Number of Dubai killing suspects now at 27
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/WORLD/meast/01/29/dubai.hamas.militant.dead/story.hamas.dubai.afp.gi.jpg caption="Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, seen here on a poster, was assassinated in January." width=300 height=169]
CNN
Another person has been added to the list of suspects in the January killing of a Hamas leader in a Dubai hotel, bringing the number of identified suspects to 27, two sources told CNN on Monday.
Twenty-six of the 27 were carrying European and Australian passports, authorities have said. The sources - an official familiar with the investigation and a police source - did not say which nation issued the passport the suspect used.
Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, a founding member of Hamas' military wing, was found dead January 20 in his Dubai hotel room. Police believe he was slain the night before, allegedly by the secretive Israeli foreign intelligence unit Mossad.
Where will the next five big earthquakes be?
Bryan Walsh
TIME
Earthquakes have always been part of Los Angeles' past — and its future. In 1994 a 6.7-magnitude quake hit the Northridge area of the city, badly damaging freeways, killing more than 70 people and causing $20 billion in damages. But those numbers could be dwarfed by a major quake in the future.
The geologic record indicates that huge quakes occur roughly every 150 years in the region — Los Angeles lies along the southern end of the San Andreas Fault — and the last big quake, which registered a magnitude 7.9, happened in 1857.
Los Angeles has done a lot to beef up its building codes and emergency response in the 15 years since the Northridge quake and may be better prepared than any other major U.S. city, but its sheer size ensures that the next Big One will be bloody.
Why Haiti's quake toll higher than Chile's
Colin Stark
Special to CNN
About six weeks ago, a large earthquake devastated Haiti and killed over 200,000 people. Saturday, a huge earthquake releasing 500 times more energy, devastated Chile and killed hundreds.
So why did the smaller earthquake kill so many more people? And why the sudden spate of disastrous earthquakes in the Americas?
No, the apocalypse is not coming. No, the two earthquakes are not linked in any way. And no, Pat Robertson, you can't blame the Devil or the French. The real answers, for those comfortable with science and the Enlightenment, are tectonics and poverty.
What 1835 Chile quake taught Darwin
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/TECH/science/02/12/darwin.birthday/art.darwin.afp.jpg caption="Darwin's observations during the Chile quake of 1835 informed his writings on evolution."]
John van Wyhe
Special to CNN
Chile is unfortunately no stranger to earthquakes. A quake similar to Saturday's struck almost exactly the same part of Chile on February 20, 1835 - almost exactly 175 years ago.
On that occasion, the young English naturalist and geologist Charles Darwin was in Chile as part of his voyage on HMS Beagle. The 1835 earthquake has been estimated as magnitude 8.5, whereas that of February 27, 2010, has been measured as 8.8.
The earthquake of 1835 occurred around 11 a.m. and lasted about two minutes. The main shock destroyed much of Concepción in just six seconds. There were aftershocks for several weeks and three tsunamis, each one larger than the last, starting about half an hour after the earthquake and bringing further devastation.
Time for Democrats to take a risk
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/POLITICS/12/11/health.care.benefit.caps/story.bill.gi.jpg caption= "Democrats are considering having the House pass the health care bill approved in the Senate, then dealing with additional reforms through reconciliation." width=300 height=169]
Julian E. Zelizer
Special to CNN
After the Republicans and Democrats met at the White House summit on health care, it was clear that the parties are very far away from a bipartisan agreement. Indeed, few participants walked away with the sense that they were any closer to a deal.
The White House did make clear that it was willing to move forward on health care without Republican support. The choice now becomes whether Democrats should use the budget reconciliation process to pass some parts of health care legislation. According to recent reports, Democrats are considering having the House pass the bill that was already approved in the Senate and then dealing with a package of additional reforms through reconciliation.
Programs that are considered under the reconciliation process are not subject to a Senate filibuster. Democrats would only need 51 votes, not 60, to pass those parts of the bill that are included under reconciliation.
The Olympics and interfaith work
Eboo Patel
On Faith
I've been watching the Olympics with great interest the past couple of weeks. I love seeing athletes from all over the world wrapped in the flags of their countries and the songs of their nations – proud of the particularly of where they come from.
And as I watched last night, I got to thinking that these people are engaging in something profoundly common – excellence at athletics.
At the bottom of the ski run, they high five. On the podium, they hug even while their different flags are raised.
It reminds me that the Qur'an teaches us to vie with one another in doing good works.
Ex-NBA star is the fallen athlete, not Tiger Woods
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/CRIME/01/05/jayson.williams.crash/story.williams.gi.jpg caption="Jayson Williams was sentenced this week for fatally shooting a limo driver in 2002." width=300 height=169]
Roland Martin
CNN Political Contributor
A little over a week ago nearly every media outlet was fixated on Tiger Woods and his apology news conference. We saw pundits, columnists, journalists, radio talk show hosts, psychologists, body language experts, entertainers and anyone with an opinion weigh in on the sincerity of Tiger: Was he really sorry for committing adultery, should he apologize further and hundreds of other angles.
Some even described him as a fallen athlete who will lose millions of endorsements and a man who has destroyed the trust he built up with his fans. I even heard one woman say she needed Tiger to apologize, yet couldn't articulate why it mattered so much to her, especially since she wasn't his wife, kin to him, and wasn't a family friend.
Yet if there was ever one athlete we could truly place in that category of fallen athlete, it would be former NBA star Jayson Williams.
Blame yesterday's reforms for today's gridlocked Congress
David Frum
CNN Contributor
At the end of his career, former House Speaker Tip O'Neill was asked how Congress had changed between the 1950s and 1980s. O'Neill answered: "The people are better. The results are worse."
Watching last week's health summit, you see what O'Neill meant. The conversation was intelligent, civil, well-informed. It also predictably achieved nothing. How could it? Deals are never reached in front of the television camera.
Take this quiz. Name the most important legislation enacted in the 30 years between 1950 and 1980.
Morning Buzz: A race to find survivors
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Eliza Browning
AC360° Associate Producer
An 8.8-magnitude earthquake rocked Chile early Saturday morning and this morning heavily populated parts of the country are still without water service and electricity. Reports of looting have raised fears about security in some areas. The nation’s hardest-hit major city, Concepcion, declared an overnight curfew. More than 700 people died as a result of the earthquake and the death count is expected to go up. The search for survivors continues and some 2 million people are now homeless.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is scheduled to arrive in Santiago tomorrow as apart of a previously planned five-day trip to Latin America. She’ll meet with Chile’s President and President-elect to survey the damage and determine how the U.S. can help.
The earthquake, undoubtedly, conjures not-so-distant memories about the destruction caused by the earthquake in Haiti six weeks ago. That earthquake killed more than 200,000 people, yet it wasn’t as powerful as the tremor in Chile. The difference in death tolls is due to geology and poor housing standards, according to geophysicists. Meanwhile, in Haiti, officials said eight people were killed and two are missing after recent heavy rain pounded the southwest and caused widespread flooding.
Chile races to deliver aid, combat looting
Karl Penhaul
CNN
Rescuers searched for survivors Monday as crews sought to deliver food and water and prevent looting after the fifth strongest earthquake in 100 years ravaged central and southern Chile.
More than 1.5 million people were without power in and around the capital of Santiago, according to Chile's National Emergency Office, but the hardest-hit areas were farther south, in the Maule and Bio Bio regions along the coast.
Authorities said 541 of the 708 reported deaths happened in Maule, where a sewer system collapsed, water towers were close to toppling and communities lacked basic services, the emergency office said.
