9-Year-Old Girl Dies From Brain-Eating Amoeba in Water
A brain-eating amoeba that lurks in fresh water has prompted warnings from Kansas officials after it killed a 9-year-old girl.
Hally Yust was an avid water skier and spent the past few weeks swimming in several bodies of fresh water. She died last week fromNaegleria fowleri, a brain-eating parasite that lives in warm, standing water.
At Hally's funeral Monday, her family wore matching T-shirts with the logo of her water-skiing club, CNN affiliate WDAF said. Relatives honored the young athlete by announcing the Hally Yust Women's Basketball Scholarship at Kansas State University.
"Our precious daughter, Hally, loved life and part of her great joy was spending time playing in the water," her family said in a statement.
"Her life was taken by a rare amoeba organism that grows in many different fresh water settings. We want you to know this tragic event is very, very rare, and this is not something to become fearful about."
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Cease-Fire Effort Collapses as Rockets, Airstrikes Continue
An Egypt-backed cease-fire between Israel and Hamas fell apart Tuesday as rocket attacks from Gaza were answered by Israeli airstrikes once again.
The rocket attacks from Hamas militants in Gaza never ceased, Israeli officials said. For its part, Israel refrained from airstrikes for about six hours before announcing it was resuming the attacks.
A CNN crew witnessed at least five Israeli airstrikes just as the announcement was made.
The Israel Defense Forces said 47 rockets were fired into Israel during the cease-fire period, which Hamas never accepted.
The faltering of the cease-fire attempt means there may be little hope of seeing an end to the near constant exchange of fire that has so far killed more than 190 Palestinians in Gaza.
Israeli leaders had agreed to the cease-fire, but from the outset warned it would be short-lived if the attacks from Gaza didn't stop.
The Israeli Security Cabinet met early Tuesday morning and decided to halt aerial strikes beginning at 9 a.m. (2 a.m. ET). It resumed strikes about six hours later, by 3 p.m. (8 a.m. ET).
The Egyptian plan calls for all sides to cease hostilities in Gaza. It also calls for the opening of border crossings, once the security situation is stable, and for high-level talks among those involved.
When the plan was announced, there was a split reaction from Hamas. Its military wing rejected any possibility of a cease-fire, while its political wing had said it was considering it.
The stakes are high and climbing.
By Tuesday, the death toll from a week of Israeli airstrikes on Gaza had reached 194 with at least 1,400 wounded, according to Palestinian health authorities.
The death toll is now greater than the number of people killed in Gaza during the 2012 conflict between Israel and Hamas.
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Dangerous Storms and Colder Temperatures Could Be Headed Your Way
The weather story of the week continues to be cold temperatures that do not resemble summer.
While Chicago reached 80° yesterday, the high might not reach 70° today.
The cold air is moving further south and east, reaching Atlanta and New York City tomorrow.
Ahead of the chill, strong storms could develop in the Northeast today.
Another round of thunderstorms will threaten with damaging winds and heavy rain from the Mid-Atlantic to New England.
While the strong storms with the cold front should diminish tomorrow, the story of the chilly air will not be done.
Scientists 'Very Close' to Finding Earth's Twin
Scientists looking for signs of life in the universe - as well as another planet like our own - are a lot closer to their goal than people realize.
That was the consensus of a panel on the search for life in the universe held at NASA headquarters Monday in Washington. The discussion focused not only on the philosophical question of whether we're alone in the universe but also on the technological advances made in an effort to answer that question.
"We believe we're very, very close in terms of technology and science to actually finding the other Earth and our chance to find signs of life on another world," said Sara Seager, a MacArthur Fellow and professor of planetary science and physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
"Finding Earth's twin, that's kind of the holy grail," said John Grunsfeld, an astronaut who helped repair the Hubble Space Telescope in 2009 and is now an associate administrator at NASA.
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