(CNN)Fifty years ago in Frankfurt, German prosecutors tried 22 former Nazi SS soldiers at Auschwitz in what remains the most famous Holocaust trial staged in Germany. At the time, Fritz Bauer, the German-Jewish attorney general of Hessen, expressed the simple hope that "sooner or later, one of the accused would step forward and say: 'What took place -- it was horrific, I'm sorry.' Then the entire world would exhale, as would all the survivors of those killed at Auschwitz, and the air would be cleared." Sadly, Bauer observed, "it has not been uttered, nor will it be." The refusal of perpetrators to own up to their guilt remains one of the most disappointing aspects of Holocaust trials. John Demjanjuk, whose conviction by a Munich court in 2011 established the precedent that has now made possible the trial of Oskar Gröning, remained defiantly silent during his 18-month trial, never so much as breathing a word of acknowledgment or remorse. Over the years, some defendants have acknowledged knowing of the exterminations, but have insisted that they played no role. Those who acknowledged participating in the killing insisted that they did so out of fear of life or limb. Over the years, an extraordinary research effort was dedicated to exploring the claim that SS men had engaged in extermination out of duress. The results were astonishing: Investigators and historians failed to uncover so much as a single instance in which a German officer or NCO had been executed or even severely punished for opting out of genocide. Not one. These evasions and lies were often effective, as many German trials of Holocaust perpetrators ended either in light sentences or outright acquittal. And even when a trial ended in a conviction, what was missing was any sense of moral reckoning, an acknowledgment on the part of the accused of the perversity of genocide. Fritz Bauer can now exhale. On April 21, on the opening day of his trial in Lüneburg, where he stands accused of complicity in the murder of 300,000 Jews during his service at Auschwitz, the 93-year-old Gröning faced the court and acknowledged, "It is beyond question that I am morally complicit. This moral guilt I acknowledge here, before the victims, with regret and humility." If nothing else comes from the trial, that statement alone justifies the undertaking. Of course, in acknowledging his moral complicity, Gröning fell short of confessing legal guilt. Indeed, for years he has insisted in his innocence as a matter of law, arguing, in an interview with Der Spiegel in 2005, that he had been no more than a "cog in the gears." At Auschwitz, Gröning was responsible for inspecting the luggage of deportees to the camp -- most of whom were gassed within hours of their arrival -- for banknotes that would be carefully counted and sent to Berlin. In performing this task, Gröning insists that he never engaged in cruel, murderous or sadistic acts -- a claim that we can probably accept as true. But does this relieve him of criminal liability? For decades German courts held that

Summary: Oskar Gröning is on trial over his alleged role in deaths at Auschwitz . Lawrence Douglas: Other mass atrocities still await moment of moral reckoning .


Washington (CNN)It's the mistake that Hillary Clinton won't make again: ignoring her gender. The low-key video she released on Sunday announcing her run for the White House is filled with women -- young, old, black, white, Asian and Latina -- working in their gardens, taking care of their kids and getting ready for life in the working world. Clinton, who made herself the center of her campaign announcement in 2007, is barely in the video at all, appearing at the end as a kind of everywoman whose story and fight could be folded in with all the others. "I'm getting ready to do something, too. I'm running for president," Clinton said in the video. "Everyday Americans need a champion, and I want to be that champion -- so you can do more than just get by -- you can get ahead." Clinton often says there's no better time in history to be born female than the present. She's now betting that there is no better time for her to make history as the nation's first woman president. The challenge for Clinton in breaking the "highest, hardest glass ceiling" that she described in 2008 is laying out a precise campaign vision that connects with all voters, while generating excitement and anticipation over the possibility of making history. Clinton could be helped by an improving climate for women in politics. There are historic numbers of women in Congress, and the idea of "leaning in" is a catch phrase among professional women. Meanwhile, the feminism label doesn't seem as charged as it once was -- people from Beyonce to actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt are identifying as feminist. "As far as the political culture and culture in general, this is as good a time as any for a women to run for the highest office. There is a willingness now to promote pro-women messages," said Jennifer Lawless, who runs the Women & Politics Institute at American University. "People are ready for a woman president. The question is this: Are they ready for Hillary as that woman?" According to a recent Pew poll, nearly three quarters of Americans expect to see a woman president in their lifetime. But that hope splits along partisan -- not gender -- lines. Only 20% of Republican women hope to see a woman president and nearly 70% of Democratic women do. INTERACTIVE: Hillary Clinton tries again . In the run-up to her announcement and at women-centered events, Clinton sometimes strode on stage to the song "I'm Every Woman," and recalled how she juggled work and motherhood as a young lawyer. She has acknowledged a double standard for women and advised women to be tough. She has also frequently mentioned her granddaughter, Charlotte, as the reason she wants to remain in public life, a theme that will no doubt be heard on the campaign trail as she kicks off a tour in Iowa this week with small events. She made pushing for the expansion of the rights of women and girls part of her diplomatic work as secretary of state, as detailed in her

Summary: Hillary Clinton could be helped by an improving climate for women in politics . Republicans hope the gender play backfires and that voters are fatigued by identity politics . The emphasis on women as a possible campaign theme is a reversal of her 2008 strategy .


Tulsa, Oklahoma (CNN)The Tulsa County deputy who shot and killed a man instead of using his Taser now faces a manslaughter charge. Video shows Reserve Deputy Robert Bates announcing he is going to deploy his Taser after an undercover weapons sting on April 2, but then shooting Eric Courtney Harris in the back with a handgun. In a written statement, Tulsa County District Attorney Stephen A. Kunzweiler said Bates is charged with second-degree manslaughter involving culpable negligence. It's a felony charge that could land the volunteer deputy in prison for up to four years if he's found guilty. Scott Wood, an attorney who represents Bates, said the shooting was an "excusable homicide." "We believe the video itself proves that it was an accident of misfortune that occurred while Deputy Bates was fulfilling his duties as a reserve deputy," Wood said. "He is not guilty of second-degree manslaughter." Investigators' efforts to defend Bates and the other deputies involved in the arrest have sparked a mounting chorus of criticism online. Harris' family is demanding an independent investigation of what they call unjustified brutality. They're also questioning why the 73-year-old Bates -- the CEO of an insurance company who volunteers as a certified reserve deputy -- was on the scene in such a sensitive and high-risk sting operation. Daniel Smolen, an attorney representing the Harris family, said Bates paid big money to play a cop in his spare time. "It's absolutely mind boggling that you have a wealthy businessman who's been essentially deputized to go play like he's some outlaw, like he's just cleaning up the streets," he said. Wood said his client -- who had donated cars and video equipment to the Sheriff's Office -- had undergone all the required training and had participated in more than 100 operations with the task force he was working with the day he shot Harris. But he'd never been the main deputy in charge of arresting a suspect, Wood said, but was thrust into the situation because Harris ran from officers during the arrest. "Probably in the past four of five years since he has been working in conjunction with the task force he has been on, (there were) in excess of 100 operations or search warrants where he was placed on the outer perimeter," Wood said. "He has never been on an arrest team or been the one who is primarily responsible for the capture or the arrest of a suspect. He is there more in a support mechanism." Bates, who worked as a police officer for a year in the 1960s, had been a reserve deputy since 2008, with 300 hours of training and 1,100 hours of community policing experience, according to the Sheriff's Office. He was also a frequent contributor to the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office, including $2,500 to the reelection of Sheriff Stanley Glanz. Tulsa County Sheriff's Maj. Shannon Clark denied accusations that Bates had paid to play a cop, describing him as one of many volunteers in the community who have contributed to the agency. "No matter how you cut it up,

Summary: Harris family attorney says volunteer deputy was a donor who paid to play a cop . An attorney representing Reserve Deputy Robert Bates says it was an "excusable homicide" Eric Harris' brother says the shooting was "simply evil," accuses investigators of trying to cover it up .


(CNN)For those wondering if we would ever hear from the Bluth family again, the answer would appear to be yes. "Arrested Development" executive producer Brian Grazer said the show will return for a fifth season of 17 episodes. The Hollywood mogul was interviewed on Bill Simmons' podcast recently, and let it drop that fans can expect more of the quirky comedy. Netflix had no comment for CNN when asked to verify his statements. The fourth season was streamed exclusively on Netflix in 2013, after Fox canceled the show several years before. Despite critical acclaim, the series never had big ratings, but has a devoted fan base, who often quote from the show. It was not yet known if the full cast, including Jason Bateman, Michael Cera and Will Arnett, will return for the season.

Summary: Fan favorite series "Arrested Development" to return for a fifth season, according to producer . Brian Grazer claimed the show would be back in a podcast . Netflix is not commenting .


Boston (CNN)Now the real Boston Marathon trial can begin. A federal jury's decision to convict Dzhokhar Tsarnaev of 30 charges related to the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings was the most anticlimactic of anticlimaxes. The 21-year-old's lawyers admitted from the beginning that their client had participated in the horrific terrorist attack, which both scarred and strengthened this city. The outcome of this first phase may have been preordained, but nearly two years after the bombing, the trial has held Boston and the region in thrall — more so than I might have imagined. The case regularly lands on the front pages of our two daily newspapers, the Globe and the Herald, and often leads the local television newscasts. The Twitter feeds of reporters covering the trial are avidly followed. We haven't learned much new, although harrowing details about the deaths of the Tsarnaev brothers' four victims have come out. More than anything, many people find something cathartic in seeing the seemingly insolent, unrepentant Tsarnaev being brought to justice. The only issue to be decided is whether Tsarnaev should be executed. Which is why the second phase of his trial is the one that really matters. Was Tsarnaev so thoroughly under the sway of his radicalized older brother, Tamerlan, that he should be spared lethal injection? Or had this seemingly typical teenager transformed himself into a hardened jihadist who obsessed over al Qaeda propaganda such as the article "Make a bomb in the kitchen of your mom"? What kind of justice should Tsarnaev receive? There is no death penalty in Massachusetts, and in September 2013, according to a Globe poll, 57% of respondents supported life in prison for Tsarnaev; just 33% said he should be executed. By moving the case into federal court, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder made it likely that Tsarnaev would receive the death penalty. Keep in mind that no members of the jury were deemed eligible to serve unless they stated beforehand that they were willing to consider putting Tsarnaev to death. But imagine a different scenario in which Tsarnaev had been allowed to plead guilty in return for a life sentence. He would have been denied the public stage he has been granted; although he has not testified (so far), his terrorist actions have been replayed over and over again for people to see the world over. The 2015 Boston Marathon will take place in less than two weeks, on Monday, April 20. Thousands of runners will clog the 26.2-mile route, and tens of thousands will cheer them on — as they did last year, proving to the world that we will not be intimidated. And Tsarnaev's lawyers will still be fighting for their client's life. It is a natural if disturbing reaction to events like this that it's easier to remember the names of the perpetrators than of their victims. But Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is a loser and a nobody. He should be allowed to fade away into the obscurity of a maximum-security prison cell. The people who deserve to be remembered are those he and his brother killed

Summary: Dan Kennedy: After Boston Marathon bombing guilty verdict, now real trial -- the sentencing -- can begin. What justice should Tsarnaev get? He says a plea might have been better, to keep bomber out of the news and let him fade into obscurity in maximum security cell . Kennedy: The people who deserve to be remembered are victims and MIT officer who was killed .


(CNN)A professor at Texas A&M Galveston said in an email to his strategic management students that they were a disgrace, that they lacked maturity -- and that he would fail the entire class. Irwin Horwitz, an instructional associate professor in the university's department of maritime administration, told CNN affiliate KPRC that he had finally reached a breaking point. "Enough was enough," Horwitz said. "It became apparent that they couldn't do just some of the most simple and basic things that they should've been able to do at that point." In the email to students, KPRC reported, Horwitz said: "I have seen cheating, been told by students to 'chill out,' 'get out of my space,' 'go back and teach' refuse to leave the room after being told to do so following inappropriate conduct, called a 'f*****g moron' several times by a student to my face..." Horwitz added that students spread hurtful rumors about him, his wife and colleagues, and that he felt the need for police protection in class. John Shaw, a senior at Texas A&M Galveston and student in Horwitz's class, told KPRC he was worried about the job he has lined up after graduation. "Just ridiculous, because, I mean, I had never had a problem in the class," Shaw said. "I thought I had done pretty well, done pretty well on the first test and everything else that's going on. I get an email saying I am going to get an F in the class, and just kind of -- it was overwhelming." Texas A&M Galveston is a part of the Texas A&M University System; its more than 2,000 students focus on marine and maritime studies. Patrick Louchouarn, the vice president for academic affairs and chief academic officer, told KPRC that the university will not necessarily stand by the failing grades Horwitz planned to hand out. University officials said the department head will take over teaching the strategic management class. "None of them have failed until the end of the class, meaning the only reason a student would fail is because he or she hasn't performed the actual, you know, with the expectations for that particular class," Louchouarn said. University officials have not yet responded to CNN's request for comment.

Summary: A Texas A&M Galveston professor said in an email to students he would fail the entire class . University officials won't necessarily stand by failing grades, CNN affiliate KPRC reports .


(CNN)The FBI is investigating a possible ISIS-inspired terrorist threat in the United States, law enforcement officials said Saturday. The investigation originated from intercepted chatter and other intelligence information that led officials to believe a possible plot could be in the works, the officials said. No arrests have been made. It's not clear whether the threat is real or aspirational. The exact nature of the threat couldn't be learned. One official said it focused on parts of California where officials stepped up security, a U.S. official said. The Transportation Security Administration alerted local law enforcement agencies that are responsible for external security around airports, but officials said the possible threat is not necessarily aviation-related. Some cities around the United States have increased their security as a precaution. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson declined Saturday to talk about specifics, but spoke about security measures in general. "Over the last few months, we have made a number of security adjustments, including enhanced screening at select overseas airports and increasing random searches of passengers and carry-on luggage on flights inbound to the U.S., reflecting an evolving threat picture," the spokesman said. He said the DHS added layers of security to the Electronic System for Travel Authorization. ETSA is an online application system to screen travelers before they are allow to board an airplane or ship bound for the United States. In February, a more visible law enforcement presence was put in place at federal facilities, he said. "The department has conducted significant outreach efforts ... with state and local law enforcement partners regarding these trends and engaging in a series of meetings and events with local community leaders across the country to counter violent extremism," he said.

Summary: Officials say the investigation originated from intercepted chatter . Possible threat focused on parts of California, one says .


(CNN)The onslaught on Houthis rebels in Yemen continued Tuesday, with the Saudi-led coalition asserting increasing control while locals fled the chaos and casualties piled up -- dozens of civilians among them. Five days after their first airstrikes, the coalition has destroyed air defense systems of the Houthis and supporters of Yemen's longtime President Ali Abdullah Saleh, and rendered all but a fraction of air bases and stripes unusable, a Saudi source said. Saudi Arabia's navy now controls all Yemeni ports, allowing only closely watched non-military medical goods to pass its blockade, according to the source. This effort isn't over, including widespread attempts to locate and destroy Scud missiles still in the country, the source said. The Saudis appear intent on seeing it through, as evidenced by remarks from Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal in Riyadh. "The Houthi militia and agents of the former president -- supported by Iran -- insist to meddle in Yemen, reshuffle the cards, rob the Yemeni will, make a coup against the constitutional legitimacy and reject all peaceful solutions," al-Faisal said, according to the state-run Saudi Press Agency. "We are not warmongers," he added. "But if war's drums are beaten, we are ready for them." The airstrikes -- the latest focused around Aden, Taiz and coastal cities -- come at a cost, and not just to Houthi rebel fighters. The International Red Cross said that intense fighting had brought "disturbing reports of civilian casualties," with some of the worst violence around the port city of Aden. Erich Ogoso, a spokesman with the United Nations' humanitarian agency, reported 182 dead and hundreds more wounded just between last Wednesday and Sunday. Some 75,000 people have been displaced in the past week, many health facilities shut down and food prices have skyrocketed. "Increasing hostilities have led to (the) targeting of schools, health facilities and other social infrastructure," Ogoso said. "... There are reports of damage to residential areas in different cities, and in Aden, minors have reportedly taken part in the fighting on all sides." Airstrikes that hit the Al-Mazraq camp for displaced persons near Sanaa killed at least 29 people -- women and children among them, according to aid group Doctors Without Borders. About 1,100 families live in the camp, said U.N.'s humanitarian affairs coordinator for Yemen, Johannes Van Der Klaauw. "They are," he said, "among the most vulnerable people in Yemen." Yemen has been in disarray for some time, beset by widespread poverty and insecurity. Those factors helped terror groups like al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula find homes in the Arab nation, but didn't help its 26 million citizens in their quest for peace and prosperity. The instability escalated as the Houthis, a minority group long marginalized in Yemen, increasingly challenged the government of President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi (who in 2012 took over for Saleh, who had been in power for 33 years). The Houthis began moving into Sanaa in September, then headed into Aden earlier this month -- advancing despite intermittent (and, time and again, unsuccessful) talks aimed a peaceful political solution to the unrest. Things

Summary: Saudi minister: "If war's drums are beaten, we are ready for them" U.N. official: At least 182 killed in the past week, including civilians .


(CNN)In July of 2013, the oldest of Jesus relics stories rose again when Turkish archaeologists discovered a stone chest in a 1,350-year-old church that appeared to contain a piece of Jesus' cross. "We have found a holy thing in a chest. It is a piece of a cross," said excavation team leader Gülgün Köroğlu, an art historian and archaeologist. At the time, she thought the chest served as a symbolic coffin for a holy person's relics -- ones connected to Jesus' crucifixion. And then, silence. The latest relic of the cross on which Jesus had died stalled out because, as Köroğlu later said, the box that had contained allegedly holy objects was now -- mysteriously -- empty. The latest episode of the "true cross," a powerful identifier for the faith of more than two billion people, is symbolic of the pitfalls in the hunt for Jesus relics. To say something smacks of the "true cross" can mean it's a matter of divine certainty or of utter fraud. Could fragments of the true cross of Jesus really be among us today? Could fragments of a tree survive millennia? Or are they fragments of forgery that speak to our need to believe? The true cross phenomenon begins with Emperor Constantine, the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. He sent his mother Saint Helena (c. 246-330 CE) to find Jesus objects in the Holy Land. When Helena traveled to Jerusalem in 326 CE the city was still suffering the destruction caused by the last Jewish War in 132-35 CE. After defeating Israel, Roman Emperor Hadrian built a pagan temple over Jesus's tomb near Calvary -- a grave insult to the new religion. Helena ordered this pagan temple torn down and began to dig beneath it to find relics related to Jesus. Her workers found three different crosses -- a discovery directly relating to the Gospels, which tell us that Jesus was crucified along with two criminals. The historian Rufinus (c. 340-410) reveals that in order to discern which cross was Jesus', Helena had a dying local woman brought to the site. The ill woman touched two of the crosses, but nothing happened. Then she touched the third -- and she recovered. The true cross of Jesus had been revealed. Helena carved it up, leaving some of it in Jerusalem and transporting a chunk to Europe where it seemingly multiplied, so much so that Protestant reformer John Calvin said: "... if all the pieces that could be found were collected together, they would make a big ship-load. Yet the Gospel testifies that a single man was able to carry it." But was Calvin exaggerating to support his own reforms to Catholicism? How could we ever know what the true cross was made of, or looked like, since neither the Gospels -- nor the Romans -- bothered to tell us? Enter science. In 1870, French architect Charles Rohault de Fleury catalogued all known fragments of the true cross. He determined the Jesus cross weighed 165 pounds, was three or four meters high, with a cross beam

Summary: The true cross phenomenon begins with Emperor Constantine, the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. Could fragments of a tree survive millennia? Or are they fragments of forgery that speak to our need to believe?


(CNN)It started with neighbors and local officials digging with their hands through the rubble. As soon as a deadly earthquake stopped rattling a swath of Nepal, before the scope of the damage was calculated, the digging began. The magnitude-7.8 earthquake has killed more than 1,800 people, and the death toll is expected to rise. One witness, Joe McEnness, captured a photo of police officers in Kathmandu, the Nepalese capital, trying to dig survivors out of a collapsed building. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said its volunteers and staff were aiding rescue efforts and providing first aid to the injured. The Red Cross opened a blood bank in Kathmandu. Reports from Nepal indicated that hospitals were overflowing with patients and suffering from shortages. One doctor in the outskirts of Kathmandu put out a plea for engineers to come to his hospital to help back up the electricity supply. "Victims will be dying if we don't have it," Dr. Subhash Acharya tweeted. At another hospital, CNN's Manesh Shrestha saw people being turned away as doctors focused on the most dire needs, he said. He saw people lying outside with broken bones and head injuries. With communication limited, many turned to social media to ask for help locating their loved ones. Google India launched a person finder website to work as a clearinghouse for information on those who are missing and those who have been found. As of Saturday night in Nepal, Google was tracking some 1,400 records. Facebook activated Safety Check, which alerts users of any friends who are in the disaster zone. Those in the affected area can use Facebook to alert their family and friends that they are OK. The U.S. government is providing $1 million in immediate assistance, the U.S. Embassy in Nepal said. American disaster response teams are also on their way to the country, the Embassy said via Twitter. Nepal's neighbor India deployed teams to Kathmandu almost immediately. Within hours of the quake, India had sent almost 300 personnel, along with search dogs and supplies. The equipment arrived in Nepal via a series of cargo and airlift planes, including a C-130 Super Hercules, one IL-76, and two C-17 Globemasters, according to India's Ministry of Defense. Two additional helicopters were deployed from India but turned back because of bad weather, the ministry said. India said Sunday that it would dispatch 10 more aid flights to Nepal, along with 10 helicopters to assist in search-and-rescue efforts. Disaster management and medical personnel as well as mobile hospitals, food, water, blankets and medicine will be on the aid flights, Ministry of Defense spokesman Sitanshu Kar said. Pakistan announced it is sending a medical team, a 30-bed hospital and search-and-rescue experts. The Pakistani search team is specialized for rescues in natural disasters, officials said, and comes equipped with ground-penetrating radar and concrete cutters. Pakistan is sending meals, water, medicine and other supplies. China, meanwhile, announced that it will send 40 rescuers and six search dogs. Israel's military was preparing to send a team to assess the damage from the

Summary: More than 1,800 deaths reported after Nepal earthquake . Rescue efforts range from digging by hand to military deployments .


Tehran, Iran (CNN)There is a Persian proverb that says: "A good year is determined by its spring." For many Iranians, the historic decision by Tehran and six world powers -- the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China -- to continue nuclear negotiations under a "joint comprehensive plan of action" is an indication that this year's Norouz, the Persian New Year that started on March 21, will be a superb one indeed. Although edgy hardliners may now try to play games and complain the preliminary agreement is not what they had hoped, for many people it shows excellent progress and that's what they want. It paves the way for a much broader deal by end of June that guarantees the peaceful nature of Tehran's nuclear activities in return for the lifting of sanctions and a return to the international community. As is, the stakes are high and the choice is clear for President Hassan Rouhani and his "moderate" administration. They must now be over the moon: In early 2016, there will be Legislative and Assembly of Experts elections, the latter of which elects the country's leader. This historic agreement will make sure they win both the elections. So far, Rouhani's team has done nothing to improve the living conditions of ordinary Iranians who complain they have lost half of their purchasing power in recent years. READ MORE: Will Iran's Supreme Leader drink 'poison' of peace? During his presidential campaign, he promised to do so "only" if he could seal a nuclear deal with the world powers. And now he has. A full deal ultimately represents a referendum on the Rouhani administration's foreign policy. It will definitely strengthen his hand, which he needs to stay in the game, or better yet, win the next presidential race. The good news is that people are more than happy to welcome the preliminary agreement. They had always wanted a way out of the current impasse with the rest of the world and as a reward they could keep the moderates in power for the foreseeable future. Iranians blame sanctions and the previous hardline government for the sorry state of affairs in the economy -- especially the way they so poorly handled past nuclear talks of the past -- with devastating consequences. Many believe that now there is a joint comprehensive plan of action -- the culmination of a 12-year process -- there is something to hope for. In many respects, it's a new beginning and that allows Iranians a very small degree of hope inside themselves too. Looking back, the previous government traded those expectations for international isolation and economic hardship. Despite skepticism, even the country's leader, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, now feels that the light at the end of the tunnel might not be a train and that the talks could end well. READ MORE: What's in the Iran nuclear deal? 7 key points . Little wonder he had urged the nation -- including the well-funded hardliners -- to support the government's overture, saying the negotiating team was trustworthy and had been doing a

Summary: Deal between Iran and six world powers has given Iranians hope, writes Ghanbar Naderi . Lifting of international sanctions a possibility, Iranians hope for better living conditions, he adds . People will likely keep President Rouhani's "moderate" government in power, Naderi writes .


(CNN)Every morning, Sissa Abu Dahou puts on traditional male dress, known as a jalabiya, and heads into the streets of the Egyptian city of Luxor for a day of hard work. But this man of the house is actually a woman. The grandmother of two has dressed as a man for 43 years to avoid oppression and eek out a living in the conservative Muslim state. "Why did you do this mother?" her daughter asked during a recorded interview with Egyptian television network CBC. "Your father died and I was six months pregnant with you." she replied. "None of my siblings helped me. I raised you and sent you to school. Without money I could not have gotten you an education." A widow at just 21, Dahou was forced to fend for herself in Egypt's patriarchal south, where decades ago it was unheard of for women to earn their own living. Even in recent years, women make up barely 24% of Egypt's workforce, according to the World Bank. "It is considered wrong that I dressed as a man but no one can judge. Not you or anyone else. Only God can judge me," Dahou said, "People talked but I said I decided to be a man so I can take care of my small daughter." The breadwinner worked as a brick maker for just 25 piasters, the equivalent of a few cents, until she saved up enough money to buy a shoeshine kit. She found a place for her wooden box, painted with red hearts and the Egyptian flag, alongside the all-male shoe shiners of her community. "If it wasn't for my mother, I would have been on the streets" Houda, her daughter, told TV host Mona al-Shazly through tears. "Honestly I would have been in the streets. I did not find a home except with my mother. And even today my children rely on her." The years of sun and sand weathered and darkened Dahou's face and left her with a voice so deep and raspy she can easily be mistaken for a man. Her only child, Houda, eventually married and had two children of her own. Through the years the one-time housewife dreamed of owning her own business one day, a small street stand to sell snacks and cigarettes. After her interview on CBC television, the governor of Luxor province offered Dahou a kiosk and a cash advance. The maverick had one requirement- she would only agree to meet with the governor in male attire. "Even if I die, I will not take it off," Dahou said as she pulled on the male jalabiya in front of a TV camera, "When I had to dress in a woman's jalabiya when I went to Cairo I felt suffocated. No, I thank God. I don't want anyone to look at me or look at my daughter." Now the 65-year-old who earned respect as a man has gained praise as a woman. Egypt's President, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, crowned her as one of Egypt's ideal mothers in an official ceremony last month. "If I

Summary: Sissa Abu Dahou recently was honored as one of Egypt's ideal mothers . But for 43 years she has dressed as a man so she could work in the conservative country . "People talked but I said I decided to be a man so I can take care of my small daughter," says Dahou .


(CNN)A man charged with planning the deadly 2008 Mumbai terror attacks in India has been released on bail in Pakistan after years of detention, prompting sharp criticism from India. Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, a top leader of the terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba, was released early Friday from a jail in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi, according to Yahya Mujahid, spokesman for Jamaat-ud-Dawa, a group with which Lakhvi is affiliated. Lakhvi was charged in Pakistan in 2009, accused of masterminding the November 2008 terror attacks that left more than 160 people dead in Mumbai, India's most populous city. Lakhvi still faces trial in the case. But an anti-terrorism court granted Lakhvi bail last year, a decision the Pakistani government said it would challenge. That challenge lasted until Thursday, when the Lahore High Court ordered his release, CNN affiliate and Pakistani outlet GEO News reported. Lakhvi posted bail totaling 2 million Pakistani rupees (more than $19,000), according to GEO News. India, Pakistan's neighbor and rival, condemned Lakhvi's bail release on Friday. The country contacted Pakistan's foreign secretary to underline "that this has reinforced the perception that Pakistan has a dual policy on dealing with terrorists, and those who have carried out attacks or are posing a threat to India are being dealt with differently," said Syed Akbaruddin, a spokesman for India's Ministry of External Affairs. The accusation that Pakistan might treat India differently highlights long-running tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbors, which have fought three wars against each other since their partition at the end of British colonial rule. Pakistan's Foreign Office responded Friday by saying, "It would not be proper to cast aspersions on Pakistan's commitment to countering terrorism at a time when Pakistan has entered a critical stage of defeating the menace of terrorism." The Foreign Office also blamed what it said was India's delay in cooperating in the case, saying it "weakened the prosecution." In the Mumbai attacks, heavily armed men stormed landmark buildings around Mumbai, including luxury hotels, the city's historic Victoria Terminus train station and a Jewish cultural center. India executed the last surviving gunman from the attacks in 2012. Other suspects were all killed during the series of attacks, which went on for three days. More about the Mumbai attacks . CNN's Harmeet Singh contributed to this report.

Summary: The terror attacks in India left more than 160 people dead . A court granted the suspect bail last year .


(CNN)Late one night on Facebook, a girl with cystic fibrosis messaged a boy with cystic fibrosis, and both their lives were changed forever. The girl, Katie Donovan, read that the boy, Dalton Prager, was very sick. "If you ever need a friend to talk to, you can reach out to me," she wrote. "Sorry, but do I know you?" he responded. No, you don't, Katie wrote back, and told Dalton a bit about herself. Like him, she was 18, and "my breathing is pretty crappy and I see you are in the hospital. I'm sorry. I know it sucks!...But you just gotta stay strong." Messages between the two flew back and forth. They realized they were falling in love. For most other couples, the next step would be to meet in person. But for Katie and Dalton, that was complicated -- and dangerous. Cystic fibrosis patients shouldn't be near each other because they can share infections that could cripple their already fragile lungs. Dr. Michael Anstead at the University of Kentucky, Katie's pulmonologist since she was a little girl, had lectured her many times that face-to-face meetings with other CF patients were a bad idea. In their online conversations, one of the first things Dalton told Katie about himself was that he had Burkholderia cepacia, a horribly dangerous infection for people with CF. "I was like, 'Hi, I'm Dalton from Missouri and I have Burkholderia cepacia,' because it's such a big deal in the CF community," he remembers. "I left the decision about whether we should meet up completely up to her." Katie listened to her heart, even if it might hurt her lungs. She asked Dalton to come visit her in Flemingsburg, Kentucky. "I told Dalton I'd rather be happy -- like really, really happy -- for five years of my life and die sooner than be mediocre happy and live for twenty years," Katie says. "That was definitely something I had to think about, but when you have those feelings, you just know." So on August 28, 2009, Dalton drove more than six hours from St. Charles, Missouri, to Katie's hometown in Flemingsburg, Kentucky, where they'd arranged to meet at the Dairy Queen. At 7:10 pm -- they remember the time precisely -- Katie got out of her car and saw Dalton leaning against a brick wall looking cool and handsome in his sunglasses. "My heart was racing, but I just went right up to him and hugged and kissed him on the mouth without even saying hello," she remembers. "I'm usually not that kind of girl, but it just felt so right." Katie took Dalton and his mother, Renee, who'd made the trip with him, to have dinner with her and her parents, Debbie and John Donovan. Later the young couple drove around Flemingsburg, and Dalton gave her a necklace for her nineteenth birthday, which was two days before. Their health quickly deteriorated, and within months, the new husband and wife went on oxygen full time. Too ill to work, Dalton quit his job at his family's auto repair

Summary: Katie and Dalton met as patients dealing with cystic fibrosis . Two years later, they were married . Dalton received a lung transplant, but Katie is still waiting .


Tokyo (CNN)It's a bird -- It's a plane -- It's an insanely fast Japanese bullet train. A Japan Railway maglev train hit 603 kilometers per hour (374 miles per hour) on an experimental track in Yamanashi Tuesday, setting a decisive new world record. A spokesperson said the train spent 10.8 seconds traveling above 600 kilometers per hour, during which it covered 1.8 kilometers (1.1 miles). That's nearly 20 football fields in the time it took you to read the last two sentences. Takeo Ookanda, who runs an exhibition center next to the test track, said witnesses erupted with excitement and applause when the new record was set. "I was moved just like many other visitors here today," he told CNN. "This maglev project... (increases) the hope that Japan can have a good growth again in the future." The train broke its own record from last Thursday, when it ran at 590 kilometers per hour (366 miles per hour) on a test track. That beat the old record of 581 kilometers per hour (361 miles per hour), which was set in 2003 during another Japanese maglev test. Right now, China operates the world's fastest commercial maglev, which has hit 431 kilometers per hour (268 miles per hour) on a route through Shanghai. By contrast, the fastest train in the United States, Amtrak's Acela Express, is only capable of 241 kilometers per hour (150 miles per hour), though it usually plods along at half that speed. Unlike traditional trains, maglev trains work by using magnets to push the train away from the tracks and drive the train forward. Japan's maglevs don't use metal tracks — instead, they float nearly 10 cm (4 inches) above special guideways, allowing for frictionless movement. Japan Railways has been testing their train to figure out the best operational speed for a planned route between Tokyo and Nagoya, scheduled to begin service in 2027. That trip can take nearly 5 hours by car. But in the future, a maglev train could finish the journey in 40 minutes. READ MORE: The future of transportation will blow your hair back . CNN's Yoko Wakatsuki contributed reporting.

Summary: Japanese maglev train sets new speed record: 603 kilometers per hour . The train is planned to begin service in 2027 .


(CNN)Lois Lilienstein, co-star of "Sharon, Lois & Bram's Elephant Show" — the Canadian preschool show that ran on Nickelodeon during the early 1990s — has died, aged 78. Her son, David Lilienstein, told CBC News that his mother died in Toronto on Wednesday night from a rare form of cancer first diagnosed last October. "She knew it was happening, she was at peace with it, and she died very peacefully and not in pain," he told the Canadian broadcaster. Liz Smith at 92 . Lilienstein was born in Chicago in 1936 and moved to Toronto in 1996 with her son and her husband, Ernest. She joined Sharon Hampson and Bram Morrison to launch their singing trio in 1978. The TV show "Sharon, Lois & Bram's Elephant Show" ran on CBC in Canada from 1984 to 1989, before continuing in reruns on Nickelodeon stateside until 1995. The 30 most popular film producers in Hollywood . Sally Catto, general manager, programming at CBC Television, paid tribute to Lilienstein for her contribution to Canadian kids TV. "Sharon, Lois and Bram got their start at CBC back in the '80s with the Elephant Show, and they went on to become icons to children all across North America through various programs and specials. Lois will be fondly remembered by her many friends at CBC," Catto told The Hollywood Reporter. 'Ghostbusters' budget cut . The Canadian variety show was best known for songs like "Skinnamarink" and "Peanut Butter." Lilienstein left the Sharon, Lois & Bram performance trio in 2000. ©2015 The Hollywood Reporter. All rights reserved.

Summary: Beloved children's performer Lois Lilienstein has died . She was a member of CBC and Nickelodeon TV stars Sharon, Lois and Bram . CNN independently confirmed with Sharon and Bram's manager that Lilienstein passed away at 78 of a a rare cancer .


Vidarbha, India (CNN)Yogita Kanhaiya is expecting a baby soon. She already has a two-year-old son. Her husband, Moreshwor, a cotton farmer, won't be around to see his children grown up. He committed suicide early in the pregnancy. Eight years back, Yogita's father-in-law, also a cotton farmer, took his own life. "He was in so much debt," 25-year-old Yogita said of her late husband. "He wasn't getting any money from cotton. He chose death over distress." It's a familiar story in families across Western India's cotton production belt, where, a cotton lobbyist group claims, one cotton farmer commits suicide every eight hours. "We get reports of two to three farmer suicides every day," said Kishor Tiwari, leader of the farmers advocacy group, Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti (VJAS). Vidarbha, in the eastern region of the state of Maharashtra, is known as the epicenter of the suicide crisis. According to VJAS data, some 2,900 farmers from the area have taken their lives since 2013; more than 500 have died since the start of this year. There are a number of reasons for the hopelessness among Vidarbha farmers. Unseasonal rain and hail destroyed many crops earlier this year. But they've also had to contend with the flipside: a plentiful harvest in 2014 drove prices down while production costs rose, leaving many farmers either lacking income or burdened with debt from loans taken out to help keep them afloat. Last year was a record year for cotton production, resulting in a glut of cotton on the world market. India produced 40 million bales of the fiber in 2013/14 crop year, and is the second largest global cotton grower, after China. The record surplus of cotton in the global market pushed down prices hurting farmers, particularly in Vidarbha, which is becoming increasingly reliant on cotton. "Our land mostly supports only two crops: cotton and soybean. But for the past few years, soybean yield has consistently been decreasing. So we mostly depend on cotton," said Murali Dhidkar, a local cotton farmer. He said in the past year, cotton prices had halved. "I'm getting around 50 dollars per quintal. Just a year ago it was 100 dollars. I've never seen such a low price. The costs of pesticides, fertilizers and seeds are increasing but the cotton price is falling down." He points out the dismal condition of debt-ridden farmers like himself in Vidarbha, many of whom are forced to take out loans or give up farming. "Government officials do not come to the village and listen to our plight. Just a few days ago, my neighbor burnt himself alive," Dhidkar said. Tiwari, from the farmers advocacy group, said many farmers in Vidarbha had lost hope that the situation would improve. "It is an epidemic. How many more farmers need to commit suicide before the government steps in to find a solution to this problem?" More than 50% of India's population is involved in the agricultural and allied sector, which contributes 18% of the country's GDP. Government data shows 11,772 farmers committed suicide in 2013 across India. That is 44 deaths

Summary: Vidarbha, the eastern region of the state of Maharashtra, is known as the epicenter of the suicide crisis . Farmers are becoming burdened with debt due to falling prices but rising costs .


Nairobi (CNN)An elite police commando unit waited hours for transport from Nairobi, Kenya, to Garissa, where Al-Shabaab terrorists had taken over a university on April 2, according to one of the commandos who participated in the response operation. The commando asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals and because he was not authorized to speak. Al-Shabaab slaughtered 147 people at the school. Of the fatalities, 142 were students at the university, and the rest were security forces and campus security. At 7:00 a.m. local time, the response team was told to assemble for a mission to Garissa, the police commando told CNN. At 8:00 a.m., he said, the team was told there were no police aircraft available to take them. A reserve team was then sent by road, while the main commando team waited in Nairobi for air transport, he said. Once told aircraft would be available, it took the commando team nearly two hours to travel the roughly 22 miles (35 kilometers) to the airport because of the heavy traffic, the commando source said. But Kenya's Police Air Wing Chief Col. Rogers Mbithi denied that his unit caused any delay in the response to the university attack. Mbithi told CNN two fixed wing aircraft were ready and waiting for the commandos 45 minutes before the police commandos were ready to depart around 12:30 p.m. local time. Government names Kenya attack mastermind . Mbithi conceded that one of the two aircraft ultimately used to transport the commandos to Garissa left Nairobi at 7:30 a.m. to fly to Mombasa on a scheduled flight, hours after the Garissa terror attack began. That plane picked up the chief's daughter-in-law and two children, and returned to Nairobi at its scheduled time of 11:39 a.m., Mbithi said. The first aircraft carrying police commandos eventually departed for Garissa at 12:30 p.m., followed by a second aircraft about 10 minutes later, Mbithi said. Inside college dorm's scene of slaughter . After arriving in Garissa by plane, the commando team rehearsed the assault on the university compound for about two-and-a-half hours, the commando source told CNN. The police assault to retake the university compound began around 5 p.m. and lasted about 15 minutes. One commando was killed in the assault. All four Al-Shabaab attackers were killed. Another law enforcement source told CNN that by 7:00 a.m. the Al-Shabaab terrorists had already killed most of the students, saying: "It was never a hostage situation." The problems plaguing Kenya's security efforts . Other Kenyan officials have previously defended the response to the university attack. Manoah Esipisu, a spokesman for Kenya's President and deputy president, told CNN last week that in emergency situations there is always criticism regarding whether governments reacted as fast as they could have or should have. "With the benefit of hindsight, you can always say things could have been done better," he said. Kenyan authorities saved a lot of students and "got the job done," he said. Foreign Minister Amina Mohamed told CNN the response was sufficient and denied reports that it was the elite rapid response

Summary: Commando says air transport was delayed for hours as Al-Shabaab forces slaughtered students . On April 2, 147 were killed at a university in Garissa, Kenya, most were students .


(CNN)The world's biggest and most powerful physics experiment is taking place as you read this. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a particle accelerator and the largest machine in the world, is ready for action following a two-year shutdown. After problems that delayed the restart in March, scientists at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) completed final tests, enabling the first beams to start circulating Sunday inside the LHC's 17 mile (27 km) ring. "Operating accelerators for the benefit of the physics community is what CERN's here for," CERN Director-General Rolf Heuer said on the organization's website. "Today, CERN's heart beats once more to the rhythm of the LHC." The LHC generates up to 600 million particles per second, with a beam circulating for 10 hours, traveling more than 6 billion miles (more than 10 billion kilometers) -- the distance from Earth to Neptune and back again. At near light-speed, a proton in the LHC makes 11,245 circuits per second. It took thousands of scientists, engineers and technicians decades to devise and build the particle accelerator, housed in a tunnel between Lake Geneva and the Jura mountain range. The purpose of the lengthy project is to recreate the conditions that existed moments after the "Big Bang" -- the scientific theory said to explain the creation of the universe. By replicating the energy density and temperature, scientists hope to uncover how the universe evolved. Our current, limited, knowledge is based on what's called The Standard Model of particle physics. "But we know that this model is not complete," Dr. Mike Lamont, operations group leader at the LHC, told CNN in March. The burning questions that remain include the origin of mass and why some particles are very heavy, while others have no mass at all; a unified description of all the fundamental forces such as gravity; and uncovering dark matter and dark energy, since visible matter accounts for only 4 percent of the universe. The LHC could also question the idea that the universe is only made of matter, despite the theory that antimatter must have been produced in the same amounts at the time of the Big Bang. CERN says the energies achievable by the LHC have only ever been found in nature. The machine alone costs approximately three billion euros (about $3.3 billion), paid for by member countries of CERN and contributions by non-member nations. The organization also asserts that its guidelines for the protection of the environment and personnel comply with standards set by Swiss and French laws and a European Council Directive. Scientists and physics enthusiasts will be waiting with bated breath as the LHC ventures into the great unknown. "After two years of effort, the LHC is in great shape," said CERN Director for Accelerators and Technology, Frédérick Bordry. "But the most important step is still to come when we increase the energy of the beams to new record levels." Peter Shadbolt contributed to this report.

Summary: The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) begins again after a two-year shutdown . The restart was delayed in March .


Washington (CNN)An Iranian military observation aircraft flew within 50 yards of an armed U.S. Navy helicopter over the Persian Gulf this month, sparking concern that top Iranian commanders might not be in full control of local forces, CNN has learned. The incident, which has not been publicly disclosed, troubled U.S. military officials because the unsafe maneuver could have triggered a serious incident. It also surprised U.S. commanders because in recent months Iranian forces have conducted exercises and operations in the region in a professional manner, one U.S. military official told CNN. "We think this might have been locally ordered," the official said. The incident took place as the U.S. and other world powers meet with Iran in Switzerland to negotiate a deal limiting Tehran's nuclear program. At the same time, Iran has been active in supporting proxies in several hotspots in the Persian Gulf and neighboring regions. The Navy MH-60R armed helicopter was flying from the deck of the USS Carl Vinson on a routine patrol in international airspace, the official said. An unarmed Iranian observation Y-12 aircraft approached. The Iranian aircraft made two passes at the helicopter, coming within 50 yards, before the helicopter moved off, according to the official. The official said the helicopter deliberately broke off and flew away in a 'predictable' manner so the Iranians could not misinterpret any U.S. intentions. The Navy helicopter was in radio contact with the ship during the encounter, but there was no contact between the two aircraft and no shots were fired. The Navy crew took photos of the incident but the military is not releasing them. The U.S. administration is considering a potential demarche protest against Iran, the official said. CNN has reached out to Iranian officials but has not received a response. This type of Iranian observation aircraft generally operates over the Gulf several times a month. But after the recent incident, U.S. naval intelligence did not see it again for two weeks, leading to the conclusion that the incident may have been ordered by a local commander who was then reprimanded by higher-ups. The Pentagon has noted for the last several years that most encounters with the Iranian military at sea or in air are conducted professionally, but that some missions run by Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps forces have been too aggressive against U.S. forces in the area. The U.S. military's concern has been that one of these incidents could escalate into a military encounter. This incident "might have been buffoonery" the official said, but there is always a risk from such actions. The incident comes as the Navy patrols the Gulf of Aden to watch for Iranian ships the U.S. believes are trying to bring weapons to resupply the Houthi rebels in Yemen. The Navy would share such intelligence with Saudi Arabia, a second U.S. official told CNN.

Summary: Iranian plane came within 50 yards of U.S. Navy Sea Hawk copter . Navy copter was on patrol in international airspace . U.S. official think Iranian plane may have been under orders of local commander .


(CNN)It didn't seem like a fair fight. On one side were hulking football players and pro wrestlers, competing as teams of two to eat as many pounds of steak as they could, combined, in one hour. On another was a lone 124-pound mother of four. And sure enough, in the end, Sunday's contest at Big Texan Steak Ranch in Amarillo, Texas, wasn't even close. Molly Schuyler scarfed down three 72-ounce steaks, three baked potatoes, three side salads, three rolls and three shrimp cocktails -- far outpacing her heftier rivals. That's more than 13 pounds of steak, not counting the sides. And she did it all in 20 minutes, setting a record in the process. "We've been doing this contest since 1960, and in all that time we've never had anybody come in to actually eat that many steaks at one time," Bobby Lee, who co-owns the Big Texan, told CNN affiliate KVII. "So this is a first for us, and after 55 years of it, it's a big deal." In fairness, Schuyler isn't your typical 124-pound person. The Nebraska native, 35, is a professional on the competitive-eating circuit and once gobbled 363 chicken wings in 30 minutes. Wearing shades and a black hoodie, Schuyler beat four other teams on Sunday, including pairs of football players and pro wrestlers and two married competitive eaters. She also broke her own Big Texan record of two 72-ounce steaks and sides, set last year, when she bested previous record-holder Joey "Jaws" Chestnut. The landmark Big Texan restaurant offers its "72-ounce Challenge" daily to anyone who can eat the massive steak, plus fixings, in under an hour. Those who can't do so must pay $72 for the meal. Schuyler, who now lives in Sacramento, California, won $5,000 for her efforts. Her feat will be submitted to Guinness World Records. But mostly, she just seemed pleased to enjoy a hearty meal on the house. "It's free, so I'm pretty happy about that," she told KVII. "Otherwise it would have cost me about 300 bucks."

Summary: Molly Schuyler scarfed down three 72-ounce steaks Sunday in Amarillo, Texas . The Sacramento woman, 35, is a professional on the competitive-eating circuit .


(CNN)It came a day early. Baltimore investigators handed their files on Freddie Gray's death over to prosecutors Thursday, but the public shouldn't expect much. It's largely a procedural step, and given the overtures from Baltimore officials, the state's attorney's decision on whether to file charges against the six officers involved in the arrest will not be immediate. No reports will be made public, police Commissioner Anthony Batts said, echoing an assertion he made last week that even after the prosecutors receive the files, the task force assigned to Gray's death will continue investigating. "That is just us sitting down, providing all the data we have. We will continue to follow the evidence wherever it goes," Batts said. The Gray family's legal team had no expectations otherwise. "I hate to say this, but I think if people are waiting for answers or charges to come," attorney Mary Koch said this week, "I don't think that's going to happen based on the way the process works, and I think that the government officials need to advise people of how the process honestly works and to lower their expectations about what's going to happen." Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake seemed reluctant to do so during a Thursday interview with CNN. Pressed several times on whether answers would be forthcoming, the mayor seemed to dance around the question. Handing over the report represents "an inflection point," she said at first, before explaining that it also marks a "continuation in a process toward justice." She went on to reiterate a point officials have made several times, that releasing information hastily could jeopardize the probe and any possible prosecution. Asked again if it was fair for people to assume they would not get answers immediately, she said Baltimore officials had a "duty to protect the justice process." Prodded on whether the public should expect her or Batts to announce findings, she said she didn't want to "seek justice for optics" and explained she had spoken to schools, clergy and community leaders about what to expect. Finally, asked flat out if people should expect an end to the saga when the report was handed over, she replied: "Well, it can't be the end. There's been no charges. There's been no trial. It cannot be the end." The family understands the process and was warned at the outset to be patient, Koch said Thursday. "We've told the family from the beginning that answers were not going to come quickly and that the investigation needed to be full and complete, ... and hopefully what will happen is the correct people are charged, those charged are prosecuted and that prosecution sticks," she said. Perhaps lost amid the chaos that has descended on Baltimore is that there is not one, but two investigations, seeking to determine how Gray suffered a fatal spine injury in police custody. The mayhem since Gray's April 19 death a week after his arrest -- the looting, vandalism, blazes, attacks on police and firefighters, marauding criminals stoking the havoc -- has overtaken, or at least outweighed, updates about the investigations. Newly

Summary: Prosecutors get investigative report a day early, but don't expect immediate word on charges . Attorney general: We're continuing "careful and deliberate examination of the facts" Gray family was told "answers were not going to come quickly," and that's fine, attorney says .


(CNN)It's a girls' universe. On Wednesday, DC Entertainment, Warner Bros. and Mattel announced a partnership to launch DC Super Hero Girls, featuring familiar superheroes and supervillains as "relatable teens," according to a press release. (Like CNN, DC and Warner Bros. are units of Time Warner.) The characters involved include Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Batgirl, Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy, among others. Though initial reaction on social media appeared favorable -- "My daughter will be a big fan I think," wrote NerdGallagher -- praise wasn't universal. "Just let us into the old universes!" tweeted Kathleen E. Kennedy. And Jenna Busch, writing for Legion of Leia, was concerned the initiative was another way of keeping girls separate. "Targeting them as 'for girls only' is just another way to be exclusive," she wrote. "Look, I appreciate the effort, but drawing yet another line between men and women is not the way to go. So, where are you going to put these products in Target? On the pink side of the toy section or the blue side?" DC Super Hero Girls is aimed at girls ages 6-12 and will include online content, toys, books and TV specials. Mattel is the toy licensee and Random House Books for Young Readers will publish books based on the franchise. The first elements will roll out in the fall.

Summary: DC, partners introduce DC Super Hero Girls, intended for girls 6-12 . Reaction mostly favorable -- but some caveats .


(CNN)She could stand on a strand of human hair, with room to spare. The microscopic polymer statue by South African sculptor Jonty Hurwitz, entitled Trust, measured just 1/100th of a centimeter and had been called the "smallest sculpture ever made." But the world's tiniest woman suddenly disappeared to an unknown location, likely never to be seen again. While she was being photographed through an electron microscope -- the only way to view the minute creation -- Trust vanished, with only a smudged fingerprint left behind by her photographer as a clue. After an hour long search, Hurwitz and the photographer gave in: "It was horror. I remember saying to him: 'You just destroyed or lost the smallest human form that was ever created in history,' said Hurwitz to CNN Ones to Watch. "It was gone." But was it, really? Hurwitz is an entrepreneur-turned-artist who has applied the same tech wizardry to sculpture that he put into coding a finance site valued at over $500 million. The 45-year-old's "Nano-sculptures" are made from a mysterious resin -- "a big scientific secret", says Hurwitz -- and created through a process called "two-photon lithography." Hurwitz works with a team of nanotechnology engineers at Karlsruhe University, who focus beams of ultraviolet light to "zap" solid the liquid resin, one 3D pixel at a time. The resulting sculptures -- he has also created a statue depicting the classical myth of Cupid and Psyche -- can lie on an ant's head. Put one into the eye of a needle, and it will barely occupy one corner. The "Nano" project is just one of Hurwitz' science-inspired sculptural experiments. Another one explores the properties of the mathematical constant Pi, presenting an indecipherable, "anamorphic" physical sculpture, whose hidden form becomes clear only when reflected in a cylindrical mirror. And he hints that a forthcoming project will also be influenced by his love of the natural world, but will sit at the opposite end of the scale to his nano-models. Hurwitz, who first made his name as the UK-based co-founder of controversial "payday" loans business Wonga, says he makes visual art with a team, as in traditionally collaborative art forms, such as cinema. He discusses accumulating collaborators as an aggressive start-up accumulates new talent: . "I spent a huge amount of time scouring the world for amazing achievements of humanity and contact these people to work with them. For me the creation of an artwork these days is analogous to the creation of a film: for each piece there may 20 people involved, each one brilliant in their field." Hurwitz makes no secret of his desire to bring together contemporary science and art -- delighting in the fact that his nano-scale and 3D printed pieces depend on cutting edge technology, and would have been unimaginable just 10 years ago. Online, fans response has been overwhelming, he says, and the internet has become his exhibition space. It provides an "epic scale" that brick-and-mortar galleries can't match, he says, and estimates 13 million people have seen his sculptures since they hit the web in November

Summary: London-based artist Jonty Hurwitz creates sculptures that are smaller than a human hair . They're made using ultraviolet light and resin, and then photographed with an electron microscope .


(CNN)We might never truly comprehend what drove co-pilot Andreas Lubitz to crash Germanwings Flight 9525 into the French Alps on March 24, killing everyone on board. The latest report shows that he sped up the descent of the plane to its doom. It's terrifying. As the investigation unfolds, we will learn more about to what extent Lubitz kept his mental illness secret, or how much help he sought. How much did his battle with depression affect his fitness to fly? Should he have walked away from his job? Should his doctors have sounded alarm bells? His case raises larger and important issues about people who are burdened with mental illness and the pressure of its stigma. Too often and for too long, people with mental illness have been regarded by others around them as disasters waiting to happen. When we don't distinguish between people with a mental illness who are dangerous to society and those who are a danger to no one, we reinforce a pernicious idea that's both bad for society and bad for those with mental illness. Some people feel a need to keep their mental illness a secret while others decline to seek help. That's why in our public and more private discourse, people with mental illness and the rest of society must talk about mental illness in a way that doesn't drive some into the darkness. We need to understand this malady as an illness and not a personal failing. And we have to recognize that "mental illness" is a broad category encompassing many different challenges that affect people in a variety of ways. People with mental illness are no more violent than the rest of the population and with proper treatment, many can recover and live healthy, productive lives. We must encourage them to open up, and when they do, we must listen to them and take their cries for help seriously. It wasn't that long ago that a diagnosis of cancer was a tightly-kept secret that many victims of the deadly malady kept from family members, friends and especially employers. But that changed dramatically over the years as people with cancer, their family members and caregivers came together to educate and change public opinion about the disease. Similarly, and with the courageous example of Michael J. Fox, we've seen perceptions about Parkinson's disease change for the better, as people learn more about what it is and isn't. Time to talk about depression . That's the kind of transformation we need around perceptions of mental illness through a better-informed public discussion. We have to put policies in place that encourage more openness without the severe repercussions people with mental illness fear. That includes enforcing and even strengthening the kind of protections we already have in place (through laws and regulations like the Americans for Disabilities Act) for individuals who disclose their disability. We also need to address the dilemma health care providers often face when they feel that strict patient privacy requirements inhibit them from alerting others to behaviors that could pose a public risk. It's a

Summary: Andreas Lubitz, the co-pilot who crashed the Germanwings flight, battled with depression . Jay Ruderman and Jo Ann Simons: Society must talk about mental illness to help people cope with it better .


Boston (CNN)Guilty across the board. But will he face death? After deliberating for 11½ hours, jurors found Dzhokhar Tsarnaev guilty on Wednesday of all 30 counts he faced in the Boston Marathon bombing trial. Seventeen of the 30 counts were capital charges, meaning he is eligible for the death penalty. The trial will next move into a penalty phase, where the jury will hear testimony and arguments from both sides and ultimately be tasked with deciding whether Tsarnaev, 21, will be executed. A look at all of the charges . Jurors will be asked to weigh aggravating factors such as the heinousness of his crimes against mitigating factors such as his family and mental health history, as well as his relative youth. Tsarnaev was 19 at the time of the bombing. The start date of the penalty phase has not yet been set. Since testimony began March 4, federal prosecutors have called 92 witnesses, and the defense just four. It seemed a mismatch from the start. "He was there," Tsarnaev's defense attorney Judy Clarke conceded as the trial opened, but many say the defense strategy always had been to focus on persuading the jury to spare Tsarnaev's life. Tsarnaev lawyer keeps hated criminals off death row . Clarke tried to convince jurors that her client's older brother, 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who died in a shootout with police days after the terror attack, was the instigator of the marathon plot. The younger man, Clarke said, was only following his older brother. After the verdict, CNN legal analyst Paul Callan said Clarke now faces an uphill battle. "Because No. 1, he (Tsarnaev) is almost functioning as an officer of a military organization attacking the United States -- the claim of course that he's an Islamic radical and that this is almost an army-like attack on civilians. "And the second thing -- it was so well planned and so callously planned so that civilians would die, so that children would be maimed. And all of this, she has to get around and convince the jury he's not worthy of the death penalty. "Boy, she's climbing the Mount Everest of death penalty cases in this case," Callan said about Clarke. Survivors react to the verdict . Ann O'Neill reported from Boston. Dana Ford reported from Atlanta.

Summary: Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is found guilty on all 30 charges he faced . Seventeen counts were capital charges, meaning he is eligible for the death penalty .


New Delhi, India (CNN)Police have arrested four employees of a popular Indian ethnic-wear chain after a minister spotted a security camera overlooking the changing room of one of its stores. Federal education minister Smriti Irani was visiting a FabIndia outlet in the tourist resort state of Goa on Friday when she discovered a surveillance camera pointed at the changing room, police said. Four employees of the store have been arrested, but its manager -- herself a woman -- was still at large Saturday, said Goa police superintendent Kartik Kashyap. State authorities launched their investigation right after Irani levied her accusation. They found an overhead camera that the minister had spotted and determined that it was indeed able to take photos of customers using the store's changing room, according to Kashyap. After the incident, authorities sealed off the store and summoned six top officials from FabIndia, he said. The arrested staff have been charged with voyeurism and breach of privacy, according to the police. If convicted, they could spend up to three years in jail, Kashyap said. Officials from FabIndia -- which sells ethnic garments, fabrics and other products -- are heading to Goa to work with investigators, according to the company. "FabIndia is deeply concerned and shocked at this allegation," the company said in a statement. "We are in the process of investigating this internally and will be cooperating fully with the police."

Summary: Federal education minister Smriti Irani visited a FabIndia store in Goa, saw cameras . Authorities discovered the cameras could capture photos from the store's changing room . The four store workers arrested could spend 3 years each in prison if convicted .


(CNN)It's only June, but 2015 may be remembered as the year the term "transgender" fully entered mainstream consciousness. In January, President Obama condemned the persecution of "people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender," becoming the first president to utter the word in a State of the Union address. "Transparent," about an aging father who begins living as a woman, won two top awards at the Golden Globes, while transgender actress Laverne Cox of "Orange is the New Black" -- who made the cover of Time magazine last year -- was just cast in a new CBS drama. The May issue of Vogue has a photo spread with transgender model Andreja Pejic, who said on Instagram this week that she "was told by various people many times over that the chances of me ending up on these pages were slim to none." A transgender character had a recurring storyline on the just-wrapped final season of "Glee," while transgender activist and YouTube star Jazz Jennings will star in a reality show debuting on TLC this summer. And then there's Bruce Jenner, whose physical appearance has become more feminine in recent months as the Olympic hero turned reality TV star underwent a very public gender transition. Jenner ended months of speculation in an interview that aired April 24 on "20/20" with Diane Sawyer. "Are you a woman?" Sawyer asked. "Yes," Jenner replied. Now comes the new issue of Vanity Fair, with Jenner on the cover in makeup and a skimpy dress, along with a new name: Caitlyn. It's more obvious than ever that transgender people, long relegated to society's shadows, are finally stepping into the light. "We are at a social inflection point on transgender issues," says Riki Wilchins, a former transgender activist and author of three books on queer theory, who believes all the attention could have a positive impact. "Civil rights for minorities come in fits and starts. We're on an upswing now." Opinion: Why we need to listen to Bruce Jenner's story . Transgender is an umbrella term for people whose gender identity -- their internal, personal sense of being a man or a woman -- differs from what's typically associated with their sex at birth. Some transgender people alter their bodies through hormones and or surgery, although many don't. A 2011 study estimated that 700,000 American adults, or roughly 0.3% of the population, identified themselves as transgender. For decades, trans people, as many transgender people like to be called, rarely saw themselves represented in popular culture. But recent years have brought the "Dancing with the Stars" contestant Chaz Bono; filmmaker Lana Wachowski, formerly known as Larry Wachowski, a co-director of "The Matrix"; Jared Leto's Oscar-winning role in "Dallas Buyers Club"; and of course, "Orange is the New Black," whose cast is a mix of ethnicities and sexualities. Now, between "Transparent" and other shows, recognition from Obama and tabloid headlines about Jenner, the national conversation around gender identity appears to have reached a new level. All this makes transgender advocates cautiously optimistic. Hayden Mora, deputy chief of staff at the Human

Summary: Olympic hero Bruce Jenner appears on Vanity Fair cover as "Caitlyn" Transgender people in the United States are riding an unprecedented wave of visibility . Shows such as "Transparent," "Orange is the New Black" have raised awareness .


(CNN)A grand jury in Dallas County, Texas, has decided not to indict two officers in the fatal shooting of Jason Harrison, a schizophrenic man whose mother had called police for help getting him to the hospital. "This particular case was reported out as a 'no bill,' from the grand jury," said Cristal Retana, a spokeswoman for the Dallas County District Attorney's Office. The grand jury's decision not to indict means Officers John Rogers and Andrew Hutchins won't face criminal prosecution in the case. But the officers are still facing a wrongful death lawsuit from Harrison's family. The incident occurred in June, and Harrison's family filed a lawsuit in November. The release of video from one of the officer's body cameras put the shooting back in the headlines last month. In it, Harrison's mother answers the door for police and nonchalantly walks outside. "Oh, he's just off the chain," she says. "You can hear him, talking about chopping up people." It was a fairly routine occurrence for her to call the police for assistance with her son. An officer asks who she's talking about, and she replies, "My son, bipolar, schizo," as Jason Harrison appears in the doorway behind her. He is twiddling a screwdriver between his fingers. One of the two officers called to the scene tells Harrison to drop the tool, a command the officers repeat at least four times as Harrison's mom screams, "Jay! Jay! Jay!" Within five seconds of that first command, the 39-year-old schizophrenic man is shot five times -- including twice in the back as he crashes headlong into the home's garage door, just a few feet from his mother. Video from one officer's body camera fades to black as Harrison's mother wails, "Oh, they killed my son! Oh, they killed my son!" The officers continue to tell Harrison to drop the weapon. The Harrison family's lawsuit against Rogers and Hutchins says they should have used nonlethal means of defusing the situation instead of choosing to engage "in unlawful vicious attacks" when they and the department were aware of Harrison's condition. The suit also claims the officers violated Harrison's civil rights. The officers, however, said in affidavits that they were forced to shoot an armed man who they deemed dangerous after he failed to comply with repeated orders to drop a screwdriver. CNN's Matthew Stucker and Catherine E. Shoichet contributed to this report.

Summary: Police in Dallas shot and killed Jason Harrison last year . A grand jury has decided not to indict the officers . The officers are still facing a civil lawsuit filed by Harrison's family .


(CNN)Chinese police have arrested more than 133,000 people and seized 43.3 tons of illegal narcotics during a six-month anti-drug campaign, the country's Ministry of Public Security has announced. Authorities also handled 115,000 drug-related crimes -- such as robbery -- and 606,000 cases of drug use during the nationwide campaign to "ban drugs in hundreds of cities," Liu Yuejin, Assistant Minister of Public Security, said Wednesday. The figures were nearly double the same period a year earlier, while the amount of narcotics seized was up by 44.9%, according to the ministry. Liu said drug trafficking groups have "suffered a heavy blow" and drug users have been "forcefully regulated." However, the police also paid a price, Liu said, in quotes carried by the state-run Xinhua news agency. Nine police officers died and another 657 were wounded in the mission, with 76 severely wounded. The ministry rewarded 60 units and 100 people. Liu said China's drug-related problems were still severe, with online drug trafficking an increasing problem. He said the ministry had launched a three-month online campaign starting in April targeting people engaged in drug-related Internet crimes. Over the past nine months, a string of movie and television stars, film directors and pop singers have been arrested and charged over drug related incidents, including Jaycee Chan, son of kung fu movie star Jackie Chan, who was convicted on a drug charge and sentenced to six months in prison by a Beijing court. In August last year, dozens of management agencies representing actors and singers signed an agreement with Beijing authorities banning drug use from the entertainment industry and pledging to sack any artists who broke the law.

Summary: Police arrest 133,000 people and seize 43.3 tons of narcotics in a six-month period . China launches a new online campaign to crack down on online drug crimes . Celebrities have been embroiled in the nation's intensifying anti-drug campaign .


Aden, Yemen (CNN)It didn't look like much, but we'd been told it was typical of the kind of craft ferrying the route between Djibouti and Aden. Better, everyone advised, to be low key, even if low key meant faded lights and three water pumps chugging at all times. The wooden vessel was called Mecca — after the holy city. We were told we'd be at the port in Aden by the next morning, but as the hours ticked by it soon became apparent that that was wildly optimistic. Morning came and we were still only halfway there. We'd been given a secure route, charted for us by the Djiboutian Coast Guard. It meant hugging the coastline, trying to stay as much as possible out of the deeper water in the middle of the Gulf of Aden where the world's navies seemed to be squaring off. It was almost double the distance of the direct route. Add to that a strong current -- and stomach-churning seas -- and it felt like we would spend an eternity on board. After our second sunset, we were finally close enough for my phone to ping with a Yemeni welcome message. However, we couldn't risk arriving at night; even getting too close to shore would risk being mistaken for a re-supply vessel and potentially taking a Saudi hit. The captain slowed the boat to a crawl so the remaining miles would stretch until daybreak. Finally, morning came. It was time to go into town to see what life was like for the people of Aden. We weren't really sure what to expect but we did know we couldn't stay for long. From the moment we stepped through the gates of the port, we were met by noise and desperation, shoving and shouting. "Where are you going?" "I'll pay, I'll pay" "Are you here to take the Americans?" I shouted back that we'd return soon. We had just five hours on the ground and we needed to visit the hospital, the shuttered markets, the frontlines. There was so much we needed to see. The crowds clustered around our camera lens, asking "Why?" "Why is this happening?" "Why hasn't it stopped?" It felt like no time had passed before we were told we had to go. The shelling had begun. We'd been hearing pops of sniper fire all day but now we could hear rounds of automatic weapons and they were getting louder. As we arrived back at port, we found we weren't leaving alone. After waiting at port, praying a passing ship would dock, ours had become an unexpected lifeline for some of the families caught in the fighting. The Harbor-Master asked if we could take 60 refugees. It didn't feel like the answer could be anything but yes. What we didn't realize until it was too late was that the refugees were being charged $300 a person: An "exit fee." Those who didn't have the money were pushed back behind the wrought iron gates of the port. Those that did shared our day-and-a-half trip home. As the

Summary: CNN's Nima Elbagir describes the boat journey from Djbouti to Aden . Vessel returned with 60 refugees desperate to flee fighting in Yemen .


(CNN)Much of the world has been stunned by the huge increase of migrant deaths in the Mediterranean this year, increasing the number of deaths at sea by a factor of 30 compared to the same time last year. Almost all the deaths have occurred in the perilous central Mediterranean crossing from Libya to Italy. The flows of migrants across the Mediterranean are unlikely to stop -- Italian authorities estimate that up to 200,000 migrants in Libya are waiting to cross, following 170,000 refugees and migrants who arrived in Italy last year. These flows reflect a significant increase in the number of refugees and internally displaced people across the world, with a total estimate of 51.2 million people. The latest sinking has triggered some action in the European Union, which has unveiled a new ten-point action plan. The plan includes both deterrent mechanisms, such as efforts to capture and destroy vessels being used by smugglers and a rapid return system, but also an expansion of search-and-rescue programs and a proposed new voluntary resettlement scheme, though it is reported that this may only provide 5,000 spaces. But some EU critics called for much tougher action to deter asylum seekers from making the risky journey. In a column published in the UK's Sun newspaper just hours before the sinking, Katie Hopkins declared: "It's time to get Australian. Bring on the gunships, force migrants back to their shores and burn the boats." Since then, Australia's Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, has also suggested that Europe adopt a tougher approach, saying, "The only way you can stop the deaths is to stop the people smuggling trade. The only way you can stop the deaths is in fact to stop the boats... That's why it is so urgent that the countries of Europe adopt very strong policies that will end the people smuggling trade across the Mediterranean." So what would it mean if the EU did "get Australian" in its approach to asylum seekers? And could Australia's current policy be used as a global solution, or at least one for asylum seekers trying to cross the Mediterranean? There were dramatic changes in Australia's immigration policy in 2013, in the final months of the Labor government, led by Kevin Rudd, which have been followed up and taken further by the current Liberal National coalition government, led by Abbott. In 2013, with bipartisan support of those two major parties, mainland Australia was legally "excised" from the migration zone. It was done so that anyone arriving without a visa by boat would not be processed in Australia. All people who seek to enter Australia by sea, under the Asylum Legacy Act, are no longer entitled to enter or stay in Australia while their refugee claims are processed. Instead, they can be transported to detention facilities in Papua New Guinea or Nauru. Alternatively, under a recent agreement, they can also agree to move to Cambodia. Beyond this, the Abbott government has also returned some boats to Indonesia without processing asylum seeker claims and, in two instances, to Sri Lanka following a very brief

Summary: The European Union is trying to stop thousands of migrants from drowning at sea . Migrants risk their lives by paying people smugglers to get them to Europe . Australia has successfully stopped the flow of migrant boats to its waters .


(CNN)A naturalized U.S. citizen pleaded not guilty in Ohio Friday to federal charges of providing material support to terrorists and lying to the FBI. Abdirahman Sheik Mohamud, 23, of Columbus, allegedly traveled to Syria for training and wanted to return home to kill Americans -- particularly U.S. soldiers, execution style, the U.S. Department of Justice said Thursday. Mohamud was remanded into custody on Friday. "I am confident in the system working fairly and (in) our client getting a vigorous and aggressive defense," said his lawyer, Sam Shamansky. Mohamud told someone that he wanted to target U.S. armed forces, police officers or other people in uniform, the indictment alleges, adding that "Mohamud's plan was to attack a military facility, and his backup plan was to attack a prison." "Mohamud talked about doing something big in the United States. He wanted to go to a military base in Texas and kill three or four American soldiers execution style," it says. Mohamud allegedly said he was happy that his brother, Aden, died fighting for al-Nusra Front, al Qaeda's largest affiliate in Syria. Mohamud told someone he planned to join Aden in death soon, the indictment says. He became a U.S. citizen in February 2014 and submitted a U.S. passport application days later, according to the indictment. Mohamud traveled to Syria in April 2014 "for the purpose of training and fighting with terrorists," prosecutors said in a news release. To get there, Mohamud bought a one-way ticket to Greece with a layover in Istanbul, Turkey, the Department of Justice said. He skipped the connecting flight "and instead completed pre-arranged plans to travel to Syria." Once there, he trained in shooting weapons, breaking into homes, using explosives and hand-to-hand combat, prosecutors said. Mohamud "also stated that, after completing this training, he was instructed by a cleric in the organization to return to the United States and commit an act of terrorism." CNN's John Newsome contributed to this story.

Summary: Abdirahman Sheik Mohamud pleads not guilty to charges of providing material support to terrorists and lying to the FBI . The Columbus, Ohio, resident became a U.S. citizen in February 2014 . In April 2014, he went to Syria for terrorism training, prosecutors say in a news release .


(CNN)Duckie's still got moves. On Tuesday night's "Late Late Show" on CBS, actor Jon Cryer reprised the character's record-store dance to Otis Redding's "Try a Little Tenderness," right down to the wall-dancing, the counter-bashing and, of course, the trademark white shoes. In the original scene, one of the best-loved bits from the 1986 John Hughes film, Cryer dances around a record store, lip-syncing the song as he tries to win the affection of Molly Ringwald's Andie. In Tuesday's recreation, he dances in tandem with host James Corden, who tweeted that he'd "fulfilled a childhood dream" by re-creating the scene with Cryer -- who turned 50 on Thursday. "I watched that 'Try a Little Tenderness' dance routine so many times, the tape on the VHS wore out," Corden said on the show. Like Cryer, who has most recently appeared on "Two and a Half Men," many of the film's original fans are well into middle age. But still some may have squealed like teenagers when they saw the routine.

Summary: Jon Cryer revives "Pretty in Pink's" Duckie dance routine for "The Late Late Show" Host James Corden tweets that the bit "fulfilled a childhood dream"


Panama City, Panama (CNN)Ending a decades-long standstill in U.S.-Cuba relations, President Barack Obama met for an hour Saturday with his Cuban counterpart Raul Castro, the first time the two nations' top leaders have sat down for substantive talks in more than 50 years. The meeting in a small conference room on the sidelines of the Summit of the Americas came as the two countries work to end the Cold War enmity that had led to a total freeze of diplomatic ties. And while both leaders proclaimed progress had been made, a key stumbling block -- Cuba's place on the U.S. list of countries that sponsor terror -- remained unresolved. "This is obviously an historic meeting," Obama said at the beginning of his session with Castro, claiming that decades of strain had done little to benefit either Cubans or citizens of the United States. "It was time for us to try something new," he said. "We are now in a position to move on a path toward the future." Castro, who earlier in the day said he trusted Obama, acknowledged there would be difficult stumbling blocks as his nation works to repair ties with the United States. But he said those differences could be surmounted. "We are willing to discuss everything, but we need to be patient, very patient," Castro said. "We might disagree on something today on which we could agree tomorrow." Speaking to reporters after his session with Castro, Obama said the meeting was "candid and fruitful" and could prove to be a "turning point" in his push to defrost ties with Cuba. But he said he hadn't yet decided whether to remove Cuba's designation as a state sponsor of terror, an outcome that had previously been expected during the summit. The State Department provided Obama with a review of the terror status this week. "I want to make sure I have a chance to read it, study it before we announce publicly what the policy outcome is going to be," Obama said. "But in terms of the overall direction of Cuba policy, I think there is a strong majority both in the United States and in Cuba that says our ability to engage, to open up commerce and travel and people to people exchanges is ultimately going to be good for Cuban people." On Friday night, Obama and Castro greeted each other courteously amid an explosion of camera flashes, shaking hands before dining at the inaugural session of the conference. The two sat at the same table but not directly next to one another. Before Obama arrived in Panama on Wednesday, he spoke with Castro by phone, laying the groundwork for what will become a new era of relations between the neighboring countries. "The Cold War has been over for a long time," Obama said during opening remarks at the summit Saturday. "I'm not interested in having battles, frankly, that began before I was born." That exhortation, however, seemed to be lost on Castro himself, who expanded what was meant to be a six-minute speech into a 50-minute address lecturing

Summary: "The Cold War has been over for a long time," President Obama says . The thaw in ties has dominated discussion at the Summit of the Americas in Panama . The top leaders from the United States and Cuba haven't met for substantive talks in more than 50 years .


(CNN)Since Iran's Islamic Revolution in 1979, women have been barred from attending most sports events involving men. But the situation appears set to improve in the coming months after a top Iranian sports official said that the ban will be lifted for some events. A plan to allow "women and families" to enter sports stadiums will come into effect in the next year, Deputy Sports Minister Abdolhamid Ahmadi said Saturday, according to state-run media. But it isn't clear exactly which games women will be able to attend. According to the state-run Press TV, Ahmadi said the restrictions would be lifted for indoor sports events. The rules won't change for all matches because some sports are mainly related to men and "families are not interested in attending" them, Press TV cited him as saying. Iranian authorities imposed the ban on women attending men's sports events after the revolution, deeming that mixed crowds watching games together was un-Islamic. During the ensuing decades, the crowds at soccer games, Iran's most popular sport, have been all male. Iranian women were briefly permitted to attend volleyball matches under the moderate President Mohammad Khatami, but the ban was reinstated in 2005 after the more hard-line Mahmoud Ahmadinejad came to power. The Iranian government has come under pressure from international sports officials over the restrictions. FIFA President Sepp Blatter called on Iran last month to end its "intolerable" ban on women attending soccer matches, saying the situation "cannot continue." Iran had been in the running to host the 2019 edition of soccer's Asian Cup, but the tournament was awarded to the United Arab Emirates. The ban on women attending matches was widely seen as a major impediment to Iran's chances of securing the event. The ban came under the spotlight at the Asian Cup in Australia earlier this year, when thousands of female Iranian fans watched their soccer team without restriction. During the match against Iraq, activists called for the ban to end and unfurled a banner showing the face of Ghoncheh Ghavami, a British-Iranian woman detained in Iran last year while trying to watch a volleyball match. Iranian officials have denied that Ghavami was arrested for attending the volleyball game, saying she was taken into custody for "anti-Iran activities." The news agency Reuters reported that she was recently pardoned by the Court of Appeal. CNN's Annie Ramos contributed to this report.

Summary: Iranian sports official: The ban will be lifted for some events in the coming year . But he says "families are not interested in attending" some sports matches .