British woman beheaded in supermarket attack named

Jennifer Mills-Westley, a British national, was killed in an apparently random attack in Spain's Canary Islands on May 14, 2011.Jennifer Mills-Westley was "generous of heart," her daughter saysShe was killed in an apparently random attack in SpainA man stole a knife, then cut off her head with it

(CNN) -- A British woman beheaded in an apparently random supermarket attack in Spain's Canary Islands has been identified as grandmother Jennifer Mills-Westley.

She was retired and living between Tenerife in the Canary Islands and France, where a daughter and grandchildren live, her family said in a statement Saturday.

"She was full of life, generous of heart, would do anything for anyone," said her daughter, who was only identified as Sarah.

The family is "devastated by the news of her death," her daughter said.

"We now have to find a way of living without her love and light," she added.

Mills-Westley was a retired county council worker in Norfolk, eastern England, council leader Derrick Murphy told CNN.

Murphy said he did not know her personally, having joined the council after she retired, but that he planned to have current and former council employees put together a tribute to her.

A knife-wielding man attacked a Mills-Westley in a supermarket, eventually cutting off her head and running away with it, government officials in Tenerife said Friday.

The man entered a shopping center in the town of Arona, in the Cristianos area of Tenerife, and stole a knife from the supermarket before attacking the apparent stranger, a central government spokeswoman said.

Shopping center security guards were alerted and chased the man, subduing him until police arrived.

The man, whom national police in Tenerife identified as a Bulgarian, was apparently known in the shopping area, the government spokeswoman said.

The British Foreign Office confirmed Friday that a British national had died in Tenerife. British officials there are in contact with Spanish authorities about the incident, the Foreign Office said.

CNN's Al Goodman, Per Nyberg and Bharati Naik contributed to this report.

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AP source: DNA IDs bin Laden, wife named him in raid

WASHINGTON — The U.S. used multiple means to confirm the identity of Osama bin Laden during and after the firefight in which he was killed, before placing his body in the North Arabian Sea from aboard a U.S. aircraft carrier, senior U.S. officials said Monday.

U.S. forces administered Muslim religious rites for Osama bin Laden aboard the USS Carl Vinson, pictured, on Monday in the Arabian Sea, a senior defense official said.

By Timothy A. Hazel, AFP/Getty Images

U.S. forces administered Muslim religious rites for Osama bin Laden aboard the USS Carl Vinson, pictured, on Monday in the Arabian Sea, a senior defense official said.

The al-Qaida leader was identified by name by a woman believed to be one of his wives ? bin Laden had several ? who was present at his Pakistan compound at the time of the U.S. raid. He also was visually identified by members of the U.S. raid squad, a senior intelligence official told reporters at a Pentagon briefing. Under ground rules set by the Pentagon, the intelligence official and two senior defense officials could not be identified by name.

The intelligence official also said quite a bit of unspecified material was collected by U.S. forces during the raid. Without describing the material, the official said it is being analyzed by a team of people at the CIA.

The officials said bin Laden was killed toward the end of the firefight, which took place overnight Monday in a building at a compound north of Islamabad, the Pakistani capital. His body was put aboard the USS Carl Vinson and placed into the North Arabian Sea.

Traditional Islamic procedures for handling the remains were followed, the officials said, including washing the corpse, placing it in a white sheet. Preparations for at-sea burial began at 1:10 a.m. EDT Monday and were completed at 2 a.m. EDT, one official said.

The intelligence official said the DNA match, using DNA from several family members, provided virtual certainty that it was bin Laden's body.

Officials did not immediately say where or how the testing was done but the test explains why President Barack Obama was confident to announce the death to the world Sunday night. Obama provided no details on the identification process.

The U.S. is believed to have collected DNA samples from bin Laden family members in the years since the 9/11 attacks that triggered the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan. It was unclear whether the U.S. also had fingerprints or some other means to identify the body on site.

Bin Laden was shot in the head during the firefight with members of an elite American counter-terrorism unit that launched a helicopter-borne raid on the al-Qaida leader's compound, U.S. officials said. Officials said the U.S. special forces who stormed the compound came face to face with their prey.

U.S. officials also said bin Laden was identified through "facial recognition," a reference to technology for mapping unique facial characteristics, but it was not clear exactly how the Navy SEAL troops performed the comparison.

The body was photographed before being buried at sea, although no images have been released by the Obama administration.

The U.S. official who disclosed the burial at sea said it would have been difficult to find a country willing to accept the remains. Obama said the remains had been handled in accordance with Islamic custom, which requires speedy burial.

Positive identification of the remains is considered a critically important part of the U.S. operation, given the symbolic importance of bin Laden's leadership of the Islamic extremist movement that was based in Afghanistan until the U.S. invaded in October 2001.

When al-Qaida's leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was killed in a U.S. airstrike in June 2006, DNA tests were performed by the FBI to positively identify the remains. The U.S. military also performed an autopsy, in part to dispel allegations in the immediate aftermath of the airstrike that the terrorist leader had been beaten or shot by U.S. soldiers while in American custody.

It was not clear Monday whether the Obama administration intended to release its photos of bin Laden's body.

In July 2003, when U.S. forces killed Saddam Hussein's sons, Odai and Qusai, in a gunbattle in northern Iraq, the U.S. military released graphic after-death photographs in an effort to prove to Iraqis that they were dead. Two of the photos showed the first man, identified as Qusai, with bruises and blood spots around his eyes. That face was far more intact than the other, identified as Odai; the mouth was open with the teeth showing.

??

Associated Press writers Lolita C. Baldor, Ben Feller and Matt Apuzzo contributed to this report.

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AP source: DNA IDs bin Laden, wife named him in raid

WASHINGTON — The U.S. used multiple means to confirm the identity of Osama bin Laden during and after the firefight in which he was killed, before placing his body in the North Arabian Sea from aboard a U.S. aircraft carrier, senior U.S. officials said Monday.

U.S. forces administered Muslim religious rites for Osama bin Laden aboard the USS Carl Vinson, pictured, on Monday in the Arabian Sea, a senior defense official said.

By Timothy A. Hazel, AFP/Getty Images

U.S. forces administered Muslim religious rites for Osama bin Laden aboard the USS Carl Vinson, pictured, on Monday in the Arabian Sea, a senior defense official said.

The al-Qaida leader was identified by name by a woman believed to be one of his wives ? bin Laden had several ? who was present at his Pakistan compound at the time of the U.S. raid. He also was visually identified by members of the U.S. raid squad, a senior intelligence official told reporters at a Pentagon briefing. Under ground rules set by the Pentagon, the intelligence official and two senior defense officials could not be identified by name.

The intelligence official also said quite a bit of unspecified material was collected by U.S. forces during the raid. Without describing the material, the official said it is being analyzed by a team of people at the CIA.

The officials said bin Laden was killed toward the end of the firefight, which took place overnight Monday in a building at a compound north of Islamabad, the Pakistani capital. His body was put aboard the USS Carl Vinson and placed into the North Arabian Sea.

Traditional Islamic procedures for handling the remains were followed, the officials said, including washing the corpse, placing it in a white sheet. Preparations for at-sea burial began at 1:10 a.m. EDT Monday and were completed at 2 a.m. EDT, one official said.

The intelligence official said the DNA match, using DNA from several family members, provided virtual certainty that it was bin Laden's body.

Officials did not immediately say where or how the testing was done but the test explains why President Barack Obama was confident to announce the death to the world Sunday night. Obama provided no details on the identification process.

The U.S. is believed to have collected DNA samples from bin Laden family members in the years since the 9/11 attacks that triggered the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan. It was unclear whether the U.S. also had fingerprints or some other means to identify the body on site.

Bin Laden was shot in the head during the firefight with members of an elite American counter-terrorism unit that launched a helicopter-borne raid on the al-Qaida leader's compound, U.S. officials said. Officials said the U.S. special forces who stormed the compound came face to face with their prey.

U.S. officials also said bin Laden was identified through "facial recognition," a reference to technology for mapping unique facial characteristics, but it was not clear exactly how the Navy SEAL troops performed the comparison.

The body was photographed before being buried at sea, although no images have been released by the Obama administration.

The U.S. official who disclosed the burial at sea said it would have been difficult to find a country willing to accept the remains. Obama said the remains had been handled in accordance with Islamic custom, which requires speedy burial.

Positive identification of the remains is considered a critically important part of the U.S. operation, given the symbolic importance of bin Laden's leadership of the Islamic extremist movement that was based in Afghanistan until the U.S. invaded in October 2001.

When al-Qaida's leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was killed in a U.S. airstrike in June 2006, DNA tests were performed by the FBI to positively identify the remains. The U.S. military also performed an autopsy, in part to dispel allegations in the immediate aftermath of the airstrike that the terrorist leader had been beaten or shot by U.S. soldiers while in American custody.

It was not clear Monday whether the Obama administration intended to release its photos of bin Laden's body.

In July 2003, when U.S. forces killed Saddam Hussein's sons, Odai and Qusai, in a gunbattle in northern Iraq, the U.S. military released graphic after-death photographs in an effort to prove to Iraqis that they were dead. Two of the photos showed the first man, identified as Qusai, with bruises and blood spots around his eyes. That face was far more intact than the other, identified as Odai; the mouth was open with the teeth showing.

??

Associated Press writers Lolita C. Baldor, Ben Feller and Matt Apuzzo contributed to this report.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.We've updated the Conversation Guidelines. Changes include a brief review of the moderation process and an explanation on how to use the "Report Abuse" button. Read more.

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S.C. teen killed on highway named in father's memory

By Gerry Pate, AP

Jordan Crowe, Raegan Fulmer and Natalie White, left to right, pray on Friday near a stretch of Highway 129 in Duncan, S.C., where Aaron Shawn Hill, 18, died in a car crash.

EnlargeCloseBy Gerry Pate, AP

Jordan Crowe, Raegan Fulmer and Natalie White, left to right, pray on Friday near a stretch of Highway 129 in Duncan, S.C., where Aaron Shawn Hill, 18, died in a car crash.

But on his way to class Thursday morning, the 18-year-old senior was killed when a pickup crossed the center line and smashed head-on into his car, authorities said.

Now the Hill family — and many others in this town of nearly 2,300 — are grieving again.

"It's tragic. No one should have to go through this. They've been through so much," said Sheriff Chuck Wright, a friend of the family. "It's just unreal that he died on the same highway named after his father."

The younger Hill was going to graduate in a few months and had talked about joining the military just like his father.

"Even after his father's death, he kept a positive attitude. He kept that smile," the sheriff said.

The teenager was pronounced dead at the scene along the section of two-lane Highway 129 known as the Sergeant Shawn F. Hill Memorial Highway. The driver of the pickup, Michael Blake White, 27, was taken to the hospital along with three students who had been in Hill's car. Their conditions were not released.

The cause of the crash was under investigation, and no immediate charges were filed. But state officials said White did not have a valid license, having lost it nearly a year ago for too many violations. He had been issued 14 tickets since 2003, most of them for speeding.

White was driving home after working the overnight shift at an auto parts factory, according to his father.

"He really doesn't remember it, but he was torn up when we told him what happened," Michael White said. He said his son was badly hurt and was in the intensive care unit.

Hill's friends from 2,200-student Byrnes High School held hands and cried at the scene of the accident and erected a memorial to "A-Rod" consisting of flowers, candles and three crosses painted green and orange, because he was a University of Miami fan. Spray-painted on the road was a heart with the words "RIP AROD."

Wright said he got to know the family years ago when Hill and the sheriff's son were playing baseball. It was the sheriff who went to the accident scene and identified the body Thursday. Then he visited with Hill's family. He said Hill's mother, Julie, was distraught but trying to hold her together a family that includes Hill's two younger brothers.

Hundreds of people attended the funeral three years ago of Hill's father, a 37-year-old member of the Army National Guard, and state lawmakers renamed the highway in his memory months later.

The elder Hill was an all-region defensive end at Byrnes High, a longtime football powerhouse that has won nearly a dozen state titles and has been nationally ranked. An electrician by trade, he joined the National Guard in 1996 and served in Iraq in 2004-05.

At the Hill home in Inman, family members were inside grieving, and no one wanted to talk. On the back window of a blue minivan parked outside was a pair of praying hands with the words "In loving memory of Sgt. Shawn Hill."

Ondrea Reid, a former neighbor, said Aaron Hill took his father's death hard — harder than his siblings did — because the two had bonded over playing sports together. Aaron Hill told her he was thinking about joining the military to honor his dad.

"I remember he told people he planned to finish school, go to college and make sure he did something to make his dad proud," she said.

On Friday, Reid drove down the road where Aaron Hill died, past the green memorial sign honoring his father and the makeshift memorial at the crash scene.

"It's really something to see the sign honoring such a great man and then drive a little more and see a memorial to his son," Reid said, pausing to take a deep breath. "Man, it's just crazy."

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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S.C. teen dies in crash on highway named for his father

The Spartanburg (S.C.) Herald-Journal and the Associated Press bring us the sad story about an 18-year-old high school senior killed in a car wreck on a stretch of road named for his father, a National Guard sergeant killed in Afghanistan.

Aaron Shawn Hill died Thursday morning on the Sergeant Shawn F. Hill Memorial Highway (State Highway 129) in Wellford, S.C., as he drove three friends to Byrnes High School. His Honda was hit head-on when a westbound Chevrolet pickup crossed the center line of the two-lane road. His friends and the 27-year-old pickup driver were hospitalized; their conditions were not released.

No charges have been filed yet. Police said the pickup driver's license was revoked nearly a year ago for speeding.

Aaron Hill talked of joining the military like his father, who was killed in 2008 when his vehicle hit a roadside bomb.

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Suspect named in Calif. synagogue blast

Ron Hirsch is considered "extremely dangerous," according to a statement by the Santa Monica police. STORY HIGHLIGHTSThe bombing occurs at a synagogue in Santa Monica, CaliforniaThe blast did not injure anyone but damages the synagoguePolice say the suspect is a transient who is extremely dangerousRELATED TOPICSCaliforniaRead more about this story from CNN affiliate KABC.

(CNN) -- Police in Santa Monica, California, were searching for an "extremely dangerous" 61-year-old man in connection with a bombing at a synagogue.

Authorities began their investigation Thursday after the blast at Chabad House.

Investigators found evidence in the damaged synagogue that may prove that the bombing is connected to a "transient" who had been seen in the area, the Santa Monica police said in a statement.

"Investigation has determined that Items found in and around the mechanism are linked to an individual by the name of Ron Hirsch, identified as a transient," the statement said. "Hirsch is known to frequent synagogues and Jewish community centers seeking charity from patrons. Hirsch is considered extremely dangerous."

The explosion shattered windows at the synagogue and sent a 30- pound pipe into the roof of a nearby house, but no one was injured, CNN affiliate KABC reported.

Authorities do not know the motive for the bombing. Hirsch also faces charges of possession of a destructive device, police said.

CNN's Rosalina Nieves contributed to this report

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8 famous Harvard dropouts not named Gates or Zuckerberg

Matt Damon is one of the more famous Harvard dropouts. STORY HIGHLIGHTSMatt Damon says he was in and out of Harvard at the beginning of his film careerPoet Robert Frost and William Randolph Hearst dropped out of HarvardPete Seeger cites an interest in left-wing politics for letting his grades slip at HarvardElizabeth Shue dropped out, but returned to complete her degreeRELATED TOPICSHarvard UniversityMusic StarsCulture and Lifestyle (Mental Floss) -- Most people are familiar with the stories of Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg, who achieved great success as the founders of Microsoft and Facebook, respectively, after dropping out of Harvard.

Here are eight other former Harvard students who made out just fine without earning their degrees.

1. Robert Frost

Frost, a San Francisco native who had previously dropped out of Dartmouth after only two months, was accepted for admission at Harvard in the fall of 1897 and studied liberal arts in Cambridge.

Two years later, Frost, who had married and become a father just prior to enrolling at Harvard, left school to support his growing family.

"They could not make a student of me here, but they gave it their best," Frost later said. Frost won four Pulitzer Prizes for poetry in his lifetime and received an honorary degree from Harvard in 1937.

2. Matt Damon

The future Hollywood star entered Harvard in 1988 and took time off during the second semester of his sophomore year to act in "Rising Son," a made-for-TV movie. Damon stepped out during his junior and senior years as well, and never accrued enough credits to graduate.

"What was happening is that I would keep coming back, and I would almost get done with the semester and then I would be yanked out," Damon recalled in an interview with the Harvard Crimson.

It's fitting, then, that Damon's big break was "Good Will Hunting," the 1997 film he co-wrote and starred in with his friend Ben Affleck. In one scene, Damon's character tells a Harvard student, "You drop $150,000 on an education that you could have gotten for $1.50 on late charges at the public library."

Damon appeared on "Ellen" earlier this month and said he doesn't have any plans to go back and finish his degree.

"I feel like I got everything I needed to get from that experience," he said.

3. Edwin H. Land

After graduating with honors from the Norwich Academy in Connecticut, Land enrolled at Harvard in 1926. The son of a scrap metal yard owner, Land studied chemistry as a freshman and launched experiments on ways to polarize light.

Land dropped out of Harvard to focus full-time on his research, which he conducted at the New York Public Library, before returning to Cambridge to establish the Land-Wheelwright Laboratories with his former Harvard physics instructor in 1932.

In 1937, Land co-founded the Polaroid Corporation, which would introduce the first instant camera in 1947.

Land said the idea was inspired by his then-3-year-old daughter, who asked why she couldn't immediately see a photograph he took of her on a family vacation. Polaroid made another breakthrough in 1963 with the introduction of instant color photography.

By the time of his death in 1991, Land, who was awarded an honorary doctorate degree in 1957 and had a street in Cambridge named after him, owned more than 500 patents, second only to Thomas Edison. Among his other inventions were instant X-rays, Polaroid sunglasses, and glare-reducing goggles for dogs.

Mental Floss: He Took a Polaroid Every Day, Until the Day He Died

4. William Randolph Hearst

Hearst, the son of millionaire mining engineer George Hearst, enrolled at Harvard in 1885 and acted as the first business manager of the Harvard Lampoon, the school's humor publication.

It didn't take long for Hearst, who kept a pet alligator named Champagne Charlie in his room, to establish a reputation as a trouble-maker.

According to legend, the future newspaper magnate once bought a jackass and snuck the animal into a professor's room, leaving a card around its neck with the note, "Now there are two of you."

Hearst survived that stunt, but was later expelled for sending his professors chamber pots with their names inscribed on the bottom. After leaving Harvard, Hearst launched his successful career by taking control of one of his father's newspapers, the San Francisco Examiner.

5. James B. Connolly

Connolly, who was admitted to Harvard in 1895 despite never graduating high school, left Cambridge to participate in the first Olympic Games one year later.

Connolly reportedly requested a leave of absence from the Harvard dean, but it was denied as a result of his low academic standing.

Harvard informed Connolly that he would have to reapply for admission upon his return from Athens, but he left anyway, and became the first modern Olympic champion with a win in the triple jump.

Connolly never returned to Harvard to finish his degree, but he was awarded an honorary Harvard sweater in 1948.

Mental Floss: The Post-Olympic Careers of 16 Medal Winners

6. Pete Seeger

As Seeger explains it, the folk singer and activist had his financial aid rescinded after his sophomore year because he got too interested in left-wing politics and let his grades slip.

Seeger, who would've graduated in 1940, achieved fame after dropping out of Harvard as a member of The Weavers, whose rendition of Leadbelly's "Goodnight, Irene" topped the charts for 13 weeks in 1950. Seeger doesn't seem to harbor any ill will toward the school.

As the Harvard Crimson reported, he wrote the following in his alumni yearbook: "I remember thinking when 1940 came along that I was glad I had spent the two years there, that I had learned certain invaluable things, but also that I had learned in two years that I had been away from certain things that Harvard wouldn't have been able to teach."

7. R. Buckminster Fuller

The inventor, philosopher, and futurist was the fifth generation of his family to enroll at Harvard and the first not to graduate. Fuller wasn't accepted into any of Harvard's social clubs, so he sought companionship elsewhere and regularly skipped classes to attend Broadway shows.

During one such trip to New York City, Fuller treated actress Marilyn Miller and her entire chorus to dinner, blowing all of his tuition money for that year in the process. Harvard dismissed Fuller, who went to work as a factory worker in Quebec before his mother convinced him to reapply.

Fuller was readmitted and earned several academic honors, but eventually became bored and left Harvard for good. After a stint in the U.S. Navy, Fuller embarked on the first of many commercial failures, including the prefabricated Dymaxion House, before achieving fortune and fame in 1947 with the invention of the geodesic dome.

Fuller returned to Harvard in 1961 to accept the Charles Eliot Norton Professorship of Poetry.

8. Bonnie Raitt

Raitt enrolled at Radcliffe College, Harvard's then-coordinate college, in 1967. The daughter of a Broadway musical performer, Raitt planned to major in African studies and travel to Tanzania to help "undo the damage that Western colonialism had done."

Those dreams were sidetracked when Raitt, a skilled guitar player, met blues promoter Dick Waterman in Cambridge. Waterman introduced Raitt to established performers such as Son House and Fred McDowell.

Though Raitt had every intention of graduating, she took a semester off during her sophomore year to explore the possibility of a musical career with Waterman and became a star. Raitt signed a recording deal with Warner Bros. in 1970 and released her debut album in 1971.

Raitt won four Grammy awards in 1990 and received Harvard's third Arts Medal in 1997. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000.

Mental Floss: 15 Celebrities Who Started as Teachers

9. Elisabeth Shue

At least one famous Harvard dropout eventually decided to return to school. Shue, who transferred to Harvard from Wellesley College, dropped out of school one semester short of receiving her political science degree in 1985 to pursue an acting career.

Fifteen years later, she returned to Cambridge to complete her degree.

"My brain was starting to dry up," Shue told Movieline magazine. "In Hollywood, you're fortunate if you get a role where your brain is engaged, but those experiences are rare. I felt like I needed to do something with my life. I wanted to feel more connected to the world."

At the time, Shue said she would eventually like to teach and make documentaries. Best known for her Oscar-nominated role in "Leaving Las Vegas," one of Shue's most recent roles was as Sheriff Julie Forester in "Piranha 3D."

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Bronx Zoo cobra that went missing is named Mia

The Bronx Zoo will announce the winning name for the Egyptian cobra on Thursday. STORY HIGHLIGHTSThe snake was named Mia after vote sponsored by Bronx Zoo and newspaper, officials sayThe Egyptian cobra captured public imagination when it escaped last monthVisitors to Bronx Zoo can see Mia on Saturday, zoo says New York (CNN) -- An Egyptian cobra that turned into a media darling after its escape and subsequent capture at New York's Bronx Zoo was named Mia on Thursday after a public vote.

The name is a play on the days when the snake was missing in action, zoo officials said.

The Bronx Zoo and New York Daily News asked the public to vote on the best name for the mischievous cobra. After receiving more than 34,000 suggestions, officials whittled the list down to five nominations before Mia was chosen.

Mia received 15,972 votes, or 27 percent of the total vote, a zoo statement said.

The four runners-up were Subira, which means patient in Egypt, with 14,016 votes (24 percent); Amaunet, an ancient Egyptian goddess, meaning 'the female hidden one," with 11,672 votes (20 percent); Cleopatra, the last ruler of ancient Egypt who supposedly killed herself by means of an Egyptian cobra bite, with 10,730 votes (18 percent); and Agnes, Greek for pure or holy and also a reference to St. Agnes, with 6,777 votes (11 percent).

"Now that Mia has received her official name and has settled into her exhibit at the Bronx Zoo's Reptile House, the building will be re-opened to the public on Saturday, April 9 and visitors will be able to see her for the first time," the statement said.

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