Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(MarthaStewart.com) -- This is a collection of excerpts from "Living the Good Long Life" by Martha Stewart, published by Clarkson Potter.

Combine travel with exercise

I love to walk. But when I discovered hiking, it took walking to a whole new level. Suddenly, I found I could combine walking with my passion for traveling. In one sense, it's just walking, but it takes me to new heights, literally. I've hiked all over Acadia National Park in Maine, near where I have my summer home, but it's fun to figure out where else in the world I want to hike. So far I've accomplished a few major hikes, such as Mount Kilimanjaro, the Inca Trail, and Northern Sikkim. They were all so fabulous and memorable. Next I'd love to do some trails in China.

My favorite workout

I started lifting weights many years ago, and I've always enjoyed it. I like feeling strong -- I can literally feel the improvement after each workout, and I know that at minimum I'm increasing my strength, my bone mass, and maintaining my weight (especially when I'm making up for some delicious indulgence at dinner the night before).

Martha Stewart Living: The no-sweat summer workout

Because I now have good overall strength and am usually pressed for time, Mary, my trainer, has me doing two-in-one moves that are really wonderful. For instance, I'll lie on my back on a bench, holding weights in both hands and arms open perpendicular to the bench. As I bring my hands together in a "fly," I bend one knee to my chest and extend the other leg with each move. The works the chest, legs, and core in one move!

Martha Stewart Living: Top tips for healthy summer skin

Take a different route every day

I almost never take the same route twice. I follow different paths through the woods or around the farm, and in the city, I wander down various streets to peek in on new restaurants or shops. I take new routes coming into the city so there's always something novel and interesting to look at -- new architecture, a field, or a reservoir I hadn't seen before. It helps the brain to always keep things interesting! And you'll never be bored.

Play games socially

I am not a big social game player, but the value of knowing a fun card game or word or numbers game to play when there is downtime is very beneficial. I like cards but have really never had a lot of that "downtime" to engage in poker or bridge or even canasta. I recently learned an easy card game called Gozo that can be played by up to five people, and uses two decks of cards. It is a lot of fun and very engaging. I do promise, however, to really learn both poker and bridge, and I also promise to one day have some of that elusive downtime we all dream about.

Martha Stewart Living: 13 crazy beauty tricks that really work

Meeting my mother's friends

When my mother died, I was astonished by how many people came to her funeral. It was standing-room only in this large Catholic church in Weston, Connecticut. Honestly, I had no idea how many friends she had! I knew that she kept busy; she was always writing letters, calling to catch up, offering to drive someone to do errands or see the doctor. But I saw that she was so extremely connected to the people in her town. Talking to these friends after the service was such as lovely, moving experience. They each offered me some little reminiscence of my mom -- stories, insights, and memories. We all need to work harder on social skills -- visiting, remembering birthdays, taking trips together -- with both friends and family.

Martha Stewart Living: 11 secrets for a happy and healthy summer

Create a bucket list

Keep a list of things you want to do or feel you must do during your lifetime -- and then checking them off before you kick the bucket -- is a really good thing. That's why movies like "The Bucket List" resonate with so many of us. It certainly resonated with me. While on a photo shoot in Palm Springs, California, it was important to me to visit Joshua Tree National Park. Known for its incredible rock formations and its extraordinary vegetative wonders, it had long been on my "bucket list." It was well worth the early 4 a.m. departure and the long drive into the desert. It is one of those places I will never forget.

Martha Stewart Living: 10 ultra firming face masks

Just move on

There are any number of incredibly challenging things that I have to deal with every day -- I get mixed news on a financial report, or I have to make a speech in front of hundreds of people. So I long ago developed the ability to deal with stress: you just have to solve one problem immediately and, if you have to let off some steam. A good way to do this is by going for a quick walk. And then, perhaps most important, you move on. You don't ruminate or worry, but keep moving forward. Life is a pile of problems that have to be solved one way or another, and the best way is to look at each one individually, figure it out, and move on.

Treat your feet well

I never wear the same shoes two days in a row. Rather, I rotate through high heels, medium heels, low heels, and flats. Also, I do not confine my feet. I never wear shoes at home, and when I'm riding in the car, my feet are bare so I can wiggle my toes and give my feet some air.

I also walk barefoot on gravel all the time. I like to walk on all different kinds of surfaces, particularly when I hike. Practicing walking on uneven surfaces (safely!) is good for foot health, because it strengthens the ankles and improves balance.

Martha Stewart Living: 9 color boosting and nourishing hair care treatments

Be proactive

Living well is not a passive act. It is imperative to be engaged in taking care of ourselves. In addition to exercising and maintaining a varied and nutritious diet, one of the most important things I do for myself is to make sure I consult the right professionals at the right times. I try my best to schedule my routine doctor visits and age-appropriate medical tests for the entire year all at once, using the advice of my primary-care physician (very important to have one). That way, nothing gets forgotten and everything will be done when it should be. Get those appointments on you calendar now if you haven't already -- and see how good it feels to take charge of your health.

Response: Martha Stewart shares her secrets for living well and living long. There is great value in knowing a fun,group card game. Don't just create a bucket list: Move on from ruminations.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:Washington (CNN) -- The U.S. government shut down at 12:01 a.m. ET Tuesday after lawmakers in the House and the Senate could not agree on a spending bill to fund the government.

The two sides bickered and blamed each other for more than a week over Obamacare, the president's signature health care law. House Republicans insisted the spending bill include anti-Obamacare amendments. Senate Democrats were just as insistent that it didn't.

Federal employees who are considered essential will continue working. But employees deemed non-essential -- close to 800,000 -- will be furloughed.

Most furloughed federal workers are supposed to be out of their offices within four hours of the start of business Tuesday.

President Barack Obama issued a statement early Tuesday to military members and Department of Defense employees about the outcome of the shutdown.

"Those of you in uniform will remain on your normal duty status," the president said. "Congress has passed, and I am signing into law, legislation to make sure you get your paychecks on time. And we'll continue working to address any impact this shutdown has on you and your families."

"To all our DOD civiliansâ€”I know the days ahead could mean more uncertainty, including possible furloughs," the president added. "And I know this comes on top of the furloughs that many of you already endured this summer. You and your families deserve better than the dysfunction we're seeing in Congress. ... That's why I'll keep working to get Congress to reopen our government and get you back to work as soon as possible."

The final hours

The shutdown appeared inevitable Monday night as House Republicans acknowledged they couldn't overcome Senate objections to a proposal that includes provisions aimed at derailing Obamacare.

They planned to have another vote overnight that would request a conference with the Senate to work out their differences. But the move, which would not have averted a shutdown, was dismissed by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

"We will not go to conference with a gun to our head," Reid said.

Democratic Rep. Chris Van Hollen said the reason there wasn't a budget deal is because Republicans refused to negotiate months ago.

"They want to go to conference with 45 minutes left," Van Hollen said late Monday night. "That is a recipe for a government shutdown."

Legislative ping pong

For the second time Monday, the Senate rejected a House Republican effort to derail Obamacare by linking it to a proposal that would avert the shutdown.

The Senate voted to table House amendments that would have delayed the individual mandate in the health care law and eliminated health insurance premium subsidies for members of Congress, their staffs and the president.

In the latest volley of legislative ping pong over a short-term spending plan needed to avoid the shutdown, House Republicans were expected to meet to discuss their next steps.

Earlier, Senate Democrats had rejected a House proposal by a 54-46 vote, strictly along party lines.

Obama made a previously unscheduled statement to reporters on Monday afternoon, blasting the attempts by House Republicans to undermine Obamacare that he said threaten to harm the economy with a shutdown.

"You don't get to extract a ransom for doing your job, for doing what you're supposed to be doing anyway, where just because there's a law there that you don't like," the president said.

Obama later called Boehner and other party leaders in the House and Senate, the White House said, but a Boehner spokesman indicated there was no breakthrough.

Moderate GOP revolt against Boehner?

GOP sources told CNN that moderate House Republicans were trying to galvanize what would amount to a rebellion against Boehner and their tea party colleagues by defeating the latest proposed spending plan with attached anti-Obamacare provisions.

However, a procedural vote on the measure passed with only six Republicans voting "no."

Without congressional approval of new spending legislation, parts of the federal government will begin shutting down when the current fiscal year ends at midnight, forcing agencies to furlough thousands of workers and curtail some services until there is a resolution.

"I feel sad about it. We expect more from our Congress," said Vick Temple, a worker for the Federal Aviation Administration who said he faced being furloughed in a shutdown.

Polls show public opposition to a shutdown, and stocks ended lower Monday on Wall Street due to concerns over the economic impact.

The blame game

Republican Rep. Renee Ellmers of North Carolina said on CNN's "New Day" that her party continues to be deeply concerned about Tuesday's scheduled opening of Obamacare health insurance exchanges and "keeping the checkbook out of Barack Obama's hands and the damage can be done there."

Get up to speed on the showdown

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Shultz, D-Florida, appearing alongside Ellmers, characterized the Republican strategy of tying overall government operations to at least a delay in health care changes as "irrational."

"It jeopardizes the economy and it makes no sense," she said.

Weeks of hot potato

Last week, the Senate voted down a House GOP plan to eliminate funding for Obamacare in a short-term spending plan to keep the government running in the new fiscal year that begins Tuesday.

Democrats have pressured Boehner to give up a losing fight over Obamacare forced by tea party conservatives and instead hold a vote on a "clean" spending plan that includes no provisions seeking to undermine the health care reforms.

Wasserman Schultz predicted that such a measure would pass easily with support from all Democrats and more moderate Republicans.

Some Republicans expressed frustration Monday with the tactics of their congressional colleagues. Veteran GOP Sen. John McCain of Arizona noted that any attempt to repeal Obamacare would fail because of Obama's veto, which would require a two-thirds majority in the Senate to overcome.

"There's not 67 votes in the United States Senate, therefore, ergo, we're not going to repeal Obamacare," McCain said. "OK? That's it. We may do this for a day. We may do it for a week. We may do it for a month. It's going to end up the same way. "

GOP Rep. Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania told CNN Chief Congressional Correspondent Dana Bash that whichever party was to blame, a shutdown will make everyone look bad.

10 ways the shutdown would affect you

Obamacare still a GOP focus

Obama and Democrats reject what they call Republican efforts to use the threat of a government shutdown to force negotiations on the president's signature health care reforms.

Noting that the 2010 Affordable Care Act has been upheld by the Supreme Court, they say it is settled law that voters endorsed last year by re-electing Obama over GOP candidate Mitt Romney, who campaigned on repealing it.

A new CNN/ORC poll shows that Americans are not happy about the prospect of a shutdown, which is happening because Congress has been unable to pass a budget for the new fiscal year that begins Tuesday.

A game of chicken between Dems, GOP

According to the poll, 68% of Americans think shutting down the government for even a few days is a bad idea, while 27% think it's a good idea.

And it appears most Americans would blame congressional Republicans for a shutdown: Sixty-nine percent said they agreed with the statement that the party's elected officials were acting like "spoiled children."

Democrats, however, weren't far behind: Fifty-eight percent of respondents said they too were acting like spoiled kids.

A poll later showed public support for Congress at record low levels.

Stock traders also seemed solidly against a shutdown. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by more than 120 points, or nearly 1 percent, and the other two major indexes also closed lower.

Among major economic issues that could result from a shutdown: delays in processing FHA housing loan applications -- a potential drag on the housing recovery -- and the potential loss of government spending that's helping prop up the economy, said Christine Romans, host of CNN's "Your Money."

"You've got an economy right now that's very tied to government spending and government contracts, so that could have a ripple effect all across Main Street," she said on CNN's "New Day."

If the government does shut down, it would be the first time it has happened in more than 17 years. That previous shutdown, sparked by a budget battle between Democratic President Bill Clinton and a Republican Congress, lasted for 21 days.

CNN Poll: GOP would bear the brunt of shutdown blame

While the military will remain on duty, as will many essential public safety, health and welfare operations, many government offices will close. About a quarter of the federal government's 3.3 million employees -- those frequently referred to as "nonessential" -- will be told to stay home from work until the shutdown is over.

Attorney General Eric Holder and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said essential crime prevention and military services would continue, but some workers would be furloughed. Holder said he would cut his pay by the same amount as the most severely affected Justice Department employees because "we are all in this together."

Meet the man behind the government shutdown

CNN's Michael Pearson, Holly Yan, Lateef Mungin, Ted Barrett, Lisa Desjardins and Deirdre Walsh contributed to this report.

Response: NEW: The House is expected to vote again overnight, including on appointing House negotiators. "We will not go to conference with a gun to our head," says Sen. Harry Reid. Obama says troops will get paid on time, but civilians may get more furloughs. Conservatives wanted to undermine Obamacare before its private exchanges take effect Tuesday.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Sen. Ted Stevens declared his innocence Tuesday after his indictment on charges that he concealed hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of gifts and services from a company in his home state.

Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, says he is innocent of the charges a grand jury handed up on Tuesday.

"My public service began when I served in World War II. It saddens me to learn that these charges have been brought against me. ... I am innocent of these charges and intend to prove that," Stevens said in a statement released by his office.

In the indictment, Stevens is charged with lying about receiving gifts worth more than $250,000 from Veco, an Alaska-based energy company on whose behalf he intervened in Washington.

The indictment, returned Tuesday by a federal grand jury in Washington, says the veteran lawmaker "schemed to conceal" the fact that Veco paid for hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of work on his home.

The indictment follows a wide-ranging investigation into ties between the company and lawmakers in Alaska.

The indictment does not accuse Stevens of accepting bribes, Matt Friedrich, the acting assistant attorney general, emphasized in a news conference announcing the charges.

"Bribery is not charged in this case," he said, adding that such a charge "requires proof of a specific quid pro quo. This indictment does not allege that."  Watch Friedrich announce and explain the indictment »

But it does accuse Stevens and his staff of receiving requests from Veco for help in Washington and acting on some of them.

In the 28-page indictment, Stevens was charged with seven counts of making false statements on his Senate financial disclosure forms.

Stevens denied those charges, saying in the statement "I have never knowingly submitted a false disclosure form required by law as a U.S. senator."

Stevens was caught by surprise Tuesday by his indictment, Sen. Daniel Inouye told CNN.

"Apparently, the media knew about it before he did," Inouye said, adding he had just spoken to Stevens, a Republican from Alaska.

Stevens was meeting with Republican colleagues when the indictment was returned, and he was pulled out of the meeting, his colleague said.

"As far as he's concerned, he's not guilty. And I believe him," said Inouye, a Hawaii Democrat who is one of Stevens' closest friends in the Senate.

The indictment says the home improvements provided by Veco and its chief executive officer, Bill Allen, a "personal friend of Stevens," included a new first floor, a new garage, a new first- and second-story wraparound deck, new plumbing and new wiring.

Allen gave Stevens a new 1999 Land Rover worth $44,000 in exchange for $5,000 and Stevens' 1964 Ford Mustang, which was worth less than $20,000 at the time, the indictment charged.

In exchange, Stevens "could and did use his official position and his office on behalf of Veco," one of the state's largest employers, the indictment charges.

Allen pleaded guilty in May 2007, paying out more than $400,000 "in corrupt payments" to Alaska officials, the Department of Justice said in announcing the Stevens indictment.

Allen is cooperating with the Department of Justice as part of his plea agreement, Friedrich said. Veco was acquired by another company, CH2M Hill, in September 2007.

The indictment does not restrict Stevens' ability to vote in the Senate, speak on the Senate floor or participate in committee work. Stevens, however, did say he would relinquish his co-chairmanships and ranking member positions, in accordance with Senate Republican rules.

Reacting to the indictment, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, said it was up to Senate Republicans to decide if any punishment was warranted.

"I, of course, have served with Sen. Stevens my entire congressional career," Reid said. "It's a sad day for him, us. But I believe in the American system of justice that he is presumed innocent.

"As far as what's going to happen in the Republican caucus, that's up to them. ... How they handle Stevens is certainly up to them. It is not our responsibility. I'll cooperate in any way that I can."

Sen. John Warner, a Virginia Republican, recalled that he and Stevens were veterans of World War II and that "he was a hero and a fighter, and he's been a fighter for this country since then -- a fighter for his state ever since and a strong leader in the Senate.

"So all I can say is I hope this can turn out fairly consistent with the law and good decision," Warner said.

Another Republican, Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, said, "I have known Ted Stevens for 28 years, and I have always found him to be impeccably honest.

Sen. Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat who chairs the Senate ethics subcommittee, said she would release a statement later Tuesday.

FBI and Internal Revenue Service agents searched Stevens' Alaska home in July 2007 in connection with the investigation, which has snared two oil company executives and a state lobbyist, among others.

At the time, he urged constituents "not to form conclusions based upon incomplete and sometimes incorrect reports in the media."

The 84-year-old senator is a former chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee and is renowned for his prowess in steering federal funds to his vast, sparsely populated state.

Stevens is the oldest Republican senator and second in age only to Sen. Robert Byrd, the 90-year-old Democrat from West Virginia.

He has represented Alaska in Washington since 1968 and is up for re-election in November. He is the longest-serving Republican senator in history.

CNN's Ted Barrett contributed to this report.

Response: NEW: Sen. Stevens says he intends to prove his innocence. Stevens received gifts from an Alaska energy company, indictment alleges. He is charged with making false statements on financial disclosure forms. Federal investigators looked into improvements made to his Alaska home.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN) -- The draft for the first edition of International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) Sunday has attracted the top ranked players in the men's and women's game, Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams.

Teams based in Mumbai, Bangkok, Singapore and Dubai will contest the event from November 27-December 14 later this year with 24 matches taking place across the four host cities.

Spain's Nadal was picked for Mumbai, who also include 14-time grand slam legend Pete Sampras, while his WTA Tour counterpart Williams is in the Singapore line-up.

Novak Djokovic will feature for Dubai, with Wimbledon champion Andy Murray representing Bangkok.

The event is the brainchild of Indian doubles star Mahesh Bhupathi and the concept is modeled on cricket's Indian Premier League.

A total sum of $23,975,000 was spent across the four teams, with Bhupathi delighted to have attracted a clutch of current and former champions.

"We've got some unbelievably strong teams. I think out of the 28 players that got drafted we have about 21 Grand Slam champions. We have 14 present and past number ones. It's a pretty blockbuster field," Bhupathi said.

The dates are during the off-season for both the ATP and WTA Tour, but there are some notable absentees with both Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova sitting it out.

Australian Open champion Li Na is also missing despite her popularity in Asia and her male counterpart Stanislas Wawrinka has joined fellow Swiss star Federer on the sidelines.

The matches will be in best-of-five format with single set contests in men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, mixed doubles and past champions singles.

The schedule will see matches in Singapore, followed by Bangkok and Mumbai with the finale in Dubai.

Response: International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) holds first draft. Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams to take part. Four teams based in cities in Asia. Roger Federer a notable absentee for Nov 27-Dec 14 event.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN) -- NASA plans to capture an asteroid and start sending astronauts aloft again by 2017, even with a tighter budget, the U.S. space agency announced Wednesday.

The Obama administration is asking Congress for just over $17.7 billion in 2014, down a little more than 1% from the nearly $17.9 billion currently devoted to space exploration, aeronautics and other science.

The request includes $105 million to boost the study of asteroids, both to reduce the risk of one hitting Earth and to start planning for a mission to "identify, capture, redirect, and sample" a small one. The plan is to send an unmanned probe out to seize the asteroid and tow it into orbit around the moon, where astronauts would study it.

"This mission allows us to better develop our technology and systems to explore farther than we ever have before ... to places humanity has dreamed of for as long as I've been alive," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden told reporters.

The Obama administration has said before that it wants to send astronauts to explore an asteroid by 2025 and to Mars by 2030.

Forget falling stars: NASA plans to catch an asteroid

Wednesday's budget request would include another $20 billion to study near-Earth asteroids -- doubling the current spending on that effort. The funding is aimed not only at finding a suitable asteroid to explore, but also at "protecting the planet," Bolden said.

That concern got new attention after February, when a nearly 150-foot asteroid passed within 18,000 miles of Earth. That one was expected -- but the same day, an unrelated, 45-foot space rock plunged into the atmosphere and exploded high over southwestern Russia, injuring an estimated 1,200 people.

White House science adviser John Holdren told a congressional committee in March that as few as 10% of asteroids more than 150 yards wide -- which he called "potential city killers" -- have been detected.

NASA's budget request includes $822 million for the agency's Commercial Crew Program, its push to resume U.S. space flights through private companies by 2017. Bolden called that the "bottom-line" figure, warning that any cuts would mean delays. NASA has already hired the unmanned SpaceX Dragon to deliver cargo to the International Space Station, though no commercial manned missions are currently under way.

While putting money into renewed human space flight efforts, the proposal cuts scientific research, particularly the study of the other planets in our solar system. Planetary science takes a nearly $300 million hit compared to 2012, the last year detailed figures were available.

NASA officials defended the cut, saying major projects like the Mars rover Curiosity and the upcoming MAVEN probe to study the Martian upper atmosphere are already past their most expensive phases.

"But of course we'll be ramping up again as we approach 2020 and the next Mars rover," said Beth Robinson, the agency's chief financial officer.

Bolden said NASA's Mars research is the biggest part of the planetary science budget.

Read more space news on Light Years

Response: NEW: Asteroid research will help defend Earth, NASA chief says. NASA's $17.7 billion budget request is 1% smaller than current funding. It includes $105 million on research and plans to capture an asteroid. The agency hopes to resume human space missions by 2017.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:Some iPhone 5 users are complaining that a burst of purple is showing up in their photos -- and Apple seems to be acknowledging it's just part of how the camera works.

Since Apple's new smartphone was released just over a week ago, some of the millions of users have reported that, when a strong source of light is present in their photographs, the light takes on a purple hue.

The problem was first noted on the forums of online computer magazine Anandtech, where a thread discussing the issue had more than 180 comments Wednesday.

"Yeah, I have a feeling this is going to be Antennagate all over again," one forum member wrote, referencing antenna problems with the iPhone 4. "I've taken 20,000+ photos on my 4S, never ONCE had this problem."

That user then posted two photos that appear to show the flare.

An e-mail from Apple appears to confirm that the purple haze isn't all in users' minds.

Tech blog Gizmodo quoted an e-mail from Apple support to a reader. He claims Apple support staff first said the discoloration shouldn't be happening but shifted after talking to Apple engineers.

"Our engineering team just gave me this information and we recommend that you angle the camera away from the bright light source when taking pictures," read the e-mail, as reported by Gizmodo. "The purple flare in the image provided is considered normal behavior for iPhone 5's camera."

Apple did not respond to a message seeking comment for this story.

A comparison by Mashable, a CNN content partner, studied similar images taken with an iPhone 5, an iPhone 4S and a Nikon D300. Some of the 5's images had a purple glow around light sources, while others didn't, Mashable reported. None of the images from the other two devices displayed the flares.

Some have speculated that the problem is caused by a sapphire cover that Apple added to the phone's camera.

"The new iSight camera in iPhone 5 features a sapphire crystal lens cover that is thinner and more durable than standard glass with the ability to provide crystal clear images," Apple wrote in promotional material for the phone.

The iPhone 5 has been Apple's biggest launch to date, selling 2 million units in the first 24 hours and 5 million over its first weekend on the market.

But with its popularity have come a handful of persistent complaints, the purple glow being the most recent to gain traction.

Foremost have been problems with Apple's new Maps feature, which for the first time replaced Google Maps as the default mapping software on Apple's mobile operating system. The problems -- landmarks misplaced or misnamed, huge swaths of major cities missing -- prompted Apple CEO Tim Cook to offer a rare apology, promising that it will be fixed and going so far as to suggest other apps in the meantime.

Other iPhone 5 complaints have ranged from its aluminum casing scratching easily to light leaking from openings on the phone.

Death by theft, water and gravity: Smartphone horror stories

Response: iPhone 5 uses complain about purple flare on photos. Report: Apple acknowledges problem, says it's normal for the phone. Users say purple flare appears from sources of light. Apple did not respond to request for further comment.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:Santiago, Chile (CNN) -- Sebastian Pinera was sworn in Thursday as president of Chile, taking over a country battered by a recent earthquake but with a strong economy and stable social institutions.

Pinera, 60, succeeded Michelle Bachelet, a popular president who steered the country through the global economic downturn and promoted progressive social reforms.

Pinera, a billionaire, is the first conservative to lead Chile since the fall of Gen. Augusto Pinochet's military dictatorship in 1990.

Educated in Chile and at Harvard University in the United States, Pinera is an economist, investor, businessman and former senator.

Bachelet, a liberal, defeated Pinera in the presidential elections in 2005. She endorsed Pinera's opponent in a runoff election in January.

But Pinera said recently that responding to the earthquake requires the country to transcend partisan differences.

"These are times when we have to act with a sense of national unity," he said. "It is not the time for conflict between government and opposition."

The 8.8-magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami February 27 killed more than 500 people and affected up to 2 million.

A 7.2-magnitude temblor struck Thursday as dignitaries were filing into the congressional hall in Valparaiso for the transfer of presidential power.

Under Chile's constitutional term limits, Bachelet could not run for a second consecutive four-year term.

"I leave sad because of the pain of our people but with my head held high," a teary-eyed Bachelet said in a brief farewell address from the La Moneda presidential palace in Santiago, Chile's capital. "I leave proud of what we have been able to build as a nation, of the role we have played.

"I leave, above everything else, very proud of the country we are."

Response: Sebastian Pinera, 60, succeeds Michelle Bachelet. Term limits prevented Bachelet from seeking second consecutive term. Pinera is first conservative to lead Chile since fall  military dictatorship in 1990.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:Washington (CNN) -- President Barack Obama signed a sweeping overhaul of child nutrition standards Monday, enacting a law meant to encourage better eating habits in part by giving the federal government more authority to set standards for food sold in vending machines and elsewhere on school grounds.

Among other things, the $4.5 billion measure provides more money to poor areas to subsidize free meals and requires schools to abide by health guidelines drafted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. To help offset the higher cost of including more fruits and vegetables, the bill increases the reimbursement rate for school lunches.

The bill is about "giving our kids the healthy futures they deserve," the president said during a bill signing ceremony at a Washington elementary school. "Right now across the country too many kids don't have access to school meals."

Even when they do, he added, too often the meals aren't sufficiently nutritious. As a result, he said, one out of every three children in America is overweight or obese.

Some Democrats had objected to the bill because it is funded in part by stripping $2.2 billion from the federal food stamp program. Congress also voted over the summer to take money from the program to fund legislation sending money to cash-strapped states to avoid teacher layoffs.

The cuts largely negate a spending increase provided to the food stamp program by the 2009 economic stimulus plan. Administration officials reportedly have promised anxious liberals that they will work to find ways to restore the higher funding levels.

The measure has been a top priority for first lady Michelle Obama, who has championed it as part of her "Let's Move" initiative to combat child obesity in the United States.

"Had I not been able to get this bill passed, I would be sleeping on the couch," the president joked shortly before signing the measure into law.

"We won't go into that," the first lady said. "Let's just say it got done. Don't have to go down that road."

Response: President Obama signs a bill meant to encourage healthier eating habits among children. The measure gives the government more power to set standards for schools. The bill, which costs $4.5 billion, provides funding to subsidize meals for lower income children.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN) -- An American Airlines flight arriving at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport deployed its emergency slides for passengers Friday afternoon after the landing gear and some tires caught fire, an FAA spokesman said.

The incident occurred about 2 p.m. on American Airlines Flight 41, which was flying in from Paris, FAA spokesman Tony Molinaro said. The pilot reported that some tires caught fire upon landing, Molinaro said.

American Airlines spokesman Ed Martelle said the plane's crew reported a fire on brake No. 7 of the aircraft, a Boeing 767-300, and the smell of a hot brake entered the ventilation system.

The plane was carrying 220 passengers and 12 crew members, Martelle said. They were evacuated by the emergency chutes.

One flight attendant reported being scratched evacuating down the chute, Martelle said. No other injuries were reported, he said.

He described the incident as a routine landing where a braking incident occurred. It was not an emergency landing, he said.

CNN's Divina Mims, Mike Ahlers, Dave Alsup and Michael Martinez contributed to this report.

Response: American Airlines Flight 41, a Boeing 767-300, was flying in from Paris. The landing gear and some tires catch fire upon landing about 2 p.m. Central. The flight was carrying 220 passengers and 12 crew members.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:Washington (CNN) -- Tourists and businesses are already feeling the sting of federal budget cuts, with officials in Wyoming announcing delays for opening parts of Yellowstone National Park.

The National Park Service is taking a $113 million hit under the so-called government sequester that took effect on Friday and is set to run through the end of the current fiscal year unless Congress calls it off or changes how it is implemented later this month.

The impact on the overall federal budget and deficit reduction is miniscule, but the meaning of cuts to local businesses in and around treasured landmarks that host nearly 300 million visitors a year is all too real.

House GOP campaign arm goes online in the blame game over forced spending cuts

The National Mall and the Statue of Liberty will be affected, according to John Garder, budget and appropriations legislative representative for the National Parks Conservation Association. The Mall stands to lose $1.6 million and the Statue of Liberty almost $780,000 between now and the end of the fiscal year in September.

Local government officials and business leaders in Cody, Wyoming, said Yellowstone will delay the opening of its north and west entrances by a week until April 26, and its east, south and northeast entrances by two weeks until mid-to-late May because of the impact of budget cuts on snow removal.

The delay will cost related businesses several million dollars, the local Chamber of Commerce said.

Jan Stoddard, marketing director for the West Yellowstone, Montana, Chamber of Commerce said the park and its visitors are the lifeblood of her community.

"Limiting access to the park even for a few weeks can have significant impacts on the bottom line of a small business reliant on those visitors," Stoddard said. "These visitors contribute tax dollars and support jobs."

So what are these cuts actually worth?

The Park Service operates on $2.2 billion annually, or a tiny fraction of the federal budget. But its sites pump $31 billion into local economies and visitation has been up despite a sluggish economy.

Opinion: Americans sick of budget soap opera

National parks contribute more than 270,000 jobs outside the National Park Service like lodging, food and beverage services, and recreation and entertainment.

"It is important to note that proposed cuts to Yellowstone and Glacier national park budgets will save the federal government $2.5 million, but in all likelihood tax losses due to reduced tourism could offset the savings. Last year, nonresident tourism to Montana generated approximately $253 million in federal taxes," Stoddard said.

According to Forbes, eight of the top 25 U.S. tourist destinations are national parks.

In a memo, the National Park Service outlined some of the more specific changes and closures that would be attributed to the proposed spending cuts.

For instance, Gettysburg National Park, which honors the famous Civil War battle, would eliminate 20% of its spring student education programs, affecting 2,400 students.

Grand Canyon National Park will reduce hours of operation at the main visitor center, affecting at least 250,000 people.

The White House said, "Many of the 398 national parks across the country would be partially or fully closed" during the six months of budget austerity and other parks would experience shorter hours, fewer employees and limited camping and hiking spaces.

It will take a month or so for the cuts to kick in at most federal agencies.

Share your story: How do you feel about the cuts?

In the 2011 fiscal year, funding for the National Park Service was cut by almost $140 million. From 2002 to 2011, the budget fell by 13% overall.

According to Garder, recent cuts have taken a toll, with deferred maintenance requests running into the billions of dollars.

In the long term, Garder fears further cuts could have a detrimental effect on the vitality of national parks, including limited resources for "curbing invasive species and long term protection (of park areas)."

Areas managed directly by the National Park Service won't be the only ones to experience the pain of spending restrictions.

The Three Bear Lodge and Restaurant in West Yellowstone will feel it, too.

"Because of the seasonality of our business and the fact that our town of West Yellowstone basically shuts down whenever Yellowstone closes, we need revenue generated every day in order to stay solvent on a year-round basis," owner Clyde Seely said.

"Opening our businesses for shorter time periods or causing reductions in visitation during the shoulder seasons of the park will cause proportionate reductions in the overall economy."

Zakaria: Cuts a damning indictment of Washington

Almost 279 million people visit national parks each year.

Visitor concessions like souvenir shops, lodging, transportation, equipment rental and food services will suffer from the decrease in tourism caused by the limitation in park hours.

"There is a breaking point and once we reach that and services begin to suffer, this will be directly reflected in the experience our visitors are having and that poses the greatest danger -- when we can no longer deliver on the promised experience," Stoddard said.

But economist Isabelle Sawhill from the Brookings Institution said cuts in cases like this aren't that significant.

"I think almost any organization can sustain a 5% cut in their budget and not have it interfere with their basic mission," she said.

Garder disagreed.

"The budgeting process is completely broken. It's Congress' job to figure out where investments should be made and where agencies should be cut, it's a mindless process and it's not meant to become policy.

Beyond spending cuts: What's next for Washington

Response: Forced spending cuts to trim $113 million from park service budget. NEW: Parts of Yellowstone will open later due to impact of cuts on snow removal. Parks could see shorter hours, fewer employees and limited camping and hiking spaces. Almost 279 million people visit national parks each year.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN) -- The Rancho Bernardo Inn, a San Diego luxury resort, is offering rooms for $19 a night. But there's a catch -- you have to sleep in a tent and bring your own toilet paper.

"For $19 a night, a customer gets a shell with a tent inside," says Rancho Bernardo Inn's John Gates.

The declining economy has taken a toll on the Rancho Bernardo, a 200,000 acre luxury resort which has three pools, a golf course, three restaurants and a spa that was named No. 1 by Conde Nast in 2008.

"During a brainstorming session, we were talking about discounts and promotions and wanted to come up with something different than the same promotions and discounts," said Rancho Bernardo general manager John Gates. "We wanted to do something fun and clever. It's a way of making the best of these bad economic times and trying to give customers an experience."

Rancho Bernardo's "Survivor Package" starts at $219 per night, but customers are allowed to customize and pick their price point. Guests can lower the cost by opting to give up breakfast and other luxury items, including toiletries.

"For $19 a night, a customer gets a shell with a tent inside," said Gates. The bed, lighting, bed sheets, towels and toilet paper are all removed. "We ran a similar promotion in June which was very popular. About 100 people took the offer."

Gates said he has received several phone calls, and 50 customers have already booked a reservation at the $19 price. The promotion will run from August 16 to 31.

And don't forget your toilet paper and toothpaste!

Response: Rancho Bernardo Inn, a luxury resort, was named No. 1 by Conde Nast in '08. "We wanted to do something fun and clever," general manager John Gates says. The San Diego resort's "Survivor Package" starts at $219 per night. Fifty customers have already booked the promotion, which runs August 16 to 31.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN) -- Chris Hoy became Great Britain's most decorated Olympian of all time after his victory in the men's keirin took his tally to six gold medals.

Hoy fought off a late charge from Germany's Maximilian Levy in the final sprint to cross the line first and then confirmed he is "99.9%" certain never to race in the Olympics again.

The 36-year-old was roared home by a vociferous crowd in the Velodrome to complete a dream Games for Team GB who won seven of the 10 track cycling gold medals on offer.

Earlier in the day Laura Trott added to the gold she won in the women's team pursuit with triumph in the omnium event, but home crowd favorite Victoria Pendleton was beaten to gold by Australian Anna Meares in the individual sprint.

Follow the action on day eleven with our London 2012 live blog

"I'm in shock, you try and compose yourself but it's surreal," Hoy told the host broadcaster after the race. "I wanted to win gold in front of my home crowd. I saw everyone stepping up to the plate and thankfully it worked out for me too.

"The keirin is a lottery and you never take anything for granted in it. I can't describe the feelings I have at the moment. This is enough for me, this is the perfect end to my Olympic career.

"I can't put into words what it means to me. It's one of the greatest feelings I have ever had. I'm 99.9% sure I won't be competing in Rio -- how can you top this?

"Glasgow (for the 2014 Commonwealth Games) is another question, as that would be the dream ending for me."

Hoy took the lead with two laps to go and though Levy briefly overtook him on the back straight, the Scot responded to power ahead and take the line.

He has now eclipsed the five gold medals won by rower Steve Redgrave to become Britain's most successful ever Olympian.

Behind Hoy and Levy, New Zealand's Simon Van Velthooven and Dutchman Teun Mulder could not be split by a photo finish and were both awarded bronze medals.

In the women's individual sprint final Meares gained revenge for defeat in the same event four years ago, as Pendleton had to settle for silver in her last race before retiring.

But though the Australian won the best of three final 2-0, it was a race tinged with controversy.

Pendleton thought she had won the first leg by 0.001 of a second, only to be disqualified by the judges for straying out of the sprint lane.

Her coaches argued Meares had nudged into her, forcing the mistake but the decision stood. She was also disqualified from the women's team sprint on Thursday.

In the second sprint Pendleton went off early but ran out of power as Meares surged past her to add another gold to the one she won in Athens.

It denied Pendleton a fairytale ending to a career in which she won two gold medals, including the women's keirin at the London Games.

"I'm so relieved and overwhelmed with emotion. I would have loved to have won on my final race but I'm so glad it's all done and I can move on," she said.

"I think Anna is the best rider of the field and it is the way it should have been, Anna and myself in the final, she's a fantastic competitor. But I'm very glad to be saying that's the last time I'm going to go through that.

"I was really annoyed (at being relegated) because I'm sure she touched me and it caused me to move up. I can't believe twice in the competition I've been disqualified and relegated, it's unheard of."

Prior to Pendleton's farewell race, 20-year-old Laura Trott secured her second gold in her first ever Olympics by winning the multi-discipline women's omnium event.

She set a new Olympic record in the the 500m time trial event to beat American Sarah Hammer and add to the gold she won in the women's team pursuit.

"I can't believe this has happened to me," she said. "I'm peaking at the right time and it's all thanks to the coaches, and the support of the crowd and my family."

Response: Chris Hoy becomes Britain's most decorated Olympian after winning sixth gold. Hoy took top honors in the men's Keirin to take second gold of London Games. Australia's Anna Meares wins gold in the women's sprint beating Victoria Pendleton. Laura Trott wins women's omnium event to give Team GB seven golds out of ten.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN) -- Five people have been killed after one of the Philippines' most active volcanoes spewed a giant cloud of ash and rocks early Tuesday.

They were climbing on Mount Mayon, some 212 miles (340 km) southeast of Manila, when the blast occurred at around 8 a.m. local time, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).

Of the five fatalities, four were German tourists, while the other was identified as Jerome Berin, their Filipino guide, the NDRRMC said. Joey Salceda, governor of Albay Province, told CNN affiliate ABS-CBN they were killed after being hit by falling rocks. He said they were part of a larger group scaling the volcano. Seven others, including an Australian, were hurt.

The NDRRMC said a total of 27 hikers were on the volcano at the time and requested assistance.

iReport: Volcano sends ash soaring into sky

According to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, the blast sent a thick column of ash 500 meters (1,600 feet) into the air -- the result of what it called a "small phreatic event" that lasted about 73 seconds.

While no intensification of volcanic activity was observed, it warned that these sudden ash and steam explosions could occur at any time. Therefore officials advised people against going inside a six-kilometer danger zone around the volcano.

Mount Mayon is the most volatile of more than 50 volcanoes -- 22 of which are considered active -- that are scattered across the Philippine archipelago.

An almost perfect cone shape, Mayon last erupted in 2010 and forced thousands of people to flee from their homes. Mayon's slopes, like many volcanoes in the country, are home to thousands of farming communities who make use of the fertile soils provided by the volcanic activity despite the occasional risk of eruption.

Response: Five climbers killed during ash explosion on volcano in Philippines. Blast send thick column of ash 500 meters (1,600 feet) into the air. Mount Mayon is the most volatile of more than 50 volcanoes in the Philippines.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN) -- Severe weather's assault on middle America continued Tuesday, as tornadoes and thunderstorms pulverized communities and claimed at least six lives in Oklahoma and Kansas.

Twisters also brewed in Dallas and several northern Texas counties, according to the National Weather Service, with at least one tornado reported on the ground.

There was no rest for the weary and grieving.

Joplin, Missouri, where 124 died in a tornado Sunday, was briefly under a tornado warning late Tuesday, but it was later lifted. Still, the city braced for high winds.

Two motorists died when an uprooted tree slammed into their van in Stafford County, Kansas, according to the state adjutant general's office.

The deadly string of tornadoes that rampaged through central Oklahoma killed at least four people, injured dozens and destroyed homes and vehicles, officials said.

Canadian County, Oklahoma, Sheriff Randall Edwards told CNN a large tornado that crossed I-40 near El Reno destroyed residences and caused a gas leak at an energy plant west of the state capital.

Four people died in the county, said Cherokee Ballard, spokesperson for the state medical examiner.

The twister injured motorists on I-40 and U.S. 81, Canadian County Emergency Management Director Jerry Smith said. There were reports of property damage in the area.

El Reno city spokesman Terry Floyd said 20 workers were injured at a drilling rig.

Police and fire crews are searching for a missing 3-year-old old child in Piedmont, northwest of Oklahoma City, according to an emergency services worker who asked not to be named because she was not authorized to speak to the media.

"Our town is totally leveled," she said.

"All you can find now is debris and foundations," said the emergency services worker, her voice cracking with emotion. "We're still searching for survivors. We'll be here all night."

Another tornado was seen at Chickasha, about 40 miles southwest of Oklahoma City. It later reached Newcastle, before pushing through Moore and Norman, suburbs of Oklahoma City. The National Weather Service warned residents and I-44 drivers to take precautionary action.

About 1,200 people packed a shelter in Newcastle, a bedroom community near Oklahoma City, during the storm, said City Manager Nick Nazar. "That saved lives."

"We have been extremely lucky," he said. "Minor injuries so far."

About 100 people were displaced, and 50 homes were rendered uninhabitable, Nazar told CNN. Two or three businesses were damaged, as was an elementary school.

Statewide, at least 60 people were hurt and nearly 58,000 homes lost power, according to the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management.

The tornado that passed through Chickasha also damaged several other communities, including Newcastle.

"It came right past the store," said Chickasha AutoZone employee Nathaniel Charlton. "They had a little debris thrown across the parking lot. It was on the ground, but it wasn't bad."

Sirens went off about 20 minutes before the storm pushed through, Charlton told CNN.

State officials received reports of damaged businesses in Chickasha.

"This is an extremely dangerous and life-threatening situation," the National Weather Service said during the storms.

No tornado damage was immediately reported within Oklahoma City's borders.

Some employees at the weather agency's Storm Prediction Center in Norman briefly took shelter as a tornado approached, a spokesman told CNN.

Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin cited the storms' intensity.

"We're still not out of the woods yet," she told CNN's Anderson Cooper as strong storms moved across her state Tuesday evening. First responders were heading toward communities that have reported damage to homes, Fallin said.

Randy McCown, administrator at First Baptist Church of Piedmont, said the church was operating as a shelter for residents.

CNN Oklahoma City affiliates broadcast images of funnel clouds that dumped rain as they moved into more populated areas.

KWTV broadcast images of destroyed and damaged homes in El Reno.

The University of Oklahoma, based in Norman, on Tuesday afternoon suspended classes at its three campuses.

At Norman's Tarahumara Restaurant, which specializes in Mexican food, all 20 employees showed up for work, though none of the customers did for nearly two hours preceding the storm's arrival, said manager Juan de Leon.

As the storm struck at about 5:45 p.m., he and the wait staff watched news programs on the restaurant's 10 television sets in fear, he said. But when it hit, they were unimpressed. "Just rain," said de Leon in a telephone interview. "It looked like normal rain." Hail was mixed in, but the bits of ice were nothing special, "little bitty ones," he said.

Two hours later, he said, the restaurant had filled up and it was business as usual.

Tornado watches were in effect Tuesday evening in Texas, Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Kansas.

In anticipation of the severe weather, American Airlines canceled 126 arriving and departing flights at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, spokesman Ed Martelle told CNN.

Operations were suspended late Tuesday afternoon at Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City.

A tornado was reported Tuesday in the Texas community of Bedford.

The tornado that struck Joplin on Sunday killed at least 124 people, authorities said Tuesday, making it the deadliest single U.S. tornado since modern record-keeping began more than 60 years ago.

CNN's Dave Alsup, Matt Smith, Tom Watkins, Phil Gast, Dana Ford, Rick Martin, Sean Morris and Joe Sutton contributed to this report.

Response: Tornado warning lifted in Joplin, Missouri. A young child is missing in Oklahoma city. Two are killed during Kansas storms. 1,200 people jam into shelter in Oklahoma City suburb.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN) -- Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Moussavi plans to form a new political party aimed at reining in the power of the Islamic Republic's leadership, a leading reformist newspaper reported Sunday.

Mir Hossein Moussavi is reportedly seeking to form a new political party in Iran.

Moussavi told supporters the party will be focused on upholding "the remaining principles of the constitution," according to Etemad-e Melli, a newspaper aligned with fellow opposition candidate Mehdi Karrubi.

He is expected to file papers with Iran's Interior Ministry to establish the party before hard-line incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is sworn in for a new term, the newspaper reported.

The announcement comes after weeks of protests over Iran's disputed presidential election and an attempted clampdown by Iran's clerical leadership.

The clerical leadership has declared Ahmadinejad the winner of that vote. Moussavi, a former prime minister, was the leading challenger to Ahmadinejad in the June 12 balloting.

The official results showed Ahmadinejad winning with more than 62 percent of the vote. Moussavi and Karrubi have consistently rejected those results as fraudulent and demanded a new vote.

Their supporters turned out in crowds estimated in the hundreds of thousands to demand the results be overturned.

Iran's Guardian Council, which oversees the elections, has declared the official count will stand.

Response: Mir Hossein Moussavi seeks to curb power of clerics, reformist newspaper reports. He's expected to file papers to form party before Ahmadinejad is sworn in. Moussavi's loss to President Ahmadinejad in election sparked mass protests in Iran.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN) -- Lego boss Jorgen Vig Knudstorp, who pulled the iconic toy brand back into profit, says Europe needs to face up to its harsh economic reality.

Knudstorp believes Europeans think they are wealthier than they are, despite three years of a global financial crisis.

With the crisis continuing to roil markets and destabilize the banking sector, "it's about all of us recognizing that we have lost a bit of our wealth," he says.

Lego lost its way in the late 90s and went deeply into debt before rebounding to double digit growth under Knudstorp's leadership.

Knudstorp suggests European finance ministers could learn from Danish manufacturer's experience. "My piece of advice would be: face the truth -- that is what I learned the hard way in our company."

Knudstorp says Lego went too deeply into debt, as Europe has also done. According to Knudstorp, stemming the crisis will begin by saying: "Yes we are over-indebted, we are sorry, we screwed up."

He believes Europe needs to write-off some of its debt to avoid a stagnant economy for the next decade.

"I think we are moving from a 30 year period of just borrowing more and more money at the government level and also at the household level," Knudstorp says.

However, he says, Europe is entering a phase where raw material costs could increase while the availability for cheap labor around the world will decline.

At Lego, Knudstorp will be focused on ensuring the company adapts to the changing economic conditions, which he believes are crucial to ensure survival. Lego is also renewing its portfolio of products, and plans to launch toys specifically designed for girls.

But Knudstorp also emphasis the needs to keep things simple. "You need to challenge your organization all the time, to stay coherent, not make things too complicated," he says. "A lot of productivity is lost inside the company when things get complicated."

CNN's Emily Smith has contributed to this report.

Response: The boss of Lego says Europe needs to face up to its harsh economic reality. Jorgen Vig Knudstorp believes Europeans think they are wealthier than they are. He says Europe needs to write-off some of its debt to avoid a stagnant economy for the next decade.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN) -- Sometimes it's hard to know what to believe about Mario Balotelli.

His two years in England with Manchester City were packed with reports of his eccentric behaviour, from setting his bathroom alight with fireworks (before being named a fire safety spokesman) to a training brawl with his club manager, giving money away to strangers ... the list was endless.

And now Italian sports paper Gazzetta dello Sport has reported firstly, on Friday, that the soccer star has been named as one of Time's 100 most influential people of 2012 (though there is no evidence of that on the magazine's website) and then, on the way to a game on Sunday, he was caught smoking in the toilet of a train, which will cost him a fine.

What is certain is that Balotelli, who appeared on the cover of Time Europe last November, will miss a crucial game next weekend that will have a major impact on his club AC Milan's hopes of automatically qualifying for next season's Champions League.

The 22-year-old was booked in third-placed Milan's 2-2 draw with fellow European hopefuls Fiorentina, for trying to delay an opposition free-kick with 20 minutes to play.

The fourth-placed home side -- at that point 2-1 down and playing with 10 men since before halftime after Nenad Tomovic was sent off for elbowing Balotelli's strike partner Stephan El Shaarawy -- fought back to equalize through a late penalty by David Pizarro.

It was Fiorentina's second spot-kick, with Adam Ljajic having reduced the deficit on 66 after goals from midfielders Riccardo Montolivo and Mathiu Flamini had put Milan in charge.

The result left Milan 13 points behind leaders Juventus and four adrift of next weekend's opponent Napoli -- who beat lowly Genoa 2-0 later Sunday despite a second-half penalty miss by Edinson Cavani.

The top two teams will automatically qualify for the group stage of Europe's top club competition, in which Milan lost in the last 16 to Barcelona this season, while the third must play in the final qualifying round.

"Considering the score after the first half, it's a big slip-up for us," Milan assistant coach Mauro Tassotti said on the club's website.

"A win would have cut Fiorentina out of the Champions League race as they would have been nine points off. Balotelli will be suspended now against Napoli and Giampaolo Pazzini will play. He now has another full week to improve his condition."

Pazzini has been struggling with injury since the March 8 win over Genoa, but came off the bench late in the game against Fiorentina.

Fiorentina could lose fourth place if Lazio win Monday's Rome derby -- a result which would further dent Inter Milan's European hopes.

Sixth-placed Inter suffered a shock 4-3 defeat at home to Atalanta, whose veteran Argentine striker German Denis scored a second-half hat-trick to outshine Ricardo Alvarez's double.

In Spain, Atletico Madrid's poor second half to the season continued with a 0-0 draw at Getafe in which the third-placed team had Mario Suarez and Diego Godin sent off.

It left Atletico three points behind city rivals Real, and 17 behind leaders Barcelona.

Valencia moved up to fifth with a 2-1 victory at home to 10-man Valladolid to be two points behind Sociedad, holders of the last Champions League spot.

Jonas headed an injury-time winner after Oscar Gonzalez leveled, with Henrique Sereno having been sent off in the 56th minute for fouling Valencia striker Roberto Soldado -- whose resulting penalty was saved..

Response: Mario Balotelli will miss AC Milan's crucial match against Italian rivals Napoli. Striker was booked during Sunday's 2-2 draw with 10-man Fiorentina. Result leaves Milan four points behind second-placed Napoli. In Spain, third -placed Atletico Madrid draw at Getafe after having two men sent off.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Obama said Monday he will attempt to block bonuses to executives at ailing insurance giant AIG, payments he described as an "outrage."

President Obama says AIG "finds itself in financial distress due to recklessness and greed."

"This is a corporation that finds itself in financial distress due to recklessness and greed," Obama told politicians and reporters in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, where he and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner were unveiling a package to aid the nation's small businesses.

The president expressed dismay and anger over the bonuses to executives at AIG, which has received $173 billion in U.S. government bailouts over the past six months.

"Under these circumstances, it's hard to understand how derivative traders at AIG warranted any bonuses, much less $165 million in extra pay. I mean, how do they justify this outrage to the taxpayers who are keeping the company afloat?"  Watch why Americans have a right to be angry »

Obama was referring to the bonuses paid to traders in AIG's financial products division, the tiny group of people who crafted complicated deals that wound up shaking the world's economic foundations.  See a snapshot of facts, attitudes and analysis on the recession »

The president said he has asked Geithner to "pursue every single legal avenue to block these bonuses and make the American taxpayers whole."

Obama spared AIG's new CEO, Edward Liddy, from criticism, saying he got the job "after the contracts that led to these bonuses were agreed to last year."

But he said the impropriety of the bonuses goes beyond economics. "It's about our fundamental values," he said.  Watch Obama say he's outraged by bonuses »

"All across the country, there are people who are working hard and meeting their responsibilities every single day, without the benefit of government bailouts or multimillion-dollar bonuses. You've got a bunch of small-business people here who are struggling just to keep their credit line open," Obama said.

"And all they ask is that everyone, from Main Street to Wall Street to Washington, play by the same rules. That is an ethic that we have to demand."

Obama said he would work with Congress to change the laws so that such a situation cannot happen again.

Then, coughing, he added in jest, "I'm choked up with anger here."

Republican Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa didn't appear to be joking, however, when he spoke with Cedar Rapids, Iowa, radio station WMT.

"I would suggest the first thing that would make me feel a little better toward them [AIG executives] is if they follow the Japanese example and come before the American people and take that deep bow and say, 'I am sorry,' and then either do one of two things: resign or go commit suicide," he said.

"And in the case of the Japanese, they usually commit suicide."

Under pressure from the Treasury, AIG scaled back the bonus plans and pledged to reduce 2009 bonuses -- or "retention payments" -- by at least 30 percent. That has did little to temper outrage over the initial plan, however.

Obama received support from fellow Democrats, including Sen. Christopher Dodd, chairman of the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs. "This is another outrageous example of executives -- including those whose decisions were responsible for the problems that caused AIG's collapse -- enriching themselves at the expense of taxpayers," the Democrat from Connecticut said.

He noted in a written statement that executives at other companies that received bailout funds have volunteered to forgo bonuses. "There's no reason why those at AIG shouldn't do the same," he said.

Later, Dodd told CNN he is considering an unusual approach to get the bonus money back.

"One idea we're kind of thinking about is a tax provision," the Connecticut Democrat said. "We have a right to tax. You could write a tax provision that's narrowly crafted only to the people receiving bonuses. That's a way maybe to deal with it."

Dodd said the notion is in the "earliest of thinking" and has not been settled on as a way to resolve the issue that has set off outrage in Washington and across the country.

In the House, Democrats are trying to shame AIG executives into forgoing the bonuses. They're also investigating possible legal avenues Congress can take to force the company to return money used for bonuses, a House Democratic leadership aide and a House Financial Services Committee aide said Monday.

The committee is trying to determine whether Congress can force AIG to renegotiate the bonuses, which the company says it is legally required to give employees under contracts negotiated before the company received its first infusion of bailout dollars in September, according to the committee aide.

Both aides said it is unclear what authority Congress might have to force AIG to take back the bonuses.

Complicating the issue, said the committee aide, is that the first infusion of cash to AIG was authorized by the Federal Reserve before Congress passed the $700 billion bailout bill, also known as the Troubled Assets Relief Program, which included some restrictions on executive pay.

Liddy will face intense questioning about the bonuses when he testifies Wednesday before the House Financial Services subcommittee on capital markets.

On the floor of the Senate on Monday, Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, issued a stinging rebuke of AIG, calling executive bonuses "beyond outrageous."

"Our financial sector will never heal unless the financial companies who helped create this economic crisis begin to regain the public trust. The actions of AIG do just the opposite, and every American is justified in their outrage at this breach of public trust," he said.  Who's insured by AIG? »

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said in a letter to Liddy that was distributed to the news media that he was "disturbed to learn" of the bonus plan. And he threatened to issue subpoenas if the company failed to send him detailed information about who received bonuses and for how much. Read the letter to AIG (PDF)

"Previously, AIG had agreed at our request to make no payments out of its $600 million Financial Products deferred compensation pool," he said.

He said he had already asked for the names and titles of the people who are to receive the payments, "and it is surprising that you have yet to provide this information."

"Covering up the details of these payments breeds further cynicism and distrust in our already shaken financial system."

He added that he also is seeking "whatever contracts you now claim obligate you to make these payments" and the names of whoever negotiated them.

"Finally, we demand an immediate status report as to whether the payments under the retention plan have been made," he said.

The information was needed, he said, to determine whether bonus recipients "were involved in the conduct that led to AIG's demise and subsequent bailout"; whether the company is "truly required" to pay them; whether the contracts "may be unenforceable" because of fraud or other reasons; and whether "any of the retention payments may be considered fraudulent conveyances under New York law."

CNN's Elaine Quijano contributed to this report.

Response: NEW: Sen. Charles Grassley suggests executives follow Japanese model. Sen. Chris Dodd suggests tax provision crafted toward recipients of bonuses. House committee investigating ways Congress can force AIG to renegotiate bonuses. Attorney General Andrew Cuomo threatens to issue subpoenas to AIG.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN) -- As rescue efforts continue Tuesday, Colombia's president will visit the mountainside neighborhood where a massive landslide buried dozens of homes.

By Monday night, search crews had uncovered 23 dead bodies there, the Red Cross said, and more than 120 people could still be trapped underground.

"We are still hoping to find people alive," Red Cross National Deputy Director Jorge Ivan Nova said Monday.

But he said survival becomes less likely as time passes.

Rescuers had pulled at least seven injured people from the rubble after Sunday's landslide in Bello, Colombia, which buried between 30 and 50 homes, Nova said. Officials believe the neighborhood was particularly packed Sunday afternoon -- a time when families commonly get together for meals, he said.

"I hope they can be rescued. You could hear screams below the homes. I ask that they not stop the search. Thank God I could save my son and my husband also is alive. But I lost many loved ones," resident Maria Garcia told CNN affiliate Caracol TV.

More than 700 people were working in shifts on search teams at the site Monday, Caracol reported.

Amid the chaos of the rescue effort, a young boy tugged firefighter Carlos Garcia's belt.

"He asked me, 'firefighter, where are we going to sleep tonight?' And what most impacted me was seeing his little face. I also have a 6-year-old boy," Garcia told Caracol.

About 150 people from the neighborhood were in nearby shelters, Caracol reported, and government officials said they were evacuating other neighborhoods in the area.

"The zone, geologically, is very unstable," Diego Munoz, Bello's government secretary, told Caracol.

At least 194 people have been killed and 248 injured after torrential rains throughout Colombia that have affected nearly 1.6 million people, according to the country's interior ministry. The downpours have caused landslides and overflowing rivers, destroying at least 2,040 houses and damaging nearly 270,000 more nationwide, the ministry said.

Colombia is considering declaring a state of emergency to devote more resources to response and rescue efforts, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said Sunday, describing the rains and flooding as "a tragedy that has no precedent in the history of our country."

The president said he plans to travel Tuesday to Bello -- a suburb of Medellin, Colombia.

"My heart is with the victims of this terrible tragedy... In a few hours we will go directly to Medellin to be with the victims' families and tell them, 'Whatever the government can do to mitigate this pain and suffering, we will be there,'" Santos said in a statement Monday.

CNN's Esprit Smith contributed to this report.

Response: Search crews have uncovered 23 dead bodies and seven injured survivors. Red Cross rescuers are still hoping to find survivors in the rubble. Officials are evacuating others in the area, which is considered unstable geologically. Colombia's president says rains have caused devastating floods throughout the country.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:NEW YORK (CNN) -- For someone who claims to be incredibly laid back, Jason Mraz is certainly piling up the accomplishments.

Jason Mraz was recently honored with a songwriting award for his work, which includes the hit "I'm Yours."

The singer-songwriter was the recipient of the Hal David Starlight Award at last week's Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee ceremony in New York. The honor typically goes to newcomers striking a chord in the music industry.

Or, as Mraz puts it, "I hope it has something to do with their savvy freshness."

Mraz, who turned 32 this week and took his parents to the celebratory dinner at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Times Square June 18, says he feels great about the honor.

"I never thought my songs would escape my bedroom," he said. "To have the music shared all around the world, and to be acknowledged by communities like this ... it's inspiring."

Mraz's 2008 album "We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things" has been a runaway success, with more than 2.5 million copies sold worldwide. It also led to three Grammy nominations, including song of the year and best male pop vocal performance for the reggae-inflected hit "I'm Yours."

Mraz (whose name reflects his family's Czech heritage) hits the festival circuit overseas before kicking off his stateside "Gratitude Café Tour" July 25. The tour's quirky title was inspired by a wholesome San Francisco, California, restaurant Mraz loves.

A fan of maintaining a diet of predominantly raw foods, Mraz is also a farmer of sorts: He owns an avocado farm in his home city of San Diego, California. He's also a juggler, a skill Mraz taught himself during the downtime that comes with touring.  Watch the multitalented Mraz perform »

Mraz shared tales of his avocado farm, as well as what it's like to get the cold shoulder from Simon Cowell, when he sat down with CNN recently.

CNN: So, you live on an avocado farm. What's that like?

Jason Mraz: It's fantastic. Anytime you're harvesting something in your yard -- whether you have a small herb garden or I've got avocados, and now we have a solar system so we're also harvesting sun energy, which is great -- for me that's when I became an environmentalist.

I was like, "Wait a second. This is my environment. This is my piece of the Earth that I'm responsible for." Yes, the trees give me avocado and fruit that we sell and we eat tons of, but I feel like I have a role to play back to that, too. So it's cool.

CNN: So if you're at home, daily how many avocados would you eat?

Mraz: At least two. Sometimes three or four.

CNN: So you must have very nice oily skin.

Mraz: I do, thank you. It's the avocado. I just lather it on.

CNN: Do you really?

Mraz: I do. Yeah, why not? I've got tons of them!

CNN: Do you cook?

Mraz: I prepare. There's not much cooking in our household. We do a lot of raw food so it's more about putting the right ingredients together to create something scrumptious. See Mraz's chocomole recipe

CNN: When eating healthy is so important to you, how difficult is that to maintain when you're traveling around the world so much?

Mraz: Well, I bring tons of backup supplies with me.

CNN: How did you like performing on the "American Idol" final? (Mraz performed "I'm Yours" with contestants Anoop Desai and Alexis Grace.)

Mraz: I loved it. It was such a great event. And I have compassion for every one of those kids that dares audition.

I wasn't a contestant. I was just there to sing, and when I saw Simon at the end of that panel I freaked out. I was like, "What does he think?" And then I had to stop myself and say "Dude, you're not a contestant." He's aloof. But I watched during the rest of the night and he did it to all the acts. That's just his way.

CNN: Do you think you could hack it as an "American Idol" contestant?

Mraz: It is really tough. I watch what those guys do backstage between songs and their weekly schedule is super intense -- to learn new songs, to shoot videos, to learn dance moves and all this. They actually go through a pretty amazing transformation during the course of that show. I just don't know that I could commit myself to something like that. I'm a little more laid back. And some days if I can't show up to work, I don't show up to work. And I love that (laughs).

CNN: Were you surprised by the success of "I'm Yours"?

Mraz: Very surprised. There's something simple about it ... like a nursery rhyme. I thought it was so playful. I never expected the world to really grab it and run with it the way they have.

CNN: Can you talk me through how you went about writing that song? Where were you? What were you doing?

Mraz: I was at home. It was a sunny afternoon. And just as any afternoon where I play music, I was playing on an electric guitar, just chugging around, feeling a little reggae in me you know, and the melody and the words just started to pop out rather quickly and so I recorded it rather quickly. And the whole process only took about a half an hour.

CNN: You're about to go overseas to play various festivals. Is there anywhere you'll be going for the first time?

Mraz: This year we're going to explore South America, which I've visited as a tourist, but I've never taken my music down there. I hear the crowds turn up in masses, so I really want to see what that's like. I love getting to bounce around and explore so much. I love Scandinavia. I love Spain. It's so mystical and romantic, yet it's gritty.

CNN: Do you speak Spanish?

Mraz: No, but I have the Rosetta Stone. I have begun my level one training.

Response: Jason Mraz recently honored with songwriters award. "I'm Yours" artist amazed at where music has brought him. Mraz intimidated by appearance on "American Idol".


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN) -- Kjeld Schigt certainly understands the allure of stepping away from the business world to embrace a healthier lifestyle.

Until 2010, the Rotterdam-born Schigt worked as a strategic business consultant for BP International, a high-powered job that kept him ricocheting so constantly between London and Paris that he barely had time to unpack his suitcase. Then, a two-week trip to Costa Rica changed everything.

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"Finally," Schigt remembers about his sojourn, which he spent surfing on the country's sunny Pacific coast, "I felt excited to get out of bed in the morning. I felt full of energy and that finally I was getting things—things I was passionate about—done."

The trip prompted Schigt to make a major paradigm shift. Within a month he'd quit his job, bought a slice of secluded beachfront property on Costa Rica's southern coast and opened the new business there that he still runs today: Kalon Surf School, which offers retreats for (among others) plenty of stressed-out business executives.

For most of us, of course, the idea of dropping our business careers to pursue fitness and fun is something of a pipe dream. When our first meetings of the day start at 7 a.m. and "after-work plans" often involve wining and dining clients, even squeezing in an hour to hit the gym can seem impossible. Yet we all know we feel better—and work better—when we're healthy. So what's the solution? Get-fit getaway packages, which let us spend a few days rebooting and relearning healthy habits to incorporate into our busy lives.

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"People are tired of sitting on the beach with a Mai Tai," says Kirkland Shave, program director at Mountain Trek Health, Fitness & Weight Loss Retreat. He sees more and more business travelers using their time off to do something healthy—like hiking trails in the awe-inspiring mountains of British Columbia. While part of what retreat guests love about the Mountain Trek experience is their shrinking waistlines, Shave says the restorative power of nature is equally powerful. "A week without hearing a car," he says, "can blow someone's mind."

The combination of activity and beautiful scenery seems to be the magic formula for many of today's best get-fit retreats. But all approach the "reboot" experience differently, whether by leading participants through downward dogs on Mexico's Riviera Maya, biking (and tasting) through California wine country, or taking group swims in the warm, clear waters of the British Virgin Islands. Some programs put an even greater focus on healthy food preparation and consumption, like the Techniques of Healthy Cooking boot camps run by the famed Culinary Institute of America.

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Miraval Resort: Tucson, Arizona

Miraval's sprawling 400-acre campus, just outside Tucson, routinely hosts execs from Fortune 500 companies such as Nike and Google. Take part in the Discover Miraval package here (for as many days/nights as you choose) and you'll see why: the healthful pursuits here range from daily yoga and meditation classes to private nutritional consultations to rock climbing up the granite crags of 7,000-foot Mount Lemmon, the highest point in the Santa Catalina Mountains. The vast menu of relaxing body treatments (reflexology, hot stone massage) and the delicious spa cuisine served at the onsite Cactus Flower restaurant certainly don't hurt, either. From $633 per night.

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Mountain Trek Health: British Columbia, Canada

If you need a firm hand to help you shed those extra pounds, a trip to Mountain Trek's lakeside resort for its "Fitness and Weight Loss Retreat" is just the ticket. Set between the awe-inspiring Selkirk and Purcell Ranges of British Columbia, the hiking boot camp runs from May to October and keeps you moving with a steady program of daily four- to six-mile hikes—beginning with an inescapable 6 a.m. wake-up knock on your door. After a few days of trekking through fields of wildflowers, steep wooded glades and misty riverbanks, the scenery might even distract you from the weight you're dropping: an average of four to six pounds per week for women, double that for men. From $4,000 for seven nights.

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Kalon Surf School: Dominical, Costa Rica

You'll want to pack light when heading to Kalon's laid-back beachfront property, nestled between the bathtub-warm waters of the Pacific and the lush green Cordillera mountains—everything, even sunscreen, is provided for you here. Surfing's combination of challenging exercise and exhilarating immersion in nature is powerful medicine for the overworked, and surfers with all levels of experience are welcome at the camp's week-long programs. (Daily clinics where your technique is assessed by videotape allow even newbies to improve quickly.) After a punishing day in the surf, bide time in the pool until dinner, when local delicacies like just-caught tuna in tamarind sauce appear from the kitchen. From $2,980 for seven nights.

Maya Tulum: Tulum, Mexico

If crystal-blue oceans, emerald-green forests and sugary beaches sound more inspiring than a sweaty yoga studio, head south to Mexico's Riviera Maya for the Mind Body Adventure Week at Maya Tulum. You'll stay in one of 45 intimate thatched-roof cabanas, located just steps away from the resort's two massive yoga halls; after waking up early to enjoy a cup of freshly pressed organic Mexican coffee, you'll get to choose from more than 10 varieties of yoga. Count on more than just sun salutations filling your day—there's plenty of time between classes to enjoy traditional Mesoamerican treatments at the onsite spa, venture out to nearby Mayan ruins or indulge in a restorative afternoon beach nap. From $2,645 for seven nights.

Red Mountain Resort: St. George, Utah

You can get your fitness groove back over a long weekend at an intense "Weekend Warrior" three-day boot camp. Red Mountain's location, set between Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks, means your daily exercise will take place amid some of the country's most dazzling natural landscapes—surreal sunset-colored rock formations, soaring mountain peaks, black lava gardens. A strenuous itinerary of daily hikes, group fitness classes and individual exercise instruction will ensure you keep the calories burning (enough that you won't feel guilty tucking into your dinner of locally sourced elk at the Canyon Breeze restaurant). Après workout, you'll want to make time to visit the onsite spa, where desert botanicals and Utah honey are employed to ease your tired muscles. From $1,120 for four days/three nights.

See more get-fit getaways.

© 2012 American Express Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.

Response: Do sun salutations on the Riviera Maya or hike the Canadian mountains. Surfing combines challenging exercise and exhilarating immersion in nature. These getaways take the drudgery out of getting fit.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN) -- Climate scientists are getting desperate. After years of enduring politically motivated attacks, they are still scrambling to defend their findings.

In a letter last month to Science, 255 of the nation's most prominent scientists -- all members of the National Academy of Sciences, including 11 Nobel laureates -- repeat conclusions that by now should be entirely familiar, even tedious, to anyone who has followed the science at all. Our planet is warming because of increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Burning fossil fuels and deforestation have caused most of the increase. Climate change is a threat to coastal communities, food and water supplies, and ecosystems. And contrary to some recent claims, it is not too late to do something about it. The scientists conclude, in obvious exasperation, that one "snowy winter in Washington does not alter" these basic facts.

The immediate trigger for the letter Virginia State Attorney General Kenneth T. Cuccinelli's recent demand that climate scientist Michael Mann, director of the Earth System Science Center at Penn State University, produce a large volume of paperwork related to his scientific research and communications with fellow scientists during his years at University of Virginia from 1999 to 2005. "McCarthyite" is how the scientists characterize Cuccinelli's action, filed under the state's Fraud Against Taxpayers Act.

Many have dismissed Cuccinelli as silly, particularly in light of his efforts to impose Christian modesty on the state seal of Virginia, and his actions could be shrugged off if they were isolated. But they are the latest example of a persistent, and worrisome, trend: attacking scientists who have done key work that demonstrates the human impact on climate.

Mann is the principal author of the "hockey stick curve" -- a graph that boldly illustrates the dramatic rise in average global temperatures over the past 50 years, a rise unlike anything in the previous 1,000 years. Because the hockey stick curve is visually compelling, it's been reproduced many times, and in 2001 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change featured it in their third assessment report. It's also made Mann a target for those who don't want to admit that global warming is a real problem.

Mann testified about his work in the U.S. Congress in 2003, in hearings sponsored by Sen. James M. Inhofe of Oklahoma, who has called global warming a "hoax." Two years later, Texas Rep. Joseph Barton demanded that Mann supply copious documentation related to his testimony, based on what Barton, who has no scientific training, alleged were "methodological flaws and data errors" in his work.

Peter Gleick, the lead author of the Science letter, was threatened with a lawsuit by contrarian Patrick J. Michaels in 2003. Michaels has long denied the scientific evidence of human-caused warming, and  Gleick said those views flew in the face of overwhelming scientific evidence and  likened them to believing in a flat Earth.

In 1995, a group called Global Climate Coalition, composed of the American Petroleum Institute and a host of fossil-fuel dependent corporations, attacked Benjamin Santer, a scientist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory who had done key work demonstrating the human "fingerprint" on climate. Without any substantive evidence, the group accused Santer of committing "scientific cleansing" of the IPCC's Second Assessment Report by removing mention of uncertainties to make global warming appear more certain than it was.

A handful of physicists attached to another think-tank, the George C. Marshall Institute, splashed the accusation onto the pages of the Wall Street Journal, ensuring millions of Americans saw them. Santer was later vindicated -- all the co-authors testified he had made no unauthorized changes. Yet the impression of wrong-doing remained.

Perhaps no scientific name is more associated with global warming than Roger Revelle, mentor to Al Gore, who first warned of the risks of human-caused climate change in the 1950s. In 1992, a paper was released that claimed Revelle had changed his mind about global warming and no longer believed it was a problem. The claim was repeated many times in the mass media, including The New Republic and The Washington Post.

Revelle was elderly and seriously ill at the time, and died before he had a chance to respond. His graduate student, Justin Lancaster, tried to set the record straight by publicly disputing the claim. He was soon sued by the author of the claim, and lacking funds to defend himself, was forced to settle out of court, leaving his personal and professional life in tatters.

But it isn't just climate scientists who have been vilified, personally attacked, and threatened with lawsuits and congressional investigations. Since the early 1990s, there has been a sustained history of attempts to undermine any science that suggested that contemporary industrial society might be doing irreparable harm to human health and the natural environment.

This included the science that demonstrated the harms of DDT, the dangers to children of second-hand smoke, the causes of acid rain, and the reality of the ozone hole. Often the same people were involved in several or even all of these attacks. The common feature in all these cases was a link to think tanks promoting free markets and opposing government regulations.

One doesn't have to be a conspiracy theorist to see the pattern: People are loath to admit that our free market system has created problems that the free market has proved ineffectual to solve.

Nicolas Stern, former chief economist at the World Bank, has called global warming "the greatest and widest-ranging market failure ever seen." Deaths from tobacco smoking, environmental destruction from DDT and other pesticides, acid rain and the ozone hole were market failures, too. Insufficiently regulated market capitalism created these problems, and it took government interventions -- and in some cases, international agreements-- to fix them.

If you tried to argue that global warming is not a market failure, you'd just look silly. So extremist defenders of the free market have found themselves an easier target. Science is arcane and scientists are frankly often incomprehensible. But the important point for us to understand is this: Scientists have done nothing wrong. On the contrary, they've been repeatedly vindicated in their work on environmental change.

The real crime is not to be found in some pile of obscure scientific documents or the e-mails of harassed scientists. The real crime is that our best science is being undermined by ideologues, confusing us about some of the most important issues of our time.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the authors.

Response: Oreskes, Conway: 255 scientists wrote letter to reiterate global warming findings. Authors: Letter came after attack on scientist whose work shows human impact on climate. They say attacks similar to those aimed at science on DDT, second-hand smoke, acid rain. Common to all, they say, is link to think tanks promoting free markets, opposing regulations.