint a diverse picture of British Muslim extremists. Most are single men under the age of 30, but a significant number are older and married with children. Many are converts to Islam or are UK-born Muslims from immigrant families. Few have personal connections to known extremist figures -- and many are deepening their extremist ideology online. Some have links to gangs, but many are well-educated and middle-class.
The last time CNN spoke to Abu Bakar, he insisted he wouldn't return home, but that has now changed. Bakar appears willing to bring his jihad to British soil. "I am ready to take that step to come back if your armies, your countries don't stop attacking us," he said.
How are ISIS' British recruits being tracked?
Hundreds of British jihadis in Syria are boasting about their battlefield exploits on social media. Those accounts have been pored over by analysts at King's College in London, who are now tracking more than 450 alleged militants online.
"What's really useful about this is that you can get a sense of what weapons they're using, what they're equipped with," said Joseph Carter from the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation. "Before, in a conflict, you would have to have intelligence you gleaned on the ground, and now you can see that stuff on Twitter."
But despite trawling through hundreds of photos and videos online, none of the jihadis the Centre has been profiling matches the man with the British accent in the video of James Foley's killing.
Even if he is found, he is still far from the reach of the British government, with no guarantee that Foley's executioner will ever face justice.
Is there support for ISIS in London?
When the world first heard the London-accented voice of the militant in the James Foley video, it spoke of Britain's long past of Islamic extremism.
This week, in a basement cafe in east London, the supporters of radical British cleric Anjem Choudary told CNN that the so-called Islamic State is not a terror haven, but a utopia to welcome.
None of the men explicitly condemned Foley's murder. One, a bearded man called Zakariyah, said that although he didn't condone the act, "if you attack someone, you should expect to be fought against" -- an apparent reference to ongoing U.S. airstrikes against ISIS targets in Iraq.
Another man, who referred to Britain as "a police state," said he would be happy to move to Syria and live under the Sharia law espoused by ISIS militants. He told CNN: "If the government would be willing to give me safe passage and not arrest me at the airport, and not raid my home ... and arrest all my family and relatives, just because they suspect I'm going there for something that they don't like -- what's wrong with going there to live under Islam?"
Choudary -- a controversial preacher whose al-Muhajiroun organization once praised the 9/11 hijackers as "the Magnificent 19," according to Reuters -- told CNN that the world had been split into two camps.
"[There's a] camp which believes that sovereignty and supremacy belongs to God. They are the Islamic State, at the head of which is Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi," Choudary said. "In the other camp you have those people who believe sovereignty and supremacy belongs to man. At the head of that camp is Barack Obama."
"I believe this Islamic State will spread, rapidly, and I believe it will be in Europe and even America within decades."
What can be done to tackle radical Muslim ideology in Britain?
In a south London mosque so full of worshipers that people are praying in the streets, the devout listen to a message of peace and piety.
Tariq Abbasi, the chairman of the Woolwich mosque, says that the Britons going to fight for ISIS in Syria do not represent his faith. "It's nothing to do with religion," Abbasi told CNN. "They don't have knowledge of the teachings of Islam."
Last year, around the corner from the mosque, Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale hacked British soldier Lee Rigby to death in the street. They claimed the killing was to avenge the deaths of Muslims around the world at the hands of the British army.
Abbasi said he knows how to fight extremism. In 2005 a London court granted him injunctions to stop radical preachers from teaching the mosque's children. He told CNN: "We said, 'Excuse me, you're no longer going to preach and teach our kids' ... but I think damage was already done."
"We have to be vigilant and very careful as to what is being taught here and who is teaching it."
The Pew Research Center predicted that Britain's Muslim population would grow fivefold between 1990 and 2030. As that population expands, and twisted ideologies continues to spread, people in Woolwich say they will need to be relentlessly focused to protect their children.
This story is based on reporting from CNN's Atika Shubert, Nick Paton Walsh, Erin McLaughlin and Richard Greene. It was written by Nick Thompson in London.
Libyans pay price for Mideast divide
8/27/2014 12:21:53 PM
- The New York Times reports the UAE and Egypt launched air strikes in Libya
- Egypt, the UAE deny the reports, but the U.S. says it understands they did strike
- Amid the threat of ISIS, some regional powers fear extremists in Libya, says H.A. Hellyer
- Libyans are caught between supporters of Islamist groups, those who fear them, he says
Editor's note: H.A. Hellyer is a non-resident fellow in Foreign Policy at the Washington DC-based think tank Brookings Institution and the Royal United Services Institution in London. A Research Associate at Harvard University's Kennedy School, you can follow him on Twitter @hahellyer. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely the author's.
(CNN) -- A New York Times article has reported that the United Arab Emirates and Egypt have launched airstrikes in Libya against militias, without coordinating with their ally, the United States of America.
Both Egypt and the United Arab Emirates continue to deny that they were responsible for the strikes, while American officials insist otherwise.
Yet, political cover could have been fairly easily provided if Egypt and the UAE had wanted to strike with less fallout. Allegations they carried out the strikes come against backdrop of international concern over radical Islamism in Iraq and Syria, which have led to U.S. airstrikes already, in co-ordination with the Iraqi government.
Some of the Libyan Islamist militias openly express sympathy for ISIS counterparts in Iraq and Syria, and a newly elected Libyan government already calling for at least some kind of international intervention to restore order, although they've stopped short of openly calling for military strikes.
Any airstrikes, however, taking place without the consent of the national government of a country, could only be described as violating state sovereignty. Of course, the Libyan state has been characterized as close to, if not already in the throes of, complete failure for the last three years.
H.A. Hellyer
The Gadhafi regime over three decades ensured there was no state to speak of, but only institutions closely associated with him and his coterie. When he fell, the revolutionary forces had the awesome challenge of building a state where there had been none -- and in the past three years, they have been unable to succeed in accomplishing that fundamental goal.
In the midst of that void, different groups have tried to acquire as much power on Libyan territory as possible. It is difficult to describe the differences in simple terms -- there are regional and tribal divides, as well as support for Islamist militants and conservative, non-secularist but also non-Islamist, opposition to them. Secularist groups, unlike in Tunisia, for example, do not particularly exist in Libya -- Libyan society at large is tremendously religiously conservative.
Some of that conservatism expresses itself in support for Islamist groups that range from the Libyan chapter of the Muslim Brotherhood, and more extreme groupings like Ansar al-Sharia who have articulated sympathy for ISIS.
Representatives of non-Islamist groups swept recent parliamentary elections, which indicate they have substantially more popularity than the pro-Islamist camp at present. Unfortunately, both Islamists and non-Islamists alike have given rise to militias, which only deepens the difficulty for taking Libya through its transition to democracy.
The void of a popularly supported state has also made it easier for outside powers to engage in Libyan affairs. From early on in the Libyan uprising, Qatar and Turkey have built alliances and provided support for particular groupings within the country -- and the Emiratis and others did the same.
Three years on, the country remains tremendously unstable -- but it now exists in a region where a truly radical Islamist movement has shown itself capable, if only temporarily, taking control of swathes of Iraq and Syria.
The fears of a similar movement taking over Libya are genuinely felt in Cairo, Abu Dhabi and elsewhere in the region -- and after the U.S. engaged so openly in striking against a radical Islamist movement in Iraq, it would perhaps be unsurprising if others in the region had felt they were within their rights to do the same in Libya.
There is another aspect, however, to American involvement in the region. On the one hand, American airstrikes in Iraq may have emboldened advocates of a more interventionist approach in Libya.
On the other hand, American non-involvement in Syria, which arguably contributed to the rise of ISIS, may have done the same -- providing support for the narrative that if you leave radical Islamists alone, they're likely to develop into far more powerful actors as ISIS has become.
U.S. influence
The rising of the stakes of the conflict in Libya may not necessarily signal a waning of American influence -- if Washington wanted to engage more forcefully in the region, either unilaterally and multilaterally, it possesses enough political capital in the region to do so.
In the absence of political will to proceed in that fashion, others will step into the vacuum -- and others have. Since at least 2012, Qatar and Turkey have consistently supported Islamist groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood and their allies in countries like Egypt, Libya, Syria and elsewhere.
The UAE and Saudi led the charge in supporting non-Islamist groups, although at times there was common cause, such as against Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria. They were joined by Egypt after the military removal of Mohamed Morsy in 2013, and most other Arab governments after that point seem to have either tacitly or openly joined the non-Islamist axis.
Much of this has less to do with ideology than it appears, and more to do with the fear of any type of change from the status quo that could devolve into mass instability. At present, that fear is most associated with Islamist movements.
Mideast polarization
What needs to happen in Libya is perhaps what needs to happen, in another fashion, across the Middle East. The polarization of the region into these two camps has taken place at the worst of times -- when the region is facing some of its greatest challenges in decades.
The polarization between these two sides has repercussions and consequences, which are likely to take a very deep toll in countries like Libya, but also elsewhere, in terms of blood and chaos.
It has never been more important than for these two camps to work together, as much as possible, to support Libya's newly elected government, and to use their combined influence and capital to reinforce a political process in Libya that does not rely on the use of arms.
Unfortunately, that does not seem to be likely in the interim -- and it will be the Libyan people, who have already suffered so much in the past three years, who will pay the price. The effects of Gadhafi's rule still haunt them.
Read: U.N. calls for Libya ceasefire amid concern over secret strikes
Woman fights off leopard attack
8/27/2014 1:42:41 PM
- Leopard attacked Kalama Devi on Sunday morning in isolated field
- She repeatedly hit it with a sickle for half an hour until she was able to get away
- Exhausted and bleeding, she limped one kilometer to a nearby village for help
- Villagers found the leopard dead at the scene of the reported attack
New Delhi (CNN) -- The fight is said to have lasted a half-hour and pitted a leopard against a woman armed only with a farm tool in an isolated field in India.
Kalama Devi, at 54 years old, won.
Devi, a widow and mother of one, has been telling her story from a hospital bed in Srinagar, in Uttarakhand state, where she's being treated for fractures, swelling, scratches and cuts to her skull that have required 50 stitches.
"I held the leopard with my hands, it then bit my hand and then left it. ... Both my hands are in immense pain and I am not able to lift them up," she said.
According to the doctor who's treating her, the leopard pounced about 10 a.m. Sunday as Devi, who had been cutting grass with a sickle, walked through a field in the village of Koti Badma, in the Rudraprayag district of Uttarakhand.
It fractured her left hand first, so with her right hand clutching the sickle she repeatedly hit the animal -- for about 30 minutes.
Exhausted and bleeding
She said she kept pounding the leopard until she ran out of energy, then, exhausted and bleeding, limped one kilometer to a nearby village to seek help, Dr. Abdul Rahul at the HNB Base Hospital in Srinagar told CNN.
Villagers found the leopard dead when they went to the scene of the reported attack, the doctor said.
It's not the first leopard attack in the area, Rahul said, though he added it was more common to see injuries as the result of attacks by bears.
Another woman was recently killed by a young male cat, which was shot dead by hunters, according to Digvijay Khati, chief wildlife warden in Uttarakhand.
"These are alarming incidents because usually leopards attack and kill dogs, goats or young children -- not adults," Khati told CNN.
He said the big cats' natural habitat is shrinking, and their natural prey are becoming scarce.
However, Khatis said, "We cannot say that the increase of human population in the areas is responsible, because attacks have even occurred where human population is less, and people are now moving out to the plains in search of work," he said.
Why is a 9-year-old firing an Uzi?
8/28/2014 6:24:55 AM
- Mel Robbins: Gun instructor's death raises absurd question: Should kids fire Uzis?
- She says of course not! If kids learn about guns, should be in controlled safe environment
- Robbins: What parent would put such a gun in a kid's hands and how could gun range allow it?
- She says giving kids under 18 access to a submachine gun should be illegal
Editor's note: Mel Robbins is a CNN commentator and legal analyst. She is the founder of Inspire52.com, a news and entertainment site for women, and author of "Stop Saying You're Fine," about managing change. She speaks on leadership around the world and in 2014 was named outstanding news talk radio host by the Gracie Awards. Follow her on Twitter @melrobbins. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.
(CNN) -- A 9-year-old girl accidentally killed a shooting instructor with an Uzi on Monday, authorities in Arizona said, and now the world is asking itself an absolutely absurd question: Should a fourth-grader be legally allowed to shoot an Uzi? The only answer to that question is: Hell fricking NO -- it should be against the law.
Understand, I love shooting guns and so do my kids. My favorite gun is a 12-gauge over/under shotgun. Our teenage daughters prefer a .22 because it's easier to aim and control. Other than hooking a large brown trout, there's nothing more thrilling in my book than pulling the trigger on a shotgun and managing to hit a target.
But this is not a shotgun. This is a fully automatic machine gun developed by the Israeli army. It is capable of firing 600 to 650 bullets a minute.
As this Uzi pumps out 10 bullets a second, the kickback is substantial. It is designed to be fired by a soldier during war, not a fourth-grader on vacation. It's too powerful, it's too big and it's too deadly. Many adult novices can't control that weapon.
The Mohave County Sheriff, Jim McCabe, said the full video of the incident was, as one might imagine, "ghastly."
This, of course, isn't the little girl's fault; was it even her idea to shoot an Uzi in the first place? It's the instructor and the parents who are to blame -- I mean, what could possibly go wrong if you hand an Uzi with the selector on fully automatic mode to a 9-year-old? For anyone who asks "What were they thinking?" the answer is: They weren't. That's why the law needs to change -- to protect kids from adult stupidity.
This all seems particularly senseless to me because just two weeks ago on our own family vacation, we introduced our own 9-year-old to the joys of target shooting and the responsibility of gun safety. Here's a photo of our son, supervised by instructors and with my father behind him on his first day at the range.
Notice what's happening. He's sitting down, so he can absorb any kick. He's got on safety glasses and sound protection. The gun is resting against a table and the strap of the gun has been put around a railing on the table to hold it down. Why do you take these precautions? Because when you introduce kids to the sport of shooting guns, you are taking on a great responsibility.
This 9-year-old girl isn't the only child to kill someone with an Uzi. An 8-year-old boy in Massachusetts killed himself a few years ago when he fired an Uzi at a gun show, while supervised by his own father. The gun kicked up on the boy, and he shot himself in the head.
The laws didn't change in Massachusetts, and I'm sure the National Rifle Association will see to it that they don't change in Arizona. But they should. Arizona laws require a person to be at least 21 years old to carry a firearm, but the laws do not apply on private property or if the minor is accompanied by a parent or certified instructor.
Kids can't drive until they're 16, vote, chew tobacco or smoke until they're 18, or drink until they're 21. No child should have access to firing a fully automatic weapon until the age of 18. And gun ranges should know better than to hand one to a novice shooter passing through on vacation, let alone one as young as 9.
The tragedy took place at Bullets and Burgers, where the website states "At our range, you can shoot FULL auto on our machine guns. Let 'em Rip!"
Just because you can doesn't mean you should.
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Can U.S. afford another $3 trillion war?
8/28/2014 5:10:16 AM
- New security threats are leading to renewed calls for U.S. military engagement
- After Iraq and Afghanistan, Americans are wondering if the economy can withstand any more
- Withdrawal from these campaigns was supposedly a prelude to belt-tightening at the Pentagon
- This time around, America is starting off in a much weaker financial position, says Bilmes
Editor's note: Linda J. Bilmes is the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Senior Lecturer at Harvard University, and co-author (with Joseph Stiglitz) of "The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of the Iraq Conflict." The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.
Correction: An earlier version of this article said the Pentagon budget grew by $1.3 billion in constant dollars since 2001. It should in fact have been $1.3 trillion.
(CNN) -- After piling up trillions of dollars of war debt during the last decade, America seemed to be on the brink of a new era -- ready to shut off the Iraq-Afghanistan funding faucet, bring its troops home and enjoy a peace dividend.
But the respite looks like it will be brief. The new security threats around the world are leading to renewed calls for military engagement: maybe not boots on the ground but air strikes, drones and weapons and training for shadowy opposition groups.
With Iraq descending into chaos and ISIS beheading Americans, the public is alarmed not only at the prospect of getting dragged back into the fray, but also wondering if the economy can withstand any more.
Of course, in purely financial terms, the U.S. can easily pay for whatever it takes. Patrolling the no-fly zones over Iraq during the 1990s after the first Gulf War cost around $12 billion a year.
Training the opposition and protecting civilians in Syria, combined with a weighty air campaign to take on both ISIS and the Assad regime, would cost some $20-22 billion per year, according to an estimate by Ken Pollack from the Washington-based Brookings Institution.
These are small numbers compared to the nearly $200 billion the U.S. has been shelling out each year for the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. And the U.S is still a rich country; interest rates are low and borrowing is cheap.
Iraq, Afghan legacy
Despite all of this, the cost of re-engaging in conflict will be heavy. The country is still digging itself out from the financial hole created by the extraordinarily expensive Iraq and Afghan wars.
In addition to the trillions appropriated for war spending, the regular Pentagon budget grew by $1.3 trillion in constant dollars since 2001 to the highest levels in real terms since World War II. This "culture of endless money," as former Defense Secretary Robert Gates called it, was notoriously wasteful, with accounting systems so flawed it was impossible to track where all the money was being spent.
Withdrawal from Iraq and the expected departure from Afghanistan was supposedly a prelude to belt-tightening at the Pentagon. Congress enacted measures designed to cut military spending by some $540 billion over the next decade.
Thanks in part to the budget "sequester" of 2011, the Pentagon announced deep cuts in almost all areas, including shrinking the size of the army from 520,000 to 440,000 troops, paring back military pay raises and benefits, buying fewer weapons and attempting to clean up its finances.
Reform efforts on hold
However, the sharp deterioration in the global security situation means that reform efforts are now being quietly shelved. Even before the latest setbacks in Iraq there was little appetite in the military to carry on with the unaccustomed austerity. Military circles have been warning darkly about the "hollow force" -- the idea that cutbacks would mean lower readiness and sub-par forces.
Respected Pentagon figures such as former Under Secretary for Policy Michèle Flournoy are warning that future budget cuts will harm the U.S. military's ability to carry out its missions.
Any talk of improving the national balance sheet through deeper military cutbacks has all but disappeared. For the nation as a whole, this means the loss of a potential peace dividend windfall of the kind the U.S. enjoyed after the end of the Cold War, which helped boost domestic prosperity during the Clinton years. Instead, military spending looks sure to rebound, prolonging the shortage of money needed to fix roads, rebuild bridges and repair schools. Desperately needed Pentagon reforms are likely to be put on hold, as Congress and top defense officials continue to focus on foreign military engagements.
A dozen years of war have left American national finances in need of serious repair. The U.S. already borrowed some $2 trillion to pay for the invasion and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, a major contributor to the growth in the national debt from $6.4 trillion in 2003 to $17.7 trillion today.
The war also contributed to a sharp rise in oil prices, which increased from $25 barrel in 2003 to a peak of $140 in 2008, significantly constraining U.S. flexibility to respond to the financial crisis, (which is by no means over). And the country hasn't yet paid for one of the biggest costs of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts: medical care and disability compensation for the 2.5 million veterans who served there. Already more than 900,000 returning service members have been awarded disability benefits for the rest of their lives, which will cost an additional trillion dollars in the coming decades, according to the Veterans Benefit Administration.
Despite two failed wars it seems the country hasn't learned the lessons about the huge cost of military adventures and the limits to what military intervention alone can do to solve complex foreign policy challenges. In 2003, the U.S. ignored the question of how it would pay for the Iraq war. The Bush administration was so confident of a short campaign that it fired its top economist, Lawrence Lindsey, for suggesting the conflict might be expensive.
This time around, America is starting off in a much weaker financial position, with no strategy to pay for our existing war debts. If it is to embark on another round of military engagements, the president needs to be up front with the American people about what it will cost -- and how they are going to pay for it.
Russia 'directly involved' in Ukraine fighting -- U.S. envoy
8/28/2014 7:06:41 AM
- NEW: U.S. official: Intelligence indicates up to 1,000 Russian troops are in southern Ukraine
- Donetsk rebel leader: Up to 4,000 Russians are fighting; some are active servicemen
- Ukraine's Prime Minister calls for an immediate U.N. Security Council meeting
- U.S. ambassador to Ukraine says Russia is "now directly involved in the fighting"
Kiev, Ukraine (CNN) -- Pro-Moscow rebel forces in eastern Ukraine, backed by Russian tanks and armored personnel carriers, battled government forces on two fronts Thursday, a Ukrainian military official said.
The fighting was taking place southeast of Donetsk, and along the nation's southern coast in the town of Novoazovsk, about 12 miles (20 km) from the Russian border, according to Mykhailo Lysenko, the deputy commander of the Ukrainian Donbas battalion.
"This is a full-scale invasion," Lysenko said, referring to the fighting in the south.
U.S. officials also said Russian troops were directly involved in the latest fighting, despite Moscow's denials.
Intelligence now indicates that up to 1,000 Russian troops have moved into southern Ukraine with heavy weapons and are fighting there, a U.S. official told CNN on Thursday.
Ukraine's National Defense and Security Council said that Russian forces were in full control of Novoazovsk as of Wednesday afternoon.
Russia's military fired Grad rockets into the town and its suburbs before sending in two convoys of tanks and armored personnel carriers from Russia's Rostov region, it said in a statement
"Ukrainian troops were ordered to pull out to save their lives. By late afternoon both Russian convoys had entered the town. Ukraine is now fortifying nearby Mariupol to the west," the NDSC said.
A number of villages in the Novoazovsk, Starobeshiv and Amvrosiiv districts were also seized, it said.
Novoazovsk is strategically important because it lies on the main road leading from the Russian border to Ukraine's Crimea region, which Russia annexed in March. Separatist leaders in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions then declared independence from Kiev.
The NDSC also warned that a strong counterattack is expected in the Shahtarsk-Illovaysk area, near where Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 is believed by the West to have been shot down by rebels armed with Russian-made weapons.
Ukraine urges international action
In a Cabinet meeting Thursday, Ukraine's Prime Minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, called for an immediate U.N. Security Council meeting.
"Russia has very much increased its military presence in Ukraine," he said.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko echoed his call for a U.N. Security Council meeting and requested an emergency meeting of the European Council.
He also canceled a planned trip to Turkey "due to sharp aggravation of the situation in Donetsk region ... as Russian troops were brought into Ukraine," a statement from his office said.
The latest flareup comes despite a meeting between Poroshenko and Russia's Vladimir Putin in Belarus on Tuesday at which some progress appeared to have been made toward finding a diplomatic solution to the crisis.
U.S. ambassador: Russia is directly involved
U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt also said Thursday that Russian soldiers were directly involved in the fighting, alongside the pro-Russia rebels.
"Russian supplied tanks, armored vehicles, artillery and multiple rocket launchers have been insufficient to defeat Ukraine's armed forces, so now an increasing number of Russian troops are intervening directly in the fighting on Ukrainian territory," he said on Twitter.
"Russia has also sent its newest air defense systems including the SA-22 into eastern Ukraine and is now directly involved in the fighting."
Moscow denies supporting and arming the pro-Russia rebels. It has also repeatedly denied allegations by Kiev that it has sent troops over the border.
A Russian senator and the deputy head of the Committee on Defense and Security in Russia's upper house of Parliament, Evgeny Serebrennikov, dismissed the latest reports of a Russian incursion as untrue.
"We've heard many statements from the government of Ukraine, which turned out to be a lie. What we can see now is just another lie," he said to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.
Russian soldiers detained in Ukraine; leaders meet in Minsk
Rebel leader: 3,000 to 4,000 Russians in our ranks
However, the Prime Minister of the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic, Alexander Zakharchenko, acknowledged Thursday that there are current Russian servicemen fighting in the rebels' ranks in eastern Ukraine.
In his statement, televised on state-run Russia 24, Zakharchenko said the rebels have never concealed that many Russians are fighting with them. He said up until now there were 3,000 to 4,000 volunteers, some of whom are retired Russian servicemen.
Zakharchenko went on to reveal that the Russian servicemen currently fighting in their ranks are active, "as they came to us to struggle for our freedom instead of their vacations."
On Tuesday, Ukraine's Security Service said it had detained 10 Russian soldiers in Ukraine.
Russian state media cited a source in the Russian Defense Ministry as saying the soldiers had been patrolling the border and "most likely crossed by accident" at an unmarked point.
The NDSC said Thursday that Ukraine's Security Service detained another Russian serviceman who testified that his unit was supplying heavy military equipment to militants.
Six questions -- what's happening in Ukraine?
Ukraine PM: Putin has started a war
Yatsenyuk suggested tougher measures may be needed to curb Russia's support for the rebels.
"Unfortunately, the sanctions were unhelpful as to deescalating the situation in Ukraine," he said, referring to the economic sanctions already imposed by the United States and European Union against Russian individuals and companies.
Yatsenyuk suggested one way to halt "Russian aggression" could be to freeze all assets and ban all Russian bank transactions until Russia "pulls out all its military, equipment and agents" from Ukraine.
"Vladimir Putin has purposely started a war in Europe. It is impossible to hide from the fact," he said.
In a foreign policy address in Paris, French President Francois Hollande said that if there's evidence that Russian soldiers are on Ukrainian soil "it would be intolerable and unacceptable."
NATO officials are due to give a briefing Thursday on the situation in Ukraine.
Ukraine's secret weapon: Funding from the country's millionaires
'Russian-directed counteroffensive'
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki on Wednesday highlighted the latest reports of heavy fighting around Novoazovsk and Donetsk airport, as well as of "additional columns of Russian tanks, multiple rocket launchers and armored vehicles" heading for communities in southeastern Ukraine.
"These incursions indict a Russian-directed counteroffensive is likely underway in Donetsk and Luhansk," she said. "Clearly that is of deep concern to us."
She accused Moscow of not acting in a transparent manner when it came to the Russian people, as well as Ukraine and the rest of the world.
"We're also concerned by the Russian government's unwillingness to tell the truth even as its soldiers are found 30 miles inside Ukraine," she said. "Russia is sending its young men into Ukraine but are not telling them where they're going or telling their parents what they're doing."
On Wednesday, NDSC also claimed that members of a Russian tactical battalion were present in the village of Pobeda, in Ukraine's Luhansk region.
"If these troops got lost and accidentally found themselves in Ukraine as well, they should go back East," the update said.
The city of Luhansk, a rebel stronghold, has been at the center of fighting for days, prompting a humanitarian crisis. The NDSC said it remained without water, power or phone connections Thursday.
After 8 months of conflict, what's next for Ukraine?
Journalist Victoria Butenko reported from Kiev and CNN's Diana Magnay from eastern Ukraine, while Laura Smith-Spark wrote and reported in London. CNN's Alla Eshchenko and Ariana Williams contributed to this report.
When Americans leave for jihad
8/27/2014 3:35:07 PM
- Peter Bergen, David Sternman: First American known killed while fighting for ISIS
- Writers: Other Americans drawn to ISIS, al-Nusra in Syria; 100 have fought or tried to
- No American involved with ISIS or Nusra charged with plotting attack inside U.S., they say
- Writers: Tracking the foreign fighters is a key priority for counterterrorism efforts
Editor's note: Peter Bergen is CNN's national security analyst, a vice president at the New America Foundation and the author of "Manhunt: The Ten-Year Search for bin Laden -- From 9/11 to Abbottabad." David Sterman is a research associate at the New America Foundation. This article is adapted from a commentary that appeared earlier this month.
(CNN) -- Douglas McAuthur McCain grew up in the Minneapolis area. Aged 33, he died more than 6,000 miles to the east of his birthplace, fighting in Syria for ISIS, the group that calls itself the "Islamic State."
ISIS is a group that even al Qaeda has rejected, in part, for its reprehensible tactics, which run to public crucifixions.
McCain's transformation to a militant jihadist left his family "devastated," his uncle, Ken McCain, told CNN.
McCain is the first American known to have been killed while fighting for ISIS. But he is not the only American drawn to the group or to al Qaeda's affiliate in Syria, the al-Nusra Front.
In May 2014, Moner Abu-Salha, a 22-year-old American citizen from Florida, conducted a suicide bombing on behalf of Nusra. Abu-Salha had reportedly re-entered the United States after he received training from the group in Syria and before returning to the conflict.
Abu-Salha is the first American suicide bomber known to have died in Syria.
Some 100 other Americans are believed to have either fought in Syria since 2011 or been arrested before they could get there.
According to a count by the New America Foundation, eight of these individuals have been indicted for traveling, attempting to travel, or facilitating the travel of others to fight with ISIS or the al-Nusra Front.
Some of these cases involved those who tried to join ISIS or Nusra, but were arrested before they could leave the States:
• Abdella Tounisi, an 18-year-old American citizen from Aurora, Illinois, was arrested and charged with attempting to provide material support to Nusra. On April 19, 2013, he was caught in a sting operation and said that he had no combat skills to speak of: "Concerning my fighting skills, to be honest, I do not have any." Tounisi pleaded not guilty and awaits trial.
• Basit Sheikh, a North Carolina man, was arrested in November 2013 at Raleigh-Durham International Airport in North Carolina while allegedly trying to fly to Lebanon in order to join Nusra. He awaits trial.
• Nicholas Teausant, a 20-year-old from California, was arrested in March 2014 while allegedly traveling to join ISIS. Teausant pleaded not guilty and awaits trial.
• Shannon Conley, a 19-year-old Denver woman, was arrested in April 2014 and charged with attempting to provide material support to ISIS. She awaits trial.
• Adam Dandach, a 20-year-old Orange County man, was arrested at John Wayne Airport while allegedly attempting to travel to join ISIS. Dandach was charged with lying about needing a passport replacement to conceal that the real reason he needed to replace his passport was that his mother had hidden his original passport to prevent his travel. He awaits trial.
• In December, Sinh Vinh Ngo Nguyen, an American citizen from southern California, pleaded guilty to a charge of attempting to provide material support to al Qaeda. Between December 2012 and April 2013, Nguyen had traveled to Syria, where, he stated, he fought alongside Nusra. On his return, Nguyen discussed with an informant his intent to participate further in jihad.
• In August 2013, Gufran Mohammed, a naturalized American citizen living in Saudi Arabia, was charged with attempting to provide material support to Nusra in Syria by facilitating the recruitment of experienced fighters from al Qaeda's Somali affiliate to travel to Syria.
• Michael Todd Wolfe, a 23-year-old Texas man, pleaded guilty to attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization by traveling to Syria to fight with ISIS.
Because of the murky nature of the Syrian conflict, it is sometimes a challenge to identify the groups that Americans traveling to Syria are involved with.
Two cases -- those of Nicole Mansfield and Eric Harroun -- illustrate this difficulty. Mansfield, a Michigan woman, was killed in Syria in 2013, reportedly during a military clash. However, details on whether she was fighting in Syria and, if so, which group she fought for remain under investigation.
Harroun was indicted upon his return to the States in 2013 for fighting with Nusra, but it was later discovered that the FBI had mistranslated the name of the group he fought with and he had actually fought with a group that was not aligned with al Qaeda.
So far, no U.S. citizen involved in fighting or supporting Nusra or ISIS has been charged with plotting to conduct an attack inside the United States.
Further, ISIS' predecessor, al Qaeda in Iraq, never tried to conduct an attack on the American homeland, although it did bomb three American hotels in Jordan in 2005.
And it's also worth noting that in none of the successful terrorist attacks in the States since 9/11 -- such as the Boston Marathon bombings last year or Maj. Nidal Hasan's massacre at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009 -- did any of the convicted or alleged perpetrators receive training overseas.
Returning foreign fighters from the Syrian conflict pose a far greater threat to Europe, which has contributed a much larger number of foreign fighters to the conflict than the United States, including an estimated 700 from France, 450 from the United Kingdom and 270 from Germany.
Unlike in the United States, European countries have reported specific terrorist plots tied to returning Syrian fighters. Mehdi Nemmouche, a suspect in the May 24 shootings at a Jewish museum in Brussels, Belgium, that killed four people, spent about a year with jihadist fighters in Syria, according to the Paris prosecutor in the case. But Nemmouche's case is the only instance of lethal violence by a returning Syrian fighter in the West.
What can be done? Western governments are keenly aware of the problem of Syrian veterans coming home both radicalized and trained. The problem is that in some European countries with hundreds of returnees, it is just not possible to monitor all of them. That was vividly illustrated by the case of Nemmouche.
Information-sharing between Western governments about the identities of those who have traveled to Syria and have received militant training is the key to preventing more incidents such as the one at the Jewish Museum in Brussels.
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U.N.: Syria, ISIS committing war crimes
8/28/2014 2:13:33 AM
A U.N. probe is blasting both sides of the war in Syria, saying both are committing war crimes. Hala Gorani reports.
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Should sites block violent videos?
8/27/2014 10:56:34 PM
How do online video sites decide if they should block violent videos like James Foley's beheading? Samuel Burke reports.
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Solar system lives in huge bubble
8/27/2014 7:06:19 PM
- Scientists believe that a hot gas bubble was formed by multiple supernovas
- The event occurred 10 million years ago -- that's recent for a 13.8-billion-year-old universe
- The supernovas didn't explode close enough to wipe out our evolutionary ancestors
- There have been doubters but experiments corroborate existence of the hot gas bubble
(CNN) -- Ever feel like you live in a bubble?
You do. We all do.
Our whole solar system appears to, say space scientists, who published work last month corroborating its existence.
And, oh, what a bubble it is: About 300 light years long (about 1,764,000,000,000,000 miles), and its walls are made of hot gas. How hot? About a million degrees.
It's called the "Local Bubble" or "local hot bubble" and is shaped a little like a peanut.
Scientists believe it was formed by supernovas, the largest explosions in space, as NASA calls them, that occur when a large star blows up.
One supernova blasts out more energy in less than a second than our sun gives off in a million years, NASA says. A single explosion can outshine an entire galaxy.
'Like popcorn'
They usually occur about twice a century in the Milky Way Galaxy. But about 10 million years ago, a slew of them exploded right near our solar system.
"Supernovas went off like popcorn," NASA says.
In a universe about 13.8 billion years old, that's a recent event. Humans did not yet walk the Earth 10 million years ago, but monkeys did.
Those supernovas may have sent our evolutionary ancestors running scared, but they weren't enough to annihilate them.
Galactic hole
Fast forward 10 million years to the 1970s and 80s, when humans first began noticing what they'd later postulate was the bubble.
They were aiming more advanced telescopes at what's called the interstellar medium.
Between the planets and the stars of our galaxy is not just empty space. There are gasses, dust, ions -- and more -- sweeping around.
When astronomers poked around in our solar system for it, they found little to nothing. It was like we were living in a virtually empty hole, one that has only a single atom per every liter of space.
Around the same time, sensors launched outside of Earth's atmosphere revealed an abundance of something else coming from all directions -- x-ray radiation.
The idea that we live in a bubble was born:
So much interstellar medium was gone, because the exploding supernovas have blown it away, and and left us surrounded with their remnants of radiating gas.
Doubt, corroboration
But some scientists, in recent years, cast doubt on the Local Bubble model, saying the radiation could be the result of "charge exchange" -- passing solar winds stealing electrons and thereby emitting x-ray radiation.
Scientists from the University of Miami in Coral Gables picked up the gauntlet and developed a sensor to measure charge exchange radiation and fired it out of Earth's atmosphere atop a small NASA rocket two years ago.
It only took about five minutes for the detector to take a reading. Analyzing the data, the scientists determined that only 40% of the background x-ray emanates from within our solar system.
The rest of the glow, they say, must come from the searing gaseous walls of a big bubble we live in.
CNN's Dave Alsup contributed to this report
Freed journalist: 'I'm overwhelmed'
8/27/2014 10:08:07 AM
- Peter Theo Curtis thanks journalists but declines to make more than a few statements
- He apologizes to journalists that he can't say more, says he wants bonding time with mother
- Islamist militants had held the 45-year-old journalist in Syria for nearly two years
- Nancy Curtis says the release is bittersweet, coming shortly after another journalist's beheading
(CNN) -- After almost two years in captivity, Peter Theo Curtis is finally home.
The American released Sunday after being held in Syria briefly addressed a gaggle of reporters in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Wednesday.
"I had no idea when I was in prison so much effort was being expended on my behalf," he said, explaining that he was grateful for those who tried to secure his release from Islamist militants.
"Total strangers have been coming up to me (saying), 'Hey, we're just glad you're home,' said Curtis, who was dressed in jeans, sandals and a T-shirt.
"I suddenly remember how good the American people are and what kindness they have in their hearts," he added. "I'm overwhelmed by emotion."
The 45-year-old professional writer thanked journalists for expressing such great interest in him, but he said he had to bond with his mother and he just couldn't bring himself to give an interview now. "That's all I can say to you," he said, promising to give interviews later and "help you guys do your job."
"I will respond," he said, "but I can't do it now."
He then stepped away from the cameras.
An end to a traumatic ordeal
Curtis flew Tuesday from Tel Aviv, Israel, to the United States, stopping in Newark, New Jersey, before reuniting with his mother in Boston, his family said earlier in a news release.
"I have been so touched and moved, beyond all words, by the people who have come up to me today -- strangers on the airplane, the flight attendants and, most of all, my family to say welcome home," Curtis said.
Curtis' mother Nancy, said she was "overwhelmed with relief" that he had returned.
But given the recent death of American journalist James Foley, who was beheaded by militants with ISIS, she couldn't bring herself to celebrate.
Curtis was believed to have been captured in October 2012 and held by al-Nusra Front, a rebel group with ties to al Qaeda. Al-Nusra is a different rebel group than ISIS.
"I don't think anybody's in the mood of celebration. You know, we're relieved," Curtis earlier told CNN outside her home in Cambridge, Massachusetts. "But after the events of the last week and knowing those other children of my friends are in danger, you know, I have very conflicted emotions. I've come to know the other families as well, and these kids have a lot in common."
Matt Wormser, a Vermont resident and Peter Theo Curtis' former high school roommate, said it was a "very bittersweet time" for friends and relatives of the freed hostage.
"It's been tremendously difficult for Nancy," he said.
The first person Curtis contacted after confirming that her son had been released was Foley's mother, Diane, she told "ABC World News Tonight."
"You learn to get over the panic," Nancy Curtis told CNN's Anderson Cooper. "You learn to just take each hour as it comes."
Handing over a prisoner
The United Nations said Peter Theo Curtis was handed over Sunday to U.N. peacekeepers in the Golan Heights, which is under Israeli government control, and was given a medical checkup.
State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said Curtis was brought to Tel Aviv, for medical evaluations.
Harf said he appeared to be in good health.
Curtis made a brief call to his mother Sunday, Nancy Curtis said.
"He said, 'Mom, they're just being so nice to me. They put me in this wonderful hotel, and I'm drinking a beer, and there are women out there,' " she recalled. "Because he's been in a cellar for two years, and he hasn't seen anything, no street life or obviously no women to be seen, and so he was really excited, and he was thrilled to be in Tel Aviv and frustrated that he can't go out because the place apparently is surrounded by paparazzi."
Curtis expressed gratitude to many for helping secure her son's release, including the FBI, Secretary of State John Kerry, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Atlantic Media Chairman and owner David Bradley, U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power and, especially, the government of Qatar.
"Here's this extraordinary woman, and she said, 'We are going to get Theo free,' and after we made those contacts, things moved rapidly," Curtis said of Alia Al Thani, Qatar's permanent representative to the United Nations.
Qatar recently helped arrange the exchange of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the only U.S. service member held by militants in Afghanistan, for five Taliban detainees held in the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The United States was not involved in negotiations for Peter Theo Curtis' release but was aware of private efforts to secure the release, two U.S. law enforcement officials said.
Harf said Qatari officials "told the family very clearly that they did not pay ransom" -- something the United States government, as a policy, doesn't do when dealing with kidnappers and terrorists.
An author and journalist
Curtis is an author and freelance reporter who writes under the name Theo Padnos. He contributed articles about the Middle East to various publications, including the New Republic, The Huffington Post and the London Review of Books.
He has also published two books: "My Life Had Stood a Loaded Gun," a memoir about teaching literature to young offenders at a correctional facility in Vermont, and "Undercover Muslim: A Journey into Yemen," which investigates Islamic extremism.
He was born in Atlanta and graduated from Middlebury College in Vermont. Curtis holds a doctorate in comparative literature from the University of Massachusetts and is fluent in French and Arabic, according to a statement from his family. He also speaks German and Russian.
"He had spent six years living in the Middle East," Nancy Curtis said. "He is very interested in the culture; he is fluent in Arabic. And he sees himself as someone who can help interpret what's going on there. He's particularly good at relating to ... confused young people who are trying to give meaning to their lives. Some of them get sucked up into this world of jihad."
Fears heightened for Western hostages
Why freelance reporting is so dangerous
Foley's murder: 'A message to Britain'
CNN's Marisa Marcellino and Greg Botelho contributed to this report.
U.N. report blasts ISIS, Syria
8/28/2014 2:45:45 AM
A U.N. probe is blasting both sides of the war in Syria, saying both are committing war crimes. Hala Gorani reports.
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