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Ernesto Miranda, aka "Smokey," was a co-founder of the infamous Mara Salvatrucha gang in Los Angeles. At 38, he was studying law and working to keep kids out of gangs. All that ended Saturday night, when he was shot to death, apparently in retaliation for his anti-gang efforts.

Tulane University in New Orleans held its graduation ceremony Saturday after a traumatic year. Students who held on through Katrina and nine months of recovery heard advice and admonitions from former Presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush.

Everybody has an ideal type of beauty. Some people like them thin or athletic or round. And some people like them big -- real big. I learn to incorporate weights into my workout with help from champion female bodybuilder Dianne Solomons.

Everyone suddenly wants to learn Mandarin Chinese. The problem is that there are few credentialed teachers. Now the Chinese government is making plans to develop teaching partnerships with U.S. public school districts.

Nigeria's Senate kills a proposed constitutional amendment that would have allowed the country's president to run for a third term. Critics said the proposal would widen regional, ethnic and religious rifts. They hailed its failure as a victory for democracy.

A report in Thursday's USA Today reveals that the National Security Agency (NSA) has been secretly collecting records from AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth documenting phone calls within the United States. The agency reportedly wants to create a database of calls to help track terrorist activity. Madeleine Brand speaks with USA Today reporter Leslie Cauley, who broke the story.

Sergeant Bilko cheated and conned officers and underlings alike -- and TV audiences loved him. The producer of a new DVD set of The Phil Silvers Show, aka "Segeant Bilko," explains what made the 1950s show so beloved.

A new proposal coming out of Baghdad would give amnesty to prisoners and insurgents. The 28-point initiative is an attempt by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to bring stability to Iraq. The offer, however, excludes terrorists and those who committed war crimes or crimes against humanity.

John McPhee has written at length about fish, geology, oranges, nuclear power, basketball... and the list goes on. At 75, the great reporter feels he has plenty of words, characters and subjects left to explore.

The Bush administration says its program to monitor international financial records has a number of safeguards that prevent violation of privacy rights. But critics note that those safeguards are voluntary because this particular type of data tracking isn't covered by U.S. laws against government intrusion into private financial records.