(CNN)A medical helicopter carrying at least three people crashed late Thursday in Eufaula, Oklahoma, the Federal Aviation Authority said. It was flying from Tulsa to McAlester when it went down west of Lake Eufaula, near the Canadian River. Three employees from medical air transport company EagleMed LLC were on board, according to FAA spokesman Lynn Lunsford. FAA investigators are headed to the crash scene. The McIntosh County Sheriff's Office is handling the crash for local law enforcement, but a spokeswoman said early Friday that it had no information to give out so far. Earlier this week, an Army Black Hawk helicopter crashed in waters off the Florida Panhandle. All 11 service members aboard are believed dead, an Air Force official said Thursday. The military has been working to recover the helicopter, which searchers found at the bottom of the Santa Rosa Sound near Eglin Air Force Base, as well as the bodies of all seven Marines and four Louisiana Army National Guard members who were aboard. CNN's Greg Botelho contributed to this report.

Summary: The chopper was registered to an air ambulance company . It was en route from Tulsa to McAlester .


(CNN)Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, made news this week when he told CNN's Dana Bash that he would get his health care through Obamacare. Previously, Cruz's family was covered under his wife's policy through her employer, the investment bank Goldman Sachs. But with her husband's presidential candidacy underway, Heidi Cruz has taken a leave without pay. So she has lost her Goldman Sachs health benefits. The story went viral, in part because Cruz once engineered a partial government shutdown to try to kill Obamacare. As part of his crusade, Cruz conducted a 21-hour talkathon on the Senate floor, during which he read Dr. Seuss' classic "Green Eggs and Ham." Spoiler alert: "Green Eggs and Ham" ends with the protagonist actually trying the food he thought he hated -- and liking it. Now that Cruz is likely to try Obamacare, my guess is he will have a similar experience. So, with apologies to Dr. Seuss -- who would no doubt have found a way to rhyme "President Bar" with "Obamacare" -- here is my updated version of "Green Eggs and Ham." President BarPresident BarI do not likethat President Bar . Do you likeObamacare? I do not like it,President Bar.I do not likeObamacare. Would you like ithere or there? I would not like ithere or there.I would not like itanywhere.I do not likeObamacareI do not like it,President Bar. Would you like itfor the Senate?Would you like itfor a minute? I do not like itfor the Senate.I do not like itfor a minute.I do not like ithere or there.I do not like itanywhere.I do not like Obamacare.I do not like it, President Bar. Would you try itin a pinch?Would you try itfor an inch? Not in a pinch.Not for an inch.Not in the Senate.Not for a minute.I would not like it here or there.I would not like it anywhere.I will not use Obamacare.I do not like it, President Bar. Would you? Could you?Back in Texas?Try it! Try it!In your Lexus. I would notcould notback in Texas. You may like it,You will see.It comes witha subsidy. I don't want a subsidyNot in a car! You let me be.I do not like it back in Texas.I do not like it in my Lexus.I do not like in the Senate.I do not like it for a minute.I do not like it here or there.I do not like it anywhere.I do not like Obamacare.I do not like it President Bar. Exchange! Exchange!Exchange! Exchange!Could you, would youon an exchange? No damn exchange! No subsidy!Not in a car, Bar! Let me be!I do not like it back in Texas.I do not like it in my Lexus.I do not like in the Senate.I do not like it for a minute.I do not like it here or there.I do not like it anywhere.I do not like Obamacare.I do not like it President Bar. Say! On CNN?Here on CNN!Would you, could you, on CNN? I would not, could not,on CNN. Would you, could you,in Des Moines? I would not, could not, in Des Moines.I simply could not bear to join.Not on CNN. Not back in

Summary: Paul Begala notes (in verse) Ted Cruz's apparent change of heart on Obamacare, which he slammed but has now signed up for . He says Cruz's politics will demand he continue to advocate for law's repeal despite benefits he receives from its coverage .


Concord, New Hampshire (CNN)Scott Walker brought his Midwestern swagger to New Hampshire on Saturday, leading a crowd of activists to cheers as he sought to draw a contrast to his top-tier rival in the unofficial GOP presidential race, Jeb Bush. The Wisconsin governor, amid charges from critics that he's a flip-flopper, also acknowledged that he had changed positions on immigration reform but argued that he's remained consistent in everything else. Walker was met with great fanfare at his only open event during his two-day stop to the first-in-the-nation primary state. Activists gathered at Concord High School for a training event that was hosted by the New Hampshire GOP and headlined by Walker's appearance. Jeb Bush makes 2016 debut in New Hampshire . The contrasts made against Bush were subtle, but Walker emphasized his modest roots as the son of a preacher and reiterated his penchant for shopping at Kohl's while armed with coupons. "I actually stopped by Kohl's and bought this sweater in the rack where it's 70% off," he said, pointing to the sweater he was wearing. "And we paid one dollar for it with our Kohl's Cash ... so, living the high life," he added. Walker has used his humble beginnings and department-store bona fides in Iowa as well, a strategy aimed to cement the fact that he didn't grow up with "fame and fortune," as he frequently says. On Saturday, he also put on a cap handed to him by an audience member with the logo for Gun Owners of New Hampshire. "You've got a first-rate record on the Second Amendment; we hope you'll wear the hat often and keep up the good work," the man said. Walker wore it for the rest of his time on stage. (While he may have donned the cap-and-sweater look Saturday afternoon, he was set to sport a tux later that night for his speaking appearance at the Gridiron Club's annual white-tie dinner in Washington, D.C. President Barack Obama was also scheduled to speak at the dinner.) Answering a question from another audience member, Walker laid down his staunch opposition to Common Core, a set of testing standards that Bush defended as usual during his visit to New Hampshire on Friday. Walker also stood against re-authorizing the No Child Left Behind Act, another topic on which the two Republicans disagree. Those comments came after Walker argued, in an interview with the Tampa Bay Times on Friday, that Bush would represent a step towards the past, rather than the future. "We had Bob Dole, John McCain, Mitt Romney. If it's just whoever's next up, that hasn't worked so well for the Republican Party in the past," he said. "Jeb's a good man. You're not going to hear me speak ill will of Jeb...I just think voters are going to look at this and say, 'If we're running against Hillary Clinton, we'll need a name from the future -- not a name from the past -- to win.' " In his remarks Saturday, Walker also hit the President over foreign policy and took a shot

Summary: The Wisconsin governor is on a two-day stop in the first-in-the-nation primary state . Walker emphasizes his modest roots, talks of shopping with coupons .


(CNN)During a conversation with a professor at an Ivy League college, a mother nudges her daughter to share how she's president of her school's "survivors-of-bulimia" group. Hoping to impress the Yale admissions committee, a student writes an essay about the time she was so engrossed in a discussion with a French teacher she admired that she urinated on herself instead of interrupting the teacher or leaving the room. Looking to give their child an edge, parents hire a college admissions consultant when their child is in the eighth grade and know the total tab will be roughly $50,000. How I wish I could report that those three nuggets were pure fiction, morsels from my imagination for a great storyline for a novel or television series. But sadly, they are all-too-real examples included in a provocative new book "Where You Go Is Not Who You'll Be: An Antidote to the College Admissions Mania" by award-winning New York Times op-ed columnist and bestselling author Frank Bruni. Those examples, Bruni said, should really be "wake-up calls" for any parents or students currently engaged in, or one day likely to be consumed by, the "What school will I get into?" annual game. "This says that we are attaching a level of importance to this that is just completely bonkers," Bruni said during a recent interview. Student goes 8 for 8 in Ivy League college admissions . For many families in the United States, the challenge isn't getting into the right college. It is being able to afford the school of their choice, or any school for that matter. But for many middle- and upper-income families, the college admissions process is as frenzied as ever with the belief that one school can make or break a child's future. I had to ask Bruni, whom I met during my time covering presidential politics, how exactly college admissions became so insanely intense and ridiculously competitive. We both laughed that the process was definitely not nearly as manic or as charged when we both went to college in the '80s. Bruni points to a number of factors all mixed together, creating "this kind of perfect storm of just absolute fixation, panic, etc." about where kids are going to go to school, whether it's exclusive enough and whether they've "breached the inner sanctum." There's the economic pessimism over the past decade, combined with a widening chasm between the haves and have-nots, he said. "I think all of that has made parents feel anxious on behalf of their kids and has made them feel like their kids have to have anything that might be a leg up, and if an elite school is a leg up, well, then dammit, let's get them that." Adding to the dangerous brew, says Bruni, is the "whole test prep and college coaching industry." Yes, it has become an industry, with parents and students willing to pay thousands of dollars to consultants for an extra edge. That "industry" didn't exist just three decades ago when Frank and I were applying. 5 ways community colleges are fixing higher

Summary: A new book says that where you go to college does not determine who you will be . Author Frank Bruni blames the economy and colleges for increasing the stakes for admission . Of the top 10 Fortune 500 CEOs in 2014, only one went to an Ivy League school .


(CNN)Ben Carson suggested to CNN on Wednesday that prisons can turn straight people gay. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee called being gay a lifestyle choice, like drinking alcohol. I guess the next thing these two presumed 2016 presidential hopefuls will tell America is being black is a choice, too. Like it or not, it's no wonder Jeb Bush is emerging as the Republican Party's 2016 frontrunner. Of course, there is that awkward little name thing, something he seems fully aware of -- despite only being in the exploratory phase of a potential campaign, Jeb has already declared he's not just another Bush. "A lot of people know my dad, they know my brother. As in everybody's family, we're all a little different," he reportedly told a crowd in Las Vegas this week. And he seems to keep trying to distance himself from his family. "Do you have brothers and sisters? Are you exactly the same?" he insisted. Yet Jeb is banking hard on the same vault of donors and operatives his father George H. W Bush and his brother George W. Bush used in their presidential campaigns. He's already raising lots of money, asking donors recently not to give more than a still eye-popping $1 million to his super PAC. "They didn't need to be persuaded," Howard Leach, a Republican fundraiser for Jeb, told the Washington Post. So, what exactly is in a name like Bush? Apparently, a whole lot of cash, which helps win presidential nominations and elections. And if Jeb wins the nomination in 2016, it will likely be less "joyfully," as he promised last year, than ruthlessly. After all, we're still more than 18 months from the election and Jeb's locking in many of the same kinds of consultants that worked with his brother and father. "Those who hold out can sense a distinct chill," noted a recent New York Times article. Jeb's campaign is seeking to hire "donors, advisors and operatives," wrote the Times, with "deep connections to the Bush family's past presidential campaigns and administrations." Those same family members from whom Jeb swears he's different? And if consultants don't abide by Jeb's rules of loyalty and decide to work with other 2016 Republican aspirants? "Swift rebuke follows," the Times notes, pointing to the example of IMGE, a technology company that reportedly fell out of favor with the Bush campaign after one of the firm's founders indicated IMGE was hoping not to be tied to a single candidate. None of this is to suggest that Jeb Bush doesn't have appeal as a candidate -- I like some of the things he did as Florida governor, like his record of cutting $19 billion in taxes and supporting school choice programs. (Although I'm not a fan of his willingness to grant illegal immigrants amnesty in any shape, fashion or form.) He seems more equipped to lead America and get things done than some others in the already cramped horse race like New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who seems more concerned with telling people off than sounding presidential. Then there's Rick

Summary: Crystal Wright: Jeb Bush emerging as GOP's 2016 frontrunner . Previous Bush playbooks won't work this time, she says .


Sanaa, Yemen (CNN)Oversized military trucks painted in desert beige hauled tanks in the same camouflage color down a dark highway late Saturday past glowing billboards in the Saudi Arabian town of Jazan. With the border with Yemen little more than 20 miles away, the trucks captured on a video distributed by the news agency Reuters also carried a message: Suggestions of a ground incursion into Yemen, which is in the throes of a Houthi rebel uprising, may be more than just talk. Saudi Arabia and Egypt have both spoken about the possibility of putting boots on the ground before. And on Saturday, Yemeni Foreign Minister Riyadh Yaseen said he expected coalition troops to be in Yemen within days. Saudi leaders have said that if troops do go in, they won't leave until they have degraded the Houthis' ability to do battle, CNN's Ian Lee reported. The Houthis are apt guerrillas. A fight on the ground could prove bloody and lengthy. Politically, the situation appears to be heating up. Ahmed Ali Abdullah Saleh, the son of former Yemen President Ali Abdullah Saleh, has been removed from his post as ambassador to United Arab Emirates, according to two aides of the nation's current President, Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi. Hadi fled the country in February amid the Houthi uprising. He went to Aden and declared that he remained the country's leader. Also on Sunday, pro-Hadi fighters took over Aden's airport, according to security officials in Aden, but that airport hasn't been operational for weeks. Yemen's ex-president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, a Shiite, still holds influence over large parts of the Yemeni army, and his troops are also fighting the government. In a taped speech played on Yemen Today TV on Friday, he called for the airstrikes to stop and offered in return not to run for president in the next elections. The Saudi-led coalition fighting the Shiite Houthis, who deposed the Yemeni government and seized territory in a series of offensives, began its military action last week. It answered Hadi's call for intervention with an unrelenting air campaign called "Decisive Storm." Hadi slipped out of Yemen last week and has gone to the resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, to attend the Arab League summit, where he is rallying support with leaders of member nations for operation Determination Storm. Support is already broad. The coalition nations participating in the bombardments make up about a third of the league's membership. On Saturday, Hadi called the Houthis out: "You violated the sovereignty (of Yemen), and you bear the responsibility for what happened and what is going to happen." Dozens have died from the coalition bombardment. Houthi commanders put the death toll at 48. Most of the dead are civilians, they said. Airstrikes have hit Houthi militant groups, smashed their big air defense guns and crumbled key infrastructure that links major towns with the capital, Sanaa, a Saudi official has said. The coalition has destroyed Yemeni army weapons caches and military facilities. Saudi naval special forces have also rescued dozens of diplomats, the official said. And many U.N. representatives

Summary: Son of former president removed from post as ambassador to United Arab Emirates . Reuters video shows trucks carrying tanks in Saudi Arabia near Yemen border . Yemen's foreign minister says he expects coalition troops to arrive within days .


(CNN)The National Institutes of Health said Thursday that it plans to admit to its Maryland hospital an American health care worker with Ebola. The person was volunteering at an Ebola treatment center in Sierra Leone, and will be flown back to the United States on a chartered aircraft and admitted Friday, the NIH said. No other details were immediately available. The patient will be the second with Ebola admitted to the NIH hospital. Nina Pham, a nurse at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas, was admitted to NIH in October after she contracted the disease while treating Liberian national Thomas Eric Duncan. Pham recovered and was released free of disease. Duncan died. Nurse who contracted Ebola sues hospital company . NIH is one of only four hospitals in the United States that have biocontainment units and has been practicing for years to treat a highly infectious disease such as Ebola. More than 10,000 people have died in the Ebola outbreak, according to the latest figures from the World Health Organization, mostly in the countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Ebola is spread by direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person. CNN's Athena Jones contributed to this report.

Summary: American being flown from Africa to Maryland hospital; to arrive Friday . NIH has one of only four U.S. hospital biocontainment units .


(CNN)The Iran nuclear negotiations in Lausanne, Switzerland, reportedly have made substantive progress, inching closer toward a provisional agreement between the P5+1 and Iran. While the talks continued to unfold this week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu restated his concern about an agreement with Iran, vowing "to continue to act against any threat." If an agreement is reached, the international spotlight will turn to Israel, in anticipation of its possible reaction. Israeli Defense Minister Moshe "Bogy" Yaalon stated that a deal is "a tragedy for the whole world." The question is, however, what can Israel really do once a deal is signed? In recent days, notable conservatives in the United States have attacked President Barack Obama's handling of the negotiations with Iran, arguing that a bad deal will force Israel's hand, leaving it with no choice but to attack Iranian targets. But is this a realistic conclusion? Israel's stated "all options are on the table" policy toward Iran has been in place for years and is based on the assumption that if a diplomatic solution to the nuclear problem cannot be reached or is not to its liking, Israel can decide to opt for a military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities. Thirty-four years after the successful Israeli bombing of the Osirak nuclear facility in Iraq, military experts have little doubt that the Israeli Air Force today is capable of reaching Iranian airspace and bombing targets above and below ground. Therefore, the question is not one of military capability but more about domestic political and geopolitical strategy. With an Iran deal in place, the Israeli leadership may face stern objections from the heads of the Israeli defense establishment, which will make it difficult but not impossible to take such a decision. Nevertheless, if it remains keen on pursuing a military option, the Israeli leadership will have to consider the following set of consequences that will likely result from such a decision: . •A successful military strike on Iranian installations may degrade Iran's nuclear program, setting it back several years, but it would not completely eliminate Iran's nuclear capabilities. Iran would likely be able to resume activity in new facilities soon after such an attack, with more international legitimacy to embark on a military nuclear program, in the face of future military challenges to its sovereignty and stability. A deal between the P5+1 (the United States, China, France, Russia, United Kingdom and Germany) and Iran is expected to include a 10-year (or more) "sunset provision" that is much longer than the period it will take Iran to get its program back on track in case of an Israeli attack. •A military attack against Iran after a deal is signed would put Israel on a collision course with the P5+ 1, who were negotiating the contours of a deal with Iran, as well as with other members of the international community. Bilateral ties and cooperation with member states of the P5+1 may suffer, as well as intelligence sharing between the relevant intelligence agencies. In addition, countries are likely to seek ways to "punish" Israel for its

Summary: Dan Arbell: Israel's leaders can criticize a potential deal with Iran on its nuclear program . He says a military option could set back Iran's nuclear program but would be too costly politically and diplomatically .


(CNN)U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Saturday that "we need to close ... gaps" with Iran in talks about its nuclear program, adding that those negotiating with Iranian officials "are deeply committed to ensuring that Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon." Iran faces a March 24 deadline to reach a deal about its nuclear program. Several interim agreements have been made in recent months, though a long-term pact so far has been elusive. Speaking in Paris alongside French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, Kerry said progress has been made "but there remain gaps, divergences." He acknowledged "the days are ticking by," but that doesn't mean there's an urgent rush to reach an agreement. "We have to get the right deal," the top U.S. diplomat said. Kerry said one thing all members of the P5+1 group -- which consists of the United States, Russia, China, the United Kingdom and France, plus Germany -- agree on is that it's imperative Iran doesn't develop nuclear arms. Iranian minister: Some consider peace an 'existential threat' Officials in Tehran have publicly insisted they want a nuclear program for energy purposes, not to create atomic weaponry. "We will find out whether or not ... Iran's prepared to take the steps to answer the questions that the world has a right to get answers to," Kerry said.

Summary: Iran faces a March 24 deadline to reach a deal with world powers on its nuclear program . U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry: "We have to get the right deal"


(CNN)I met Kelly Gissendaner in January 2010 in a nondescript classroom at Metro State Prison for Women in Atlanta. She arrived for class beaming with excitement about the journey she was about to begin -- participation in a yearlong academic theology program sponsored jointly by four Atlanta seminaries. Since she has been sentenced to the death penalty and lives in solitary confinement, Kelly was particularly eager to share community with others, if only one morning a week. And she was grateful for the opportunity to explore the Bible and theology in a rigorous manner that would nurture and deepen her devotional life. That image of her on the first day of class remains vivid to me because it captures the core of who Kelly is — who she has become: someone full of contagious joy and gratitude, open to others and to new experiences for growth and ministry. Kelly's process of transformation began shortly after she arrived in prison following her conviction for murder in the death of her husband, Doug Gissendaner. A pastor began visiting her and initiated a series of difficult, yet compassionate, conversations that urged her toward courageous self-reflection. This same pastor has been visiting Kelly for almost 16 years. Her commitment to Kelly, along with that of the prison chaplain and chaplaincy interns, provided steady, ongoing love that fostered change. So by the time I met Kelly in 2010 she had already undergone a significant transformation. She was, in the words of the Apostle Paul, a "new creation" (2 Cor. 5:17). In the theology program, Kelly found her own voice and came to see that her reflections on Christian faith could be a gift to the wider church "on the outside," as well as in prison. By studying historical and contemporary Christian thinkers, Kelly became part of the conversations that make the Christian tradition dynamic. She asked honest questions about her relationship to God, others and the world. She read scripture and grappled with centuries-old theological questions. She discovered her authentic theological voice in the midst of this work. "From the start of the theology class I felt this hunger," she said in her 2011 graduation speech. "I became so hungry for theology, and what all the classes had to offer; you could call me a glutton." One of the great joys of being a theology professor is getting to know students holistically, not only as thinkers, but also as human beings wrestling with some of life's most urgent questions. My relationship with Kelly had this quality from the start. But it deepened six months into the year when a new warden arrived at the prison. In her graduation speech, Kelly described this moment: . "There came a time when ... my worst fears became my reality -- I was pulled from the courses. I was taken from my theological community. Being pulled from the program devastated me as badly as if someone had just told me one of my appeals had been turned down. "Since I couldn't go to the theology class ... the instructors came to

Summary: The execution of Kelly Gissendaner was postponed due to concerns over injection drugs . McBride: In her time on death row, Gissendaner has discovered hope through theology .


(CNN)Modern women are suffering from an energy crisis. Competing in the workplace, caring for aging parents and trying teenagers, and busier than ever, we use anything we can to duct-tape our lives and ourselves together: comfort foods, alcohol, energy drinks, and an expanding array of antidepressants, anti-anxiety meds, painkillers and amphetamines. All in an effort to maintain our unnatural pace. Welcome to the increasingly altered states of America. Americans are about 5% of the world's population, yet we take half its pills, and 80% of its painkillers.This over-medication has led to record numbers of opiate overdoses and also to a growing number of women taking antidepressants -- one out of four and counting, according to a report issued by the pharmacy benefit manager, Medco. This is creating a "new normal," bringing closer the tipping point for when other women will seek chemical assistance. Like steroids in baseball, when everyone starts doing it, the players who don't are at a disadvantage. The overuse of psychiatric medication is called cosmetic psychopharmacology, and it's like cosmetic surgery: as more women get breast implants, the rest of us feel flat chested. But the new normal isn't normal at all. Certain antidepressants called SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) create artificially stable and elevated levels of serotonin, the brain chemical that helps regulate mood, which can dampen empathy and emotional reactivity, while higher doses can engender apathy. Women are naturally moody. Our moods change, and this emotional fluidity helps us to be adaptable and resilient. We are dynamic and responsive to our environment. There is a biological advantage to this sensitivity; we need to know what our nonverbal babies need, what our mates are thinking and to sense danger in our surroundings. Moodiness -- being sensitive, caring deeply and occasionally being acutely dissatisfied -- is actually a natural source of power. It helps to ensure not only our survival, but that of our offspring. Women's emotionality is a sign of health, not disease, and it is our single biggest psychological asset. Yet many of us are being convinced to medicate it away. The pharmaceutical industry spends billions in payments to physicians and direct to consumer advertising. Nine out of 10 pharmaceutical companies spend less on research and development than marketing.Steady doses of antidepressant advertising aimed at women advance the question from "Should I take an antidepressant?" to "Which one should I take?" These medications can have more far-reaching effects than most people realize, blunting empathy, passion, and sensitivity. SSRIs dampen sexual desire and response, making it difficult to climax and interfering with the evaluation of potential romantic partners. SSRIs also make it hard to cry, an important signal to ourselves and those around us that something is very wrong. Tears, and the emotions beneath them, can offer a profound lesson in how people's behavior affects others. We cry when we're touched by the poignancy of humanity, or when we're angry, or frustrated by injustice. And yet, women apologize for their tears, especially in the workplace, where we've been socialized to shut down expressed emotion; it interferes with our

Summary: Julie Holland: American women taking too many anti-depressants, blunting their valuable emotional reactivity, creating new normal . She says anti-depressants dampen moodiness, but it's healthy, useful for women to be moody. Changing natural state damages society .


(CNN)One of the most pernicious phrases in the debate over how to counter extremist use of social media is "whack-a-mole." In national security circles, many believe that suspending social media accounts used by violent extremists is a pointless endeavor. They argue that, as in the children's arcade game "Whac-a-Mole," suspending accounts is a fruitless endeavor because, they claim, new accounts are created for every account that is suspended. To examine this assumption, technologist Jonathon Morgan and I collected data on millions of Twitter accounts, including tens of thousands used by ISIS supporters, and found substantial evidence to the contrary. In September 2014, Twitter began to crack down on ISIS supporters who used its platform, suspending tens of thousands of accounts over the course of several months. While many users did create new accounts during the first month of the crackdown, the number of new accounts plunged after September, even though suspensions increased. Twitter has indicated that its suspensions fell at least at the high end of our estimated figure, possibly even higher still. The result is that suspensions are outpacing the number of new accounts successfully created, possibly by a wide margin. The size of ISIS's support network on Twitter is shrinking as a result. Additionally, we found that the suspensions targeted some of the most active and effective users in the network, the professional activists who empowered ISIS to broadcast its propaganda to unsuspecting audiences by spamming hashtags such as #WorldCup and #CakeBoss. Not only has ISIS suffered a blow to its ability to spam others, its supporters on Twitter are so weakened that they are now hoist by their own petard. The hashtag that ISIS uses to promote its own messages has been taken over by opposing spammers, trolls and activists, who frequently tweet five times as much anti-ISIS content as ISIS can muster on any given day. ISIS content continues to be available online, of course. The number of suspensions is not sufficient to completely deny them the use of Twitter. But their audience is shrinking and their ability to game Twitter with manipulative tactics such as auto-tweeting "bots" has been significantly diminished. An estimated 10% of tweets sent by ISIS supporters are directed at rebuilding their social networks rather than disseminating propaganda, and that doesn't account for the additional impact of time lost to the process of creating new accounts and waiting for followers to find them. These are worthy goals, and they detract from ISIS's ability to accomplish its online strategy of intimidation, provocation and recruitment, which is discussed at more length in my new book with Jessica Stern, ISIS: The State of Terror. ISIS users call the suspensions "devastating" and their fury provides evidence that suspensions hit them where it hurts. But that doesn't mean suspensions are ineffective, any more than a cold day outside invalidates decades of temperature trends that show the impact of climate change. The view outside your window, especially if you are an analyst or journalist following a couple hundred terrorist accounts, will not always accurately reflect an online climate where tens

Summary: Many argue that suspending social media accounts used by violent extremists is a pointless endeavor . Data shows size of ISIS's support network on Twitter is shrinking as a result of crackdown .


(CNN)As a manager at several prominent media outlets, Katharine Zaleski did not understand the demands on working moms and often belittled their work ethic. Then she became a mom, and everything changed. In a widely shared piece this week for Fortune.com, the journalist-turned-startup executive apologizes for disparaging the mothers she worked with in her 20s at the Huffington Post and Washington Post. Zaleski said she committed multiple "infractions," against these women, including scheduling late-afternoon meetings or happy hours without considering that mothers with after-work responsibilities wouldn't be able to attend. She even didn't disagree "when another female editor said we should hurry up and fire another woman before she 'got pregnant.' " Now a mother to a young daughter, Zaleski said she was wrong to undervalue mothers' contributions by counting hours logged in the office and not the actual work done. "I wish I had known five years ago, as a young, childless manager, that mothers are the people you need on your team," she wrote. "There's a saying that 'if you want something done then ask a busy person to do it.' That's exactly why I like working with mothers now." Zaleski's piece has been shared more than 1,000 times and has been hailed on social media by many commenters who applaud her for seeing the error of her ways. "Your message is so important and it's about time it was addressed," said Heather Bouvier on Twitter. "THANK YOU for writing this. There are so many people like your then-childless 28-year-old self who need to read it. Seriously, thank you from the bottom of my heart," wrote Alice Gomstyn on Facebook. Since the essay was published Tuesday, Zaleski told CNN she's received more than 2,000 emails from readers who admit they've committed similar infractions in the workplace. "I'm so motivated and thrilled," she said. "I couldn't be more psyched for the responses." But not all the responses have been positive. Some people refuse to accept Zaleski's apology and accuse her of borrowing from similar apologetic essays by other new moms. "This woman has basically stolen another woman's post about her views on mothers with children in the workforce for her own personal gain!!," wrote one commenter on Zaleski's essay. Others accuse Zaleski of writing the essay just to promote the new company she co-founded, Power to Fly, an online platform that matches women with technical skills to freelance projects they can do from anywhere. "This woman & her shameless self-promoting article disgust me. No awareness. No integrity," Kitten Holiday said on Twitter. Zaleski said that notion is "just silly," and she's taken a huge risk leaving a stable job to start a company that is a part of the solution. Zaleski said her company, which launched in August, enables women to work from home so that they can "be valued for their productivity and not time spent sitting in an office or at a bar bonding afterwards." But some critics say encouraging mothers to work from home only perpetuates a problem. "I like this article a lot, but wish the solution

Summary: Katharine Zaleski said she judged working moms before she became one . Her online essay has sparked widespread discussion on social media . Zaleski co-founded Power to Fly, which matches stay-at-home moms with technical jobs .


(CNN)Cleveland's mayor apologized Monday for the city's "poor use of words and our insensitivity" in the Tamir Rice case. Mayor Frank Jackson told reporters the city was apologizing to the Rice family and the people of Cleveland for the wording of a legal filing last week, which said the death of Tamir, a 12-year-old who was shot by police in November, was the sixth-grader's own fault. "We did something that ... is hurtful to the family, that is disrespectful to them and the victim as well as the city of Cleveland," he said. The wording in the legal filing, Jackson said, was standard language used in legal defense, and the insensitivity "was not intended." But now, he said, the city will be rewording its filing -- a decision he pushed for as soon as he found out about it. "What I care about right now is that the family of Tamir Rice and the people of the city of Cleveland understand and realize that we are sorry for what we have done and that we apologize to them," Jackson said. Benjamin Crump, an attorney for the Rice family, said the mayor's apology didn't go far enough. "I don't want him just to apologize for the poor word use and the grammatical phrases," Crump told CNN's "The Lead with Jake Tapper" on Monday. "I want him to apologize for the death of this 12-year-old child, one of his citizens, at the hands of what we believe were police officers who were improperly trained." Cleveland Police Officer Timothy Loehmann fired the fatal shots at Tamir in November within two seconds of arriving outside a recreation center where the 12-year-old was playing with a pellet gun. "They never even gave him a chance," Tamir's mother, Samaria Rice, told CNN's "Erin Burnett OutFront." The whole world has seen the same video like I've seen, and I'm sure the whole world is saying, 'You guys never gave him a chance.' With that being said, it can never be justified." Cleveland authorities have repeatedly said that Loehmann mistook Tamir's fake gun for a real one. Cuyahoga County's medical examiner has ruled the death a homicide but has issued no determination as to whether the events that caused the boy's death constitute a crime. In its 41-page response to the family's lawsuit filed Friday, the city says that Tamir's injuries "were directly and proximately caused by the failure of Plaintiffs' decedent to exercise due care to avoid injury." The response further says that "Plaintiffs' decedent's injuries, losses, and damages complained of, were directly and proximately caused by the acts of Plaintiffs' decedent, not this Defendant." Another attorney for the Rice family has said the city's response to the lawsuit last week was indicative of well-documented problems within the Cleveland Police Department. "The Rice family maintains that Tamir was shot and killed unnecessarily by Cleveland police officers," Rice family co-counsel Walter Madison said in a statement. "Their tactics that preceded his death and the subsequent victim blaming are examples of the institutionalized behavior that has beset the Cleveland Police Department.

Summary: Tamir Rice's mother: "They never even gave him a chance" A lawyer for Tamir Rice's family says the mayor's apology doesn't go far enough . 12-year-old Rice was shot dead by police in November while playing with a pellet gun .


(CNN)A 20-year-old man from the St. Louis area has been arrested in connection with the shooting of two police officers during last week's protests in Ferguson, Missouri, a prosecutor said Sunday. Jeffrey Williams was arrested late Saturday, and he has been charged with two counts of first-degree assault, a count of firing a weapon from a vehicle and three counts of armed criminal activity, St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Bob McCulloch said at a news conference in Clayton. "The demonstrations were pretty much over (when the officers were shot). People were leaving, and that's when this happened," he said, describing Williams as a demonstrator who had taken part in protests on numerous occasions. At the time of his arrest, Williams was on probation for receiving stolen property, and McCulloch said he believed Williams had an outstanding warrant after not reporting to his probation officer for several months. The prosecutor repeatedly thanked the public for the information that led to the arrest. He also said that, because of the public's assistance in the case, police were able to serve a search warrant on Williams' residence where they seized a .40-caliber handgun, "which has been tied to the shell casings that were recovered" at the scene of the shooting. Williams is being held on a cash-only $300,000 bond, McCulloch said, adding that it's possible Williams could face more charges and that others could be charged in the case. One element of the case that authorities have yet to sort out is intent, McCulloch said, adding that Williams has acknowledged firing the shots but has said he wasn't aiming at the police officers. Investigators are not sure they "buy" Williams' claim that he opened fire after a dispute with other individuals, McCulloch said, but he didn't rule it out. "It's possible he was firing at someone else," he said, urging any other witnesses with information to come forward. Bishop Derrick Robinson, an area organizer, challenged the idea that Williams was a well-known protester. "I asked him (Williams) why would he say that he was a protester because it makes us look bad -- because so many things that we've done to rebuild our community. It sets us like five steps back to say that it was a protester who did it, but he admitted to me that he'd never protested," said Robinson, who spoke to Williams on Sunday. Robinson added: "We won't allow this to distract us from our mission, and from purpose, because we will continue to fight." The shootings occurred Wednesday night. The shots rang out from a hill overlooking the city's police station shortly after midnight Wednesday, at the end of a protest against the Ferguson Police Department, St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said at the time. Officers saw "muzzle flashes ... about 125 yards away," Belmar said. "We could have buried two police officers," Belmar told reporters last week. "I feel very confident that whoever did this ... came there for whatever nefarious reason that it was." Public donations poured in to be used toward a reward to find

Summary: Jeffrey Williams, 20, is charged with two counts of first-degree assault, prosecutor says . Prosecutor thanks public for leading police to .40-caliber allegedly used in shooting . Officers shot after protests in Ferguson; neither officer from Ferguson Police Department .


(CNN)Lindsey Vonn may have missed out on gold at last month's world championships, but the American skier has set her sights on end-of-season glory after claiming a record-extending 65th World Cup win on Sunday. Vonn's victory in the super-G event at Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Germany gave her the outright lead in the speed discipline ahead of this month's finals in France. Having finished seventh in Saturday's downhill, the 30-year-old rebounded by coming home 0.2 seconds ahead of overall World Cup leader Tina Maze, whose coach set up the course. It put Vonn eight points ahead of super-G world champion Anna Fenninger, who placed third to give back the 20 points she'd earned over Maze the day before -- when their positions were reversed. "I think it was set probably against Anna," said Vonn, who took bronze behind Maze at last month's world championships in Colorado. "That was a wise choice by Tina's coach. But it also really suited me and I liked it." "It's going to be a close fight in downhill and super-G, so I will really have to ski my best at the finals in Meribel. Hopefully I can get two titles," added Vonn, who is 35 points ahead of Fenninger in the downhill standings. But Vonn is well off the pace in the fight for the overall crown -- which she last won in 2012, her fourth success -- in third place almost 200 points behind the Austrian. Maze is another 44 points ahead of Fenninger, with just two slalom events in Sweden next week before the March 16-22 finale. "Of course it's a great result but I prefer to win," the Slovenian said. "Lindsey was simply better today and she deserves this win. "My whole team stands behind me and supports me and I am really thankful to them. Valerio did a great job setting the course. It was a fast and nice course set with not too many turns." Fenninger, who also won the world giant slalom title at Beaver Creek, said she will focus on her strengths after claiming a 12th podium this season. "It was a fast super-G and that's maybe not what I am the best at," said the 25-year-old. "Overall it's been a good weekend. Honestly I thought Tina was going to be better than me in the downhill and that I would catch up in the super-G. It turned out to be different. "I am focusing on my strengths, this is why I am not going to race slalom next week. Now I have to train giant slalom in order to show my best skiing and maximize my chances to win the giant slalom globe." Meanwhile, Kjetil Jansrud clinched the men's Super-G title with victory on home snow in in Kvitfjell on Sunday. The Norwegian, who missed out on securing the downhill crystal globe when he finished seventh on Saturday, opened up an unassailable 123-point lead over Italian Dominik Paris. "This is the first globe of my career," said the 29-year-old. "It's good to not have to go into the final weekend feeling

Summary: Lindsey Vonn notches the 65th World Cup win of her skiing career . American has an eight-point lead in super-G discipline ahead of finals . Vonn bounces back after Saturday disappointment in downhill . Tina Maze and Anna Fenninger are battling for overall World Cup crown .


(CNN)With the discovery of a gray, fossilized jawbone in a remote corner of Ethiopia, a student at Arizona State University may have changed our understanding of our earliest ancestors. The partial lower jaw is the oldest known fossil evidence of the genus Homo, to which modern day humans belong, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal Science. The jawbone has been dated to 2.8 million years ago -- which predates the previously known fossils of the Homo lineage by approximately 400,000 years, according to Arizona State University. Chalachew Seyoum, a graduate student from Ethiopia, came across the fossil -- the left side of a lower jaw with five teeth -- while on a field expedition in the Afar region of eastern Ethiopia in 2013. "Honestly, it was an exciting moment," Seyoum said, according to a news release from the university. "I had good experience in field surveying and knew where potential sediments are. I climbed up a little plateau and found this specimen right on the edge of the hill." The age of the fossil means it could help fill in an important gap in our knowledge. Fossil found by fisherman may reveal new type of ancient human . It also means the Homo genus could have evolved nearly half a million years earlier than previously thought. Researchers have previously found fossil remains dating back 3 million years or more, such as the skeleton of "Lucy," the famous 3.2 million-year-old remains of the species Australopithecus afarensis. Those remains were found in 1974 not far from the site of the latest discovery. Scientists have also found fossils that are 2.3 million years old and younger, which are in the genus Homo and are closer to modern day humans. But until now there has been little fossil evidence from the 700,000 years in between -- a crucial period in the evolution from hominids like Lucy to the Homo genus. "The importance of the specimen is that it adds a data point to a period of time in our ancestry in which we have very little information," said William H. Kimbel, director of ASU's Institute of Human Origins, in the university's news release. "This is a little piece of the puzzle that opens the door to new types of questions and field investigations that we can go after to try to find additional evidence to fill in this poorly known time period." The jawbone, found in the Ledi-Geraru area of the Afar region, combines features seen in Australopithecus afarensis with those seen in later specimens of the Homo genus, according to the study. Professor Kaye Reed, of Arizona State University, said the discovery was the result of years of searching in the area. Surveying began in 2002, she said, but researchers only began to pick up fossils in the area where the jawbone was found in 2012, having realized the sediments there were old enough to yield Australopithecus afarensis specimens. "Instead, we were rewarded with a much more exciting discovery," she said. Already the team has been able to establish that this early

Summary: The jawbone was found in Ethiopia's Afar region, not far from where "Lucy" was discovered . It has been dated to 2.8 million years ago, which means it helps fill in a crucial gap in our knowledge .


(CNN)Vladimir Putin lies. Blatantly. Publicly. And, apparently, without chagrin. But a year since the annexation of Crimea, what does that mean for the West's ability to deal with him regarding Ukraine? In February 2014, "little green men" -- the Ukrainian term for professional soldiers wearing Russian combat fatigues but no identifying insignia -- seized key installations and checkpoints around Crimea. The Russian President's website reported the following exchange at a March 4, 2014, news conference: . Question: "The people who were blocking the Ukrainian army units in Crimea were wearing uniforms that strongly resembled the Russian army uniform. Were those Russian soldiers, Russian military?" Vladimir Putin: "Why don't you take a look at the post-Soviet states? There are many uniforms there that are similar. You can go to a store and buy any kind of uniform." Question: "But were they Russian soldiers or not?" Vladimir Putin: "Those were local self-defense units." Within weeks, Putin admitted they were Russian troops. At the same news conference, Putin said he saw no possibility of Crimea joining Russia and said Moscow would do nothing to "provoke" that. Two weeks later, he presided as the Russian parliament passed legislation annexing Crimea. In a documentary shown on Russian television last Sunday, Putin said he gave the order to take Crimea on February 23, 2014. So, it is clear that Putin can and does lie. But with that in mind, how should Western leaders who must deal with him actually do so? First of all, they should bear in mind Ronald Reagan's "trust but verify" dictum. Second, while Putin may play fast and loose with the truth, he appears to be a rational actor who calculates costs and benefits. The challenge for the West is to structure agreements so that it remains in his interest to observe them. Take the 2010 New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which limits U.S. and Russian strategic forces to no more than 1,550 deployed strategic warheads on 700 deployed missiles and bombers. The agreement requires data exchanges, notifications and on-site inspections. The Russians might be able to cheat a little, but not in a way that would give them a militarily significant edge without the United States having time to react. And the Kremlin has incentives to observe the treaty. If Russia violated it, the United States could relatively quickly add 1,000 strategic nuclear warheads to its deployed ballistic missile force. The U.S. government concluded last summer that Russia violated a 1987 treaty by testing a banned intermediate-range ground-launched cruise missile. As far as is publicly known, Moscow has not taken the more serious step of deploying the missile. Washington now seeks to persuade Russia to come back into full compliance and has threatened a variety of costs, including possible military countermeasures -- on top of the opprobrium of Russia's European and Asian neighbors, who would be targeted by such a missile. (It could reach little, if any, of the United States.) The costs of noncompliance for Moscow could be significant. The question now topping the agenda is whether the West can trust any

Summary: Russia annexed Crimea in March 2014 . Steven Pifer: Russia did nothing to implement the first Minsk ceasefire .


New York (CNN)A missing eighth-grade student who was found dead near his Pennsylvania home on Sunday died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to the county medical examiner. Cayman Naib, 13, vanished Wednesday after leaving his home in Newtown Township without his wallet or his phone, according to his parents. A K-9 unit located his body Sunday afternoon some 150 yards away from his home, said Mark Hopkins, chief of Greater Philadelphia Search and Rescue. Hopkins said Naib was under snow, and in a "sleeping position." Brian Razzi, chief of administration at the Delaware County Medical Examiner's Office, determined Monday that it was a suicide. Naib's parents confirmed the news on Facebook. "For those who have been following the Naib family's sad and incredibly devastating news, we have just learned from the medical examiner's office that Cayman took his own life," wrote Becky and Farid Naib. "The cause of death was a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his head." They said the gun had been taken from the home. "The police have informed us that despite being fitted with a trigger lock, the gun was still able to be fired," they said Monday. The Naibs said Cayman's suicide most likely occurred Wednesday evening, just hours after he walked out of his home upon receiving an upsetting email from his school. "Cayman left within 30 minutes after he received an email from school regarding overdue homework (we do not blame the school) and most probably did not do any preplanning," read a Thursday facebook post. "He is a good kid, and has no substance abuse or other issues, this is the first time he has ever done anything like this," the parents wrote. A search for the teen had drawn hundreds of volunteers, who traded messages and posted updates on a Facebook page called "Find Cayman." "The family would like to reiterate their profound gratitude and appreciation for all the thousands of friends, family, community, law enforcement, local, county, and federal, search and rescue, fire departments, the school communities ... and even perfect strangers who came out to volunteer, supported them with prayers and good wishes, and have loved them through this heartbreaking ordeal," read a Monday post on the site, since renamed "Celebrating Cayman." "Their only solace throughout these past few days has been the closure they have received from the community's efforts to find Cayman." CNN's Kristina Sgueglia, Dana Ford and Renee Wunderlich contributed to this report.

Summary: Missing Pennsylvania teen died from self-inflicted gunshot wound . Cayman Naib, 13, was found dead Sunday after being missing for five days .


Leicester, England (CNN)Richard III, the King found beneath a car parking lot, has been reburied in a solemn but celebratory service, 530 years after his death in battle. The remains of the medieval monarch were sensationally rediscovered beneath a blanket of tarmac in the center of Leicester in August 2012. They have been pored over by scientists at the city's university ever since, but after more than two years of legal wranglings, the bones were finally laid to rest Thursday in a coffin built by Richard III's distant relative, Michael Ibsen, whose DNA helped prove their identity. It was standing room-only at Leicester Cathedral -- which had been partially rebuilt for the occasion -- as Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby led prayers for the long-dead King, swinging incense and sprinkling holy water over the casket, before scattering it with earth from key locations marking his birth, life and death. Oscar-nominated actor Benedict Cumberbatch, a distant cousin of England's last Plantagenet King, read a poem dedicated to Richard III, written by Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy. "My bones, scripted in light, upon cold soil, a human braille. My skull, scarred by a crown, emptied of history. Describe my soul as incense, votive, vanishing; your ownthe same. Grant me the carving of my name." Queen Elizabeth, represented at the ceremony by the Countess of Wessex, sent a special message to mark the reinterment, which she hailed as "an event of great national and international significance." "Today we recognize a King who lived through turbulent times and whose Christan faith sustained him in life and death," it read. But though it bore many of the hallmarks of grief -- polished coffin, empty tomb, relatives clad in gloomy, pitch-dark suits -- this was not, the organizers insisted, a sad occasion. "This is not a funeral at which we mourn," said Professor Gordon Campbell, of the University of Leicester, welcoming the congregation to the cathedral, just yards from that famous parking lot. Instead, the aim of the service was to offer Richard III a fitting farewell, and a lasting memorial -- neither of which he was granted following his death at Bosworth in 1485. Back then, his body was slung over a horse and carried back to Leicester -- legend has it that his head struck Bow Bridge on the way -- before being put on display for three days, to prove to friends and foes alike that he really was dead, before being slung into a hastily-dug grave at the Church of the Grey Friars. Now Richard's bones, accompanied by a specially-crafted rosary, recognizing his Catholic faith, rest in a lead-lined coffin of English oak, his grave marked by a 2.3 ton block of pale Swaledale fossil limestone resting on a plinth of black Kilkenny marble carved with his name, dates, coat of arms, and his symbol: a white boar. Speaking before the commemorations, Philippa Langley, founder of the "Looking for Richard" project, said she did not expect to feel upset at the reinterment: "Richard died over 500 years ago, so I don't think there will

Summary: Remains of Richard III were sensationally rediscovered 530 years after death . Actor Benedict Cumberbatch, a distant cousin of king, reads poem at celebratory service . Historian Phillippa Langley said discovery had prompted researchers to rethink the king .


(CNN)You may not know it, but comedian Trevor Noah actually made a bit of history even before being named to succeed Jon Stewart as host of "The Daily Show." The 31-year-old South African comic has made only a few appearances on that show since popping up as a correspondent in December, but he's better known within the world of standup comedy. In 2013, Noah became the first African comedian to perform on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno." He's been on the cover of Rolling Stone in South Africa, where he's extremely popular. He's joked about being the son of a black African woman and a white Swiss man who met when interracial relationships were illegal in South Africa. "My mom would be arrested. She would be fined, and still she was like 'ooh, I don't care, I want a white man, ooh,' " he once told an audience at London's Soho Theater during his standup show "The Racist." "And my dad was also like, well, you know how the Swiss love chocolate." Why mixed-race comic was 'born a crime' Race, identity and ethnicity have figured in prominently in his act. Because of his parents' then-illegal relationship, he joked, "In the streets, my father couldn't walk with us. He would walk on the other side of the road and wave at me like a creepy pedophile. And my mom could walk with me, but every time the police went by, she would drop me. I felt like a bag of weed." Noah has said in his act that he lost touch with his father for several years because of apartheid. In 2012, he told NPR that he was fascinated by how Americans discuss race. "I got to Baltimore, and I was expecting ... because urban means built up and new, you know," he said. "So I got there, and I was, 'Whoa, it's not as urban as people told me.' ... But it's very black. I'll tell you that much." Noah told CNN's "African Voices" in 2013 that after finding success in his homeland -- where he starred on a soap opera, hosted his own radio show and was the subject of the 2012 documentary "You Laugh But It's True" -- he moved to the United States for a year to try to raise his profile. He returned to his country with new material shaped by his time spent in the States, he said. "Comedy is really getting quite popular in South Africa," Noah said. "It's moving from the bastard child of entertainment into the mainstream, which is very good. I think the reason it's doing so well is because South Africans need to laugh and South Africans want to laugh." Noah has moved to the U.S. permanently and told Newsweek, "I've always wanted to be a comedian in the world. I don't want to be labeled a South African comedian." On "The Daily Show," he debuted as a correspondent with a bit titled "Spot the Africa," which juxtaposed modern-day South Africa and the United States. What remains to be seen is

Summary: Noah is the son of a black South African woman and a white Swiss man . He's very popular in South Africa . Noah's act often focuses on race and ethnicity .


Paris (CNN)French lawmakers are weighing a ban on extremely thin models. New legislation debated in Parliament Tuesday would require modeling agencies to get medical certificates from models proving that their body mass index is at least 18. Models would also be required to undergo regular weight checks. And agencies that violate the law could face fines and even possible prison sentences. Dr. Olivier Veran, a doctor and French lawmaker who's proposing the measures, said it's time to put a stop to the practice of pressuring models to be so thin that it's dangerous for their health. "We want to combat the idea that an agency could urge a model to stop eating; for example eating cotton balls to lose their appetite, to always lose more weight," he said. Seeing models' bones as they parade down the catwalk is a troubling trend, Veran said. "We have had chief editors of prestigious magazines tell us that more and more often, they are obliged to use Photoshop, not to make the models look slimmer," he said, "but to erase the tracks of bones under the skin, to make them look bigger." Vernan's proposed amendments to a health bill would also target the dark online world of pro-anorexia websites that promote self-starvation and encourage young women to post photos of their emaciated frames. The average BMI for a woman in France is 23.2 -- the lowest average in Western Europe, according to a 2009 study from France's National Institute of Demographic Studies. In France, Veran said, 30,000-40,000 people suffer from eating disorders, mainly teenagers. Marisol Touraine, France's minister of social affairs, expressed her support for the new anti-anorexia measures in an interview with CNN affiliate BFMTV. "The approach is good," she said, adding that the government will have to examine the wording of the new legislation in further detail. Extreme cases such as that of French model Isabelle Caro have sparked calls for change for years. Caro died in 2010, three years after she posed nude in a controversial ad campaign against anorexia. Similar concerns in Spain, Italy and Israel prompted those countries to adopt laws against the use of ultra-thin models on catwalks and in advertising campaigns. Israel even has strict rules on how model's bodies are Photoshopped; any changes must be clearly marked on the photo. Some in the industry are supportive of the proposed laws, but say they don't strike at the real issue. "The fact of the matter is, fashion creatives have to think about the messaging they are promoting around body image ideals and the fact they are normalizing an unachievable physical appearance," said Caryn Franklin, a fashion commentator. Veran's legislation is set to go before the French Parliament at the end of the month for discussion. And he wants to outlaw what he calls starving models by the end of the year. "I think that by the end of 2015," he said, "we will no longer have anorexic models on the catwalk." CNN's Catherine E. Shoichet contributed to this report.

Summary: French lawmakers are considering measures setting limits for how thin models can be . "We want to combat the idea that an agency could urge a model to stop eating," lawmaker says . Spain, Italy and Israel have passed similar measures .


(CNN)Rubén García Villalpando was supposed to arrive home from work on a Friday evening in February. But he never again pulled into the driveway of the home in suburban Dallas where he lived with his wife and four children. The 31-year-old welder died that night after a police officer shot him twice in the chest. Villalpando was unarmed, but in early reports about the shooting, police said an altercation erupted after he disobeyed an officer's commands during a traffic stop. It wasn't until hours after the shooting that his wife says she got a call from police, telling her what had happened. Now, questions swirl through Marta Romero's mind. How will their children grow up without a father? Will authorities take the case seriously or toss it aside because of her husband's immigration status and the fact that the man who opened fire was a police officer, not a civilian? And what happened that night to make something so horrible happen? "If my husband had killed a police officer, he would be in jail," she said. "But since it was the opposite, will they just leave it this way? Because an officer killed a man, because he killed an illegal and nothing more? What are a human's rights then? Now an animal gets more rights than a man." Villalpando is one of three Mexican nationals killed in U.S. police shootings in the past month, sparking sharp criticism from Mexico's Foreign Ministry and a call for the U.S. Justice Department to investigate. Pressure for authorities to take a deeper look at the controversial case is also coming from north of the border. At a City Council meeting in Grapevine, Texas, last week, Romero and her children were among a group holding signs that said "Justice for Ruben" and chanting, "Hands up! Don't shoot!" -- the phrase that started as a call to action after the shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and has now become a rallying cry across the country in protests against police violence. Police said it's too soon to say exactly what happened that night. Investigators have interviewed dozens of witnesses and plan to share their findings with prosecutors. No charges have been filed. "I do not know now whether to believe in the authorities here or not," Romero said, "because if a police officer acted like this, what can another official do? I don't know. I want to trust them, because they are the ones who are taking care of us in this city. But I don't know what they can do." The case already has one piece of evidence that wasn't available to investigators looking into Brown's death: a police cruiser dash cam video. But police haven't released it to the public. "There will be more information released as the investigation continues. This additional information may shed more light on Mr. Villalpando's actions that night," police and city officials in Grapevine said last week. "We look forward to the time that the community can review the dash cam video of this incident, which we believe will

Summary: A police officer shot and killed Ruben Garcia Villalpando in a Dallas suburb . The case has drawn sharp criticism from Mexico's government, which calls for a federal investigation . Widow: "I do not know now whether to believe in the authorities here or not"


(CNN)So now we know. The Germanwings aircraft that crashed earlier this week was deliberately brought down by a co-pilot who had managed to lock himself in the cockpit as he set the plane on a course for destruction, according to officials. We all wish it weren't so, and the investigation, instead of looking at possible deficiencies of the plane, will now look to the co-pilot, who -- by all accounts -- showed no signs that this would be his horrific legacy. The irony would be rich, if it weren't so tragic. The locked door, the very mechanism put into place to protect the cockpit from unruly or dangerous passengers -- made more secure in response to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks -- was used against a pilot who, for reasons still unknown, left the cockpit. It may be too early to draw conclusive lessons from what has happened, but as this unfolds and before we begin constructing a narrative about the pilot that may be filled with rumors, innuendo and half-truths, there are structural issues to address immediately. First, we have seen that there is a real risk of pilots bringing down planes. We have built no back-up plans into the secure cockpit programs. It might be necessary to devise secure and classified entry access passwords or electronic keys that are available only to both pilots or a pilot and the lead flight attendant. No system of security should rely on a single point of entry and while the post-9/11 security planning made sense then, it may have outlived the threat now. Second, regardless of pilots' backgrounds and ideologies, airlines as sophisticated as Lufthansa may need to implement more than voluntary stress-relief assessments. The zeitgeist of pilots is very similar to the military: tough, strong, with psychological challenges viewed as "sissy." Perhaps airlines will need to guarantee that pilots who seek counseling will not be unjustly punished. And instead of sitting back and waiting for someone to approach counselors, regular and consistent check-ins might be necessary. Finally, the "t" word. Before the news today, the Obama administration quickly rejected a notion that this was terrorism. And that may still be accurate. But as someone who has been a part of counterterrorism efforts, I am impressed with the French prosecutor's honesty in a search for the right words. This is obviously terrorism in the general sense to elicit fear in a general population, but whether it was done for some political or ideological reason (in the absence of any group taking credit, it does not fit the model of most major airline terror attacks) we still do not know. And it isn't as if there is a national response that we can expect from Germany, such as going to war. Still, it clearly isn't just suicide. This is different. If there is some nefarious ideological motivation, this may be one of a few incidents where a "loner" is able to create massive, simultaneous deaths. Most lone wolf terror is almost always of low consequence. It may be that we are in an

Summary: Juliette Kayyem: Now we know co-pilot brought down Germanwings plane; this shows need for structural changes to post 9-11 security . She says airlines must devise new ways to allow secure access to cockpits; better evaluate mindset of pilots; rethink what is "terror"


(CNN)The U.S. Ambassador to South Korea, Mark Lippert, was attacked in Seoul, and is in stable condition, receiving treatment at a local hospital, according to the U.S. embassy. According to Seoul police, Lippert was slashed on his right cheek and hand with a knife measuring about 10 inches long at 5:42 p.m. ET on Wednesday. A South Korean news agency reported that the suspect was opposed to the joint South Korea-U.S. military drills that launched earlier this week, but Seoul police said the motive for the attack and how it was organized are under investigation. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf confirmed the ambassador had been attacked while giving a speech in Seoul Thursday morning, and said that the South Korean embassy is coordinating with local law enforcement on the attack. "We strongly condemn this act of violence. The ambassador is being treated at a local hospital. His injuries are not life threatening," she said. South Korean president, Park Geun-hye condemned the attack: "This incident is not only a physical attack on the U.S. ambassador, but an attack on the South Korea-U.S. alliance and it can never be tolerated." She pledged a "thorough investigation and strengthening" of protection. Lippert is a longtime friend and confidant of President Barack Obama, who has been a member of his inner circle since the President's time as senator. According to National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan, Obama called Lippert to wish him well. "The President called U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Korea, Mark Lippert, to tell him that he and his wife Robyn are in his thoughts and prayers, and to wish him the very best for a speedy recovery," Meehan said in a statement. According to local police chief Yoon Myung-seon, the event was organized by the Korea Council For Reconciliation and Cooperation, and the suspect in the attack was a member of the council. According to South Korean news agency Yonhap, the suspect is a 55-year-old man with the last name "Kim," who authorities say was opposed to the joint South Korea-U.S. military drills that kicked off earlier this week. Yonhap reported that the suspect came up from behind, pushed Lippert down on a table and started attacking him. In July 2010, Kim received a suspended two-year prison sentence for throwing a piece of concrete at a Japanese Ambassador to South Korea, Yonhap said. South Korea's YTN news channel reported that Lippert was about to deliver a speech at a breakfast being held at Sejong Hall in Seoul. The report says nothing specific about the attack, only that yelling was heard and then the bloodied ambassador was taken to the hospital. The suspect was reportedly detained and is currently under investigation. Lippert has been close to Obama ever since he arrived in the Senate in 2005. Lippert worked with Obama on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and traveled the world with the senator as he garnered the foreign policy experience that helped pave the way for his presidential campaign. When Obama declared he would run for president in the 2008 race, Lippert was by

Summary: U.S. ambassador to South Korea attacked, but in stable condition .


(CNN)As relatives and friends mourn the loss of their loved ones aboard Germanwings Flight 9525, the world community is stunned by the sequence of events that led to co-pilot Andreas Lubitz purposely crashing the plane into the French Alps, killing all 150 people on board. I happen to have several personal connections to this tragedy: a recent graduate of Drexel University -- where I teach -- and her mother were on the ill-fated flight, I lived in Germany for 18 years and I am a psychologist who has researched the psychology of terrorism and developed psychiatric tests that are used to determine pilot flight fitness. While the engineering of the Airbus aircraft is fascinating and the world of air traffic control absorbing, what is even more complex and challenging to understand is the human mind of the co-pilot investigators say is responsible for the crash -- the machine that flies the machine. When complex engineering systems interact with human factors, it is most often the human that causes the anomaly. Humans are far less reliable than machines. The average aviator has superior intellectual and cognitive abilities, and is psychologically stable and reliable. While it is not surprising that when it comes to aviation accidents, the first line of inquiry is into what went wrong with the plane. However, very often, as apparently is the case here, something went wrong with the human flying the plane. Pilots are typically tested for emotional stability and screened for the presence of mental illness when they are selected. The U.S. Navy has strict testing programs related to fitness for duty protocols for their pilots during the length of their careers. But we have learned that the German company Lufthansa and its budget airline affiliate Germanwings do not use psychological testing once the pilots have made it through the selection process. Psychological assessment and screening is not held in as high esteem in Germany as it is in the United States. Perhaps it should be. A fitness-for-duty evaluation asks this important question: Can the pilot safely and effectively perform his job from a mental health and cognitive standpoint? The deliberate destruction of Flight 9525 by a single person, most likely related to some grievance or other unknown intrinsic motivation that he took to the grave, can also be considered an act of terrorism. The action constitutes the unlawful use of violence against the passengers on the flight to further some yet unknown objective. Research on the perpetrators of terrorism has revealed that a single person is capable of executing odd, unexplainable violent actions. Their behaviors may be related to a political or social framework, or it may be associated with something deeply personal. Examples include Richard Reid, the failed shoe bomber; Eric Rudolph, the Olympic bomber; or Theodore Kaczynski, the Unabomber. In 2009, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, a U.S. Army officer and psychiatrist, went on a shooting spree at Fort Hood, Texas, killing 13 and wounding 32. And in 2012, Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, a 38-year-old father of two, opened fire and killed 16 innocent Afghan civilians.

Summary: Eric Zillmer: It's hard to predict or prevent tragedies like the Germanwings crash . He says German airlines should consider more rigorous psychological screening and testing for pilots .


(CNN)The man who attacked a security area at the New Orleans airport with a machete and wasp spray also had a bag of Molotov cocktails and a car containing smoke bombs and gas cylinders, authorities said. The suspect, Richard White, 63, died Saturday after treatment for three bullet wounds he suffered when a sheriff's lieutenant fired at him to halt the Friday night attack, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office said. Sheriff Newell Normand said earlier that investigators hadn't been able to talk to White, who officials said suffered from some type of mental illness. He said White's wife and children had been very cooperative. Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport was back open and fully operational, Mayor Mitch Landrieu said. He praised security officials for acting quickly and heroically and doing everything they could to stop the attack. The incident began when White, carrying a bag, entered one of the lanes at the security checkpoint for Concourse B and began spraying Transportation Security Administration agents and bystanders with a can of wasp spray, the sheriff's office said. He then pulled a machete from his waistband and began swinging it at agents and others in the area. "What I saw originally was one of the officers getting sprayed with the wasp spray," said TSA agent Carol Richel, whose arm was hit by one of the bullets fired at White. The officer being sprayed with wasp spray picked up a bag and threw it at White to slow him down, but the suspect still barged through, Richel told reporters. Richel, who was not armed, yelled for everyone to run as she made her way toward the sheriff's lieutenant, who she knew had a weapon. "I was calling, 'Run, run' for them to get away from him, and I was calling for the (lieutenant) so she was there and alert," Richel said. "I didn't hear him say anything," she said. "Once I yelled for the checkpoint to be cleared, I looked over my shoulder and he was coming after me. And I ran as fast as I could and thank God the officer was as close as she was, because I wouldn't be here today." She said the man came "within inches" of whacking her with the machete. "This man was swinging very hard, very hard with that machete," Richel said. "And if he would have made contact with anybody, it would have been terrible." Normand said Lt. Heather Slyve fired three shots, ultimately stopping the attacker. He said investigators believe it was the first shot that went through Richel's upper right arm. Richel showed off a bright pink bandage on her arm and said the bullet went through her tricep. "Originally, I thought the machete hit me. I didn't realize it was a bullet," she said. "I knew he was close, so I honestly thought he hit me and she shot him." When White approached the checkpoint, he was carrying a bag that he dropped as soon as the first agent confronted him, Normand said. "What the bag revealed was six half-pint mason jars

Summary: Suspect dies after treatment for bullet wounds . Sheriff says the suspect also had smoke bombs and Molotov cocktails . Richard White allegedly stormed an airport security area with a machete .


(CNN)When Selena was breaking concert attendance records at home and abroad, there weren't a lot of crossover pop stars who looked like her in the United States. There was Rita Moreno and Gloria Estefan and ... well, that's about it. The March 31, 1995, death of the Mexican-American singer plunged many Latino listeners into mourning and brought her music to the attention of English speakers who would soon become fans. Selena Quintanilla-Perez started singing the Tejano music that eventually made her famous in her father's restaurant in Lake Jackson, Texas. Her father Abraham taught the family band and named them Los Dinos after his own group from earlier years. Selena's brother, A.B., played bass, and her sister, Suzette, played drums. When the family moved to Corpus Christi, the group started getting gigs at local parties and weddings. Selena was only 15 when she won female entertainer of the year at the Tejano Music Awards. That got her a record contract, and several albums followed. She eventually married her guitarist, Chris Perez. In 1994, she won a Grammy for best Mexican-American album for "Selena Live!" and seemed poised for mainstream stardom. When the president of Selena's fan club shot her to death the following year in a Texas motel room, her first English-language album was months from release. Her death made international headlines. She was 23 years old. Twenty years later, her influence is still being felt. Her official Facebook page still has more than 2 million likes, and fans are remembering the singer who crossed barriers and made them sing and dance to her blend of Tejano music. Fans will celebrate her life and legacy at the commemorative Fiesta de la Flor in Corpus Christi in mid-April. Here are five things you may not know about Selena. Selena had to learn Spanish. A third-generation Texan of Mexican descent, Selena didn't grow up speaking Spanish. Neither did her husband, Perez, who played guitar in her band and fell in love with her on the road. In his book, "To Selena, with Love," Perez said they practiced speaking Spanish before their first big publicity blitz in Mexico. "In Mexico, Selena mangled her conversations in Spanish like the rest of us, but not for long." "She said, 'It'll be cool. You watch. I'm going to learn Spanish and surprise everybody,' " Perez wrote. "She got better and better, to the point where I'd have to ask her to slow down so that I could understand what she was saying." She sold out the Astrodome. Selena performed several times at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo at the Astrodome to sold-out crowds of more than 60,000 people. (It wasn't just any rodeo: Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson and the Osmonds have all played the event.) "We had 20 performances this year," Leroy Shafer, assistant general manager of the show, told the New York Times in 1995. "We had Reba McEntire, George Strait, Clint Black and Vince Gill. She had the highest-selling show concert at our show this year, at 61,041 in the Astrodome." Her album went to

Summary: Selena's music attracted Latino fans in the U.S. and Spanish-speaking fans abroad . She had to learn Spanish to conduct interviews in Spanish-speaking countries . Her English-language album went to No. 1 on Billboard's Top 200 chart after she died .


(CNN)A decision last week to ax the popular University of Mississippi Chancellor Dan Jones rippled into Wednesday with demonstrations at the Oxford campus, powerful alumni denouncing the decision and wealthy donors threatening to withhold funding to the school. "It's a damn shame," Ole Miss alumnus Kelly English said about the decision, which he says felt like a "gut punch." English, a chef and restaurateur who has met the chancellor, called Jones "a man of integrity" who "cares deeply about the university." While the state board that voted not to renew his contract, which expires in September, cited "concerns centered on financial issues at the University of Mississippi Medical Center," the chancellor's advocates feel something sinister is at play. Jones was magnanimous in his response, saying that while he was disappointed not to be granted another four-year term, he was proud of his accomplishments and every disagreement he had with the board was the product of both parties trying to do what's best for the school. The financial issues at UMMC, though, were only part of the problem, he wrote. "I was informed a key concern for the board was my relationship to board members and the Commissioner and my unwillingness to adjust to the board's desired governance structure," he wrote. "Over the last couple of years, I have expressed concern and disagreement with the board in some areas, including the funding allocation plan that distributes state funds to various public universities, business issues at the medical center, and responsibility for managing the selection process for the position of vice chancellor to lead the medical center." Jones has been at the university's helm since 2009, when he took over for another popular leader, Robert Khayat, who retired. To hear Jones' supporters tell it, he's ushered in an era of unprecedented GPAs, test scores, enrollment and fund-raising, including three straight years of nine-figure gifts to the school. But he also took stands that ruffled many at the 167-year-old university. Among those were measures aimed at dissociating the school from its Confederate history -- the university athletics teams are the Rebels -- including asking the band to stop playing the fight song "From Dixie With Love." Under his tenure, the university also adopted a black bear as its mascot to replace Colonel Reb, a caricature of a plantation owner that had been removed as mascot in 2003. "He did amazing things for inclusion," English said. "He tried to rid Ole Miss of the good ol' boy network." Unfortunately for his alma mater, English said, that good ol' boy network "caught (Jones) in Jackson." When the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning -- fresh on the heels of Jones completing a reportedly successful round of chemotherapy for his lymphoma -- decided in a 9-2 decision not to renew his contract, the outcry was loud (though the board and Jones concur the decision was unrelated to his health). A protest Wednesday brought more than 2,500 Jones supporters to the Lyceum, event co-organizer Alex Borst said. It's the university's oldest building, which is located in

Summary: State board voted 9-2 last week not to renew contract for Chancellor Dan Jones . Students, faculty stage demonstrations, as wealthy donors vow to reel in funding . Author John Grisham, former quarterback Archie Manning denounce move .


(CNN)The photographs released by ISIS in its stronghold of Raqqa are dated March 2015. The first ones show a large crowd, mostly men, but also among them a handful of women and children, all looking up. Three men on top of a building, faces covered in black balaclavas, stand on either side of their victim, while a fourth seems to be taking a photo or video. Their victim is thrown off the building. In the last photograph, he is seen face down, surrounded by a small crowd of men, most carrying weapons, some with rocks in their hands. The caption reads "stoned to death." The victim brutally killed because he was accused of being gay. There are at least half a dozen documented cases of men being similarly killed by ISIS. What's even more sickening for Nour, a gay Syrian man, is the onlookers' reaction. "It's too much to watch, and people are just standing there in these images and watching, and they are not doing anything, and their facial expressions are really scary because they are not even scared of what is going on," says Nour, who's also an LGBT rights activist. "They might be a little bit excited or maybe happy to get rid of homosexuals in the city." Though in Istanbul, fear of persecution continues to haunt Nour, who asked us to conceal his identity as he waits and hopes for asylum in America and continues to campaign for rights for people who are LGBT -- lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans. As a teenager, over a decade ago, Nour suffered because of his sexuality. "The worst bullying was at school," he remembers. "I was approached in the street a number of times, verbally abused and sometimes physically abused." There was no one to protect him. His family rejected his sexual orientation, his country criminalized it. Article 520 of the Syrian Penal Code of 1949 states: "Any unnatural sexual intercourse shall be punished with a term of imprisonment of up to three years." Nour left Syria in 2012, before ISIS took over huge swaths of the country, after seeing a video of two men being beheaded. According to the voice on the clip, they are accused of being spies. Then toward the end, the voice speaks about "shaking the throne of God." "Whenever we hear this in video or audio, we know that this is exactly meant for gay people," he says. "It was the moment of clarity, the moment of understanding; this place is not safe anymore." The pictures released by ISIS and other videos refer to gay men as the tribe of Lot, who, according to readings of the Quran and the hadith, or prophetic traditions, sinned by refusing Prophet Lot's call to cease their homosexual activity and led to the destruction of Sodom. One hadith states, "When a man mounts another man, the throne of God shakes." Since the revolution turned war in Syria, the situation for the nation's LGBT community has become even more dire. "LGBT people in Syria need help, and they need to be

Summary: "LGBT people in Syria need help, and they need to be supported," says Nour, a Syrian gay rights activist now living in Turkey . "We tried to reach out to some groups, international entities, and they said that LGBT people in Syria are not our priority," he says . The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission is calling for action to protect LGBT Syrians and Iraqis from ISIS .


(CNN)An armored truck carrying several million dollars worth of gold was robbed while it was stranded on Interstate 95 in Wilson County, North Carolina. According to the Wilson County Sheriff's Office, deputies responded to an armed robbery of more than $4 million in gold, just before 7 p.m. ET Sunday. The armored truck was paused after experiencing mechanical issues during a trip from Miami to Massachusetts. The two guards, employed by Transvalue Inc., were forced to the ground and robbed at gunpoint by three men driving a white van. The guards' hands were then bound behind their backs before they were instructed to walk into a nearby wooded area, the sheriff's office said. "Transvalue Inc. deeply regrets the events that transpired yesterday evening," Chief Executive Officer Jay Rodriguez said in a statement to CNN. "We are pleased that our crew was not harmed. At this time we are working with the authorities to try and resolve this matter." The FBI has also been notified, according to Public Affairs Special Agent Shelley Lynch. The FBI is "coordinating with our law enforcement partners to determine whether a federal crime has been committed". Meanwhile Transvalue is offering a $50,000 reward for any information leading to the arrests of the suspects responsible, according to Rodriguez. Anyone with information is encouraged to contact the Wilson County Sheriff's Office at 252-237-2188.

Summary: Bandits made off with more than $4 million in gold during the Sunday night heist . The truck was stuck on an interstate during a trip up north to Massachusetts .


(CNN)Golden beaches and grand hotels can all be found in Mauritius, but there is much more to this island paradise. The country, located some 500 miles east of Madagascar, has been attracting global investors for decades. But there is also a healthy local appetite for business development -- one of the many reasons the country has been hailed as an African success story. One company demonstrating this entrepreneurial drive is fresh food suppliers SKC Surat. "My father Sooklall Surat, started as a farmer with one hectare of land," says Suren Surat, who is now CEO of the company his father founded sixty years ago. "The land was next to our house, where we lived. My father was the first grower at that time, the pioneer for growing strawberries and artichokes in Mauritius." Suren Surat has been part of the company from the beginning. The family had enough offspring to start a cricket squad, but the team dedicated its efforts towards business success. As a kid, Surat would get up early to help his father on the small farm before going to school. "Whatever he was growing, people were coming to buy in our garden, wholesale...So my father decided to go retail," Surat remembers. Shift to retail . The family's first stall was in Curepipe market in the country's highest town. It was here, not far from the famous extinct volcanic crater "Trou aux Cerfs", that the family business started to really grow. Lychees, pineapple and mangoes all bloom in Mauritius' tropical climate, but the weather stops oranges, apples, and plums from sprouting. When Sooklall Surat started importing foreign fruit, others followed suit. Import/Export . Sooklall's brother Shyam focused on selling fresh produce from abroad, attracting customers with foreign tastes. He built a busy operation, but the fast flow of goods didn't stop the family monitoring the fruits and vegetables. "We say you need to be able to talk to the fresh produce -- this is the success of the business," says Suren Surat. 'Work is work' Estimates say the Mauritian economy grew by 3.5% in 2014 and will top 4% in 2015 -- impressive statistics in a country which the World Bank says does a better job of supporting business than Japan, France and Spain. In such a competitive market, guts, good relations and hard work are essential. Suren says that the business keeps the family together, with different members taking control of areas like import and distribution. "We've seen many local companies, Mauritius companies, who are family business who split," says Suren Surat. "But luckily I have to say our grandparents, our mother, father have taught us how to manage." The company's next leaders will have to do more than manage the fresh produce. Recently, the family started the islands' first dairy, and is soon to open its sixth supermarket franchise. It's all part of the strategy to keep things fresh on the island that is home to over 1.3 million people. "The future is very very important," says Shyam Surat. "I would advise any people, mainly in Africa or this

Summary: Mauritius' fresh fruit and veg market leader started on a small hold farm . These days the firm's distribution center can hold 1,300 tons of fresh fruit and vegetables . The family started the islands' first dairy, and will open its sixth supermarket franchise .


Beijing (CNN)China has linked violence in its far-western Muslim region of Xinjiang to ISIS and says Chinese nationals have fought for the extremist group. The Communist Party chief of Xinjiang -- the region's top official -- told reporters Tuesday to view mounting violence there in the context of a global jihadist movement, especially with the rise of ISIS -- also known as the Islamic State or IS. "Some extremists in Xinjiang have participated in the IS and I think this further proves that intentional extremist forces cannot be ignored," said Zhang Chunxian on the sidelines of the annual session of China's rubber-stamp parliament. "As countries around the world have realized the dangers of IS... we will work with others to stop it at its source." A spate of violent attacks in Xinjiang -- a resource-rich area long inhabited by the Turkic-speaking Uyghurs -- has killed hundreds of people in the past two years. The government has blamed the incidents on Muslim Uyghur separatists seeking to establish an independent state. China's state media had earlier reported on Muslim Uyghur militants trying to flee the country and join ISIS training camps in preparation for attacks back home. "We cracked some cases involving people who had just returned after directly participating in fighting," Zhang revealed. "Such cases sometimes involve 'lone wolves' and other times involve groups." "The IS situation is historically unprecedented," he added, addressing criticism on the Xinjiang government's lack of transparency. "To solve such cases... to ensure people's safety, we sometimes have to keep things confidential and take our time." Exiled Uyghur activists have long disputed the Chinese government's assertions, pointing to the lack of evidence and accusing the authorities of using the alleged ISIS connection to justify their increasingly harsh rule in the region. Over the past decades, the arrival in Xinjiang of waves of Han Chinese, the country's predominant ethnic group, has fueled ethnic tensions. Amnesty International has said Uyghurs face widespread discrimination in housing, education and employment, as well as curtailed religious freedom. Other critics have attributed the rise of violence in Xinjiang to Beijing's repressive reign there -- a claim the government vehemently denies.

Summary: China has linked violence in its far-western Muslim region of Xinjiang to ISIS . Top Xinjiang official says Chinese nationals have fought for the extremist group . Uyghur activists dispute the assertions, pointing to the lack of evidence .