Tel Aviv search for mattress containing $1M life savings

It was supposed to be a pleasant surprise, but turned into the shock of a lifetime. A woman in Tel Aviv, Israel, gave her elderly mother a new mattress as a surprise gift, throwing out the old tattered bed her mother had slept on for decades. The gesture ended up bankrupting Annat’s mother, who had stuffed her savings of nearly $1 million inside her old bed for decades, Annat told Israel Army Radio

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Iran’s Election: Rallies Reveal a Stark Contrast

Tehran’s main squares and streets have been crowded until the wee hours over this past week, as supporters of the upcoming election’s two leading contestants roam the streets on foot and in cars, chanting, honking their horns, waving posters. On Tuesday night, a group of about 100 young men gathered on one side of Parkway Square, waving pictures of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and shouting slogans like, “Ahmadi, you’re my life! You’re my future president!” Facing them — separated by a line of police and plainclothes security officials — stood a crowd of young men at least twice the size

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40 years after Manson murders, a bid for parole

The woman who stabbed pregnant actress Sharon Tate to death will be considered for parole from prison a month after the 40th anniversary of the killings that cast a shadow of fear over southern California. Susan Atkins, 61, has been denied parole in 17 previous hearings, but the former “Manson Family” member now is terminally ill with brain cancer and is paralyzed. Charles Manson used his hypnotic powers to direct Atkins and other “family” members to kill seven people, including the pregnant Tate, in a two-night rampage that terrorized the city of Los Angeles, California, in August 1969.

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Japanese researcher recalls imprisonment in North Korea

As the trial for two American journalists began Thursday in North Korea, a former Japanese journalist has recounted his experience while he was imprisoned in the country for about two years. “When I was first arrested, I thought my life had ended. I was wondering how I would be killed, by public execution, by poisoning” Takashi Sugishima told CNN in a recent interview.

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Sotomayor backers cite 1994 speech

Supporters of Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor Wednesday circulated a speech she made in 1994 that includes similar remarks to her 2001 "wise Latina" comments, which have drawn fire from conservatives as racially insensitive. In highlighting the earlier speech, Democrats are making the point that her GOP critics never complained before about the sentiment that judges with different backgrounds can reach different conclusions from the bench

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Unpublished photos of Marilyn Monroe surface

They were taken before Marilyn Monroe became branded as the voluptuous blonde who oozed sex appeal in dozens of Hollywood films. They were taken before rumors of an affair with President John F. Kennedy swirled and her mental breakdowns became public.

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Nevada legalizing domestic partnerships

Nevada is legalizing domestic partnerships, with the state Assembly voting Sunday evening to override a veto by the governor, officials said. (CNN) — The enduring moments of our lives, the ones that stay with us the longest, don’t necessarily make the headlines. The other afternoon I was talking with a woman by the name of Virginia Florey

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