Anderson Cooper 360 http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com Thu, 09 Jul 2009 22:02:24 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ en hourly 1 http://www.gravatar.com/blavatar/6179e4c9e5bec9fe5be11e87f0cb64f6?s=96&d=http://s.wordpress.com/i/buttonw-com.png Anderson Cooper 360 http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com Subscribe with My Yahoo!Subscribe with NewsGatorSubscribe with My AOLSubscribe with BloglinesSubscribe with NetvibesSubscribe with GoogleSubscribe with Pageflakes What Have You Done in the Last 114 Days? http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/cnn_ac360blog/~3/pp-Hc1R1PoQ/ http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2009/07/09/what-have-you-done-in-the-last-114-days/#comments Thu, 09 Jul 2009 21:59:21 +0000 CNN http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/?p=45683 Mallika Chopra Intent.com
In the last 114 days, my little daughter graduated from pre-school. My elder daughter completed 1st grade. My little nephew began to speak in full sentences. My husband and I have fought and made up several times. I have traveled to NY, Colorado, SF, Paris and London. We have had several dinner parties, and watched exciting finals in the NBA Finals and Wimbledon.]]>

Mallika Chopra
Intent.com

In the last 114 days, my little daughter graduated from pre-school. My elder daughter completed 1st grade. My little nephew began to speak in full sentences. My husband and I have fought and made up several times. I have traveled to NY, Colorado, SF, Paris and London. We have had several dinner parties, and watched exciting finals in the NBA Finals and Wimbledon.

I have watched the Iran elections unfold into a potential revolution. I have watched with bated breath N. Korea test nuclear missiles. I have mourned the loss of Michael Jackson, who will go down in history as a legend, but who was also an old friend.

It has been 114 days since Laura Ling and Euna Lee were detained in N. Korea. 114 days of captivity in a foreign land, with almost no exposure to family or information. Two girls with a full life, with loving families.

Read more…

]]> http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2009/07/09/what-have-you-done-in-the-last-114-days/feed/ 0 CNN http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2009/07/09/what-have-you-done-in-the-last-114-days/ The affairs of Mormondom http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/cnn_ac360blog/~3/NHkb37H6fWY/ http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2009/07/09/the-affairs-of-mormondom/#comments Thu, 09 Jul 2009 21:40:56 +0000 CNN http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/?p=45673 Jon Krakauer
There are more than thirty thousand FLDS polygamists living in Canada, Mexico, and throughout the American West. Some experts estimate there may be as many as one hundred thousand. Even this larger number amounts to less than 1 percent of the membership in the LDS Church worldwide.]]>

Editor’s Note: This is an excerpt from Jon Krakauer’s book “Under the Banner of Heaven” about the Mormon faith. Krakauer is also known for his other books “Into the Wild”, “Into Thin Air” and “Eiger Dreams”. He won the Academy Award in Literature in 1999. Two Americans recently killed in Mexico, Benjamin LeBaron and Luis Widmar, lived in a Mexican township founded by ex-communicated Mormons.

Jon Krakauer
Random House

From “Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith”

Balanced atop the highest spire of the Salt Lake Temple, gleaming in the Utah sun, a statue of the angel Moroni stands watch over downtown Salt Lake City with his golden trumpet raised This massive granite edifice is the spiritual and temporal nexus of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), which presents itself as the world’s only true religion. Temple Square is to Mormons what the Vatican is to Catholics, or the Kaaba in Mecca is to Muslims. At last count there were more than eleven million Saints the world over, and Mormonism is the fastest-growing faith in the Western Hemisphere. At present in the United States there are more Mormons than Presbyterians or Episcopalians. On the planet as a whole, there are now more Mormons than Jews. Mormonism is considered in some sober academic circles to be well on its way to becoming a major world religion–the first such faith to emerge since Islam…

The affairs of Mormondom are directed by a cadre of elderly white males in dark suits who carry out their holy duties from a twenty-six-story office tower beside Temple Square. To a man, the LDS leadership adamantly insists that Lafferty should under no circumstances be considered a Mormon. The faith that moved Lafferty to slay his niece and sister-in-law is a brand of religion known as Mormon Fundamentalism; LDS Church authorities bristle visibly when Mormons and Mormon Fundamentalists are even mentioned in the same breath. As Gordon B. Hinckley, the then-eighty-eight-year-old LDS president and prophet, emphasized during a 1998 television interview on Larry King Live, “They have no connection with us whatever. They don’t belong to the church. There are actually no Mormon Fundamentalists.”…

There are more than thirty thousand FLDS polygamists living in Canada, Mexico, and throughout the American West. Some experts estimate there may be as many as one hundred thousand. Even this larger number amounts to less than 1 percent of the membership in the LDS Church worldwide, but all the same, leaders of the mainstream church are extremely discomfited by these legions of polygamous brethren. Mormon authorities treat the fundamentalists as they would a crazy uncle–they try to keep the “polygs” hidden in the attic, safely out of sight, but the fundamentalists always seem to be sneaking out to appear in public at inopportune moments to create unsavory scenes, embarrassing the entire LDS clan.
Read more…

]]> http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2009/07/09/the-affairs-of-mormondom/feed/ 0 CNN http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2009/07/09/the-affairs-of-mormondom/ Roadside bombs in Afghanistan – how deadly? http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/cnn_ac360blog/~3/YM80ly7y5Kw/ http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2009/07/09/roadside-bombs-top-threat-to-troops-in-afghanistan/#comments Thu, 09 Jul 2009 21:40:02 +0000 CNN http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/?p=45663 Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization The Pentagon
Look at the following statistics about coalition forces killed or wounded in Afghanistan by insurgent IEDs (improvised explosive devices) in 2009. A United States' top military official is calling them the "No. 1 threat" to troops there. June was the worst month yet in 2009.]]>

Program Note: Tonight, on AC 360º at 10 P.M. ET, Michael Ware joins us from the Middle East with the latest coverage on ther situation in Afghanistan.

An IED is exploded by U.S. Marines near the remote village of Baqwa, Afghanistan, in March.
An IED is exploded by U.S. Marines near the remote village of Baqwa, Afghanistan, in March.

Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization
The Pentagon

The Pentagon’s Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization reported the following statistics about coalition forces killed or wounded in Afghanistan by insurgent IEDs (improvised explosive devices) in 2009. A United States’ top military official is calling them the “No. 1 threat” to troops there. June was the worst month yet in 2009.

February: 18 killed, 33 wounded
March: 19 killed, 56 wounded
April: 6 killed, 52 wounded
May: 12 killed, 96 wounded
June: 23 killed, 166 wounded

Read more…

]]> http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2009/07/09/roadside-bombs-top-threat-to-troops-in-afghanistan/feed/ 0 CNN An IED is exploded by U.S. Marines near the remote village of Baqwa, Afghanistan, in March. http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2009/07/09/roadside-bombs-top-threat-to-troops-in-afghanistan/ Video: Musicians pay tribute – ‘United for Neda’ http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/cnn_ac360blog/~3/V_87vTthEsw/ http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2009/07/09/united-for-neda/#comments Thu, 09 Jul 2009 21:25:10 +0000 CNN http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/?p=45624 CNN
Mams Taylor and a group of Iranian superstars wrote a song honoring a young woman killed in post-election violence in Iran. ]]>
]]> http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2009/07/09/united-for-neda/feed/ 16 CNN http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2009/07/09/united-for-neda/ Mexico: Economics and the arms trade http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/cnn_ac360blog/~3/9Bld5OT3WHM/ http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2009/07/09/mexico-economics-and-the-arms-trade/#comments Thu, 09 Jul 2009 21:15:17 +0000 CNN http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/?p=45658 Scott Stewart and Fred Burton Global Security & Intelligence Report Stratfor
On June 26, the small Mexican town of Apaseo el Alto, in Guanajuato state, was the scene of a deadly firefight between members of Los Zetas and federal and local security forces. The engagement began when a joint patrol of Mexican soldiers and police officers responded to a report of heavily armed men at a suspected drug safe house. ]]>
Assault rifle magazines are among weapons seized in April in northern Mexico near the U.S. border.
Assault rifle magazines are among weapons seized in April in northern Mexico near the U.S. border.

Scott Stewart and Fred Burton
Global Security & Intelligence Report
Stratfor

On June 26, the small Mexican town of Apaseo el Alto, in Guanajuato state, was the scene of a deadly firefight between members of Los Zetas and federal and local security forces. The engagement began when a joint patrol of Mexican soldiers and police officers responded to a report of heavily armed men at a suspected drug safe house. When the patrol arrived, a 20-minute firefight erupted between the security forces and gunmen in the house as well as several suspects in two vehicles who threw fragmentation grenades as they tried to escape.

When the shooting ended, 12 gunmen lay dead, 12 had been taken into custody and several soldiers and police officers had been wounded. At least half of the detained suspects admitted to being members of Los Zetas, a highly trained Mexican cartel group known for its use of military weapons and tactics.

When authorities examined the safe house they discovered a mass grave that contained the remains of an undetermined number of people (perhaps 14 or 15) who are believed to have been executed and then burned beyond recognition by Los Zetas. The house also contained a large cache of weapons, including assault rifles and fragmentation grenades. Such military ordinance is frequently used by Los Zetas and the enforcers who work for their rival cartels.

Read more…

]]> http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2009/07/09/mexico-economics-and-the-arms-trade/feed/ 0 CNN Assault rifle magazines are among weapons seized in April in northern Mexico near the U.S. border. http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2009/07/09/mexico-economics-and-the-arms-trade/ More associates link Jackson to prescription drugs http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/cnn_ac360blog/~3/989bHJiGerE/ http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2009/07/09/more-associates-link-jackson-to-prescription-drugs/#comments Thu, 09 Jul 2009 20:57:45 +0000 CNN http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/?p=45652 Alan Duke and Saeed Ahmed CNN
It was not surprising that investigators found bottles of prescription drugs in Michael Jackson's home, the singer's dermatologist said, as two sources told CNN that Jackson's sister Janet attempted an intervention two years ago. ]]>
Dr. Arnold Klein, who was Michael Jackson's dermatologist, said he warned the singer about drug use.
Dr. Arnold Klein, who was Michael Jackson's dermatologist, said he warned the singer about drug use.

Alan Duke and Saeed Ahmed
CNN

It was not surprising that investigators found bottles of prescription drugs in Michael Jackson’s home, the singer’s dermatologist said, as two sources told CNN that Jackson’s sister Janet attempted an intervention two years ago.

I’m very shocked by it, but I have to tell you it’s not something that would be unheard of,” Dr. Arnold Klein said Wednesday on CNN’s “Larry King Live,” adding that he repeatedly warned Jackson about the danger of such drugs.

Meanwhile, two sources close to the Jackson family said Wednesday that sister Janet, the pop star, was so worried after visiting the emaciated singer in 2007 that she tried to stage an intervention with assistance from her other brothers.

Michael Jackson reportedly ordered his security guards not to let the family members in. He also refused to take calls from his mother, Katherine.

“If you tried to deal with him, he would shut you out,” one source said. “You just wouldn’t hear from him for long periods.”

]]> http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2009/07/09/more-associates-link-jackson-to-prescription-drugs/feed/ 4 CNN Dr. Arnold Klein, who was Michael Jackson's dermatologist, said he warned the singer about drug use. http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2009/07/09/more-associates-link-jackson-to-prescription-drugs/ Video: Jackson drug intervention? http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/cnn_ac360blog/~3/Lo1TqGYbQ-0/ http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2009/07/09/video-jackson-drug-intervention/#comments Thu, 09 Jul 2009 20:42:45 +0000 CNN http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/?p=45647 CNN
Did the Jackson family try to stage an intervention over Michael's alleged drug use? CNN's Drew Griffin reports.]]>
]]> http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2009/07/09/video-jackson-drug-intervention/feed/ 8 CNN http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2009/07/09/video-jackson-drug-intervention/ An Iranian icon on today’s protests http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/cnn_ac360blog/~3/4Cm3-Sl9XWM/ http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2009/07/09/an-iranian-icon-on-todays-protests/#comments Thu, 09 Jul 2009 20:33:09 +0000 CNN http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/?p=45641 Reza Aslan The Daily Beast
A new wave of violent strife swept Iran on Thursday as demonstrators swept across the country to show outrage over the results of the disputed election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. But baton-wielding police officers broke up the protests, firing tear gas at 200-300 people who were chanting "death to the dictator."]]>

Reza Aslan
The Daily Beast

Thursday is the 10th anniversary of the day Iranians refer to simply as 18 Tir. On that day in 1999, a group of students who had holed up in Tehran University for six days to protest the government’s closure of a major reformist newspaper, Salaam, were savagely attacked by paramilitary forces under orders from the Revolutionary Guard.

The protests were the biggest of their kind since the fall of the shah two decades earlier—though they have been dwarfed by this past month’s protests, which have swept through the whole of the country. The university students had been emboldened by then-President Mohammad Khatami’s reform agenda to demand greater rights, including the right to peaceful assembly and a free press. However, the regime, frightened by the spectacle, saw the student movement as a threat to the stability of the state. In what has now become a familiar sight, the government unleashed the full force of its security apparatus on the students.

Early on the morning of 18 Tir—the date according to the Iranian calendar—while most of the students were asleep, Basij forces raided the dorms of Tehran University, indiscriminately beating and arresting people. In the melee, a bullet whizzed by the ear of Ahmad Batebi, a young university student, and lodged itself in the chest of his friend. Batebi took his friend’s shirt off and used it to put pressure on the wound, but to no avail. He then ran to the front of the protests and held the shirt aloft for all to see, a witness to the massacre that had just taken place.

Read more…

]]> http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2009/07/09/an-iranian-icon-on-todays-protests/feed/ 1 CNN http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2009/07/09/an-iranian-icon-on-todays-protests/ Americans beaten, shot to death in Mexico http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/cnn_ac360blog/~3/WuHUVzKZmYI/ http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2009/07/09/americans-beaten-shot-to-death-in-mexico/#comments Thu, 09 Jul 2009 20:26:06 +0000 CNN http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/?p=45640 CNN
A multiagency search is under way for the killers of two U.S. citizens in northern Mexico, according to Chihuahua state officials.]]>
A girl stands at the coffin of Mormon church leader Benjamin LeBaron in Chihuahua State.
A girl stands at the coffin of Mormon church leader Benjamin LeBaron in Chihuahua State.

Mayra Cuevas-Nazario
CNN

A multiagency search is under way for the killers of two U.S. citizens in northern Mexico, according to Chihuahua state officials.

Benjamin LeBaron, 32, and his brother-in-law, Luis Widmar, in his mid-30s, were beaten and shot to death after armed men stormed into their home in Galeana on Tuesday morning.

The killers have yet to be identified, but the case seems to be connected to local drug lords, said Arturo Sandoval, a spokesman for the Chihuahua state attorney general’s office.

Sandoval said a note was found on LeBaron’s body, but he could not confirm the contents.

Local media reported that the note indicated the slayings were in retribution for the capture of 25 drug suspects in a nearby town.

Keep Reading…

]]> http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2009/07/09/americans-beaten-shot-to-death-in-mexico/feed/ 8 CNN A girl stands at the coffin of Mormon church leader Benjamin LeBaron in Chihuahua State. http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2009/07/09/americans-beaten-shot-to-death-in-mexico/ Beat 360º 7/9/09 http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/cnn_ac360blog/~3/7CqABWs-Sdc/ http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2009/07/09/beat-360%c2%ba-7909/#comments Thu, 09 Jul 2009 19:48:22 +0000 CNN http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/?p=45634 ]]>

Ready for today’s Beat 360°? Everyday we post a picture – and you provide the caption and our staff will join in too. Tune in tonight at 10pm to see if you are our favorite! Here is the ‘Beat 360°’ pic:

Actor George Clooney attends the opening ceremony of the Nobel for Peace Hall on July 9, 2009 in San Demetrio, 3 km from L’Aquila, Italy. The actor, along with Nobel Prize winner Betty Williams, actor Bill Murray, British Prime Minister’s wife Sarah Brown and Walter Veltroni unveil a cinema in the quake-stricken village of San Demetrio. (Photo by Luca Ghidoni/Getty Images)

Have fun with it. We’re looking forward to your captions! Make sure to include your name, city, state (or country) so we can post your comment.

__________________________________________________________________________________ Beat 360° Challenge

]]> http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2009/07/09/beat-360%c2%ba-7909/feed/ 209 CNN Beat 360° Challenge http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2009/07/09/beat-360%c2%ba-7909/