By Khadijah Rentas
CNN

(CNN) - Vibe magazine, one of the best selling hip-hop magazines in the country, shut down Tuesday due to financial constraints, according to the publication's chief executive officer.

The magazine has a debt of "several millions of dollars" and also faced a declining market and decreased advertising revenue, said CEO Steve Aaron.

Executives at Vibe tried a few months ago to work against the downward financial slide by enhancing the magazine's Web presence, Aaron said.

"We did very well on the digital side of the business, we had a lot of growth," Aaron said. "[But] the challenges of the publication industry and the losses from the print advertising were happening faster than we could do the growth on the digital side, and at the end of the day we kind of ran out of time."

In a letter to employees, Aaron cited the magazine's significant loss of automobile advertising, which especially hurt revenues.

Employees learned of the fate of their company Tuesday, some while working on what they thought was an upcoming Michael Jackson tribute issue, Vibe Editor in Chief Danyel Smith said in a statement.

"It's a tragic week in overall, but as the doors of VIBE Media Group close, on the eve of the magazine's sixteenth anniversary, it's a sad day for music, for hip hop in particular, and for the millions of readers and users who have loved and who continue to love the VIBE brand," Smith said.

The closure eliminates jobs for all 48 staff members, Aaron said.

The issue currently on newsstands will be Vibe's last, Aaron said.

The magazine was established 16 years ago by musician Quincy Jones and had a circulation of about 600,000, according to Aaron. The loss of Vibe magazine could widen the market for its two biggest competitors in the hip-hop magazine niche: The Source and XXL Magazine. King magazine, a hip-hop magazine geared toward a male audience, folded earlier this year.

(CNN) - Searchers have recovered the bodies of three people who were aboard a Yemenia Airways jet that crashed off the coast of Comoros in the Indian Ocean, a spokesman for Yemen's Civil Aviation department said Tuesday.

Capt. Mohammed Abdel Rahman Abdel Qadir also told reporters that a child who was reported found alive was a 5-year-old boy. He did not give details of the child's condition.

"The French said that (Wednesday) they will send more French units to the accident location in order to retrieve the bodies and possibly that they may be able to locate people who are still alive," he said.

The Airbus 310 went down early Tuesday, carrying 143 passengers and 11 crewmembers on a flight that originated in Yemen's capital, Sanaa. Qatir said the jet took off from Sanaa shortly before 10 p.m. Monday and vanished from radar when it was about 16 miles from Comoros' capital, Moroni.

Searchers have not yet located the plane's data recorders, Qatir said, and investigators are not speculating on the cause of the crash.

"The weather conditions were indeed very troubling and the winds were very strong, reaching 61 kilometers per hour (38 mph)," he said. "That's one thing. The other thing was that the sea was very rough when the plane approached landing at Moroni airport."

But French Transport Minister Dominique Bussereau noted that France banned the A310-300 several years ago because of safety concerns.

"People are talking about poor weather conditions, but for the moment, we are unsure," Bussereau said. "It seems the plane may have attempted an approach, put on the gas, and attempted another approach, which then failed. For the moment, we must be careful because none of this information is verified."

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) - Michael Jackson suffered from severe bouts of insomnia and pleaded for a powerful sedative despite knowing its harmful effects, a nutritionist who says she worked with the singer told CNN Tuesday.

Cherilyn Lee, a registered nurse who said she first met Jackson in January to treat his children for common cold, said she rejected his requests for Diprivan and informed him of the side effects.

"I told him this medication is not safe," Lee said on CNN's "Campbell Brown."

"He said, 'I just want to get some sleep. You don't understand. I just want to be able to be knocked out and go to sleep,'" she said. "I told him - and it is so painful that I actually felt it in my whole spirit - 'If you take this you might not wake up.'"

CNN could not independently verify whether Lee worked with Jackson.

When asked about Lee's account, Jackson family attorney Londell McMillan told CNN's "Larry King Live" : "I wonder why someone would make a comment about drugs when they haven't seen him take the drug or anyone who administered it."

The drug, known by its generic name Propofol, is administered intravenously as an anesthetic during surgeries.

An initial dose puts a person to sleep. An overdose can lead to cardiac arrest, doctors say.

The 50-year-old singer died June 25. Authorities are awaiting toxicology results to determine what killed him.

Lee is licensed as a registered nurse, according to the California Board of Registered Nursing's Web site. According to her Web site, she is a proponent of alternative medicine that uses a holistic approach.

Lee said that four days before Jackson's death, she received a call from a Jackson staff member who said the singer felt that one side of his body was cold; the other hot.

"I could hear Mr. Jackson saying in the background, 'Please have her come see me now. Can she come now?'"

Lee, who was in Florida at the time, said she told Jackson's staffers to take him to a hospital.

"I was really afraid because of the symptoms they were telling me," she told CNN's Brown. "It could have meant something going on in the nervous system or something cardiovascular."

After his death, Lee said she didn't go to the authorities.

"When I saw it on the news, I really didn't know what to do," she said. "I was saddened. I heard there was a physician there."

Lee also could not say why Jackson would call on her, when the last time she saw him was three months ago.

"The only thing I can think of is he recalled the symptoms I was telling him," she told CNN's "AC 360."

But, she added, she didn't know of any doctors who would have given him the drug.

"I asked him, 'What doctor gave you this drug?'" she said, when the singer initially brought up the medicine. "He told me, 'Oh it was a long time ago.'"

Dr. Rakesh Marwa of the anesthesiology department at the Stanford University School of Medicine said Propofol can lead to cardiac arrest, which is suspected in Jackson's death.

"Propofol slows down the heart rate and slows down the respiratory rate and slows down the vital functions of the body," he said.

By Mike M. Ahlers
CNN

WASHINGTON (CNN) - A student air-traffic controller was directing planes during two different runway mishaps in the past month at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, apparently giving instructions that placed planes on possible collision courses, federal investigators say.

Federal transportation safety investigators say the exact causes of the mishaps are still unknown. But in both cases, potential catastrophes were averted only after pilots recognized that mistakes had been made, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.

In one instance, two commercial jetliners came within 500 feet of each other, the NTSB said.

Both incidents involved a "developmental" controller - a controller who is not certified in every position in the control tower. The Federal Aviation Administration, which regulates aviation in the United States including air traffic control, said Tuesday the developmental controller was under the supervision of different trainers during the two incidents, and that it is the controller/trainers - not students - who are held accountable for mistakes.

FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown did not immediately know what action, if any, was taken against the student.

But a controllers' union representative said the controller was still on the job, and deserves to be. "This particular trainee had a total of 11 hours of training in the entire month of June. That's less then an hour a day," said Bob Kerr of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA). "He's brand new; he's going to make mistakes."

The student had completed only about 30 percent of his training hours at the position, Kerr said. "He has plenty of time to not only learn from the present situation, but to continue learning and develop into a fine controller in that position."

Kerr said staffing shortages are partly to blame, contending there aren't enough certified controllers to train the uncertified ones. "Forty-six percent of our workforce is trainees, which is insane," Kerr said, saying the FAA target is to have only 25 percent of the workforce in training.

Consequently, certified controllers are stretched and students get inconsistent training, frequently during periods with heavy workloads, Kerr said.

FAA spokewoman Brown said the two incidents - known as "runway incursions" - were reported through a voluntary reporting system. The system is designed to encourage controllers to report mistakes, so that the FAA can take corrective action. The system is not intended to be punitive, she said.

The first incident occurred the afternoon of June 3 when Southwest Airlines flight 1080, a Boeing 737, was cleared to taxi onto a runway for takeoff. The controller also had given clearance to Continental Express flight 2942, an Embraer 145, to enter the runway, the NTSB said. The Continental crew saw the Southwest jet and queried the tower controller, the NTSB said.

The two flights came within 500 feet of each other, the NTSB said.

Three weeks later, on June 26, Express Jet flight 2426, an Embraer 145 regional jet, was cleared to cross runway 24-Left to depart from runway 24-Right. About 19 seconds later, before the plane had crossed the runway, the controller cleared CommutAir flight 8717, a DH8, for takeoff on runway 24L. The Express Jet flight crew saw the departing airplane and advised the tower controller they would not cross the runway. CommutAir 8717 took off about 1,500 feet from where Express Jet 2426 was positioned.

The FAA's Brown said she was not aware what action had been taken against the trainers in the Cleveland incidents. But typically they are given additional training, she said.

The NTSB has launched an investigation, which could take three to nine months given the complexity of the issues involved, NTSB spokesman Peter Knudson said. The supervision of developmental controllers will be among the factors the NTSB will review, he said.

From Larry Shaughnessy
CNN

WASHINGTON (CNN) - The Department of Defense announced Tuesday it awarded Oshkosh Corporation a contract worth more than $1 billion to build a new line of armored vehicles designed specifically for the rugged mountains of Afghanistan.

Under the contract, the military is buying 2,244 M-ATVs from Oshkosh for $1.06 billion dollars.

Oshkosh, based in Wisconsin, beat out four other competitors for the contract: Northrup Grumman, Navistar International, BAE Systems and Force Dynamics.

The purchase comes in an era when major defense projects are being cut, but defense department officials say more contracts for M-ATVs may be awarded as the United States increases its military presence in Afghanistan to help President Hamid Karzai's government battle Taliban insurgents.

M-ATVs are military all-terrain vehicles that are smaller and lighter than the model credited with protecting U.S. troops in Iraq.
The model used in Iraq has proven too heavy for Afghanistan's roads and too fragile to drive off-road through Afghanistan's rocky terrain, officials say.

The M-ATVs are designed to be tough enough to survive off-road driving, but light enough to prevent damage to Afghanistan's limited paved road system.

Like their predecessor used in Iraq, M-ATVs have hulls designed to divert the power of a roadside bomb explosion without harm to the troops inside. The Army hopes to start deploying the M-ATVs in Afghanistan by the end of the year.

Robert G. Bohn, the Oshkosh Corporation chairman and chief executive officer, said in a statement that Oshkosh would speed up production to meet the Defense Department's "accelerated delivery schedule."

Oshkosh also has asked other manufacturers if they can assist in production of Oshkosh M-ATVs to ensure delivery for the military's "urgent need," Bohn said.

(CNN) - A panel of New York National Guard officers has recommended that an Iraq war veteran who has admitted his homosexuality be drummed out of the service after a day-long hearing, his supporters said Tuesday.

First Lt. Dan Choi disclosed in March that he's gay, challenging the 1994 "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law that requires the military to kick out troops who disclose their sexual orientation. Tuesday's ruling is a step toward stripping Choi of his officer's commission and ending his career.

"It's disappointing, but not unexpected," said Sue Fulton, a spokeswoman for KnightsOut, a group of gay and lesbian West Point alumni Choi helped found. Fulton said the Guard's Federal Recognition Board heard from members of Choi's unit, his commanding officer and fellow soldiers who served in Iraq, and reviewed more than 150 letters of support for Choi, a 2003 West Point graduate and an Arab linguist.

But "At the end of the day, they did not consider any of that material whether he was a good soldier," she said. "It was solely about whether he said he was gay."

The closed-door hearing began Tuesday morning before the board, which certifies that Guard officers meet the standards of the regular Army. Its decision followed several hours of deliberation Tuesday afternoon.

The hearing is considered a confidential personnel matter, and the service won't comment on the results, said Lt. Col. Paul Fanning, a National Guard spokesman. The board's recommendation must be approved by the commander of the U.S. 1st Army, which oversees the National Guard and Army Reserve.

But Choi's public declaration is "a finding of fact that the board has to deal with," Fanning said. "The Army has no choice but to follow through with that," he said.

More than 12,500 gays have been booted from the military since "don't ask, don't tell" went into effect - including dozens of Arabic speakers, people highly valued by the military since the invasion of Iraq.

Choi transferred from the active-duty Army to the National Guard in June 2008, Fanning said. He served as an infantry platoon leader in Iraq in 2006 and 2007 and, like many soldiers, had his year-long tour of duty extended by three months.

Choi served as celebrity grand marshal of the San Francisco Gay Pride Parade over the weekend. He told CNN's "American Morning" on Monday that he is acting on "the lessons that I learned at West Point - honesty and courage and integrity."

"It's an informed decision," he said. "But more important than the consequences, more important than punishments or those fears that we might have, we take courage and we take those things very seriously of the values that we were taught. And it's more important that we be honest with ourselves, we have integrity, and we have courage."

President Barack Obama campaigned on a pledge to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and has been criticized for not moving faster on that goal since taking office in January. But he told gay-rights advocates at a Monday night reception at the White House that his administration is already working with House and Senate members to get the law changed.

"It's not for me to tell you to be patient any more than it was for others to counsel patience to African-Americans who were petitioning for equal rights a half-century ago," Obama said. But he added, "I do have a responsibility to see that this change is administered in a practical and a way that takes over the long term."

Fulton said that while Obama can't change the law himself, he could sign an executive order halting discharges while the policy is under review.

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) - Friends and family of Farrah Fawcett - including ex-husband Ryan O'Neal and their son Redmond, who was temporarily freed from jail for the service - gathered Tuesday to say goodbye to actress Farrah Fawcett.

Fawcett, the blonde-maned actress whose best-selling poster and "Charlie's Angels" stardom made her one of the most famous faces in the world, died Thursday. She was 62, and had battled anal cancer off and on for three years.

Tuesday's service at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in downtown Los Angeles was private and closed to the media. The family did not release details about who would deliver the eulogy or how many people had been invited.

Fawcett's beauty - her gleaming smile was printed on millions of posters - initially made her famous. But she later established herself as a serious actress. She starred as a battered wife in the 1984 TV movie "The Burning Bed," and appeared on stage as a woman who extracts vengeance from a would-be rapist in William Mastrosimone's play "Extremities," a performance she reprised on film in 1986.

By Terry Frieden
CNN Justice Producer

WASHINGTON (CNN) - A former CIA station chief in Algeria has been indicted in Washington on a charge of sexual abuse involving an alleged sexual assault of an unidentified Algerian woman at his official residence in the Algerian capital last year, according to government documents.

Andrew Warren, 41, was named in a one-count indictment returned by a grand jury two weeks ago, and unsealed in U.S. District Court Tuesday as he surrendered to authorities. Warren was promptly arraigned before a federal magistrate judge Tuesday.

The State Department has acknowledged Warren had been ordered back to the United States, before the case became public in January. The State Department confirmed its internal investigation found behavior that prompted the action. An affidavit by a State Department investigator included allegations by two women who separately said they had been raped, and they suspected their drinks had been drugged.

The Justice Department Tuesday issued a statement which appeared consistent with one of the allegations.

"The indictment alleges that at the time of the alleged sexual assault, the victim was incapable of appraising the nature of the conduct and was physically incapable of declining participation in, or communicating unwillingness to engage in the sexual act," the statement said.

According to the affidavit filed last year Warren told investigators he had "consensual sexual intercourse" with the two women.

Warren was fired by the CIA earlier this year. Agency Spokesman George Little said the CIA "will continue to cooperate with law enforcement on this matter."

If convicted of the one count of sexual assault Warren could face a sentence of life in prison.

–CNN's Pam Benson contributed to this story.

(CNN) - The toll of the nationwide E. coli outbreak linked to tainted cookie dough has continued to mount, federal health authorities said Tuesday.

In all, 72 persons infected with a strain of E. coli O157:H7 with a particular DNA fingerprint have been reported from 30 states, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a written statement.

Of them, 51 have been confirmed as having the outbreak strain; confirmation was pending on the others.

Those sickened range in age from 2 to 65 years, but nearly two-thirds (65 percent) are under 19 and nearly three-quarters (71 percent) are female, the agency said. In all, 34 people have been hospitalized, 10 of them with hemolytic uremic syndrome, a kidney disease. No fatalities have been reported.

The new figures came a day after investigators at the Nestle USA plant in Danville, Virginia, reported finding evidence of E. coli bacteria in an unopened package of raw chocolate chip cookie dough.

The tainted sample was manufactured last February 10 at the Nestle Plant in Danville, according to the Food and Drug Administration.

A spokeswoman for Nestle said the tainted product was in a 16.5-ounce package that had a day code of 9041 and a "best before 10 JUN 2009" on the package. The plant where the dough was produced has been shut since June 18, but none of the more than 200 workers has been laid off, said Roz O'Hearn, a spokeswoman for Nestle.

"We have been able to work a flexible schedule," she said. "Some folks volunteered for a leave of absence and paid vacation."

JERUSALEM (CNN) - The Israeli navy took control of a cargo ship that violated an Israeli blockade and crossed into Gazan waters Tuesday, the Israel Defense Force said - while a Gaza group said the ship was carrying humanitarian aid, a former U.S. congresswoman and a Nobel laureate.

The boat's crew included former U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney, according to the Free Gaza Movement, a human rights group that sent the boat it calls "Spirit of Humanity" from Cyprus.

Along with McKinney, who served six terms in the House of Representatives from Georgia and was the Green Party's presidential nominee in 2008, Israeli authorities took 20 people into custody, the group said.

Also aboard, the group said, was Mairead Maguire, who co-founded a group that worked for peace in Northern Ireland. Maguire and co-founder Betty Williams received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1977 for their work.

IDF said the Israeli navy contacted the boat, which it called the Arion, while it was still at sea and warned the crew that they would not be allowed to enter Gazan waters "because of security risks in the area and the existing naval blockade."

Disregarding all warnings made, the cargo boat entered Gazan coastal waters, IDF said. An Israeli navy force intercepted, boarded, and took control of the boat, directing it towards Ashdod, Israel, IDF said.

The boat's crew, the military said, would "be handed over to the proper authorities."

Without naming individuals on the boat, IDF confirmed that the incident it described was the same one detailed by the Free Gaza Movement.

According to Free Gaza group, McKinney said, "This is an outrageous violation of international law against us. Our boat was not in Israeli waters, and we were on a human rights mission to the Gaza Strip," before authorities confiscated cell phones.

"President Obama just told Israel to let in humanitarian and reconstruction supplies, and that's exactly what we tried to do. We're asking the international community to demand our release so we can resume our journey," McKinney said, according to the group.

IDF also said that the aid aboard the boat would be delivered to Gaza "subject to authorization."

"Any organization or country that wishes to transfer humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip can legally do so via the established crossings between Israel and the Gaza Strip with prior coordination," IDF said.

Free Gaza said the Spirit of Humanity voyage is the eighth such trip the group has launched. Five succeeded, the group said, but the Israeli military stopped attempts in January and December 2008.