Authorities: 6 die in truck-train crash in Nevada

(CNN) -- Six people were killed when a tractor-trailer truck slammed into a Chicago-to-California Amtrak passenger train at a railroad crossing east of Reno, Nevada, authorities said late Saturday.

The death toll was released just as federal authorities said they were trying to account for passengers missing from the passenger train that was struck Friday at a railroad crossing near Lovelock, Nevada.

"No names are being released pending positive identification and notification of families," the Churchill County, Nevada, sheriff's department said in a written statement.

The National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating, is trying to account for passengers listed on the manifest but not located after the crash, Earl Weener of the NTSB told reporters during a news conference late Saturday night in Sparks, Nevada.

In some cases, it is believed people got off the train earlier or bought a ticket but did not take the train, he said.

"There are a number of reasons that the manifest and that number don't jibe," Weener said.

The 10-car train, which was on its way to Emeryville, California, was carrying 204 passengers and 14 crew members, Amtrak said in a statement released Friday.

It was not immediately clear how many people were injured. Amtrak said that numerous people aboard the train had been taken to area hospitals for treatment.

Amateur video taken after the crash showed huge plumes of black smoke billowing from the train as a fire burned. Passengers and crew members stood outside.

One voice on the video can be heard telling people to get away from the smoke. Another tells a woman, out of view, to "hang and jump." A third voice asks someone, "Are you OK?"

"Next thing I know, we get hit by something. A big ball of fire comes in. I jumped out the window," passenger Justin Rhine told CNN affiliate KOLO-TV in Reno. "I saw people flying on the other side of the train."

Skid marks show the driver of the truck slammed on his brakes, sliding more than 300 feet before hitting the train, sparking a fire, Weener said. The fire burned the truck and two train cars, he said.

The initial investigation found the signal light and crossing guard arms were working, and that there was good visibility of the train tracks from the road, he said.

The truck was the lead in a three-truck convoy as it approached the train tracks, Weener said.

The two following saw the train signal and slowed to stop, "waiting for him to come to stop," he said.

Though the driver of the truck has not been identified, Weener said the truck belonged to John Davies Trucking of Battle Mountain, Nevada.

The trucking company, which advertises itself as family-owned business that hauls concrete, did not immediately respond to a CNN request for comment.

France to withdraw troops from Afghanistan

France will start withdrawing troops from Afghanistan, following a timetable similar to the one U.S. President Barack Obama announced, the French president's office said Thursday.

"This withdrawal will be done in consultation with our allies and with the Afghan authorities," the statement from Nicolas Sarkozy's office said.

All French troops could be out of Afghanistan by 2013, French Defense Minister Gerard Longuet told France Info radio Thursday.

Longuet declined to give specifics, citing the "safety of our soldiers and the people they protect.

"So we cannot say right now it will happen from such a place or it will be this type of troop because we have no information to give to our adversaries, the Taliban," he said.

But he said that NATO had planned on "a complete transition in 2014," and that "what has emerged today is that we will undoubtedly gain a year on this calendar."

France has 3,935 troops in Afghanistan, according to the NATO mission there.

Obama said Wednesday that the U.S. would withdraw 33,000 U.S. troops by September 2012. That will leave just under 70,000 Americans there.

British Prime Minister David Cameron, whose country has the second largest number of foreign troops in Afghanistan, welcomed Obama's announcement.

He said the British will keep "force levels in Afghanistan under constant review," adding: "I have already said there will be no UK troops in combat roles in Afghanistan by 2015 and, where conditions on the ground allow, it is right that we bring troops home sooner."

Earthquakes rock Christchurch, New Zealand

A pair of earthquakes with magnitudes of at least 5.0 struck within 90 minutes of each near Christchurch, New Zealand, on Monday, the U.S. Geological Survey reported, reviving vivid memories of a deadly quake that killed more than 180 people in February.

"Everyone is on edge here anyway," said Rhys Taylor, who said he could hear sirens and see helicopters flying over Christchurch. "Obviously, power's out -- sort of all over the city at the moment -- and phone lines are down."

Police evacuated sections of the city's central business district after reports of a possible gas leak, police said. Several bridges in the city were closed as a precaution.

"It was quite an exciting ride," Christchurch Police Acting Inspector Murray Hurst told CNN after the first quake, adding that there was some damage caused by the quake and a few injuries that were not life-threatening.

The first quake -- a magnitude 5.2 -- was centered 9 kilometers (5 miles) east-southeast of Christchurch at a depth of 11 kilometers (6.8 miles), according to USGS. The quake took place at 1 p.m. Monday.

A second quake -- a more powerful 6.0 tremor -- struck at 2:20 p.m., roughly 13 kilometers (8 miles) north-northeast of the city at a depth of 9 kilometers (5.6 miles).

And at least one smaller quake followed. A magnitude 4.6 quake struck at 2:40 p.m. about 11 kilometers (6 miles) east of Christchurch and at a depth of 12.5 kilometers (7.8 miles), according to the USGS.

The quakes came nearly four months after a 6.3-magnitude temblor struck the same area, killing more than 180 people.

Girl dies after fall from Ferris wheel

(CNN) -- An 11-year-old girl died Friday after falling from a Ferris wheel while on a class trip to an amusement park in New Jersey, police said.

Abiah Jones fell at Morley Piers Mariner's Landing Pier about 12:30 p.m., according to the Wildwood Police Department.

First responders gave her first aid and took her to Cape Regional Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead about 1:15 p.m., according to police.

The girl was riding one of the park's main attractions, "The Great Wheel." At 156 feet, it's one of the tallest wheels on the East Coast, according to Morley Piers spokeswoman Lindsey Young.

The cause of the girl's fall was unknown and the Wildwood police and the Cape May County Prosecutor's Office continue to investigate.

The Carnival Amusement Inspectors of New Jersey were also on the scene Friday afternoon conducting their own investigation, police said.

It is the first time someone has fallen from the ride since it opened in 1985 and the park has suffered no other guest fatality, Young said.

The ride was inspected by the state in March and passed, Young said.

Robert Gates warns of possible clashes in the South China Sea

Singapore (CNN) -- U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Saturday warned that clashes could occur in the South China Sea if nations in the area do not agree on ways to deal with disputes.

"Without rules of the road, without agreed approaches to deal with these problems, then there will be clashes. I think that serves nobody's interest," Gates said at an annual Asia security meeting hosted by the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

Gates statement comes amid tensions as China stakes claims on sovereignty in the South China Sea and other nations disputes these claims.

Despite an economic downturn and budget cuts, the United States will keep its commitments and "robust military engagement" in Asia, Gates said.

Gates told the audience of defense ministers and military leaders that there has been significant growth in U.S. engagement in Asia in recent years, "even at a time of economic distress at home and two major military campaigns ongoing in Iraq and Afghanistan."

The U.S. record in Asia shows, "irrespective of the tough times the U.S. faces today, or the tough choices we confront in the years to come, that America's interests as a Pacific nation -- as a country that conducts much of its trade in the region -- will endure," Gates said.

Gates - who met with China's Defense Minister Gen. Lian Guanglie on Friday -- said the U.S was working with China "to build a positive, cooperative and comprehensive relationship."

He called military-to-military ties with China "a priority" and said he'd seen steady improvement in recent months.

Continued cooperation and regional military exercises will continue to play a vital role in regional stability, Gates said in his speech.

And while continuing to modernize base agreements with allies, Gates said, "We've taken a number of steps toward establishing a defense posture across the Asia Pacific that is more geographically distributed, operationally resilient and politically sustainable."

Gates talked about changes he has seen during his tenure as defense secretary.

"One of the most striking -- and surprising -- changes I've observed during my travels to Asia is the widespread desire across the region for stronger military-to-military relationships with the United States -- much more so than during my last time in government 20 years ago," Gates said.

U.S. demands answers in death of Iranian dissident

Washington (CNN) -- The State Department called on the government of Iran Wednesday to investigate the death of a human rights activist this week, reportedly after security forces got into a confrontation with mourners at her father's funeral.

Haleh Sahabi, an opposition activist and women's rights advocate, was arrested during Iran's 2009 post-election crackdown and was given a two-year jail sentence. She was allowed out of prison to attend the funeral of her father, noted Iranian dissident Ezatollah Sahabi.

According to opposition websites, Sahabi was pushed to the ground during a scuffle between mourners and security forces and died of cardiac arrest. She was in her mid-50s.

The opposition web site Kaleme said that security forces tried to interfere with the carrying of the body, confronting Sahabi and other mourners. She was clutching a photo of her father to her chest and fell when the security forces tried to take it from her, Kaleme reported.

Another opposition site, Sahamnews, said one of the security forces punched her in the abdomen.

"Both Haleh and her father suffered in life for their political activism including imprisonment," deputy State Department spokesman Mark Toner said. "We call on the Iranian government to investigate the circumstances of her death. If reports are accurate that government security forces contributed to her death, this would demonstrate a deplorable disregard for human dignity and respect on the part of the Iranian authorities."

Toner questioned the presence of security forces at the funeral and said the initial reports that Sahabi's death was related to the scuffle between the mourners and the security forces need explaining.

"Why Iranian security forces would have been at this event is question number one, and question number two is whether there was some kind of physical altercation that caused her to suffer," he said.

Semi-official news agencies like Mehr and Fars said that Sahabi had not died at the hands of security forces, but rather due to a pre-existing heart condition.

Sahabi's death comes just two weeks before the June 12 anniversary of the 2009 Iranian election, in which the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad angered supporters of Iran's opposition movement and sparked massive protests that were followed by a crackdown by the Iranian government.

The Obama administration has increased pressure on the Iranian regime over alleged human rights violations, imposing sanctions recently on individuals believed to be responsible for violence against the opposition.

WHO: Cell phone use can increase possible cancer risk

Radiation from cell phones can possibly cause cancer, according to the World Health Organization. The agency now lists mobile phone use in the same "carcinogenic hazard" category as lead, engine exhaust and chloroform.

Before its announcement Tuesday, WHO had assured consumers that no adverse health effects had been established.

A team of 31 scientists from 14 countries, including the United States, made the decision after reviewing peer-reviewed studies on cell phone safety. The team found enough evidence to categorize personal exposure as "possibly carcinogenic to humans."

What that means is they found some evidence of increase in glioma and acoustic neuroma brain cancer for mobile phone users, but have not been able to draw conclusions for other types of cancers

"The biggest problem we have is that we know most environmental factors take several decades of exposure before we really see the consequences," said Dr. Keith Black, chairman of neurology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
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The type of radiation coming out of a cell phone is called non-ionizing. It is not like an X-ray, but more like a very low-powered microwave oven.

"What microwave radiation does in most simplistic terms is similar to what happens to food in microwaves, essentially cooking the brain," Black said. "So in addition to leading to a development of cancer and tumors, there could be a whole host of other effects like cognitive memory function, since the memory temporal lobes are where we hold our cell phones."

Wireless industry responded to Tuesday's announcement saying it "does not mean cell phones cause cancer." CTIA-The Wireless Association added that WHO researchers "did not conduct any new research, but rather reviewed published studies."

The European Environmental Agency has pushed for more studies, saying cell phones could be as big a public health risk as smoking, asbestos and leaded gasoline. The head of a prominent cancer-research institute at the University of Pittsburgh sent a memo to all employees urging them to limit cell phone use because of a possible risk of cancer.

"When you look at cancer development -- particularly brain cancer -- it takes a long time to develop. I think it is a good idea to give the public some sort of warning that long-term exposure to radiation from your cell phone could possibly cause cancer," said Dr. Henry Lai, research professor in bioengineering at University of Washington who has studied radiation for more than 30 years.

Results from the largest international study on cell phones and cancer was released in 2010. It showed participants in the study who used a cell phone for 10 years or more had doubled the rate of brain glioma, a type of tumor. To date, there have been no long-term studies on the effects of cell phone usage among children.

"Children's skulls and scalps are thinner. So the radiation can penetrate deeper into the brain of children and young adults. Their cells are at a dividing faster rate, so the impact of radiation can be much larger." said Black of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

In February, a study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health, revealed radiation emitted after just 50 minutes on a mobile phone increases the activity in brain cells. The effects of brain activity being artificially stimulated are still unknown.

Neurosurgeon and CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta says Tuesday's announcement, "dealt a blow to those who have long said, 'There is no possible mechanism for cell phones to cause cancer.' By classifying cell phones as a possible carcinogen, they also seem to be tacitly admitting a mechanism could exist."

Manufacturers of many popular cell phones already warn consumers to keep their device away from their body and medical experts say there other ways to minimize cell phone radiation.

The Apple iPhone 4 safety manual says users' radiation exposure should not exceed FCC guidelines: "When using iPhone near your body for voice calls or for wireless data transmission over a cellular network, keep iPhone at least 15 millimeters (5/8 inch) away from the body."

BlackBerry Bold advises users to "keep the BlackBerry device at least 0.98 inch (25 millimeters) from your body when the BlackBerry device is transmitting."

The logic behind such recommendations is that the further the phone is from the body, the less radiation is absorbed. Users can also use the speakerphone function or a wired earpiece to gain some distance.

Users can text instead of talk if they want to keep the phone away from their faces.

Finally, cell phones emit the most radiation when they are attempting to connect to cellular towers. A moving phone, or a phone in an area with a weak signal, has to work harder, giving of more radiation. So users can avoid using their cell phones in elevators, buildings and rural areas if they want to reduce their exposure, experts say.

Report: Syrian abuses could be 'crimes against humanity'

(CNN) -- The Syrian regime has carried out a "systematic" series of abuses against protesters that could "qualify as crimes against humanity," and the United Nations must hold the government accountable, a leading humanitarian watchdog organization said on Wednesday.

Human Rights Watch makes these assertions in a report entitled " 'We've Never Seen Such Horror': Crimes against Humanity in Daraa" -- the initial epicenter of the Syrian anti-government protest movement and the start of the government's tough crackdown against protesters.

The 57-page document contains chilling detail from dozens of victims and witnesses to abuses in Daraa province, the southwestern Syrian powder keg where the unrest engulfing the country began in mid-March and spread across the country.

At present, the report said there have been around 887 deaths "across Syria," including at least 418 people in Daraa province.
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"For more than two months now, Syrian security forces have been killing and torturing their own people with complete impunity," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.

"They need to stop -- and if they don't, it is the Security Council's responsibility to make sure that the people responsible face justice."

Human Rights Watch said the Syrian government should take "immediate steps to halt the excessive use of lethal force by security forces" and that the U.N. Security Council "should impose sanctions and press Syria for accountability."

If the government "doesn't respond adequately," the council should refer Syria to the International Criminal Court, the group said.

There was no immediate Syrian government reaction to the report, which "is based on more than 50 interviews with residents of Daraa and several Jordanian nationals who were in Daraa during the protests."

Human Rights Watch said it has also "reviewed dozens of videos, filmed by the witnesses, which corroborate their accounts."

The report noted that the demonstrations began in Daraa city with the "detention and torture of 15 young boys accused of painting graffiti slogans calling for the downfall of the regime" and that the release of the "bruised and bloodied" boys "fanned the flames of popular anger."

"On March 18, following Friday prayer, several thousand protesters marched from al-Omari Mosque in Daraa calling for the release of the children and greater political freedom, and accusing government officials of corruption. Security forces initially used water cannons and teargas against the protesters and then opened live fire, killing at least four.

The protests then snowballed outside Daraa. Activists have blamed Syrian security forces for the deadly crackdown but Syria has blamed the violence on "terrorist groups," "armed gangs," and "foreign elements."

Citing witnesses from Daraa, Human Rights Watch said they "provided consistent accounts of security forces using lethal force against peaceful protesters."

"In some cases, security forces first used teargas or fired in the air, but when protesters refused to disperse, they fired live ammunition from automatic weapons into the crowds. In most cases, especially as demonstrations in Daraa grew bigger, security forces opened fire without giving advance warning or making any effort to disperse the protesters by nonlethal means.

"Security forces deliberately targeted protesters, who were, in the vast majority of cases, unarmed and posed no threat to the forces; rescuers who were trying to take the wounded and the dead away; medical personnel trying to reach the wounded.

The report said witnesses regularly noted "the presence of snipers on government buildings near the protests" and "other evidence obtained by Human Rights Watch also suggests that security forces participating in the operations against the protesters (in Daraa and other cities) had received, at least in a number of cases, 'shoot-to-kill' orders from their commanders."

Several elite army units and branches of the intelligence services were part of the crackdown.

"On several occasions army units deployed to quell the protests seemed reluctant to shoot at protesters, allowed them to pass through checkpoints, and, in at least two cases documented by Human Rights Watch, refused orders to shoot and either surrendered to the protesters or handed over their weapons to the protesters."

Many arrests "seemed entirely arbitrary with no formal charges ever brought against the detainees" and witnesses described the detention conditions as appalling.

"Released detainees interviewed by Human Rights Watch said that they, as well as hundreds of others they saw in detention, were subjected to various forms of torture and degrading treatment.

"The methods of torture included prolonged beatings with sticks, twisted wires, and other devices; electric shocks administered with Tasers and electric batons; use of improvised metal and wooden 'racks'; and, in at least one case documented by Human Rights Watch, the rape of a male detainee with a baton.

"Interrogators and guards also subjected detainees to various forms of humiliating treatment, such as urinating on the detainees, stepping on their faces, and making them kiss the officers' shoes. Several detainees said they were repeatedly threatened with imminent execution."

The majority of witnesses interviewed by Human Rights Watch also referred to the existence of mass graves in Daraa.

There was a punishing Syrian security siege that lasted at least 11 days from April 25 and extended to neighboring towns.

"Witnesses said that Daraa residents experienced acute shortages of food, water (because security forces shot and damaged water tanks), medicine, and other necessary supplies during the siege. Electricity and all communications were cut off for at least 15 days, and, at the time of this writing, remained cut off in several neighborhoods in the city."

Authorities put an information blockade into effect on Daraa "to ensure that abuses were not exposed" and cell phones with damning videos were regularly confiscated during searches

"No independent observers could enter the city and one international journalist who managed to report from Daraa during the first two weeks of protests in March was arrested upon his return to Damascus."

From April 25 to around May 22, Daraa residents were not permitted to "pray in mosques and all calls for prayer were banned."

"Security forces occupied all of the mosques in the city and, according to witnesses who saw the mosques after they reopened, desecrated them by writing graffiti on the walls."

'Revolution' artist Gil Scott-Heron dies

(CNN) -- Gil Scott-Heron, a poet and musician best known for the song "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised," died Friday, his publicist at XL Recordings said.

Born in 1949, Scott-Heron was known for his poetry and soul works in the late 1960s and early 1970s, according to his official website.

His early albums, "Pieces of a Man" and "Winter in America," has been credited with influencing other musical genres like hip hop.

After a 13-year hiatus from making music, Scott-Heron put out a new album last year called "I'm New Here."

Some Yemeni residents flee homes as clashes rage

Yemeni anti-government protesters in Sanaa shout slogans Saturday calling for the ouster of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Some Yemeni residents heeded calls to evacuate parts of their capital city Saturday in expectation of further clashes between the country's long-time president Ali Abdullah Saleh and tribal leaders, but most remained firmly entrenched in their homes, according to witnesses.

The order was carried out by members of the country's Republican Guard and law enforcement, who warned residents in city neighbourhoods of more confrontations after tensions flared Friday between Nehm tribesmen and soldiers of the Republican Guard.

The tribesmen said the soldiers attacked a village, but tribal fighters, battling back, managed to take over military compounds.

Meanwhile, armed tribesmen were seen massing at four locations around the Yemeni capital of Sanaa, witnesses said, as well as near the house of Sheikh Sadeq al-Ahmar, the leader of the powerful al-Hashid tribe whose forces oppose the government.

Love, Down Under: Dating agency matches single women to farmers

"Brides" pursue a single male on a race track as part of a radio promotion in Brisbane, Australia.

Pop singer Beyonce told single ladies to put their hands up, but maybe she should have directed them Down Under.

A dating agency is shuttling busloads of single women to rural areas in hopes that they’ll find lonely farmers, according to an article in the London Telegraph.

Contacted by CNN late Friday, Brie Peters said she got the idea for the single women tours from a chance encounter.

“I’m lucky enough to have some friends that live in the outback of Australia,” she said, “and we were at a pub one night and the pub owner said, ‘Brie, you’ll be interested in this, ‘I know a lot of single women that send me letters’ ” looking for rural men, she said.

Peters said she came up with a tour service, Thank Goodness He’s a Country Boy, that caters to women but also addresses a serious issue in Australia's urban areas: Evidently it's where the boys aren't.

In 2008 a book by author Bernard Salt stated Australia had nearly 100,000 more women than men in its metropolitan areas. The book even had maps that showed where the guys were.

Is it that bad for single women in Australia, particularly in New South Wales, Queensland and Melbourne, areas where Peters operates her agency?

In February a Brisbane radio station ran a promotion, Running of the Brides, that pitted women in bridal dresses in a race after one man. The pre-Valentines Day stunt was a gas, but the event was put on after statistics that showed there were seven women to every one man in the city.

Peters, who also owns an event company, said she remains single despite running into great guys every time she organizes a tour.

“What we do is we take the city girls out to the country and throughout the day. The women get fully pampered, they get makeup, they go out to eat and the guys put on a massive show,” she said.

Peters said she’s been doing the tours for about six months now and has an “85% success rate.” She said her biggest outing consisted of 200 women heading to the dust roads and Outback bush in search of menfolk.

But don’t think the men aren’t screened, Peters said.

“I try to go out into the town and meet as many of the guys as I can beforehand,” she said, “because many of them are shy. They aren’t just farmers, either. They are plumbers, run-of-the-mill normal, ordinary men.”

The girls night out does come with a cost: Peters said she charges $350 for women and $50 for men.

Macabre body ID process adds to Joplin's pain

A spray-painted message sums up the helplessness -- and hope -- some feel in Joplin, Missouri, after a tornado hit the city.

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A Newton County, Missouri, official said authorities would begin streamlining the process of identifying bodies Saturday in Joplin in the aftermath of a killer tornado.

"The decision was made that if a person can make a positive ID, let’s say for instance … piercings or tattoos," said Mark Bridges of the Newton County, Missouri, coroner’s office, "[Saturday] we’re gonna start the process of allowing those people to view the bodies of the loved ones."

"We’re going to go ahead and start releasing those bodies," he said.

Already frayed nerves reached a boiling point Friday in Joplin, Missouri, as families trying to retrieve their dead loved ones were stalled by cautious medical examiners meticulously trying to sort remains.

The deadliest tornado ever recorded in the U.S. smashed through the city Sunday, killing 132 people and leaving more than 156 unaccounted for.

While acknowledging families’ frustration, Bridges told CNN’s Eliott Spitzer that they were making “good progress” in identifying bodies.

Bridges said the coroners were trying to avoid a horror that had unfortunately already taken place.

“The situation that we had early on is we had some family members that made identification on an individual and they got him to a mortuary, got him embalmed, got him dressed and when they went back [to prepare visitation services] it was not their son,” he said. “So the Jasper County Coroner ... clamped it [streamlined identification] down at that time.”

But that was little comfort for residents like Divine Akino, who lost her mother in the twister.

The Kansas City, Missouri, resident said her mother’s body was released Friday morning, one of the first, but only after days of agonizing bureaucratic red tape.

“We just want to claim our dead bodies,” Akino said. “It was a little frustrating because we kept asking them, ‘Where is the help that we’re getting?' " she said, referring to the coroner's office. "Is this where our tax dollars are going?”

Akino said her mother was worshipping at the evening service at Harmony Heights Baptist Church when the tornado tore the walls down.

Drawn to the Bible's message of salvation, Grace Akino was a religious woman, her daughter said.

“She named me Divine because I was the first born. She and my dad met through a missionary in the Philippines,” she said.

Grace Akino's body was found covering her 12-year-son, who survived, Divine Akino said.

A visitation service for Grace Akino drew more than 200 people late Friday, her daughter said.

Afghans, NATO investigate airstrike that reportedly killed 12 children

Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- An investigation was underway Sunday into allegations that a coalition airstrike in southern Afghanistan killed a dozen children and two women, Afghan and NATO officials said.

In a statement, Afghan President Hamid Karzai strongly condemned the airstrike, saying he was warning the U.S military and government "for the last time" on behalf of the Afghan people about civilian deaths. He called the operation a mistake, but offered a different death toll, saying 10 children, two women and two men were killed.

The civilians were reportedly killed Saturday during an airstrike against insurgents who were attacking NATO-led International Security Assistance Force troops in the Nawzad district of the Helmand province, according to a spokesman for the provincial governor.

The death toll, if confirmed, would make it the largest loss of civilian life this year as a result of an ISAF airstrike.

ISAF confirmed there was an attack against its troops, though it did not know whether civilians were killed.

"We do know about the allegations," Navy Lt. Cmdr. Ronald Flesvig, an ISAF spokesman, told CNN. There was no mention of possible civilian casualties on ISAF's daily operational update posted daily on its website.

Both ISAF and Afghan investigators were looking into the claims, which came from residents as well as the district governor, said Daud Ahamadi, the ISAF spokesman.

Residents, according to Ahamadi, said an ISAF helicopter conducted the airstrike, which hit two houses where women and children were staying.

Helmand province, a Taliban-stronghold that borders Pakistan, has been the scene of intense fighting this month since insurgents lauched their so-called spring offensive.

Anger in Afghanistan and Pakistan over civilian casualties has mounted in recent months following NATO airstrikes that have killed dozens along their shared border.

In March, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates offered a personal apology to Afghan President Hamid Karzai for the killings of nine boys in a helicopter attack targeting insurgents.

The top coalition commander in Afghanistan has warned of a likely increase in high-profile attacks by insurgents looking to demonstrate their ability to strike. In a letter this month to ISAF forces, U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus said the attacks may increase the risk of civilian casualties and put Afghan and ISAF forces in difficult situations.

Meanwhile, a bombing in northern Afghanistan that killed a top Afghan official and wounded a German general Saturday came as tribal leaders warned that insurgent attacks were discouraging some civilians from cooperating with security efforts, officials said.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing at a high-level meeting of Afghan and ISAF officials, the latest in a series of attacks that have rocked Afghanistan following the killing of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

During meetings last week with senior Afghan ministers and ISAF officials in the volatile Zabul province, civilians "cautioned that insurgent intimidation has discouraged cooperation from some citizens," according to an ISAF statement released Saturday.

Provincial Gov. Mohammed Neseri warned residents to do their part to protect themselves.

"Insurgents cannot intimidate citizens if everyone is united in defending their homes and their villages," Neseri said, according to the statement.

The attack Saturday in the northern Takhar province town of Taloqan occurred at a high-level meeting of Afghan and coalition officials in a governor's office, a provincial spokesman said.

The officials were gathered to talk about security following a May 18 protest in front of a NATO compound where German soldiers opened fire on demonstrators, who they claimed had become violent, German Defense Minister Thomas de Maiziere told reporters.

The blast Saturday killed seven people, including Gen. Dawood Dawood -- a well-known Afghan regional police chief who was one of the country's lead point-persons in eradicating opium poppy fields, said Faiz Mohammad Tawhidi, a spokesman for Takhar provincial Gov. Abdul Jabar Taqwa.

Dawood was a veteran anti-Soviet and anti-Taliban resistance commander, he said.

Also killed were two German soldiers, a provincial police chief, the governor's secretary and two guards, according to Tawhidi and Qari Sadiqullah, secretary of the provincial council.

Among the eight wounded was Maj. Gen. Markus Kneip, a veteran German officer and the regional head of the ISAF across nine provinces of northern Afghanistan, de Maiziere said.

The provincial governor was also wounded, Taqwa said.

In a phone call to CNN, Taliban spokesman Zabulliah Mojahed claimed responsibility for the attack.

Mojahed said Taliban fighters targeted the officials because they were making plans in the meeting to "launch an operation against the Taliban in the north."

"After our mujahedeen found (out) about this meeting, then it was targeted by our suicide bomber," he told CNN from an unknown location.

ISAF spokesman Rear Adm. Vic Beck condemned what he called "the senseless murder of these Afghans and coalition members who have fought so hard for the people of Afghanistan.

"ISAF will remain relentless in our support to our Afghan partners to find those responsible and bring them to justice," he said.

10 fascinating Facebook facts -- and what they say about us

Editor's note: Pete Cashmore is founder and CEO of Mashable, a popular tech-news blog. He writes occasional columns about social networking and tech for CNN.com.

(CNN) -- A study released this week revealed that 47% of Facebook users have swear words on their pages. A survey last week, meanwhile, showed that undergraduate men who talk about alcohol on Facebook tend to have more friends.

Whether it's our level of tolerance for swearing or the link between alcohol and bonding with friends, these Facebook studies provide intriguing insights into our online behaviors.

And yet I'd argue that Facebook surveys have a more fundamental role. With more than 600 million people actively using Facebook, these studies in fact provide a deeper understanding of our evolving cultural norms: our values, our morals and our changing relationships between one another.

Don't believe me? Here are some fascinating Facebook facts that just might serve as a peek into our 21st-century values.

1. 56% of Americans think it's irresponsible to friend your boss on Facebook

A survey released in February 2010 showed the majority of Americans don't find it socially acceptable to be Facebook friends with their boss. The study of 1,000 people by Liberty Mutual's Responsibility Project suggests that despite an increasing overlap between our work and home lives, we continue to value a separation between the two.

Meanwhile, 62% of those surveyed said it's wrong for a manager to befriend an employee on Facebook. And yet 76% of respondents said it was acceptable to befriend a peer on Facebook, suggesting what we truly value is that our work be judged on its merits rather than getting ahead based on personal relationships.

2. Facebook links about sex are shared 90% more than average

Facebook confirms the adage: Sex sells. From February until May 2010, social media scientist Dan Zarrella processed 12,000 links to news sites and blogs. He discovered that links about sex were 90% more likely to be shared on Facebook than any other subject matter.

He also discovered that links with positive sentiment were more likely to be shared on Facebook than those with negative viewpoints.

3. People in Facebook relationships are happier than single people

In February 2010, Facebook marked Valentine's Day by comparing the relationship status of its users to their happiness -- this was surmised based on the level of positive or negative sentiment in the user's Facebook updates.

The result: Those in relationships were found to be slightly happier than single people. Those who were married or engaged were also happier than single people on average.

However, Facebook users in an "open relationship" -- where the partners are not exclusive to one another -- were significantly less happy than single people. Monogamy, it seems, makes us happy.

4. 21% of people would break up via Facebook

A June 2010 survey of 1,000 Facebook users -- 70% of whom were male -- found that 25% had been "dumped" via Facebook (via their significant other updating his or her relationship status).

Twenty-one percent of those surveyed said they would end a relationship by changing their Facebook relationship statuses to "single." While worrisome, the survey does show the majority of people do not split up via Facebook.

For this uncomfortable task, it seems, we still turn to more personal forms of communication. This particular study also appears to suffer from a little male bias -- a July 2010 survey found that 9% of women have initiated a breakup via Facebook, versus 24% of men.

5. 85% of women are annoyed by their Facebook friends

For women on Facebook, friends can sometimes be irritating. In a March study conducted by Eversave, 85% admitted to having been annoyed by their Facebook friends. Of these annoyances, the most cited was "complaining all the time" (63%).

Other pet peeves included "sharing unsolicited political views" (42%) and "bragging about seemingly perfect lives" (32%).

While I've yet to see a similar survey focused on men, it's probably safe to assume these feelings are universal: Our friends are a source of joy and occasional irritation.

6. 25% of households with a Facebook account don't use privacy controls

A June 2010 survey from Consumer Reports stated that "in one of four households with a Facebook account, users weren't aware of or didn't choose to use the service's privacy controls."

While Consumer Reports chose to interpret this finding in a negative light, I'd propose a contrary view: Seventy-five percent of households did take the time to understand Facebook's privacy controls, suggesting that privacy remains important to our society.

The same study stated that "Twenty-six percent of Facebook users with children had potentially exposed them to predators by posting the children's photos and names."

Again, the positive view would be that 74% of Facebook users with children did not post their photos and names -- suggesting that we value privacy.

7. 48% of parents friend their kids on Facebook

On the question of whether it's OK to friend your kids on Facebook, parents are roughly split down the middle -- 48% have chosen to do so. Respondents in a May 2010 survey by Retrevo admitted that this could be "awkward at times."

Parents were also asked about the minimum age at which their children should be allowed to sign up for Facebook or MySpace. Twenty-six percent of parents replied "over 18," 36% said "16 to 18," 30% said "13 to 15" and 8% said "under 13."

Opinions may be changing rapidly, however. A Consumer Reports survey released this month says the majority of parents of kids 10 and under "seemed largely unconcerned by their children's use" of Facebook.

8. 47% of Facebook users have profanity on their walls

As previously mentioned, a new study by the reputation management service Reppler has found that 47% of Facebook users have swear words on their walls, with these profanities being posted by a friend 56% of the time.

In other words: Nearly half of Facebook users are comfortable with swearing. The most common profanity on Facebook? No prizes for guessing: It's the "F-word."

9. 48% of people say they look at their ex's Facebook profile too often

In a January study by YouTango, 48% of respondents said they look at their ex's Facebook or other social-networking profile too often. The statistic illustrates one danger of social-networking profiles -- ex-partners are more accessible than ever.

But the survey also points to a degree of self-awareness among the respondents. While new technologies provide new temptations, it seems that many of us are able to control these behaviors.

10. 36% of under-35s check Facebook, Twitter or texts after sex

An October 2009 study by Retrevo suggested that social networks are becoming an increasingly important part of young people's lives. Among under-35s, 36% admitted to "tweeting, texting and checking Facebook after sex." Forty percent of respondents admitted to doing so while driving, 64% said they do so at work, and 65% use these communication channels while on vacation.

Here, we might conclude that the next generation is driving society into a less desirable direction: a world in which digital devices are never put down, even in the most inappropriate of situations.

And yet if Facebook is our guide, I'd say our cultural norms have remained intact. We continue to value professionalism. We find great rewards in human relationships -- and most of us try to exit them honorably.

On the whole, we continue to value privacy. We try to look out for our kids. And as we have been since time immemorial, we continue to be fascinated by sex -- after which we go straight to Facebook to find out what our exes are up to.

Srebrenica: Worst European atrocity since WWII

A photo dated July 24, 1996, shows International war crimes tribunal investigators examine a mass grave in Srebrenica.

\
This article by the late Graham Jones first appeared on CNN.com in 2006

(CNN) -- It is now remembered as the worst atrocity in Europe since World War II.

In a five-day orgy of slaughter at Srebrenica in July 1995, up to 8,000 Muslims were systematically exterminated in what was described at the U.N. war crimes tribunal as "the triumph of evil."

Former Bosnian Serb commander-in-chief General Ratko Mladic, who is accused of direct involvement in the genocide at Srebrenica, was arrested on Thursday after more than 15 years on the run.

In 1995, Srebrenica was designated a U.N. "safe area."

A judge at The Hague tribunal was later to describe what happened there as "truly scenes from hell written on the darkest pages of human history."

Thousands of Bosnian Muslims had sought refuge in the spa town of Srebrenica in 1995 as the Bosnian Serb army marched towards them.

They were protected by just 100 lightly equipped Dutch peacekeepers -- who proved no match for the advancing, heavily-armed Serb army.
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Denied reinforcements, the Dutch were forced to stand aside while Serb troops intent on "ethnic cleansing" did their worst -- the peacekeepers even witnessing the summary execution of civilians.

In the days before the onslaught, 30,000 Muslims fleeing the advancing Serb army were crammed into the town. Within days there was not one Muslim left.

A great number fled -- only for many of them to be wiped out in Serb ambushes -- but the men who stayed fared the worst.

Thousands of men and boys as young as 10 were rounded up and murdered. Those who tried to hide in their homes were, according to evidence at the trial of Serb General Radislav Krstic at The Hague in March 2000, "hunted down like dogs and slaughtered."

Serbian TV footage shows women and children being separated from the men and put on buses.

In a sickening show of "reassurance" Mladic -- now on the war crimes tribunal's most wanted list -- told the women everyone would be taken out by bus out and safely reunited.

When the cameras were turned off the real face of the Serb army emerged as the slaughter began.

More than 60 truckloads of refugees were taken from Srebrenica to execution sites where they were bound, blindfolded, and shot with automatic rifles.

Some of the executions were carried out at night under arc lights. Industrial bulldozers then pushed the bodies into mass graves.

Some were buried alive, a French policeman who collected evidence from Bosnian Muslims, Jean-Rene Ruez, told The Hague tribunal in 1996.

He gave evidence that Bosnian Serb forces had killed and tortured refugees at will. Streets were littered with corpses, he said, and rivers were red with blood. Many people committed suicide to avoid having their noses, lips and ears chopped off, he said.

Among other lurid accounts of mass murder, Ruez cited cases of adults being forced to kill their children or watching as soldiers ended the young lives.

"One soldier approached a woman in the middle of a crowd," he said. "Her child was crying. The soldier asked why the child was crying and she explained that he was hungry. The soldier made a comment like, 'He won't be hungry anymore.' He slit the child's throat in front of everybody."

Later it was revealed that Mladic had been able to press on unhindered by issuing ultimatums to the U.N. protection force.

It was suggested the U.N. high command had promised to stop air strikes against the Serb army in return for the release of 370 U.N. soldiers held prisoner -- and Mladic took this as the green light to attack Srebrenica.

The Commander of the Dutch U.N. troops, Col. Thomas Karremans, told The Hague tribunal in 1996 that he had first requested NATO air strikes when Mladic's troops began their assault on July 6, but that the request was not granted until July 11 when Srebrenica fell. By then, Karremans said, it "was too late and too little."

Karremans said a long Serb blockade before the attack had left the lightly armed Dutch battalion desperately short of food and fuel, but requests for fresh supplies went unheeded.

In 1999 the U.N. admitted its error in expecting 100 Dutch troops to deter the Bosnian Serb army.

Ratko Mladic: Bosnian Serb commander turned fugitive

(CNN) -- Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb army commander wanted for crimes against humanity, is a notorious name synonymous with the dissolution of Yugoslavia, the Balkan wars of the 1990s and the bloody assaults on Sarajevo and Srebrenica.

Born in Kalnovik, Bosnia and Herzegovina, during the height of World War II, the 69-year-old was a career soldier who served in Yugoslavia's military before that nation dissolved in the early 1990s.

Mladic then became a leader of Bosnian Serb forces during the brutal conflict in Bosnia, the bloodiest in Europe since the allies fought Germany in the 1940s.

He was shaped by the war when his father was killed by Croat Nazis when he was 2 years old. In 1965 he graduated from a military academy and joined the Communist Party in Yugoslavia, an ethnic stew of six states -- Bosnia, Serbia, Macedonia, Slovenia, Croatia, and Montenegro.
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Working his way up the ranks, Mladic was general of the Yugoslav Federal Forces in Sarajevo in 1992, an entity later transferred to the Bosnian Serb army when war engulfed Bosnia after it declared independence.

The state was populated by Muslims, Croats and Serbs, but Serbian forces wanted to take lands where Serbs had been a majority.

Mladic is charged with leading a 1992 siege against the city of Sarajevo, an assault that lasted two years and killed thousands. He is also accused of leading a 1995 attack on the Muslim enclave of Srebrenica, where close to 8,000 Muslim men and boys died.

In 1995, he was indicted by the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia for war crimes and an international arrest warrant was issued a year later.

Mladic faces charges of genocide, complicity in genocide, persecutions, extermination and murder, deportation and inhumane acts, unlawfully inflicting terror upon civilians, murder, cruel treatment, attacks on civilians and the taking of hostages.

The genocide and complicity in genocide charges involve "the planning, preparation or execution of the intentional partial destruction" of Bosnian Muslims in various towns, including Srebrenica.

In detailing its charges against Mladic, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia cites the "widespread killing, deportation and forcible transfer of non-Serbs in furtherance of the 1992 and 1993 'ethnic cleansing' campaigns in the Bosnian Krajina and in eastern Bosnia; by causing serious bodily or mental harm to Bosnian Muslims, including torture, physical and psychological abuse, sexual violence and beatings."

It said Bosnian Muslims were subjected "to conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction, namely through cruel and inhumane treatment, including torture, inhumane living conditions and forced labor." Such alleged crimes occurred many locations, including in Banja Luka and Srebrenica.

The court also cites Mladic's alleged role in the Bosnian Serb siege on the city of Sarajevo. Mladic, working with others, planned and ordered "a protracted military campaign in which Bosnian Serb forces under his control, in particular the Sarajevo Romanija Corps, used artillery and mortar shelling and sniping to target civilian areas of Sarajevo, killing and wounding civilians."

The U.S. Rewards for Justice program announced a $5 million reward for information leading to Mladic's capture.

Over the years, he has eluded authorities as his cohort, the former Bosnia Serb president, Radovan Karadzic, was apprehended and is facing various charges at the court in The Hague.

Mladic arrest hailed as 'important day for international justice'

World leaders and human rights groups celebrated the arrest of former Serbian army commander Ratko Mladic on Thursday, calling it "historic" and "an important step forward."

It is "an important day for international justice," said the office of Serge Brammertz, prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, in a written statement.

"Mladic's arrest clearly signals that the commitment to international criminal justice is entrenched. Today's events show that people responsible for grave violations of international humanitarian law can no longer count on impunity."

The office awaits Mladic's transfer to The Hague, where he will stand trial, the statement said.
Mladic is charged with crimes including the murders of nearly 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica in 1995; forcible transfers and detentions of Bosnian Muslims and Croats; a "terror campaign and the shelling and sniping of civilians in Sarajevo by Bosnian Serb forces under his command"; and the taking of United Nations military observers as hostages, the statement said.

"With the news of the arrest," Brammertz said, "we think first and foremost of the victims of the crimes committed during the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia. These victims have endured unimaginable horrors -- including the genocide in Srebrenica -- and redress for their suffering is long overdue."

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called it a "historic day for international justice. This arrest marks an important step in our collective fight against impunity as well as for the work of the" tribunal.

He praised Serbian President Boris Tadic and the Serbian government.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said Thursday that she hopes "Mladic's trial, along with that of Radovan Karadzic, and the recent ICTY convictions of Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markac, as well as the dozens of earlier convictions, will help victims and their families see justice done and receive acknowledgement of their suffering."

Former Serbian leader Karadzic -- who was arrested in Belgrade, Serbia, in 2008 -- faces 11 counts of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. He has denied the charges.

Gotovina commanded Croatia's Split military district during the mid-1990s war, while Markac headed Croatia's Interior Ministry's Special Police.

Both were convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

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NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said he strongly welcomed the news. "As Bosnian Serb military commander, General Mladic played a key role in some of the darkest episodes of Balkan and European history, including the siege of Sarajevo and the massacre of thousands of Bosnian men and boys in Srebrenica in 1995. Almost 16 years since his indictment for genocide and other war crimes, his arrest finally offers a chance for justice to be done."

The White House issued a statement Thursday applauding Tadic and the government of Serbia on "their determined efforts to ensure that Mladic was found and that he faces justice."

"We look forward to his expeditious transfer to The Hague," the statement said. "Today is an important day for the families of Mladic's many victims, for Serbia, for Bosnia, for the United States, and for international justice.

"May the families of Mladic's victims find some solace in today's arrest, and may this deepen the ties among the people of the region," it added.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy welcomed the news while hosting the G8 summit in Deauville, France, calling the arrest "very big news."

"It is a very brave decision by the Serbian president, and it's an important step towards the integration in the near future (of Serbia) into the European Union," he said.

European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton called the arrest "an important step forward for Serbia and for international justice." It is "a very positive development for the European Union, for Serbia's neighbours, but most of all for the rule of law in Serbia itself," she said. "The families of his countless victims deserve justice."

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said the arrest "is a historic moment for a region that was torn apart by the appalling wars of the 1990s."

He added, "Our sympathies are with all those who lost loved ones during those conflicts. Today should mark the beginning of a new chapter for the countries of Western Balkans."

British Prime Minister David Cameron said, "there is a very good reason why the long arm of the international law has been looking for this man for such a long time."

In a news release, Interpol called Mladic "Europe's most wanted war crimes suspect."

"The arrest by Serbian police of Ratko Mladic, an alleged architect of human carnage and mass murder, is a triumph for international justice," Interpol Secretary General Ronald K. Noble said in the release.

Amnesty International's senior director of international law, Widney Brown, said, "It took more than 15 years, but at last the people who suffered have hope that he will be brought to justice."

Brown called on Serbian authorities to renew their efforts "to arrest the remaining indicted suspect General Goran Hadzic," who is believed to be in the region, and "bring him to justice."

Madeleine Albright, former U.S. secretary of state, said Mladic's trial "should teach again the grim reality of ethnic cleansing and, I hope, bring some comfort to those who survived."

"Mladic tried to become a conquering hero. Instead, he lived as a fugitive in obscurity and now faces years in custody. Justice works," she said in a statement. "It is a welcome sign that Serbian officials arrested him. An emerging democracy is helping to confront its own past."

Queen Elizabeth visits site of British massacre

Dublin, Ireland (CNN) -- Queen Elizabeth II visited Croke Park stadium in Dublin Wednesday on the second day of her landmark tour of Ireland.

The visit is another significant symbolic gesture of reconciliation -- British troops opened fire on a crowd watching a Gaelic football match there in 1920, killing 13 spectators and one player.

The massacre was sparked by the murder of 14 British intelligence officers by the Irish Republican Army (IRA).

The queen toured the 82,000-seater stadium with the Irish President Mary McAleese and Christy Cooney, president of the Gaelic Athletic Association.
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The Rev. Alan Harper, Archbishop of Armagh, Church of Ireland, said: "The whole visit is significant, this is another step towards building a reconciled society."

Gallery: The queen visits Ireland

On Wednesday morning the queen met the Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny and senior cabinet ministers at Government Buildings in Dublin as part of her state tour, the first by a UK monarch since the country gained independence in 1922.

Later she laid a wreath at the National War Memorial Gardens in Islandbridge in a tribute to the almost 50,000 Irish soldiers who died in World War I.

The Northern Ireland First Minister Peter Robinson, said: "Everyone remembers the past but we have to look to the future, but there are clear indications as a society in the UK and Republic people are moving on. They want better relations and we are in a new era," the Press Association reported.

On Wednesday evening, accompanied by British Prime Minister David Cameron, the queen will attend a state banquet at Dublin Castle where she will make her only public speech of the tour.

On Tuesday the queen laid a wreath at the Garden of Remembrance in Dublin in a joint ceremony with the Irish president. The Garden of Remembrance honors those who fought for Irish freedom from British rule.

The visit has prompted police to mount a major security operation amid threats of dissident republican violence. Ireland has spent $42 million on security for the visit, according to officials.

On Tuesday scuffles between protesters and police broke out in central Dublin, 22 people were arrested.

The Irish military Tuesday defused a bomb Tuesday morning on a bus headed to Dublin. The military had stopped a private bus in Maynooth, evacuated the passengers and found a "viable device" in the luggage compartment, a spokesman for the Irish national police said.

The queen's visit is one that many in Ireland believed would never happen, and marks the reconciliation between two neighboring countries that once viewed each other with suspicion and hostility.

Ireland's fight to free itself from its former imperial master is likely to form much of the narrative of the visit.

There will be constant reminders of the violent past. The queen's plane touched down, for example, at Casement Aerodrome, a military airfield named after Roger Casement, who was executed for treason in 1916 for conspiring with the Germans. His fate was sealed when the queen's grandfather, George V, refused to commute his death sentence.
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The Irish War of Independence that the killing was a part of directly led to the partition of Ireland in 1921. The majority of the island gained independence, but six of the nine counties of the province of Ulster chose to stay in the United Kingdom, eventually becoming the country of Northern Ireland.

In the late 1960s the conflict between mainly Protestant unionists who want Northern Ireland to remain part of the UK and largely Roman Catholic nationalists who want the North to be reunited with the rest of Ireland exploded into a political and sectarian war, known as the Troubles.

The ensuing three decades of violence between the Irish Republican Army and loyalists claimed the lives of more than 3,000 people, most of them north of the border, and while the Good Friday Agreement, signed in 1998, effectively ended the conflict, suspicions remain. It is for this reason that the queen's visit is more than symbolic.

Under the terms of the accord, terrorist groups on both sides dumped their weapons, and political allies of both sides now work together in Northern Ireland's power-sharing government.

The change has been so rapid that, even as recently as the late 1990s, one journalist said he could never have imagined a state visit by the queen. Toby Harnden, who covered Ireland for the Daily Telegraph, said while some people on both sides still have their doubts over the visit -- for different reasons -- more significant is the peaceable language used in the debate.

"Some Catholics will see this as Britain cementing its claim over the Irish territory of the six counties of Northern Ireland," Harnden said.

Meanwhile "the Protestants will see the queen's visit as ratification of a state that they believe is constitutionally hostile to any British presence in Ireland. So on both sides there'll be qualms."

Gerry Adams, a pivotal figure in Northern Irish history as long-time leader of Sinn Fein, the IRA's political arm, said the queen's visit was "premature." Compared with incendiary language he had used in the past, Adams' comment speaks volumes, Harnden said.

For instance, "when the queen's cousin Lord Mountbatten was killed by the IRA in 1979, (Adams) said it was an execution that was fully justified."

"When I was there the IRA cease-fire had collapsed, there was violence and killings, no surrender, no compromise. In those days there was no likelihood of the queen ever visiting."

Vicksburg, Mississippi, waits for record river levels

Read more about this story from CNN affiliates WWL, WGNO and KALB. Are you there? Share your photos and videos from the scene, but please stay safe.

Vicksburg, Mississippi (CNN) -- Nervous anticipation. That is the feeling permeating through Vicksburg, Mississippi, as it awaits a historic flood crest to wash through the area later this week.

The Mississippi River, already at record levels, is forecast to peak early Thursday more than a foot over the record set in the city in 1927.

As the waters rise, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is keeping a watchful eye on the Yazoo Backwater Levee.

"Once we hit the crest on the 19th, it's not over," Henry Dulaney with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers told CNN affiliate WLBT-TV. "Water is going to be on the levee for another month. And so everything that we've told people, they need to be wary of that for another month, month and a half."

The persistent danger means days off are canceled for Vicksburg police officers.

"We're now finding ourselves having to blanket this city with an added number of officers," Chief Walter Armstrong told WLBT. "Don't walk through it, don't drive through it, and we encourage parents to not allow their children play near or around the floodwaters."

Downstream in Vidalia, Louisiana, residents and officials tried to counter flooding from the rising Mississippi by stacking large containers two- and three-high around riverfront properties.
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The U.S. Coast Guard reopened a section of the river there Tuesday that it had closed to prevent damage to levees from passing barges.

But officials said only one tow vessel at a time will be allowed to pass through the 15-mile area near Vidalia and Natchez, Mississippi. And they warned they could shut the waterway again if water levels rise to 62.5 feet.

"We will continue to closely monitor transits through the area to ensure the safety of the communities, as well as the towing vessels and their crews," Coast Guard Capt. Michael Gardiner said in a statement.

Vidalia Mayor Hyram Copeland told CNN's "John King USA" the prospect of flooding was a devastating threat in a city that relies on its Mississippi River waterfront and now faces the prospect of extensive infrastructure repairs.

"It's a lifeline of our communities. ... Sometimes it tells you, 'Hey, you think you have me controlled. Let me show you. ... Hopefully, one of these days we can control it a little bit more than we have, but it's the mighty Mississippi," he said.

The river drew to within a finger's length of the highest level recorded at Greenville, Mississippi, Tuesday as the flood continued to slink its way to the Gulf of Mexico.

Levees along the length of the river appeared to be holding and water diverted through spillways seemed to be rising more slowly than expected, but Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal warned residents there's plenty that could go wrong.

"There's still an awful lot of water headed our way, and it's going to be here in many cases for weeks, not just a few days," he said.

Louisiana officials Tuesday issued advice to residents in flood-impacted areas on how to prevent snake encounters and bites.

Of the 22 species within the Morganza Spillway, three -- the copperhead, cottonmouth and canebrake rattler -- are venomous.

Officials said the spillway gates are likely to be open for weeks, and it will be weeks before the river falls below flood stage and those who have evacuated can safely return.

In Vidalia, two medical facilities, a hotel and the city's conference and convention center are being protected by temporary flood control barriers, said city spokeswoman Sheri Rabb.

Despite the canceling of convention meetings for May and June, people in the coastal city are going about their daily routine, Rabb said.

"We're big-time open for business," she said.

Sandbags are keeping water out of the convention center, Rabb said Tuesday afternoon, but water covers parking lots and other portions of the riverfront. "We hope to reopen by the end of June."

The city's water supply is thought to be in good shape.

The U.S. Coast Guard reported river closures Tuesday near Berwick and Morgan City, Louisiana, and at Bayou Chene, where workers submerged a barge to divert floodwaters into wetlands and away from populated areas.

In Mississippi, 4,937 people have been displaced by flooding so far, said Jeff Rent, a spokesman for the state Emergency Management Agency.

In Louisiana, more than 4,000 people had evacuated, Jindal said, citing figures compiled by parish authorities. But, he said, no shelters have been opened in the state.

By the weekend, floodwaters also are expected to peak at record levels in Natchez, Mississippi, as well as in Red River Landing and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, according to the weather service.

For the first time in its history, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has opened three floodways, one in Missouri and two in Louisiana, to ease pressure on levees along the length of the river and reduce the possibility of devastating flooding in highly populated areas.

The flood is the most significant to hit the lower Mississippi River valley since at least 1937 and has so far affected nine states: Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi.

Despite the misery and destruction, some residents in flooded areas are trying to make the best of a bad situation.

"You know I always wanted to fish off my front porch, but I never wanted to do it this way," former Poinsett County, Arkansas, Judge Doyle Hillis told CNN affiliate KAIT-TV in the community of Weona. "We've had a lot of laughs over it, but we've had a lot of sad minutes."

Hillis, who has lived in Weona for 66 years, said he would have never thought the water could get that high.

While he wasn't able to land a big catch, he said the fishing helps to keep his mind off the devastation.

"It's going to be a crying shame when the water goes down and they're actually going to see the damage they are going to have," Hillis said.

What happens after infidelity

(CNN) -- It's been said that the only people who know what goes on in a marriage are the two people who are in it, and sometimes, even they're not sure.

The news that Arnold Schwarzenegger-Maria Shriver 25-year blissfest ran afoul of the former governor's decade-old dalliance and subsequent child from said dalliance makes the pair likely headed toward an uncertain hell.

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So it was that marriage counselors across the continent sighed deeply Tuesday and said, "Welcome to our world."

"This is so very, very, very common," said Dr. Laurie Moore, a licensed marriage and family therapist from Santa Cruz, California, speaking about the number of married couples who struggle through a partner's confessed infidelity.

Dr. Steve Solomon, a La Jolla, California, therapist and author of "Intimacy After Infidelity: How to Rebuild and Affair-Proof Your Marriage," said the vast number of couples coming in to save their marriages after infidelity is the reason he wrote his book in the first place.

And it's not just because people don't like their sex lives at home.

"When people marry, they have this ideal of eternal fidelity," said Beth Hedva, a therapist and psychologist from Alberta, Canada. "A breach of that ideal can be cause for great injury, yes."

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But, Hedva said, a man or woman can love his or her spouse very much and still be capable of an affair. Such infidelity is not as uncommon as we like to pretend, she said. Its acceptability varies with cultures. Its tolerance varies in our own circle of friends.

"This is not about condemning or condoning that behavior, but what is true," said Hedva, author of "Betrayal, Trust and Forgiveness."

Source: Arnold Schwarzenegger 'realizes the terrible mistake he made'

How common is infidelity?

Go to the Internet and to something called infidelityfacts.com/infidelity-statistics.html. Right there it says that the percentage of marriages where one or both spouses admit to infidelity, either physical or emotional, is 41 percent.

"The Monogamy Myth" author Peggy Vaughan famously reported that 60 percent of men and 40 percent of women will have an affair at some point in their marriage.

Yet, according to a National Opinion Research Center study on American Sexual Behavior conducted in 2006 by the University of Chicago, researcher Tom W. Smith wrote: "There are probably more scientifically worthless 'facts' on extra-marital relations than on any other facet of human behavior."

Smith went on, excoriating everything from "studies" done in Cosmopolitan and Redbook magazines to those done by Dear Abby. "These studies typically find an extremely high level of extra-marital activity. (Pop-sexologist Shere) Hite, for example, reported that 70 percent of women married five or more years are having sex outside of their marriage."

Smith was dismayed. Scientific surveys, he wrote, indicate that it's more like 15 percent to 18 percent of married people who commit old-fashioned adultery. That may be, but everybody you talk to says nobody tells the truth on those surveys.

The truth is out there but who has it?

Who cares who has it, what should I do first if this happens to me?

Solomon, who is also co-founder of The Relationship Institute in La Jolla, California, gave this advice:

1) Don't rush to make any big decisions, especially irreversible ones.

2) Don't tell your children. Especially if they are small.

3) Take care of yourself. This will ensure the patience and calm you will need.

What will I feel?

"Marriage has many obligations," said Donna Bellafiore, a licensed clinical social worker in private practice in Delray Beach, Florida.

"Sexual fidelity is a fundamentally important part of that trust that has been broken, but the whole has been affected. Everything is questioned, then, about the marriage, if the faithfulness was not kept. What was real? Was I a fool? The impact is like a death. The grieving is like a death. Nothing was what it appeared. That is what has to be healed."

Admittedly, the couples who want to save their marriage will seek help. The ones who cannot see past the infidelity will seek attorneys.

If the decision is therapy, the one who betrayed the other should expect some fury, said Solomon, and to stand ready to take responsibility.

But, after some time, the victim should be prepared to go beyond the fury and to build toward the future.

What will we will say?

"There is usually sadness, anger, hurt, betrayal and a lack of self-esteem on the part of the one betrayed," therapist Moore said. "But there is also a lack of self-respect and self-esteem and a sense of remorse for the betrayer. Lot of work there."

Who has to be healed, exactly?

Both parties will have to take an active responsibility to say what they want, Moore said. "We ask: What do we want to create? What do we want to release? What do we want to transform?"

Post the revelations, what are our chances of staying married?

This is an opportunity for deep healing, Hedva said. In her practice, she said, one-third use the infidelity to clean their conscience and to re-engage as a couple.

Another third use it to get out of the relationship. And the last third is trying to regain their trust, and their potential is quite good.

How long will healing take?

If you work hard, expect a two-year miracle.

Finally, what should we do about Arnold and Maria?

In marriage counseling, Moore said, it helps immensely if the victimized partner realizes how imperfect they are, as well.

"When we offer ourselves up with some humility," she said, "we apportion less blame to others."