Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN) -- Could there be an American team in Formula One for the first time in more than 25 years?

NASCAR team co-owner Gene Haas has thrown his hat into the ring to enter a new team into the F1 world championship.

Last month the sport's governing body, the FIA, asked prospective entrants to make "an expression of interest" to join the grid as a 12th team for the start of the 2015 or 2016 season.

Haas, who co-owns Stewart-Haas Racing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, said Friday that he has answered the call.

"We have responded to the FIA's 'call for expression of interest' regarding a Formula One entry on behalf of Haas Racing Development," the American businessman said in a statement.

"We respect the FIA's evaluation process and will share more details in the coming weeks."

Haas has already tasted success in the premier U.S. racing series when the Stewart-Haas Team, which he founded with three-time Sprint Cup champion driver Tony Stewart, won the 2011 Sprint Cup Series championship.

F1 last expanded the grid in 2010 when three new teams joined. Of the trio, two are still racing in their current guises -- Caterham and Marussia.

The Spanish Hispania (HRT) team withdrew from the sport at the end of 2012 because of financial difficulties.

The last U.S. backed team ran a limited number of races during the 1985 and 1986 seasons under the Lola-Hart moniker.

Other American teams to enter the sport include Eagle, which debuted in 1966, Shadow and Penkse, both of which raced in the 1970s.

The USF1 team launched an unsuccessful bid to join F1 for the 2010 season after difficulties securing financial backing.

The FIA had given parties interesting in joining F1 until January 3 2014 to register their interest but it is not yet known whether there are any other prospective entries.

Response: NASCAR co-owner registers interest in entering a new team in Formula One. Gene Haas says he has responded to the FIA's call for new teams in 2015 or 2016. Haas co-owns a NASCAR team with champion racer Tony Stewart. The last U.S. funded F1 team ran in 1986 under the Lola-Hart moniker.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN) -- The exiled leader of the Palestinian Islamic faction Hamas met with Jordan's King Abdullah II on Sunday in his first official trip to Jordan since his expulsion in 1999.

In a statement issued by Hamas, Khaled Meshaal expressed his appreciation to the king for supporting Palestinians.

"Any future meetings between Hamas and Jordan open a new page between the two sides and serve the Palestinian cause," said Meshaal, who announced earlier this month that he would not seek another term as president of the movement's governing body.

The meeting comes as Abdullah is making a high-profile attempt to broker new peace talks in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Hamas, which the United States and the European Union consider a terrorist organization, controls the Palestinian territory of Gaza and refuses to recognize Israel's right to exist.

Meshaal met with Abdullah and the crown prince of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani, Jordan's state news agency Petra reported. Abdullah reaffirmed his support for a Palestinian state based on the borders drawn before the 1967 Middle East war, "with East Jerusalem as its capital," Petra reported.

Israel claims all of Jerusalem as its own capital, and its ultimate status is one of the most contentious points in the talks. But Abdullah also called negotiations "the sole means to regain Palestinian rights," a stance Israel and the United States have supported as Palestinian leaders seek recognition of an independent Palestine at the United Nations.

And Petra said Meshaal called the meetings "a new opening" after 12 years, stating Hamas respected "Jordan's security, stability and interests."

Jordan kicked the leadership of Hamas out of the country in 1999 after accusing it of breaking a deal to restrict its activity to politics. The movement has maintained a headquarters in Syria's capital Damascus since then, receiving financial and military support from the governments of Hafez al-Assad and his successor, his son Bashar.

But Hamas has been distancing itself from its long-time patron as Syria battles a 10-month-old popular uprising against al-Assad. Hamas personnel and their families have left Syria in recent weeks, and Ismail Haniya, the Hamas leader in Gaza, did not stop in Damascus during a recent regional trip.

Abdullah, meanwhile, told CNN during a recent visit to Washington that he was stepping up to try to restart the stalled Israeli-Palestinian talks. He said his message to President Barack Obama was, "It's up to us to do the heavy lifting ... We can't always have to fall back on the United States to do everything."

But Israel and the Palestinian Authority, which controls the West Bank, spent Sunday blaming each other for the latest lack of progress. Speaking at the start of his weekly Cabinet meeting, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Palestinians "refused to even discuss Israel's security needs with us" in the most recent contacts in Amman.

"Signs are not particularly good," Netanyahu said in comments released by his office. "But I hope that they will come to their senses and continue with the talks in order for us to advance to true negotiations."

But Palestinians have blamed Israel's ongoing construction of settlements in the West Bank, on land the Palestinians consider part of their future state, for the impasse. Senior Palestinian negotiator Mohammad Shtayeh told CNN that the Palestinians presented Israel, Jordan and members of the Mideast Quartet powers with a written document on security and border issues, "and the Israeli side did not present anything in writing as the Quartet requested."

"The Amman talks were about creating a conducive environment for any future talks," Shtayeh said. "But, unfortunately, Israel did not accept to freeze settlement construction, which we consider as destroying confidence measures and an illegal and provocative act which led to the collapse of the talks."

Shtayeh said the Palestinian leadership "will consult with the Arab countries as will re-evaluate the situation with King of Jordan, and upon all of these consultations we will reach a decision on where to go."

Response: Khaled Meshaal meets with King Abdullah II in Amman. It's his first official visit since Jordan expelled Hamas in the 1990s. Abdullah is attempting to broker new Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. Israel, Palestinians point fingers over the latest impasse.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN) -- Roger Ebert got a final "thumbs up" as family, friends and filmmakers eulogized the movie critic at his funeral in Chicago on Monday.

Hundreds gathered inside Chicago's Holy Name Cathedral, but many more watched the live telecast of the service carried by local stations and streamed online.

It is a production his widow, Chaz Ebert, said would get a good review from the late critic.

"He would have loved this," she said. "He would love the majesty of it, he would love everything about it, he would love that you were all here for him, he would have loved everything the priests did."

Although he's known for reviewing films, his widow spoke about his passion for social justice.

"He really was a soldier for social justice, and it didn't matter to him your race, creed, color, level of ability, sexual orientation -- he had a heart big enough to love and accept all," she said.

Fellow critic Richard Roeper served as one of the pallbearers, carrying Ebert's casket into the cathedral, where dignitaries waited, including Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

"He was the most American of American critics in the most American of American cities," Emanuel said in his eulogy. "It was in Chicago where Roger kept his home, where he kept his heart and where he found his inspiration."

On Twitter, Roger Ebert found a new voice

Ebert reviewed movies for the Chicago Sun Times starting in 1967, leading to success with his syndicated column and iconic television show "Siskel and Ebert At The Movies"

"He didn't just dominate his profession, he defined it," Emanuel said. "LIke generations of Chicagoans, before I went to a movie I needed to find out two things: What time does it start and what does Roger think about it? Roger spent a lot of his time sitting through bad movies so that we didn't have to. No good movie is too long and no bad movie is too short, he wrote."

Ebert died last Thursday after a long batter with cancer.

"Life was too short for Roger to be defeated by illness, so when Roger's body became weak, we saw how his mind become sharper," Emanuel said. "Roger did not chose cancer. He did chose his response to it: To keep living. Rather than allow his struggle to separate himself from his readers, it became another way for Roger to relate to us. With every one of his reviews, his TV appearances, his tweets, Roger shared with us one lesson: Life is too short not to be shared with others."

Ebert's last year was his most productive with 306 movie reviews, compared to the normal 200 a year.

"His time with us was too short, but what he shared with us endures," Emanuel said. "The final reel of Roger's life may have run to the end, but his memory will never fade."

Great movies and terrible bombs, according to Roger Ebert

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn said Ebert was "a populist who understood that it's the duty of all of us to take good care of those who don't have a champion."

"We love you Roger, we always will. Thumbs up!" Gov. Quinn said at the end.

Jonathan Jackson, son of the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr., spoke about the impact Ebert's reviews of black-directed films such as Spike Lee's "School Daze" and "Do the Right Thing" had on society.

"I look at Roger as a soldier with a pen when he sat on a high perch and gave a commentary and opinion that depicted us as human, that showed us as normal in 'School Daze,' " Jackson said. "He saw young black children not as problems, but as people."

Jackson also read a message from Spike Lee: "Roger Ebert was a champion of my work and other black filmmakers at a critical time in American cinema history, Roger was one of the lone defenders of 'Do the Right Thing' when everybody else and their mothers were saying that black folks would run amok and riot during the summer of 1989. Roger fought the good fight. Roger fought the power."

Opinion: Ebert's sheer love of life

Former Chicago Sun Times Editor John Barron, who was Ebert's boss for many years, said Ebert understood the changing newspaper business.

"Roger was pretty much the first with a computer," Barron said. "He was the first with e-mail. He opened up whole new worlds with his blog and his Twitter account. Roger was 24-7 before anyone had even thought about that term. While we were all still focused on making the nightly deadline, Roger was showing us what a fully evolved newspaper man look liked. He taught us a lot and we at the Sun Times were always proud to say we worked where Roger Ebert worked. The glow that he cast was warm and wide."

Ebert's stepdaughter Sonia Evans spoke about Ebert the father.

"He's the man whom we deeply loved -- kind sincere warm, loving, intelligent, imaginative, transformative and just a world-class human being who exercised his gift for the world."

"I'm the happiest when I think of how he and my mother found each other," she said.

Appreciation for Ebert, the everyman's movie critic

Response: "He would have loved this," Ebert's widow says at his funeral. "He didn't just dominate his profession," he defined it, Chicago's mayor says. "We love you Roger, we always will. Thumbs up!" Illinois Gov. Quinn says. Film Critic Roger Ebert died last week after a battle with cancer.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN) -- Linguists announced Monday they have identified an endangered language known as Koro that is spoken by about 800 people in northeast India.

The language was unknown to science and recently came to light during an expedition by linguists traveling in India on fellowships for National Geographic, the linguists said in telephone interviews.

Koro belongs to the Tibeto-Burman language family, which is composed of a group of about 400 languages spoken primarily in east, central, south and southeast Asia and includes Tibetan and Burmese, according to linguist K. David Harrison.

Some 150 Tibeto-Burman languages are spoken in India alone, but no other language has been identified as closely related, said Harrison, an associate professor of linguistics at Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania.

Like most languages, Koro is unwritten and transmitted orally. It is neither a dialect nor a sister language close to Hruso-Aka, despite being considered such by both Hruso and Koro people.

Koro shares some vocabulary with other languages spoken in the region but shares more features with languages spoken farther east, such as Milang and Tani, the linguists said in a news release issued by National Geographic.

Harrison and another National Geographic Fellow, Greg Anderson, led the expedition, called Enduring Voices, which brought Koro to light. Enduring Voices documents vanishing languages and cultures and assists with language revitalization.

Harrison and Anderson, director of the Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages, in Salem, Oregon, focused on Arunachal Pradesh, a remote area of northeast India that is considered the black hole of the linguistic world.

It is a language hotspot where there is room to study rich, diverse languages, many unwritten or documented. A permit is required to visit, few linguists have worked there and a reliable list of languages has never been drawn up.

"On a scientist's tally sheet, Koro adds just one entry to the list of 6,909 languages worldwide. But Koro's contribution is much greater than that tiny fraction would suggest," Harrison writes in his book, "The Last Speakers."

"Koro brings an entirely different perspective, history, mythology, technology and grammar to what was known before."

In the news release, the linguists described their discovery as bittersweet: Of the approximately 800 people who speak Koro, few are under the age of 20, meaning the language is endangered.

"We were finding something that was making its exit, was on its way out," Anderson said. "And if we had waited 10 years to make the trip, we might not have come across close to the number of speakers we found."

The team set out in 2008 in Arunachal Pradesh to document Aka and Miji, languages spoken in a small district there. The expedition went door to door among homes propped up on stilts to reach potential speakers of those little-known languages.

While recording the vocabularies, they detected a third language -- Koro. It was not listed in Indian language surveys, Indian censuses or standard international registries.

"We didn't have to get far on our word list to realize it was extremely different in every possible way," Harrison said.

The inventory of sounds and the way these sounds were combined to form words were distinct from other languages spoken in the region.

An Aka speaker would call a pig "vo" and a Koro speaker would call a pig "lele."

"Koro could hardly sound more different from Aka," Harrison writes. "They sound as different as, say, English and Japanese."

Anderson and Harrison said Aka is the traditional language of the region's historic slave traders, and they hypothesized that Koro may have sprung from the slaves; though they said more study is needed to determine the origin.

The project reports that a language becomes extinct every two weeks. By 2100, it is estimated that more than half of the 6,910 languages spoken on earth will vanish. The team will return to India to continue studying Koro in November.

Response: Koro is spoken by only about 800 people, few of them under the age of 20. Linguists traveling in northeast India came upon the language. Koro was not listed in any Indian language surveys or other sources. Koro's sounds distinctly different from other tongues spoken in region.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (CNN) -- He's no Julia Child, but Honduran President Manuel Zelaya showed Tuesday he can attack a cantaloupe and U.S. government claims in a single motion.

President Manuel Zelaya chews on a slice of Honduran melon to demonstrate its safety.

"It's not in our fruit," he said about last week's report by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that some Honduran cantaloupes may be contaminated with salmonella. "It's not true what they are saying. Logically, we believe it is an error."

Then, the 55-year-old father of four asked the viewers of CNN en Español to indulge him as he engaged in a show-and-tell demonstration. "Permit me a second," he said as he stretched his left arm across the tabletop and outside the view of the camera, then pulled into view a box of fruit.

"Here I have the box of melons that we are exporting to the United States; here are the protective bags," he said.

Zelaya lifted a cantaloupe from the box, placed it in front of him, then grabbed a knife and a fork.

"Permit me to make a demonstration," he said, then cut open the fruit, sliced off a chunk, put it in his mouth and chewed vigorously.

"I eat this fruit without any fear," he said with his mouth full. "It's a delicious fruit. Nothing happens to me!"

Though the symptoms of salmonella infection -- nausea, vomiting, fever, diarrhea and abdominal cramps -- typically do not occur for several hours after eating tainted food, the point was made.

The demonstration came three days after the FDA said it had linked 50 cases of salmonella in 16 states and nine in Canada to melons from Agropecuaria Montelibana, a grower and packer in San Lorenzo, Honduras.

Though there have been no reports of fatalities, 14 people have been hospitalized in Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee, Utah, Washington and Wisconsin, the FDA said.

While the company has continued exporting to Europe and Central America and has received no reports of illness, the daily export of 45 containers of melon to the United States has halted, a company official said Monday.

As a result, some 1,500 workers have been laid off, most of them single mothers, and company losses have exceeded $3 million, company officials said.

The FDA alert advised U.S. grocers, food-service operators and produce processors to remove from their stock any cantaloupes from the company.

The agency also recommended consumers throw away any cantaloupes determined to be from the company. E-mail to a friend

CNN's Elvin Sandoval contributed to this story.

Response: President Manuel Zelaya says Honduran fruit has no salmonella. To prove his point, he eats some publicly "without any fear". FDA links 50 cases of salmonella to Honduran grower. 1,500 workers laid off, grower reports losses in excess of $3 million.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN) -- It is widely agreed that Wednesday night's presidential debate is crucial for Mitt Romney: This is almost assuredly his last chance to turn around the election. What is less obvious is that the stakes are sky-high for Barack Obama, too: This debate could have a powerful impact upon his ability to govern in a second term.

Romney is dangerously close to blowing a campaign that many election models said he should easily win. Yes, three national polls published Monday -- including CNN -- showed the two candidates within three points of each other. But for Romney, the problem is that as the polls go up and down each week, there is one constant: As Real Clear Politics demonstrates in its averaging process, Obama stays ahead and has been for nearly a year. The news for the GOP from battleground states is even worse, especially in the Midwest.

Unless he wants to depend on a wing and a prayer, Romney is thus in the unenviable position that he has to shake up the dynamics of the race on Wednesday night. Translated, that means he has to score a convincing victory in the eyes of voters. Simply being as good as Obama won't cut it -- a tie goes to the leader.

How to watch, clip and share the debate

Can Romney pull off a debate victory? Of course -- umm, theoretically. As he proved in the GOP debates, he is quick on his feet, can throw a punch as well as counterpunch, and he looks presidential -- all assets on television. But his campaign has left him with so much ground to make up that it will be very hard: In the space of 90 minutes, he has to convince voters for the first time that he has a better plan for the economy, make the case that Obama doesn't and prove much more likable than ever before. And all the while, he will have to fend off jabs from Obama, who can draw from a rich trove of Romney mistakes in the past. So, yes, Romney can still win, but it will be darn hard. No wonder he has been practicing so much.

It would appear, then, that Obama can simply go for caution, choosing a clinch in the center of the ring over hard punches, and walking away with a tie. But on closer examination, Obama ought to be pressing for a victory, too.

Opinion: Debate coach -- Obama, Romney are top performers

In some polls over recent weeks, especially from key states, the president has now opened up a second possible path to re-election. For a long time, his campaign advisers have assumed that he would win but that his margin of victory would be narrow -- less than three points. Even now, his advisers -- even as they are quietly confident about the ultimate outcome -- are running scared, assuming the race will likely close significantly in the final weeks.

But it is becoming apparent there is another possibility: Contrary to much conventional wisdom, Obama may actually be able to bust open this race, sweeping almost every state he won four years ago and rolling up a victory margin of perhaps five points or more.

Opinion: Ten questions for Obama to answer

The difference between a big win and a small win for Obama is, to draw upon a famous Mark Twain phrase, almost the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.

Looking beyond November, what really matters to Obama is whether he can effectively govern in a second term. If he wins big, he can persuasively argue that the American people have spoken loudly and clearly, choosing his path into the future over Romney's. At minimum, he will claim a mandate in favor of higher taxes on the affluent, a strong safety net for those in trouble and a cautious approach toward reducing Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security costs. Republicans will have a much harder time challenging his mandate if he wins big.

Moreover, a big Obama victory would keep the Senate safely in Democratic hands and -- less likely -- might put a few House seats in play. Obama campaign advisers have been building a powerful ground game for months; they have far more offices in battleground states than Romney. Their hope is that if they turn out enough voters, a rising tide will lift lots of boats downstream. Especially in the Senate, they entertain hopes that a Democratic candidate can come within three points of Obama. If he were to break beyond 53% in key states, that could elect a lot of Democrats.

Add together the possibility of a convincing mandate with congressional results that may be far better than expected a few months ago and what do you have: bingo, a resurgent Obama heading toward a second term. To some of his advisers, that would make it far more likely he could achieve a "grand bargain" on deficits, breaking open the deadlock now paralyzing Washington and holding back corporate investment.

Opinion: The mistakes candidates make in debates

In short, Obama has a great deal riding on Wednesday's debate, too. Members of his team may talk as if they have less at stake than their opponent, but in their hearts, they know that if Obama can put Romney away in their first debate, he could well have some lightning at his command in a second term.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of David Gergen.

Response: David Gergen: Debate may represent Romney's last big chance to turn around the race. He says the stakes are also sky-high for Obama, even if he wins election. Obama needs a big victory to claim broad support for his plans for second term, Gergen says.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(EW.com) -- For the caveman family of "The Croods," the Stone Age isn't over yet.

The DreamWorks Animation movie is getting a sequel, EW has confirmed.

Since its release on March 22, "The Croods" has scored big at the box office, earning over $386 million worldwide.

'Croods' Zoo: 9 Sprecious Species â€” GALLERY

It was a welcome success for the company, following the disappointing performance of DreamWorks Animation's "Rise of the Guardians" in late 2012.

"The Croods," about a family of cavemen on the dangerous but adventurous search for a new home, featured the voice talent of Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, Nicolas Cage, and Catherine Keener.

'The Croods' directors on their approach to scary moments

There's no official word yet on which stars will return for the sequel or when the new film will be released.

See the original article at EW.com.

CLICK HERE to Try 2 RISK FREE issues of Entertainment Weekly

© 2011 Entertainment Weekly and Time Inc. All rights reserved.

Response: DreamWorks Animation's "The Croods" is getting a sequel. Since its release on March 22, "The Croods" has scored big at the box office. The movie has earned more than $386 million worldwide.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN) -- It was a night for underdogs at the Golden Globes -- and a particularly rich one for the biggest underdog of them all, "Slumdog Millionaire."

Dev Patel and Freida Pinto star in "Slumdog Millionaire," which was named best drama at the Golden Globes.

The modestly budgeted movie -- about a poverty-raised orphan in Mumbai who goes on the Indian version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" -- won awards for best drama, best director (Danny Boyle), best screenplay (Simon Beaufoy) and best original score (A.R. Rahman).

The victories were all the more astonishing given the film's unlikely production history, which included cobbling together a $15 million budget, shooting on the streets of Mumbai and then struggling for distribution.

The film's principals, including Boyle and Beaufoy, were thankful for the support of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which presents the Globes.

"Your mad, pulsating affection for our film is much appreciated," said Boyle.  Watch stars on the red carpet »

"We really weren't expecting to be here in America at all at one time, so it's just amazing to be here," said Beaufoy.

With the film's victories at the Critics' Choice Awards last week, it must be considered the front-runner in the Academy Awards' best picture race. The Academy Award nominations will be announced Thursday, January 22. iReport.com: Sound off on awards season

Another underdog, actor Mickey Rourke, won best actor in a drama for his performance in "The Wrestler." Rourke, who described himself as "almost out of the business" not so long ago, gave credit to his agent for backing him and "Wrestler" director Darren Aronofsky for sticking with him when the film had trouble finding funding.

"The Wrestler" also won a Globe for its theme song, written and sung by Bruce Springsteen.  Watch Golden Globe highlights »

Kate Winslet wasn't considered quite as much an underdog, but she still outdid the odds by winning both categories for which she was nominated: best actress in a drama (for "Revolutionary Road") and best supporting actress (for "The Reader").  Gallery: Winners at the Globes »

Perhaps she surprised herself most of all. After winning best supporting actress -- the first award of the evening -- she asked the audience, "You have to forgive me, because I have a habit of not winning things." After the best actress win, she took the stage in a mild state of shock.

"I'm so sorry! Anne, Meryl, Kristin -- oh, God, who's the other one? -- Angelina," she said, referring to fellow nominees Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep, Kristin Scott Thomas and Angelina Jolie. Not long after, being told to wrap it up, she said, "You have no idea how much I'm not wrapping up," before emotionally thanking a variety of people, including co-star Leonardo DiCaprio and husband Sam Mendes, "Road's" director. See the list of Globe winners, nominees

Another win was expected, if tinged with tragedy. The late Heath Ledger won the Golden Globe for best supporting actor for his performance as the Joker in "The Dark Knight."

"All of us who worked with Heath on 'The Dark Knight' accept with an awful mixture of sadness but incredible pride," said director Christopher Nolan. "For any of us lucky enough to work with him, he will be eternally missed, but he will never be forgotten."

Ledger died almost a year ago of an accidental prescription drug overdose.

Ledger's performance was widely praised and he is considered the front-runner for an Academy Award for supporting actor. He was 28 when he died on January 22, 2008. Oscar nominations will be announced on the first anniversary of his death.

Before the show, "Knight" co-star Aaron Eckhart told CNN, "I'm considering it his night tonight."

The Globes also honor TV programs, and in the television categories there were few surprises. HBO's miniseries "John Adams," which dominated the Emmy Awards in September with 13 trophies, won four Globes: best actor (Paul Giamatti), best actress (Laura Linney), best supporting actor (Tom Wilkinson) and best TV movie or miniseries.

"Mad Men" won best TV drama, as it did at the Emmys, and "30 Rock," another Emmy winner, won best comedy TV series.

Though star Tina Fey was announced as the person to accept that award, she let co-star Tracy Morgan have the microphone.

"Tina Fey and I had an agreement that if Barack Obama won, I'd be accepting the awards from now on," he said. Fey later won for best TV comedy actress, joining her co-star Alec Baldwin (best TV comedy actor) as Globe winners.

The Israeli film "Waltz With Bashir" won best foreign-language film. In his speech, director Ari Folman expressed hope for peace in the Middle East.

Noting the "eight beautiful production babies" born during the show's four-year creation, he said he hopes the children can see the film when they get older, and "I hope it looks like an ancient video game that has nothing to do with their lives whatsoever."

Other Globe winners included Sally Hawkins, who won best actress in a musical or comedy for her performance in "Happy-Go-Lucky"; Colin Farrell, who took home best actor in a comedy or musical for "In Bruges"; "Vicky Cristina Barcelona," Woody Allen's latest, which won best comedy or musical; and "WALL-E," which won best animated film.

For those casting metaphorical grass blades into the breeze to see which way the Oscar winds are blowing, the "Globes" may have created front-runners in some races, confusion in others.

Anne Hathaway had won a few honors for "Rachel Getting Married," but Winslet's win over her at the Globes creates a tighter contest for best actress. Rourke's victory is a feel-good story for an actor many had written off, but he may have to face Frank Langella (Richard Nixon in "Frost/Nixon"), Sean Penn (a highly praised Harvey Milk in "Milk") and Leonardo DiCaprio (Winslet's "Revolutionary Road" husband) for best actor. "Milk," in particular, received short shrift from the HFPA; the Motion Picture Academy is expected to be kinder.

The Globes' loose atmosphere -- a trademark of the event, which features an open bar and celebrities sitting at large tables -- was evident from the beginning. Jennifer Lopez, noticing a distinct rumble of chatter as she attempted to begin the show, demanded quiet with "Hello! Hello! Mama talkin'!" Later, Tom Wilkinson, having won a supporting actor honor for his performance in the miniseries "John Adams," forgot the last name of a person he wanted to thank.

There were even a couple of TV no-nos on the live broadcast: "Wrestler" director Aronofsky humorously flashed Rourke a middle finger as Rourke talked about how hard Aronofsky worked the cast, and one of the "Slumdog" producers uttered the F-word upon seeing he was being rushed through his speech.

It was the kind of party people have come to expect from the Globes, a show in which Jack Nicholson once bared his backside and Christine Lahti once was engaged in the ladies' room upon being named a winner.

And, if throwing a glamorous party in these nervous, market-plunging times seems a little unusual, it's also something Tinseltown does well -- and that people are expecting, participants said before the broadcast.

"I think these things are entertainment," Mendes told CNN. "This is people's escapism. ... I think in that respect they should be embraced."

Response: "Slumdog Millionaire" wins best drama; nets four total wins. Mickey Rourke wins best actor in a drama for "The Wrestler". Kate Winslet wins two Golden Globes -- one for actress, another for supporting. Heath Ledger wins best supporting actor for "The Dark Knight".


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN) -- If Liverpool end this season with a first English league title since 1990, then perhaps the club can look back to a hand dealt by fate on April 6, 2014.

Multiple hands, in fact, and some arms -- as Brendan Rodgers' team returned to the top of the Premier League table with a controversial 2-1 win at West Ham.

First the outstretched limb of home defender James Tomkins, seeking to stop the progress of Luis Suarez, allowed Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard to put his team ahead from the penalty spot.

Then the flailing hand of former $50 million Reds flop Andy Carroll clouted the head of Simon Mignolet at a corner. As an encore, he knocked the visiting goalkeeper's arm away from the ball, allowing Guy Demel to equalize in stoppage time.

Referee Anthony Taylor overruled his linesman, who had flagged for a foul by Carroll -- much to the anger of the Liverpool players watching the replay on the big screen at Upton Park.

If Taylor got that wrong, he made up for it in the second half by awarding Liverpool another penalty which Gerrard again converted.

West Ham keeper Adrian had appeared to make contact with the ball with his outstretched hand before the onrushing Jon Flanagan sprawled to the grass.

Rodgers, however, believed the official got that one right.

"The first penalty was clear and I thought the second one was a penalty as well," the Liverpool manager said.

"Jon gets a touch on the ball and touches it past the goalkeeper. The keeper gets a touch on the ball, but also takes him."

West Ham counterpart Sam Allardyce, whose team remained mid-table and seemingly safe from relegation, was less impressed.

"Flanagan is going down before Adrian plays the ball," he said. "(The ref) thinks Adrian hasn't played the ball and he has.

"I feel let down, the lads feel really let down. We took Liverpool right to the wire."

And that is where the title race appears to be headed, with five rounds remaining for most teams.

Liverpool, four points clear of third-placed Manchester City having played two games more, will face a big test of their aspirations when the two teams meet at Anfield next Sunday.

The Reds then go to struggling Norwich before hosting Chelsea, second in the table at the end of this weekend -- two points adrift, also with five to play.

It was Liverpool's ninth successive win, and the club will likely have to beat the record of 12 in a row set back in 1990 to have a chance of denying City a second title in three seasons.

"We'll just keep our focus, keep that concentration. It didn't matter that Manchester City or Chelsea won yesterday -- it can't affect us," Rodgers said.

"We have to control ourselves and our own emotions and get the job done. That was a real tough game today, but we got a great result."

Rodgers said Liverpool have extra incentive to win the title, with this month being the 25th anniversary of the Hillsborough stadium disaster which claimed 96 lives during a crush at the FA Cup semifinal against Nottingham Forest.

"There are 96 people in the sky that will always be supporting this team," the Northern Irishman said.

"We want to do it for the great support and the football family of Liverpool. If we're to achieve anything this year, certainly they will always be in our thoughts -- the 96 in the sky and the families that go with them."

Meanwhile, the race for England's fourth place in next season's Champions League turned in Everton's favor on Sunday as Liverpool's city rivals thrashed the incumbents Arsenal 3-0.

Strikers Steven Naismith and Romelu Lukaku scored before former Everton favorite Mikel Arteta netted an own-goal, putting Roberto Martinez's team just a point behind the Londoners with a game in hand.

"The implications today were quite unique. We were hoping for a result but what was needed today was breaking many barriers," said the Spanish manager, who has impressed since taking over after David Moyes left to join Manchester United.

"In 22 games we have played against Arsenal we only scored one goal or less: today we kept a clean sheet and scored three and looked like we could have scored more.

"The performance had an arrogant focus which was very pleasing to see."

Arsene Wenger, whose team had topped the table for large parts of this season, admitted Arsenal's morale was flagging after some heavy away defeats against the leading teams.

"They have taken something of our charisma from the team. Is that belief? Is it fear? Is it confidence?" said the Frenchman, who has guided Arsenal into Europe's top competition for 16 successive years.

"I wouldn't question the spirit of this team. They are focused and want to do well but they have lost something on the confidence front."

Norwich sacked manager Chris Hughton on Sunday after the 1-0 defeat by West Brom left the club one place above the relegation zone, but five points clear of the bottom three teams.

The club's under-18 team coach Neil Adams was appointed to take the place of the former Tottenham player until the end of this season.

Response: Sunday's 2-1 win at West Ham puts Liverpool back on top of English Premier League. Captain Steven Gerrard scores two penalties in team's ninth successive victory. Former Liverpool striker Andy Carroll involved in controversy for West Ham equalizer. Arsenal's top-four hopes dented by 3-0 defeat away to Liverpool's city rivals Everton.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN) -- Time is running out for congressional Republicans and President Barack Obama to strike a deal to avert the fiscal cliff. If the two parties can't come to an agreement before the end of the year, a combination of broad tax hikes and deep government spending cuts take effect . Experts warn of a new recession if Washington goes over the fiscal cliff.

Here's a by-the-numbers look at the fiscal cliff and its impact:

The current situation:

$16.3 trillion -- The amount of the current national debt.

71% -- The percentage of every tax dollar going to support Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and interest on the debt.

2026 -- The year that all federal tax revenue could potentially go to supporting Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and interest on the debt, unless changes are made.

Fiscal cliff talks still hung up on taxes

What the fiscal cliff will do:

January 2, 2013 -- The date that automatic tax increases and spending cuts will go into effect, unless a deal is reached.

$7 trillion -- The total amount of tax increases and spending cuts included in the fiscal cliff, spread out over the next 10 years.

$1.2 trillion -- The amount of deficit reduction possible over the next 10 years, with the fiscal cliff's spending cuts and tax increases.

Democratic source: GOP calling for permanent extension of cuts for wealthiest 2%

$55 billion -- The amount expected to be cut from non-defense spending in 2013. This includes education, aviation safety and other programs.

$55 billion -- The amount the Department of Defense will have to cut from discretionary spending in 2013.

$500 billion -- The amount the Department of Defense faces in potential cuts over 10 years.

Mother with autistic son worried what fiscal cliff could do to her family

90% -- The percentage of Americans who will pay more taxes in 2013, if a deal on the fiscal cliff isn't reached.

$2,000 -- Amount the Tax Policy Center estimates that middle class families will have to pay in additional taxes in 2013, if a deal isn't reached.

Proposals:

$1.4 trillion -- The amount the White House has proposed in new tax revenues, to reduce the deficit.

$800 billion -- The amount that the GOP has proposed to reduce the deficit, by enacting tax reform and eliminating some deductions and loopholes.

Polls:

49% -- The percentage of people polled who approve of President Barack Obama's handling of the fiscal cliff negotiations.

25% -- The percentage of people polled who approve of House Speaker John Boehner's handling of the fiscal cliff negotiations.

Polls show Obama has more public support in fiscal cliff talks

42% -- The percentage of people polled who disapprove of President Barack Obama's handling of the fiscal cliff negotiations.

49% -- The percentage of people polled who disapprove of House Speaker John Boehner's handling of the fiscal cliff negotiations.

Response: $16.3 trillion -- Size of the current national debt. January 2, 2013 -- Date that automatic tax hikes and spending cuts will take effect, unless a deal is reached. $7 trillion -- Amount of tax increases and spending cuts included in the fiscal cliff, spread out over the next 10 years. 49% and 25% -- Americans surveyed who approve of the way President Obama and Speaker Boehner are handling the fiscal cliff, respectively.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(Mashable)  -- UK artist Banksy, he of the guerilla techniques and ever-increasing popularity, is about to be unceremoniously identified to the highest bidder in an eBay auction, which ends Wednesday.

At press time, the winning bidder is offering one slim dollar shy of a million. Bidding started at $3,000; the auction has had 38 bids.

In the listing, the seller states, "I have uncovered [Banksy's] identity by matching up the prices of his sold pieces to corresponding tax records. I will reveal no more details... I give you 100% assurance that it is most certainly the full name of the street artist known as 'Banksy.'"

The seller also says that eBay had previously terminated his auction because he was selling an intangible good; the seller is now technically offering for auction a piece of paper containing Banksy's legal name.

The party offering Banksy's identity is hardly a power seller, having a fairly sparse but mostly positive record that dates back to 2001.

At this time, we have no way of determining whether the winning bidder is being taken to the cleaners to the tune of $1 million or whether the seller is legitimately peddling an exclusive glimpse into the identity of a public figure who clearly wants to be anything but public.

However, we read on the artist's website that not all Banksy work that is sold necessarily corresponds to the artist himself.

CNN: Banksy still hiding in plain sight

"Banksy neither produces or profits from the sale of greeting cards, mugs or photo canvases of his work," the site reads. "He is not represented by any of the commercial galleries that sell his paintings secondhand."

Banksy gained a bit of stateside exposure in October 2010 when he directed an opening sequence for "The Simpsons."

What do you think of this auction? Would you want to know Banksy's identity, or do you think he deserves to live privately and relatively anonymously? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

© 2011 MASHABLE.com. All rights reserved.

Response: eBay seller claims to know identity of anonymous UK artist Banksy and will auction it to highest bidder. At press time, top bid was just shy of $1 million. Seller is auctioning a piece of paper containing what he claims is Banksy's legal name.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(EW.com ) -- Neither the World Cup nor the Stanley Cup finals kept moviegoers out of the theater this weekend as a pair of box office newcomers both opened strong.

"22 Jump Street" was the big winner, grossing an estimated $60 million its opening frame—a massive 65% higher than the original's $36.3 million in 2012. The bumbling cop duo of Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum turned in the second-highest-grossing opening weekend for an R-rated comedy, ranking just below "Hangover II" ($85.9 million), but besting both "Ted" ($54 million) and "Sex and the City" ($57 million).

"How to Train Your Dragon 2" brought the heat as well, with an estimated $50 million opener. That's 14% above the original's opening gross of $43.7 million from 2010. The well-reviewed film from Dreamworks also earned an A Cinemascore from audiences and should hang on well as families flock to the movies over the next couple of weeks.

In third place "Maleficent" only fell 45% despite the arrival of the dragons. The re-imagined fairy tale, which didn't score too high with critics but resonated with moviegoers, now has a three-week cume of $163.5 million. It even topped last weekend's two debuts, outgrossing the Tom Cruise-starrer "Edge of Tomorrow," which lost only 44% of its traffic in its sophomore session, coming in at an estimated $16 million. (The film's strong reviews have surely helped it hold its value.) That puts its two-week total at an estimated $56.6 million. Then there's last weekend's top earner, "The Fault in Our Stars," which saw its ticket sales drop by 67%. It earned an estimated $15.7 million for a 10-day total of $81.7 million.

"X-Men: Days of Future Past" landed outside of the top five this weekend, yet with an additional $9.5 million, it surpassed the $200 million mark. Twentieth Century Fox is the big winner this weekend, with three of the six top movies belonging to the distributor.

In limited release the Robert Pattinson, Guy Pearce-starrer "The Rover" performed strong, grossing $14,000 per theater for a $70,000 cume, proving that Pattinson is a draw outside the "Twilight" franchise. That said, the real test will come next weekend when distributor A24 expands the film nationwide.

Here is how your top five looks this weekend.

1. 22 Jump Street — $60 million

2. How to Train Your Dragon 2 — $50 million

3. Maleficient — $19 million

4. Edge of Tomorrow — $16 million

4. The Fault in Our Stars — $15.7 million

Despite this being only the fourth time the box office has had two films grossing more than $50 million in their debuts, the overall yield was down 7% compared to the same weekend last year, when Man of Steel had a $116.6M debut and This is the End bowed to $20.7M.

Yet the strength of these two openers (22 Jump Street also scored well with audiences, earning an A- Cinemascore) coupled with minimal drop-off from previous weeks' releases has done a lot to keep the summer box office happy and healthy. The year-to-date total is up 3% from last year.

See the original story at EW.com.

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© 2011 Entertainment Weekly and Time Inc. All rights reserved.

Response: "22 Jump Street" opened strong this weekend. "How to Train Your Dragon 2" also did well. Maleficent" fell 45%.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN) -- Maria Sharapova's wait for another WTA Tour title must continue after the four-time grand slam champion suffered a shock defeat in the semifinals of the Paris Open on Saturday.

Top seed Sharapova would have moved back to fourth in the world rankings by winning her 30th career crown this weekend, but was beaten 4-6 6-3 6-4 by fellow Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

"I started the match really well, but as the match continued I wasn't doing the things that really helped me in the first set," said 2012 French Open champion Sharapova, who returned to the tour in January after missing the final third of last season with a shoulder injury.

"I wasn't being aggressive, I wasn't in the court -- she was playing with a lot of confidence in the match and I gave her that opportunity to play her game."

Since requiring shoulder surgery back in 2008, Sharapova has struggled for consistency with her serve, and that was apparent in Melbourne when she lost in the last 16 to eventual runner-up Dominika Cibulkova, and again in the French capital.

The 26-year-old, whose last tournament win came last April in Stuttgart, ended the match with two double-faults.

"They obviously came at the wrong time," said Sharapova, who heads to her former home of Sochi on Sunday to start her role as a TV commentator at Russia's first Winter Olympics.

"When I was down in games in the first couple of sets I felt my serve really helped me, but in the third set I didn't keep that level up. I definitely need to improve that percentage going forward."

Pavlyuchenkova, ranked 26th, will next take on either Sara Errani at the indoor event as she seeks the sixth WTA title of her career -- but first in a Premier-level event.

"I had to serve well -- I had no choice today, because Maria has one of the best returns on the tour," she said.

"We played a few years ago and she broke me a lot of times."

Errani, beaten by Sharapova in the 2012 final at Roland Garros, battled to a 7-6 (7-3) 3-6 7-6 (7-5) win over Alize Cornet in just over three hours after the Frenchwoman battled back from 5-3 down in the decider.

Meanwhile, a weakened Serbian men's team crashed out the Davis Cup in the first round on Saturday, losing 3-0 to a Switzerland side bolstered by the presence of 17-time grand slam champion Roger Federer and Australian Open winner Stanislas Wawrinka.

The Swiss didn't need to field their star duo in the doubles, in which Marco Chiudinelli and Michael Lanmer beat Nenad Zimonjic and Filip Krajinovic 7-6 (7-3) 3-6 7-6 (7-2) 6-2.

The Serbs, beaten by the Czech Republic in December's 2013 final, were missing rested world No. 2 Novak Djokovic, the injured Janko Tipsarevic and Viktor Troicki -- who is serving a ban for missing a drug test last year.

Germany also won 3-0, eliminating a Spain team missing world No. 1 Rafael Nadal, resting after suffering a back injury in his Melbourne final defeat against Wawrinka.

France beat Australia by the same margin, while the Czechs took a 2-1 lead against the Netherlands as Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek won their doubles rubber in four sets against Robin Haase and Jean-Julien Rojer.

Japan went 2-1 up against Canada, while Belgium reduced the deficit to the same score away to Kazakhstan.

In the other World Group first-round ties, Britain led the U.S. 2-0 after Friday's singles matches while Argentina and Italy were 1-1.

Response: World No. 5 Maria Sharapova loses to compatriot Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in French event. Pavlyuchenkova will play Sara Errani or Alize Cornet in Sunday's final. In men's Davis Cup, 2013 runner-up Serbia loses 3-0 to Switzerland in first round. Spain and Australia also exit by the same margin, losing to Germany and France.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN) -- It seems like the opposite of what you'd expect, but my cancer diagnosis -- a staggering Stage IV colon cancer diagnosis, delivered to me at the age of 28 -- gave me a new lease on life. It has changed me, and enriched my life, in ways that I never could have imagined.

Even in the moment I learned of my diagnosis, and the grim prognosis that followed, I wasn't afraid. I wasn't sad. I didn't feel sorry for myself, and I wasn't angry. I was ready. I was ready to fight this disease head-on and show myself -- and everyone else -- what I was made of.

I believed that my will to survive, to thrive, to love and laugh and enjoy my life -- would carry me through any physical challenge.

And it has. Forty-six rounds of chemo (and counting), three surgeries, 10 rounds of radiation, and here I am. I am still fighting. And I will continue to fight until cancer gives up, because there's no way I will.

My fighting and competitive spirit has served me well, but my ability to be open to learning has been equally valuable.

Throughout my time battling cancer, I have learned so much about taking care of my body, mind, and spirit. Just months after my diagnosis, I made the jump to strict veganism. I drink green juice, not alcohol. I exercise daily. I manage stress levels and I make sure I always get enough sleep. I've done acupuncture, reiki and guided meditation.

I take deep breaths. I smile and laugh and listen to great music and appreciate beautiful things. I soak in my life and I am constantly grateful. Becoming sick was the way I learned how to be well.

'On Looking': The world you're not seeing

By far, the best part of my cancer-killing adventures has been becoming a part of a community of cancer warriors and their loved ones.

My fellow patients are more than just friends. They are my brothers and sisters in this fight. When they do well through treatment, I celebrate with them. And when they struggle -- or die -- I am just as upset about it as if they were a part of my family. That's because they are.

My best friend in the cancer world, a fellow warrior and a phenomenal woman named Annette, passed away at the end of last year. Losing her has been one of the most difficult things I've ever had to endure. But her fighting and undefeatable spirit, and my desire to honor her, have helped fuel the fire in my belly. It has helped me push forward with my mission: My mission for the cure.

It's called The Wunder Project. A simple but revolutionary initiative that sees every penny donated going to cutting-edge research that I hope will get us to the cure for colon cancer in under 10 years. It sounds crazy, right? The cure. But this is real. And I'm betting my life on it.

Several months ago, I asked my doctor -- a world-renowned oncologist and researcher at USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center named Heinz-Josef Lenz -- a series of simple questions.

If you had all the money in the world, could you cure colon cancer? Do you know what steps to take to cure the disease? Is money the only thing standing in the way of the cure? The answer to all of those questions was an emphatic yes.

Lenz and his dream team -- scientists and researchers from the United States and abroad -- are sure that they can find the cure for colon cancer if they have the funds to do the necessary large-scale research and drug development that the team has long been known for.

KISS frontman: I'm deaf in one ear

It's my job, and my mission, to lead the movement to raise those funds so they can do their work. It's my job to start something unprecedented, a global uprising against cancer, focused solely on supporting the groundbreaking research necessary to change the face of cancer forever -- for all of us.

The goal of The Wunder Project is to raise $250 million in two years. Through that funding, we hope to have the cure in under 10 years. It sounds like an impossible goal -- to find the cure for cancer -- but it is possible. It is within our grasp. And I will make sure that we seize this opportunity. For Annette, for myself, and for my fellow cancer warriors.

From the moment I was diagnosed, I knew it wasn't the end of the line for me. I think that I always knew, deep down, that it was the end of the line for cancer. And through The Wunder Project, I know it will be.

Response: Gloria Borges was diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer at 28. "I was ready to fight this disease head-on," she says. Borges has started The Wunder Project to raise funds to cure cancer.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(Skiing Magazine) -- Picture this: You're charging down a course at 80 mph. The world whips by you in a blur.

You catch an edge, smack into a gate and somersault into the safety nets, cracking your neck and shredding a knee. Season? Done. Olympic dreams? Over. Career? Definitely on hold, possibly kaput.

That's what happened in December to TJ Lanning, one of the U.S. Ski Team's top racers, during a downhill race at Canada's Lake Louise. He's one of many international Alpine competitors sidelined this winter because of season-ending injuries.

Other casualties include 2009 downhill champ Canadian John Kucera and French slalom star Jean-Baptiste Grange.

Addressing the rash of early-season injuries, Aksel Lund Svindval, the 2009 men's overall World Cup winner, posted the following on his blog in December: "In two weeks of intense World Cup racing in North America, racers have sustained the following ... 7 torn ACLS, 4 knee ligaments, 1 broken arm, 1 broken leg, 1 broken neck, 1 concussion, 1 dislocated knee, 1 dislocated shoulder .. is this OK?"

Sure, ski racing has always been a dangerous sport, but with ever-evolving gear and technologies creating faster and faster competitors, the incidence of injuries has spiked.

Skiing Magazine: Jamaica's Olympic skier, ready for glory

The International Ski Federation (known as FIS), the World Cup governing body, launched the "Injury Surveillance System" in 2006 to track facts and figures on injury patterns across all disciplines: Nordic, freestyle and Alpine.

Among Alpine racers, knee injuries are the most common affliction.

As a part of this initiative, in December FIS convened a panel of six top Alpine competitors, including Didier Cuche, Scott Macartney, and Svindal, to drill down on how to make racing safer.

They cited course preparation, improved take-off points for jumps, flat landings and medical procedures as top concerns.

Skiing Magazine: French Olympic uniforms: Really pink

The athletes also made a plea for redesigned gates, ones that would rip off more easily upon impact. In Lanning's accident, they say this would have significantly reduced his injuries and their severity.

While competitors want to increase safety, they're also aware that it's the danger, blood and guts of their sport that turn fans on, and athletes are wary of ratcheting down the visceral appeal.

When it comes to modifying race procedures, FIS is adamant about using systematic data collection and scientific analysis to make informed decisions.

In January, FIS rolled out a new, three-year scientific study to analyze Alpine racing safety and to make recommendations on how to decrease the number of injuries.

The first phase will collect information through interviews with athletes, coaches and equipment providers, among other experts, to gather suggestions for short-term prevention solutions. Subsequent stages will focus on prevention strategies and rule changes. However, some modifications were deemed urgent enough to institute immediately: smaller jumps and new gates with flags that rip way upon contact.

FIS works closely with the Vancouver Organizing Committee to design the Alpine courses at the Olympics, but ultimately, it's VANOC that sets them  -- save the downhill, which FIS still oversees; it's an old, complicated tradition.

With fog rising from Whistler Mountain during the downhill training runs, making visibility next to none, officials were scrambling to re-design the race gates in an effort to make them more visible, switching the flag color from green to red. With this last-minute change, officials on the ground weren't sure if the new, FIS-sanctioned gates would be in place during the Winter Games.

Skiing Magazine: The Lindsey Vonn workout

© 2010 Skiing Magazine. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.

Response: TJ Lanning among those sidelined by injuries after skiing accidents. Number of injuries increases as technology improvements allow for higher speeds. Panel has convened to make racing safer for the athletes. It's looking at course preparation, take-off points, redesigned gates and medical procedures.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN) -- He's the most expensive footballer in the world, but Cristiano Ronaldo is proving to be an absolute bargain buy for Real Madrid.

The Portugal forward took his goal tally to an incredible 49 in 47 league games since his $130 million move from Manchester United in 2009 as he fired his fourth hat-trick this season in Sunday night's 4-2 win over third-placed Villarreal.

The visitors had threatened to become the first team to win at the Santiago Bernabeu this season, leading 2-1 after 18 minutes, but Ronaldo completed his treble to put Real ahead and then set up a clinching goal by substitute Kaka to keep his side two points behind leaders Barcelona.

Kaka was delighted after his winning contribution, and also hailed Ronaldo's heroics.

Who is the world's best footballer?

"He has decided many matches and will continue to do so for Real Madrid. He is a great player that stuns us all day after day with goals and his way of playing. He is fundamental to this team," the former world player of the year said.

"To return to the Bernabeu and score was such a special moment. It had been a long time since I scored, so it was very important to me. I felt such raw emotion from the crowd."

Ronaldo has now scored 22 goals in 18 La Liga games this season, and 31 overall.

With defending champions Barca having beaten Deportivo La Coruna 4-0 on Saturday, Real were rocked when Ruben Cani put Villarreal ahead in the sixth minute.

But Ronaldo was on hand to equalize from close range three minutes later after Karim Benzema and Mesut Ozil combined well to set him up.

Benzema was starting up front in the continued absence of Argentine striker Gonzalo Higuain, who will have back surgery on Tuesday. The Real squad took to the pitch wearing shirts supporting him with the words "Stay strong Pipa. Get well soon."

But it was Villarreal who scored next as Marco Ruben beat the offside trap and sent a delightful chip over goalkeeper Iker Casillas for his first goal for the club.

Ronaldo struck a vital blow when he equalized in the first minute of time added on, stealing a header from Xabi Alonso's free-kick.

But Real struggled to find a winner until Kaka came on for his first home appearance this season with 20 minutes to play, having returned as a substitute in the meaningless midweek Spanish Cup second-leg defeat at Levante.

Nine minutes later the Brazilian's cross was not dealt with by Villarreal keeper Diego Lopez, and Ronaldo finally fired in a low shot after the ball ran loose -- though he appeared to have come back from an offside position.

There was no doubt about the fourth goal on 82 minutes, as Ronaldo slipped a clever pass into the box and Kaka poked the ball past Lopez.

Real coach Jose Mourinho's wild celebrations prompted an angry reaction on the Villarreal bench, with coach Juan Carlos Garrido already sent off for protesting the third goal.

Real return to action on Thursday for the first leg of the Spanish Cup quarterfinal against city rivals Atletico, who travel to Hercules in La Liga on Monday.

In Sunday's other games, fourth-placed Valencia closed the gap on Villarreal to two points after a controversial 1-0 win in the derby at Levante.

Juan Mata followed up his late winner in last weekend's win over Espanyol with another goal that appeared to be offside as he broke free to score with seven minutes left.

The winger missed a first-half penalty, clipping the top of the crossbar, and then in the second half he had a curling free-kick tipped onto the woodwork.

Espanyol are a point back in fifth after thrashing bottom club Real Zaragoza 4-0 at home, while Mallorca joined sixth-placed Atletico and Getafe on 27 points with a 4-1 win over relegation-threatened Almeria.

Getafe could only draw 0-0 at Osasuna, who moved five points clear of the bottom three.

Sporting Gijon moved above Almeria and Zaragoza on goal difference after drawing 1-1 at Racing Santander thanks to a 90th-minute equalizer from midfielder Diego Castro.

Response: Cristiano Ronaldo hat-trick inspires Real Madrid to 4-2 win over third-placed Villarreal. Kaka scores fourth goal in Bernabeu comeback as Real twice come from behind. Ronaldo takes his tally to 31 goals this season in all competitions. Valencia close to within two points of Villarreal with controversial derby victory.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN) -- The winner of the 82nd annual Scripps National Spelling Bee said Friday she is "pretty excited" but a little tired.

Kavya Shivashankar of Olathe, Kansas, reacts to winning the Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday night.

"This has been my dream for so long; I've always wanted to win the bee," Kavya Shivashankar, 13, of Olathe, Kansas, told CNN. "I was just really excited when I was able to go up and spell the last word."

The eighth-grader won $40,000 in cash and prizes for nailing the final word, "Laodicean," which means lukewarm or indifferent, particularly in matters of politics or religion.

This year's bee -- an event that has skyrocketed in popularity thanks to exposure on television and in movies -- started Tuesday in Washington with a record 293 spellers. Kavya endured 15 rounds.

In an event that has seen contestants crack under the strain of the national spotlight, Kavya -- competing in her fourth national finals -- appeared composed throughout.  Watch the poised winner describe the thrill »

As she spelled words such as "phoresy," "hydrargyrum" and "huisache," she calmly went through the routine of asking each word's pronunciation, origin and roots before ticking their spellings off for the judges.

"I focus so much on my word; I don't really pay attention to all the cameras and photographers and all the media in front of me," she said Friday.

Kavya's father, who is her spelling coach, would tap his foot in time as she spelled the words, and at one point he appeared so confident that he waved to someone while his daughter was in the middle of spelling a word.

Second-place finisher Tim Ruiter of Reston, Virginia, bowed out after misspelling "Maecenas," meaning a generous patron of the arts.

Kavya said she would miss competing in the spelling bee, as the rules do not permit her to enter next year.

"It was such a big part of my life, and I love doing it," she said. However, she may someday have a new role in the competition. "If my [little] sister gets to D.C. sometime soon, I'd really love to help and coach her," she said.

Kavya attends California Trail Junior High School in the Kansas City suburb. Her hobbies include swimming, cycling and traditional Indian dance, according to the contest's Web site. She plans on becoming a neurosurgeon.

The first National Spelling Bee took place in 1925, with five contestants.

CNN's Devon Sayers contributed to this report.

Response: Kavya Shivashankar of Olathe, Kansas, wins in fourth trip to national finals. The 13-year-old eighth-grader will receive $40,000 in cash and prizes. Focus on task keeps cameras and media from distracting her, Kavya says. Girl may return to scene if younger sister does well in future competitions.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN) -- In 1997, Garry Kasparov was defeated by IBM's Deep Blue supercomputer. It seemed like a watershed moment, recalling the rise of the machines long prophesied in science fiction.

Yet in 2005, a freestyle chess tournament featured teams of humans partnering with computers in various combinations. Shockingly, two amateurs using three fairly weak laptops emerged victorious, beating grand masters and supercomputers in turn.

This contrast is fittingly emblematic of two great visionaries of computer science, Marvin Minsky and J.C.R. Licklider. Minsky wrote canonical theories of self-replicating artificial intelligence and co-founded MIT's A.I. lab.

Licklider proposed an alternate vision in his landmark paper, "Man-Computer Symbiosis". In Licklider's view, human intelligence should be complemented by machines, not replaced: "Men will set the goals, formulate the hypotheses, determine the criteria and perform the evaluations. Computing machines will do the routinizable work that must be done to prepare the way for insights and decisions. ..."

Watch Shyam Sankar's TED Talk

Technology is too often viewed through a utopian or alarmist lens, and it's worth noting that Licklider's work spanned the sublime and sobering alike. He presaged much of the Internet revolution, and his research led to such breakthroughs as the modern graphical user interface. He also worked on a computer-aided missile defense system designed to collect and present data to a human operator, who would choose the appropriate response.

It's easy to argue that life and death decisions should never be left to machines, but Licklider's vision was much broader, recognizing technology as an enabler for many human capacities. Since Kasparov and Deep Blue squared off, we have seen numerous examples of man-computer symbiosis, while A.I. relying solely on computers as Minsky theorized it remains tantalizing, yet distant.

TED.com: Robots that fly...and cooperate

In terms of catalyzing human potential, the triumph of the chess amateurs in 2005 was just one glimpse of the future. Foldit, an online video game, allows nontechnical, nonbiologist players to visually "fold" protein structures, while computers calculate the chemical interactions corresponding to each arrangement.

In 2011, Foldit players needed only 10 days to produce an accurate 3-D model of the Mason-Pfizer monkey virus, a protease whose structure had stumped scientists for 15 years.

It was an astonishing triumph of human visual-spatial reasoning, and one of the first major scientific advances to come from playing a video game (though plenty of software engineers I know would argue that video games activate much more creativity than we care to acknowledge).

The tension between the Minsky and Licklider visions has certainly been amplified in the age of so-called big data. Now, consider that most of what we think of as "big data" is created by deliberate human action: phone calls, Web logs, credit card transactions, etc. When we hear about big data "solutions," they tend to focus on computational approaches -- storage, search and processing -- with human intuition largely absent. Yet the unraveling of big data into meaningful insight may depend just as heavily on the human side of the equation.

Why is this? "Pattern recognition" is a frequent A.I. refrain, but computers can't learn to spot patterns they've never seen. The high-value targets in big data are invariably human: highly adaptive adversaries such as terrorists and cybercriminals whose ingenuity frustrates even the most advanced algorithms.

TED.com: My seven species of robot

Yet even the nimblest fugitives leave clues, even patterns -- they're just buried in an expanding universe of data, a challenge that intensifies as we seek still more data, hoping it will yield more insight.

Adaptive adversaries require adaptive responses, and this begins with asking questions rooted in human intuition. While technology can certainly be a force multiplier for good or evil, it's difficult to imagine a pure A.I. approach reverse-engineering the machinations of a terrorist mastermind.

When U.S. intelligence tracked down Osama bin Laden, it was a function of brilliant, resourceful people asking questions and testing hypotheses using a variety of technologies.

Cybercriminals, as explored in my first TED talk, tend to target the allegedly weakest links in the network: people. Yet how weak is something that can learn in ways even the most robust automated systems can't?

TED.com: All it takes is 10 mindful minutes

Cyber security might always be an uphill, defensive struggle as techniques and technologies raise the stakes on both sides. Remember, though, that cyberwarfare is ultimately a human endeavor. Bot-nets, scripts and other automated tools play key roles, but they don't exist in a vacuum. This cuts both ways: Sooner or later, everyone makes mistakes, even evil genius types. That said, the enemy may well be two amateurs with a few weak laptops.

Aspiring good guys must be absolutely relentless in refining the intersection of brainpower and computing power, each of which is vulnerable in isolation.

Sometimes, the right combination of humans and technology can reshape the data landscape itself. In the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, my company partnered with veterans' organization Team Rubicon to coordinate relief efforts in the Rockaways. It began with identifying the hardest-hit areas and greatest needs.

Soon, as help poured in, the focus shifted to tracking projects, allocating manpower, and coordinating more than 10,000 volunteers in real time. Through rapid iteration, a group of determined people using low-friction technology had created a vast, self-regulating system. Each discrete data point was simple enough -- the status of a project, levels of need, locations of assets -- but in aggregate, the effect was transformative.

While experience teaches that each approach has its caveats, we have every reason to be excited about the possibilities of human-computer symbiosis. Almost 50 years since the identification of Moore's Law, and 10 years since the human genome was first sequenced, humans and machines are beginning a new arc of re-imagining and discovery -- together.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Shyam Sankar.

Response: Shyam Sankar: Some say computers could attain artificial intelligence superior to humans. A more realistic approach is to envision computers aided by human intelligence, he says. Computers can spot patterns from the past but can't anticipate as people can, he says. Sankar: Human thought, aided by computer power, can make sense of "big data".


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN) -- Rafael Nadal suffered only his third defeat in 11 years at the Monte Carlo Masters Friday losing in straight sets to fellow Spaniard David Ferrer.

The 32-year-old Ferrer produced a typically energetic performance to take the quarterfinal match 7-6 (7/1) 6-4 marking the first time he has beaten Nadal on clay in over a decade.

"I am happy because I am in the semifinal and because I am playing very good this week," a delighted Ferrer told the ATP Tour's official website.

"Rafa is not a machine. Sometimes he can play not so good always. Well, maybe today he didn't play his best tennis, and I played very good."

The pair swapped four service breaks in an enthralling 85-minute first set that Ferrer eventually took on a tie break.

Ferrer then stretched into a commanding 5-2 lead at the start of the second before being pegged back to 5-4.

The diminutive Spaniard kept his cool under pressure, however, calmly serving out to take the set 6-4 and with it the match.

Nadal was gracious in defeat, although he admitted concern at what was an uncharacteristically tepid performance at one of his favored events.

The world No. 1 won eight titles in a row at Monte Carlo between 2005 and 2012 before his triumphant run was halted by Novak Djokovic in last year's final.

"When you play tennis, you can lose, you can win," Nadal said. "When the opponent is doing things better than you, the normal thing is you lose. That's what happened today."

"I didn't play the right way. I didn't play with the right intensity with my forehand. I played too short. I gave him the chance to have control of the point almost all the time. He did much better than me, so I just congratulate him."

World No. 6, Ferrer, will now face Australian Open champion Stanislas Wawrinka in the semifinal Saturday.

The Swiss overcame Canada's Milos Raonic 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 to reach his first semifinal since his Melbourne triumph earlier this year.

Elsewhere Roger Federer defeated home favorite Jo Wilfred Tsonga 2-6 7-6 (8-6) 6-1 to set up an enticing semifinal match against Novak Djokovic.

The Serb eventually overcame Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain in Friday's final quarter final match winning 4-6 6-3 6-1.

See also: Why is Rafael Nadal so happy?

See also: Belinda Bencic -- The new Hingis?

See also: Can new "Musketeers" fulfill potential?

Response: David Ferrer defeats Rafael Nadal in quarterfinals of Monte Carlo Masters. Win marks Ferrer's first clay court victory over Nadal in a decade. Ferrer will now face Australian Open champion Stanislas Wawrinka in semifinals.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN) -- Last week Airbus announced a squeeze which will make most frequent flyers groan, but today the European firm unveiled how passengers flying on its new A350 XWB might travel.

Two test planes have been fitted out with full economy and business class interiors. The economy cabin has a nine-abreast configuration, with 18-inch wide seats, while business class has just four seats per row.

Airbus boasts that the new, extra wide-body planes will have near-vertical walls and larger overhead baggage bins compared to its current fleet of aircraft.

And for passengers with long legs, there shouldn't be any more issues with in-flight entertainment (IFE) boxes blocking the space under the seat in front of them; Airbus has placed all the electronic boxes and connections under the floor.

Another innovation is the full cabin LED lighting that Airbus says can offer a mind-boggling 16.7 million possible colors.

"Passenger comfort is an increasingly important differentiator for the airline industry, becoming a fundamental deciding factor driving passenger choice and business success," said Chris Emerson, Senior Vice President of Marketing at Airbus.

Read more: Would you pay to cut in line for toilets on a flight?

If cabin interiors are a deciding factor for passengers when choosing an airline, then Airbus has also tried to make it easier for airlines to customize them. It has also opened a one-stop interiors showroom and test center in Hamburg, Germany.

The Customer Definition Center has mock-up interiors of the A350 XWB with a full range of materials and fourth generation IFE consoles, plus a virtual reality modeling tool to help airlines visualize their choices.

Airbus says that 39 airlines have placed orders for 812 A350 XWB jets, with three versions offering passenger capacity between 276 and 369 seats. The first will be delivered to Qatar Airways later this year.

The mid-size, long-range jet is set to go head-to-head with Boeing's 787 Dreamliner and will be made of 53% composite materials. According to Airbus it achieves a 25% reduction in seat-mile costs and 25% lower carbon dioxide emission than existing, similar sized aircraft.

Are airline seats getting smaller or are you getting bigger?

Why Boeing and Airbus are cozying up to Asia's budget airlines

This plane has no window, but it's really fast

Response: Airbus show off the cabin configuration for its new A350 XWB jet. Economy class has nine, 18 inch wide seats across each row. Near straight cabin walls and larger overhead bins give the plane more space, says the manufacturer.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:Dallas (CNN) -- Hot, dry weather returns to Texas this week, whisking away the limited relief scattered thunderstorms brought to firefighters in parts of the Lone Star state over the weekend.

In a trifecta of potentially bad news for fire crews, the Texas Forest Service said a low-pressure system will push temperatures into the 90s, humidity to 10% or less and winds up to 45 mph on Monday and Tuesday.

The conditions have prompted the National Weather Service to issue a red flag warning for a large portion of west Texas, urging residents to avoid the use of open flames and to avoid activities that may generate sparks.

Because of the hot temperatures, bone-dry conditions and high winds, "accidental ignitions will have the potential to grow quickly into dangerous wind-driven wildfires," the weather service said.

The system will bring with it a chance of precipitation. However, rain accompanied by thunderstorms can be a mixed-blessing for firefighters, since lightning can ignite new fires.

One such fire scorched nearly every inch of a 10,000-acre north Texas ranch, about 70 miles west of Fort Worth.

The Cormack family has raised cattle near Strawn for a quarter century, but now are coping with the loss of 15% of its herd and nearly all of its grazing land.

"Its something you can't really explain. This is home," Justin Comack told CNN's Patrick Oppmann.  "I know a lot of people think ... it's just land, but you know this is my backyard and we ran cattle out here since I was a baby."

Some of the cattle were nearly incinerated by the fast-moving flames.  All Cormack can do is number the carcasses with green spray paint, take their pictures and log their GPS locations, hoping the family eventually will be compensated for its losses.

Even for the surviving cattle, the road will be tough -- many suffered burns and may have to be put down.

Grazing land has become a precious comodity, with most of the landscape charred following the fire.

"We've been really lucky that we have friends all over and people, strangers that come together and donate as much hay as they can," according to brother Jake Cormack, who said he's looking for grass leases to feed his herd until "we can get over this hump."

The Forest Service responded to 17 new fires over the weekend, but the blazes were slowed by storms that brought softball-sized hail and reports of tornadoes.

The largest of these new fires is the Pipeline fire in Tyler and Hardin counties.  Covering some 7,101 acres, it was caused by an oil well flare.  National Park Service personnel were involved in the fight against the blaze and it is now 90% contained.

Wet weather over the past few days helped firefighters maintain control over many of the fires burning in the state, the Texas Forest Service said.

The largest of them is the 207,660-acre Rockhouse fire in Jeff Davis County, which is 75% contained as of Sunday night.  Firefighters had to abandon the fight against the conflagration in the Davis mountains, according to an update from the Forest Service, because of concerns about safety and a lack of reliable communications.  The agency said the difficult terrain made use of bulldozers impossible and aerial resources had proved ineffective.

The PK Complex of fires burning west of Fort Worth is now 50% contained, assisted by significant rainfall, the Forest Service said.  On Sunday, crews worked on constructing lines through the 126,734-acre fire.  The also burned pockets of vegetation around the fire's perimeter.

The 159,308-acre Wildcat fire in Coke County, north of San Angelo, is 75% contained.  On Sunday, crews were able to focus on patrol and mop-up operations, according to the Texas Forest Service.

West Texas averages nearly 15 inches of rain a year, according to David Hennig, a meteorologist in Midland. Over the past six months, just 13-hundredths of an inch of rain have been recorded in that part of the state.

While October through March is typically the dry season, that amount of rainfall is far below what it should be, Hennig said.

Two firefighters have died since the latest outbreaks began, with numerous others injured, state officials said.

Response: NEW:  Fires scorch 10,000-acre ranch west of Fort Worth. Firefighters are still working to contain the largest fires in the state. Critical fire weather is forecast for Texas during the first part of the week. The Texas Forest Service responded to 17 new fires Saturday.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:For a company that hasn't attended CES since 1992, Apple dominates the show.

You can't walk more than a dozen feet here at the Las Vegas Convention Center without seeing an iGadget or iAccessory of some kind. Apple's overwhelming presence by proxy is impressive, and underscores the immense place the company occupies in the consumer electronics sector.

Of the 3,000 or so exhibitors here at CES, nearly 500 reside in the iLounge pavilion, a section dedicated specifically to Apple-related products. And then there are the hundreds of audio, automotive, health, gaming, and accessory companies hawking iOS and Mac peripherals.

There are more iPhone and iPad adaptors, docks and dongles than you could possibly imagine. Vendors are showing off iPad camera rigs, solar-powered Mac batteries and even an iPhone-connected plant sensor. And then there's the sea of bedazzled and bedecked iPhone and iPad cases.

The biggest reason for this is, of course, Apple's dominating presence in the consumer electronic space. It's a lot easier for startups and established players alike to ride Apple's coattails than those of, say, Google or Microsoft.

"We know that Apple is doing well," said Howard Cheng, Just Mobile's director of operations. "We know that it's better to make Apple products than anything else."

Another advantage to going down the iRoute is Apple's tight focus on a few products and form factors. It's far easier to tailor accessories to Apple than anyone else.

"Accessory makers can reach virtually the entire installed base of iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch owners with two products, determined by the connector," the 30 pin or Lightning, said Charles Govin, an industry analyst with Forrester. "Similarly, a case maker must create many SKUs for the Android market, but essentially only three (iPhone 3G, 4, and 5) for the entire iPhone market."

The relative ease with which companies can develop peripherals for Apple is made all the more appealing by the fact Apple customers have proven themselves only too happy to shell out money to accessorize their iDevices.

"Apple owners have a demonstrated willingness to spend for accessories, cases, and other customizations," Govin said. "Essentially, the potential return on investment is more promising for Apple-related products."

CES also shows just how willing people are to build on Apple's iconic "i" branding. There's iLounge, iBattz, iSkin, iConnectivity, iPort and even iCat all within a few feet of each other on the show floor. Spend five minutes walking the floor and it becomes clear there's no need for Apple to be here. Hundreds of companies are only too happy to carry Cupertino's banner.

Apple's presence here has grown rapidly. In the three years since the iLounge Pavilion launched, the space has quadrupled to 120,000 square feet, all but taking over an entire hall and pushing the automotive industry into another space.

But does anyone wish Apple were actually here? Not really.

"I don't care," said Raymond Meng, president of iSmartAlarm. His company is releasing an iPhone-controlled home alarm system, which Meng says was inspired by the burglary of Steve Jobs' house this summer. Meng said that it doesn't matter that Apple isn't at CES with a booth or keynote, because CES is already the most successful and popular show for companies like his.

Cheng, from Just Mobile, agrees. "At this point, I don't think Apple needs to be here," he said. "They have their own events and that works for them."

Just Mobile already has eight products in the Apple Store and uses CES to expand into the international market and meet clients. As for meetings with Apple, "We visit them at their campus," Cheng said.

Of course, CES could be a much hotter destination if it had the hottest tech company involved. With Microsoft dropping out, CES is losing even more of its sizzle. But the CEA, the organization that puts on the show, says that Apple skipping out isn't a big deal.

"Apple is a CEA member. It's just there prerogative to not exhibit and they've found it more cost effective to host their own events," CEA spokeswoman Danielle Cassagnol said. "They've never keynoted or exhibited at CES, so them not being here isn't really a loss for us."

That's not entirely true, since Apple did introduce the Newton at CES in 1992, but perhaps the CEA wants to forget this fact. But the fact remains that Apple and its products are the widely seen, and discussed, at CES. It's here, even if it isn't.

"They have employees that attend the show, so in that way, Apple sort of is here," Cassognal said.

Follow: Wired's live coverage of CES

Follow: CNN Tech's live coverage of CES

Response: Absent from Consumer Electronics Show, Apple still is a major presence. Five hundred exhibitors are in the "iLounge Pavilion" for Apple accessory makers. One reason? Apple customers have shown they're willing to spend for extras. Apple hasn't attended since 1992; Microsoft dropped out last year.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:London, England (CNN) -- Queen Elizabeth II's annual budget this year is £38.2 million ($57.8 million), down from £41.5 million ($62.8 million) last year, Buckingham Palace announced Monday.

That means each British person contributes about 62 pence (94 cents) a year to support the royal household.

The drop comes mostly because the queen took fewer charter flights this year and refunded money to the government after selling her old helicopter, the palace said in its annual financial statement for the royal household.

Her annual spending has fallen by 17 percent in real terms since 2001, the palace said.

Queen Elizabeth II is worth an estimated £290 million ($446 million), making her the 245th richest person in the United Kingdom, according to The Sunday Times newspaper's annual rich list published in April.

The budget does not include the cost of security provided by the army or police.

The government covers the Queen's budget in exchange for her surrendering income from royal holdings, the budget report says.

The budget runs from April 1, 2009 to March 31, 2010.

Response: Queen's annual spending has fallen by 17 percent in real terms since 2001. Queen Elizabeth II is worth an estimated $446 million. Budget does not include the cost of security provided by the army or police.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN) -- Four people in Japan have been killed amid heavy rain from a powerful typhoon that is expected to make landfall Wednesday afternoon, authorities there said.

The center of Typhoon Roke, which had sustained winds of up to 167 kph (103 mph) Wednesday morning, could hit Japan's Tokai region, which includes Nagoya city -- or the Kanto region, which includes Tokyo -- in the afternoon, Japan Meteorological Agency chief forecaster Yutaka Kanda said at a news conference.

At of 8:45 a.m. Wednesday, Roke's center was 280 kilometers southwest of Nagoya, where about 1 million people had been urged to evacuate.

An evacuation order for about 80,000 residents of Nagoya was lifted, according to local media reports.

Heavy rain fell in central and western Japan from the typhoon's outer bands on Tuesday and Wednesday. Some downpours came at up to 50 millimeters (2 inches) an hour, and some parts received more than 450 millimeters (17 inches) over a day, according to Japanese public broadcaster NHK.

Four people have died in Nagoya, including a 66-year-old man who fell from a roof Tuesday while trying to fix a stuck duct, city authorities said. Two other people -- a fourth-grade boy and an 84-year-old man -- were missing in Gifu prefecture, authorities said.

People in the Tokai and Kanto regions should be prepared for heavy rain Wednesday, Kanda said, adding that the Kanto region may be most affected Wednesday evening.

No airports were closed Wednesday, but several flights toward the Kyushu and Shikoku areas were canceled, transportation officials said. Several passenger trains were not running Wednesday in central and southern Japan, railway officials said.

CNN's Yoko Wakatsuki contributed to this report.

Response: Typhoon Roke approaches Japan, expected to make landfall midafternoon Wednesday. 4 deaths in Nagoya attributed to storm. About 1 million people have been urged to evacuate Nagoya. Several flights canceled; some trains not running.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN Student News) -- November 10, 2010

Note to Parents and Teachers: CNN Student News has compiled the following tips, discussion questions, videos, articles and online resources that can be used to address bullying with students.

Tips for Talking For Parents: Here are a few tips for setting the tone on bullying discussions with your kids

• Initiate conversations with your kids about their school day. Allow them to talk about the good and not-so-good experiences that they have.

• Promote self-esteem and confidence by reminding your child of his or her unique talents and qualities.

• Do a lot of listening as one way of creating a trusting atmosphere between your child and you.

• Keep the lines of communication open.

Questions for Discussion For Parents and Teachers: Use some or all of these questions as a way to jumpstart conversations about bullying.

Bullying and Cyberbullying

What's your definition of bullying? What are some examples of bullying behavior, both physical and non-physical?

How can some kids use text messaging, social networks, and other non-physical means to bully someone? Have you ever heard the term "cyberbullying"? What does it mean? How do you think that cyberbullying might affect a person who is its target?

What are some examples of aggressive behavior? Why do you think that some people choose to behave aggressively as their way of dealing with others? Do you think that this behavior can be changed? Explain.

Peer Pressure and Bystanders

Have you ever felt pressure to bully someone or to join in bullying with others? What thoughts did you consider before you made the decision to be part of the bullying or not to be part of it? How did you ultimately respond?

How do you think someone feels when he or she is being bullied? Have you ever seen someone being bullied? What, if anything, did you do? Would you do anything differently if you are in that situation in the future?

What do you think the role of a bystander should be in a bullying situation? As a bystander, what response are you most comfortable with? Would you help someone who is the target of bullying behavior? If so, how? If not, what would prevent you from helping? What do you think might happen if no one helps the target of a bully?

Responding to Bullying

Have you ever been the target of bullying behavior? If so, how did it make you feel? How did you respond? Do you think there were other ways that you could have responded? Why did you choose the response that you did?

What is your personal plan of action if you are bullied or see someone being bullied? Is there a staff member at school who will help you if you want to report bullying behavior that you witness or experience? Who else might you talk to about it?

Friendship and Respect

What are your thoughts on friendship? What is more important to you: having a lot of friends or having a few good friends? How do you decide who your friends are? How do you decide to treat others who are not friends of yours?

How would you explain "respect"? Is it possible to respect a person but not like that person? Do you think that respect for others is important? Why or why not?

What could you do to set an example of respect? How might your respect for others benefit you? How might an atmosphere of mutual respect impact a class, a school and a community?

CNN Videos

Anderson Cooper hosts a town hall special on bullying titled "Bullying:  No Escape" with special guests including Dr. Phil McGraw and American Idol's Crystal Bowersox.  Four segments from that special can be seen here:

Bullying:  No Escape (Part 1)  Bullying:  No Escape (Part 2)  Bullying:  No Escape (Part 3)  Bullying:  No Escape (Part 4)

CNN's T.J. Holmes talks with Glenda Hatchett of "Judge Hatchett" about ways to handle bullying CNN's Kyra Phillips and Daily Beast writer Lucinda Banks explore the recent suicides by teen victims of bullies

The authors of the book "Mean Girls, Meaner Women" discuss with CNN's John Roberts why we appear to see an increase in bullying

Dr. Phil McGraw joins CNN's Anderson Cooper to discuss bullying and what parents can do to stop it

CNN's Anderson Cooper sits down with a group of students who share their experiences with being bullied at school

AC 360: Are bullying laws strict enough?

CNN Articles and Blogs

Teen bullying: What parents need to know

Bullying: Help your child handle a school bully

Paging Dr. Gupta Blog:  With cyberbullying, there's no safe place, study finds

School bullying activist: I know the terror Phoebe felt

CNN Student News Blog: From A to Z with Carl Azuz:  Worst type of bullying?

Additional Online Resources -- Links to External Sites

Cartoon Network: Stop Bullying: Speak Up

U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Resources: Stop bullying now!

U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Resources: Cyberbullying

Project Change: A national model for youth-empowered community involvement

Olweus Bullying Prevention Program

Bullying Prevention -- National Crime Prevention Council

Response: Parents and teachers can use this CNN Student News resource to address the topic of bullying with their students.