Johnny Cash home open for tours

Now an Arkansas Heritage Site, Johnny Cash's boyhood home in Dyess has been restored and opens for tours on Saturday.

Cash grew up in Dyess, attending school, going to church and playing in the fields.

After being located and preserved, the piano that belonged to Johnny's mother, Carrie, now sits in his boyhood home.

The Cash family in 1949, from left to right: Roy, Carrie (mother), Louise, Tommy (front left), Ray (father), Reba, Joanne (front right) and Johnny.

The restored Dyess Colony Administration Building holds information documenting the town's creation and items that once belonged to Cash.

After graduating from high school as the vice president of his class in 1950, Cash left Arkansas to join the Air Force.

Restoration work has already begun on the Dyess Theatre, next to the administration building, which will be used as a visitor center.

• Johnny Cash Boyhood Home in Dyess, Arkansas, will open for public tours


• Cash lived in Dyess from the time he was 3 years old until he graduated from high school


• His time living in Arkansas was an inspiration to his music, Cash said

(CNN) -- Want to "Walk the Line" where Johnny Cash once played as a child?

Before he changed the music industry with songs like "Ring of Fire" and "Folsom Prison Blues," Johnny Cash spent his hardscrabble childhood in the small community of Dyess, Arkansas.

The Johnny Cash Boyhood Home, the newest of Arkansas State University's Heritage Sites, opens Saturday for public tours after a restoration project that includes other historic buildings.

When visitors walk into the home, they are stepping back into the 1930s. Cash family artifacts original to the home include the piano that belonged to Johnny's mother, his father's shaving mug and even the original flooring in his childhood bedroom and the living room. The living room linoleum still has burn marks caused by the wood-burning stove.

Other furnishings and objects are of the time period and mostly contributed by donors, said Ruth Hawkins, director of Arkansas Heritage Sites at Arkansas State University. They are based on the photos and memories of Tommy Cash and Joanne Cash Yates, two of Johnny Cash's siblings.

Period details include a pedestal sewing machine, a battery-operated radio like one Johnny Cash would play at night and the living-room sofa. The period icebox and corner cabinet were painted the apple-green color the siblings remember.

The Dyess Colony was a federal agricultural resettlement community created in 1934, part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal program in response to the Great Depression. The colony provided homes and jobs for about 500 poor farm families, including the Cash family.

Johnny, called JR at the time, was 3 years old when his family moved into a Dyess home in 1935. Johnny spent his childhood in Dyess, attending school and church in the town. He also suffered an enormous loss when his brother Jack was killed in a sawmill accident in 1944. Cash left "JR" behind and became Johnny when he left Arkansas for the Air Force in 1950.

Arkansas was an important influence on Cash, who told audiences how "Five Feet High and Rising" and many of his other songs were influenced by his time living in Dyess.

"The little church in Dyess, Arkansas, has been such an inspiration to me, and (so have) the people from Dyess," Cash said at the 40th reunion of Dyess High School in 1990, in a video exhibited at the Dyess Colony Museum.

Cash died in 2003, leaving four daughters from his first marriage to Vivian Liberto. Cash and his second wife, singer June Carter Cash, had a son together. June Carter Cash died earlier in 2003.

The annual Johnny Cash Music Festival, which starts on Friday in nearby Jonesboro, has raised almost $2 million to fund the restoration project. Headliners for this year's sold-out festival include Reba McEntire, Bobby Bare and Loretta Lynn, who are donating their performances, as have artists in previous years.

With the restoration of Cash's childhood home and nearby Dyess Colony Administration Building complete, work has already begun on the restoration of the historic Dyess Theatre adjacent to the administration building, to be used as a visitor center.

In his 1997 autobiography, "Cash," he credited his state with inspiring his music. "Back in Arkansas, a way of life produced a certain kind of music."

Inside Tommy Hilfiger's 'shagadelic' Florida digs

CNN's Katia Hetter contributed to this story

Swimming with sharks, no cage

Cage-free shark photographer Michael Muller is taking over Discovery Channel's Instagram for Shark Week 2014. He hopes to use the opportunity to raise awareness about the declining populations of sharks.

"BLUESTEEL"

"It's all about light. Whether In the studio or 40ft below the surface, it all boils down to light. Can't tell you how fulfilling it is to light these babies up. Now just need to put the spotlight on shark finning and ending it or at least regulating it."

"While I love shooting all these actors, this is what occupies my mind in between shots. Shooting in 103 degree heat helps make this moment come to mind as well," Muller says on his Instagram feed.

"I've been surrounded by 150 to 200 sharks, not once ever been been close to being bitten."

Muller says of sharks: "100 million a year are killed people ... We gotta do what we can to put a stop to this or our ocean's fragile eco system is going to end up with just jellyfish."

• Cage-free shark photographer Michael Muller takes close up images of great whites


• Muller is known for using studio techniques to shoot in the wild


• He hopes his images will raise awareness about dwindling shark populations

(CNN) -- Photographer Michael Muller is a man without fear. He swims among sharks without the protection of a cage to make studio-quality, intimate photos of these beautiful creatures. As scary as that might sound, the top predators are at the bottom of his list of concerns. He's usually far more concerned about all the gear he brings into the water.

"The sharks don't really pose any of the danger. It's all the diving, and the technical [challenges] and electricity and the light," Muller says. "I don't use cages -- I've been surrounded by 150 to 200 sharks, not once ever been close to being bitten."

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Using studio techniques in the wild has helped Muller's work stand out in a crowded field of nature photographers. It bolsters the attention he's received as a commercial photographer, a spotlight he's leveraging to raise awareness about critically diminishing global shark populations.

This week his shark photos are being featured on the Instagram blog as he takes over Discovery Channel's account for Shark Week. He'll be uploading images from his own feed as well as posting new pictures from Mexico, where he's currently swimming with whale sharks. Both venues are helping broadcast his pictures -- and his message -- to an enormous audience.

Read: 30 mesmerizing underwater photos

Because of threats like overfishing and a high demand for fins, "the sharks are really in a lot of danger right now," he says. "We're killing about 100 million of them a year. People have no idea when they hear the numbers, and they're the top of a very, very fragile ecosystem in the oceans, so if you take out the top predator it's just like a domino effect."

I thought OK, I've done $10 billion in movie posters, maybe I can help sort of change people's perceptions of these animals and what's happening to our planet.

Michael Muller, photographer

"White Mike" as he's sometimes called, says his highly successful commercial work has helped him see the power of photography, but rather than promote celebrities or products, he's using his skills to help advocacy organizations like WildAid, Sea Shepherds, EarthEcho, and Shark Spotters in South Africa.

Read: People Around the World Pose With Everything They Eat in a Day

"I thought OK, I've done $10 billion in movie posters, maybe I can help sort of change people's perceptions of these animals and what's happening to our planet," he says.

As any professional photographer must be these days, Muller is also something of an entrepreneur. In addition to owning the patent on the seven-bulb, 1200-watt lighting rig he uses to illuminate the sharks, he's developed a photo toning app and is busy helping establish an online photography school. He says he's also got a number of books in the works, based on his photos of sharks.

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Photographers strive to make images that connect with viewers, and the skills needed to do that are universal, whether under water or on land. A sense for composition, timing, and more than anything, patience will produce powerful images of a shark as surely as anything else. Muller hopes the connections his images forge will motivate people to think beyond their preconceptions about sharks. Ultimately, the global conversation will have to shift so people don't see these animals simply as a source of fins, or animals to be hunted for sport, but instead as the magnificent mainstays of a vast and delicate ecosystem that they really are.

"In order to get those changes you need people from within those cultures to come out and take a stand, which they're starting to do," he says. "Our generation I don't really have a lot of hope for," he says. "It's for the next generation [that needs to] fix what we've done and what we're leaving them."

Read more from WIRED:

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Copyright 2011 Wired.com.

Perry vows to fight felony charges

• Gov. Rick Perry says the indictment is politically motivated and vows to fight it


• Perry lawyer calls indictments "political abuse of the court system"


• Indictment by country grand jury in Texas stems from effort to remove local prosecutor


• Perry allegedly threatened to veto funding for a program run by the DA in Austin

(CNN) -- Texas Gov. Rick Perry, calling his indictment politically motivated, vowed Saturday to fight charges he abused his power by trying to pressure a district attorney to resign.

"This farce of a prosecution will be revealed for what it is, and those responsible will be held accountable," Perry said at a news conference in Austin, the capital.

A grand jury in Travis County indicted Perry, a Republican, on two felony counts stemming from his threat to veto funding for a statewide public integrity unit run by Travis Country District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg, a Democrat, unless she stepped down, according to the special prosecutor in the case, Michael McCrum.

The case centers on Perry's June 2013 veto of the $7.5 million budget for the unit run by Lehmberg, after she refused his demand to resign following her drunken driving arrest and conviction.

Perry faces accusations of coercion of a public servant and abuse of his official capacity in connection with the threat and veto.

Gov. Rick Perry is accused of abusing his power

Gov. Perry indicted by Texas grand jury

bts governor perry indictment presser_00001110.jpg

Right to veto?

According to McCrum, the indictment alleges that the circumstances around Perry's veto threat amounted to a misuse of state money earmarked by the Legislature to fund the public integrity unit in Travis County run by Lehmberg.

The second charge alleges that he improperly used the veto threat to get her to resign following her arrest on a drunk driving charge. She stayed in office.

But the governor said under the state constitution he has the discretionary right to veto items in the state budget.

"I exercised this discretion," he said.

Read the indictment (PDF)

Perry defended his actions, pointing to Lehmberg's blood alcohol level at the time of her arrest in April 2013 and then her behavior during her arrest, which was captured on video and made public.

"Given that information and given that choice again, that is exactly what I would do again," Perry said.

The governor said the indictment amounted to nothing more than "abuse of power."

"We don't settle political differences with indictments in this country," Perry said.

CNN affiliate KVUE reported that Perry will have to report to the Travis County Jail in Austin to be booked, fingerprinted and have his photo made for a mugshot.

Political implications

Perry can continue to serve as governor while under indictment, KVUE reported. His attorneys could seek to have the charges thrown out, a motion that would delay the case, at the very least.

The charges have serious political implications, both in Texas and beyond. Perry is entering his final few months in office after a historic 14-year run in Austin.

Perry's presidential prospects could be damaged. It's an open secret he's laying groundwork for a second presidential campaign after his disastrous 2012 effort.

The governor is scheduled to visit the early primary states of New Hampshire and South Carolina in the coming weeks to meet with Republican activists and legislators. He has positioned himself as an early conservative alternative to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, another GOP presidential contender.

Perry attorney David L. Botsford on Friday called the indictment a violence of the separation of powers, saying it "sets a dangerous precedent by allowing a grand jury to punish the exercise of a lawful and constitutional authority afforded to the Texas governor."

The special prosecutor, McCrum, told the San Antonio Express-News the claim the case was politically motivated was "not only ridiculous, but it's disappointing."

"I think it's important to note that while that may be good rhetoric for the state, there's absolutely no basis for it," he told the newspaper.

"My investigation not only did not involve that, but my conversations with Mr. Botsford have never involved that. It's always been about the facts and the law. That's what this case is all about --- the facts and the law, and nothing else."

Support for Perry

Even so, a number of national political figures -- on both sides of the political line -- came to Perry's defense.

"Unless he was demonstrably trying to scrap the ethics unit for other than his stated reason, Perry indictment seems pretty sketchy," David Axelrod, President Barack Obama's former top adviser, said in a post on Twitter.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, a Republican, also took to Twitter on the issue: "the indictment of @GovernorPerry seems politically motivated and ridiculous. Major overreach and an encroachment on his veto authority."

But the Texas Democratic Party called on Perry to resign, saying in a written statement that the governor "brought dishonor to his office, his family and the state of Texas.

"We call on Governor Perry to immediately step down from office. Texans deserve real leadership and this is unbecoming of our governor."

Perry's indictment is the first of a sitting governor in Texas on such charges since 1917 when, according to The Dallas Morning News, James "Pa" Ferguson was indicted for vetoing funding for the University of Texas in an attempt to push out faculty and staff. He resigned.

Opinion: The case against Perry

CNN's Steve Brusk, Dana Davidsen, Leslie Bentz and Peter Hamby contributed to this report.

MMA fighter caught after manhunt

• Jonathan Koppenhaver has been on the run for a week


• His ex-girlfriend said he assaulted her in Las Vegas last week


• Authorities arrested him Friday at a motel in Southern California


• "I'm so cursed," he said after the alleged assault

(CNN) -- After a weeklong manhunt, authorities have arrested mixed martial arts fighter Jonathan Koppenhaver in Southern California for allegedly beating his ex-girlfriend in Las Vegas.

Police captured Koppenhaver, who goes by War Machine, at a motel in Simi Valley on Friday afternoon. He's originally from the suburb near Los Angeles.

"Inside the room was a small quantity of cash and some pizza," the Simi Valley Police said in a statement.

Koppenhaver has been on the run since his ex-girlfriend accused him of assault on August 8, according to CNN affiliate KVVU.

At the time, police were called to a Las Vegas home at 4 a.m. and found two people suffering from nonlife-threatening injuries, the affiliate reported.

One of the two, adult film actress Christy Mack, said Koppenhaver beat her several times during the August 8 incident, according to the affiliate.

In Twitter posts shortly after the alleged attacks, Koppenhaver appeared to address the issue. He said he had gone to the house to surprise Mack with a ring and ended "up fighting for my life."

"I only wish that man hadn't been there and that Christy & I would be happily engaged," he posted. "I don't know y I'm so cursed. One day truth will come out."

His tweets two days after the alleged incident don't say who the man in the house was.

"The cops will never give me fair play, never believe me," he posted. "Still, deciding what to do but at the end of the day, it's all just heart breaking."

Koppenhaver is awaiting extradition to Nevada, the affiliate reported.

CNN's AnneClaire Stapleton contributed to this report

Screams lead to 35 stowaways

Some of those rescued from the shipping container were taken to Basildon University Hospital, east of London.

• London dockworkers discovered 35 people inside a shipping container


• One man has died, the rest treated for dehydration and hypothermia


• Police say they are from the Indian subcontinent


• Workers heard screaming and banging from one of the ship's 50 containers

(CNN) -- Dockworkers at a major London port discovered 35 people inside a shipping container Saturday morning.

One of them, an adult male, was declared dead at the scene, according to Essex police Superintendent Trevor Roe.

Several others -- including children -- were said to have "significant health problems," according to a police statement.

Daniel Gore of England Ambulance Service said the patients -- all of whom were conscious when they were found -- are being treated for dehydration and hypothermia at three London-area hospitals.

None of their conditions are believed to be life-threatening, he said.

What caused the one death was not yet known. A homicide investigation is under way, according to Roe.

'Screaming and Banging'

Workers at Tilbury Docks made the discovery after "screaming and banging was heard from inside the container," Roe said.

The stowaways are from the Indian subcontinent, said Roe, but it was not immediately clear if that is where their maritime journey originated, or when it did.

What is known is that the container they were in arrived to Tilbury -- located on the River Thames about 30 miles east of London -- aboard a ship owned by P&O Ferries at 6 a.m. (1 a.m. ET) from the Belgian port city of Zeebrugge after a nearly nine-hour trip.

Company spokeswoman Natalie Hardy told CNN that P&O Ferries operates two such trips a day between London and Zeebrugge.

She said P&O Ferries does not inspect the contents of the containers it transports as a matter of company policy. Such checks, according to Hardy, are the responsibility of the UK Border Agency.

There were 50 containers on the ship, according to Roe. He said they would all be thoroughly searched.

British authorities blasted the "criminal networks" engaged in human trafficking.

"Today's tragic incident at Tilbury is a reminder of the often devastating human consequences of illegal migration," Immigration and Security Minister James Brokenshire said in a statement. "This incident is now a criminal investigation. Border Force officers are fully engaged with Essex police and the Tilbury port authorities as the necessary steps are taken towards bringing those responsible to justice."

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Not enough refugees receive asylum

HALF of all immigrants who manage to get over the fence in Ceuta and Melilla are refugees but only 10 per cent of them receive asylum in Spain.

According to a report recently released by the Spanish Commission for Refugee Aid (CEAR) around half of the immigrants who come over the fences come from war-torn countries and should be given asylum in Spain although only around 10 per cent of them actually receive it.

CEAR has presented a campaign to collect 100,000 signatures with which to ask the government to take away the concertinaed barbed wire from the top of the fence and to respect human rights.

CEAR explains that refugees “are people who never expected to have to leave their countries and ask for asylum in order to preserve their lives and physical safety.”

Carlos Berzosa, president of CEAR, has claimed that the government is trying to make out that jumping the fence is a recent problem in order to justify its “repressive methods,” when in actual fact this has always happened at that border.

He goes on to say that only 5 per cent of illegal immigrants come in through the fences in Ceuta and Melilla - the rest come in through airports, roads and trains.

Meanwhile Spanish president, Mariano Rajoy, is asking the EU for more guidelines on what is to be done about the immigrant situation.

Mijas man arrested for online grooming

NATIONAL Police officers have arrested a 32-year-old man in Mijas, on the Costa del Sol, for grooming eight young girls throughout Spain over Social Media networks.

According to a statement made by the National Police, the arrested man used a false profile to gain his victim’s trust, passing himself off for a child of the same age range. All of his victims were aged between 10 and 15 years old.

Once he had won their confidence, he persuaded the girls to send him images of a sexually explicit nature, and then threatened to distribute the images and photos if they did not continue to do as he said.

Investigations began after the mother of one of the victims discovered what her daughter was being subjected to, and alerted the police to the actions of the predator.

Detectives were able to identify eight victims between 10 and 15 years old, located all over Spain.

The man is currently under arrest for various offences including abusing minors, sexual provocation, threatening behaviour, possession of child pornography and sexual abuse.

The National Police are taking the opportunity to remind parents and guardians of the importance of educating children to the potential dangers on the Internet. If a parent of a child feels that they have been exposed to online grooming, they are urged to get in contact with the authorities immediately.

The investigation continues.

Barcelona to close 50 cannabis clubs

BARCELONA is to close 50 cannabis clubs.

Catalan authorities in Barcelona are worried about the city’s reputation as a marihuana smokers’ haven and ordered the immediate closure of 50 cannabis clubs after detecting deficiencies in their management. The affected clubs stand accused of illegally selling cannabis, trying to attract non-members and of poor ventilation.

The number of Spanish cannabis clubs has rocketed in recent years from approximately 40 in 2010 to more than 700. The Catalan capital is home to more than 50 per cent of these clubs which sprung into existence thanks to a legal loophole in Spanish legislation allowing marihuana to not only be cultivated but also distributed to people who found a non-profit organisation.

Some clubs, however, have pushed the boundaries of Spanish legislation by encouraging tourists to sign up for temporary club membership over the Internet before they arrive in Spain and buy drugs when they visit.

Barcelona Council recently imposed a one-year moratorium on associations creating cannabis clubs and now Catalan authorities have called for a tougher stance and stricter rules on cannabis. These include passing regulations prohibiting the opening of cannabis clubs near schools and making it mandatory for them to be well ventilated at all times. Furthermore, authorities wish to impose a maximum membership number and limit opening hours. In addition, the Catalan Ministry of Health is to present a bill in September to the Generalitat (Regional Government) to regulate cannabis consumption.

It is estimated that there are as many as 165,000 registered members of cannabis clubs in Catalonia, which brings approximately €5 million (£4 million) in revenue each month.

Concern in rise of domestic violence

A man has been detained in Madrid for stabbing a woman to death.

National Police in Mostoles placed a Peruvian national under arrest for allegedly killing a 38-year-old woman believed to have been his wife.

A call was made to the emergency services last Thursday at around 22.20 alerting authorities to a quarrel between a man and a woman at Plaza de Fuensanta. Several police officers arrived on the scene and found the body of a Peruvian woman with multiple stab wounds to her body. A post-mortem examination will be necessary to determine how many times the woman was actually stabbed.

A 61-year-old Peruvian national was placed under arrest and questioned by Judicial Police. The detained does not have a criminal record and it is yet to be determined if the woman had lodged a complaint for domestic violence or requested a restraining order against him. It is also unclear whether the victim was married to her alleged killer or whether there was any sort of relationship between the two.

Spanish police think this could turn out to be a new case of domestic violence in Spain which would increase the number of women killed by their partners in 2014 to 36.

Only last week there were two such cases in Malaga province, with the murder in Torrox of the director of Nerja History Museum, and the killing of a young woman outside her block of flats in Ciudad Jardin. In both cases the women’s partner or ex-partner were arrested by the police.