Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN) -- It's been called "something Smurfs would play on," labeled a danger to players and derided over a lack of consultation.

Madrid's new blue clay courts have been the talk of the tennis world for all the wrong reasons. But is the furore justified?

After all, isn't this the same surface -- just a different color?

It's the nature of sports stars to be hyper-sensitive about their office environment. As one British journalist argued, a malfunctioning computer can waste your morning's work, but a ridge in a tennis court might spell the end of a career.

The sport has undergone some of its most dramatic modernizations in the last two decades. Let's not forget the uproar when Hawk-Eye, the electronic ball tracking system, was introduced in the 1990s.

But if the controversy over the last few weeks has revealed anything about tennis, it's that this is a game where tradition still looms large.

Ion Tiriac's baby

The man behind the blue revolution is Romanian billionaire Ion Tiriac. The former French Open doubles winner and manager to Boris Becker has had a blue bee in his bonnet for a while.

He pioneered the first blue hard courts at his indoor event in Stuttgart -- a lead followed by the Australian and U.S. Opens.

Tiriac argues the color increases the visibility of the yellow ball and points to scientific tests proving the contrast is at least 15% better on blue than red.

The fact it's also the color of Madrid's major sponsor, Spanish insurance giant Mutua Madrilena, has not been lost on his critics.

A court by any other name

But really, it's just a color right? According to Tiriac the blue clay court is made exactly the same way as the red, with bricks ground into tiny fragments and spread over the ground in two different layers.

However, in Madrid these bricks are stripped of their iron oxide (the chemical that provides the original color) and then treated with dye.

Tiriac acknowledges the cost is almost double that of the red clay, but says the extra expense is worth it.

He admits that improving the experience for television viewers watching his $10.6 million tournament was a major factor in the switch.

Players see red

So what's all the fuss about? World No. 2 Rafael Nadal's shock exit in the third round on Thursday has only added fire to players' complaints that the new surface is too slippery.

The "King of Clay" -- Nadal has won six of his last seven appearances at the French Open -- was beaten in a three-hour epic by fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco.

It ended a 22-match winning streak on clay for Nadal that stretched back to 2011, and was his first defeat in 14 meetings with Verdasco.

"I never was in control of the match, I didn't know how to win a point," Nadal told reporters, before suggesting he will not show up next year unless the controversial blue clay surface is changed.

But even before his huge upset, the 25-year-old was critical of the new surface, tweeting: "The history of clay court was on red. It wasn't on blue. Only one person wins -- the owner of the tournament."

A slippery slope?

World No. 1 Novak Djokovic also threatened not to step on Madrid's blue clay again after he lost to Janko Tipsarevic.

The Serbian beat Nadal in last year's final, held on red clay, and he expressed his unhappiness with the new surface even after beating Spanish qualifier Daniel Gimeno-Traver 6-2 3-6 6-2 in his opening match on Tuesday.

"Today I played my first official match on blue clay and I have to admit I was not very happy. Next time I have to bring skates instead of shoes, it was sooo slippery," the 24-year-old said on Facebook.

Likewise, Ukrainian player Sergiy Stakhovsky tweeted: "After playing a match on blueclay court 6 I can say with full responsibility on my shoulders that it is the worst court of @ATPWorldTour."

In the women's draw, world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka also complained about the slide, telling reporters: "The surface is a bit slippery, but it's the same for all of us."

It's not just the texture of the surface raising eyebrows -- on the most basic level it just looks different.

"Ha! Blue clay.. It looks like something Smurfs would play on," tweeted player Ivo Karlovic, in what has become a catchphrase of the tournament.

But it's not all blue. American star Serena Williams didn't see what all the fuss was about.

"I haven't noticed a difference between the blue and the red clay. I think it's the same, it's just you don't get as dirty," she tweeted.

Technically speaking

According to experts the lack of traction has nothing to do with the color but the implementation of the clay -- which has been playing much faster than usually expected on such a surface.

Alistair McCaw, a performance specialist to tennis stars including Jelena Dokic, has been watching the action close-up in Madrid.

"The problem is not the fact that the color is blue, even though the change from the traditional brown is quite a shock. Let's not forget the Australian Open changing court color from the green to that bright blue! The players had a lot to say about that too," he said on his Facebook page.

"It's that the amount of clay covering the surface is lesser than normal. If you dig your foot into the surface and remove some of the clay, you will notice that the underlying surface is a hard rubber-like mat. When water is sprayed on the surface, it become slippery. This, in my opinion, is what's causing the main problems."

Former world No. 3 Ivan Ljubicic tested the blue clay at Madrid last year and admitted it did "look a bit slippery."

But the Croatian, who retired last month, didn't believe it was a safety issue. Part of being a pro tennis player is adapting to different surfaces, he said.

And besides, the biggest challenge at Madrid isn't the clay -- it's the altitude. Balls fly faster through thinner air and Madrid is 650 meters above sea level.

"I would say that grass courts and even the hard courts are a lot more dangerous than clay -- any clay," Ljubicic told CNN.

"Regarding adaptation, tennis players face different surfaces on a weekly basis, every clay court is a bit different. I would say that the altitude in Madrid creates bigger problems to players than the color of the court."

Eyes on the prize ... no, the other prize

The issue isn't just about Madrid, of course. The tournament is seen as an important buildup to the real clay-court crown -- the French Open.

Players have argued it's difficult enough adjusting to the conditions in Madrid, without then having to change their game at Roland Garros at the end of the month.

Perhaps most galling for the top players is that they were never consulted over the controversial changes.

"Players should be agreeing to the change -- there should be some value in what they say," Djokovic told reporters.

"I'm not blaming the tournament, it is fighting for its own interests. But the ATP should have done a better job on player rights in protecting what the players want."

Ljubicic added that even when players did raise objections, they were ignored.

"Players were asked at the council meeting if they would support the idea of having blue clay courts. They clearly refused the idea -- only to see that the decision was made anyhow that the surface will be blue," he said.

The ATP has granted permission for a one-year trial of the tournament, and says it'll be taking into account players' feedback.

Judging by the response so far, Tiriac will have a battle on his hands to keep blue in 2013.

Response: Madrid's new blue clay courts have caused an uproar in the tennis world. The brainchild of billionaire Ion Tiriac, it was hoped the color would attract TV audiences. Players complain about slippery surface, with Nadal's shock exit adding fire to flame. After one-year trial, will ATP approve blue clay in 2013?.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:New York (CNN) -- The mansion and four-acre estate featured in Francis Ford Coppola's 1972 film "The Godfather" is up for sale for a whopping $2.9 million.

Owner Jim Norton said he put the eight-bedroom, five-bathroom Staten Island home on the market after his father recently passed away.

The film employed a star-studded cast, including Marlon Brando, Al Pacino and Diane Keaton. Brando played fictional character Vito Corleone, the head of an organized crime family who transfers power to his reluctant son.

The film is based on a novel written by Mario Puzo and begins with a scene filmed at the iconic estate, where the aging Corleone accepts requests for favors during the wedding reception of his daughter Connie, played by Talia Shire.

The estate features a four-car garage, two fireplaces, an English pub and an in-ground swimming pool, Norton said.

His mother collected behind-the-scenes mementos from the film, including pictures and autographs from cast and crew members, he said.

Realtor Connie Profaci said the location was suggested by neighbor and co-star Gianni Russo, who played Corleone's son-in-law in the film.

"His family lived near the home and was familiar with the English Tudor enclave connecting Todt Hill and Emerson Hill," Profaci said. "Paramount producer Al Ruddy agreed and the rest was history."

Response: The mansion featured in the 1972 film "The Godfather" is for sale. Owner Jim Norton put the Staten Island home on the market after his father passed away. The cast featured Marlon Brando, Diane Keaton and Al Pacino.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:TEHRAN, Iran (CNN)  -- There's no doubt that Iran's election will be a major test for incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. But many Iranian women hope the results will also shake the current status of women in the Islamic republic.

Zahra Rahnavard, wife of Iranian candidate Mir Hossein Moussavi, has taken a visible role in the campaign.

"Thirty-four million women demand to have female Cabinet ministers; 34 million women demand to be eligible to run for president," Zahra Rahnavard, wife of reformist candidate Mir Hossein Moussavi, told CNN's Christiane Amanpour.

"Thirty-four million women want the civil law to be revised; 34 million women want the family law revised."

Whether her husband wins or loses Friday, Rahnavard has broken barriers for women just by appearing on the campaign trail with her husband, a rarity for political wives in Iran.

"We look at her, and we say, 'We want to be like her in the future,' " said Shakiba Shakerhosseie, an Iranian woman who packed into Tehran's indoor Azadi (Freedom) sports stadium along with nearly 12,000 others to hear Rahnavard speak in March.

Rahnavard is a mother of three, as well as an accomplished artist and academic. She has been compared to first ladies in the United States, including Michelle Obama, for her visible role in her husband's quest for the presidency.

"I am here to say that men and women are equal," Rahnavard said.

Iran became an Islamic republic in 1979 after the ruling monarchy was overthrown and Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was forced into exile. The revolution also ended the ceremonial role of first lady that the last queen, Farah, enjoyed.

More women than men have voted in the past few elections, and Rahnavard has made a promise to her female supporters that their vote will count this time if Moussavi wins.

"We have made this promise to the women, and we will stand by it," she said.

Iranian women remain second-class citizens in criminal matters, divorce, child custody and inheritance cases, despite making up 65 percent of university students. Ahmadinejad's fundamentalist government has tried to make it easier for men to take more than one wife while restricting public sector careers for women.

This year, for the first time, the Guardian Council announced that a woman could legally be among the final candidate list. Out of the 42 women who registered, however, none was ultimately allowed to stand.

Even Zahra Eshraghi, granddaughter of revolutionary leader Ayatollah Khomeini, was banned from running for parliament as a reformist.

"For Ahmadinejad's government, women are just living things," Eshraghi said. "A woman is there to fill her husband's stomach and raise children."  Watch one analyst talk about women in Ahmadinejad's Iran »

Moussavi is not the only candidate calling for a stronger role for women in Iran. Mehdi Karroubi, the only cleric in the presidential race, has promised to campaign for women's rights. Hard-line conservative candidate Mohsen Rezaie also said he would have female ministers if he wins the election.

Political science professor Mohammad Marandi downplayed Rahnavard's impact on the outcome of Friday's election. He said she may win over reformists and women, but what will win the election is a solution to the floundering economy and a strong performance in the debates. iReport.com: Iranians rally in large numbers

"If Ahmadinejad does well in the debates, I don't think anyone will be able to defeat him," Marandi said.

But try selling that to Rahnavard's enthusiastic supporters.

"This is the first time after the revolution we see a lady behind the president," Farhad Mahmoudi said. "And this is why we're so happy, because we can have a first lady."

CNN's Reza Sayah and Christiane Amanpour contributed to this report

Response: Candidate's wife has broken barriers by appearing on campaign trail. She vows that women's vote will count if her husband wins. Most Iranian university students are women, but they are second-class citizens. Cleric running for president has also promised to boost women's rights.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN) -- A U.S.-run detention center housing 3,000 people will move to Afghan control under a crucial agreement signed Friday that smooths the way toward a larger agreement on the United States' future role in the country.

The agreement, which calls for the gradual transfer of power from U.S. forces to Afghanistan over six months, removes one key sticking point from negotiations over a broader agreement on the role of the United States in Afghanistan after foreign combat troops withdraw in 2014.

Negotiations over the wide-ranging strategic agreement have been going on for more than a year, with little progress. Tensions between the two countries, made worse by the February burning of Qurans by U.S. troops at Bagram Air Base, have complicated the talks.

In November, a loya jirga, or grand assembly of Afghan elders, endorsed the continued presence of U.S. forces after combat operations, but only if the countries could agree on the transfer of prisoners, an end to night raids and eliminating immunity for U.S. troops accused of committing crimes in Afghanistan.

U.S. and Afghan officials have already begun talks on the other major issue gumming up the larger agreement: night raids by U.S. special operations forces, according to U.S. and Afghan officials who jointly briefed reporters.

"The signing of this memorandum is an important step forward in our Strategic Partnership negotiations and very much in keeping with both the Loya Jirga's recommendations and the desires of President (Hamid) Karzai," said U.S. Gen. John Allen, commander of the International Security Assistance Force.

Karzai has repeatedly called for the end of U.S. oversight of detention facilities in the country. On Friday, his spokesman, Aimal Faizi, called the agreement "big progress."

"Things are happening as we wanted," Faizi said.

U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker said the memorandum of understanding, or MOU, demonstrates the United States' commitment to Afghan sovereignty and its partnership with Afghanistan, despite ups and downs in the tense relationship between the two countries.

"We have had our challenges, and there will be challenges ahead as we continue negotiations on the framework for our strategic partnership, but this MOU marks an important step forward," he said.

The agreement calls for the United States to transfer all of the approximately 3,000 Afghan citizens currently held under U.S. guard at the Parwan detention facility near Bagram Air Base to Afghan authorities within six months. The first 500 detainees would be transferred within 45 days, according to the agreement.

Transferred detainees will eventually be moved to new facilities being built in Parwan and Pol-I-Charki, but until then will be moved from the U.S. side of Parwan to the Afghan side of the center.

Although detainees would be held by Afghanistan, U.S. forces would remain at Parwan in a "technical advisory and logistical support" role, the officials who briefed reporters said. Afghan commanders also would not have the authority to release detainees on their own, according to agreement.

Any request to release a prisoner would have to be agreed to by a joint committee headed by the ISAF commander and the Afghan defense minister, according to the agreement.

The deal does not apply to about 50 non-Afghan prisoners being held at Parwan. Their fate was unclear.

The officer currently responsible for prison protection, identified by Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Zahir Azimi as Gen. Safiullah, will take over the Parwan facility, which is the successor to one demolished in 2009 after allegations of abuse. That facility, called the Bagram Theater Internment Facility, was the site of abusive interrogation that ended in the deaths of two detainees in 2002, according to Amnesty International, which has described abusive treatment of detainees at the facility as common.

While the new center has not seen that level of scandal, Amnesty International and other groups have continued to challenge conditions of detention at the facility, including seeking access to U.S. courts for those held at Parwan.

The group also complained in 2010 about allegations of abuse, including isolation, sleep deprivation and exposure to extreme temperatures, at a screening facility at Bagram Air Base.

The Bagram base was also the site of the recent Quran burnings that set off a wave of protests and violence targeting NATO troops. The Muslim holy books had been seized from a detainee center and allegedly contained militant annotations. U.S. President Barack Obama apologized for the incident, saying it was inadvertent.

Response: United States and Afghanistan reach deal to transfer detainees. The deal removes one hurdle to a larger deal on the U.S. role after 2014. That's when combat troops are scheduled to leave the country. The United States is holding more than 3,000 detainees at the Bagram Air Base.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, a strongman in the troubled Horn of Africa and a key United States ally, has died, his government announced Tuesday.

Meles had not been seen in public in months, sparking intense international speculation about his health.

The government revealed neither the cause nor the location of his death Monday at the age of 57.

Meles came to the forefront as a leader of a guerrilla insurgency against dictator Haile Mengistu Mariam in 1991 and cemented power in the ensuing decades.

Seen by admirers as a force for stability in a region with Islamist insurgencies in Somalia and Yemen and a history of famine, he was also criticized for cracking down on political opposition and the press.

"He came to power at the barrel of a gun, but he made the transition from rebel leader to political leader very quickly," said Ayo Johnson, a writer on Africa and director of Viewpoint Africa.

But he never overcame his "mindset as a rebel leader," and his democratic credentials were "poor," Johnson said.

"The West turned a blind eye to many aspects of his game that were not up to scratch," he added.

That's partly because of his action against Islamist movements in the region, including an invasion of Somalia in 1998, Johnson said.

"He supported everything that the United States wanted to do against terror," he explained, such as give American drones based in the region permission to use Ethiopian airspace on their way to targets in Somalia.

And "he was able to address the fundamentals -- health care, education, reducing the poverty rate," Johnson said.

U.S. President Barack Obama praised Meles' "unyielding commitment to Ethiopia's poor" in a statement Tuesday, citing his "personal admiration for (Meles') desire to lift millions of Ethiopians out of poverty through his drive for food security."

But in June, U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat, highlighted a different aspect of Meles' rule -- the case of journalist Eskinder Nega, who was then before a court in Addis Ababa.

While praising the prime minister's work in "containing the real threat of terrorism in the region and making gains against the region's recurring famines," Leahy accused him of "trying to silence those who do not toe the official line."

His Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front took all but one seat in parliament in elections in 2010, Africa expert Jason Mosley pointed out in the wake of Meles' death.

"Nearly 200 people were reportedly killed, and tens of thousands detained" in the previous elections in 2005, said Mosley, who is with the Chatham House think tank in London.

Last year, Ethiopia found two Swedish journalists guilty of supporting terrorism and sentenced them to 11 years in prison.

Meles died at 11:40 p.m. Monday from an unspecified infection, spokesman Bereket Simon said.  Deputy Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn is now in charge.

There will be no elections before the next scheduled ballot in 2015, Bereket said.

Meles had been scheduled to step down in 2013 as part of a transition process, Mosley said, but questioned whether he genuinely intended to relinquish power.

Meles was out of the country when he died and members of his family were with him, according to Bereket. He did not say what country Meles' body was in or when it would return to Ethiopia, except that it would be soon.

The spokesman acknowledged the prime minister had been sick for some time but didn't immediately seek treatment.

The news came almost a week after the government said Meles was "recovering well" after treatment for an unspecified illness.

Bloggers launched a counter of the number of days he's been missing, while citizens took to social media to discuss his whereabouts and exchange conspiracy theories.

The secretive nation had released little information about his whereabouts, prompting rumors and opposition claims that he was dead or facing a life-threatening illness.

The government held a news conference last month and announced Meles received treatment for an unspecified illness.

His absence was more evident last month when Ethiopia hosted an African Union summit in its capital of Addis Ababa. Meles, a key player in talks on the tensions between Sudan and its rival neighbor South Sudan, did not attend.

Former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Ethiopia under Meles had "played a key role in both the region and the African continent."

"I hope that his successor will continue to be a driving force on a wide range of issues, from brokering peace negotiations to shaping development relationships," Annan said.

Ethiopia, a key Western ally often lauded for effective use of aid money, is surrounded by unstable nations such as Somalia and Sudan. Meles has been credited with working toward peace and security in the region, and the Ethiopian army sent peacekeepers to battle the Islamic extremist group Al-Shabaab in Somalia.

People we've lost in 2012: The lives they lived

Response: Obama praises Meles Zenawi's "unyielding commitment to Ethiopia's poor". He supported "everything the United States wanted to do against terror," an expert says. Critics point out his efforts to stifle political opposition and silence journalists. He came to power as part of a guerrilla insurgency against a dictator.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN) -- Four days, 12 stages, 175 acts, 700 acres of land -- the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival is thriving in its tenth year.

Having been deemed America's Glastonbury by the music industry -- the highest accolade in the festival world -- Bonnaroo will attract more than 80,000 people to Manchester, Tennessee, beginning Thursday. The small city, between Nashville and Chattanooga, has been home to the festival since its summer 2002 debut.

It's hard to believe the all-encompassing music festival came to be from an office in a New Orleans dive bar called Snake and Jake's.

"Very humble beginnings," Bonnaroo and Superfly Presents co-founder Jonathan Mayers said.

Since then, the festival has evolved into a complete musical experience: Drawing from indie rock, hip-hop, jazz, bluegrass and more, today, a more mainstream Bonnaroo continues to honor the spirit the festival was founded on a decade ago, Mayers added.

Jessica Robertson, the managing editor of MTVHive.com, says Superfly and AC Entertainment, the production and marketing teams behind Bonnaroo, achieve the perfect balance by featuring headliners like Eminem and Bonnaroo veteran Widespread Panic alongside jam bands like String Cheese Incident and the legendary classic rockers that make up Buffalo Springfield.

Some people might criticize the mainstream shift, but, Mayers says, "If we just kept doing the same thing, we probably wouldn't be relevant right now."

And with tickets costing about $240, it's important that Bonnaroo maintain its relevance -- especially in a time when people are wary of paying full price for individual shows.

"So much music today is experienced on a computer screen that it's really great to get out and experience it," Robertson said. People are used to listening to an eclectic mix of artists and styles on their portable media players, which is why the musical sampling that Bonnaroo offers is so appreciated.

In addition to featuring different types of music and countless activities -- from yoga classes to the use of a 175-foot-long inflatable water slide -- festivals are considered to be a great value for the average concert-goer.

"Festivals have been one of the few bright spots in the music industry in the past few years," said Doree Shafrir, RollingStone.com's senior editor.

With a silent disco, a comedy theater, cinema, Wi-Fi and restaurants covering Manchester's grounds, the relatively unknown city is transformed into a unique destination.

For festival-goers, it's not uncommon for people to have completely different experiences during the course of the long weekend.

And it's not just for the attendees. Many artists would rather perform in front of thousands of people, interacting with other talent rather than playing a solo show, Shafrir said

"You're isolated when you're on tour, going from city to city," she added. "At a festival, you can interact with other artists, be inspired by them and feed off the crowd."

Location, Robertson said, is another seller for the festival. It's centrally located and easy to get to. That could be why other festivals, such as Rothbury, which was held in the Michigan village of the same name, struggled to stay afloat.

Meanwhile, the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, which takes place in Indio, California, is doing so well, it recently added another weekend to its 2012 schedule.

Perhaps a festival's true test of success is measured by how good it tastes. As a result of a partnership between Ben and Jerry's and the Bonnaroo festival, the ice cream company created Bonnaroo Buzz, a light coffee and malt ice cream, which made its national debut this year.

While Bonnaroo certainly thrives on the extras it offers festival-goers, as well as its diverse musical acts, Mayers says the festival's charm and success really come down to community.

"People are here, living on site," he said. "They're building a true community. People are totally immersed in it. There's no TV, or hotel to go back to. ... It creates a whole different environment and live experience that you can't replicate."

And it's constantly evolving.

"Music is just the entry point for this platform for all arts -- for people to be creative," he added.

In the future, Bonnaroo, which Mayers calls his "huge, never-ending art project," will probably engage the audience even more and become a platform for people to get involved.

Response: Bonnaroo will bring more than 80,000 people to Manchester, Tennessee. The festival becomes a unique destination with a comedy theater, cinema and more. Ben and Jerry's created Bonnaroo Buzz, a light coffee and malt ice cream.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN) -- David Duchovny's latest role is stirring up more intrigue than any episode of "The X-Files." The actor plays himself in a beer commercial imagining how proud he would be if he were Russian.

"And I found out that being Russian, I'd have many things to be proud of," he says in the video, which was posted Friday on the Russian beer Siberian Crown's YouTube page.

A message in Russian was posted with the video. The Google translation of the message said that Duchovny "decided to do a film about Russian pride and love of country."

The timing of the video, viewed at least 1.6 million times in the first three days, couldn't be more controversial, considering the international condemnation of Russia after a Malaysian airliner went down over eastern Ukraine this month, killing 298 people on board. U.S. and Ukrainian officials have said a Russian-made missile system was used to shoot down the plane from rebel territory. Russia and the rebels have disputed the allegations and blamed Ukraine for the crash.

"This is the country where I was born and raised," Duchovny says at the start of the 2Â½-minute video. "But there is another country, where I got my family name from. And sometimes I wonder: What if things turned out differently? What if I were Russian?"

But Duchovny's family emigrated from Ukraine, not Russia. He may not have known when he signed up for the commercial job earlier this year, but he apparently did before it was produced.

"I grew up thinking I was Russian only to find recently that I've been Ukrainian all along. Never too late to change," he said in a Twitter posting on April 4.

The difference between Ukrainians and Russians is central to the struggle between pro-Russian rebels and the Ukrainian government. Ethnic Russian rebels in the east and south of Ukraine identify with Russia.

Duchovny tweeted a photo on May 30, apparently taken while he was producing the scene where he imagined he was a Russian cosmonaut. "Ground control to Major Ivan," he tweeted.

He also imagines himself to be a Russian ballet choreographer, a Russian-speaking actor and a Russian rocker with a mullet.

"Could I still be among the stars?" Duchovny asks in the video. "How would I surround myself with beauty? What role could I have played? Would my smile be known the world over?"

Joshua Edwards, an assistant to Duchovny manager Melanie Greene, said Monday that Greene was working on a response to the controversy, but Edwards later said it would only be given to TMZ.

Response: David Duchovny's Russian beer ad is released at an awkward time. "I found out that being Russian, I'd have many things to be proud of," he says in the video. "I grew up thinking I was Russian only to find recently that I've been Ukrainian," he tweets. Duchovny and his manager did not immediately respond to CNN's request for comment.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN) -- Much of the country has turned up the heat during the deep freeze this week, but for some, the icy chill is on its way out.

The Deep South joined most of the rest of the nation with sub-zero temperatures Friday as a fast-moving cold front knifed its way down to Florida.

Combined with moisture from the Gulf of Mexico, the frigid air dumped a dangerous mix of ice and snow throughout the Southeast Thursday night and Friday morning, coating roadways with a slick glaze.

At least nine deaths around the country were blamed on this week's round of winter weather.

Relief is in sight for the Midwest this weekend, however, as higher temperatures make their way eastward, according to CNN meteorologist Chad Meyers. But the cold will tighten its grip before warmer air takes hold.

An Arctic air mass over the Plains will cause severe wind chills through Saturday morning, the National Weather Service reported. The weather service has issued wind chill advisories for northwestern Missouri, northeastern Kansas, eastern Nebraska and southwestern Iowa, meaning the wind chill could be severe enough to cause frost bite or hypothermia.

The South will also experience higher temperatures by the end of the weekend but that region, too, will shiver a while longer.

Floridians braced for a second surge of Arctic air that promised to dip well into the southern parts of the state. Key West already set a record low temperature on Thursday, bottoming out at 47 degrees -- shattering the previous low set back in 1897. Temperatures on Sunday and Monday are expected to be in the low-to-mid-40s.

The citrus growing regions in Florida and Texas will have to keep an eye on their crops as the cold air remains in the area, Meyers said. In southern Texas, the National Weather Service has issued a hard freeze warning through late Saturday morning, saying that the conditions "will kill temperature-sensitive vegetation and could cause widespread damage or destruction to crops."

The East might not feel the warmth until Tuesday, Meyers said, and will continue to feel temperatures that are 10 to 20 degrees below average. Residents in New York City and the surrounding area, including northeastern New Jersey and southern Connecticut, won't feel temperatures above 30 degrees this weekend, the weather service reported. Saturday night is expected to be the coldest, with lows in the teens and below in some areas, the weather service said. iReport: Show CNN how how the cold is affecting you

While forecasts don't predict snow east of the Rocky Mountains in the coming days, Meyers said, a storm system in the far west could drop as much as 10 feet over the Canadian site of the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Flakes are expected Saturday and may fall in the coming days on a swath of land ranging from British Columbia to the northern Sierras of California, Meyers said.

The most snow -- about 10 feet -- is expected to fall in Canada's Whistler Blackcomb, the venue for the Olympic Alpine skiing event. The heavy snow is a plus for the event but could also bring threats of avalanches, Meyers said. 29-car pileup near Atlanta airport

Vancouver, British Columbia, hosts the 2010 Games, which begin with the opening ceremony on February 12. Alpine skiing begins the following day.

CNN's Dave Alsup, Hank Bishop and Sean Morris contributed to this report.

Response: NEW: Fast-moving cold front knifes through southeastern U.S., into Florida. NEW: At least nine deaths nationwide blamed on cold weather this week. NEW: Warmer air gradually will move eastward, with Northeast the last to see relief. Key West, Florida, southernmost point in continental U.S., has coldest day in 112 years.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:Hartford, Connecticut (CNN) -- I knew every last American had been touched by the World Cup when my father-in-law told me how much he enjoyed "the first few innings" of the Brazil-Ivory Coast match.

Needless to say, he's just discovering soccer. He still thinks a red card is what communists keep in their wallets. And yet, like so many of his countrymen, he's suddenly been laid low by World Cup fever, whose symptoms include a dull headache and a stiff neck, the result -- in my case -- of practicing headers in the driveway. ("Practicing them for what?" my wife inquired. But you never know when that call-up will come for the U-50 national team.)

At long last, soccer ignorami in this country are becoming part of the international community. For most of this past week, I (an American citizen) felt schadenfreude (a German word for "joy in the misery of others") at the spectacular implosion of Les Bleus (the French national team, which mutinied against its own coach while crapping out of the tournament). That's three countries in a single emotion, the kind of geopolitical awakening most of us only get in America when walking into an International House of Pancakes.

And so I can't stop singing that song from Nike's ubiquitous World Cup commercial, in which Italian lounge singer Bobby Solo serenades Italy captain Fabio Cannavaro with a chorus -- "Che Cannavaro, Che Capitano" -- that is as insidiously unshakeable as the World Cup itself.

I interviewed Cannavaro in Milan a dozen years ago and have followed and occasionally covered international soccer for two decades. In America, I sometimes act like one of those bores who saw the Beatles in Hamburg before they made it big: that guy who feels smugly superior to the mass of fans who later fill the bandwagon.

This kind of smugness has its advantages. A fellow school parent asked me yesterday: "What's the name of that guy who coaches Argentina?" When I said, "Diego Maradona," she replied: "How do you know all this stuff?"

Maradona is only the greatest soccer player of all time and one of Earth's most famous inhabitants, but I kept those secrets to myself, letting her think I'm a soccer sophisticate and repository of the game's most obscure trivia.

I'm just happy that more people care, that the next time my father-in-law hears the name Donovan, he'll think of the American whose 91st-minute goal sent the U.S. to the knockout stages of the 2010 World Cup, not the Englishman whose song "Mellow Yellow" went to No. 2 in the charts in 1966. Someday, when my father-in-law thinks of 1966 as the year that England last won the World Cup, the tournament will have finally realized its manifest destiny. It will truly have conquered the world.

It's almost there now. More and more Americans are succumbing. You may have noticed your fellow cubicle jockeys sounding like one of those English soccer announcers currently on loan to ESPN: decrying "cynical" tackles, praising "beautifully weighted" passes and pronouncing themselves, at the water cooler, too "knackered" to work.

iReport: Do you have World Cup mania?

Last Sunday, I saw a brand-new Manchester United license plate frame on a car in our church parking lot. The next day, an 8-year-old saw my toddler in an English soccer jersey at the park and yelled, correctly: "He's got an Arsenal shirt on!" These are hopeful signs. In much of America, in the month it is named for, the June bug abruptly appears, reaches maturity in July and then quickly dies off. Typically, the World Cup does the same.

But this time, I think soccer, as grass-dwelling pests go, will be harder to eradicate. I know the game will be eating my lawn for years to come.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Steve Rushin.

Response: Steve Rushin is thrilled that more people are caring about soccer. He says more and more Americans are succumbing to Cup fever. The game will be difficult to eradicate, Rushin writes.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN) -- The Syrian government resigned Tuesday amid an unusual wave of unrest that has roiled the nation, state TV reported.

President Bashar al-Assad accepted the resignations Tuesday, the same day that tens of thousands of Syrians poured onto the streets of Damascus to demonstrate in favor of the government.

A new government should be named within hours, said Reem Haddad, a spokeswoman for the Syrian Information Ministry.

Meanwhile, the president is expected to address the nation in a speech before the People's Assembly at 11 a.m. (5 a.m. ET) Wednesday, state TV said.

The state-run SANA news agency reported the speech would "reassure the Syrian people."

The pro-government rally on Tuesday followed violent clashes between protesters and security forces in the cities of Daraa and Latakia in recent days. At least 37 people have been killed since last week, according to the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Syria is the latest in a string of Arabic-speaking nations beset with discontent over economic and human rights issues. Syria's discontent is centered in Daraa, a southern city in the impoverished country's agricultural region, where security forces and anti-government protesters have sporadically clashed for nearly two weeks.

Many demonstrators at the pro-government rally held posters of the president. Others waved Syrian flags, while some painted their faces and chests in national colors.

Crowds filled the square in front of the Central Bank and jammed all roads leading to it, aerial pictures on state TV showed.

There were also pro-government rallies in the cities of Aleppo, Hama and Hasaka, the broadcaster said.

CNN's Yousuf Basil contributed to this report

Response: NEW: The president is expected to speak on Wednesday. A new government will be named shortly, a government spokeswoman says. The government has resigned, state TV reports. At least 37 people have been killed in demonstrations since last week, the U.N. says.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:Abu Dhabi (CNN) -- All indications are that sanctions against Iran are really starting to bite and this time it is coming from the oil ministry in Tehran, which for months has denied that oil production was suffering due to international pressure.

In an interview with the Iranian Student News Agency (ISNA), Gholam Reza Kateb a member of the national planning and budget committee in Parliament referenced a report from Iran's oil minister Rostam Qasemi. In that report, the minister suggested that oil revenues in the country plummeted 40 percent, while gas and gas products' export revenues fell by 45% compared to the same period last year.

Read more: Official: Iran, nuclear watchdog group deal close

This is a hot button issue in Iran, where the currency due to sanctions has dropped 80 percent from its peak in 2011. The Iranian people are faced with spiralling inflation and job layoffs within the state sector.

I spoke with a source in Iran's representative office to OPEC who declined to comment and referred all matters to the Oil Ministry. A spokesman at the state oil company Iran Petroleum would only say "in this political climate it is difficult to confirm these statements."

Read more: Iran steps up uranium enrichment, U.N. report says

Hours later, a spokesman from the Ministry told another Iranian news agency, Mehr, that the numbers quoted about revenue and production drops are not true, although he offered no specific numbers.

Until this report to the Iranian Parliament, Minister Qasemi has maintained that Iran's production was hovering around four million barrels a day, where it was two years ago.

Read more: Opinion: Time to defuse Iranian nuclear issue

Back at the OPEC Seminar in June 2012, the minister told me that sanctions would not have any influence on plans to expand production and investment, shrugging off questions that suggested otherwise. This despite analysis to the contrary from the Paris based International Energy Agency and Vienna based OPEC of which Iran is a member.

The IEA back in July suggested that Iraq surpassed Iran in production for the first time in over two decades and production in Iran dipped to 2.9 million barrels a day. OPEC in its October 2012 survey said it slipped to 2.72 million at the time Minister Qasemi said output remained at 4 million barrels.

Minister Qasemi was recently quoted at a conference in Tehran that Iran needs to invest $400 billion over the next five years to maintain production targets and to play catch up after years of under investment.

Iran is a land full of potential. According to the annual BP Statistical Review, Iran sits on nearly 10 percent of the world's proven reserves at 137 billion barrels. The South Pars field which it shares with Qatar is one of the largest natural gas fields in the world -- but Iran, due to sanctions, cannot expand development.

This is a highly charged period. With elections in mid-June, it remains unclear how energy policy will evolve after the era of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad passes. It has been eight years of his tough line against Washington, Brussels and other governments that put forth sanctions against Iran. It is not clear if a new President will usher in a new nuclear development policy to ease the pressure on Iran's energy sector and the country's people.

Response: The IEA has suggested Iraq surpassed Iran in output for the first time in over 20 years. The Iranian people are faced with spiralling inflation and job layoffs within the state sector. Iranian oil revenues in the country plummeted 40 percent, while gas export revenues fell by 45%.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN) -- The Chinese government is bracing itself for a rush of people wishing to marry when the summer Olympics kick off on August 8 -- because the number carries a special significance in Chinese culture, the state news agency said Sunday.

A traditional Ming-style wedding is held in Nanjing, China, last December.

The number "eight" (ba) is considered auspicious by many in China because it sounds like the word for "wealth" and "fortune," the news agency Xinhua said.

"We've long been prepared for a stampede of newly-wed couples this year," Guo Xusheng, spokesman with the Beijing Municipal Civil Affairs Bureau, told Xinhua.

Every year, many couples choose the 8th of August -- the eighth month of the year -- hoping "eighth of the eighth" luck will rub off on them, the news agency said.

Nearly 3,400 couples got hitched on the day last year, some waiting all night outside the marriage registration office in Beijing.

This year, the civil affairs bureau is accepting online reservations for marriage registrations for the day.

The significance that numbers carry in Chinese culture often dictate various aspects of the people's lives there.

And of all the numbers, eight is considered one of the luckiest. Beijing, itself, opted to kick off the Olympic Games at 8 p.m. on 8/8/08. E-mail to a friend

Response: China braces for rush of weddings on opening day of Olympics. Opening day of Beijing Olympics is August 8, 2008. The number "8" is considered by many Chinese to carry good fortune.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN) -- A British cruise ship avoided a possible pirate attack in the Indian Ocean on Wednesday when the captain to took evasive maneuvers and alerted naval authorities after the ship's radar detected an approaching small boat.

The 350-passenger Spirit of Adventure was traveling some 100 miles off the coast of the east African country of Tanzania -- embarking on a two-week trip from Mauritius to Mombasa, Kenya -- when the boat sped toward the ship, said cruise liner spokesman Paul Green.

"As a precautionary measure (the captain) asked the passengers to go to the main lounge," Green said.

The passengers stayed in the lounge area for approximately 45 minutes while the captain steered the ship to avoid the approaching boat, which at one point came within a few hundred meters, he said.

No shots were fired and no attempt to board was made, Green added.

Sll cruises traveling in the Indian Ocean provide security briefings for passengers as a matter of policy, he said.

Pirate attacks and subsequent ransoms have become a frequent hazard for those traveling off the east African coast, particularly Somalia, which has had no formal central government since 1991.

At least 28 vessels and 654 hostages are currently being held by pirates off the Somali coast, according to a statement from the European Union Naval Force.

Response: A cruise ship avoided a possible pirate attack in the Indian Ocean. The ship's radar detected a small boat and prompted the captain to take evasive maneuvers. At least 28 vessels and 654 hostages are currently being held by pirates.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:The phone of the first officer of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 was on and made contact with a cell tower in Malaysia about the time the plane disappeared from radar, a U.S. official told CNN on Monday.

However, the U.S. official -- who cited information shared by Malaysian investigators -- said there was no evidence the first officer, Fariq Abdul Hamid, had tried to make a call.

The official told CNN's Pamela Brown on Monday that a cell-phone tower in Penang, Malaysia -- about 250 miles from where the flight's transponder last sent a signal -- detected the first officer's phone searching for service roughly 30 minutes after authorities believe the plane made a sharp turn westward.

The details do appear to reaffirm suggestions based on radar and satellite data that the plane was off course and was probably flying low enough to obtain a signal from a cell tower, the U.S. official said.

The revelation follows reporting over the weekend in a Malaysian newspaper that the first officer had tried to make a telephone call while the plane was in flight.

Asked Sunday by CNN about the newspaper report about a purported effort to make a call by the first officer, Malaysia's acting transport minister Hishammuddin Hussein said, "As far as I know, no, but as I said that would be in the realm of the police and the other international (authorities) and when the time comes that will be revealed. But I do not want to speculate on that at the moment."

U.S. officials familiar with the investigation told CNN they have been told that no other cell phones were picked up by the Penang tower.

Pilots are supposed to turn off their cell phones before pushing back from the gate.

"It would be very rare in my opinion to have someone with a cell phone on in the cockpit," safety analyst David Soucie said. "It's never supposed to be on at all. It's part of every check list of every airline I am familiar with."

When the plane first went missing, authorities said millions of cell phone records were searched, looking for evidence that calls had been made from the plane after it took off, but the search turned up nothing.

Underwater search is shortened

Efforts to find the missing plane and the 239 people aboard were focused beneath the choppy surface of the southern Indian Ocean on Monday as Australian authorities sent a U.S. Navy-contracted submersible diving toward the sea floor.

But after completing just six hours of searching for underwater debris, the autonomous underwater vehicle Bluefin-21 returned to the surface, according to the Joint Agency Coordination Centre in Perth, Australia.

It should have taken the probe and its operators 24 hours to map the first portion of the search area: 16 hours to map, four hours' travel time to just above the ocean floor and back, and four hours for analysts to examine the data gathered.

It is unclear how much of the area -- 5 kilometers by 8 kilometers (3.1 miles by 4.9 miles) -- the Bluefin scanned. It could take up to two months to scan the entire search area.

Officials said a built-in safety feature recalled the underwater search vehicle after it exceeded its operating depth of 4,500 meters (14,763 feet).

Capt. Mark Matthews, who heads the U.S. presence in the search effort, said the Bluefin aborted so the crew could refine the mission parameters. Charts indicated the ocean was at most 4,400 meters (14,436 feet) deep, so when the Bluefin went deeper than that, it was returned to the surface.

"It happened in the very far corner of the area it's searching, so they are just shifting the search box a little bit away from that deep water and proceeding with the search," he told CNN's "Erin Burnett OutFront."

The decision to put the Bluefin-21 into the water for the first time in the 38-day search comes nearly a week after listening devices last heard sounds that could be from locator beacons attached to the plane's "black boxes."

"We haven't had a single detection in six days," Australian chief search coordinator Angus Houston said. "It's time to go underwater."

The probe is equipped with side-scan sonar -- acoustic technology that creates pictures from the reflections of sound. Such technology is routinely used to find sunken ships and was crucial in finding Air France Flight 447, which crashed into the Atlantic Ocean in 2009.

Houston cautioned against hopes that the underwater vehicle will find wreckage of the plane, which disappeared on March 8 on a flight between Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Beijing that should have taken about six hours.

"It may not," he said. "This will be a slow and painstaking process."

The bottom of the search area is not sharply mountainous -- it's more flat and almost rolling, Houston said. But he said the area probably has a lot of silt, which can "complicate" the search.

The search area for the Bluefin is in what officials labeled the most likely area the plane could be.

"It was the site of the highest signal strength or the loudest received signal," Matthews told CNN, referring to the pings detected by a towed pinger locator, a wing-shaped listening device connected to the ship by a cable. "It was also where we had an increase in signal strength as we drove through the area and then a decrease as we drove out of the area."

New clue on the surface of the water?

Another possible clue into the plane's disappearance emerged Monday.

Australian officials announced the Australian ship Ocean Shield had detected an oil slick Sunday evening. It is unclear where the oil came from. A 2-liter sample has been collected for examination, but it will take a few days to analyze.

"I stress the source of the oil has yet to be determined, but the oil slick is approximately 5,500 meters (3.4 miles) downwind ... from the vicinity of the detections of the TPL on Ocean Shield," Houston said.

CNN Aviation Analyst Les Abend, who flies a Boeing 777, said the engines on the plane have about 20 quarts of oil each.

"It could be slowly dripping up to the surface," he told CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360." "They're saying an oil slick. I'm wondering if it's just some sort of a fluid slick. It could be (from) hydraulics."

If it is oil, it's not the first oil slick detected as part of the search. A similar find in the first days of the search was determined to be fuel oil from a freighter.

Surface search nearing end

Twelve aircraft and 15 ships participated in Monday's search efforts on the surface, covering an 18,400-square-mile (47,600-square-kilometer) area. The surface search was among the last, Houston said.

"The air and surface search for floating material will be completed in the next two to three days in the area where the aircraft most likely entered the water," Houston said.

That search was energized last week when searchers using the Navy-owned pinger locator and sonobuoys detected sounds that could have been from the plane's black boxes, or data and voice recorders.

But after a week of silence, the batteries powering the locator beacons are probably dead, a top official from the company that manufactures the beacons told CNN on Sunday. They were certified to last 30 days, a deadline that's already passed.

That means searchers may not be able to detect any more pings to help lead them to those pieces of the missing plane.

"More than likely they are reaching end of life or already have. If (a beacon) is still going, it is very, very quiet at this point," Jeff Densmore told CNN's "State of the Union with Candy Crowley" on Sunday.

The time is ripe to move on to other search techniques.

"Every good effort has been expended, but it's now looking like the batteries are failing, and it's time to start mowing the lawn, as we say, time to start scanning the sea floor," said Rob McCollum, a CNN analyst and ocean search specialist.

Catherine Tamoh Lion, the mother of the missing plane's chief steward Andrew Nari, said the news that no more pings have been heard is upsetting.

"Our sadness is now just prolonged," she told CNN.

"I feel like they are somewhere," she said of the passengers. "I don't know where. Just praying to God. Miracles can happen. "

How do underwater sonar subs work?

What happens after the pingers die?

Listening for pings, water plays tricks

Response: CNN aviation analyst says surface slick could be fluid leaking from underwater plane. Cell phone tower detected co-pilot's phone around time of disappearance, official says. An oil slick has been found 5.5 kilometers (3.4 miles) from where pings were detected. Underwater search vehicle comes back to surface early after exceeding depth limit.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(EW.com) -- In the "Incredible Burt Wonderstone," Steve Carell and Steve Buscemi play world-famous Las Vegas magicians.

Carell wears spangled red velvet and a poufy wig that makes him look like Barry Manilow, and Buscemi sports an even more unreal-looking lanky mop. Each night, they kick off their act by doing a smiley little dance to ''Abracadabra,'' that cheesy-catchy Steve Miller Band classic.

This trademark fanfare places the two somewhere between Siegfried & Roy and the head-bopping Butabi brothers from "Saturday Night Live," and I chuckled, with mild pleasure, at the dopey kitschiness of it. I assumed (or at least hoped) that the dance would be a warm-up for the much bigger laughs to come.

Carell's Burt Wonderstone and Buscemi's Anton Marvelton have been partners ever since they were childhood geeks who began inventing their own magic tricks back in the early '80s.

They've been doing their sold-out show at Bally's for so long now that they're sick of it, and sick of each other, too. Burt, off stage, is a toxic diva who makes groupies sign contracts and treats Anton like an indentured servant. One night, the two are working with a brand-new assistant, Jane (Olivia Wilde), performing a classic trick that requires Burt and Jane to huddle inside a box, which Anton jabs with swords. Squeezed inside the compartment, Burt asks Jane to sleep with him that night, and when she turns him down, he throws a hissy fit.

It should be an over-the-top funny moment, as Carell lashes out with a faux-aristocratic hauteur. He's going for a Will Ferrell meltdown, yet there's something a little too controlled about Carell's bombastic nuttiness. The effect isn't hilariously insane. Once again, it's just kind of mild.

'Burt Wonderstone': Box office magic?

"Burt Wonderstone" seems to be reaching for the tone of early Farrelly brothers movies like Kingpin, and also for the madcap hostility of Zoolander. Yet in too many scenes, the comedy doesn't quite ignite.

The movie rarely climbs out of the chuckle zone, except for a few times when Jim Carrey is on screen as Burt and Anton's rival, a stringy-haired, tattooed street magician who specializes in cable-TV stunts that represent the new era: He's like Criss Angel as a Zen pain freak. The gleam of madness in Carrey's eye finds a perfect home in this role, which has him upping the ante on how far he'll go (holding in his urine for 12 days, spending a night on hot coals), all as a way to bedazzle jaded audiences.

'Glee': Idina Menzel to return

He beats Burt and Anton at their own game, and their act starts to fall apart. And so, in a way, does the movie. Instead of getting wilder, it turns earnest and mushy, as Burt, humbled by failure, starts performing at a retirement home, where he befriends Rance Holloway (Alan Arkin), the cranky magician whose VHS tape first inspired him as a kid.

Burt Wonderstone has a real affection for the world of illusionists, a showbiz demimonde it treats with simultaneous snark and awe. Yet the movie itself is too cautious and unimaginative to bring off what a great magic trick â€” or comedy â€” should do: make us laugh out loud with surprise. B-

See the original article at EW.com.

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Response: Carell wears spangled red velvet and a poufy wig in "The Incredible Burt Wonderstone". Carell and Buscemi play world-famous Las Vegas magicians. Their characters have been partners ever since they were childhood geeks. "Burt Wonderstone" seems to be reaching for the tone of early Farrelly brothers movies.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN) -- Hurricane experts are throwing cold water on an idea backed by billionaire Microsoft founder Bill Gates aimed at controlling the weather.

Bill Gates and scientists have applied for patents aimed at reducing the strength of oncoming hurricanes.

Gates and a dozen other scientists have raised eyebrows by submitting patent applications for a technology to reduce the danger of approaching hurricanes by cooling ocean temperatures.

It's a noble idea, given the horrible memories from Hurricane Katrina, which slammed into the Gulf Coast four years ago this week.

The storm, which rated a frightening Category 3 when it made landfall in Louisiana, was blamed for $81 billion in damaged and destroyed property and the deaths of more than 1,800 men, women and children.

Skeptics applaud the motive of the concept but question its feasibility.

"The enormity of it, in order to do something effective, we'd have to do something at a scale that humans have never really done before," said Gabriel Vecchi, a research scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

How exactly would this hurricane-zapping technology work?

Hurricanes are fueled by warm water, and cooling the waters surrounding a storm would slow a storm's momentum.

According to the patents, many tub-like barges would be placed directly in the path of an oncoming storm. Each barge would have two conduits, each 500 feet long.

One conduit would push the warm water from the ocean's surface down. The other would bring up cold water where it lies deep undersea.

World renowned hurricane expert William Gray, who's been studying and predicting the storms for a half-century, also doubts whether the proposal would work.

"The problem is the storms come up so rapidly," said Gray, a professor of atmospheric science at Colorado State University. "You only get two to three days warning. It's very difficult to bring up enough cold water in two to three days to have much effect."

The idea itself isn't groundbreaking, according to Gray, who said it could only be feasible if the barges were put into place at the beginning of hurricane season with the idea that storms will come.

"But you might do all that, and perhaps no storms would come. That's an economic problem," Gray said.

Even if the technology does work, Gray said it won't completely halt a hurricane.

"There is no way to stop it. The storm might weaken in the center, but the outer areas wouldn't be affected much."

And flooding and storm surges are determined by these outer winds, Gray said.

When word of Gates' five patent applications first made headlines in July, alarmed bloggers lit up the Internet, expressing fears that playing with ocean temperatures could lead to catastrophe, possibly forcing a storm in a different direction.

That's not likely, said Kerry Emanuel, a professor in atmospheric sciences at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

"You're doing something to the ocean that the hurricane would have done anyway," Emanuel said.

Cold water that churns up during a storm slows down a hurricane naturally. But the coldest water is usually at the rear of the storm, so sometimes it's too late to weaken [the storm], Emanuel said.

"The key is doing it a little sooner than the storm itself does it and make [the hurricane] weaker than it would have been," he said. "There are enough experiments to find out whether hurricanes' natural cooling could steer the storm in a different location, and the answer is no, or it's a very small chance."

While Emanuel believes the physics are conceivable, he says the cost of implementing the system shouldn't outweigh the benefit.

"This would only be practical if the amount [of money] you spend doing this would be less than the damage caused by the hurricane," Emanuel said.

Gates and scientist Ken Caldeira, both listed as inventors on the patents, did not respond to CNN's requests to comment about their venture.

The patents, which were only made public last month by the U.S. Patent and Trade Office, were filed in January by Searete LLC. The company is a subsidiary of Intellectual Ventures, an invention firm run by Microsoft's former chief technology officer Nathan Myhrvold.

A spokeswoman for Intellectual Ventures, which holds about 27,000 technology patents, didn't elaborate on the cost associated with the patent.

"At this point, there are no plans for deployment, so there is no talk of funding," she said, adding that it could take up to 18 months for the patent application to be approved.

Regardless, inventors say that this technology is not something they'll be rushing to use anytime soon.

"This type of technology is not something humankind would use as a 'Plan A' or 'Plan B,'" Paul "Pablos" Holman, an inventor in the Intellectual Ventures laboratory, wrote on the company blog.

"These inventions are a 'Plan C,' where humans decide that we've exhausted all our behavior changing and alternative energy options and need to rely on mitigation technologies. If our planet is in this severe situation, then our belief is that we should not be starting from scratch at investigating mitigation options."

Hurricane expert Gray agrees.

"I don't think this is anything that's going to be done in the next few decades in a practical sense, but maybe further down the line," Gray said. "I would love to see Bill Gates, with all his money, use some of it to experiment."

Response: Hurricane experts doubt feasibility of Bill Gates-backed weather-control idea. Idea is "on a scale that humans have never really done before," says NOAA. Renowned Colorado professor William Gray: It won't completely stop hurricanes. Theory: Barges would cool ocean surface sapping energy from oncoming storms.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN) -- Barcelona announced an internal investigation Tuesday after reports in Spain claimed that the club had commissioned detective agencies to spy on a number of their star players.

The Catalan giants confirmed on their official website that the club spent a total of 3.1 million euros ($4.04 million) on "espionage" between 2008 and 2010.

The money went to the now defunct Metodo 3 agency and another company called the Intelligence Bureau and Cyber Experience.

Barcelona said that "legal action will be taken to preserve the image of the club, the privacy of its employees and the legacy of the institution."

Spokeman Toni Freixa added: "FC Barcelona wants to know 'who was spied on and why.' "

The alleged activities took place under the presidency of Joan Laporta, who was at the helm from 2003-2010, one of the most successful spells for the famous Spanish club.

Current president Sandro Rosell, a fierce critic of Laporta, succeeded him in June 2010, winning 60% of a vote among Barcelona club members.

The relationship between the two has remained cool since Rosell was elected, but on the pitch under former coach Pep Guardiola and his successor Tito Vilanova, the triumphs have continued.

Reports on the Spanish website El Confidencial, claimed Metodo 3 trailed defender Gerard Pique and his pop star wife Shakira in 2010 -- following them to a concert to log their activities.

Former stars Samuel Eto'o and Brazil's Ronaldinho were also believed to have been monitored in the past.

Blog: Will Guardiola return to Barcelona?

The allegations come as Barcelona has suffered a mini slump in form, twice losing to rivals Real Madrid and having to cope with the absence of Vilanova, who is battling cancer.

Rosell told the official website that the board had "absolute confidence" in Vilanova and were supporting him as he undergoes chemotherapy and radiotherapy in New York.

"His recovery is our priority and I'd consider this season a success if he fully recovers from his illness. He will not leave even if it costs us every single title.

"He's encouraged, and he's eager to return."

A tentative return date of the end of March has been set by the Spanish league leaders, who are trailing AC Milan 2-0 from the away leg of their Champions League last 16 tie, another disappointing recent defeat.

"In the event that Barca defeat AC Milan, the manager could be on the bench for the away leg of the Champions League quarter finals," Rosell told gathered reporters.

Response: Barcelona confirms it spent $4 million on "espionage" from 2008-2010. Money went to two detective agencies in Spain. Barca launch internal investigation to determine "who was spied on and why". Since coach Tito Vilanova underwent cancer treatment results have been indifferent.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN) -- When 81-year old Cecilia Gimenez took it upon herself to restore a flaking century-old fresco of Jesus on her local church's wall in Spain last year, she was treated to an international lambasting like only the Internet makes possible.

Her work, which would have looked more at home on a proud parent's fridge door than on a house of worship, spawned memes, merchandise and even a Pinterest board of alternative "restorations."

But things have taken a turn for the better, with the "Monkey Jesus" depiction, as it has become known, drawing tourists to the town of Borja in the thousands.

The church, which started charging people to see the mural, has raised â‚¬50,000 ($72,500) for a local charity from 70,000 visitors, according to local news site Heraldo.es (Spanish only).

Local restaurant and bar owners say business is booming and there are plans to produce official lines of merchandise including plates, postcards and cigarette lighters, with the proceeds split between Gimenez and the local council.

Gimenez, who has sold artwork on eBay, even opened her own art exhibition in Borja this week, displaying pieces that suggest she is not totally devoid of talent.

"I am happy ... people are being very nice," she told The Telegraph. "There are people who supported me a lot and I am very happy because of that."

Her exhibition runs until August 24.

Response: Cecilia Gimenez's "restoration" attempt was widely mocked. To date, 70,000 tourists have traveled to see the paint job. Plans afoot to launch merchandise including postcards and cigarette lighters.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:LONDON, England (CNN) -- It's time this debate was settled once and for all.

Football or soccer? What do you think the round-ball game should be called?

While it may be a basic discussion; arguing whether the beautiful game should be called "football" or "soccer" is one of the most fundamental debates of the code.

On the face it, the answer should be simple. The world body -- FIFA -- has the word "football" in its title. End of story? Not quite.

The term soccer was coined as slang for "association," in England in the 1880s. The Oxford University Association Football Club's Web site explains that former England captain Charles Wreford-Brown is commonly credited with its origin.

Soccer would have been used to differentiate between University sports rugby football ("rugger") and "association" football.

Therefore, contrary to popular belief, the word soccer is a British term, not an American one.

Soccer is more commonly used in countries that play other forms of football, i.e. Americans also play gridiron football and Australians who play "Aussie Rules" football -- a completely different sport entirely.

Soccer was initially referred to as football in the United States. In 1913 the United States of America Football Association was formed. In later years, it became the United States Soccer Football Association and today is known as the United States Soccer Federation.

Meanwhile they now have the Football Federation of Australia, it's hard to imagine a change to the national side's "Socceroos" nickname anytime soon. The "Footyroos" doesn't quite have the same sound to it.

Now, you may be sitting back in Britain reading this and wondering why there should be any debate at all about the name of football? If you are thinking that, just remember one of the most popular shows in Britain is called "Soccer Saturday", so it's not as clear cut as you may think!

Even the sport's governing body seems to be open to both options. At next year's FIFA World Cup in South Africa, the area where fans will gather during the tournament is to be called "Soccer City". Maybe the word "football" just doesn't work?

We'd like you to tell us whether the game should be called football or soccer and why. Let us know in the SoundOff box below.

You can also vote in the quick vote on the Football Fanzone homepage.

Or, if you really want to make your case -- why not post us a video or photos at the Football Fanzone page on iReport.com.

Olivia Sterns contributed to this report

Response: CNN asks: Should the 'beautiful game' be called football or soccer?. The word "football" appears in the name of the game's governing body. It's alternative "soccer" is still widely used around the world.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:London, England (CNN) -- Passengers on Monday vented their fury at Eurostar management as train services between England and France were canceled for a third day, leaving thousands stranded.

The cross-Channel operator said a partial train service would resume Tuesday but that was little comfort to many.

"It's shameful, they gave you 36,000 incorrect pieces of information to get us to leave," one passenger named Catherine told Agence France-Presse.

"Each time you speak to someone from Eurostar, they tell you something different."

Catherine was one of roughly 75,000 passengers stranded on either side of the English Channel on one of the busiest travel weekends of the year.

"We have to do everything ourselves, we have to pay for everything and hope we will be reimbursed, but some could not get the money together," 27-year-old Deborah told AFP.

Tell us about wintry weather near you

Government officials in both France and the United Kingdom also criticized Eurostar. British transport minister Sadiq Khan called the experience terrible for thousands of passengers.

"I am angry that passengers have still not been told what is going on and I have told Eurostar this morning that they must tell the public immediately what their plans are," Khan said.

"This has been a terrible experience for thousands of passengers, both those stranded on the trains and at the stations."

French President Nicolas Sarkozy called the disruptions "unacceptable."

There was some good news though for stranded passengers, as Eurostar said they would resume a partial service Tuesday.

"We're planning on running at two-thirds our normal service tomorrow and we'll take it from there," a Eurostar spokesman told CNN.

Eurostar runs the high-speed rail service directly linking London to Paris and Brussels via the Channel Tunnel.

A later statement from Eurostar said tests on winter weather devices on trains had been successful and that if further trials went well Monday the operator hoped to have 26,000 seats available.

However, Nicolas Petrovic, Eurostar chief operation officer said a full service would not resume until after Christmas, according to AFP.

Eurostar rail services remained suspended for a third day on Monday as the operator worked to fix a fault that caused a series of breakdowns blamed on winter weather.

Following a series of test runs on Sunday, the company said work was under way to "enhance the snow screens and snow shields in the power cars of the trains."

"We now understand the cause of the disruption over the weekend and have identified the modifications that are required. As we suspected, the acute weather conditions in northern France have caused the disruption," Eurostar said.

"We sincerely regret having to take this decision and we understand how frustrated and disappointed travelers will be, particularly those who have been waiting to travel for the last two days," Eurostar said.

Five trains with about 2,000 passengers stopped running Friday night inside the tunnel. A sixth train broke down Saturday in Kent, southern England, with about 700 people aboard.

"We were prisoners in this train for like 18 hours," one passenger told CNN.

The trains that broke down in the tunnel malfunctioned because the air inside was warmer than that outside the tunnel entrance in France, Eurostar spokeswoman Amelle Mouhaddib said.

"It's a bit like taking a bottle of beer out of the fridge into a warm room -- within minutes it's covered in condensation," said Eurostar CEO Richard Brown. "We think that was the principle cause of the electrical failures on the trains."

Brown called the number of breakdowns "completely unprecedented."

Passengers affected by the breakdowns are being offered a full refund, another return ticket and £150 in compensation. The company is not taking any new bookings until after Christmas.

The Channel Tunnel is two tunnels separated by a third and smaller service tunnel, so the trains that remained stuck inside did not mean the entire tunnel was blocked. It is 50.5 kilometers (31.4 miles) long, 38 kilometers (23 miles) of which are underwater.

CNN's Paula Newton, Melissa Gray and Phil Han contributed to this report.

Response: Passengers angry as train services between England and France canceled for third day. Thousands stranded in England and France after services under English Channel suspended since breakdowns Friday. Company hopes to resume two-thirds service Tuesday. Work under way to "enhance snow screens, snow shields in power cars".


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN) -- The SpaceX Dragon capsule remains on course for the International Space Station despite losing one of nine booster engines, but a satellite launched on the same rocket didn't reach its intended orbit, its operator said Monday.

SpaceX launched the first commercial space cargo mission on Sunday night. But a minute and 19 seconds after the Falcon 9 booster lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, one of the nine Merlin engines that power the rocket "lost pressure suddenly," the company disclosed Monday.

The rocket "did exactly what it was designed to do," as its flight computer made adjustments to keep the Dragon headed into the proper orbit. The unmanned capsule, which is carrying about 1,000 pounds of supplies for the space station, is scheduled to arrive at the orbital platform on Wednesday, SpaceX said.

Opinion: SpaceX -- A pioneer in space and on Earth

However, the rocket also was carrying a satellite for the New Jersey-based communications company Orbcomm. The satellite separated properly from the second stage of the Falcon 9 -- but the engine trouble meant the satellite would not pass clear of a safety zone if it fired its own engine, leaving it in a lower orbit than planned, Orbcomm said in a statement issued Monday night.

Engineers from Orbcomm and its partner on the project, Sierra Nevada Corporation, "have been in contact with the satellite and are working to determine if and the extent to which the orbit can be raised to an operational orbit using the satellite's on-board propulsion system," the statement said.

Neither SpaceX nor Orbcomm responded to request for comment about the satellite issue. California-based SpaceX said earlier that controllers are reviewing flight data in an effort to figure out what happened to the booster rocket, but initial readings indicate the No. 1 engine fairing broke apart under stress.

In May: Dragon returns to Earth after 'grand slam' space mission

"We know the engine did not explode, because we continued to receive data from it," the company said. But it said two of NASA's Saturn V boosters lost engines on two flights during the Apollo program, and the Falcon 9 "is designed to handle an engine-out situation and still complete its mission."

The failure occurred second after the booster achieved supersonic speed and approached its moment of maximum aerodynamic pressure after liftoff. Video posted online by the company shows a flash as the rocket ascends, followed by what appears to be debris falling away from the accelerating craft.

Sunday's launch was the first of a dozen freight runs that SpaceX is scheduled to make to the station under a contract with NASA, which plans to turn much of its focus toward exploring deep into the solar system. NASA Administrator Charles Bolden called it "a critical event in space flight."

SpaceX, meanwhile, is looking beyond just cargo flights to developing a human-rated version of the Dragon that would carry astronauts to the ISS. It's one of three companies, along with Sierra Nevada and aerospace giant Boeing, that NASA has chosen to work on the project.

And within the next few months, Orbital Sciences is expected to fly its own demonstration flight to the space station. Instead of using Cape Canaveral as its launch site, the company's rocket will take off from Wallops Island, off the coast of Virginia. Orbital has a nearly $2 billion contract with NASA for station resupply missions.

Response: NEW: Communications company says its satellite didn't reach proper orbit. One of nine rocket engines failed on the SpaceX booster after Sunday's launch. The flight computer adjusted for the failure and kept the Dragon capsule on course. The unmanned capsule is scheduled to reach the space station on Wednesday.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CareerBuilder.com) -- Some people just aren't hardwired for the traditional workplace. If you get bored easily, have many interests, like to take risks and prefer to make your own rules, then you may be one of them.

So what's an unconventional worker like you to do? Well, you can either suffer through decades of being someone's employee, unfulfilled and bored, or you can take a risk and create your own path to success by working for yourself.

Wayne Rogers, an entrepreneur, businessman and actor (famous for his roles on television series like "M*A*S*H" and "House Calls") did just that. In a career that epitomizes the word "unconventional," Rogers has been involved in everything from the wine-making and bridal businesses, to acting on stage and owning a film-distribution company.

In his new book "Make Your Own Rules: A Renegade Guide to Unconventional Success," Rogers details how he was able to triumph in such a wide variety of business endeavors, all of which were independent pursuits. Here are some of his top tips for finding success through working independently, as discussed in his book:

1. Don't limit yourself: Many people believe that because their educational background or work experience lends itself to a particular field, that their career choices must lay within that field.

Not so, says Rogers. "This will surprise you, but the common thread to the various businesses in which I have been involved is that I had never previously been in them."

While many would see a lack of experience as a deterrent to entering a particular business, Rogers saw it as a benefit.

"It was an advantage that I had no rules to follow, no premade decisions, no 'books' to tell me how to find success. This allowed me to take a creative approach rather than an administrative approach," he says. "It is my belief that the best results in business come from a creative process, from the ability to see things differently from everyone else, and from finding answers to problems that are not bound by the phrase 'we have always done it this way.'"

2. Get comfortable with "red tape:" These days, even small businesses are subject to a variety of federal, state and local regulations, so if you want to start your own, these regulations should be learned and lived by.

"Your ability to comply with the blizzard of paperwork and reports required by various rules that come down from Washington, D.C., your state capital or your local zoning board may mean the difference between success and failure," Rogers says.

3. Remember that bigger is not better: Fight the urge to make growth and size the overarching goals of your business. "Size is not efficient," Rogers says.

"Not that long ago, there were several automobile manufacturers, including Nash, Kaiser, Hudson, Studebaker and Packard. They had to compete with one another. Was it difficult? Yes, but it led to innovation."

By contrast, he says, today's Big Three automakers -- Ford, General Motors and Chrysler -- have become complacent with their products; so much so that they were overtaken by foreign competitors and forced into their respective financial crises. Keep your business small, and you keep your business innovative, he says.

4. Work with good people: Choose the people you bring into your business wisely, Rogers says. "Pick partners and associates you trust and have them trust you. Both of these processes will almost certainly affect the outcome of what you are doing," he says. "Picking whom to trust ... is based on using your instinct, observing people's behavior and judging the consequences of their actions."

In addition to being trustworthy, your business partners and employees should also share your mindset. "I have found that it is always easier for me to understand someone who operates outside the mainstream and who looks at things differently from others in his field," Rogers says.

&copy CareerBuilder.com 2011. All rights reserved. The information contained in this article may not be published, broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority.

Response: M*A*S*H star Wayne Rogers gives advice on how to find success by working for yourself. Bigger is not better: Fight the urge to make growth and size the overarching goals. "Pick partners and associates you trust and have them trust you," Rogers says.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN)The widow of the man whose life was portrayed in the acclaimed film "American Sniper" has penned a heartfelt letter to him on their 13th anniversary.

Taya Kyle posted her letter March 16 on the Chris Kyle Facebook page, where she proclaimed, "I miss you and I love you. I feel you in my heart and soul so strongly. I am more blessed to have been your wife than anything else in my life."

"Today, I have a choice. I can bury myself under the covers and acknowledge the pain of missing you and mourn the future anniversaries without you," she wrote. "Or, I can celebrate never having a day without you in my heart because you loved me enough to leave me a lifetime of memories and beauty."

Kyle, a Navy SEAL, has been credited as the most successful sniper in United States military history. Bradley Cooper was nominated for an Academy Award for his portrayal of Kyle in this winter's film "American Sniper," which was based on Kyle's bestselling autobiography.

The film, directed by Clint Eastwood, has become the highest-grossing war movie ever.

Why 'American Sniper' is a smash hit

Kyle and his friend Chad Littlefield were shot and killed at a gun range in 2013 by Eddie Ray Routh. A Texas jury found Routh  guilty of capital murder in February, and he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Jury finds Eddie Ray Routh guilty in 'American Sniper' case

Response: Taya Kyle posted the letter on their 13th wedding anniversary. "American Sniper" is the highest-grossing war movie. A man was found guilty in Kyle's death in February.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:Mountain View, California (CNN) -- As Google prepares to add a new category to its arsenal of portable devices with tablets, the company's mobile team is deploying ways to better tie its different systems together.

It might not come as a surprise that the internet giant is using the Web to do that.

Like smartphones, this new breed of tablets will run Android, an operating system developed by Google. This next version of Android, called 3.0 or Honeycomb, is its first designed for tablets but will also run on smartphones. Like Apple does with its closed system, Honeycomb will let users buy applications on computers and synchronize them between their Google gadgets.

Using the Android Market website in a browser, you can browse, buy and download apps, Google announced at a news conference on the company's main campus here on Wednesday.

From the website, users can beam the app to any number of phones or tablets connected to their accounts. The phone begins downloading the app almost instantly. This feature has already been enabled automatically on Android phones.

Previously, you'd have to open the Android app on a smartphone in order to search for and download programs. Synchronizing between other family members' phones, for example, was a hassle.

In Apple's controlled habitat, the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad share information and apps via a central hub in the iTunes software.

"There are no wires, no syncing to computers, none of that kind of nonsense," Chris Yerga, Android's engineering director for cloud services, said onstage at the Android event. "Everything just works seamlessly, syncing between the two."

The announcement reinforces Google's philosophy of doing everything over the internet, or "cloud" in industry parlance. Android already synchronizes personal information such as e-mail and contact lists through the Web.

"It's the cloud that makes the experience seamless," said Andy Rubin, who leads Android development.

But the synchronization features will mean little if Google can't persuade smartphone customers to purchase upcoming Android tablets. So much of Wednesday's event was focused on a walkthrough of new features that will be available to these devices.

A new app called Music brings the Android system closer in line with Apple's iPod-iPhone-iPad model. Albums and songs are organized in a screen with a heavy emphasis on cover artwork.

Honeycomb also has a live video chat function that will let tablet users talk with other people who are using Gmail on a computer. Apple's portable devices with FaceTime can talk only to Mac computers running a beta program or using Skype's app. Skype does not offer a video-calling app for Android.

The new Android software includes improved multitasking functionality, so you can see a window of what apps you were previously using looked like when you closed out of them. All of this runs thanks to a combination of hardware-acceleration techniques for smooth animations.

These techniques also help drive more powerful games.

Google's partners showed a game called "Monster Madness," which is based on a game originally developed for the PlayStation 3. Developers said they didn't need to make major alterations to get it to work on the tablet. They also showed an action-packed, medieval-themed game that taps into the hardware's multicore processors.

Google also attempted to woo attendees and people watching the event's online video stream with a slew of new apps designed specifically for tablets. CNN  announced onstage it will offer an Android app with iReport functions and live video capabilities.

The tablets also will be able to run all of Android's 130,000 apps designed for smartphone-sized screens. The apps will fill the tablets' larger screens.

"We've spent a significant amount of effort making sure that existing Android apps run well on tablets," Hugo Barra, Android's director of product management, said onstage.

The first tablet to launch with the new version of Android is Motorola's Xoom, which debuts this month. An exact release date and pricing have not been set.

A Honeycomb tablet from LG, called the G-Slate, will come out in March, T-Mobile USA announced Tuesday evening.

In addition to a camera on the front used for video chatting, that device has a pair of cameras on the back for capturing high-definition 3-D photos and video. You'll need 3-D glasses in order to see the video on the tablet's screen.

T-Mobile and AT&T also announced more information on new Android phones this week, none of which will run the Honeycomb software at first.

Response: Google launches a website for browsing and downloading apps. Apps can be beamed to your tablets or smartphones from that site. Google demonstrates many new features packaged with Motorola's Xoom tablet.