Mumbai attack movie hits cinemas on Mar 1

MUMBAI: Memories of the Mumbai terror attacks of November 2008 still evoke fear among residents of the city.

And those old wounds are expected to reopen now that a Bollywood movie about the incident is set to hit the big screens.

India's financial capital came to a virtual standstill on 26 November 2008.

The attacks which lasted for four days drew widespread global condemnation.

The Pakistan-based terrorists, who were members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, killed 164 people and wounded at least 308 in their wake.

But the undying spirit of the citizens of Mumbai helped the city crawl back to its feet soon after the carnage ended.

And now, Bollywood is all set to release a film which will depict the gruesome terror attacks that shook Mumbai nearly five years ago.

The movie "The Attacks of 26/11" will hit cinemas on 1 March.

A publicity event to launch the movie's music was held at the Gateway of India.

Around 200 students lit candles in memory of the 26/11 victims.

The event then continued at Café Leopold where two of the ten terrorists launched their initial strikes in the first wave of attacks on the city.

Film maker Ram Gopal Varma said: "I strongly believe as a film maker and as a human being that the attacks of 26/11 which happened in 2008 are not against any community in particular. I think it is an attack on human beings and committed by certain inhuman elements."

The mood was sombre as the film maker and lead actor showed off a few teasers from the movie.

The usually reclusive veteran Bollywood actor Nana Patekar, who plays the lead role in the film, shed his inhibitions and spoke to the media with unusual frankness.

He said: "I feel pained whenever I think about the attacks of 26/11. The film depicts the mindset of the terrorists who went on a carnage in Mumbai. We are trying to portray through our films what steps can be taken to prevent such types of attacks in future."

The owner of the Leopold was also present at the event, and has played himself in the film.

The music launch of the film has reignited the anger and bitterness in the minds of Indian citizens.

But as in 2008, the movie also shows the world that Mumbai and its people have picked up the pieces and are refusing to let fear of terror attacks get in the way of their daily lives.

- CNA/al

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Opinion: Obama's 'I'm in charge' speech

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• David Rothkopf: With this State of the Union speech, Obama returned to work of governing


• He says Obama's manner was confident, purposeful, sent message to fellow politicians


• He focused on economy, investing in Americans: jobs, energy, education, immigration


• Rothkopf: Obama remarks taking on gun lobby showed his new vigor as empowered advocate

Editor's note: David Rothkopf is CEO and editor-at-large of the FP Group, publishers of Foreign Policy magazine, and a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

(CNN) -- It is sometimes said of a great actor that he could hold an audience spellbound while reading a laundry list. This is essentially what President Obama tried to do on Tuesday night. As State of the Union addresses go, his was artless. It lacked inspired phrases or compelling narrative. Save for the energy he gave it at key moments, it was pedestrian.

It was also very important.

It was important because with it, Obama returned in earnest to the work of governing. Having won a clear victory in November, and having spent the intervening months putting out the wildfires our Congress likes to set, he delivered word Tuesday night that he had a clear and full agenda for his second term.

David Rothkopf

Candidate Obama, the man who has dominated American politics for most of the last five years, seems gone for good. That version of our president may have had more poetry about him. But this version wants to actually get down to governing.

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Whether he can or not remains to be seen. Indeed, it seems certain that many, if not most, of the goals he set on Tuesday night will elude him. But the speech was also important because it sent several clear messages to his fellow politicians.

He said, "I won. I am in charge. I will not shy away from a progressive agenda."

He said, "I know what I want. I'm not afraid of defeat as I was in the past. I will never run in another political campaign again."

Oh, he didn't say these things literally. You won't find those words in the transcript. But look at the tape -- you'll find them in his body language and between the lines of his speech.

The economy was his centerpiece -- but it was not just another campaign speech about growth. It was a speech about, as one of his team put it earlier in the day, "growing the economy from the middle out." He spoke about restoring the middle class and creating opportunity. From the beginning it was clear that this was no longer a speech about recovering from a crisis. It was not another speech about America at war. Obama's concern -- the crisis he was addressing -- was that incomes and job creation are stagnant even as the economy grows and corporate profits hit record levels.

His prescription was clear. We must invest in America and in its people. In infrastructure, domestic energy resources, cleaner energy and energy efficiency, education, research and building the workforce through immigration reform. Obama called for raising the minimum wage to help lift up the poorest and better reward those among them who are willing to work for a living. He also sounded the theme that we must do all these things to better compete in the global economy, citing the examples of China, Germany and others whose examples he said we should heed and exceed.

Even the portion of his speech that dealt with foreign policy was oriented to the domestic economy. Yes, he began with the newsworthy announcement that he would bring home half of all troops in Afghanistan by next year and end our war there the following year. Yes, he talked about defeating al Qaeda even as it shape-shifted its way around the world. And he addressed drone oversight, North Korea's nuclear test, Iran's nuclear program and the Middle East.

But many of his statements on these issues were formulaic. And the thrust of all of them -- even the boldest, like his return to his Prague promise of working to reduce nuclear stockpiles -- was enabling America to focus more energy on rebuilding its strength at home. Furthermore, perhaps the most important international thrusts had nothing to do with war at all. (His comments on cyberthreats, for example, were really directed at protecting intrusions against the private sector.)

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Obama's renewed focus on climate, including his call for "market-based" solutions -- meaning reopening the idea of carbon markets or other such mechanisms, a couple of years after such ideas were considered by many to be dead -- was a return to promises made long ago. It was also a recognition of the urgency with which this global threat must be addressed. His new secretary of state, John Kerry, was the leading voice in the Senate on these issues and has already told his staff how important these and other environmental concerns would be. This issue was raised early in the speech, even though it is clearly something requiring global cooperation. It was an important shift of emphasis.

Similarly, perhaps the biggest new foreign policy initiative Obama called for was opening of talks to achieve a trans-Atlantic trade agreement. This is a powerful idea that could be the centerpiece of second-term international economic policy. It would further enhance trade with the European Union, strengthen our Atlantic alliance and set the stage for its modernization in the 21st century, and open the way for a new global round of trade talks. And finally, since agricultural trade reform is so central to big emerging powers like Brazil and India, it would help strengthen our relations with them.

Of all the elements of the speech, however, the most compelling and emotional was Obama's concluding section demanding a vote on reforming America's gun laws. Citing gun deaths in his hometown, Chicago, with the victims of violence in the gallery watching him, he demonstrated his newfound confidence by standing up to one of the most powerful lobbies in Washington, tackling an issue he himself had sidestepped earlier in his presidency.

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At that moment of the speech -- calling for real change in the wake of tragedies like the school massacre in Newtown, Connecticut -- what we saw was a president in full, a man who knew his job, knew his power and was not afraid. He might or might not get the reforms he wanted. But he could certainly send a message to even his most obdurate opponents that he would use whatever tools and influence he had to demand they at least take a stand.

One can only hope he will do more, go past getting a vote to getting the results we need -- background checks, bans on assault weapons and high-volume magazines, mental health care reform, a real effort to stop gun trafficking. But whatever the outcome, at that moment Tuesday night, the focused energy of this president at this stage of his presidency reverberated through the rafters of the Capitol and suggested that this long speech was not a laundry list but a to-do list, an agenda for change offered up by a confident and empowered advocate.

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

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Couple describes Dorner ordeal, unexpected compliment

(CBS News) Police in Southern California are defending their actions in the manhunt for Christopher Dorner. They say they did not intentionally burn down the cabin where he apparently died.

Dorner was a suspected killer with a grudge against the Los Angeles Police Department, but two of his final victims say he didn't seem like a bad man.

Karen and Jim Reynolds are the owners of Mountain Vista Resort, the property where the alleged cop-killer had been hiding the day police tracked him down. On a routine check of one of their units, Dorner surprised them from upstairs.

"He opened the door and came out at us. He had his gun drawn," said Jim. "He yelled 'stay calm' and ran out."

"He talked to us trying to calm us down and saying very frequently he would not kill us," said Karen. "He had said 'I just want to clear my name.'"

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Jim said that Dorner told them he didn't have a problem with them and wasn't going to hurt them.

Dorner had been keeping an eye Karen and Jim for days, and although he had broken in and tied them up, he paid them an unexpected compliment.

"He said we are very hard workers, we're good people. He talked about how he could see Jim working on the snow every day," said Karen.

"He said he'd been watching us shoveling the snow," said Jim.

Dorner left the couple behind, and tried to take their car. But he soon returned, asking how to start their keyless Nissan. Later, the Reynolds managed to undo their restraints and call police. A few hours later, the manhunt was over.

Although the Reynolds were aware of Dorner's alleged trail of violence, they couldn't help but feel some compassion for their captor.

"I really didn't wish him dead, though. I really didn't. I prayed for him a lot and I'm praying for his family now," said Karen.

For John Blackstone's full report, watch the video in the player above

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'Blade Runner' Charged With Murdering Girlfriend

Oscar Pistorius, the Olympic and Paralympic athlete known as the "blade runner," was taken into custody in South Africa today and charged with the murder of his girlfriend, who was fatally shot at his home.

Police in the South African capital of Pretoria received a call around 3 a.m. today that there had been a shooting at the home of 26-year-old Pistorius, Lt. Col. Katlego Mogale told The Associated Press. When police arrived at the scene, they found paramedics trying to revive 29-year-old Reeva Steenkamp, the AP reported.

At a news conference early today, police said Pistorius was arrested and had requested that he be taken to court immediately.

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Paralympic Champion Charged with Murder

Mogale said the woman died at the house, and a 9-mm pistol was recovered at the scene and a murder case opened against Pistorius, the AP reported.

Police said this morning that there were no other suspects in the shooting, and that Pistorius is at the police station.

Adrian Dennis/AFP/Getty Images; Mike Holmes/The Herald/Gallo Images/Getty Images

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The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said Pistorius' hearing will be Friday at 9 a.m. local time. His court hearing was originally scheduled for this afternoon but has been postponed to give forensics investigators time to carry out their work, NPA spokesman Medupe Simasiku said.

The precise circumstances surrounding the incident are unclear. Local reports say he might have mistaken her for a burglar, according to the AP.

VIDEO: Double Amputee Races to Win Olympic Gold

Police said they have heard reports of an argument or shouting at the apartment complex, and that the only two people on the premises were Steenkamp and Pistorius.

Police confirmed there have previously been incidents of a domestic nature at the home of Pistorius.

Pistorius, a sprinter, had double below-the-knee amputations and a part of his legs has been replaced with carbon fiber blades. In 2012, he became the first double-leg amputee to participate in the Olympics, competing in the men's 400-meter race.

He also competed in the Paralympics, where he won gold medals in the men's 400-meter race, in what became a Paralympics record. He also took the silver in the 200-meter race.

Steenkamp, according to her Twitter bio, is a law graduate and model. She tweeted Wednesday, "What do you have up your sleeve for your love tomorrow??? #getexcited #ValentinesDay."

Steenkamp recently appeared on the cover of FHM magazine, in commercials and was due to appear on a reality-TV show, "Tropika Island of Treasure."

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Africa 'must think big for its children'

Children at school in the Mukuru kwa Njenga slum in Nairobi, Kenya.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• New report shows that policies across Africa are helping children's development


• But laws must improve to help children reach potential, says Catherine Mbengue


• Scrapping fees in Malawi saw entry to primary school jump from under 50% to 99%


• At secondary level, education in much of the region is deeply limited, Mbengue says

Editor's note: Catherine Mbengue is a Trustee of the African Child Policy Forum (ACPF) and former senior UNICEF Official. Here, she writes about a new report -- "Children's Chances: How Countries Can Move from Surviving to Thriving," released by Harvard University Press on 13 February 2013.

(CNN) -- Africa has always been a continent of contrasts. And the latest findings from an amazing team of international researchers show that when it comes to providing our children with the best chances in life, Africa once more presents a very mixed picture.

In a new report, never-before-available comparative data on laws and public policies in 191 countries, covering poverty, discrimination, education, health, child labor, child marriage and parental care, reveals how millions of children across the world face conditions that limit their opportunities to thrive and reach their full potential because of governments failure to act.

This new research aims to broaden global attention from solely survival to children's full and healthy development. It comes at a critical time as the global community is looking to set new goals and agree on what all the world's nations will strive for in the so-called "post-2015" agenda following more than a decade of efforts focused around the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Catherine Mbengue

Children's opportunities are not just shaped by parents and families, but also by national action in the form of laws and public policies.

This may involve removing tuition fees, ensuring inclusive education for children with disabilities, enforcing minimum age requirements for labor, age restrictions for marriage so girls might have a better chance to stay in education, or assisting parents to be able to earn enough to support their children and have the time off from work they need to care for their children's health and education.

Read more: Africa grows, but youth get left behind

And as the new analysis confirms, marked strides have been made across sub-Saharan Africa in areas central to our children's healthy development.

Primary education is tuition free across the majority of the region (in 36 of the 41 countries with available figures) and 13 countries have removed charges for secondary education.

In addition, virtually all sub-Saharan African countries (45 of the 46 countries with data) guarantee paid maternity leave (although of these 23 provide less than the 14-week minimum established by the ILO), and 41 of 45 countries have recognized the need to provide income support during periods of unemployment (although this largely does not cover the informal economy).

And progress in improving children's chances does not necessarily rely on the ability to open large purses. Some low and middle-income countries have made impressive advances for children.

Kenya, for example, makes education compulsory for 12 years, longer than all other countries in the region, including those with a higher GDP, and it has a higher minimum age for full-time work than its neighbors.

Elimination of schools fees in Malawi in the 1990s has led to a jump in primary school enrollment from under 50% in 1991 to 99% in 1999.

Read more: Elite boarding school aims to create Africa's future leaders

Madagascar provides not only paid maternal leave, but also paid leave for children's health and family needs. Progress is clearly possible when there is political will.

There remains substantial room for policy advances to transform the lives of older children, youth and the poorest.
Catherine Mbengue, Trustee of the African Child Policy Forum

But there remains substantial room for policy advances to transform the lives of older children, youth and the poorest. At secondary level, educational opportunities in much of the region are deeply limited -- and limiting. A greater proportion of countries in sub-Saharan Africa than in other regions -- some 61% -- begin charging tuition fees before the end of secondary school.

When we look beyond the issue of accessibility to the quality of education our children receive -- after all it should be fit for purpose -- the region has among the lowest education requirements for teachers, with 50% of countries requiring lower secondary school teachers to have completed no higher than a secondary education (so teachers have barely more education that their students).

Plus, while policies in the formal economy are relatively strong in terms of supporting families, those in the informal economy remain unprotected.

Despite the fact that many countries have set a minimum wage, in 6 countries this wage is just $2 per day or less -- and in 20 others is between $2 an $4, leaving even a family of one adult and one dependent under the $2 poverty line. How can we expect children to thrive given this reality?

What this kind of comparative data and analysis allows us to do is see more clearly where progress is and isn't occurring.

It is only when we begin to call out country's names -- the leaders and the laggards -- that we'll see all children count on having a childhood where they can go to school and not labor full-time, a childhood free of marriages that require them to parent before they have grown up themselves, getting the education they need to find work that will lift them out of poverty, and not facing discrimination based on their gender or ethnicity.

Africa should be a region that has high ambitions for its children and demand that the post-2015 development agenda is one that thinks big for our children and their chances.

Read the report and stay up to date on Twitter #kidschances.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are soley those of Catherine Mbengue

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Olympics: Wrestlers vow to fight Olympic removal

PARIS: Wrestlers around the world on Wednesday vowed to fight to save the ancient sport's Olympic status, after the International Olympic Committee voted to drop it for the 2020 Games.

Japan and Turkey -- whose cities Tokyo and Istanbul are bidding to host the Games in seven years' time -- led the calls for the world body to reconsider, as an online petition was organised urging a rethink and gained thousands of supporters.

The president of the Turkish wrestling federation, Hamza Yerlikaya, called the decision, taken at the IOC executive board meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Tuesday, "unfair" and a "mistake" that they would seek to overturn.

"To have the 2020 Olympics in Istanbul without wrestling is unthinkable," said Yerlikaya, himself a double Olympic gold medallist, three-time world champion and eight-time European champion in Greco-Roman wrestling.

"We won't allow it," he added.

In Japan, Yerlikaya's counterpart Tomiaki Fukuda said on his federation's website that he was "dissatisfied and baffled", echoing the views of the sport's world governing body, which called the decision "an aberration".

Wrestling will remain on the programme for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro but faces a fight against seven other sports for inclusion at the Games four years later. A final decision is to be made when all IOC members meet in September.

Members are seen as unlikely to vote against the executive board, however, raising the prospect that one of the few sports that survived from the original Olympics in ancient Greece into the modern era will disappear.

Wrestling first appeared in 708 BC and has only ever been left out of the Olympic programme once before in 1900.

The International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles (FILA) has vowed to fight the decision, while multiple medallists Russia and Iran have also said they hoped the IOC would backtrack.

"This issue will definitely be a big blow to the country's sport, as it is one of our country's most popular sports," the head of Iran's national Olympic commitee, Mohammad Aliabadi was quoted as saying in Iranian media, "I will certainly pursue the case."

IOC president Jacques Rogge meanwhile insisted on Wednesday that the vote -- by secret ballot -- was fair and said he understood the angry response from those involved in the sport.

A meeting was planned between the committee and the International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles (FILA), to discuss the matter, he told a news conference in Lausanne.

Wrestlers have been left dismayed by the decision, with Japan's undisputed queen of the ring, Saori Yoshida, saying: "I am so devastated that I don't know what to do."

Yoshida, a 55kg-class freestyle wrestler who is the face of Tokyo's campaign for the right to host the 2020 Games, has won a record 13 straight Olympic and world championship gold medals over 10 years.

In India, Sushil Kumar, who won a bronze in Beijing and a silver in London last year, said: "I still can't get over the news that we won't be at the Olympics.

"All sportsmen look towards the Olympics as the pinnacle of excellence, everyone wants to take part in them. Now what do we do? Give up wrestling? I hope the IOC will reconsider this decision."

An online petition at change.org entitled "The International Olympic Committee: Save Wrestling as an Olympic sport #SaveOlympicWrestling" has also been mounted, urging the US Senate to take up the matter.

By late afternoon on Wednesday, it had more than 21,000 signatures.

On Twitter, one user, @WrestlersLoveUs, wrote: "Ancient Olympic wrestlers used to sometimes fight to the death. IOC better understand we're ready to do that again. #SaveOlympicWrestling."

-AFP/fl

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Body found in cabin may be Christopher Dorner

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: Los Angeles Police still guard some people named in Christopher Dorner's manifesto


• NEW: But the LAPD returns to normal operations the day after a mountain standoff


• Authorities have not conclusively identified a body as that of Dorner


• The body was discovered in the ashes of a cabin where he was believed to be

Follow the story here and at CNN affiliates KCBS/KCAL, KABC, and KTLA.

Near Big Bear Lake, California (CNN) -- Los Angeles police kept watch over some of their own again Wednesday, not ready to let down their guard until investigators can say for sure that the charred human remains found inside a burned mountain cabin are those of Christopher Dorner.

Authorities say it may take days before they can say if the body found inside the cabin was Dorner's, the onetime police officer suspected in four killings during a self-proclaimed guerrilla war on his former compatriots.

While officials were reluctant to say they were certain they had ended Dorner's vendetta, the frenzied manhunt, roadblock and helicopter flights that had preceded the standoff died down Tuesday night.

Los Angeles police also returned to normal patrol operations after days of heightened alert, Lt. Andy Neiman said Wednesday.

But police continued to protect some of the dozens of police officers and their relatives threatened by Dorner in a manifesto vowing revenge over his firing from the Los Angeles Police Department several years ago.

"There's great fear there," Neiman said.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said that while Dorner's body has not been conclusively identified, "I can tell you that there is a sigh of relief among the vast majority of these officers."

Timeline in manhunt

Standoff

Tuesday's events came five days after authorities found Dorner's burned truck on a forest road near the lake, which is about 100 miles east of Los Angeles. Officers converged on the remote area but the trail went cold for days. On Sunday, the San Bernardino authorities said they had scaled back the search.

Los Angeles authorities had issued a $1 million reward for Dorner's capture. Villaraigosa said it was too soon to say if anyone would be able to claim the reward.

What may have been the final act in the Dorner saga began Tuesday, when California Fish and Wildlife wardens said they spotted Dorner driving a purple Nissan down icy roads near Big Bear Lake. He was driving very close to some school buses as if using them as cover, said Lt. Patrick Foy.

No children were on the buses, Foy said.

The wardens, driving in two different vehicles, chased Dorner. A gun battle ensued.

One of the warden's cars was hit, Dorner crashed his car and ran, according to authorities. He then carjacked a pickup truck.

Rick Heltebrake, a camp ranger, said he was driving when he saw the crashed purple truck -- and then something terrifying.

"Here comes this guy with a big gun and I knew who it was right away," Heltebrake told CNN affiliate KTLA. "He just came out of the snow at me with his gun at my head. He said, 'I don't want to hurt you. Just get out of the car and start walking.'"

Heltebrake said the man let him take his dog and walk away with his hands up.

"Not more than 10 seconds later, I heard a loud round of gunfire," Heltebrake said. "Ten to 20 rounds maybe. I found out later what that was all about."

The fire

Dorner fled to a nearby cabin and got into another shootout with San Bernardino County deputies, killing one and wounding another.

San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon told reporters Tuesday the other deputy was in surgery "but he should be fine."

Some of the firefight between police and the suspect was captured live on the telephone of a reporter for CNN affiliates KCBS and KCAL. Police in Los Angeles listened live over police scanners broadcast on the Internet, Neiman said.

"It was horrifying to listen to that firefight," he told reporters.

The cabin caught fire when police tossed smoke devices inside, a law enforcement source told CNN.

The intense fire burned for hours as authorities waited at a distance.

After initially saying no body had been found, sheriff's investigators finally confirmed overnight that they had found charred human remains within the ashes.

The department said it will work to identify the remains -- but it could take a while.

Devices such as flash bang grenades and tear gas canisters designed to disorient and disable suspects can cause fires, CNN contributor Tom Fuentes, a former FBI assistant director, said Wednesday.

Death toll

The deputy's death in the shootout Tuesday brought to four the number of people police believe Dorner killed.

Dorner, a man who vowed to kill police officers to avenge what he called an unfair termination, was first named a suspect in two shooting deaths on February 3: Monica Quan, the daughter of his police union representative and her fiance, Keith Lawrence.

Police also say he killed Riverside, California, police Officer Michael Crain and wounded Crain's partner in an ambush on their patrol car Thursday. Police say he also wounded an LAPD officer who chased him in the suburban city of Corona, California.

Manifesto

Police say Dorner a promised war on police after issuing a manifesto blaming the LAPD for mistreating him. He claimed he was railroaded out of the department after filing a brutality report against another officer and said a culture of racism and misconduct continues within the department.

The manifesto warned dozens of LAPD figures and their families that he would wage "asymmetric warfare" against the department, drawing on his training with the LAPD and as a Naval officer in river warfare and security units.

He said it was not something he enjoyed, but called it a "last resort" to clear his name and bring change to the department.

He also predicted his own death would come in a confrontation with police.

"Self Preservation is no longer important to me," the manifesto said at one point. "I do not fear death as I died long ago."

CNN's Miguel Marquez reported from near Big Bear Lake and Lateef Mungin wrote from Atlanta. CNN's Paul Vercammen, Stan Wilson, Casey Wian, Kathleen Johnston, Alan Duke, Matt Smith, Chelsea J. Carter, Michael Martinez, Holly Yan and Michael Pearson also contributed to this report.

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