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GOP says Obama playing politics with bin Laden anniversary

Apr 29, 2012 10:15 PM EDT

Days before the one-year anniversary of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, top surrogates for President Barack Obama and presumptive Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney took to the national stage to argue the politics of the attack.

Senior Obama campaign adviser Robert Gibbs defended the campaign's use of the event in a recent Web video and in a speech from Vice President Joe Biden. Meanwhile, senior Romney adviser Ed Gillespie characterized the political steps surrounding the death as a "bridge too far."

Team Obama released a video on Friday, partially narrated by former President Bill Clinton, that praised the president's decision to order the killing of the al Qaeda chief one year from Tuesday and questioned whether Romney would have made the same choice. Biden similarly questioned the former Massachusetts governor in a campaign-style speech on Thursday.

Gibbs, the former White House press secretary, said the video was "not over the line" and criticized comments Romney made on the issue during his first White House bid as "foolish."

The video quotes Romney in 2007 during his first White House bid, saying, "It's not worth moving heaven and earth, spending billions of dollars just trying to catch one person." Days later, he said, "We'll move everything to get him (bin Laden)."

"There's a difference in the roles they would play as commander in chief, and I certainly think that's fair game," Gibbs said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press."

During his second White House bid, Romney has repeatedly praised the president for launching the raid on bin Laden.

Gillespie, a former aide to former President George W. Bush and former chairman of the Republican National Committee, said utilizing the raid for political purposes is one of the reasons Obama has "become one of the most divisive presidents in American history."

"He took something that was a unifying event for all Americans, and he's managed to turn it into a divisive, partisan political attack," Gillespie said in a separate interview on the same NBC program. "I think most Americans will see it as a sign of a desperate campaign."

The campaign video received criticism from Republicans, including from 2008 Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain. On Friday, he called the minute-long spot "a cheap political attack ad."

White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan avoided the politics of the issue but did praise the president's decision-making skills surrounding bin Laden's death by U.S. Navy SEALs during a raid in Pakistan.

"I don't do politics," Brennan said Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union." "I just know that President Obama, when the time came for him to make a momentous decision like that, he took the action that did bring bin Laden to justice."

Biden teed off what will likely remain a talking point from Team Obama through the election in a Thursday address that previewed a potential 2012 slogan.

"If you are looking for a bumper sticker to sum up how President Obama has handled what we inherited, it's pretty simple: Osama bin Laden is dead and General Motors is alive," Biden said during a speech at New York University, lines Gibbs echoed on Sunday.

The president will pick up the message with what the campaign has billed as the president's re-election kick-off on Saturday. Obama is expected to attend campaign rallies in Columbus, Ohio, and Richmond, Virginia, two likely battleground states in the November election.

Biden will attend campaign events in Missouri and Indiana on Monday and in Washington on Thursday.

Obama rallied young voters on college campuses in North Carolina, Iowa and Colorado last week, calling for Congress to stop an increase in the interest rate for student loans in July.

Jim Messina, Obama campaign manager, said that Saturday will mark the end of the Republican "monologue."

"Now Romney has to put his record and his agenda up against the president's, and we look forward to that debate," Messina said Wednesday on a conference call with reporters.

Romney is expected to meet with former Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum on Friday, a long-awaited rendezvous given that the former Pennsylvania senator has yet to endorse his party's presumptive nominee.

Santorum danced around the issue last week with CNN's Piers Morgan during his first televised interview since he suspended his candidacy on April 10.

He acknowledged Romney would be the "person that's going against Barack Obama," but said he was still "working through it" and discussing it with this wife, Karen.

Newt Gingrich is scheduled to announce the suspension of his campaign on Wednesday, at which point he will back Romney, sources told CNN.

Romney will spend much of the coming week fundraising, with events in Pennsylvania and Virginia.

He will also campaign Monday with Sen. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, the latest potential vice presidential candidate to appear with the GOP frontrunner. The freshman senator was an early backer of Romney and appeared with him repeatedly on the stump ahead of her state's primary.

Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida got the VP scrutiny treatment last week when he appeared with Romney in Pennsylvania. Many political observers see Rubio as the favorite for Romney's vice presidential pick, given his ties to the swing state of Florida, the Hispanic community (he is the son of Cuban immigrants) and members of the grassroots tea party movement.

Rubio was one of three potential candidates mentioned by House Speaker John Boehner in an interview that aired Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union." Boehner said there is a "long list" of qualified candidates for the GOP ticket, including Rubio, Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio and Gov. Mitch Daniels of Indiana, all of whom fit his criteria that the pick be capable of serving as president.

"There are a lot of people that I like. But this is a personal choice for Gov. Romney, and I'm confident that he'll have a running mate that will be helpful to the ticket," Boehner told CNN Chief Political Correspondent Candy Crowley. "I think the number one quality is: Are they capable of being president in the case of an emergency?"

Democratic Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa of Los Angeles and Haley Barbour, former Mississippi governor and RNC chairman, on Sunday downplayed the importance of the No. 2 pick.

Villaraigosa, a Mexican-American, said he wouldn't expect a Rubio pick to make a large difference with Hispanic voters.

"I don't expect that it's going to win you an election or win you an entire demographic. This is going to be fought on the issues," Villaraigosa said on CBS' "Face the Nation."

"Can a vice presidential candidate just change the whole deck? No I don't think so," Barbour said on the CBS program. "The idea that you're going to reshuffle the deck would be very unusual in American history."

Officials: 1 killed, 16 hospitalized when storm collapses St. Louis tent

Apr 29, 2012 09:47 PM EDT

One person was killed and 16 others hospitalized Saturday afternoon when a sports bar tent collapsed during a storm that swept through the St. Louis area, fire officials said.

The man killed was identified Sunday as Alfred Goodman, a 58-year-old from Waterloo, Illinois, according to St. Louis police spokeswoman Schron Jackson.

Five people suffered serious injuries. Nearly 100 others were treated at the scene, mostly for bruises, cuts, twisted ankles and one broken arm, officials said.

They were all among St. Louis Cardinals baseball fans celebrating their team's victory over the Milwaukee Brewers at Kilroy's, a bar located just south of Busch Stadium that had a tent set up in the rear, according to fire Capt. Dan Sutter.

Wind gusts estimated to be about 50 miles per hour lifted the tent, according to Eddie Roth, the city's public safety director.

While the tent had received a city permit, manufacturer guidelines called for it to withstand winds of up to 90 miles per hour, said building commissioner Frank Oswald.

Oswald said officials had not yet determined whether there was a manufacturing or installation failure. The fire marshal was to conduct an investigation into the incident.

Up to 150 fans may have been under the tent, built of aluminum poles and guy wires, when the storm struck shortly before 4 p.m. (5 p.m. ET).

"We had live wires lying on the ground. We have severe injuries to quite a few people," said St. Louis Fire Chief Dennis Jenkerson. "This gives us nightmares."

"The music was loud and people had been in attendance at the ball game all afternoon," Deputy Fire Chief John Altmann told reporters. "I don't think they were really aware of the seriousness of the situation."

The tent came to rest on a railroad trestle.

The area had been under a severe thunderstorm watch, with a warning issued shortly before the incident.

"Anytime we put a lot of people in open areas and you have hazardous weather, it is a dangerous situation," Altmann said.

Oswald said he believed the tent met manufacturer construction specifications. The city inspects such structures for fire safety and exit lights, but installation is up to the contractor. Inspectors were on site after the permit was issued earlier this month, according to Oswald.

"Like the chief said, it is important that people are aware of the weather situation," he said. "These are temporary structures. They are certainly not designed to any stretch of the imagination to handle a severe weather event like this. Be aware of your surroundings and try to get somewhere safe."

Video shot by KSDK showed remains of the crumpled tent and dazed patrons standing outside.

A strong thunderstorm north of the city produced golf-ball-sized and larger hail, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Jim Kramper.

A tornado warning for downtown St. Louis expired before 7 p.m.

Head of U.N. mission arrives in Syria, urges an end to violence

Apr 29, 2012 09:46 PM EDT

U.N. observers continued their mission Monday in Syria to chronicle what is happening in the beleaguered nation, though even the team's leader admitted its efforts are futile unless all factions commit to full candor and peace.

"Ten unarmed observers, 30 unarmed observers, 300 unarmed observers, even 1,000 unarmed observers cannot solve all the problems," Maj. Gen. Robert Mood told a swarm of reporters in Damascus on Sunday, shortly after arriving in the country. "So I call on everyone to help us and cooperate with us in this very challenging task ahead of us."

After months of violence, Arab League-U.N. envoy Kofi Annan weeks ago helped broker what he hoped was a cease-fire.

Yet violence has continued in the Middle Eastern nation.

At least 25 people were reported dead across Syria on Sunday, according to the Local Coordination Committees of Syria, a network of opposition activists. The deaths include nine in Hama and eight in Homs.

The bodies of a father and son were found in a house in the western city of Homs on Sunday, days after a massacre in the city, the group said. In addition, security forces fatally shot four people in Deir Ezzor, Hama and the Damascus suburbs.

Demonstrations broke out in several cities, with participants chanting for freedom and demanding the regime's ouster. In Daraa, intense gunfire could be heard at checkpoints. The city lacked electricity.

Syrian state television, meanwhile, broadcast images early Monday showing a damaged police car in Damascus and a pillar with a missing chunk of concrete outside the Central Bank of Syria building, also in the capital.

Both were attacked by "armed terrorist group" members using rocket-propelled grenades, state TV reported, adding that there were no casualties in the bank incident and four police were wounded in the other.

The LCC responded with a statement saying that Syria's "security apparatus has resorted to fabricating staged explosions that have taken the lives of dozens of Syrians." The opposition network pointed specifically to "suspicious explosions in or near several government buildings, including the official state media and television office; a security center in Rukneddine; and the Central Bank building."

The group said it "holds the regime and its security apparatus fully responsible for the bombings and the resultant effects."

"These tricks no longer fool anyone, especially given the fact that the regime has resorted to these escalations every time there is political movement at the Arab, regional or international level to find a political solution to the crisis in which the regime kills its people who are demanding freedom," added the LCC.

The most high-profile aspect of the latest international efforts is the U.N. observer team, many of which arrived ahead of Mood earlier this month.

Mood emphasized Sunday that the success of joint U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan's initiative depends not on him or his fellow observers, but more on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces and opposition fighters.

"To achieve the success of Kofi Annan's six-point plan ... I call on all to stop the violence and to help us on a continued cessation of violence in all its forms," Mood said, echoing a plea made by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and many others in recent months.

The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency reported Sunday that a delegation of U.N. observers was visiting the al-Khaldiyeh neighborhood of Homs.

Roughly 30 monitors are expected to be on the ground by Monday, and a total of 300 are slated to arrive in the coming month. The United States is not providing monitors but is helping with funding and logistics.

"This is a matter of utmost urgency for the United Nations and all efforts are in place to make sure that we get the people on the ground as quickly as possible ... apart from Damascus, we have permanently based observers in Homs, Hama, Daraa and Idlib, so this process will continue," said Neeraj Singh, the observer team's spokesman, on Sunday.

Opposition activists in Homs, a bastion of anti-government sentiment, have said attacks by al-Assad's forces only stop when U.N. monitors visit.

"We were able to get the civilians' corpses out of the streets because of the help and presence of the U.N. monitors," one man says in a video purportedly shot Saturday on the streets of Homs. "The corpses were dumped on the ground for over 40 days, and we couldn't get to them because of Assad's thugs and snipers. The bodies are decomposed, so we had to wear muzzles because of the foul smell so we can get to them and bury them. Just look the destruction that happened here in Homs because of Assad."

CNN cannot independently verify the authenticity of the video.

Since the cease-fire deadline passed April 12, at least 700 people have been killed, according to the Local Coordination Committees.

"The plan as a whole is failing thus far," U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Friday. "Obviously, we can all see that it is the Assad regime that is failing to meet its obligations under the six-point plan."

But Syrian state media slammed the "international community," saying it "continues to ignore the crimes committed by the armed gangs and their terrorist acts."

"We see the example of the Secretary-General of the United Nations recently avoiding any discussion about the violations by these armed groups while he only focuses in an outrageous manner the Syrian state as usual," an editorial in the state-run Tishrin newspaper stated Saturday.

Syrian Information Minister Adnan Mahmoud said armed terrorist groups have violated the cease-fire more than 1,300 times, "stressing that Syria has met its obligations" according to the Annan plan, SANA reported.

Syria has been engulfed in violence since March 2011, when government forces started cracking down on demonstrators who were peacefully protesting al-Assad's regime. The president's family has ruled Syria for 42 years. Some opposition members have since taken up arms against the regime forces.

The United Nations estimates at least 9,000 people have died in the conflict, while opposition groups put the death toll at more than 11,000.

CNN cannot independently verify reports of violence and deaths within Syria, as the government has restricted access by most of the international media.

Meanwhile, Lt. Riad Ahmed from the rebel Free Syrian Army said Sunday his group was unaware of an arms shipment purportedly destined for rebel fighters.

The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency reported a day earlier that Lebanese military forces seized weapons from Libya bound for Syrian rebels.

The military intercepted a ship in the Mediterranean Sea and found heavy and light weapons aboard, Lebanon's National News Agency reported. Ten crew members and the vessel's agent were arrested after the inspection in Salaata port, north of Beirut.

"For over a year, we heard that the Libyan rebels were planning to send us a shipment of weapons for our fight against the daily slaughter and the massacres committed against our people, but it was all rumors," Ahmed said. "We have been asking for weapons to protect our civilians, over and over, but we haven't received any support, whatsoever."

Vehicle flips, 7 die near Bronx Zoo

Apr 29, 2012 09:29 PM EDT

Seven people, including three children, died Sunday when a vehicle flipped over a guardrail and plunged up to 60 feet to the ground, landing upside down in an area of the Bronx Zoo that is closed to the public, officials said.

The crash occurred near the Bronx River Parkway and East 180th Street.

"Police determined that a 2004 Honda Pilot traveling southbound on the Bronx River Parkway in the left lane had struck the center median, crossed over three southbound lanes and struck the curb, causing the vehicle to become airborne and continue over the guardrail and fall approximately 59 feet down into a wooded area inside of Bronx Zoo property," the New York Police Department said in a statement.

Police identified the victims as driver Maria Gonzalez, 45; Jocelyn Gonzalez, 10; Maria Nunez, 39; Niely Rosario, 7; Marly Rosario, 3; Jacob Nunez, 85; and Ana Julia Martinez, 81.

All were pronounced dead at the scene and an investigation is ongoing, police said.

NYPD Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne said all the victims were wearing seat belts. He had previously given the older girls' ages as 15 and 5.

Browne said the driver likely overcompensated when the left side of the SUV struck the barrier.

The vehicle was traveling at a high rate of speed, said FDNY Deputy Chief Ronald Werner.

Zoo spokeswoman Mary Dixon said the vehicle landed just inside the southeast perimeter of the 265-acre zoo. A baby bag with diapers inside was found at the scene.

"It's far from any public area," Dixon said. "No animals, exhibits or visitors were affected. ... It would be impossible for any visitors to see this."

The area where the vehicle fell is adjacent to where the zoo's trams are parked, Werner said.

The fire department's Howard Sickles told reporters that in his 20 years he's "seen a lot of horrific things and this is one of them."

The crushed vehicle came to rest in overgrown brush, Werner said. Authorities used thermal imaging cameras to find victims in case any had been ejected, he said.

Authorities received multiple calls about the incident at about 12:30 p.m., Werner said.

In 2006, six people died in an accident on the Bronx River Parkway near the site of Sunday's crash.

Londoners shocked by Olympics missile possibility

Apr 29, 2012 09:24 PM EDT

The British Ministry of Defence might place surface-to-air missiles on a water tower in a densely populated London neighborhood as part of security for the Olympic Games this summer, a ministry official said Sunday.

Residents of the east London neighborhood have gotten leaflets warning them of the possibility, the official said.

"Ground-based air defense systems could be deployed as part of a multi-layered air security plan for the Olympics, including fast jets and helicopters, which will protect the skies over London during the Games," said the official, asking not to be named in line with British government practice.

"Site evaluations and exercises have taken place," the official said.

Brian Whelan, who got one of the leaflets about the possible missile system, said he was "absolutely shocked."

"This is a highly built-up area. I can't imagine any situation in which you could safely use a high-velocity missile over Tower Hamlets," as the neighborhood is called, said Whelan.

There is "obviously the security issue around the Olympics," he conceded, but said missiles would be an overreaction.

"This is meant to be reassuring, but it creates a lot of anxiety for me," he said.

London is hosting the 2012 Olympics from July 27 to August 12 and the Paralympics from August 29 to September 9.

Rodney King looks back without anger

Apr 29, 2012 09:14 PM EDT

The Los Angeles riots 20 years ago this week were sparked by the acquittal of four L.A. police officers in the brutal beating of suspect Rodney King a year earlier. The turbulence that led to more than 50 deaths and $1 billion in property damage all began with a traffic violation.

A poor decision to drink and drive led to a 100-mph car chase and a chain of events that would forever change Los Angeles, its police department and the racial conversation in the United States.

King, then a 25-year-old convicted robber on parole, admittedly had a few drinks under his belt as he headed home from a friend's house.

When he spotted a police car following him, he panicked, thinking he would be sent back to prison.

So he took off.

"I had a job to go to that Monday, and I knew I was on parole, and I knew I wasn't supposed to be drinking, and I'm like, 'Oh my God,'" King told CNN last year.

Realizing he couldn't outrun police but fearing what they might do to him when they caught him, King said he looked for a public place to stop.

"I saw all those apartments over there, so I said, 'I'm gonna stop right there. If it goes down, somebody will see it.'"

It did go down.

Four police officers, all of them white, struck King more than 50 times with their wooden batons and shocked him with an electric stun gun.

" 'We are going to kill you, n****r,' " King said police shouted as they beat him. The officers denied using racial slurs.

King was right in his expectation of a beating, but his hope of having a witness was fulfilled in a big way.

Not only did somebody see it, somebody videotaped it -- still a novelty in 1991, before people had cellphone cameras.

The video showed a large lump of a man floundering on the ground, surrounded by a dozen or more police officers, four of whom were beating him relentlessly with nightsticks.

One officer's swings slow down as he appears worn out by his nonstop flailing. King was beaten nearly to death. Three surgeons operated on him for five hours that morning.

The dramatic video of the episode appeared on national TV two days later. At last, blacks in L.A. -- and no doubt in other parts of the country -- had evidence to document the police brutality many Americans had known about but had denied or tolerated.

"We finally caught the Loch Ness Monster with a camcorder," King attorney Milton Grimes said.

Four LAPD officers -- Theodore Briseno, Laurence Powell, Timothy Wind and Sgt. Stacey Koon -- were indicted on charges of assault with a deadly weapon and excessive use of force by a police officer.

In April 1992, after a three-month trial in the predominantly white suburb of Simi Valley, three of the officers were acquitted of all charges. But the jury, which had no black members, was deadlocked on one charge of excessive force against Powell. A mistrial was declared on that charge.

Powell's attorney, Michael Stone, said the unedited video worked against King and helped prove the officers' case.

"Most of the nation only saw a few snippets where it's the most violent. They didn't see him get up and run at Powell," Stone said.

"In a use-of-force case, if the officers do what they're trained to do, how can you find them guilty of a crime? And the jury understood that."

Still, black Los Angeles exploded in outrage.

Rioters rampaged through the streets, looting businesses, torching buildings and attacking people who were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

On the third day of rioting, King emerged from seclusion to make a plea that echoes to this day: "People, I just want to say, can we all get along?" he said. "Can we get along?"

The rioting ended, but the divisions and debate did not.

Nearly a year later, the four officers were tried in federal court on civil rights charges. This trial would be very different from the first: It took place in Los Angeles, two African-Americans were picked for the jury and King actually testified this time.

"There was no way in the world that any jury would acquit all of the defendants again," Stone, the defense attorney, told CNN.

King's own testimony may have hurt the federal case, as he hedged on whether police had used racial slurs during the beating. King told CNN in 2011 that slurs definitely were uttered, but he said he vacillated on the stand because his mother had advised him to avoid talking about race.

Ultimately, Koon and Powell were found guilty, while Briseno and Wind were acquitted.

"It was like ... I just hope we just get one. I hope we just get one on that," King said. "If we get one, we're good. So to get the two, I was really happy."

"We got half-justice," his attorney, Grimes, growled, but the verdicts and the 30-month sentences seemed to satisfy the community. There was no unrest.

One more trial awaited: Rodney King's lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles.

This time, there was only one African-American on the jury, and she was a force to be reckoned with.

"Half of them had no sympathy whatsoever," Cynthia Kelly told CNN, referring to her fellow jurors. "They did not care at all. They just didn't care. Like, 'He broke the law. He deserved what he got.'"

"I told them they were crazy!" she recalled. "It was about justice for what happened to him. No one deserves to get beat like that."

Eventually, the other jurors came around, and King was awarded $3.8 million in damages.

It was finally over. But the aftereffects continue to this day.

King sometimes still wears a protective vest in response to a fear of reprisal and some genuine threats. And he's had several more run-ins with the law, including a 90-day jail stint in 1996 for a hit-and-run involving his wife at the time.

Last year, on the 20th anniversary of the beating, King was pulled over without incident and ticketed for a minor traffic violation. Later in the summer, he was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving. He pleaded guilty in February to a misdemeanor reckless driving charge in connection to that arrest. He was fined $500, given 20 days' home detention, placed on probation for three years and ordered into a nine-month sobriety education program.

People have long wondered why King kept getting into trouble.

"The trouble that they see me in is a part of my life that I'm working on," he told CNN last year. In 2008, he appeared on the VH1 reality show "Celebrity Rehab."

"I'll always have an issue when it comes to alcohol. My dad was an alcoholic, the addiction part is in my blood," he told CNN. "What I've learned to do is to arrest my addiction. Arrest it myself, so I don't get arrested."

Things have changed at the LAPD in the past 20 years. The upper ranks are much more diverse. Changes also have been made -- sometimes under court order -- in the way certain neighborhoods are patrolled and in how complaints are handled.

"The main impact that the Rodney King case had is that it accelerated change," journalist Lou Cannon said. "It's not tenable any longer in the United States of America for a police force of a major city to govern without having the community being a part of that governance."

King has just released a memoir, "The Riot Within," in which he describes his difficult upbringing and reflects on the beating and its aftermath.

In an interview this week on CNN, King said he has forgiven the officers who beat him nearly to death.

"Yes, I've forgiven them, because I've been forgiven many times," he said. "My country's been good to me, and I've done some things that wasn't pleasant in my lifetime and I have been forgiven for that.

"... It's like something happening bad in my own house," he continued. "This country is my house, it's the only home I know, so I have to be able to forgive -- for the future, for the younger generation coming behind me, so ... they can understand and if a situation like that happened again they could deal with it a lot easier."

Coast Guard suspends search for missing sailor in race

Apr 29, 2012 09:03 PM EDT

The U.S. Coast Guard called off a search Sunday afternoon for a sailor who went missing after an apparent collision during a boat race Saturday from Newport, California, to Ensenada, Mexico.

The collision left three other crew members from the 37-foot Aegean sailboat dead.

"It's always very difficult to suspend an active search," said Petty Officer Allyson Conroy, who extended her condolences to the families of the sailors involved.

The vessel, which was participating in the Lexus Newport to Ensenada Yacht Race, disappeared from the online race tracking system about 1:30 a.m. Saturday near the Coronado Islands, Mexico, race organizers said.

Nearby vessels reported seeing debris in the area, prompting a Coast Guard search.

On Saturday afternoon, searchers found the three deceased crew members and debris from the Aegean.

Also found was the boat's wreckage, according to the race organizers, including the rear transom with the boat's name on it.

"An investigation was continuing, but it appeared the damage was not inflicted by an explosion but by a collision with a ship much larger than the 37-foot vessel," organizers said.

The U.S. Coast Guard could not confirm that a collision had occurred. An investigation is under way.

The fatalities were the first in the race's 65-year history, organizers said.

The incident follows a dangerous period for the ocean-racing world.

Earlier this month, five sailors died after their yacht ran aground off San Francisco. Their 38-foot sailboat was taking part in the Full Crew Farallon Race when it was hit by large waves that rolled it over, tossing several crew members overboard and running it aground.

In March, the Coast Guard rescued racers taking part in an around-the-world contest when a giant wave damaged their yacht off the coast of San Francisco. The Geraldton Western Australia was on the sixth leg of an eight-leg, 11-month race when it was struck March 31.

Bin Laden's death brought 9/11 'closure'

Apr 29, 2012 08:55 PM EDT

It's not often that the White House holds a news conference late on a Sunday night. Especially an unscheduled one.

So when it was announced, around 9:45 p.m. ET on May 1, that President Obama would be addressing the nation within the hour, you knew it had to be important.

Had there been a major development in Libya? Things had been heating up since NATO started intervening against Moammar Gadhafi's forces.

Were U.S. troops going into another part of the Arab world?

Had there been another terrorist attack?

Or was it the news that many Americans had been waiting on for nearly a decade: that Osama bin Laden, leader of al Qaeda, had finally been brought to justice for the tragic events of September 11?

The White House announcement provided no details, so it was up to everyone else to fill in the blank. Speculation was rampant, especially online and on social media. What was so important that it couldn't wait until morning?

By the time Obama finally spoke at 11:30 p.m., the world already knew the news: "The United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al Qaeda and a terrorist who's responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women and children."

The president never had a chance to avoid the mother of all spoilers -- not with how fast news travels today. An hour before his speech, the cat was out of the bag, thanks to Keith Urbahn, chief of staff for former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

"So I'm told by a reputable person they have killed Osama Bin Laden. Hot damn," Urbahn tweeted.

It didn't take long after that for major news organizations to confirm that the news was indeed true: the most-wanted terrorist in the world was dead, eight years to the day after President Bush delivered his "Mission Accomplished" speech.

"It was an incredibly symbolic event," said William Keylor, a professor of history and international relations at Boston University. "It was closure to 9/11. ... al Qaeda had been pretty much degraded, but (bin Laden) was still on the run."

As confirmation quickly spread of bin Laden's death, emotional celebrations began taking place across the country. Many were caught on camera.

People in the nation's capital flocked to the White House, carrying American flags, singing the national anthem and cheering the news in front of television cameras. At a baseball game in Philadelphia, fans of both teams stopped to chant "U-S-A, U-S-A!"

Celebrations also were held at New York's ground zero, the site of the former World Trade Center.

"I never thought this night would come, where we would actually capture or kill bin Laden. And, thank the Lord, he's been eliminated, to put it politely," said Bob Gibson, a retired New York City police officer. "A lot of us ... gave up. But it did come, and a lot of us are overjoyed that it happened."

'The most intense 38 minutes of my life'

By the next morning, the national conversation had started to change. The emotional impact of the announcement was subsiding, and the public wanted more detail, more explanation.

How did the United States find bin Laden? Why was he killed and not captured? Who exactly killed him?

It was soon learned that an elite team of Navy SEALs had flown two helicopters into Abbottabad, Pakistan, where bin Laden was living in a three-story compound with approximately two dozen people, including his relatives and one of his most trusted couriers. The United States had been tracking the courier for years, and the CIA informed the president in September 2010 that bin Laden might be living at the compound, a $1 million home surrounded by large privacy walls topped with barbed wire.

On April 29, 2011, after several meetings with his National Security Council, Obama authorized an attack on the compound.

In an operation that lasted nearly 40 minutes, the SEALs breached the compound's walls and methodically went through the house, floor by floor. Bin Laden and his wife were found on the third floor, White House spokesman Jay Carney said in a news conference. Carney said a SEAL fatally shot bin Laden when bin Laden made a threatening move.

An iconic photo, released by the White House, shows Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and other officials in the White House Situation Room, following developments as the raid went down. Clinton later called it "the most intense 38 minutes of my life."

Today, there have already been several books written about the raid, and a movie is said to be in the works.

"I think the fact that it was such a tremendous success was the reason that the administration decided to publicize it: 'We're going to put out all the facts and let the chips fall where they may,' " Keylor said. "And, of course, the downside of that was that it really antagonized the Pakistanis."

The United States and Pakistan had been working together for years trying to track down bin Laden and fight extremists near the Afghanistan border. But the United States, fearing that a leak could jeopardize its mission and tip off bin Laden, kept its raid a complete secret from Pakistan.

The Pakistanis were outraged and humiliated by the blatant violation of their national sovereignty. U.S. officials questioned their ally's motivations, as bin Laden was "hiding in plain sight."

The CIA director at the time, Leon Panetta, told U.S. lawmakers in a closed-door session that Pakistani officials were either "involved or incompetent," adding that "neither is a good place to be."

Photo debate continues

From the raid, U.S. forces retrieved 10 hard drives, five computers and more than 100 storage devices containing intelligence from bin Laden's compound, according to a senior U.S. official.

They also found some homemade videos, including one that shows a graying bin Laden, wrapped in a blanket, watching himself on a small television.

"The fact that they killed (bin Laden) was significant, but they also demythologized him," said Thomas Mockaitis, author of "Osama bin Laden: A Biography." "They revealed him to be a megalomaniac, in many ways kind of a petty individual. Instead of this kind of great, powerful figure ... he looks like a bit of a narcissist. I think that, in some ways, was as important as actually killing him. It brought him down quite a bit it terms of his stature."

But perhaps the most talked about pieces of evidence from last year's raid have yet to see the light of day: photos of a dead bin Laden.

The administration decided to keep the photos classified, saying the graphic nature of the images would only incite further violence or be used for propaganda purposes. "We don't trot this stuff out as trophies," he told CBS News. "We don't need to spike the football."

However, many Americans, including prominent lawmakers, believe they have a right to see the images. And some people have another concern: How do they know bin Laden is dead if they can't see proof?

That isn't a concern of Sen. John McCain, one of several U.S. Congress members allowed to view the photos. The Arizona Republican, Obama's opponent in the 2008 presidential election, said there was no doubt that bin Laden is dead.

But the debate over the photos continues one year later. On Friday, a federal judge turned down a request for release of the photos, saying there were legitimate national security interests to deny disclosure.

The war on terror also continues. Bin Laden's death might have underlined the weakened state of al Qaeda, but affiliate groups, including the Taliban, al-Shabaab and al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, "remain committed to the group's ideology," said a U.S. intelligence report released in January. "Lone wolf" terrorists are a threat as well, as we've seen recently in Norway and France.

The threats, however, should be no surprise to Obama, who warned that there was still work to be done when he announced bin Laden's death a year ago.

Bin Laden's death "does not mark the end of our effort," he said in his speech. "There's no doubt that al Qaeda will continue to pursue attacks against us.

"We must -- and we will -- remain vigilant at home and abroad."

Reports: Woman not pregnant with 9 babies

Apr 29, 2012 07:23 PM EDT

Reports that a Mexican woman was pregnant with nine babies turned out to be not true, according to a local newspaper that investigated her claim.

TV stations in Mexico had aired interviews last week with Karla Vanessa Perez, who lives in the state of Coahuila, which borders Texas.

MSNBC reported that reporters with El Diario de Coahuila found that the woman is not pregnant at all.

Her mother, Francisca Castañeda, told the paper that her daughter has three children, ages 15, 12 and 4, MSNBC reported. After the last was born, she had an operation to prevent her from getting pregnant again, Castañeda said.

A reporter with Telemundo also contacted the office of Mexico's secretary of health, which confirmed Perez was not pregnant, MSNBC reported.

In 2009, Nadya Suleman, of California, gave birth to octuplets -- six boys and two girls -- sparking outrage over the responsibility of fertility doctors performing in vitro fertilization.

Dolphin refuses to leave Southern California channel

Apr 29, 2012 07:18 PM EDT

A dolphin's determination to stay in a narrow channel in Huntington Beach, Calif., for the past four days baffles marine experts who are closely watching the animal.

"He's not trapped in this area," said Peter Wallerstein, the program director for Southern California's Marine Animal Rescue.

The animal appeared to be healthy and in no danger Sunday, Wallerstein said.

"He's eating fish, sardines," he said. "That's a good sign." While he's "showing some signs of being disoriented," his breathing rate is a normal three breaths a minute.

The 6-foot-long common dolphin caused a stir when it first appeared in the dead-end wetland area Thursday, raising concern for his safety.

Would-be rescuers used paddle boards to coax him back into the harbor Saturday, but their efforts were reversed when two other dolphins "lingering in the harbor" appeared, he said.

"As soon as he saw them, he changed his behavior immediately and swam back under the bridge," Wallerstein said. "I've never seen that type of interaction."

It might take a dolphin psychologist to explain why the animal returned to the channel, he said. "He chose to be in here for some reason."

Another effort to lead the dolphin back into the harbor is expected Monday but with "more of a defensive stand under the bridge, so he can't get back in," he said.

Speaker: Egyptian military leaders will shake up government soon

Apr 29, 2012 05:18 PM EDT

The speaker of Egypt's lower parliament announced Sunday night that the country's military leaders plan to shake up the Cabinet under Prime Minister Kamal Ganzouri over the next 48 hours, state television reported.

Saad al-Katatni said that he got a phone call Sunday from a member of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces during which he was told that the military leaders plan to announce changes to the Egyptian government in the coming days. State TV had reported earlier Sunday that the council would form a new government "within hours."

It was not immediately clear if Ganzouri would remain as prime minister, or what kind of changes could be forthcoming.

Speaking to reporters after a meeting with representatives from several political parties, al-Katatni said that he found the military council's proposal to be "satisfying and (that it) returned parliament's dignity."

Hours earlier, al-Katatni announced that his chamber planned to suspend its session for a week to protest military leaders allegedly ignoring calls to dismiss the civilian government led by Ganzouri.

He said that the move was made after discussions with Ganzouri, after which he concluded that relations between the parliament and the prime minister's government were so strained that such a drastic step was needed.

Ganzouri -- who late last year became a prime minister, the same post he held between 1996 and 1999 under former President Hosni Mubarak -- has been a frequent target of criticism, particularly from al-Katatni's Freedom and Justice Party, which is the political arm of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood.

After being banned for years under Mubarak, the Brotherhood has become a force in the new and still-evolving era of Egyptian politics having claimed the lion's share of seats in parliament.

"This was an important test of power: Who is governing Egypt -- the (Supreme Council of the Armed Forces) or the parliament?" said Diaa Rashwan, director of the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies.

Tensions between Islamist groups, including the Brotherhood, and the ruling Supreme Council have risen in the two weeks since 10 out of 23 presidential candidates were disqualified for various reasons. The election is set to start May 23.

Those knocked off the ballot include the Muslim Brotherhood's preferred candidate, 62-year-old multimillionaire businessman Khairat el-Shater, because of unresolved issues surrounding his pardon after being imprisoned for 12 years under Mubarak.

The group's candidate is now the lesser-known Mohamed Morsi.

Another excluded candidate was Hazem Abu Ismael, an ultra-conservative Islamist banned due to information that his mother holds an American passport, which is against the rules of candidacy. Egypt's health ministry on Sunday denied a report that one man died during a sit-in protesting Ismael's disqualification, though it did say dozens were injured when plainclothes men attacked protesters.

While Sunday's announcement would appear to be a victory for the Brotherhood, Rashwan predicted military leaders "will not sacrifice Kamal Ganzouri" and that they'll instead try to form a new Cabinet -- proposing that it includes Freedom and Justice Party members -- with Ganzouri staying on as prime minister.

"I don't think this crisis is just over," Rashwan said.

The power struggle could take even more turns after next month's election.

The Brotherhood has been trying to woo members of Ismael's Salafi party -- which controls about 20% of seats in parliament -- to rally behind Morsi. But those efforts took a hit Saturday, when several top Salafi groups announced their support in the presidential race for Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh instead.

The endorsement helps cement the front-runner status of Aboul Fotouh, a doctor and former Brotherhood member known for his moderate view of Islamic law.

Political analyst and prominent Egyptian journalist Hisham Kassem said the Salafis, with their endorsement, may be angling for more influence if Aboul Fotouh becomes president and also point to that party's own tensions with the Brotherhood. But he questioned whether the endorsement will scare off liberals who have also backed Aboul Fotouh.

"We now have a two-horse race between (former Arab League secretary-general) Amre Moussa and Aboul Fotouh," Kassem said.

British Red Cross worker killed in Pakistan

Apr 29, 2012 12:25 PM EDT

A long-time Red Cross staffer has been killed by his kidnappers in Pakistan, the International Committee of the Red Cross and British government said Sunday.

Khalil Rasjed Dale, 60, was seized in Pakistan's volatile southwestern province of Balochistan in January.

His body was discovered Sunday, and he appears to have been killed recently, ICRC spokesman Sean Maguire said.

Maguire acknowledged Pakistani press reports that Dale had been beheaded but declined to go into details about how he was killed, saying only: "It was a brutal murder that has left us appalled."

The ICRC has identified Dale's body and will be able to bring it home to Britain, Maguire said.

"We were in touch with the abductors a number of times during Khalil's captivity," he said. "We have called upon the Pakistani authorities to conduct a full and immediate investigation into the murder."

"We are not going to talk about who may or may not be responsible for the killing," he added.

The head of the ICRC, Yves Daccord, condemned Dale's killing as a "barbaric act," and said staff members of the international agency were "devastated."

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said the killing was "a senseless and cruel act, targeting someone whose role was to help the people of Pakistan, and causing immeasurable pain to those who knew Mr. Dale."

British Prime Minister David Cameron said he was "deeply saddened" by reports of Dale's death, noting that he died while "providing humanitarian support to others."

"This was a shocking and merciless act, carried out by people with no respect for human life and the rule of law," Cameron said. "Khalil Dale has dedicated many years of his life to helping some of the most vulnerable people in the world and my thoughts today are with his friends and family."

Dale, a nurse who was managing a health program for the ICRC, was seized by armed men in the city of Quetta, near the Afghan border, the Red Cross said in January.

He was on his way home from work in a clearly marked ICRC vehicle and was just 200 yards from a Red Cross residence when he was abducted, the statement said.

The kidnappers released the man's driver, said Nazir Kurd, a senior police official who described Dale as a Yemeni-born British national.

Dale worked for the ICRC and the British Red Cross for many years, carrying out assignments in Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq, the ICRC said Sunday.

He had been working in Pakistan for almost a year.

"Despite the incident, the ICRC will be continuing its humanitarian work in Pakistan," the Red Cross said at the time of the kidnapping.

Politics of bin Laden: 'Fair game' vs. 'divisive'

Apr 29, 2012 12:24 PM EDT

Obama campaign senior adviser Robert Gibbs on Sunday defended a recent Web video that invoked the killing of Osama bin Laden as evidence of the president's strength as commander in chief.

The spot, partially narrated by former President Bill Clinton, praised President Barack Obama's decision to order the killing of the al Qaeda chief and questioned whether Mitt Romney would have made the same choice.

Team Obama was criticized by some for politicizing last year's event, but Gibbs, the former White House press secretary, said the spot was "not over the line."

"There's a difference in the roles they would play as commander in chief, and I certainly think that's fair game," Gibbs said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

The video, released Friday, quoted Romney in 2007 during his first White House bid, saying "it's not worth moving heaven and earth, spending billions of dollars just trying to catch one person." Days later he said, "We'll move everything to get him (bin Laden)."

During his second White House bid, Romney has repeatedly praised the president for launching the raid on bin Laden. But Gibbs said the presumptive Republican nominee's earlier comments were "foolish."

Ed Gillespie, a senior adviser to Romney's campaign, said utilizing the raid for political purposes is one of the reasons Obama has "become one of the most divisive presidents in American history."

"He took something that was a unifying event for all Americans ... and he's managed to turn it into a divisive, partisan political attack," Gillespie said on the same program. "I think most Americans will see it as a sign of a desperate campaign."

Gillespie, a former aide to former President George W. Bush and former chairman of the Republican National Committee, also declined to say whether the United States is safer under the current president.

"I don't think that under President Obama, America is as strong as it should be or will be under a President Romney," he said.

White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan would not say if he was "comfortable" with the politicization of the events surrounding the al Qaeda leader's death by U.S. Navy Seals during a raid in Pakistan.

Priest in gay porn probe leaves parish

Apr 29, 2012 12:09 PM EDT

An Irish priest at the center of a gay porn controversy has asked to leave his parish and take sabbatical leave from the priesthood, he said Sunday.

Father Martin McVeigh has admitted he destroyed a memory stick containing "inappropriate imagery" ahead of a church investigation into reports he accidentally showed pictures of naked men to parents of children preparing for their First Holy Communion.

The incident happened at the start of a PowerPoint presentation at a grade school in Pomeroy, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland in March, said the leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland, Cardinal Sean Brady.

Parents said in a statement they were "horrified" by what they saw and called for action to be taken against the priest.

The church reported the incident to police, who said no crime had been committed.

In a statement Sunday, McVeigh apologized "for the hurt caused" and "his failure to check his presentation in advance."

However, he insisted he "was not responsible for the presence of the offending images and in this respect I ask you to accept my innocence."

The priest also confirmed he had destroyed the memory stick that contained the images.

He said: "After the images were inadvertently shown, I immediately removed the memory stick from the laptop. In my shock and upset and in my concern to ensure that the images would never be shown again, I destroyed it later that evening."

McVeigh described the past month as "the most difficult" of his life and said he would be taking a break.

"In the hope of bringing resolution and healing to the division and pain within the parish, I have taken the decision to ask Cardinal Brady to allow me to leave the parish of Pomeroy and to take sabbatical leave," said McVeigh, adding: "The memory of this awful episode will remain with me for the rest of my life."

Brady said he accepted McVeigh had no advance knowledge of the pornography.

In a statement Sunday, Brady said it had been "a traumatic time for the whole parish community and for Father McVeigh personally." The cardinal also apologized for the incident.

He issued an update on the church investigation, saying other computers used by McVeigh had been "forensically examined by an independent technical expert and no inappropriate imagery has been found."

Brady added an additional laptop stolen from the local church sacristy since the March 26 meeting "did not form part of the technical examination."

The cardinal said he had accepted McVeigh's request for leave on the understanding he would return to the diocese on its completion.

The latest controversy comes after a series of child sex abuse scandals involving Catholic Church clergy in Ireland. The government-backed investigations say thousands of children have been abused by priests and other church figures over the last 80 years.

In March, the Vatican released a major report into the problem, begging forgiveness from victims. However, victims hit out at the report's finding that new safeguards are working.

Sudan president declares state of emergency along southern border

Apr 29, 2012 10:41 AM EDT

The president of Sudan declared a state of emergency Sunday for cities along the hotly contested border with South Sudan, where Sudanese fighter jets launched at least one attack against their neighbor's ground forces.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir said the state of emergency covers cities in the provinces of South Kordofan, White Nile, and Sinnar, which are on the eastern half of its border with South Sudan.

A journalist in South Sudan's Unity state, just over the border from South Kordofan, reported coming under attack by Sudanese helicopter gunships and MiG fighter jets Sunday morning.

Robyn Kriel said she was traveling to the front line with the Sudan People's Liberation Army of South Sudan when they came under heavy fire for 15 minutes. They all took cover in trenches dug by the army, she told CNN.

The SPLA was poorly equipped for the fight, she reported. Soldiers used anti-aircraft missiles and even hand-held weapons that they fired in the air, she said.

At least four SPLA soldiers were hurt in the attack, she said.

The South Sudanese military reported another attack on Unity state Saturday, though a Sudanese military spokesman denied it was involved.

South Sudan split from Sudan last year as part of a 2005 peace deal that ended decades of war in Africa's largest nation. The war left 2 million people dead and ended with the peace agreement that included an independence referendum for the south.

Significant issues between the countries remain unresolved, however, including status of their citizens, division of national debt, disputed border areas and sharing of oil wealth.

Tensions peaked this month when South Sudan seized the oil-producing region of Heglig, a resource that fuels the economies of both nations, from its northern neighbor. Heglig oil facilities account for about half of Sudan's production of 115,000 barrels a day.

South Sudanese forces withdrew days later after Sudan lodged protests with the United Nations and African Union, but South Sudan said it continued to come under aerial and ground attack.

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