2014 news: 03/06/14

Thursday, 6 March 2014

Most affordable Caribbean islands

Puerto Rico ranks first for affordability on TripAdvisor's Caribbean TripIndex. The average cost for a trip for a group of four in March or April? $4,609.

Jamaica ranks second for affordability. With average round-trip airfare, seven nights in a hotel, six dinners and a snorkeling excursion, the cost for a group of four is about $4,631.

The same trip in Trinidad and Tobago runs about $4,771.

In the Dominican Republic, the group of four would pay about $5,315.

On the Dutch/French island of Sint Maarten/Saint-Martin, the getaway would run about $5,566.

In the Bahamas, the cost would be $5,815 ... not including golf.

The tab would run about $5,833 for the same trip in Curacao.

In Bermuda, which made the list despite its Atlantic Ocean location, the trip tops six grand at $6,064.

In Aruba, expect to pay $6,260 for your group of four.

Grenada's cost runs about $6,622 for the same trip.

TripAdvisor's TripIndex looks at the cost of vacations to the Caribbean in March and April

Puerto Rico provides the most affordable getaway of the locations priced

St. Barthelemy is the most expensive destination on the list

(CNN) -- Who's ready for a Caribbean vacation?

Yes, that's what we thought.

TripAdvisor has priced 20 beautiful, primarily Caribbean, island destinations with its TripIndex Caribbean, comparing the cost of a one-week trip for a group of four for the period from March 1 through April 30. Included in the price analysis is the average cost of round-trip airfare from the continental U.S., a seven-night hotel stay, six dinners and a half-day snorkeling excursion.

Beach photos that will make you drool

Here are the top 10 value destinations, with the cost of a weeklong trip for four:

1. Puerto Rico - $4,6092. Jamaica - $4,6313. Trinidad and Tobago - $4,7714. Dominican Republic - $5,3155. St Maarten-St Martin - $5,5666. Bahamas - $5,8157. Curacao - $5,8338. Bermuda - $6,0649. Aruba - $6,26010. Grenada - $6,622

Best affordable island hotels

By comparison, the cost of a weeklong stay at the most expensive destination TripAdvisor looked at -- St. Barthelemy -- is nearly $12,500.

Here are priciest destinations, for travelers with deeper pockets:

1. St. Barthelemy - $12,4862. Anguilla - $10,7093. British Virgin Islands - $9,7124. Turks and Caicos - $8,8125. St. Kitts and Nevis - $8,6686. Cayman Islands - $8,0827. Antigua and Barbuda - $7,9728. St. Lucia - $7,6279. U.S. Virgin Islands - $6,78210. Barbados $6,710

TripAdvisor used spots with the most visits from U.S. travelers on TripAdvisor between November and January to create its Caribbean TripIndex.

8 great Caribbean hotel perks

Gingrich: Serious strategy for Russia

Gingrich: Crimea action reminds U.S. that Russia has different values, goals, ambitions

He says much of the action taken by the U.S. so far has involved symbolism, meetings

More effective strategy would involve vastly increasing energy production, he says

Gingrich: Putin's logic could threaten the independence of the Baltic states

Editor's note: Newt Gingrich is a co-host of CNN's which airs at 6:30 p.m. ET weekdays, and author of a new book, "Breakout: Pioneers of the Future, Prison Guards of the Past, and the Epic Battle That Will Decide America's Fate." A former speaker of the House, he was a candidate in the 2012 Republican presidential primaries.

(CNN) -- The United States has been rudely reminded that Russia is a major power with different values, ambitions and goals than America's.

Putin's brazen move to assert Russian interests, in Crimea in particular and Ukraine in general, seems to have come as a shock to many leaders in the Obama administration and to most of the American news media.

President Barack Obama had after all ridiculed Sen. John McCain in 2008 and Gov. Mitt Romney in 2012 for suggesting that Russian policy could become a major problem.

Then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton dramatically pushed a reset button to demonstrate the Obama team's commitment to working with Russia.

President Obama, not realizing he was on an open microphone, promised then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that once he was past the election he could be more flexible in accommodating Russian concerns.

All of this naive fantasy of a 'good Russia' has been shattered in the last week.

Newt Gingrich

All this naive fantasy of a "good Russia" has been shattered in the last week.

The earlier overly positive statements have been replaced with a tendency to demonize President Vladimir Putin. For example, Clinton has moved from her reset button to comparing Putin to Adolf Hitler (a comparison she can't possibly have meant but which is a perfect case study in the hysteria to which symbolic liberalism is prone).

Strong words mask a position of weakness. As former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger has observed, calling Putin names is not a substitute for a strategy.

Kerry: Russia can make the right choices

Obama: The world should support Ukraine

Cruz: Putin openly laughing at Obama

The Voice of Ukraine: Ruslana Lyzhychko

The United States has virtually no tactical cards it can play in the Crimea. We are not going to confront the Russians militarily. The local population of Crimea is at least 60% Russian-speakers. Association with Russia might win a popular referendum (thus putting the democracies in a real dilemma).

On the other hand, Putin may reconsider the idea of independence for Crimea because the pro-Russian voters are needed to win in Ukraine overall. If the heavily pro-Russian Crimea were no longer in Ukraine, the pro-Western forces would be substantially stronger in Kiev.

Whatever happens in the next few weeks in Crimea, the United States has a very limited tactical ability to affect it. The United States and our allies can do a fair amount to help the rest of Ukraine stay independent and we should commit to that project.

However, in the long run there is a much greater threat that the United States has to confront.

The very principles that led Putin to use force in Crimea could be applied to the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. There are a lot of ethnic Russians in all three countries (and especially in Estonia). They are much closer to Russia than is Crimea -- it is 228 miles from Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, to St. Petersburg.

The great difference is that the three Baltic states are members of NATO. Any Russian adventurism in this area could force the enormous choice of either directly confronting Russia in its own neighborhood or allowing NATO to collapse because we are unwilling to meet our treaty obligations.

Convincing Putin that we take seriously his toughness and his determination, and we are prepared to meet it, could be a vital step toward avoiding a future disaster.

There are some key steps we can take toward achieving that goal:

-- First, move to increase the production of oil and gas, thus dramatically lowering the price of oil, thereby cutting into Putin's ability to earn hard currency.

-- Second, wean the Europeans off their dependence on Russian natural gas as one of their biggest suppliers, thus lowering Putin's ability to exercise influence over the European community.

-- Third, strengthen the ability of Ukraine to produce its own energy so it has both a healthier economy and no longer relies on Putin and Russia as its main source of energy.

-- Fourth, strengthen American military capabilities to show that we recognize that Putin is more dangerous than we thought and that we are prepared to strengthen our ability to deal with any threat he might bring to bear, particularly on our NATO allies in the Baltic.

The Congress should call on the President to immediately issue an executive order to approve the Keystone XL pipeline, which will reduce the price of oil worldwide by getting more oil to market faster. Each drop in the dollars that Putin can get weakens his ability to undertake foreign adventures.

The President should also sign an executive order lifting the ban on selling natural gas to Europe. After all, since the executive order the President issued on Thursday indicates this is "a national emergency," then there are serious things we can do in a national emergency.

This President has already proven a willingness to use executive orders widely. This would be one that would weaken and undermine Putin, while also beginning to liberate the Europeans from dependence on Russia.

Obama should also immediately open closed offshore and federal land to drill for natural gas and oil. The more oil and gas the United States produces, the further we can drive down costs, leaving the Russians weaker and with fewer resources.

There are 24 liquid natural gas projects tied up in the federal bureaucracy. A presidential executive order could liberate them and send the clear signal the United States is prepared to replace Russia as the natural gas supplier of last resort. This would clearly signal the Europeans that in the next few years they will have an alternative to being blackmailed by Putin.

This is the time to determine: Are we serious about confronting Putin over the long run?

Newt Gingrich

Remember, it was President Reagan's strategy to drive down the price of oil to $11 a barrel that eventually bankrupted the Soviet Union and gave Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev no choice but to sign a series of agreements that recognized the decline of the Soviet Union.

If Clinton was both sincere and serious in comparing Putin to Hitler when she related the action in the Crimea to the action that Hitler took in Czechoslovakia in 1938, then she would be demanding that we dramatically strengthen rather than weaken American defense.

The President should announce that he is directing the Joint Chiefs to significantly re-evaluate the budget in order to be more than adequately prepared for any possible contingency. This would send a signal in the real world that the Russians would understand.

What we have so far is symbolic liberalism offering words, symbolic liberalism flying around the world from capital to capital having meetings, and symbolic liberalism targeting narrowly a handful of people in a way that will have no impact on Putin.

What we could have is serious, robust action that would have a genuine and immediate impact and would weaken Russia's ability to act aggressively toward its neighbors.

This is the time to determine, are we serious about confronting Putin over the long run? Or after a few symbolic games, is the administration going to accommodate the new reality that Putin is creating?

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The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Newt Gingrich.

Upskirting in Mass.: Gross but legal

Danny Cevallos: People appalled by Mass. "upskirt" ruling, but justices enforcing law as written

He says victim wasn't partially nude, was in non-private place; law lets photog take picture

He says opinion raises privacy and moral issues unique to female clothing, mainly skirts

Cevallos: Don't be angry with court; be angry with legislators who enacted law

Editor's note: Danny Cevallos, a CNN legal analyst, is a criminal defense attorney practicing in Philadelphia, New York and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

(CNN) -- On Wednesday, the Massachusetts Supreme Court issued an opinion in the matter of Commonwealth v. Michael Robertson, holding that it is not illegal to secretly photograph underneath a person's skirt on the subway, a practice widely known as "upskirting." The court, and the justice who wrote the opinion, have since weathered harsh -- and undeserved -- criticism.

No one, including the members of the Massachusetts Supreme Court, condones upskirting. But the court is not in the business of "condoning" activity, nor is it in a position to adjudicate the fairness of the outcome. The court is in the very limited business of applying the law enacted by the legislatures, and it did just that. In fact, it carefully applied the definitions provided by both the Legislature and Webster's dictionary. The problem isn't the justice; it's the statute itself.

General Laws c. 272, § 105(b) provides:

"Whoever willfully photographs, videotapes or electronically surveils another person who is nude or partially nude, with the intent to secretly conduct or hide such activity, when the other person in such place and circumstance would have a reasonable expectation of privacy in not being so photographed, videotaped or electronically surveilled, and without that person's knowledge and consent, shall be (guilty and punished)."

The Court recognized that the statute breaks down into five elements: 1. The defendant willfully photographed. 2. The victim was nude or partially nude. 3. The defendant intended to photograph surreptitiously. 4. The victim was in a place where she would have a reasonable expectation of privacy in not being "so photographed." 5. The absence of consent.

The only elements really in dispute are Nos. 2 and 4. The defendant's argument was that, under the statute, the female passenger was not "nude or partially nude," nor was she in a place where she had a reasonable expectation of privacy. The Commonwealth has to prove both of these for a conviction, along with the other elements. The failure of any one of these elements means the failure of them all.

Let's break this down.

Partial nudity

Marshal accused of taking upskirt pics

First, consider the legal definition of "partially nude." Most of our personal definitions of partial nudity were formed by vague warnings from opening credits on Cinemax movies in the 1990s. But "partial nudity" is actually a legal concept, with a legal definition.

The law defines it as "the exposure of the human genitals, buttocks, pubic area or female breast below a point immediately above the top of the areola."

Unfortunately, the statute does not provide a definition of "exposure," so the court properly turned to Webster's dictionary, which defines it as "a condition or instance of being laid bare or exposed to view."

To the court, "partially nude" means having private parts that are uncovered and visible to another person's eyes. "A person who is ... partially nude," according to the court, is a person who is partially clothed but whose private parts are exposed in plain view when photographed. It appears from the court's opinion that "partially nude" is not to be confused with "almost nude," as one might be if one's private parts are covered but she or he is wearing only underwear. Who knew nudity was so complicated?

What happened to "I know it when I see it?" Apparently, that phrase works for defining pornography, but when it comes to nudity, the court is a bit of a stickler. In Massachusetts, it appears that a "female passenger on a MBTA trolley who is wearing a skirt, dress, or the like covering these parts of her body is not a person who is 'partially nude,' no matter what is or is not underneath the skirt by way of underwear or other clothing."

Reasonable expectation of privacy

The court went on to discuss the fourth statutory element: whether the victims were "in such place and circumstance (where the person) would have a reasonable expectation of privacy in not being so photographed."

To the court, because the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority is a public transit system operating in a public place that uses cameras, the two alleged victims -- and all female straphangers -- were not in a place where they reasonably would or could have had an expectation of privacy.

The prosecution valiantly argued that privacy is less about the location where the photographing occurs than the location on the body photographed. The court dismissed this argument. While on the subway, a woman has a diminished expectation of privacy; she wears a skirt at her own risk.

Though reasonable minds can definitely disagree about where we have "reasonable" expectations of privacy, for purposes of this case, it's immaterial. The way the statute is written, the defendant was "not guilty" the moment any one of the statutory elements failed. This case was over at "partial nudity."

The opinion raises privacy issues unique to female clothing -- and, in particular, the skirt. It's a garment that from 90% of vantage points completely conceals undergarments. It's the other 10% that is problematic; sit or stand in the wrong place or position, and undergarments are now visible.

Even more problematic, if a defendant photographs a woman at the beach in a bikini, neither is she partially nude nor does she have an expectation of privacy. But if she then puts on a sarong and hops on a bus, should it be illegal to photograph up her skirt? This definitely feels like a moral invasion of privacy, but under statutes like the one here, it might not be an illegal invasion of privacy.

Unfortunately for female subway passengers -- and men in kilts -- being upskirted in public by a disturbed person and his camera-phone may not be illegal in Massachusetts. Under the statute, the act neither photographs partial nudity nor violates a reasonable expectation of privacy. That should understandably draw some ire. Indeed, it's a harbinger of failed future prosecutions of subway peeping Toms. But ire at the Massachusetts Supreme Court is misdirected. After all, the justices only interpreted the statute; they didn't write it.

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The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Danny Cevallos.

'Captain Phillips' star's struggle not rare

"Captain Phillips" star Barkhad Abdi's tale is not rags-to-riches

He was paid only $65,000 for the role

Abdi's next role could be playing South African marathoner

(CNN) -- Despite Barkhad Abdi's Academy Award nomination, his story has not been quite rags-to-riches.

Much is being made over a report from The New Yorker that the the "Captain Phillips" actor is having trouble making ends meet. He was paid $65,000 two years ago for the role, which earned him a best supporting actor nomination this season.

Abdi told CNN's Poppy Harlow that he didn't have an agent to even negotiate his salary (he does now).

Limo driver turns Oscar nominee

"It was my first film," he said. "I didn't have many options."

Such a small salary for a performer in a multimillion-dollar blockbuster is not rare for a first-time actor. Brad Pitt reportedly received only $6,000 for his breakout role in the 1991 film "Thelma and Louise."

A few more established actors have chosen to forgo big paychecks in order to participate in a project. Jonah Hill accepted a paycheck of only $60,000 for his recent role in "The Wolf of Wall Street."

"I would sell my house and give (director Martin Scorsese) all my money to work for him," Hill said. "This isn't what you make money for; you do '22 Jump Street,' you do other things, to pay your rent. But I would do anything in the world. I would do it again in a second."

Abdi's story may be drawing so much attention because of his hardscrabble backstory.

The Somali actor left his war-torn country as a youngster with his family and settled in Yemen. Years later, they immigrated to the United States, where they joined a large community of Somalis in Minneapolis.

He was driving for his brother's limousine company when he answered a casting call for Somali actors for the "Captain Phillips" film.

According to The New Yorker, Abdi is planning to move to Los Angeles and pursue his acting career. It reports that when he was in Los Angeles to do publicity for "Captain Phillips," "His clothes are loaners. Recently Abdi requested that he be allowed to stay at a commuter's hotel near LAX, to be closer to his friend, a Somali cabdriver from Minneapolis, who shuttles him around for free."

Hollywood can be a tough town for any aspiring actor but even moreso for a first-timer.

In the 1940s, disabled veteran Harold Russell won the best supporting actor Academy Award for his turn in "The Best Years of Our Lives." Roles were tough to come by for Russell, who lost his hands in a training accident, and he went on to earn a degree in business and write a book about his recovery.

There may be success ahead for Abdi, however. He is reportedly in talks to play South African running legend Willie Mtolo in the film "The Place That Hits The Sun."

Bieber loses jail-video fight

Several photographs of Justin Bieber showing his tattoos to police were released to the media on Tuesday, March 4. They were taken inside the Miami Beach Police Department's jail, where Bieber was held after his arrest on DUI charges on January 23.

Images of Bieber urinating "are relevant to the public's right to know," judge rules

Bieber jail video reveals "an image of the defendant's genitalia," the judge wrote

The video will be given to news agencies under Florida's open records law

Video was recorded after the singer's DUI arrest in January

(CNN) -- A Florida court technician has the job of blurring Justin Bieber's private parts on jail video before you can see it.

The video will then be handed over to CNN and other news agencies this week under Florida's open records law, a Miami judge ordered Tuesday.

It's part of several hours of video captured by surveillance cameras inside the Miami Beach Police Department's jail, where Bieber was held after his arrest on DUI charges on January 23.

Police release revealing Bieber photos

Police video of Bieber sobriety test

Bieber's security guard, driver arrested

Miami-Dade County Judge William Altfield rejected arguments from Bieber's lawyer that the video should be kept private.

Justin Bieber had a rough 2013, and 2014 doesn't appear to be shaping up much better. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers searched an airplane -- thought to be the one pictured -- carrying Bieber and others on January 31, at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey. Officers said they detected an odor of what seemed like marijuana after the plane landed, law enforcement sources told CNN. It's just the latest development in a series of troubles for the pop star.

Bieber turned himself in at a Toronto police station on January 29, facing an assault charge stemming from an encounter with a limousine driver in December.

On January 23, Bieber was arrested on suspicion of DUI and drag racing, according to police in Miami Beach, Florida. Bieber is seen here with model Chantel Jeffries the night before his arrest.

On January 14, authorities swarmed Bieber's mansion in Calabasas, California, in connection with an investigation into a report of an egg-throwing incident at a neighbor's house. A friend of the singer's was arrested on a felony drug charge, and Bieber's phone was seized as part of the investigation.

Right before 2014 kicked off, Bieber threatened to retire after a spate of bad publicity, including being accused of everything from speeding to spitting. The news made Beliebers very sad.

While on tour in early November, Bieber yet again made headlines, this time with some sex-related scandal. The New York Post's Page Six alleged that Bieber had been spotted exiting a brothel while in Brazil. Then, a YouTube video sparked gossip that he'd done something less than innocent with the young woman featured in the clip. Bieber's camp has had no response on the chatter.

Was he saving his energy for his fans, or just courting more controversy? In October, the day after a concert in Beijing, Bieber was snapped letting his bodyguards carry him up the stairs at the Great Wall of China.

A leaked video in July seemed to show Bieber relieving himself in a janitor's mop bucket and then spraying a photo of Bill Clinton with what appeared to be a cleaner fluid while saying, "F*** Bill Clinton." Bieber later apologized to the former president, but personalities like Anthony Bourdain and Mario Batali had a field day.

In June, another chapter was added to Bieber's history book of driving drama. The singer was reportedly involved in a Los Angeles accident involving a pedestrian.

As Bieber accepted the Milestone Award at the Billboard Music Awards in May, "very loud boos" competed with "very loud cheers," the magazine reported.

Earlier in May, a fan rushed Bieber on stage and attempted to grab him during a concert in the United Arab Emirates. Also that month, a safe in a stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, was raided after a Bieber performance.

In April, Bieber visited the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam -- and was promptly criticized for saying that he hoped the teen, who died in a Nazi concentration camp in 1945, would have been a "Belieber." Visitors to the Anne Frank Facebook page had plenty to say. "Glad he went, but, the last sentence is VERY self serving. he missed the lessons of Anne totally," wrote one observer.

Bieber lost his pet monkey, Mally, when the capuchin was taken by custom officials in Germany at the end of March. Mally is shown here in the quarantine station at the Munich-Riem animal shelter in Munich.

Unfortunately for Bieber, his 19th birthday in March was kind of a downer. After being snubbed by the Grammys, Bieber headed for London to celebrate his big day. But it ended up being what he tweeted was his "worst birthday." Not only was he ragged on by actress Olivia Wilde for going shirtless in the city, he also had a bit of beef with a "weak a** club."

Bieber ticked off his fans in March after he showed up a reported two hours late to a concert at London's O2 Arena. He disputed that in a tweet, however, saying he was only 40 minutes behind schedule.

Bieber later wound up sick in a London hospital. Being a lusted-after star, it's not surprising that he tried to show how "well" he felt by posting a shirtless photo of himself online.

Bieber and photographers, we've learned by now, don't mix. As he exited the hospital at the end of his turbulent week, the singer got into a shouting match with a paparazzo in London, telling the photographer that he'd "f*** him up."

After he was ragged on by Wilde for going topless in London, Bieber strolled through a Polish airport terminal sans shirt on March 25.

At the end of January 2013, a Twitpic appearing to show the singer touching a female fan's chest went viral. Both the "Belieber" and Bieber's rep denied he was touching her breast.

In January 2013, Bieber was photographed holding what TMZ identified as marijuana. He poked fun of the incident when he hosted "Saturday Night Live" in February. "I also heard he got busted for smoking weed and he's really sorry about it and that people make mistakes and that he's never going to do it again," Bieber said while playing a character during a skit with Vanessa Bayer.

On New Year's Day in 2013, a photographer was killed crossing the street after taking pictures of Bieber's Ferrari. Bieber, who wasn't present at the scene, said in a statement: "While I was not present nor directly involved with this tragic accident, my thoughts and prayers are with the family of the victim."

Justin Bieber's troubled timeline

$Justin Bieber\'s troubled timeline$ Justin Bieber's troubled timeline

"The court finds that images of the defendant while in custody at the Miami Beach Police Department are relevant to the public's right to know," Altfield ruled Tuesday.

The segments to be released include a sequence in which Bieber "appears to be urinating" in a cell, "revealing an image of the defendant's genitalia," the judge wrote.

The order, however, instructs the court's video technician to blur "the image wherein genitalia is observed."

"While the defendant may not enjoy all of the expectations of privacy that he enjoys outside of a jail setting, he still retains his expectation of dignity," the judge said.

Several photographs taken by police of Bieber showing his tattoos were given to the media Tuesday.

Video showing Bieber doing push-ups in a jail cell and attempting a sobriety test in a hallway were released last month.

Florida's open records law gives the news media full access to documents, photographs and video collected by police unless there is a compelling reason to keep them private.

A status hearing is set for March 11 in Bieber's DUI case, which also includes a charge of resisting arrest without violence and driving with an expired license.

CNN's Suzanne Presto contributed to this report.