(CNN)Around 2002, I was browsing in a used book store in Pittsburgh, and there it was: "The Ethics of Star Trek" by Judith Barad and Ed Robertson. Coincidentally, I was working at that time on integrating ethics into engineering education at Penn State University. I immediately bought the book, and after reading it through, realized that it could be the basis for an engaging course for our first-year engineering students. I first offered the course, The Ethics of Star Trek, in the fall of 2003 -- and I've been teaching it ever since. My children grew up watching the shows that followed the original series, which continued the tradition established by "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry of tackling current events like war, genocide and pollution. It was good family entertainment that also prompted reflection on issues of the day. And it was this exploration of both space and the issues of the day that inspired me to try to apply these moral lessons to students. First there was the friendship between Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, and Dr. McCoy, aka Bones. Plato described the human soul as composed of three aspects: spirit, reason and emotion. Internally, we each strive to balance these three forces. If we manage to do this well, we become a more virtuous person and attain a fourth virtue: justice. By placing Kirk (spirit), Spock (reason) and Bones (emotion) into challenging situations, we get to observe this interplay of these forces, and we get to hear them say what would otherwise be an internal dialogue. Why is Spock so critical here? Because Vulcans worship logic and rationality. Even though he's half human, he suppresses his emotions. It's no surprise that he is the science officer, since science is founded on rationality. Mr. Spock, then, can be trusted to give reasoned scientific analysis in any situation, uninfluenced by emotion or spirit. And since they wouldn't even be in space without science, Spock may be the most important character for the success of the adventure. So, how was all this applied in a classroom? The "Star Trek class" is a one-credit seminar for first-year students that meets once a week, one of about 60 different seminars offered by the College of Engineering. Students read relevant chapters in the book, and then every other week we watch a related "Star Trek" episode. In the other weeks, we sit in a large circle and have an open and often lively discussion about the ethical ideas and their application to the students' lives. One of the recurring plot elements in "Star Trek" is the discovery of new creatures. This often raises the question of the proper relationship and attitude toward these entities. Are they intelligent? Is their intent malicious? In one episode, "Arena," the Enterprise engages in battle with an alien vessel, flown by the Gorn, that has attacked an Earth colony. In the heat of the battle, another unknown species, the Metrons, transports Kirk and the Gorn captain to a barren planet. They are told that because of their violent tendencies, they must battle

Summary: "Star Trek" actor Leonard Nimoy died Friday at age 83 . Andy Lau: Nearly every episode had a moral lesson or dilemma .


(CNN)If you think "my teen would never sext," you might be mistaken. And if you think the only teens who sext are the ones engaging in high-risk behaviors, like drinking, using drugs or skipping school, keep reading. Studies suggest that sexting is more common than many parents might realize or want to admit. More than half the undergraduate students who took part in an anonymous online survey said they sent sexually suggestive texts when they were teenagers, according to the study by Drexel University, which was published last year by the Journal of Sexuality Research and Social Policy. Nearly 30% said they included photos in their sexts, and an astonishing 61% did not know that sending nude photos via text could be considered child pornography. Another study, this one by the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, found that while students who admitted sexting were 32% more likely to report having sex the next year, sexting by teenagers was not linked to risky sexual behavior over time. The study, published in the journal Pediatrics, found that teens who sexted were not more likely to have multiple sexual partners, use drugs or alcohol before sex or not use birth control. Sexting may be the new "normal' when it comes to adolescent sexual behavior, the study concluded. "There are now a few pieces of research, which are sort of converging on the same finding, namely that this is not a rare behavior," said Elizabeth Englander, a professor of psychology at Bridgewater State University and director of the Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center. "I'm not saying that it's healthy or that it's harmless, but it's not a situation where kids who are depressed are doing this or kids who have very bad self-esteem are doing it," said Englander, who researched sexting, as well as a host of other teenager behaviors, for her recent book "Bullying and Cyberbullying." "It appears to be widespread. It's engaged in by many kids who are functioning well and not having problems and it's not very unusual or rare." You're probably thinking: "I check my kids' phones. No sexting happening in this household." But there are plenty of apps teens can use to send messages their parents can't find later. Snapchat, Cyber Dust, VaporChat and others allow users to send messages that disappear on both the sender and recipient's phones after a certain period of time. These apps are used by kids and adults alike to send a variety of messages -- from perfectly harmless to potentially dangerous. Brutally Honest: Is it OK to spy on your kids? Diana Graber, who teaches "cyber civics" to middle schoolers in Aliso Viejo, California, was blown away by the response she got from eighth graders when she, for the first time, included a session on sexting. When she asked her students if they knew what a sext was, everyone in the class said they did, but what they didn't know was what the penalties for sending a sext could be, including how it could be prosecuted as a felony under child pornography laws in

Summary: Sexting is more common than parents might realize, studies suggest . Teens can hide texts they send using apps like Snapchat, CyberDust and VaporChat .


(CNN)Saudi Arabia is leading a military campaign against Shiite rebels in Yemen, bringing the wider region directly into a complex conflict that has festered for months. The Saudis say they want to restore the Yemeni government, a key U.S. ally in the fight against al Qaeda, which was kicked out of the capital by the rebels earlier this year. "Having Yemen fail cannot be option for us or for our coalition partners," said Adel al-Jubeir, the Saudi ambassador to the United States, referring to the other nations in the region supporting the campaign. Here are answers to key questions about the escalating conflict in Yemen. Analysts say it can be summed up in one word: Iran. The Saudis "perceive this as a threat from the Iranians," said CNN military analyst Lt. Col. Rick Francona. "They look at the Houthis as nothing more than a proxy Iranian force, just like we can look at Hezbollah as a proxy Iranian force in southern Lebanon." Analysts say that Shiite-majority Iran and Sunni-dominated Saudi Arabia are locked in a strategic contest for influence across the Middle East. Now, the epic chess match has spread into Yemen, Saudi Arabia's southern neighbor. "What they do not want is an Iranian-run state on their southern border, because they already feel they've got enough problems on their northern border," said Francona, a retired U.S. Air Force intelligence officer. Iran, northeast of Saudi Arabia, is considered to exercise powerful influence within the regime of President Bashar al-Assad in war-torn Syria and within the Shiite-led Iraqi government. The Saudis and other Gulf nations appeared to make an implicit reference to Iran in a statement about the start of the military campaign, describing the Houthi militias as "backed by regional powers" that are aiming for "hegemony" in Yemen. The Iranian government, for its part, condemned the offensive, calling for an immediate halt to Saudi-led airstrikes, state media reported. The chaos in Yemen appeared to be careering toward a full-blown civil war. The Houthis, whose power base is in northern Yemen, started protests against the central government in the capital, Sanaa, last summer. But they stepped up their campaign in September, seizing multiple government buildings. Attempts to strike political deals between the two sides had no effect, and the Houthis pushed into other areas of the country. The crisis intensified in January, when the Houthis displayed their clout by storming the presidential palace and putting President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi under house arrest. Hadi escaped to the southern city of Aden in February and declared that he remained the legitimate president. Since then, Hadi's supporters have repeatedly clashed with the Houthis and their allies, prompting the United Nations to warn of an impending civil war. The Houthis also have support from forces loyal to Hadi's predecessor, former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who resigned in 2012 after months of Arab Spring-inspired protests. The deepening chaos has led many governments to pull embassy staff out of Sanaa. The United States recently withdrew its remaining special forces in Yemen, dealing a blow to counterterrorism efforts in the

Summary: Saudi Arabia sees Houthi rebels in Yemen as a proxy for Iran, analysts say . The Saudis act as Yemen teeters on the brink of civil war .


(CNN)It's Canada's ultimate pairing. World No.7 and Wimbledon runner up Eugenie Bouchard posted a photo of herself on Twitter with compatriot and heartthrob Justin Bieber as they teamed up for a game of tennis. Bouchard credited the pop star's "nice serve" and once said the "Baby" singer would be her ideal date during an awkward on-court interview at 2014's Australian Open. Bieber courts a lot of interest on social media with a Twitter following of 61.3 million -- roughly the entire population of Italy -- but the 21-year-old has yet to respond to Bouchard's tweet. The pair played doubles at the Annual Desert Smash event hosted by Will Ferrell at California's La Quinta Resort in aid of Cancer for College, a charity that provides scholarships for students who have battled with the disease. Danish tennis star and recent Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Caroline Wozniacki also had her photo taken with the singer estimated to be worth $80m, tweeting: "Just another night in the desert #beliebit."

Summary: World No.7 tennis player Eugenie Bouchard partners up with pop star Justin Bieber in game of doubles . Bouchard has previously said she would like to date the Hollywood starlet . Former World No.1 Caroline Wozniacki also got a snap with "the Bieb"


United Nations (CNN)Tour groups and diplomats breeze past a nondescript display of 35 blown-up photos printed on poster board. Suddenly, one tourist catches a glimpse of the subject of one of the photos: a man whose eyes have been gouged out. Manjula Sharma, visiting the United Nations from India, gasps when she realizes what she is looking at. "How could anybody do this?" she said, while looking at the photos with a pained expression. "It's not war. It's not drought. It's not natural calamity. It's torture." The exhibit is tucked away behind the lobby of the U.N. Secretariat Building. It's a no-frills exhibition of photos taken by a man who is being called "Caesar," a Syrian government defector whose job it was to take photos of dead detainees for the military police. Caesar claimed to take up to 50 photos a day, and brought nearly 27,000 images like these out of the country. Captions on the photos show that many of them were taken inside military hospitals, and accuse Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime in the torture and killings. The photos show emaciated bodies. Some have eyes gouged out, some have genitals removed. And many are covered with wounds, the flesh peeling from their bodies. It's a sight that gave pause to Anders Frantzen, who works at the United Nations and was running late to a meeting. "I told myself I really wanted to come back here and take a proper look. It looks like something you haven't seen since the Second World War. It's very bad," Frantzen said. "It's difficult to put a face, an image to the numbers we hear about. So you see these pictures (and) it sort of puts things in a new perspective." While the photos have been shown before Congress and in media reports, many people, like Sharma, had no idea they existed. That's partly why Mouaz Moustafa, senior political adviser to the Coalition for a Democratic Syria, said he placed the photos in this location. He wanted to bring awareness to the public and put pressure on U.N. Security Council member states to vote for the International Criminal Court to prosecute war crimes and crimes against humanity in Syria. "If you ask anyone about ISIS from Mississippi to Alabama, everyone is so well aware of this obviously evil entity," Moustafa said. "If you compare it to the horrendous crimes of the Assad regime, it doesn't get, I feel, it doesn't get the same coverage." The Syrian Mission to the United Nations did not respond to repeated requests for comment on the exhibit. The exhibit will be at the United Nations until March 24.

Summary: 35 photos of tortured bodies are on display at the United Nations . Adviser to the Coalition for a Democratic Syria says they show actions of President Bashar al-Assad's regime .


(CNN)A Pennsylvania State University fraternity has been suspended after allegedly posting on a private Facebook page compromising photos of women, including some who appeared to be asleep or passed out. The suspension of Kappa Delta Rho (KDR) fraternity comes as State College Police as well as university officials investigate the fraternity's alleged use of the online page with up to 144 active members, including current and former students. "No arrests are being made at this time," State College Police Lt. Keith Robb said. "Unfortunately, we aren't able to identify any suspects right now because the accounts on Facebook were sanitized, wiped clean." Robb said it has not yet been determined if any crime occurred. In a statement, college administrators said the fraternity's local chapter had been suspended for one year by the Penn State Interfraternity Council and that police and university officials were investigating. The statement said the fraternity used the private Facebook page to post "highly inappropriate photographs ... of activities and events that are in direct violation of the standards and values of a recognized student organization at Penn State." The images allegedly included nude and partially nude women -- some seemed to pose, others appeared incapacitated. "The evidence offered by the Facebook postings is appalling, offensive and inconsistent with the University community's values and expectations," the statement said. Penn State University President Eric Barron said in a separate statement Wednesday that the university will work with Kappa Delta Rho's national headquarters to determine whether the fraternity should be reinstated. The university is also considering whether fraternities will continue at Penn State, Barron said. "It ... brings us to a point where we must ask if a re-evaluation of the fraternity system is required," he said. "Some members of the University senior leadership believe it is, and we are considering our options." David Clohessy, director of the St. Louis-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, said in a statement that the latest allegations call into question the university's handling of sex crime reports. "For years now, Penn State enthusiasts have repeatedly reassured everyone who'd listen that the university's problematic culture about sex crimes had been 'reformed," Clohessy said. "The latest allegations -- that fraternity members posted nude pictures of women on Facebook, some of whom appeared to be sleeping or passed out -- raise serious doubts about those claims." In 2012, former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky was convicted on 45 counts of sexually molesting boys and sentenced to a 30- to 60-year prison term. Sandusky, who has maintained his innocence, is appealing. "The Kappa Delta Rho is a wake-up call," Clohessy said. "But the Sandusky case should have been a wake-up call too." A former member of Kappa Delta Rho alerted police to the page, telling them in January that it had been used by members to share photos of "unsuspecting victims, drug sales and hazing," according to a copy of a police affidavit. The drugs allegedly included "marijuana and edibles, concentrates, ADD medication, and some cocaine," the affidavit said. The former frat member

Summary: University president: Penn State considers "re-evaluation of the fraternity system" Penn State University fraternity suspended over alleged private Facebook page . The page allegedly includes photos of nude or partially nude women .


(CNN)It is now generally accepted that Germanwings first officer Andreas Lubitz did indeed lock his captain out of the cockpit, put their airplane into a steep descent, and then sit back and wait calmly for the end to arrive. He did it with premeditation, having discarded a doctor's note that would have excused him from work that day. He joins the short and infamous list of airline pilots, a handful over the past two decades, who have used their airplanes to combine suicide with mass murder. Why is this thought at once so fascinating and so horrifying? It is because of the incompatibility between what we want to believe about flying and what we now see. Air travel presents itself as a highly controlled, stringently professional activity, stripped of every unpredictable element. Flight crews wear military-style uniforms not because they could not fly equally well in street clothes, but because uniforms convey to passengers a subliminal suggestion that they are of a different breed, as far from ordinary folk as a world-class athlete is from a duffer. Not only are pilots smarter and better-trained than ordinary people, those stripes and caps say, but they also must be less forgetful than we, less distractible, better rested, not prone to irritability or sadness or smoldering resentments. Like soldiers, they must be just a little bit robotic, efficient, brave and purified of the trash that infests the souls of common humans. Because they have earned their stripes, we feel safe -- even when it seems impossible for us to understand, or apparently for anyone to explain, what keeps those huge metal contraptions up in the air. The truth, as the voluminous history of airplane accidents reveals, is that pilots are not different from other people. They can be careless, lazy, inattentive and reckless. They can drink too much. When pilots talk among themselves, the mistakes, the close calls, the disasters averted by sheer luck are favorite topics. But if pilots slip up in little ways from time to time, the sweeping drama of aviation, in which they are the actors and we the audience, eclipses their faults. Besides, most flying is routine -- hours of boredom, the cliché goes, punctuated by moments of sheer terror. The glitches have long since been ironed out, and the airplanes are so wonderfully engineered that they usually protect even the worst pilot from himself. Nor are pilots of a higher moral type than the rest of us. Despite the pieties they occasionally utter, pilots do not consciously shoulder the burden of hundreds of lives or feel more responsible for a full airplane than for an empty one. Pilots, by and large, are proud. They identify with the airplane; it is an extension and enlargement of the self, and the pilot feels the same motive to deliver it safely to its destination as you feel when driving a car on a crowded freeway. A pilot values a smooth landing because it demonstrates skill, not because the people in back are still alive. The greatest guarantee you have that your pilot

Summary: Experts suspect first officer Andreas Lubitz locked pilot out of the cockpit of plane . Peter Garrison: Pilots don't exist on different moral plane than the rest of us, and the human mind is the blackest of boxes .


(CNN)Former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser has died. He was 84. "It is with deep sadness that we inform you that after a brief illness John Malcolm Fraser died peacefully in the early hours of this morning," according to a Fraser family statement sent to Australian media. The office of current Prime Minister Tony Abbott confirmed Fraser's death to CNN. Fraser was Australia's 22nd prime minister, from 1975-1983. He began his mandate as a caretaker prime minister amid a constitutional crisis. Fraser will be remembered for his significant influence in changing relations of countries within the British Commonwealth, according to the National Archives of Australia. He is also credited with shaping Australian ties with East and Southeast Asian countries, according to the National Archives. People we've lost in 2015 .

Summary: Fraser was Australia's 22nd prime minister, from 1975-1983 . Fraser is credited with shaping Australian ties with East and Southeast Asian countries .


Hong Kong (CNN)It wasn't supposed to work. But China's Great Firewall -- a massive Internet surveillance and content control system -- has, in many respects, been an unparalleled success. China has Internet companies worth billions of dollars and more web users than the population of the United States -- all while still being able to block information it deems counter to its interests. And now, some fear, the model is going global. "If you are sitting in Beijing, what's the problem?" asks Bill Bishop, China watcher and author of the Sinocism China newsletter in the latest episode of "On China." "You are still in power, you have 650 million Internet users, you have billions of dollars of economic value going to the Internet everyday, you've used the Internet to increase government transparency, investors love us and they can't throw enough money at our companies that have more than half a trillion dollars in market capitalization," says Bishop. Soon after China tip-toed onto the Internet in the late 1980s, it laid down the foundation of the Great Firewall but critics asserted that an Internet with Chinese characteristics would be no Internet at all. During a high-profile media tour in Beijing in 1999, MIT Media Lab founder and technology pundit Nicholas Negroponte declared that a "healthy disrespect for authority" was required for any successful Internet industry. A year later, then-U.S. President Bill Clinton announced that "liberty will spread by cell phone and cable modem" and that any attempt to control the Internet in China would be "like trying to nail Jell-O to the wall." Well folks, it's now 2015 and China has done the impossible. It's nailed the Jell-O. China has proven it can have its Great Firewall and enjoy great prosperity too. Lokman Tsui, associate professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and former head of free expression at Google Asia-Pacific, says that most Chinese are happy with the status quo. "Their lives have noticeably improved," he says. "The model has worked so far." Currently home to the world's largest Internet market, China is also home to some of the world's most valuable Internet companies including e-commerce giant Alibaba and Tencent, now estimated to be worth $66.1 billion. The government has fostered the development of the Internet by offering incentives for local entrepreneurs while building walls to keep big Western rivals out. The ban on Western social media sites like YouTube and Facebook has also given home court advantage to China's own Internet stars like Youku and WeChat. And contrary to Negroponte's declaration, respecting the strict rules that govern China's Internet has not gotten in the way of innovation as Chinese tech developers reinterpret existing business models and build out new mobile apps. "I haven't really come across anybody who would say that yes, because we don't have a free Internet, therefore we can't innovate," says Bishop. "From Beijing's perspective, there's this fear that if we open up the Internet then it will be chaos. So if the cost is good-enough or almost-good-enough innovation... it seems like a pretty straight forward equation

Summary: China's "Great Firewall" is a massive Internet surveillance and content control system . Critics said it would stifle business but now Chinese Internet companies are worth billions . Amnesty International fears China is exporting its model to places like Egypt and Russia .


(CNN)Six months ago this week Omar received a panicked phone call from his friend and fellow student. "I was in my dormitory writing a paper and a friend called me in desperation from a bus. He said they were being shot by police," Omar explained. He has not heard from his friend since. Omar is a student at the Raúl Isidro Burgos Rural Teacher Training College of Ayotzinapa, in Guerrero state. His friend is one of 43 students who were subjected to enforced disappearance in September of 2014. As the days and weeks passed, the Mexican authorities stalled and obfuscated. Despite worldwide attention on the issue, they have, for months, failed to properly investigate all lines of the case, especially the worrying allegations of complicity by armed forces. In January, I traveled to the Ayotzinapa college. There, in the college hall, surrounded by murals of Mexico's revolutionary leaders, I met the families of the disappeared students. For the past six months, mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers, as well as other relatives and community members, have been campaigning relentlessly, demanding answers from the authorities about what happened to their loved ones. It was an emotional and difficult meeting; there were tears of sadness and disappointment. Mothers and fathers spoke of counting the seconds since they last saw their sons, and expressed frustration at how they and their boys have been portrayed as troublemakers by the authorities and the media. These are people who have lived in poverty, whose communities have been historically abandoned by the state; for many, their missing son was the first of their families to go to school. Now, so many hopes and dreams have been shattered. I have witnessed all kinds of human tragedies, but there can be few things as painful as the torment of not knowing where a loved one is. The past months have been a roller-coaster for these families, and all of us who support and accompany their struggles. But a constant factor has been the Mexican government's failure to respond effectively and address these grave human rights violations. A prime example of this is how, on November 7, 2014, the authorities announced that human remains had been uncovered in a rubbish dump and a nearby river in Cocula, and the then-attorney general Jesús Murillo Karam announced weeks later that he was prepared to close the case. According to the prosecutor, he was satisfied that the findings of his office's investigation were sufficient proof of what happened. However, only one of the missing students has been identified through DNA tests. Other human remains are still being tested, and it seems that the whole investigation so far has been based only on the testimonies of three gang members. You don't have to be attorney general to know that this is far from conclusive proof. But amidst the sadness of the families I met, there was a calm and steely resolve. These 43 mothers and fathers have decided they cannot accept the silence or half-answers they have been given by the government, instead they are demanding the

Summary: Six months ago, 43 students from Ayotzinapa College in Mexico disappeared . Erika Guevara Rosas: It is outrageous that Mexican authorities have not found them .


(CNN)Nigerians are scheduled to head to the polls this Saturday in what will be the most closely watched elections in Africa this year. The poll will test the strength of an electoral process that has been marred by violence and flawed results throughout the country's short democratic history. The stakes are high, and there is a very real danger of prolonged violence across the country if the electorate questions the legitimacy of the outcome. The conduct of the elections will have long lasting repercussions on both Nigerians and the U.S.-Nigeria relationship. Against the backdrop of these elections is the ongoing threat and destabilization caused by Boko Haram, a group that has killed more than 10,000 people in northeastern Nigeria during its five-year campaign of terror, and kidnapped hundreds more, including young girls. These actions have shocked and horrified Americans. What many Americans may not recognize is how important the relationship with Nigeria is for the United States. We have economic and security interests that are at stake in this election, especially as Nigeria has been one of our strongest allies in the region since military rule there ended. In the last decade, the U.S. has trained and equipped thousands of Nigerian soldiers who have participated in peacekeeping missions in Mali, Cote d'Ivoire and Liberia, helping bring a measure of peace and stability to nations in the West Africa region. But now we need Nigeria to be a front-line ally against terrorism, particularly as Boko Haram pledges fidelity to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. Meanwhile, Nigeria also has the largest economy in Africa and has the continent's largest population. Indeed, it has been identified as one in the next set of prominent emerging economies, making it a tantalizing target for U.S. private investment. It is also Africa's No. 1 oil producer, although an increasingly diversified economy -- for example in the agriculture sector -- provides a myriad of opportunities for more robust trade with the United States. Ultimately, a stable Nigeria will mean real economic opportunities for Americans -- a win-win proposition. Yet despite this potential, the uncertain electoral environment and other serious challenges stand in the way of a deeper bond. The reality is that endemic corruption remains an obstacle to more cooperation, especially when you consider the Nigerian military's poor performance fighting Boko Haram, despite security spending reportedly being around $6 billion last year -- clearly, much of the money meant for the military is not being spent on salaries, equipment or materiel. Similarly, weak governance remains an impediment to Nigeria's progress and enhanced ties with the United States. Nearly 70% of those in areas in the north live in absolute poverty, according to recent data, as compared to about 50% in southern areas of the country. Such failure on the part of the government to address poverty and inequality facilitates Boko Haram's recruitment effort and foments internal instability. The Nigerian people clearly believe that these issues must be addressed. According to an Afrobarometer survey released in January, 74% of Nigerian citizens said that their country is going "in

Summary: Robert Menendez: Nigerian vote will test the democracy's electoral process, marred by violence and flawed results in past . U.S. ties to this regional ally are crucial; U.S. economic and security interests at stake as Nigeria's voters choose their future .


(CNN)Early to bed, and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and . . . a criminal? A sanitation worker in an Atlanta suburb already served two weekends in jail -- and faced several more until officials relented Monday-- after authorities charged him for doing his job too early in the morning. Kevin McGill, a garbage collector in Sandy Springs, Georgia, had been sentenced to a total of 30 days in jail for violating the city's noise ordinance that states that "trash collection must be conducted between the hours of 7 a.m. and 7 p.m." He was cited one recent morning after starting work about 5 a.m. McGill said that when he appeared in court, he was "stunned" when he learned he'd have to serve time for collecting garbage too early. "The solicitor said, 'It's automatic jail time,'" McGill told CNN affiliate WSB. McGill said it was the first time he'd violated the ordinance, but the solicitor "didn't want to hear nothing I had to say." "I was shocked," McGill told WSB. City spokeswoman Sharon Kraun said McGill appeared in court with his employer and agreed to a plea deal, which included a 30-day jail sentence. The court said the sentence could be served on weekends, and Kraun confirmed Monday that McGill already spent two weekends behind bars. After news of McGill's punishment went viral, the solicitor's office announced Monday that prosecutors would amend his sentence, saying in a statement, "The actions of the court with regards to Mr. McGill's sentence for violating the city's noise laws was disproportionate to a first-time offense." "As such, the court has amended its sentence to time served and further probation (is) suspended," the statement said. Chief prosecutor Bill Riley told WSB that the jail sentence was his idea because, he said, "fines don't seem to work." "The only thing that seems to stop the activity is actually going to jail," McGill said. Still, McGill said being locked up with "real criminals" was hard, and so was being away from his family. "I just want this to be over with," he told WSB before getting word of the "time served" adjustment. "I'm away from my family, my wife, and she's got to take care of the two little boys and I have four dogs."

Summary: Kevin McGill was initially ordered to serve 30 days in jail for picking up trash too early in the morning . McGill already began his sentence, doing two weekends behind bars . City relents, letting him off with "time served" after story goes viral .


(CNN)Formula One star Fernando Alonso returned to work at McLaren on Wednesday following his freak accident in winter testing. The Spanish double world champion was ruled out of the opening race in Australia by doctors treating him for the effects of a high speed crash. Alonso has been training hard for his planned comeback at the Malaysian Grand Prix in nine days' time and used the McLaren simulator to hone his mental preparations. The CNN-sponsored team announced the news on Twitter, showing McLaren sporting director Eric Boullier and Alonso at the team's headquarters in Woking, England. Alonso was concussed and airlifted to hospital after losing control of his McLaren at the penultimate winter test at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya on February 22. The 33-year-old watched the Melbourne race from his home in Dubai after doctors indicated returning to racing three weeks after a high impact was too risky. McLaren had explained that Alonso's "accident was caused by the unpredictably gusty winds at that part of the circuit at that time." After getting back to race preparation in the simulator, McLaren tweeted that it had been a good day for Alonso, "focusing on operational work and practicing qualifying and race procedures." The media enjoyed a guessing game in Australia about just how Alonso might have reacted to events in Melbourne, where Lewis Hamilton and his mighty Mercedes dominated while Alonso's McLaren teammate Jenson Button finished in last place. Dane Kevin Magnussen, who was deputizing for the recuperating Spaniard, was unable to start the race because of engine problems on his way to the starting grid. Alonso left Ferrari at the end of the 2014 season to rejoin McLaren, which is experiencing teething as it renews technical partnership with Japanese engine manufacturer Honda for 2015. In his response on Twitter, Alonso chose to focus on congratulating Spanish rookie Carlos Sainz, who finished ninth on his Toro Rosso debut and who was inspired by Alonso as he plotted his own racing career. "Congratulations to @carlosainz for the great weekend in Australia!! And of course to Hamilton and Mercedes for the win!! See you in Malaysia," Alonso's message read. Meanwhile, Boullier is focused on finding improvements in the car's pace and performance for the next race on Sepang's sizzling circuit, which is also very physically demanding on the drivers. "We know we have a mountain to climb as far as performance is concerned," the Frenchman said in a McLaren statement. "In two weeks' time we'll be racing in Sepang [Malaysia], where the weather is bound to be extremely hot and humid. "I'm not going to be rash enough to predict a form upswing in so short a time frame, but we'll be working flat out between now and then to make performance and reliability gains in any and every way we can, of that you may be 100 per cent certain."

Summary: Fernando Alonso steps up comeback preparations in McLaren simulator . The double world champion is targeting a return at the Malaysian Grand Prix . The sizzling race in Sepang is on March 29 .


(CNN)Here's a pair of twins no one will have trouble telling apart: One is white, and one is black. Thanks to a rare quirk of nature, Lucy is the alabaster-skinned redhead, and Maria has their part-Jamaican mother's dark skin and hair. Images of the Aylmer sisters of Gloucester, United Kingdom, rocketed around the Internet this week when a British newspaper carried their story. "I can't stop crying! This is all so amazing," Lucy Aylmer posted on Facebook. The girls were born to a white father and a biracial mom in 1997, according to the Daily Mail story that started all the fuss. 'No one ever believes we are twins," the newspaper quoted Lucy Aylmer as saying. "Even when we dress alike, we still don't look like sisters, let alone twins." Appearing Tuesday on "Good Morning Britain," the sisters said they're always facing doubters who can't believe they are related, much less twin sisters. Some even asked whether Lucy was adopted, she told the show. "It was pretty hard," she said. "It went on in secondary school as well, and it wasn't very nice." Maria said they've been told the chances of such an occurrence are "one in a million." The BBC, reporting on a similar case in 2011, said it was more like 1 in 500. No matter the odds, the sisters say they're happy with how they look. "Maria loves telling people at college that she has a white twin -- and I'm very proud of having a black twin," Lucy told the Daily Mail. "My family is beautiful," she posted on Facebook.

Summary: UK twins, one white and one black, have had to fight to prove they're sisters . "My family is beautiful," one sister posts on Facebook .


(CNN)I grew up watching "Leave It to Beaver." Most episodes, Ward Cleaver would come home from work in his suit and tie and there would be his wife June, always in the kitchen, her apron as white as the picket fence outside. June made dinner, of course, and Ward and Wally and the Beav sat at the table and ate. As I recall, June usually cleaned up. Maybe once or twice the boys helped with dishes. Maybe. I would watch the black and white show during dinner, sitting on the couch with a plate of food on my lap that had not been prepared by my own mother. My mother was in her generation's first cohort of "working moms." She had a successful career as an executive at AT&T and then Lucent Technologies. She left for work early each morning, but was always home by five or six -- in time to spend time with me, not to cook. My dad also had a full-time job, and across the entirety of my life, I don't recall him so much as opening a can of soup. He's only recently learned to use the microwave. Both my parents worked equally hard, but there was no doubt when I was growing up that cooking was my mom's responsibility -- even if that meant buying prepared meals from the Allentown Farmer's Market, spooning it onto plates, pressing "Power" then "Start." In other words, as I ate my dinner in the 1980s while watching a TV show based on life in the 1950s, it was easy to see that some things had changed and some had not. Life inside the house -- food, dishes, cleaning, tidying, clothing, hygiene -- was my mom's responsibility, just as it was June Cleaver's. Outside the house -- the lawn, the cars, anything made or stored in the garage, sports, bike riding -- that was my dad's domain. And to be clear, when the car would break down, it was a big deal, but one that came up far less frequently than our need for meals and laundry. This daily labor weighed more on my mother. Sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild coined this the "second shift": how even though more and more women started working outside the home, they were still expected to do the same amount of domestic work at the end of the day. Studies say that when it comes to fair division of household labor, gay couples, like my partner and I, generally do a better job. Unfettered by the ready expectations of traditional gender roles, same-sex couples "are more likely than members of heterosexual couples to negotiate a balance between achieving a fair distribution of household labor and accommodating the different interests, skills, and work schedules of particular partners," wrote social scientist Lawrence K. Kurdek. In fact, after a no-doubt bumpy period of adjustment (editorializing from personal experience here), Kurdek wrote, "This pattern of negotiation holds true even when couples have children living with them." In my own family, my partner does most of the laundry, though to be

Summary: Sally Kohn: Decades after "Leave It to Beaver," women still shoulder most of housework, childcare . She says a new public service push aims to engage men in sharing these jobs, encouraging young men to do the same .


(CNN)A group of foreign medical students are thought to have traveled to Syria to work in ISIS-controlled hospitals, a Turkish lawmaker told CNN Sunday. The group of 11 people includes seven Britons, an American, a Canadian and two Sudanese, Mehmet Ali Ediboglu said. Ediboglu, an opposition Turkish lawmaker, told The Observer that he had spoken with the students' families, who were convinced their loved ones wanted to work for ISIS and were asking him for help tracking them down in neighboring Syria. "They have been cheated, brainwashed. That is what I, and their relatives, think," Ediboglu said, according to the newspaper. But he also stressed that the group did not travel with the intention of joining the battle. "Let's not forget about the fact that they are doctors," he told The Observer. "They went there to help, not to fight." Eight of the group are medical students who've just graduated and three others are in their final year of medical school, he said. They'd been studying in Khartoum, Sudan. Now, at least seven of their mothers and fathers are living near the Turkey-Syria border, pleading for their return, according to The Observer. In an interview published Monday in Turkey's Hürriyet Daily News, the group of parents said they were worried and vowed not to leave Turkey without their children. Dr. Maumoon Abdulqadir said he was sending a message to his daughter, Lena, who is one of the students. "I know you want to help people and be of use. But you can do this in another way," he told the newspaper. "There are many who need your help. But this is not the way. Please, come back." British officials said they are aware of the report. "We are providing consular assistance to their families and we have informed the Turkish police to try and ascertain their whereabouts," the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office said in a statement. Officials have warned that a growing number of foreign fighters are traveling to join ISIS' ranks. Estimates about how many medical personnel the group has recruited are harder to come by. Last year, a 19-year-old Colorado woman was arrested at Denver International Airport as she was about to embark on a journey to an ISIS camp, where she hoped to serve as a nurse. CNN's Nimet Kirac and Radina Gigova contributed to this report.

Summary: Worried father sends message to daughter: "Please, come back" Lawmaker: Med students' family members believe they wanted to work for ISIS . "They have been cheated, brainwashed," the Turkish lawmaker says .


(CNN)An Army National Guard member and his cousin have been arrested in Illinois for allegedly conspiring to provide material support to the terrorist organization ISIS, federal prosecutors said Thursday. The alleged plot included a plan to attack a U.S. military installation in Illinois. In the past 18 months, the Justice Department's National Security Division has prosecuted or is prosecuting 32 cases of people attempting to travel abroad to join or providing support to terrorist groups. Of those cases, 18 allegedly involve support to ISIS. Spc. Hasan Edmonds, 22, was arrested Wednesday night at Chicago Midway International Airport while attempting to travel to Egypt to eventually join ISIS, according to Assistant Attorney General for National Security John P. Carlin and other federal officials said. His cousin, Jonas "Yunus" Edmonds, 29, was arrested at his home in Aurora in connection with an alleged plot to carry out an armed attack on an unspecified U.S. military facility in northern Illinois where Hasan Edmonds had been training. The two U.S. citizens were charged, in criminal complaints filed in U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Illinois, with one count each of conspiring to provide material support and resources to a foreign terrorist organization. The cousins made an initial appearance Thursday afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Sheila Finnegan. Why is ISIS so successful at luring Westerners? After an undercover FBI informant posing as an ISIS fighter outside the United States sent Hasan Edmonds a Facebook "friend" request in late 2014, he began to receive private messages from him indicating that he and his cousin were willing to travel to overseas and fight for ISIS, according to the court documents. "InshAllah we will complete our task or be grants [sic] shahada [Arabic for martyr] I look forward to the training," Hasan Edmonds is alleged to have told the informant in January. "I am already in the American kafir army and now I wish only to serve in the army of Allah alongside my true brothers." They continued to communicate over the following weeks, with Hasan Edmonds expressing concerns about Jonas Edmonds' criminal record and whether he would be allowed to travel overseas. "They try hard to keep people like him trapped in America," he told the undercover FBI employee. "I know several Muslims have been caught attempting the Turkey route so tell me why not many Americans take the Egypt route. I am open to either way," Hasan Edmonds told the informant, according to court documents. On February 2, Hasan Edmonds contacted the undercover informant again and said his cousin was willing to carry out an attack on U.S. soil. "Honestly we would love to do something like the brother in Paris did," Hasan Edmonds stated, referring to the French terror attacks in January in which 16 people were killed. Prosecutors said Jonas Edmonds contacted the informant to arrange travel accommodations. "Number one on my list is Mosul," he stated, referring to Iraq's second-largest city. "If I find myself stuck here [in the United States], I intend to take advantage of being so close to the kuffar."

Summary: Two cousins from Illinois charged with conspiring to support ISIS . Army National Guard Spc. Hasan Edmonds, 22, was arrested at Chicago Midway International Airport . His cousin, Jonas Edmonds, 29, was arrested at his home in Aurora .


(CNN)In a side room at the American University of Nigeria, four girls chat and giggle. One teenage girl in particular catches our attention. She looks familiar. Then we realize why. We met her just a few weeks after Boko Haram had attacked her school and abducted almost 300 students. As the Boko Haram trucks carrying them began to speed away to the militants' territory, she and her friend bravely jumped, barely escaping with their lives. She was one of the lucky ones. School, she says, from that day on became a reminder of what almost happened. A place she never wanted to return. But now she is back and the change in her is remarkable. She dreams of remaining in the classroom as a teacher, so that just like her tutors, she can influence and inspire young minds. Studying with her here are 21 other girls from Chibok. They, too, escaped Boko Haram. Like hundreds of others across Nigeria's North East, they were targeted simply for going to school. Choosing to go back to class is a statement of their courage and focus on education, which they hope will bring change back home. "My people need my support," one girl says. "And me going to school will make that change," She wants to be a surgeon. In a part of the world often lacking the most basic health care infrastructure, she has chosen to bring value to her community. One of three students we spoke to who want to study medicine, she's extraordinarily focused and firm in her responses. It is hard to imagine sitting with her now what she and the other girls have been through at Boko Haram's hands, what they almost lost. Some questions, though, they can't answer: any questions about the night of the attack, any reference to the friends still missing. These are too hard. Enrolled on scholarships at the university, these girls are the lucky ones, and they know it. There are 46 other Chibok girls who also escaped Boko Haram, but there are no funds available to pay for their education. Dr. Margee Ensign, the school's vice-chancellor, is hoping to change that by raising funds through the university's foundation. "The world paid, and rightly so, a lot of attention to the close to 300 that were kidnapped," she says. "We heard through various people that some had escaped that night and when it came to our attention that about a dozen wanted to come to AUN, we thought, we can do that!" She did more then just raise the funds. When the parents agreed to release their girls into her care, she and her security director traveled -- just the two of them -- to the outskirts of Chibok to go and get the girls, in spite of the insecurity. Even on campus, though, the specter of Boko Haram is never far away. The American University is in Adamawa state, one of the states in North East Nigeria that is under a state of emergency. This calls for constant vigilance at the school: Cars are

Summary: Nigerian girls escaped after Boko Haram abducted them from school . They hope to help their country by finishing their education .


Kano, Nigeria (CNN)Boko Haram, the Islamist extremist group already blamed for numerous horrific attacks in West Africa, posted a graphic video online Monday showing the apparent beheadings of two men who the group said were suspected spies. The six-minute video shows two men with their arms tied to their backs. They are made to face the camera on their knees, with another man towering over one of them brandishing a knife. The knife-wielding man reaches toward the throat of one of the kneeling men, then the video switches scenes to show what appear to be the bloody severed heads of the two men placed on their headless bodies. The SITE Intelligence group, which monitors extremist activities, released a translated transcript from the video, including what SITE called an "interrogation" of one of the two men. The man identifies himself as a farmer from the Nigerian town of Baga. He says he was told by a policeman that if he provided information about "the residents who live in here ... I will become rich and never go back to be a farmer again." The apparent beheadings then follow on the video. SITE said the video, which included Arabic, English and French subtitles, was posted online via Twitter and "borrows certain elements from productions" of beheadings by ISIS. The video was posted by the media division of Boko Haram, SITE said. Although this is the first purported beheading video Boko Haram posted online. the group has previously issued more detailed and extremely violent beheading videos directly to journalists through intermediaries. Unlike the video posted Monday, previous ones have shown the actual decapitations. In October 2014, Boko Haram handed out a 10-minute video showing the decapitation of a Nigerian military pilot the group said it had seized a month earlier after shooting down his fighter jet during a mission against Boko Haram in northeast Nigeria. In April 2014, the Islamist group released 16-minute video showing what it said was the beheading of a soldier its fighters captured in a battle in Sambisa forest, the group's main enclave. In February 2014, another video showing the beheading of an alleged informant who led the military to a Boko Haram camp in Sambisa forest during an offensive was issued by the group. And in February 2010, Boko Haram released a 12-minute video in which two policemen were beheaded in an undisclosed location. Those videos all ended with a speech from an "executioner" warning that the group would carry out similar punishment for anyone it captures supporting the Nigerian government against it. Observers of Boko Haram, which has inflicted years of terror on northern Nigeria, note that its actions in the past six months have frequently mimicked those of ISIS -- from punishments such as stoning and beheading of its victims to taking territory and an increasingly sophisticated use of social media that's very much in the ISIS "style." Jacob Zenn, who follows Boko Haram's operations and propaganda closely, recently told CNN, "It's clear Boko Haram is leaning toward ISIS in terms of doctrine, ideology and an emphasis on

Summary: A video posted by Boko Haram shows the apparent beheading of two men . The video is similar in style and content to beheading videos posted by ISIS . "It's clear Boko Haram is leaning toward ISIS," says an expert who monitors Boko Haram .


(CNN)The first state visit to the United States of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Officer Abdullah Abdullah was supposed to take place in early March. But the visit was delayed because Republican leaders had invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address Congress during the same time period. According to two Afghan government officials involved in the planning for the visit, the Afghan government believed American media attention would be largely focused on Netanyahu, so the first U.S. visit of the new Afghan president was delayed by two weeks, which is a useful reminder that there is a sound reason why congressional leaders shouldn't unilaterally extend invitations to foreign leaders. Ghani and Abdullah arrived in Washington on Sunday and have had much to discuss with the Obama administration. For the Afghan government, the timetable of President Barack Obama's proposed troop withdrawal is the key issue. Obama says that the last American troops will leave Afghanistan at the end of 2016. This happens to roughly coincide with the end of his second term in office and also fulfills his campaign promise to wind down America's post-9/11 wars. Ghani is clearly uncomfortable with the pace of this U.S. troop withdrawal, telling CBS' "60 Minutes" in January, "deadlines should not be dogmas" and that there should be a "willingness to reexamine" the withdrawal date. Is Obama's withdrawal plan a wise policy? Short answer: Of course not. One only has to look at the debacle that has unfolded in Iraq after the withdrawal of U.S. troops at the end of 2011 to have a sneak preview of what could take place in an Afghanistan without some kind of residual American presence. Without American forces in the country, there is a strong possibility Afghanistan could host a reinvigorated Taliban allied to a reinvigorated al Qaeda, not to mention ISIS, which is gaining a foothold in the region. Needless to say, this would be a disaster for Afghanistan. But it would also be quite damaging to U.S. interests to have some kind of resurgent al Qaeda in the country where the group trained the hijackers for the 9/11 attacks. It would also be disastrous for the Democratic Party, should it win the presidency in 2016, to be the party that "lost" Afghanistan. After all, the Democratic Party is viewed by some as weaker on national security than the Republicans and it is inevitable that without some kind of residual American presence in Afghanistan, al Qaeda would gain sufficient strength to launch an attack from the Afghan-Pakistan border region against American interests somewhere in the world. On Tuesday, President Obama announced that the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan would be slowed and the remaining 9,800 troops would stay there through the end of 2015. But this welcome development does not change the central issue, which is the Obama administration's withdrawal date of December 2016 for all U.S. forces. Merely because the Obama administration will be almost out the door at the end of 2016 doesn't mean that suddenly at the same time that the Taliban will

Summary: President Obama is planning withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Afghanistan by end of 2016 . Peter Bergen: The move would invite the kind of chaos we've seen in Iraq .


(CNN)Southerners, don't pack your sweaters or heavy coats away just yet. You're probably going to need them for a few days. A cold front is headed across the country. Enjoy the warmth until it gets where you are, because after that temperatures are going to drop 20 degrees or more before you know it. And it's not just the South that will have to put up with the cold. Almost a third of the people in the United States are bundling up and looking up to the sky. Another widespread winter event was shaping up Wednesday afternoon, and it looks as if it will last through Thursday. About 92 million people are under some sort of winter weather warning, watch or advisory. The wintery weather will eventually extend nearly 2,000 miles, from New Mexico to Massachusetts. For once, Boston won't be worried about a being a segment leader in snow totals. Looks likes that will be Kentucky, where some spots could see 6 to 10 inches. Other areas will have to worry about heavy rain dumped by the slow moving front. Cities in southeast Missouri, western Kentucky, northern Tennessee and western Pennsylvania might get 2 to 4 inches. Rain will transition to snowfall across many states as colder air pushes in behind the front as it moves to the southeast. The National Weather Service warned that flooding could be an issue, especially across the lower Ohio Valley and western Mid-Atlantic regions. CNN affiliate WCHS reported a mudslide in Mingo County resulted in one woman going to the hospital. There are concerns about ice and the potential for power outages. Arkansas, northern Mississippi and western Tennessee will get the brunt of the icy weather. Some areas could see more than a third of an inch of ice accumulation. Sleet and ice are expected to make things messy in the Dallas area. The precipitation was causing problems at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, where more than 630 arrivals and departures were canceled or delayed. Nationwide, more than 3,800 flights were delayed, according to the air traffic tracking website FlightAware. At least 1,750 were canceled. Things will be worse Thursday, at least as cancellations go. More than 2,000 flights with U.S. ties have been scrubbed. So far this season Boston has seen 105.7 inches -- almost 9 feet -- of snow. That's just 1.9 inches short of the record set nine years ago. More snow is expected from this system, but it's only likely to be 1 inch Wednesday as the forecast models indicate the majority of snow will stay south of the city. There is a slim chance of snow on Thursday, followed by days of sunshine and temperatures near 40 by Monday. CNN meteorologists Dave Hennen and Matt Daniel contributed to this report.

Summary: More than 5,000 flights with U.S. ties canceled or delayed . People in Louisville and other cities in Kentucky will have plenty of snowman-building material . Boston is close to a season snow record, but it's iffy this system will provide enough to top the mark .


(CNN)An investigation by the Charlottesville, Virginia, Police Department has found no "substantive basis" to support the allegations of a University of Virginia student that she was gang raped at a fraternity there. The allegations were first revealed in a story in Rolling Stone magazine that was initially widely circulated and then increasingly widely doubted. "That doesn't mean that something terrible didn't happen to Jackie" on the day in question, Police Chief Tim Longo said regarding the UVA student and her allegations. And Longo said he welcomes any further information that may still be out there. That said, there remains one thing we certainly do know — that gang rapes just like what Jackie originally alleged do happen -- too often, and all over America. Here's one measure: Today the Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Statistics released a new report showing that 80% of college rapes and sexual assaults go unreported to police, and 67% of such attacks by non-students go unreported. It would be a terrible and infuriating mistake to use the confusion around Jackie's story as a convenient way to discount this reality. While Rolling Stone's reporting was clearly shoddy, for example, some writers who initially poked holes in Jackie's story did so for ideological motives. For instance, even before the reporting lapses were revealed, conservative commentator Jonah Goldberg called Jackie's story unbelievable. "It is not credible," Goldberg wrote in the Los Angeles Times. "I don't believe it." Instead, Goldberg insisted, Jackie's account was "a convenient conversation for an exposé of rape culture," something, incidentally, Goldberg also doubts to be real. "'Rape culture' suggests that there is a large and obvious belief system that condones and enables rape as an end in itself in America," Goldberg later wrote in National Review. It's all hogwash, says Goldberg, alleging that the very idea of "rape culture" is just "an elaborate political lie intended to strengthen the hand of activists." In other words, whatever the reality of what happened to Jackie, Goldberg and others were skeptical because they simply don't believe rapes like that happen with the participation of groups of assailants, let alone the complicity of bystanders. This is where they're mistaken. On October 24, 2009, in Richmond, California, a 15-year-old girl was repeatedly raped by a group of young men in a courtyard outside their high school homecoming dance. Six assailants were eventually tried and ultimately pleaded guilty or were convicted. Over two hours, as the assault occurred, as many as 20 other people watched. "As people announced over time that this was going on, more people came to see, and some actually participated," said Lt. Mark Gagan of the Richmond Police Department. The witnesses didn't report the crime to police. On August 12, 2012, a 16-year-old girl who was incapacitated by alcohol was raped by two high school football players in Steubenville, Ohio. In the backseat of a car and later in the basement of a house, the two assailants stripped their victim naked and took turns, one inserting his fingers into her vagina, the other forcing his penis into

Summary: Sally Kohn: Facts hazy on UVA rape allegations, but victim-blaming is back in the mix . She says poor Rolling Stone reporting gave some license to discredit notion of rape culture .


(CNN)"Saturday Night Live" cast member Kate McKinnon got rave reviews for her impression of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as she delved into the topic we're all wondering about. So, what does the fake Clinton have to say about her use of personal email address to conduct government business? "Those emails are clean as a whistle. This is not how Hillary Clinton goes down," McKinnon's wild-eyed Clinton said, laughing at the idea that the emails would be her undoing. "There will be no mistakes on my rise to the top -- if I decide to run. Who knows?" she said, throwing her hands in their air. She offered a peek at her take on "mature romance" by showing a "Happy Anniversary" email to U.S. President Bill Clinton addressed "Dear Sir or Madam." "SNL" viewers on Twitter thought she nailed Clinton's cool-as-ice demeanor.

Summary: Kate McKinnon hit another "SNL" impression out of the park as Hillary Clinton . Her "Clinton" discussed the controversy over a private email account .


(CNN)The attack on Mark Lippert, the U.S. ambassador to South Korea, allegedly by a knife-wielding Korean progressive activist at a breakfast meeting in Seoul, was a rare and shocking reminder of the ongoing conflict that continues to divide the Korean Peninsula. Despite the ever-present backdrop of inter-Korean tensions, security in downtown Seoul is typically quite relaxed. But on Thursday morning local time, the alleged assailant, who has been tied to Korean nationalist and anti-U.S. protests, reportedly shouted his opposition to annual U.S.-South Korean joint military exercises and called for Korean reunification as he cut the ambassador on the face and hand with a 10-inch knife. This breakfast meeting with Lippert was taking place at a building directly across the street from the U.S. Embassy in Seoul. And the scene was probably not too different from a similar breakfast meeting I attended with the ambassador at a downtown hotel only a week before the attack. Lippert moved freely without a security detail or security screenings at the entrance to the venue, and was accompanied by only one or two embassy staff. Indeed, even since 9/11, it is relatively easy to enter most large buildings in downtown Seoul, and security procedures have been generally perfunctory. In part this is because direct confrontations between South Korean citizens and U.S. government representatives in South Korea have been rare, and violent political attacks are unusual. True, there have been periodic group protests against the U.S. military presence in South Korea or against U.S. policy. But these protests have generally been conducted peacefully, a far cry from the environment of the 1980s, when pro-democracy protesters against a then-authoritarian South Korean government attacked and burned U.S. government facilities. Yet although downtown Seoul has been relatively safe and public security has often been lax, violent attacks on public figures in South Korea are in fact not unprecedented. The attack on Lippert brings to mind a May 2006 attack by a knife-wielding assailant on Park Geun-hye, South Korea's current President, while she was campaigning in local elections in Daejeon. (Her calm demeanor despite receiving a facial laceration contributed to her reputation as a politician and future President who is cool in the midst of a crisis.) The attack on Park wasn't the only time the dangers inherent in South Korea's lax security environment have been exposed: Back in 2008, a lone arsonist burned to the ground Seoul's unguarded Namdaemun, or South Gate, a South Korean cultural treasure. And of course, there is the backdrop of the ongoing inter-Korean confrontation, which plays out within Korean democracy in the form of a bitter confrontation between progressive and conservative factions. There is speculation that some members of South Korea's progressive movement have ties with North Korea, and some of them have allegedly been somewhat willing to foment violence to stir up conflict within South Korean society. Most recently, some members of South Korea's left-leaning United Progressive Party, which had won seats in South Korea's National Assembly, were disbarred and convicted of plotting a violent insurrection, leading to the dissolution of the party itself. And

Summary: Mark Lippert, U.S. ambassador to South Korea, was attacked in Seoul . Scott Snyder: Attacks on public figures in South Korea not unprecedented .


Mogadishu, Somalia (CNN)A siege that started with gunmen detonating a bomb and spraying bullets in a hotel in Somalia ended Saturday with at least 20 people dead, authorities said. Among the dead was a Somali-American woman, Fahia Bashir Nur, 45, of Alexandria, Virginia, according to her uncle, Yusuf Kheire. He said Nur and her mother were dining in the hotel when the attack began. The mother lost an arm in the attack and was hospitalized. The attack, which lasted hours, began when gunmen raided the hotel in Mogadishu on Friday evening. Yusuf Mohamed Ismail Bari-Bari, Somalia's permanent representative to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, was among those killed in the attack, the Somali government said. "He will be remembered for his strong personal commitment to protecting and promoting human rights for all," Nicholas Kay, special representative of the United Nations Secretary-General to Somalia, said of Bari-Bari. Islamist militant group Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility. The attack started about 5 p.m. local time when a car bomb exploded at the hotel's entrance, according to witness Aden Hussein, who said he was nearby when the blast happened. Gunmen then stormed into the hotel and opened fire, Hussein said. They overpowered the hotel's security guards, said police Capt. Ahmed Abdi, adding that the gunbattle between Somali special forces and the attackers lasted at least 17 hours. One of the attackers, who was wearing a belt with explosives, blew himself up inside the hotel, police Capt. Ahmed Abdi said. Some members of the terror group "stormed into the first, second and third floors of the hotel where rooms are located and held several people hostage," according to a statement from the African Union Commission in Somalia, a peacekeeping mission. The Makka Al Mukarama hotel, located along a highway leading to the country's presidential palace, is popular with lawmakers, journalists, business people and Somalis returning home from abroad. Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud condemned the attack as a "heinous and inhuman act" in an interview with state-run Radio Mogadishu during an official visit to Egypt. In a statement, Somali Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke said Al-Shabaab's "talk of 'legitimate targets' and 'justification'" exposes "the sham logic behind their lust for terror." "These terrorists contradict Islam and betray Somalia," he said. The injured, along with the bodies of the dead, could not be removed from the hotel until after the hours-long gunfight. More than 10 people, most of them Kenyan nationals who worked at the hotel, were rescued, police said. Al-Shabaab said it targeted the hotel because its guests are spies and government officials. The terror group has been active in Somalia for years. Initially, its goal was implementing a stricter form of Islamic law, or Sharia, by warring against the Somali government. It has since shifted its focus to launching terror attacks in Somalia and beyond. "We reiterate again that there will be no safe haven for the crusaders and apostates in Somalia, and that our attacks on them will continue until the enemy of Allah (is) defeated and his law is implemented fully in Somalia," the

Summary: Somali-American Fahia Bashir Nur of Virginia was killed in the attack, her uncle says . Witness: Attackers detonate a car bomb, then shoot people inside hotel . The hotel is popular with lawmakers, journalists and business people .


(CNN)New Zealand police have revealed a threat to contaminate infant formula and other dairy formula with poison, in an apparent attempt to blackmail the government over its pest control policies. Police appealed for public help to find the alleged blackmailer, at a press conference in Wellington Tuesday. They revealed an investigation had been underway since November, when anonymous letters were sent to giant dairy cooperative Fonterra and a farmers' lobby group. The letters were accompanied by small packages of milk powder containing a concentrated form of 1080 (sodium fluoroacetate), a poison used by New Zealand's Department of Conservation to control introduced pest species such as possums and rats. The letters threatened to contaminate infant and other formula with 1080 unless New Zealand stopped using the poison for pest control by the end of March, police said in a statement. The letters said the threat would be made public if the demand was not met. New Zealand's heavy use of 1080 -- it uses about 80% of the world's manufactured stocks, according the country's Environmental Protection Agency -- has been a controversial issue, with conservationists and farmers generally supporting the measure, and some hunters and animal rights activists opposed. Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy said the threat amounted to "eco-terrorism." Prime Minister John Key said at a press conference that police had advised that there was a low likelihood of the threat being carried out. Meanwhile, government officials said supplies of formula had not been contaminated, and urged consumers to continue using the products. "We are confident that New Zealand infant and other formula is just as safe today as it was before this threat was made," said Scott Gallacher, Deputy Director-General of the Ministry for Primary Industries. "People should keep using it as they always have." He said more than 40,000 samples had been taken without finding a trace of 1080, and food security measures had also been boosted in response. These included a strengthened security measures in retail stores and a boosted presence at manufacturing sites, and enhanced milk and product testing, including the introduction of a test for 1080. "This criminal threat is designed to cause fear in order to generate a political outcome. It is using food as a vehicle but should not undermine confidence in our world-class food safety system or in any manufacturer," he said. He urged consumers to check formula packaging for any signs of tampering as a result of the threat. Police said an Auckland-based investigation team was pursuing a number of lines of inquiry in locating the source of the threat, but the time was right to appeal to the public. "Whilst there is a possibility that this threat is a hoax, we must treat the threat seriously and a priority investigation is underway," said Deputy Commissioner Mike Clement. "You might be aware of someone who has strong views on the 1080 issue and made threats, or has discussed how to access supplies of 1080." He also called on the alleged blackmailer to come forward. "The letter writer may not have really considered the

Summary: New Zealand police reveal threat to poison infant formula . Letters were sent containing contaminated formula and a demand to government . The letters called for government to halt use of 1080 poison in pest control efforts .


(CNN)Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch will read a specially-written poem at the "funeral" of Richard III, the King found buried beneath a parking lot -- his own distant relative. Oscar-nominated Cumberbatch, who is to star as Richard III in an upcoming TV adaptation, will read a verse penned for the service by Britain's poet laureate, Carol Ann Duffy. The 14-line verse, titled simply "Richard," will remain a closely-guarded secret until the service of reinterment at Leicester Cathedral on Thursday. All the organizers will say is that it is a "meditation on the impact of [Richard's] finding and on the legacy of his story." They also have revealed that it contains the phrase "grant me the carving of my name," recognizing that Richard III's grave was lost for centuries, with no tombstone to mark its location. In a statement, Duffy said it was "a privilege to be involved, in a small way" in the farewell to Richard, the last English King to die in battle, 530 years ago. Cumberbatch's reading will form part of a service of reinterment for the medieval monarch, which will be led by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby. Key figures in the rediscovery and identification of the royal remains, including historians, archaeologists, scientists and relatives are expected to attend, along with members of the public who won a ballot for tickets. Queen Elizabeth II has written a message to be included in the order of service for the event, at which she will be represented by the Countess of Wessex. On Sunday, tens of thousands of people lined the streets of Leicester and its surrounding villages as Richard III's coffin was carried out to the site of the Battle of Bosworth, where he was killed in 1485, and back in a procession. Since then, people have queued around the block to see it lying "in repose" in the cathedral where it will be reinterred in a tomb made of pale Swaledale fossil limestone from Yorkshire, set on a plinth of black Kilkenny marble. Richard III's remains were found in August 2012 by archaeologists searching for the remains of the Greyfriars Monastery, which had been covered over by a council car park. The skeleton has been studied at the University of Leicester ever since, allowing scientists to discover a host of details about Richard III's life -- and death -- by analyzing the bones. The university's genealogy expert, Kevin Shurer, has discovered that Cumberbatch is related to Richard III. "Benedict is Richard III's second cousin, 16 removed," Shurer explained. "He is linked in several ways, but ... the shortest is via Richard's mother, Cecily Neville's grandmother, Joan Beaufort. He also has more indirect links to both Queen Elizabeth II and Lady Jane Grey through other ancestors in his [family] tree. "It is great that Benedict has the opportunity to take part in the ceremony ... having him there will add another dimension to what has already been a momentous week." Shurer also helped confirm the link between the last Plantagenet King and living relatives Michael Ibsen and Wendy Duldig, whose

Summary: Richard III's remains will be reinterred Thursday in Leicester Cathedral . Oscar-nominated Benedict Cumberbatch -- a distant relative -- will read poem at service . Long-lost skeleton was discovered beneath a parking lot in August 2012 .


(CNN)Actress Liza Minnelli has entered a rehab facility for her addictions, a spokesman said. "Liza Minnelli has valiantly battled substance abuse over the years and whenever she has needed to seek treatment she has done so," said spokesman Scott Gorenstein. "She is currently making excellent progress at an undisclosed facility." The 68-year-old has struggled with addictions to alcohol and painkillers in the past. Minnelli won an Oscar in 1973 for her performance in "Cabaret." CNN's Topher Gauk-Roger contributed to this report .

Summary: Minnelli won an Academy Award for her performance in "Cabaret" She has struggled with addictions to alcohol and painkillers in the past .


(CNN)The collapse of marriage in our poorest communities -- and its tragic impact -- is a familiar story. But increasingly, marriage is becoming a marker of class privilege in America, something increasingly reserved for the affluent. If progressives want to tackle the scourge of inequality, then the retreat from marriage is an issue they can't ignore. The reality is that the retreat from marriage is pervading the working middle class -- the two-thirds of Americans without a college degree. This is occurring even as in upscale America, marital bonds remain comparatively strong. "This is the marriage gap, and it's something new in America," declares a manifesto on "marriage opportunity" unveiled in a recent Washington Monthly cover story. It was penned by four astute social and political analysts, David Blankenhorn, Jonathan Rauch, Barbara Dafoe Whitehead and Bill Galston. (Full disclosure: I'm a signer of their statement.) "Over the past several decades, the norm of marriage has eroded across all economic and educational classes, but much less among the elite," they write. "But for millions of middle- and lower-class Americans, marriage is increasingly beyond reach, creating more fractured and difficult family lives, more economic insecurity for single parents, less social mobility for those on the lower rungs of the economic ladder, more childhood stress, and a fraying of our common culture." True, overall U.S. marriage rates have fallen from 72% of U.S. adults in 1960 to just 51% in 2012, according to The Economist. But drill a little deeper into the data, and a marital class divide emerges. Less than half of men with high school degrees are married, compared with 76% of men with college degrees. The pattern is similar among women, except that those with graduate degrees have somewhat lower marriage rates than those with four-year college degrees. And because the college-educated tend to look for mates with similar education and earning power, their unions push them even higher up the income scale -- further widening the economic gulf between marital haves and have-nots. Marriage in America, it seems, is becoming another luxury item for economic elites to enjoy. So why should we worry? "Declining marriage rates may not be concerning on their own, but while Americans are forgoing marriage, they are not forgoing childbearing," say Isabel Sawhill and Joanna Venator of the Brookings Institution. More than 40% of children are born outside wedlock today (including nearly three-quarters of black children). And a raft of social research shows that children who grow up in married, two-parent families do better in school and in life than those who don't. It's true that more children are being raised by cohabiting couples, but in the United States (unlike some European countries) these relationships tend to be unstable and short-lived. Some see the decline of marriage as stemming from a tectonic cultural shift -- the rise of feminism and the surge of women into work -- that has blurred the old division of familial labor between male breadwinners and female homemakers. But economic changes, mainly the disappearance of manufacturing jobs, automation and wage stagnation, have played

Summary: Will Marshall: Retreat from marriage is pervading the working middle class . Marriage in America is becoming another luxury item for economic elites, he says .


(CNN)Researchers say Dr. Ben Carson may be a brain surgeon, but science shows he's dead wrong about how sexual orientation works. Wednesday on CNN, Carson, a retired neurosurgeon and potential Republican presidential candidate, said he "absolutely" believes being gay is a choice. But scientists say decades of research overwhelmingly shows sexual preference is inborn, not a choice. "It doesn't seem to be the social environment, it doesn't seem to be the parents or peers that make you gay," said Gerulf Rieger, a lecturer in the department of psychology at the University of Essex in England. "It seems to be something that comes from within." "Sexual orientation is biologically determined," added Cynthia Struckman-Johnson, a professor of psychology at the University of South Dakota. "I don't think any educated person aware of the research would argue differently." In a statement Wednesday, Carson apologized for what he said on CNN, and softened his words, saying the verdict is still out on whether people are born with their sexual preference. "I do not pretend to know how every individual came to their sexual orientation," he added. While science is seldom definitive about anything, especially something as complicated as why we love who we love, researchers say the preponderance of the evidence shows sexual orientation is not chosen. They point to studies showing children are aware of their sexual orientation at a young age. Plus, genetic studies suggest homosexuality runs in families. Finally, researchers have found that the very structure of the brain -- specifically, regions of the hypothalamus -- differs in gay and heterosexual men. "Ask a bunch of straight guys [if they could switch to being gay] and they would tell you, 'Are you kidding me?" Rieger said. "So the other way around doesn't work either." So what was Carson's scientific support for his argument that being gay is a choice? He pointed to prisons. "A lot of people who go into prison go into prison straight - and when they come out, they're gay. So, did something happen while they were in there? Ask yourself that question," Carson told CNN's Chris Cuomo. Experts on sexual activity in prisons challenged the very premise of Carson's statement, calling it "preposterous" and "appalling." "To, in any way, suggest that a person would go in as a heterosexual and then somehow become a homosexual as a result, that's simply preposterous. There's no evidence to support that," said Robert Dumond, a mental health counselor who's testified to the Department of Justice about rape in prison. Prisoners do engage in homosexual practices, but that doesn't mean they've gone from straight to gay, the experts said. Prisoners are often raped, they say, or coerced to engage in sex in exchange for protection from violent prisoners. "They're physically forced or forced through blackmail to engage in sex," Struckman-Johnson said. "To have someone say this is chosen is just showing such great disregard for what we know about the world of sexual assault in prison." Opinion: Prison doesn't make people 'come out' gay . The prisoners who are perpetrating the rape are often

Summary: Scientists say decades of research overwhelmingly shows sexual preference is inborn, not a choice . Dr. Ben Carson told CNN that being gay is a choice and pointed to prisoners who go in straight and leave gay . Prisoners do engage in homosexual practices, but that doesn't mean they've gone from straight to gay, experts say .


(CNN)Her murder shocked a nation, but according to the slain woman's father, it also woke Turkey up. Ozgecan Aslan's body was found last month, burned and abandoned, just days after her family reported her missing. She allegedly fought off a sexual assault before being killed by the driver of a bus she'd taken to go home. Her death sparked widespread protests. "A country woke up," Aslan's father, Mehmet Aslan, told CNN in a phone interview. "There was no way for so many people to come together over a single killing. But, I know that my Ozgecan was sent for a reason. And as devastating it is, it was her part, her destiny to wake people up." Aslan, 20, was a first-year university student. She studied psychology. "My Ozge lived for peace," her father said. "For peace, love and beauty. She believed in a better tomorrow." Since her death, hundreds of thousands of protesters have taken to the streets and online, demanding Turkey do more to protect women. They say the problem is cultural; it's also criminal. Bianet, a Turkish group that tracks violence against women, reports that at least 281 women were killed in Turkey in 2014 -- up 31% from the previous year. According to Hulya Gulbahar, a Turkish activist and women's rights lawyer, laws are irregularly applied. "In a majority of Turkey's female abuse cases, the perpetrators receive mitigations in their sentences due to court's detection of consent granted by the victim," Gulbahar said. "In some cases, wearing a miniskirt or some cleavage got the woman's rapist mitigation in his punishment, while in some cases the consent was attached to her wearing red." It's unclear what will happen in Aslan's case. Three suspects have been arrested in her death, Turkey's semiofficial news agency Anadolu has reported. The agency identified the main suspect as 26-year-old Ahmet Suphi Altindoken and said that he had confessed. Aslan reportedly fought him using pepper spray, which had been given to her by her mother. Although he is heartbroken and angry, Mehmet Aslan isn't out for revenge. In fact, his family has received donations from across the country and is planning to use those to set up a rehabilitation center -- not for women who are abused but for men who abuse. "We must surrender to love," he told CNN. "Otherwise, we all lose." Aslan's murder is similar in many ways to well-known case in India. There, a student was attacked by five men on a public bus in 2012. She was raped and later died from her injuries. Like Aslan's murder, her death triggered massive outrage and nationwide protests. And like Turkey, India has a serious problem when it comes to women's rights. Out of 142 countries, Turkey ranks 125th (India ranks 114th) on the World Economic Forum's 2014 gender gap index. On Sunday, some 3,000 women marched in Istanbul to mark International Women's Day, Anadolu reported. The female-only rally was dedicated in Aslan's memory. "Ozgecan's screams have indeed been heard. Maybe not that very instant, but later -- and in millions of hearts," said

Summary: Ozgecan Aslan allegedly fought off a sexual assault before being killed . Her death triggered widespread protests, including one on International Women's Day .


Fall River, Massachusetts (CNN)Shayanna Jenkins, the fiancee of former New England Patriots star Aaron Hernandez, revealed for the first time Monday she suspects marijuana was in a box she was instructed to remove from the couple's home the day after the slaying of Odin Lloyd in 2013. Hernandez has been charged with murder and has pleaded not guilty to orchestrating the death of Lloyd, the boyfriend of Shayanna Jenkins' sister and semipro football player who was found dead June 17, 2013. Hernandez has also pleaded not guilty to a gun and ammunition charge. His co-defendants, Ernest Wallace and Carlos Ortiz, have also pleaded not guilty and will be tried separately. For the first time, Shayanna Jenkins told jurors on Monday the box smelled "skunky," making her think it was marijuana. Her new description came during cross-examination. Earlier, she told prosecutors during direct examination that she didn't know what was in the box, said Hernandez never told her, nor did she look. Jenkins testified Friday that on the day after Lloyd's slaying, her fiance called her with instructions that it was important to discard the box. On Monday, she described his tone as "normal" when he made the request and said she had never been asked by prosecutors what she thought the box smelled like. "Were you ever asked what you thought was in the box?" asked Hernandez lawyer Charles Rankin about her previous testimony to the grand jury. "Never," said Jenkins. "Were you ever asked if it had any smell to it?" he asked. "Never," she replied. Jenkins' revelation contradicts the prosecution's previous suspicion that the weapon used in the slaying was in the box. No weapon in the case has been recovered. Home surveillance video played inside the courtroom Monday showed Shayanna Jenkins hoisting a black garbage bag from her home and putting it in a trunk of her sister's car. At the time, Shaneah Jenkins had been at her home grieving over the death of her boyfriend. Shaneah Jenkins was present in court on Monday and cried while listening to the testimony and watching the video of her sister Shayanna carrying the trash bag. The two sisters now barely speak to each other. Shaneah Jenkins sits next to Lloyd's mother in the courtroom on the opposite side of Hernandez's defense team. After concealing the box with her daughter's clothing, Shayanna Jenkins said she disposed of it at a location she cannot remember. "I found a random dumpster, and put it in there," she told Bristol County District Attorney William McCauley. When questioned about her inability to remember the dumpster's location and other details, Shayanna Jenkins said she had been unsettled at the time. "I was nervous. I had to comfort my sister. Everyone's emotions were on me, and it was a form of breaking down at that point," she said. On Monday, Shayanna Jenkins was asked about what she called an "on-again, off-again" relationship with Hernandez, her high school sweetheart. She recalled spending time apart from Hernandez after discovering evidence of infidelity on Hernandez's phone. She told the court that

Summary: Aaron Hernandez is charged with first-degree murder in the slaying of Odin Lloyd . Hernandez's fiancee testifies that he asked her to discard a box after she had learned Lloyd was killed . No weapon has been found in Lloyd's slaying .


(CNN)British law enforcement officers have arrested a 23-year-old man suspected of hacking the U.S. Department of Defense and swiping data from a satellite-based system used by the military to communicate with people worldwide, UK authorities said Friday. This arrest was one of 56 made this week in 20 separate operations conducted by regional organized crime units, Metropolitan Police officers and others. The others caught range from a family of suspected fraudsters and a 16-year-old believed to be behind hundreds of cyberattacks, according to Britain's National Crime Agency. Yet the arrest that the agency highlighted most was the one that targeted the world's most powerful last June 15. On that date, someone hacked into the U.S. Department of Defense's servers and got data related to its "Enhanced Mobile Satellite Services" system. This included contact information -- including their names, emails and phone numbers -- of about 800 people and info on approximately 34,400 devices, the National Crime Agency reports. None of the hacked material was considered confidential, nor did it apparently include "sensitive data" or anything that "compromises U.S. national security interests," the British agency said. Still, the person responsible for the hack cryptically played it up big in a post to Pastebin, a website that allows for anonymous posts. Alongside screenshots of the dashboard used to control the Defense Department database, the hacker wrote, "We smite the Lizards, LizardSquad your time is near" in apparent reference to a notorious band of black-hat hackers. "We're in your bases, we control your satellites," the hacker adds. "The missiles shall rein (sic) upon they who claim alliance, watch your heads... We're one, we're many, we lurk in the dark, we're everywhere and anywhere." The 23-year-old suspected hacker was not identified by name, with the UK National Crime Agency saying only that he was arrested Wednesday morning in Sutton Coldfield,a Birmingham suburb in the West Midlands region. The U.S. military has been targeted by hackers before. Some of those actions have been blamed on ISIS sympathizers, like the January temporary takeover of the U.S. Central Command's Twitter account and YouTube page. And last year, U.S. federal officials accused four men of hacking into computer networks of the U.S. military and Microsoft and stealing more than $100 million worth of software, some it related to the video game "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3." There's no indication that the June hack had anything to do with ISIS or involved the theft of anything of much monetary value. Still, hacks from groups such as Lizard Squad and Anonymous can have a significant impact. Jeffrey Thorpe, special agent in charge with the U.S. Department of Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS), said in the UK government statement that "this arrest underscores DCIS commitment and the joint ongoing efforts among international law enforcement to stop cyber criminals in their tracks." "DCIS special agents will use every tool at their disposal to pursue and bring to justice those who attack the Department of Defense," Thorpe said. CNN's Ed Payne and Claudia Rebaza contributed to this report.

Summary: The 23-year-old man was one of dozens arrested in similar operations around Britain . After the hack, he allegedly wrote online, "We're in your bases, we control your satellites" No sensitive or confidential data was compromised in the hack, a British agency says .


(CNN)The recent controversy over a video showing University of Oklahoma students, who also were members of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, reciting a racist chant revealed a key difference in approaches to parenting. The university said Levi Pettit and Parker Rice encouraged their brothers to sing the lyrics, which included multiple references to the "n-word" and mention of lynching. The two young men were expelled. And the fraternity was shut down. What caught my attention was the reaction of the families — the Pettits and the Rices. They couldn't have been more different. That convinced me that this story wasn't just about racist and juvenile behavior, but also about parenting. Who raised these kids? And shouldn't they have been taught better? At some point, didn't it occur to these young men that they were not only shaming themselves, but also their families? In Dallas, protesters gathered outside the Rice home, holding signs with messages such as: "Racism is taught." Parker Rice issued a statement, which was delivered to the Dallas Morning News by his father, Bob Rice. In it, Parker apologized for actions that he called "wrong and reckless." However, Bob Rice had no response to the controversy. He told reporters: "At the moment, we are not doing interviews." That is not good enough. Parenthood isn't like politics. It doesn't come with a "no comment" button we can press when the job gets uncomfortable. We haven't heard from Levi Pettit. His parents, Brody and Susan, addressed their son's misbehavior in a statement, which was given to the newspaper and posted on the family's website. It read in part: . "As parents of Levi, we love him and care for him deeply. He made a horrible mistake, and will live with the consequences forever. However, we also know the depth of our son's character. He is a good boy, but what we saw in those videos is disgusting. While it may be difficult for those who only know Levi from the video to understand, we know his heart, and he is not a racist. ... "Of course, we are sad for our son -- but more importantly, we apologize to the community he has hurt. We would also like to apologize to the entire African-American community, University of Oklahoma student body and administration. Our family has the responsibility to apologize, and also to seek forgiveness and reconciliation." That's an impressive statement. I applaud the Pettits for stepping up and refusing to blindly defend their son, as many parents might have done. They did what parents are supposed to do: They took responsibility for the actions of the person they raised. Who knew that would be so controversial? Ever since the apologies were offered, there's been discussions in this country about whether it's really necessary for parents to apologize for the actions of their grown children. Last week, while hosting a radio show in San Diego, I brought up the story of the video and pointed to the different approaches that the Rices and the Pettits have to parenting -- all the way from

Summary: The controversy over University of Oklahoma students reciting a racist chant raises a number of issues . Ruben Navarrette: Is it necessary for parents to apologize for the bad actions of their grown children?