(CNN)Buzz has surrounded HBO's new documentary "Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief," but Scientologist John Travolta is not a fan. Travolta told the Tampa Bay Times that he has not seen the documentary, "and I don't really care to." "I've been so happy with my (Scientology) experience in the last 40 years that I really don't have anything to say that would shed light on (a documentary) so decidedly negative," Travolta said. The actor, one of the Church of Scientology's most high-profile members along with stars like Tom Cruise and Kirstie Alley, is premiering his new film, "The Forger," in Clearwater, Florida. The HBO documentary is based on the book "Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief" by Lawrence Wright and is critical of the organization, which has close ties to the showbiz industry. Travolta said he believed the doc was a result of "people who were disgruntled with their experiences" with the Church of Scientology, which he touted as a positive experience for him. "I haven't experienced anything that the hearsay has (claimed), so why would I communicate something that wasn't true for me?" Travolta asked. "It wouldn't make sense, nor would it for Tom (Cruise), I imagine." He called Scientology "brilliant" and credited the church with helping him to survive the death of his teen son, Jett, after a seizure while the family was on vacation in the Bahamas in 2009. "Oh, my God, I wouldn't have made it," said Travolta, whose wife, Kelly Preston, is also a member. "Honestly."

Summary: The actor says he's not planning on seeing the buzzed-about documentary . He called Scientology "brilliant" Travolta credits the church with helping him deal with his son's death .


(CNN)Larry Johnson remembers the fear and feeling of helplessness from being on the SkyWest Airlines flight that made an emergency landing in Buffalo, New York. "I thought we were done," he said Thursday, one day later. "There was no doubt in my mind that we weren't going to land." Johnson was flying with his brother, his girlfriend and his 8-month-old son when he says a flight attendant came over the speaker asking for someone who was medically trained to help with a sick passenger. Minutes later, Johnson says, the attendant announced there was a pressurization problem and told passengers to prepare for the emergency landing. "You're going to feel dizzy and woozy and lightheaded, and you're not going to be able to breathe," Johnson recalled the flight attendant saying. The Federal Aviation Administration on Wednesday initially reported a pressurization problem with SkyWest Flight 5622, and said it would investigate. It later issued a statement that did not reference any pressurization issues. "It was like being trapped and you couldn't do anything. You have no control over it. Your body just felt pressured," Johnson said. Johnson said his girlfriend was seeing spots and that "when I was blinking, it was really bright. I could barely see." According to Marissa Snow, spokeswoman for SkyWest, three passengers reported a loss of consciousness while on the flight. Fifteen passengers were examined by medical personnel at the Buffalo airport, but no one was transported to the hospital, she said. The spokeswoman said that maintenance personnel found no indication of a pressurization problem with the aircraft, an Embraer E170, and that the airline continues to investigate the cause. An official with the National Transportation Safety Board told CNN that the agency is in communication with the FAA and SkyWest to gather information on the incident to better understand what took place. Mary Cunningham was the nurse on board who attended to the first sick passenger. "There was a woman, very lethargic, very nauseous, turning gray, just not looking good," Cunningham said. After administering oxygen to the woman, Cunningham, a nurse at Yale-New Haven Hospital in Connecticut, returned to her seat. Soon after, Cunningham said, she was called up again by the flight attendant after another women near the first started to lose consciousness. "It was something that was affecting oxygen in that area," which was near the middle of the plane, she said. Cunningham said she had to return to her seat after feeling lightheaded. There were 84 passengers on board the plane, including nine crew members. Flight 5622 was originally scheduled to fly from Chicago to Hartford, Connecticut. The plane descended 28,000 feet in three minutes. "It would feel like a roller coaster -- when you're coming over the top and you're going down," CNN aviation analyst Mary Schiavo said, describing how such a descent would feel. "You know that these pilots knew they were in a very grave and very serious situation." Johnson, flying to visit his parents with their only grandchild, was glad that roller coaster ride ended safely. "It was a shaky ride. It

Summary: Three passengers report a loss of consciousness on SkyWest flight . But officials say there is no evidence of a pressurization problem .


Washington (CNN)In a broad bipartisan vote, the Senate on Tuesday gave final approval to a Medicare reform bill that includes a permanent solution to the "doc fix," a method the government has used to ensure payments to Medicare providers will keep up with inflation. The bill, which passed 92 to 8, also includes a two-year extension of a popular children's health insurance program. The issue of payments to Medicare providers has been a thorny issue for years. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch of Utah called passage of the bill a "major, major accomplishment." "Tonight, the Senate is voting to retire the outdated, inefficiency-rewarding, common sense-defying Medicare reimbursement system," said Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, the top Democrat on the Finance Committee just before the final vote. The House approved the same bill overwhelmingly more than two weeks ago and President Barack Obama is expected to sign it. Senate passage came just hours before cuts to physicians would have taken place since the last temporary "doc fix" had already expired. Some conservative senators, including Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz of Texas, balked at the more than $200 billion price of the bill and pushed an amendment to have the costs offset. The bill, "institutionalizes and expands Obamacare policies that harm patients and their doctors while adding roughly half a trillion dollars to our long-term debt within two decades," Cruz said in a statement. "Any deal should be fully paid for and include significant and structural reforms to Medicare." But that amendment was defeated, as were several others from each party that came up for votes. Earlier, House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio warned the Senate not to change the bill. "Unless the Senate passes the House-passed 'doc fix,' significant cuts to physicians' payments will begin tomorrow," Boehner said. "We urge the Senate to approve the House-passed bill without delay." Cruz voted against the bill, as did Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, another Republican running for president. GOP presidential contender Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky voted for the bill.

Summary: Bill passes 92 to 8; passage came just hours before cuts to physicians would have taken place . GOP presidential candidates Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio vote against the bill, candidate Rand Paul votes for it .


Sao Paulo, Brazil (CNN)Brazilian police have arrested the treasurer of the ruling Workers' Party, bringing the bribery investigation at the state-run oil company Petrobras a step closer to President Dilma Rousseff. Federal police arrested Joao Vaccari Neto at his home in Sao Paulo on Wednesday morning. Vaccari faces charges of corruption and money laundering as part of the broader probe into corruption at Petrobras. Former executives who have turned state's evidence claim that construction companies paid large sums under the table to Petrobras officials and politicians in order to secure lucrative contracts with the oil giant. Vaccari has denied any wrongdoing and recently told a congressional commission that all donations to his party were legal and were reviewed by electoral authorities. Vaccari is the closest political figure to Rousseff so far implicated in the investigation. Rousseff herself has not been implicated, although she was the chairwoman of Petrobras when much of the alleged corruption took place. Rousseff has insisted she supports the probe and has not in any way interfered with the investigation. Sources quoted in Brazilian media have said investigators are looking at whether some of the bribes went toward Rousseff's election campaigns. Anger over what has ballooned into a multi-million dollar corruption scandal has eroded Rousseff's approval rating and prompted hundreds of thousands of Brazilians to take to the streets in protest. On Sunday, about half a million people participated in demonstrations across the country. But turnout was smaller than a month earlier, when roughly one million people marched in protest, raising questions about how long the demonstrations can last.

Summary: A top official with President Dilma Rousseff's ruling party is arrested in bribery probe . Joao Vaccari Neto denies wrongdoing, says all donations were legal . Hundreds of thousands of Brazilians have protested against Rousseff in the last few months .


(CNN)Fans of the late actor Paul Walker knew that watching him in "Furious 7" would be bittersweet. Even so, many moviegoers said the final scenes of the new film, which earned a record $146 million over the weekend, still packed an emotional wallop. "Not gonna lie, I shed a few tears at the end of Furious 7. The tribute to Paul Walker was very well done," one woman said Monday on Twitter. Hers was just one of a flood of messages on social media from people who said they got choked up during scenes featuring Walker, who died at 40 in a car crash in November 2013, before filming on "Furious 7" was completed. To finish Walker's scenes, the makers of the movie used body doubles, computer-generated images and even the actor's brothers. But it was the ending that really got to moviegoers. In finishing "Furious 7," the film's producers sought to retire Walker's character, Brian, while paying homage to his role in the blockbuster "Furious" action franchise. But they felt that killing him off might appear exploitative. "If they had gone down the other path, I think I would have refused to finish making this movie," director James Wan told BuzzFeed. Instead, the movie's makers chose to "retire Paul's character in the most sincere and elegant way (they) could," Wan said. Their idea was to have Brian retire from his dangerous, high-octane lifestyle out of a sense of responsibility to his growing family with girlfriend Mia, who is pregnant with their second child. A scene late in the movie shows him and Mia playing on a beach with their son while the crew looks on -- essentially saying goodbye. Then his longtime buddy Dom reminisces about their years together, leading to a montage of Walker scenes from the first six movies. The song that plays over the montage is "See You Again," a collaboration between Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth. Co-star Vin Diesel shared the video for the song late Sunday on his Facebook page, where it has more than 1.5 million likes. Fans on Twitter and Facebook mostly praised the movie's ending as a fitting tribute -- and an emotionally wrenching one. "Man I don't care how tough u are or how gangsta u claim to be . ...the last five minutes had me choked up in the movie theater ... I saw it 3 times in one day ... ...the ending is the deepest ending I've ever seen," one man wrote on the movie's Facebook page.

Summary: Moviegoers are tearing up during the emotional ending of "Furious 7" The movie's end is a tribute of sorts to actor Paul Walker, who died during filming .


(CNN)The lawyer for Robert Bates, an Oklahoma reserve deputy who fatally shot a man he meant to subdue with a Taser, on Saturday released documents that he says verify some of Bates' training as a law enforcement officer. The documents show Bates had one Taser training class over a six-and-a-half-year period, took three firearms training classes and qualified 10 times, from 2009 to 2014, to use a handgun. His evaluations say he got along with other officers and related well with the public. "Robert Bates has met all the requisite training required by Oklahoma to be a reserve deputy," said the lawyer, Scott Wood, in an interview with CNN. Read the documents . CNN could not independently confirm the documents were authentic. Wood said he got them from Bates, who asked the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office to provide his training records. The sheriff's office has turned down CNN's requests for the training documents, saying they are part of the investigation. Authorities did not reply Saturday to a request for comment on Wood's statements. The documents are important because Bates' training has become a central issue in the case. The lawyer for the family of the man who was killed claims that Bates, 73, wasn't qualified to be on the force, but received preferential treatment because he'd made donations to the agency and was a friend of the sheriff. The Tulsa World newspaper reported some supervisors in the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office were told to forge Bates' records and were reassigned when they refused. The Tulsa County Sheriff's Office has denied these allegations. The documents provided to CNN cover the period from July 22, 2008, to December 12, 2014. Bates had one Taser training class, on March 4, 2009, according to a document with a heading from The Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training, which sets the standards for training peace officers in the state. Wood said the council requires only one hands-on class on use of a Taser. Bates had weapons training once in September 2008 and twice in 2009, according to sheriff's office records that Bates obtained, Wood said. He scored high enough at the pistol range 10 times from September 24, 2009, to April 9, 2014, that he was allowed to carry a handgun while on duty, Wood said. Bates is charged with second-degree manslaughter in the death of Eric Harris. Friends and family of Harris gathered in Tulsa on Saturday afternoon for a visitation and viewing. Bates is free on $25,000 bond. He says he meant to use his Taser on Harris during the April 2 arrest but accidentally fired his handgun instead. "I shot him! I'm sorry!" Bates is heard saying on video of the incident. Bates, an insurance company executive, has gone to his own defense. In an interview Friday with the "Today" show on NBC, Bates said he had the documentation to show he had completed the necessary training required of reserve deputies. "That is absolutely the truth. I have it in writing," he told the show. Questions have already been raised about Bates' training

Summary: Reserve deputy Robert Bates said he meant to use a Taser but accidentally shot and killed a man . Lawyer for slain man's family says Bates wasn't qualified to be on the force and received preferential treatment . "Robert Bates has met all the requisite training required by Oklahoma to be a reserve deputy," Bates' lawyer says .


(The Hollywood Reporter)"The Rocky Horror Picture Show" is the latest musical getting the small-screen treatment. Fox is developing a two-hour remake of the 1975 cult classic to be directed, executive-produced and choreographed by Kenneth Ortega ("High School Musical"). The project, tentatively titled "The Rocky Horror Picture Show Event," is casting-contingent. The special will be filmed in advance and not air live, but few details beyond that are known. In addition to Ortega, Gail Berman and Lou Adler, who produced the original film, are also attached as executive producers. The special will be produced by Fox 21 Television Studios, and Berman's The Jackal Group. The special is timed to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the film, which has grossed more than $112 million and still plays in theaters across the country. TV premiere dates: The complete guide . This isn't the first stab at adapting "The Rocky Horror Picture Show." In 2002, Fox unveiled plans for an adaptation timed to the 30th anniversary that never came to fruition. The faces of pilot season 2015 . Fox's "Glee" covered several of the show's most popular songs for a Season 2 episode and even released a special "The Rocky Horror Glee Show" EP. There is no plan yet for when the adaptation will air. Fox also has a live musical production of "Grease", starring Julianne Hough and Vanessa Hudgens, scheduled to air on Jan. 31, 2016. Broadcast TV scorecard . Following in the footsteps of "The Sound of Music" and "Peter Pan," NBC recently announced plans to air a live version of The Wiz later this year. Ortega's credits include "Gilmore Girls," "This Is It" and "Hocus Pocus." He is repped by Paradigm and Hanson, Jacobson. ©2015 The Hollywood Reporter. All rights reserved.

Summary: Fox plans to make a TV movie of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" Some of the producers behind the original film are involved . TV is in the midst of a musical craze .


(CNN)On the stage of a TV studio in Phnom Penh, Cambodian-American Ly Sivhong is telling an engrossed audience a tragic, but familiar, story. On April 17, 1975 -- 40 years ago today -- life as Ly knew it was shattered when her hometown, the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, fell to the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime of the Communist Party of Kampuchea. Ly, then 13, was separated from her mother and two of her sisters who, along with virtually the entire population of Phnom Penh -- about two million people -- were sent on a forced march into the countryside to work. Ly never saw them again, nor learned what happened to them. But about 20,000 people died from execution, starvation or exhaustion during this exodus at gunpoint, according to war crimes prosecutors; the others were subjected to slave labor in rural camps once they reached their destination, where many met similar fates. The urban evacuation marked the first phase in the Khmer Rouge's revolutionary program of social engineering, intended to establish a new order -- free of money, family ties, religion, education, property and foreign influence. Aimed at creating an agrarian utopia, it would instead prove one of the worst genocides of the modern era, resulting in the deaths of at least 1.7 million Cambodians -- about a quarter of the country's population -- over the next four years. Ly remained in the capital with her father and four other siblings, three of whom would succumb to starvation and disease in the following years, before her father was shot to death before her eyes in 1979. His killing prompted Ly to leave her sole remaining family member, youngest sister Bo, in the care of a local couple. She set out on her own, making her way to a refugee camp and eventually to the United States. For more than 30 years she has wondered what happened to her baby sister. "I think she was the only family member to survive," she says, with tears in her eyes. As she finishes her story, the producers usher a woman on the stage. It's Bo. Ly embraces her sister and both women sob. "I missed you so much," Ly says. "I've always searched for you," Bo tells her. Since production began five years ago, the television show, "It's Not A Dream," has reunited members of 54 Cambodian families shattered by the genocide. More than 1,500 have sought its help. The series is just one example of the ways in which Cambodia's traumatized society is beginning to undertake the fraught, painful business of reckoning with their history. "The scars of the Khmer Rouge are very deep and physical and present in modern Cambodia," said Theary Seng, a human rights lawyer whose parents were killed by the regime, and who moved to the U.S. as a refugee before returning to her homeland as an adult. She described the country as a "land of orphans." For decades after the Khmer Rouge were driven from Phnom Penh by Soviet-backed Vietnamese forces in January 1979, the regime's crimes were

Summary: Phnom Penh, the Cambodian capital, fell to the genocidal Khmer Rouge 40 years ago today . At least 1.7 million people were killed in the subsequent four years, before the regime was driven out . Decades on, the country is still struggling to gain justice for victims and heal from the genocide .


(CNN)Let's start with a pop quiz (space junkies can skip this test). True or False, Mercury is: . 1) The planet closest to the sun in our solar system . 2) So hot that water couldn't possibly exist there . 3) Something used in old-style glass thermometers . 4) A planet you don't think about very often . Answers: True, False, True (but not what we're talking about in this story) and I'm guessing No. 4 is true too. If you flunked the test, it might be because Mercury (the planet) suffers from bad (or very little) press. Or, maybe it's just bad lighting. Mercury orbits about 35,983,125 miles from the sun. Compare that to Earth -- we're about 93 million miles from the sun. Mercury's closeness to the sun makes it hard to see except at dawn and twilight. This may be one reason we don't think about it much. Venus, on the other hand, the planet between Earth and Mercury, appears to be the brightest planet in the sky. It's so bright it's been mistaken for an airplane. Pilot sends plane into dive after mistaking Venus for oncoming plane . But back to Mercury. It's getting some attention from the media now because it's about to get a visitor. The NASA spacecraft MESSENGER (an acronym for MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) is about to crash onto Mercury. The probe was launched in 2004 and traveled more than six and a half years before it started orbiting Mercury on March 18, 2011. Now, MESSENGER is running out of fuel and NASA says it will hit the planet's surface at 8,750 mph (3.91 kilometers per second) around April 30. You won't be able to see it hit because Messenger will crash on the side of Mercury facing away from Earth. There's no way to save the spacecraft, but mission operators at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, have been doing what they can to delay the inevitable. They've been using the little bit of fuel left on board to maneuver the spacecraft to keep it in orbit. They'll do one final maneuver on Friday, April 24. "Following this last maneuver, we will finally declare the spacecraft out of propellant, as this maneuver will deplete nearly all of our remaining helium gas," mission systems engineer Daniel O'Shaughnessy said at a recent media briefing. "At that point, the spacecraft will no longer be capable of fighting the downward push of the sun's gravity." But rather than mourn the loss, scientists held a briefing to celebrate the mission's success. "For the first time in history we now have real knowledge about the planet Mercury that shows it to be a fascinating world as part of our diverse solar system," said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. One of MESSENGER's big findings: It sent back data indicating that ice in Mercury's shadowed polar regions, if spread over an area the size of Washington, would be more than two miles thick, NASA

Summary: Spacecraft to crash on Mercury this month . MESSENGER probe has been in orbit since 2011 .


(CNN)Pope Francis reminded the world of the Vatican's status as a state and his role as a moral diplomat in his traditional speech given at the end of Easter Mass. The Pontiff lamented the suffering of people in the conflicts currently making headlines and called for violence everywhere to end. Foremost, he asked that bloodshed end in Iraq and Syria and that humanitarian aid get to those in need. "May the international community not stand by before the immense humanitarian tragedy unfolding in these countries and the drama of the numerous refugees," he said in his "urbi et orbi" address, Latin for "to the city (Rome) and to the world." Then he turned to the Holy Land, expressing the wish that the peace process between Israelis and Palestinians resume. Francis mentioned Libya; the nuclear talks with Iran in Lausanne, Switzerland; Yemen; Nigeria; South Sudan; and the shooting at the Garissa University College in Kenya. He also hoped for peace in Ukraine and for healing for those who have suffered there. The Pope turned to economic oppression: "We ask for peace and freedom for the many men and women subject to old and new forms of enslavement on the part of criminal individuals and groups," he said. He asked for peace from drug dealers, corrupt officials who collaborate with them, and arms dealers. Pope Francis ended the address consoling the marginalized, the poor, the sick and the suffering. And he wished all a happy Easter. CNN's Annie Ramos contributed to this report.

Summary: The Pontiff laments the suffering of people in conflicts currently making headlines . Foremost, he asks that bloodshed end in Iraq and Syria .


(CNN)It takes a village to raise a triathlete. Since returning home from our kickoff weekend where we got to experience life as a full-time triathlete, I've been juggling training life with a full-time job, hectic commute and time with friends and family. With my Fit Nation teammates spread far and wide, this was a solo effort. Throw in a notorious Chicago winter that refused to go gently into that good night, and I'll admit it: I was not very diligent in getting all of my training done. "Partner up," the Facebook status read. Jae Rockwell, the founder of my local women's fitness groups, Women RUN the World, posted this mantra to help us keep ourselves accountable. And so that's what I did. I'm lucky to count a handful of both experienced and aspiring triathletes among my friends. So, I reached out to them to ask what they were up to. Annastasia W., who's training for her first Ironman half-triathlon this summer, suggested a group brick workout at our local gym. She invited several other women, including complete newbies, through the SoleTri Sisters Facebook group and 10 of us met up on a cold Chicago morning to swim for 15 minutes, bike for 30 minutes and run for 15 minutes. That was great motivation to keep up with my workouts for the next week. A few weeks later, I traveled to Little Rock, Arkansas, to run a marathon. I traveled to Little Rock with three phenomenal "fitspirations": Samantha Goga, Natali Villarruel and Umber Rahman -- who are members of an obstacle course race group called the Midwest Vikings. Seeing how much fun they've had participating in some really daunting physical challenges helped me push through some of the more difficult moments of running my first marathon! Swimming remains my weakest link. I just learned to swim last summer. Sometimes I forget that and don't cut myself any slack or recognize how far I've come. Once my formal swim class ended in February I found myself seriously slacking on my swim training. Enter my swim angels, Lovie Twine and Eanista Bailey. They took me out into Lake Michigan last year after my first swim class was complete for a celebratory "swim" (which was really just wading). It was great to have them join me for a swim workout. I appreciated their perspective and gentle coaching. And you know what was happening while I was partnering up? Spring was on the way! And that meant I could finally break free of my Computrainer bike sessions and hit the road. I was lucky enough to connect with the Major Taylor Cycling Club of Chicago (MTC3) for a series of novice rides they've been hosting on local trails around Chicagoland. With two falls behind me (hey, those clips take some getting used to), we got in nearly 23 miles and a new addiction was born. Riding outside with the wind whipping your face, chasing your friends and breathing fresh air is exhilarating and I'm looking forward to many more rides outdoors. I want to say thank you

Summary: Working out in a group of friends inspired Fit Nation participant Erica Moore .


(CNN)Where do you go from here? The fourth season of "Game of Thrones" saw massive battles, major deaths (Tywin!) and White Walkers, but what can fans expect Sunday as we head into a fifth season of one of the most popular shows in HBO history? It's the most high-profile premiere yet, airing simultaneously in 170 countries for the first time. (HBO is a Time Warner company, like CNN.) We sought out "Thrones" aficionado Doug Gross, a writer for Nerdwallet and a former CNN employee, who had a few thoughts on the matter (beware, TV fans, he has read the books). "We're going to start seeing some of the show's major story arcs coming together," Gross said (as confirmed by the executive producers). "Already, Stannis has shown up at the Wall to save Jon Snow and the rest of the Night's Watch from the wildlings," he said. "Now we'll see how his quest for the Iron Throne collides with the Watch's supposedly non-political role protecting the realm." Tyrion's path should cross with Daenerys' this season, according to the trailers. "Season five also will be unique in that some of the major story arcs will clearly be moving ahead of where George Martin is in the 'Song of Ice and Fire' books," Gross pointed out. Executive producer David Benioff told Rolling Stone, "We are starting to build to a crescendo, which means the battles have to get bigger and things have to get more dramatic." Indeed, this fifth season means we're past the halfway point, with the show currently set to end after seven years. The Stark daughters, Arya and Sansa, will be the characters to watch this season, as will Cersei. The world of Westeros is constantly plagued by war, but is there a time when people have just had enough? "Wars are waged by the nobles, but it's the common folk who suffer," Gross noted. "And, this season, we'll get a glimpse of what happens when those common people have had enough."

Summary: The smash hit series "Game of Thrones" returns for a fifth season Sunday . Major story arcs should start to converge this year .


(CNN)WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has agreed to be interviewed by Swedish prosecutors in London, his lawyer in Sweden told CNN. Assange has been holed up in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London since June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden, where prosecutors want to question him about 2010 allegations that he raped one woman and sexually molested another. According to the lawyer, Thomas Olsson, Swedish prosecutors will now have to reach out to British and Ecuadorian authorities to request permission to conduct the interview at the embassy. The prosecutors previously balked at coming to Britain to question Assange. However, some of the alleged crimes will be subject to a statute of limitations in August 2015, according to a statement from Marianne Ny, the director of public prosecutions. Ny explained the logic behind the Swedish authorities' change of approach in her statement. "My view has always been that to perform an interview with him at the Ecuadorian embassy in London would lower the quality of the interview, and that he would need to be present in Sweden in any case should there be a trial in the future," Ny said. "This assessment remains unchanged. Now that time is of the essence, I have viewed it therefore necessary to accept such deficiencies to the investigation and likewise take the risk that the interview does not move the case forward, particularly as there are no other measures on offer without Assange being present in Sweden." The Australian national has not been charged and denies the claims. Assange has said he fears Sweden would extradite him to the United States, where he could face the death penalty if he is charged and convicted of publishing government secrets through WikiLeaks. Ecuador granted Assange political asylum in 2012. CNN's Per Nyberg contributed to this report.

Summary: The WikiLeaks founder is wanted for questioning over sexual abuse claims; he denies the allegations . Assange has been holed up in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London since June 2012 .


(CNN)It's the kind of thing you see in movies, like Robert Redford's role in "All Is Lost" or Ang Lee's "Life of Pi." But, in real life, it's hard to swallow the idea of a single person being stranded at sea for days, weeks, if not months and somehow living to talk about it. Miracles do happen, though, and not just in Hollywood. We're not talking about people who float aimlessly or run aground after running out of gas or being let down by faltering winds only to be picked up a few hours later by the U.S. Coast Guard. Much rarer are cases in which individuals become lost at sea long enough that they run out of whatever food and drinking water they'd brought aboard, if any. In order to survive, they can't bank on technology or the proximity of a nearby city, town or boat -- but instead must rely on ingenuity, resourcefulness and luck. It's hard to say how many of these types of stories end sadly, with a sailor dying at sea, except that it is a much higher number than those that end in rescues. Such happy endings do occur -- given what rescue agencies have reported and assuming you believe what any sole survivor says, a big qualifier since typically no one else can prove or refute their accounts. Below are a few recent examples: . Louis Jordan says that he set off on his 35-foot sailboat from South Carolina in late January. He headed into the Gulf Stream looking for a good spot to catch fish. And then everything -- his boat, his life -- turned upside down. Rescued man says he is 'utterly thankful' Not only did his boat capsize, but its mast broke, Jordan said. And so, too, did his shoulder. He bought time by rationing water, then collecting fresh water in a bucket. As to food, Jordan says he used laundry to trap and scoop up fish. And he rigged a makeshift mast and sail. But, Jordan said, "It took so long. It moved so slowly." His sailboat would capsize two more times before crew members on a German-flagged container ship, the Houston Express, spotted Jordan about 200 miles off the North Carolina coast on Thursday. After their reunion, his father greeted him with a hug and an admission every parent dreads. "I thought I lost you." Jose Salvador Alvarenga says his journey began in Paredon Viejo, a port on Mexico's Pacific coast, in late 2012. The exact date is up for debate -- he says he set off in December, locals say it was November. But what's not in doubt is that, after he left, he disappeared. Until January 2013. That's when Alvarenga interacted with humans once again, thousands of miles away on a remote atoll in the Marshall Islands. Castaway recounts how he survived over a year adrift in Pacific . What was supposed to be a one-day trip, he says, turned into an arduous odyssey across the Pacific Ocean, one that saw him lose his fishing companion and tested

Summary: A South Carolina man says he spent 66 days alone at sea before being rescued . Other sole survivor stories include a Japanese man washed away by a tsunami . An El Salvador man says he drifted from Mexico to Marshall Islands over a year .


(CNN)They used to do the guarding at Florida prisons. Now they're the ones behind bars. Two Florida corrections officers and one former officer trainee have been charged in a plot to kill a former inmate who was getting out of prison, the Florida Attorney General's office said Thursday. An FBI informant met the men -- Thomas Jordan Driver, 25; David Elliot Moran, 47; and Charles Thomas Newcomb, 42 -- after infiltrating a branch of the KKK: the Traditional American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, CNN affiliate WJXT reported. Driver told the informant that he had gotten into a fight with the inmate and that he and Moran wanted him "six feet under," according to court documents. To convince the suspects that the deed had been done, the FBI staged a fake homicide scene with the former inmate and took pictures to show them that he had been killed. "When the FBI staged this crime scene and these photographs were shown to each of these men, they were happy about it," said Statewide Prosecutor Nick Cox. The three men are now facing up to 30 years in jail if convicted on one count each of conspiracy to commit murder. "We will not tolerate nor will we ever remain silent over the violence of hatred embedded in prejudice in this country," Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi said. CNN's Joe Sutton contributed to this report.

Summary: The men are current or former Florida prison guards . They are charged with one count of conspiracy to commit murder .


(CNN)A brutal raid on the Garissa University College in Kenya has left nearly 150 people dead -- including students -- and dozens more wounded. Gunmen attacked the campus early Thursday as morning prayers were underway, shooting indiscriminately and taking hostages before being killed by security forces, officials said. The U.S. Embassy in Nairobi said Al-Shabaab militants have claimed responsibility. The harrowing attack comes just months after Al-Shabaab militants murdered non-Muslim workers in a Kenyan quarry. The terrorist group has been behind numerous attacks in the region. It has also recruited some Americans, particularly from the Somali-American community in Minnesota. Al-Shabaab is a Somali group that the United States designated as a foreign terrorist organization in March 2008. It wants to turn Somalia into a fundamentalist Islamic state, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. The group has been blamed for attacks in Somalia that have killed international aid workers, journalists, civilian leaders and African Union peacekeepers. It has a history of striking abroad, too. Before admitting to the Kenya quarry attack, Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the July 2010 suicide bombings in Kampala, Uganda, that killed more than 70 people, including a U.S. citizen, who had gathered at different locations to watch the broadcast of the World Cup final soccer match. The total size of Al-Shabaab is not clear. In 2011, a U.S. official who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the information said the group was estimated to control up to 1,000 fighters. A United Nations report identified one insurgent leader who is believed to command "an estimated force of between 200 and 500 fighters," most of them Kenyans. And Al-Shabaab has links to other organizations. In February 2012, the group's leader, Ahmed Abdi Godane, and al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri released a video announcing the alliance of the two organizations. Decades of weak government amid grinding poverty have long made Somalia a target for radical Islamist groups. Al-Shabaab's predecessor was al-Ittihad al-Islami (AIAI), which worked to create an Islamist emirate in Somalia. It was partially funded by former al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. AIAI, which the U.S. State Department designated as a terrorist group, strengthened after the fall in 1991 of Siad Barre's military regime and during the years of lawlessness that ensued. In 2003, a rift erupted between AIAI's old guard -- which was seeking to establish a new political front -- and its younger members, who wanted to impose fundamental Islamic rule. (Al-Shabaab means "the youth.") That strife led the younger members to ally with a group of Sharia courts -- the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) -- that was seeking to impose order over a landscape marked by feuding warlords in the capital city. Working together, the Islamic Courts Union and Al-Shabaab gained control of Mogadishu in 2006. That sparked fears in neighboring Ethiopia that violence would spill over there, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. Those fears -- combined with a request from Somalia's transitional government -- led Ethiopian forces to enter Somalia in December 2006

Summary: Al-Shabaab is an al-Qaeda-linked militant group based in Somalia . It claimed responsibility for the deadly attack at a Kenyan mall in September 2013 . The group has recruited some Americans .


(CNN)Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Bishop Robert Finn, who remained on the job for years after becoming the highest-ranking U.S. Catholic official convicted in connection with the church's long-running sex abuse scandal, the Vatican announced Tuesday. Finn, who led the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Missouri, was found guilty in 2012 of failure to report suspected child abuse. The case was tried by a judge instead of by jury because prosecutors wanted to protect the young victims' anonymity. Finn was convicted of one count but not a misdemeanor charge he'd also faced. He was put on two years' probation but was not forced to spend time in jail or pay a fine, according to the Jackson County Prosecuting Attorney's Office. Two charges against his diocese were dropped. At the time of his conviction, Finn said, according to CNN affiliate KCTV: "I truly regret and am sorry for the hurt these events have caused." Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said the conviction and penalty, which included starting a $10,000 fund for sexual abuse counseling and mandatory training for church officials on how to report abuse, would have positive ramifications. "We can be assured now that if an allegation of child abuse comes to the attention of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, there will be no hesitation to report it immediately to the proper authorities," Baker said. The case against Finn revolved around his diocese's dealings with Shawn Ratigan, an Independence, Missouri, priest who pleaded guilty in August 2012 to five child pornography charges. Church officials found disturbing images on Ratigan's computer but didn't notify police until nearly five months later, prosecutors said. In those interceding months, the priest kept on working. And Finn kept his job as bishop, even after his 2012 conviction. The official website of the Catholic diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph still listed him as its bishop Tuesday morning. Cardinal Sean O'Malley, who took over the abuse-shaken Boston archdiocese and has become one of the Pope's point men in the United States, has acknowledged the inconsistency that someone who wouldn't be allowed to teach Sunday school was still running an American diocese. "It's a question that the Holy See needs to address urgently," O'Malley said in a "60 Minutes" interview in November. "There's a recognition of that ... from Pope Francis." Candida Moss -- a professor at Notre Dame, a Catholic university in Indiana -- said it "doesn't look very urgent" that a decision came down only now, nearly three years after the conviction and five months after O'Malley's comments. Several factors may have played a role in the delay, including views from lawyers or power players at the Vatican, who may be reluctant to cast blame at high-level officials who don't report allegations quickly enough to government authorities. But the timing of the announcement may make sense given that it comes weeks after Francis came under fire for the installation of a new bishop in Chile, Juan Barros, despite protesters' claims he was complicit in sexual abuse cases there. "It kind of shook Francis' reputation,"

Summary: Expert: Decision "doesn't look very urgent," but it appears "well-timed" for Pope Francis . Robert Finn remained a bishop after a 2012 conviction for failure to report abuse . Leader of watchdog group calls the Pope's decision "a good step but just the beginning"


Washington (CNN)This week is the 100th anniversary of what many historians acknowledge as the Armenian genocide -- the Turkish massacre of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians . And it's also the seventh year in a row President Barack Obama has broken his promise to use the word "genocide" to describe the atrocity. It's a moral position taken by Pope Francis, actor George Clooney and even by the Kardashians. On the 2008 campaign trail, Obama promised to use the word "genocide" to describe the 1915 massacre by Turks of Armenians -- a pledge he made when seeking Armenian-American votes. Back then, he held up his willingness to call it a "genocide" as an example of why he was the kind of truth-telling candidate the nation needed. 8 things to know about the mass killings of Armenians 100 years ago . In 2006, after the U.S. Ambassador to Armenia was asked to resign for using the term Armenian genocide, then-Sen. Obama hammered the Bush administration for not taking a stand. "The Armenian genocide is not an allegation, a personal opinion, or a point of view, but rather a widely documented fact supported by an overwhelming body of historical evidence," he said. But that was then. And now, as was the case with Bush, Obama regards Turkey -- the only Muslim majority country in NATO -- as a more crucial ally than Armenia. Turkey has the second-largest military in NATO, behind only the U.S., and is a crucial ally when it comes to Syria, ISIS, Iran and other Middle East issues. And Turkey denies this history. "We cannot define what happened in 1915 as a genocide," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told CNN on Tuesday. Why Turkey won't say the G-word when it comes to the Armenians . In her Pulitzer Prize-winning book about genocide, Obama's current Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power hammered U.S. policy makers for not acknowledging or acting to stop such atrocities. "No U.S. president has ever made genocide prevention a priority, and no U.S. president has ever suffered politically for his indifference to its occurrence. It is thus no coincidence that genocide rages on," she wrote.

Summary: Obama promised Armenian-Americans he would call the atrocity genocide during the 2008 campaign. The White House views Turkey as a more crucial ally than Armenia. Pope Francis, actor George Clooney, and even the Kardashians have taken the moral position, calling it the Armenian genocide.


(CNN)When drinkers in Clayton's, a beachfront bar in South Padre Island, Texas, belly up for a round of shots, bartender Casey Belue can usually guess what they'll order. It comes in a yellow-labeled bottle with a fire-breathing demon on it. It tastes like Big Red chewing gum. It's Fireball Cinnamon Whisky, and lately it's been as hot as its name. "Fireball is number one, definitely. That's pretty much the chosen shot," said Belue, who enjoys it herself now and then. "On an average night, we probably go through three or four bottles." If you're young -- say, under 35 -- this may not be news to you. Fireball, which didn't exist in its current form a decade ago, is the fastest-growing big brand of liquor in America. Retail sales more than doubled last year, and Fireball has come seemingly out of nowhere to become the sixth-most popular liquor brand in the U.S. as measured by retail sales -- ahead of such venerable labels as Jim Beam, Jose Cuervo and Grey Goose. And these figures don't include sales in bars, where Fireball has dethroned Jagermeister as America's party shot of choice. Or social media feeds, which fill with photos of Fireball-flavored revelry and #FireballFriday hashtags. "Fireball is an incredible phenomenon. The growth of it has just been astounding," said Lew Bryson, managing editor of Whisky Advocate and author of several books on whiskey and other spirits. "For a whiskey, this is unprecedented." To the uninitiated, Fireball is basically made from Canadian whisky, aged in used bourbon barrels, flavored with sweetener and spicy cinnamon. (The "whisky" spelling generally refers to Scotches or Canadian varieties, while "whiskey" refers to Irish or American styles.) Its slogan is "Tastes like heaven, burns like hell," but that's an exaggeration. Fireball has a kick, but it doesn't burn as much as straight whiskeys, cheap tequilas or even the Atomic Fireball hard candy that helped inspire its name. It's also only 66 proof, or 33% alcohol -- less than most whiskeys. "It's so easy to drink that you forget you're drinking alcohol. It's very sweet. You hardly taste the whiskey at all," said Zachary Jones, a bartender at Community Smith in Atlanta. "I've known people who can't do shots, but they can do Fireball." Fireball is especially popular among young drinkers and women, many of whom say they like that it doesn't singe their throat and leaves a Dentyne-like aftertaste. But not everyone is a fan. Whiskey enthusiasts -- the types who can talk knowledgeably about single-malt Scotches -- mostly turn up their noses at the stuff. "I've got to be honest: It's not anything I'd reach for, at any occasion," Bryson said. "But clearly I'm not in the mainstream." Fireball wasn't always Fireball. It used to be known as Dr. McGillicuddy's Fireball Whisky before its maker, the Sazerac Co., rebranded it in 2006. Sales were modest until about five years ago, when Sazerac hired a "national brand ambassador," Richard Pomes, to spread the word about Fireball through event planning and bartender outreach. In other words, Pomes traveled the country

Summary: Fireball Cinnamon Whisky is the fastest-growing big brand of liquor in America . The liquor has dethroned Jagermeister as America's party shot of choice . Whisky expert: "Fireball is an incredible phenomenon. The growth ... has just been astounding"


(CNN)You probably never knew her name, but you were familiar with her work. Betty Whitehead Willis, the designer of the iconic "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign, died over the weekend. She was 91. Willis played a major role in creating some of the most memorable neon work in the city. The Neon Museum also credits her with designing the signs for Moulin Rouge Hotel and Blue Angel Motel . Willis visited the Neon Museum in 2013 to celebrate her 90th birthday. Born about 50 miles outside of Las Vegas in Overton, she attended art school in Pasadena, California, before returning home. She retired at age 77. Willis never trademarked her most-famous work, calling it "my gift to the city." Today it can be found on everything from T-shirts to refrigerator magnets. People we've lost in 2015 .

Summary: Willis never trademarked her most-famous work, calling it "my gift to the city" She created some of the city's most famous neon work .


(CNN)You know the phrase "dodging a bullet"? Forget about it. Probably not going to happen anymore. The U.S. military said this week it has made great progress in its effort to develop a self-steering bullet. In February, the "smart bullets" -- .50-caliber projectiles equipped with optical sensors -- passed their most successful round of live-fire tests to date, according to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA. In the tests, an experienced marksman "repeatedly hit moving and evading targets," a DARPA statement said. "Additionally," the statement said, "a novice shooter using the system for the first time hit a moving target." In other words, now you don't even have to be a good shot to hit the mark. The system has been developed by DARPA's Extreme Accuracy Tasked Ordnance program, known as EXACTO. "True to DARPA's mission, EXACTO has demonstrated what was once thought impossible: the continuous guidance of a small-caliber bullet to target," said Jerome Dunn, DARPA program manager. "This live-fire demonstration from a standard rifle showed that EXACTO is able to hit moving and evading targets with extreme accuracy at sniper ranges unachievable with traditional rounds. Fitting EXACTO's guidance capabilities into a small .50-caliber size is a major breakthrough and opens the door to what could be possible in future guided projectiles across all calibers," Dunn said. Videos supplied by DARPA show the bullets making sharp turns in midair as they pursue their targets. It all conjures up images of a cartoon character frantically fleeing a bullet that follows him wherever he goes. Only, these bullets are traveling at hundreds of miles per hour. And even the Road Runner can't run that fast. DARPA says the smart bullets will also help shooters who are trying, for example, to hit targets in high winds. The goals of the EXACTO program are giving shooters accuracy at greater distances, engaging targets sooner and enhancing the safety of American troops, DARPA said.

Summary: .50-caliber bullets equipped with optical sensors can follow moving targets . The "smart bullets" can help shooters compensate for high winds . The goal of the program is to give shooters greater range and make American troops safer .


(CNN)One war was enough for Gregory Margolin. Now 87 years old, he was a 16-year-old Jewish recruit when he fought in the Soviet Red Army. As he fought the Nazis in World War II, his family fled. "I did not show that I was Jewish," Margolin says. "But it did not matter because people were being killed left and right. All around me." This year, in Ukraine, he found himself again surrounded by war. Margolin was a sniper who rose to be a commander in the army. His old uniform is still adorned with medals from his time in the military. His granddaughter Liora still marvels at his stories from the war. She is amazed that he managed to survive. Suffering from Alzheimer's disease, a degenerative condition that impairs memory, he struggles to remember his own life sometimes, but he remembers the horrors of war. His eyes slowly shift back and forth as he seeks the right word. Or perhaps the right memory. His hands shake ever so slightly. It seems he knows he has lived a life. He is just trying to remember all the details. "People were hiding in shelters under the ground," Liora says of the stories Margolin once told. "They were being shot at point blank range. It was terrible." "[The Nazis] would have erased us from the Earth," Margolin remembers. "They attacked us and we fought back." After the war, Margolin settled in Donetsk in Eastern Ukraine. His family grew. He built a life. Then, decades later, he found himself in the middle of a war once again. "A missile fell and the house was destroyed. We were attacked," Margolin says. "A missile fell. I remember." Margolin's family lived in a neighborhood next to the Donetsk airport, near some of the most intense fighting in Eastern Ukraine as pro-Russian separatists battled the Ukrainian army. Margolin, who had survived one war, was able to survive another, even as the stray missile hit his house on February 10. It spared him, but it killed his daughter Ira. "The moment it happened, we decided that's it. Here and now, we're moving to Israel," says Liora. "This is the safest place." Margolin arrived in Israel on March 24. Asked why the family waited to leave the war-torn region of Eastern Ukraine, Liora says they felt they would be fine in Donetsk, while Liora prayed for their safety from Israel. "No matter how much we're afraid of the next war here and as much as it's not quiet here, it is the quietest place." Margolin came over in a wave of Ukrainian Jewish immigration to Israel that coincided with the beginning of hostilities in Eastern Ukraine. The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, an organization that works to build interfaith understanding and support for Israel, has brought 600 Jews to Israel since December, Margolin among them. Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, the fellowship's founder, says, "We set up a refugee center. It's the first time since the Holocaust that the Jewish world has had to set up a refugee center for these Jews who

Summary: International Fellowship of Christians and Jews has brought 600 Jews to Israel since December . The Margolin family is among them; their home in Eastern Ukraine was bombed .


(CNN)Larry Upright died just one day after Hillary Clinton announced she was running for president. And in his obituary, his family made just two requests: please donate to a children's hospital, and please don't vote for Clinton. Upright, a staunch Republican, died Monday at a North Carolina hospital. He was 81. "In lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent to Shriners Hospital for Children," his obituary reads. "Also, the family respectfully asks that you do not vote for Hillary Clinton in 2016. R.I.P. Grandaddy." Daughter Jill McLain said it was natural to put that line in her father's tribute. "He was very passionate about politics and probably passed a little of that on," she told CNN affiliate WSOC. Son Michael Upright said he knew his father would enjoy the request. "We know he's up there giggling right now, just laughing out loud," he told WSOC. Upright's passions included much more than just politics. His greatest joy was his family, and he was a former Shriner of the Year at the Cabarrus Shrine Club, according to his obituary. After retiring from the building automation industry, he became an avid golfer. But it's the last few lines of his obituary that is spurred comments from across the country. "You have my solemn promise I will not waste a vote on Hillary Clinton," Marina Shear of Dallas wrote in the obituary's online guestbook. "You were a wise man, Larry Upright," said Ron Renno of Forsyth, Georgia. "I will remember your request in November 2016. Rest in peace, Sir." Nigel Dufont of Kannapolis, North Carolina, offered his condolences but said he wouldn't budge on his support of Clinton. "So sorry to hear about Larry, but I am still voting for Hilary!" he wrote. And an anonymous commenter stayed open-minded to whoever might enter the field. "May you rest in peace. I will vote for Hillary if she is the best candidate."

Summary: Larry Upright's family says he would enjoy the request . Some vow to honor it, but others say they'll still vote for Hillary Clinton .


(CNN)Anthony Ray Hinton is 58 years old. But in many ways, he is new to the world -- at least the one we know. Little things like using a fork, going out at night, tucking into bed without anyone checking on you; they're all strange for someone like Hinton who spent nearly 30 years on Alabama's death row. Until one week ago, when his murder convictions were wiped clean, and Hinton walked out of a county jail in Birmingham. "I have to pinch myself to tell myself that I'm free," he told CNN's Brooke Baldwin on Friday. "It's going to take a little time, but I'll get used to it." Hinton had to get used to much worse. For 30 years, he spent most of his time locked in a 5-by-7 cell. There was no going outside at night. The only permissible eating utensil was a plastic spoon. And life in the outside world passed him by: Hinton said his hardest day came in 2002, when he learned his mother had died. Hinton was convicted of killing two men -- Birmingham-area fast-food restaurant managers John Davidson and Thomas Wayne Vason -- but he always said he was innocent. Alabama inmate freed after 30 years on death row . The state decided to dismiss the charges against him after a new trial was ordered in 2014 when firearms experts testified that the revolver Hinton was said to have used could not be matched to other evidence in the case. The two killings also couldn't be linked to each other. Talking Friday to CNN, Jefferson County District Attorney Brandon Falls said the evidence simply wasn't there to retry the case. Falls pointed out that analysts testified that the ballistics evidence was "inconclusive" as to whether the bullets came from the gun in question. The victim of a similar crime did identify Hinton as her attacker, but that victim and a witness to that incident have since died, Falls said. When asked if Hinton's ordeal was an injustice, because the evidence about guns that helped convict Hinton should have been ruled inconclusive in 1985, Falls said, "It appears it was." The last time Hinton was free, Ronald Reagan was president, "Back to the Future" ruled the box office, and a first-class stamp cost 22 cents. He didn't get to see firsthand how the world changed in the decades since. His life was defined by a preordained routine: when to eat, when to leave his cell, when to sleep. Hinton didn't even see the moon and stars, really, for all these years. Did he ever want to give up? "I didn't come too close to a breaking point," Hinton said. "But I would be lying to you if I didn't tell you that Satan didn't tell me to kill myself. ... I would immediately tell Satan to get ... behind me." What got him through all those tough times, he said, was his sense of humor. "I had no choice," Hinton said of his ability to laugh and make others do the same. "It was something

Summary: Anthony Ray Hinton was freed Apri 3, decades after conviction for two murders . Things like using a fork, getting used to the dark are challenges now that he's out . He says his sense of humor helped him survive 30 years in prison .


Beijing (CNN)A day after the Chinese government released five young feminists on bail, their families and supporters expressed mixed emotions on the unexpected development. Wei Tingting, Wang Man, Zheng Churan, Li Tingting and Wu Rongrong were freed from the Haidian Detention Center on the outskirts of Beijing late Monday. The five activists on women's rights -- aged from 25 to 32 -- were picked up by police in three different cities just before March 8, the International Women's Day. They had been planning a campaign against sexual harassment on public transportation. "I'm still speechless and don't know how to react," tweeted Li's girlfriend Suan Xiaola to the couple's friends upon hearing the news. "No tears, no ecstasy... just wondering what we're going to do next." "I can't hide my happiness for the women but being released on bail is not the end of their ordeal," echoed Li's lawyer Yan Xin on Chinese social media. "Without closing their cases, they still can't live without shackles -- we'll have our work cut out for us." Police had recommended last week that prosecutors press charges of "assembling a crowd to disturb public order," which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison. The women are still considered suspects in an ongoing criminal investigation and may face charges in the future, Wu's lawyer Liang Xiaojun told CNN. They will be under surveillance for a year with their movements and activities restricted, and police can summon them for questioning at any time, Liang added. "This shouldn't be a moment of celebration," he said. "The arbitrary detention and release of these women really shows the backwardness of China's legal system." Under China's household registration system, only Li is considered a Beijing resident. Police sent the other four back to their hometowns, disrupting their work and lives, according to the women's lawyers. Many have called the five members of Women's Rights Action Group trailblazers. Staging their protests through performance art or flash mobs, they highlighted feminist causes ranging from fighting domestic violence, gender equality at work, to more female public bathrooms -- drawing nationwide attention and even state media praise. Their detention had drawn widespread condemnation, including from the United States. "Each and every one of us has the right to speak out against sexual harassment and the many other injustices that millions of women and girls suffer around the world," said John Kerry, the U.S. Secretary of State, in a statement Friday. "We strongly support the efforts of these activists to make progress on these challenging issues, and we believe that Chinese authorities should also support them, not silence them." Kerry's predecessor Hillary Clinton -- a longtime champion of women's rights who just announced her bid for the U.S. presidency -- called the jailing of the feminists "inexcusable" on Twitter, joining the "free the five" hashtag campaign. China had rejected all international criticisms, insisting it's a country ruled by law and that its judicial sovereignty be respected. Supporters of the woman activists, however, sense the chilling effect of their ordeal on China's nascent civil society, as the

Summary: Wei Tingting, Wang Man, Zheng Churan, Li Tingting and Wu Rongrong freed . They're still considered suspects in an ongoing criminal investigation, may face charges in the future . They will be under surveillance for a year with their movements and activities restricted .


(CNN)The listeria outbreak that prompted Blue Bell Creameries to recall their entire product line dates to 2010, according to the Centers for Disease Control. After weeks of gradual recalls, the company recalled all its ice cream, frozen yogurt, sherbet and other frozen treats sold in 23 states because they could be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, the company said Monday. The bacteria can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, the elderly and others with weak immune systems. The CDC recommends consumers do not eat any Blue Bell brand products. Three people in Kansas have died in the past year and 10 people in four states have fallen ill from the bacteria believed to have come from Blue Bell products, the CDC said Tuesday. One person became sick in Arizona, five in Kansas, one in Oklahoma and three in Texas, the CDC said. People first became sick in January 2010, the CDC said. The agency connected patients from 2010-2015 to the current outbreak through comparisons to a database of bacteria DNA. The origin of the strain is still unknown, but "the fact that it was the same strain over the last five years suggests it could have lurked somewhere in the factory the whole time," said Dr. Robert Tauxe, deputy director of the CDC Division of Foodborne, Waterborne and Environmental Diseases. Tauxe said there may be more people sickened by listeria than the CDC knows about. The "rough estimate" is one more case exists for every case the CDC hears about, he said. "There may be cases that never got diagnosed and we are looking at the patterns, the DNA patterns, to guide us to which cases might be related," he said. "If tomorrow someone found another completely different pattern from (Blue Bell) ice cream products, we'd be looking to see if there were related cases to that as well." Tauxe said the listeria strains found in Texas are different than those found in Oklahoma. "It looks to us like there was one group of closely related strains related to ice cream from one factory and another different group related to a different factory," Tauxe said. "We don't think something contaminated both factories." Blue Bell decided to yank all its products after tests showed some half-gallon containers of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream contained listeria. "This means Blue Bell has now had several positive tests for Listeria in different places and plants," the company said in a written statement. "At this point, we cannot say with certainty how Listeria was introduced to our facilities, and so we have taken this unprecedented step," the company said. Listeria: What is it, how do you get it, and what's the risk? Listeria didn't get into ice cream through the milk because Blue Bell uses pasteurized milk, Caroline Smith DeWaal, director of food safety for Center for Science in the Public Interest, told CNN on Tuesday. But listeria could have been carried on foods like nuts that go into ice cream, she said. It can live for years on surfaces such as drains or

Summary: NEW This is a multistate outbreak "occurring over several years," the CDC says . CDC says 3 people died from bacteria believed to have come from Blue Bell . "We are heartbroken about this situation," Blue Bell CEO and president says .


(CNN)Can a prayer for diamonds actually turn up a gem? When you're exploring the fields at Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro, Arkansas, the odds are higher than usual. "Are you going to bless me and let me find a diamond today?" That was Susie Clark's prayer on April 23, according to the state park service. Soon after, Clark, who is from Evening Shade, Arkansas, saw a 3.69-carat white, teardrop-shaped diamond in the plowed field. Inspired by her prayer, Clark named it the Hallelujah Diamond. She plans to keep it. The diamond, which is the largest found at the park so far this year, is about the size of a pinto bean, says park interpreter Waymon Cox. "And it's the largest one found since April 16, 2014, when a 6.19-carat white diamond, named the Limitless Diamond, was found at the park," he said, according to a park press release. It's the 122nd diamond found at Crater of Diamonds this year. Visitors get to keep what they find at the state park's 37.5-acre search field, which is named for an ancient eruption that scattered the area with gems. The area, which became a state park in 1972, is the only public site in the world where -- for a small fee -- anyone can dig for diamonds and keep them. It's not clear how much the diamond is worth, and park officials aren't trained to appraise them, according to the park website. But Oklahoman Tara Clymer sold a 3.85-carat diamond she found at the park last year for $20,000. 50 states, 50 spots: Natural wonders . Park staff regularly plow the area to bring more diamonds to the surface for visitors to discover. The 40.23-carat Uncle Sam, the nation's largest diamond, was found in 1924, and the "perfect" 3.03-carat Strawn-Wagner diamond was found in 1990. The Strawn-Wagner Diamond was cut in 1997 by the renowned diamond firm Lazare Kaplan International of New York. The now 1.09-carat diamond is on display at the park visitor center. The park stretches for more than 900 acres along the Little Missouri River, but the diamond field is the main attraction. More than 75,000 diamonds have been discovered there since farmer John Huddleston discovered gems on what was then his property in 1906.

Summary: Arkansas woman finds a 3.69-carat diamond in Arkansas state park . Crater of Diamonds is the planet's only public diamond search site .


Los Angeles (CNN)Former rap mogul Marion "Suge" Knight pleaded not guilty Thursday to murder and all other charges related to a fatal hit-and-run incident in January in Compton, California. His attorney asked the court to further reduce Knight's bail, now set at $10 million, but Los Angeles County Judge Ronald Coen denied the request. The judge lowered Knight's bail earlier this month, to $10 million from $25 million, after defense lawyers called the $25 million figure excessive for the circumstances. Knight faces one count of murder for the death of Terry Carter, one count of attempted murder in the case of Cle "Bone" Sloan, who was maimed in the incident, and one count of hit-and-run. Knight, 49, faces up to life in prison if convicted. He is accused of running over the two men during an argument. In court testimony earlier this month, Sloan, 51, declined to identify Knight as his attacker because Sloan doesn't want to be a "snitch" who sends Knight to prison, according to CNN affiliates KABC and KTLA. Prosecutors offered Sloan immunity, but he still refused to testify against Knight during the preliminary hearing, the affiliates reported. The deadly incident occurred about 11 miles south of downtown Los Angeles on January 29, after a flare-up on the set of the biopic "Straight Outta Compton," a film about the highly influential and controversial rap group N.W.A. At the time, Knight was out on bail in a separate robbery case. The alleged argument spilled over to the parking lot of Tam's Burgers in Compton. The hit-and-run was captured on videotape, which shows Knight inside a red truck. In the video, the truck pulls into the entrance of the Compton restaurant and is approached by Sloan, who was working security at the site. The two men appear to talk for a few moments, with Knight still in his vehicle. Suddenly, the vehicle backs up, knocking Sloan to the ground. While still in reverse, the truck moves out of range of the security camera. The vehicle is then seen zooming forward, back into camera range, running over Sloan a second time, and then running over the second man, Carter, a former rap music label owner. Carter, 55, later died. Knight's attorney Matthew Fletcher has argued that Knight was the victim and was only defending himself against Sloan, whom the defense attorney accused of possessing a gun at the time. Fletcher added that Knight's defense was to stand his ground. The incident is the latest run-in with the law for Knight, who founded the wildly successful Death Row Records in 1991 and signed artists such as Snoop Doggy Dogg (now known as Snoop Lion) and Tupac Shakur. Knight was driving the car in which Shakur was a passenger when the rapper was shot to death in Las Vegas in 1996. Shortly afterward, Knight spent several years in prison for violating parole on assault and weapons convictions. That prison time -- along with Shakur's death, feuds between Knight and a number of rappers, and desertions by Dr. Dre, Snoop and others -- contributed to

Summary: Former rap mogul Marion "Suge" Knight is accused of murder in a videotaped hit-and-run . Judge declines to reduce his bail from $10 million .


(CNN)A mysterious affliction has killed as many as 18 people in southwestern Nigeria, leaving health officials scrambling to determine its cause. The cases have all occurred in Nigeria's Ondo state since April 13, health officials said Sunday. Dr. Dayo Adeyanju, Ondo's state commissioner for health, said 18 people have died and five people are being treated. Those affected are between the ages of 25 and 60. The disease does not appear to be contagious, he said. Symptoms include headaches, blurred vision, loss of sight and unconsciousness, Adeyanju said. Some suspect it may be the result of locally brewed alcohol. The World Health Organization, earlier Sunday, reported at least 13 people were killed and that there were 18 total cases. Those numbers were reported by Adeyanju released somewhat different totals. Investigators sent samples of blood, urine and spinal fluid to a university in the city of Lagos for tests, which ruled out infections from viruses or bacteria, the WHO said. Doctors plan to carry out toxicological tests on one of the victims who died in a hospital, WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic said.

Summary: 18 dead and 5 being treated, Nigeria says . Locally brewed alcohol is suspected . Some patients have died within hours .


Garissa, Kenya (CNN)First came the gunshots. Then the footsteps, as Al-Shabaab militants followed her into her dorm room. Cynthia Cheroitich went into a closet, covering herself with clothes. Her two roommates hid under their beds, until the gunmen called them out. "(The gunmen) told them if you don't know to read to them in the Muslim word, whatever, and then you lie down," Cheroitich told CNN. "And then, if you know, you go to the other side." The 19-year-old student at Kenya's Garissa University College didn't see what happened next, but she heard more than enough. "They were shooting everywhere," she said. "I didn't want to open my eyes." For the next two days, Cheroitich didn't budge. Unable to get to water, she hydrated by drinking body lotion. When police went into her room -- well after the carnage was done, with 147 dead at the school -- she didn't believe them. Only a visit by the head of the university convinced her that, finally, it was safe to come out. "I was scared so much," she recalled. Cheroitich's survival story, which she recounted to CNN on Saturday, is a rare bright spot in what has been a horrific week in Garissa, a town about 90 miles from the Somali border, and throughout Kenya. It is all due to Al-Shabaab, the Islamist extremist group that is based in Somalia but hasn't confined its terrorism to there -- as evidenced by Thursday's university attack and the 2013 siege of Nairobi's upscale Westgate Mall. Saturday, the terrorist group warned that more carnage is coming as it promised "another bloodbath" in Kenya. The threat drew a sharp response from Nadif Jama, the governor of Garissa county. "The fallacy and satanic mindset of Al-Shabaab is that in Somalia, they kill Muslims and Somalis," Jama said. "They cross the border here and then say they are killing non-Muslims. That is a tricky way of doing business." Jama said the militants were "bent on nothing but destruction" and aimed to sow division between Muslims and non-Muslims. "But that is something we need to fight," Jama said. Police in Garissa on Saturday paraded the bodies of men they said had carried out the attack. The corpses -- locked in a macabre embrace and partially wrapped in an orange tarp -- were piled on the back of a pickup truck and driven to a primary school soccer pitch for viewing. A large crowd gathered, despite the baking sun and foul stench. The truck drove up next to the onlookers, so that they could inspect the bodies. Anger seethed in the crowd. "These gunmen, they killed innocent children. We want to burn these people," one man told CNN. Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta also had some harsh words Saturday for Al-Shabaab, as well as any those who supported them. Five arrested in Kenya attack . In a nationally televised speech, Kenyatta said the nation's fight against terrorism "has been made all the more difficult by the fact that the planners and the financiers of this brutality are deeply embedded in our communities

Summary: Bodies of suspected gunmen paraded in front of crowd in Garissa . Kenya's President slams those who finance and support groups like Al-Shabaab . Al-Shabaab threatens "another bloodbath" in Kenya .


(CNN)Editor's Note (July 8, 2015) -- Questions have arisen about the identity of the girl who Dr. Sanjay Gupta helped operate on during a week in Nepal in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake. CNN is looking into those questions and will update our coverage as warranted. Gupta helped doctors at Bir Hospital in Kathmandu perform a craniotomy in a makeshift operating room on a young patient as described in this story; it is the identity of the patient that is in question. Original story (Published April 27, 2015): . Kathmandu, Nepal (CNN) -- An ambulance arrives, and a young girl with a bandaged head and badly blackened eye is rushed into Kathmandu's Bir Hopital on a wheelchair amid much commotion. She is Selena Dohal, 8, and her skull was fractured when a massive earthquake shook her neighborhood, two and a half hours from the Nepalese capital, to the ground on Saturday. Blood has collected on top of her brain, in the right frontal area, and she urgently needs surgery to remove the clots. "She went to get some water, and a house collapsed on her head," her grandfather Ram Prasad Duhal tells a doctor. Her grandfather has accompanied Selena to the capital from Panchhkal while her parents take care of her injured brother, who has fractures to both legs. The girl has received some treatment at another hospital but has been brought to Bir in the hopes her life can be saved. "She was badly crushed. The roof of the house was on her. She was found after a few hours," neurosurgeon Bikesh Khambu says. She receives a craniotomy in a makeshift operating room. Sanjay Gupta, a neurosurgeon and CNN's chief medical correspondent, has scrubbed up at the request of a Nepalese medical team to help with the operation. The conditions are less than ideal. Gupta washes up using sterile water and iodine poured from a bottle rather than hot water from a scrub sink. Instead of electric drills, he relies on saws of the variety usually only used in war zones and natural disasters due to the lack of electricity. Despite the suboptimal conditions, the operation is a success, and her prognosis is good, Gupta says. It might not look it, but Selena is one of the lucky ones. Thousands were killed when a devastating earthquake rocked Nepal on Saturday. More thousands were injured, many of whom have flooded the capital's overstretched hospitals. "I've seen a lot of situations around the world, and this is as bad as I've ever seen it," Gupta says. "They need more resources, they need more personnel here right now, and they're expecting many more patients as these rescue operations go on. "They're barely able to keep up right now. It's part of the reason they asked me (to help); I think they're asking anybody to try to pitch in." How to help the earthquake victims . Bir Hospital, a government facility, is one of the busiest in Kathmandu. Its inpatient wing, now scarred with cracks, was abandoned after big aftershocks Sunday, and doctors have

Summary: Patients flood hospitals in Nepalese capital after devastating earthquake . CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta helps with girl's operation at Nepalese medical team's request . "This is as bad a situation as I've ever seen," Gupta says .


(CNN)"Star Wars" fans will get more than they bargained for when the saga comes to digital HD on Friday. The collection of the first six "Star Wars" movies will also include many special features, some of which give fans a rare glimpse behind the scenes of the saga. One focus of the features will be the sound effects of the movies, including that of the insect-like Geonosians, as seen in "Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones." 'Star Wars' universe gets its first gay character . In the exclusive first-look video, sound designer Ben Burtt explains which animals were used to capture the alien sounds made by the Geonosians. Take a look at the video above to find out. 'Star Wars' films available for digital download for first time .

Summary: The "Star Wars" digital collection is set for release this week . Special features include behind-the-scenes stories on the unique alien sounds from the movie .


(CNN)For years, Warren Weinstein's family frantically searched for details about his whereabouts and pushed for his release. His wife said she was still searching for answers Thursday after U.S. officials revealed the 73-year-old American aid worker had been accidentally killed in a U.S. drone strike targeting al Qaeda. "We were so hopeful that those in the U.S. and Pakistani governments with the power to take action and secure his release would have done everything possible to do so, and there are no words to do justice to the disappointment and heartbreak we are going through," Elaine Weinstein said in a statement. "We do not yet fully understand all of the facts surrounding Warren's death, but we do understand that the U.S. government will be conducting an independent investigation of the circumstances." Gunmen abducted Weinstein in 2011 from his home in Lahore, Parkistan. They posed as neighbors, offered food and then pistol-whipped the American aid worker and tied up his guards, his family said. Just a few months after Weinstein's capture, al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri released a recording claiming the terror group was holding Weinstein -- and demanding, among other things, that the United States end airstrikes in Pakistan. U.S. officials called for his release but repeatedly said Washington wouldn't bargain with al Qaeda. Weinstein -- a husband, father and grandfather from Rockville, Maryland -- was 73 years old when he was killed, according to a family website detailing information about his case. He worked in Pakistan as a contractor for the U.S. Agency for International Development from 2004 to 2011, the website says. His employer, Virginia-based consulting firm J.E. Austin Associates Inc., described him as a world-renowned development expert. "Warren spent his entire life working to benefit people across the globe and loved the work that he did to make people's lives better," his wife said Thursday. He loved the Pakistani people and their culture, she said, learning to speak Urdu and doing "everything he could to show his utmost and profound respect for the region." As he announced Weinstein's death Thursday, U.S. President Barack Obama praised what he said was Weinstein's lifelong dedication to service, first as a Peace Corps volunteer and later as a USAID contractor. Weinstein, Obama said, was someone who "willingly left the comforts of home to help the people of Pakistan," focusing his work on helping families escape poverty to give their children a better life. "This was a man who basically dedicated his life to service, to people in general, but especially to people in a country where the standard of living was low and difficult. ... It's tragic that he was killed the way he was," former U.S. Ambassador Dan Simpson said. Simpson met Weinstein in 1968 when they were both working in Burundi -- Simpson as a diplomat and Weinstein as a scholar researching several books. Weinstein "was a very kind person," Simpson said, "and someone who was very sensitive to the needs of the people who he worked with." Another hostage was also killed in the January operation, Italian aid worker Giovanni

Summary: Warren Weinstein's wife says the family is still searching for answers . Officials say Weinstein and another al Qaeda hostage were accidentally killed in a U.S. drone strike . Gunmen abducted the USAID contractor from his home in Pakistan in 2011 .


(CNN)Eight Iranian border guards have been killed in clashes with militants near the border with Pakistan, Iranian state media reported. Three of the militants were killed by Iranian forces in the fighting Monday in the southeastern town of Negur, the state-run news agency IRNA reported. The news agency cited Ali Asghar Mirshekari, the deputy governor of Iran's Sistan-Baluchestan province, who said the militants crossed into the country from Pakistan. Iranian officials have reportedly asked Pakistani authorities to catch the surviving assailants. A militant group called Jaish al Adal claimed responsibility for the attack, according to Iranian state media and a Twitter account believed to be associated with the organization. According to Pakistani media, Jaish al Adal is an anti-Iranian group that has emerged during recent years in areas of Balochistan, the restive Pakistani province that borders southeastern Iran. The Sunni Muslim group has targeted Shiites and says it aims to thwart Iranian influence in Pakistan, according to the Pakistani newspaper Dawn. Jaish al Adal has also claimed responsibility for attacks on Iranian territory. One of the deadliest was in October 2013, when 14 Iranian border guards were killed near the city of Saravan. Iranian authorities say that after similar attacks, the militants have fled back into Balochistan. "Iran has repeatedly criticized its eastern neighbor for failing to rein in the terrorists," IRNA said, referring to Pakistan. The Pakistani government condemned Monday's attack, calling it an "act of terrorism." "The concerned security agencies of Pakistan are actively investigating this incident, which took place on Iran's territory, and have asked Iranian authorities to share with us any evidence that they have," the government said in a statement Wednesday. If the militants entered Pakistan after the attack, "they will be apprehended and brought to justice," it said.

Summary: The Pakistani government says its security agencies are investigating . A group believed to be based in Pakistan's Balochistan province claims responsibility .


(CNN)ISIS operatives have executed two groups of prisoners, believed to be Ethiopian Christians, in Libya, according to a video released Sunday by the terror network's media arm. The Ethiopian government confirmed Monday that 30 of its citizens were among the two groups, according to the Ethiopian News Agency. The al-Furqan Media video -- which is highly produced and titled "Until There Came to Them Clear Evidence" -- shows two groups of men, one in orange jumpsuits and the other in black, being killed at different locations in Libya, according to the video's narrator. One group is beheaded on a beach along the Mediterranean Sea, while the other group is shot in Southern Libya, hundreds of miles away. "All praise be to Allah, the Lord and cherisher of the world and may peace and blessings be upon the Prophet Mohammed. To the nation of the cross, we are back again on the sands, where the companions of the Prophet, peace be upon him, have stepped on before, telling you: Muslim blood that was shed under the hands of your religion is not cheap," the narrator says in Arabic on the 39-minute video. The narrator continues, "In fact, their blood is the purest blood because there is a nation behind them (which) inherits revenge. And we swear to Allah: the one who disgraced you by our hands, you will not have safety, even in your dreams, until you embrace Islam." Quoting Mohammed, the narrator says that those who "perform prayer and pay alms" will have "their blood and property" protected by the Prophet unless Islam dictates otherwise. "You pay (tax) with willing submission, feeling yourselves subdued. Our battle is a battle between faith and blasphemy, between truth and falsehood, until there is no more polytheism -- and obedience becomes Allah's on its entirety," the narrator says. Earlier in the video, a different speaker says Christians in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul were given the choice to embrace Islam or maintain their Christian faith and pay a tax. "The Islamic state has offered the Christian community this many times and set a deadline for this, but the Christians never cooperated," the speaker says. At the beginning of the video, a man who appears to be a judge in a court enforcing Islam's Sharia law holds up documents and says a Syrian Christian had owed a Syrian Muslim 550,000 Syrian pounds (about $2,900) since 2004, but the Muslim was unable to obtain the money under President Bashar al-Assad's regime. "After applying to the Islamic court he got his money back within one month," the man says. The law cited throughout the video comes from the Quran's Surah 9:29, whose exact translation is an area of dispute among religious scholars. The gist is that Muslims are commanded to fight those who don't believe in Allah or the Last Day (Islam's equivalent of Judgment Day) unless the nonbelievers pay a tax or tribute. In February, ISIS released a video of 21 Coptic Christians from Egypt being executed on a Libyan beach. Those captives, too, wore orange jumpsuits.

Summary: Footage shows groups of captives in jumpsuits executed at 2 locations, narrator says . Video makes numerous references to Christians failing to pay tax or tribute to Muslims .


(CNN)Discovery of the body of a young girl who may have been dead for weeks has led to the arrest of her teen sister -- herself a mother -- and a search for the girls' parents, who may be in California with five other children, police in North Las Vegas, Nevada, said. The investigation began Wednesday when the 4-month-old infant of the 17-year-old was taken to Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center in suburban Las Vegas, authorities said. Police arrested the teen mother on one count of child abuse with substantial bodily harm. She was taken to a juvenile facility. Police department spokesman Aaron Patty told CNN affiliate KVVU that the "infant did not receive the proper care and nourishment that she needed at the time, which is what led to the arrest of the 17-year-old." A day later, a search warrant was served at the family's home. That's when police found the body of the 3-year-old girl, who had apparently been dead "for at least a few weeks," according to police. The teen mother was then arrested on one count of child abuse with death in connection with her younger sister's death, according to a police statement. The parents left the home several months ago with the other five children, ranging in age from 1 to 9 years old, but, according to Patty, "they left the 3-year-old child and the 17-year-old sister at the residence alone." Authorities are seeking the parents, 39-year-old Jondrew Lachaux and 38-year-old Kellie Phillips. Police say the five children with them may be in danger. "We believe that they went to California at some time and may have gone back and forth during this multiple month process when they left," Patty said. No Amber Alert was issued, according to police, because the 4-month-old did not die. Lachaux and Phillips, who are the child's grandparents, are being sought for questioning. "We are asking for the assistance of the public in locating these two individuals," said Patty. "We believe they can answer many questions on what led up to the death of this child." The 4-month-old infant was last reported to be hospitalized in critical condition. Her mother's name was not disclosed.

Summary: Parents wanted for questioning after girl's body found at home . North Las Vegas police: 3-year-old had been dead for at least a few weeks . 17-year-old sibling is held in case .


(CNN)The United Nations is appealing for $174 million to help Nigerian refugees who've fled to neighboring nations following militant attacks. Boko Haram has killed thousands in the nation's northeast by attacking villages, schools, churches and mosques. It has also kidnapped students, including more than 200 schoolgirls abducted in April last year. A majority of them remain missing. The militants have attacked relentlessly for six years, sending 192,000 people seeking shelter in Cameroon, Niger and Chad. "Displaced people in northeastern Nigeria and across borders are in a very dramatic situation, they fear for their lives and are at this point unable to return to their homes," said Liz Ahua, who's coordinating Nigerian refugee efforts for the U.N. Aid agencies are scrambling to provide the refugees with clean water, shelter, food and access to education. "In the refugee camps, thousands of school-age refugee children cannot attend school because of lack of classrooms and teachers," Ahua said. Mental health needs are crucial to help the survivors of physical attacks and those who've witnessed violence, according to the U.N. Some children are separated from their parents amid the trauma. "The conflict has had a devastating impact on children, including many who were forcibly recruited by the insurgents in Nigeria," Ahua said. The appeal encompasses the needs of 23 agencies and nongovernmental organizations helping the refugees. "Adequate funding is crucial to make sure aid agencies can improve the living conditions for refugees in asylum countries and respond to their protection needs," Ahua said. "We relocate refugees away from the conflict border areas, and establish additional refugee camps where needed." The Islamist group has said its aim is to impose a stricter form of Sharia law across Nigeria, which is split between a majority Muslim north and a mostly Christian south. An additional 1.2 million people are displaced within Nigeria as a result of the insurgency. CNN's Pierre Meilhan contributed to this report .

Summary: Boko Haram has killed thousands in the nation's northeast since 2009 . Aid agencies are scrambling to provide the refugees with clean water, shelter, food and education .


(CNN)Ten years ago, a prosecutor in Centre County, Pennsylvania, took a day off work and vanished. Since then, the case of Ray Gricar has become one of the most intriguing and talked about missing persons stories in the country. Investigators have taken dives to the bottom of lakes, dug up a grave, chased more than 300 reported sightings from Arizona to North Carolina, dropped fliers over Slovenia, consulted a psychic, interviewed a member of the Hell's Angels and enlisted NASA technology. But no one has been able to find the veteran district attorney, who was 59 when he disappeared. When he went missing that Friday morning on April 15, 2005, he left behind a live-in girlfriend, a beautiful and successful daughter and a bank account that was supposed to fund a fast-approaching retirement. His red Mini Cooper was found abandoned near a bridge on the Susquehanna River about 55 miles away from his home. Months later his county-issued laptop and hard drive were found -- separately -- on the banks of the river, too damaged to read. As far as hard evidence goes, that's about all police have. The best lead they got was the sighting of a woman who has not been identified, and information that he had searched online for ways to destroy a hard drive. What's left is theory, speculation and a case that's been cold almost from the beginning. "When a district attorney goes missing, you know, it's pretty big. It's going to catch people's attention. A lot of people don't have a large footprint. This guy had influential friends, he was well known," said Todd Matthews, director of communications and case management for the National Missing and Unidentified Person System, or NamUs. From the start, investigators have considered three possibilities: Gricar committed suicide, fell victim to foul play or deliberately walked away. The prevailing theories have been suicide or walk-away, especially since 2009, when a search of his Google history on his home computer found that someone had been searching "how to fry a hard drive" and "water damage to a notebook computer." Gricar, a private and quiet man, was spotted with a woman who was not his girlfriend the day he went missing, and cigarette ash was found near his car, even though he was not a smoker. Friends and colleagues recalled him being distant in the weeks that led up to his disappearance, and recounted his fascination with another law enforcement official from Ohio who vanished in 1985. Matthews said that NamUs has compared Gricar's DNA to unidentified bodies nine times since the database became available in 2009, but so far, none has been a match. "Even if he chose to make himself go missing, it sounds like something was terribly wrong that caused a drastic change in his life. There's something wrong if he's Googled how to fry a hard drive. Did he Google it? Did someone else Google it? Was he threatened? Did he do something and is trying to cover it up? It's not a normal thing to Google that." Matt Rickard,

Summary: Prosecutor Ray Gricar has been missing for 10 years . His laptop and hard drive were found too damaged to read . Gricar has been declared legally dead .