News Values

1.Timeliness- This article is timely because it happened very recently and was published today.

Dennis Rodman Returns to North Korea to Visit Kim

By GERRY MULLANY

Published: September 3, 2013

HONG KONG — Dennis Rodman, the former basketball star, returned Tuesday to North Korea, where he said he planned to see “my friend” Kim Jong-un, the dictator whose country until recently was threatening to annihilate the United States with nuclear weapons.

Mr. Rodman said in Beijing that he was planning a five-day visit to the North, but played down speculation that he would try to secure the release of Kenneth Bae, a Korean-American Christian missionary who has been jailed there since late last year after being detained on North Korean soil.

“I’m not going to North Korea to discuss freeing Kenneth Bae,” Mr. Rodman, a Basketball Hall of Fame member, told Reuters in a telephone interview. “I’m just going there on another basketball diplomacy tour.” Mr. Kim is known to be a fervent basketball fan, and the two watched a game together during Mr. Rodman’s previous visit.

His visit comes amid a thaw in relations between North and South Korea, sworn enemies that just months ago appeared to be on the brink of military conflict.

Mr. Rodman’s last trip to the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, was sponsored by Vice Media, and he drew wide criticism for cozying up to a government with a long record of human rights abuses. The current trip is being sponsored by Paddy Power, an Irish gambling operation, he said. After Mr. Rodman’s first North Korea trip, Paddy Power sent Mr. Rodman to Vatican City to urge people to place their bets on a new pope.

But Mr. Rodman said this trip to see Mr. Kim was all about friendship — and sports.

“I’ve come out here to see my friend,” he said. “I want to talk about basketball.”

During his visit to North Korea in March, Mr. Rodman told reporters in Pyongyang that North Koreans “love” Kim Jong-un, adding, “I love him — the guy’s awesome.”

It was around that time that North Korea was reaching new heights of bellicosity toward the United States, threatening to turn Washington and Seoul, the South Korean capital, into “a sea of flames” with “lighter and smaller nukes” because of stricter United Nations Security Council sanctions over the North’s third nuclear test in February.

Mr. Rodman’s visit also comes just days after North Korea rescinded its invitation to Robert King, a senior American diplomat who was planning to travel to Pyongyang to try to secure Mr. Bae’s release.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/04/world/asia/dennis-rodman-says-he-is-returning-to-north-korea.html?ref=world&_r=0

2. Proximity- I think this article represents proximity because it is occurring here in Austin where we live.

UT officers show lighter side in daily report

Pair uses humor in lesser crime write-ups while still informing students to stay safe.

By Ciara O’Rourke COROURKE@STATESMAN.COM  

   The suspect, described as a “non-UT male,” was sleeping — shirtless and shoeless — outside of the Sanchez Building at the University of Texas.

   When an officer for the university’s Police Department woke him up Aug. 9, the man felt like he didn’t need to speak to the officer because he wasn’t “the real police,” recalled Campus Watch, a summary of recent incidents or arrests on campus that is posted online and emailed to more than 15,000 people almost every weekday.

   Often, the crime prevention officer writing it includes earnest tips for ways students can stay safe.

   Other times, as was the case with the dozing “non-UT male,” the blotter is barbed.

   “The UT police officer performed a ‘real’ check of his criminal history and found he had a previous ‘real’ criminal trespass warning from UTPD,” officer Jimmy Moore wrote. “The subject was placed in ‘real’ handcuffs and arrested for criminal trespass. He was then placed in a ‘real’ patrol car and transported ... to a ‘real jail!’

   “The UT police officer was just keeping it ‘real.’ ”

   It was one of officer Layne Brewster’s favorite entries this year.

   She and Moore are the university’s crime prevention officers, and their other job responsibilities range from making sure graffiti is cleaned up to identifying what’s causing frequent false alarms to fielding calls from parents worried about their son’s or daughter’s safety.

   They hold safety presentations and teach women how to fend off rapists. And they write Campus Watch. A sergeant introduced it in 1999 to keep the public informed about what crime was happening at the university. In 2000, Moore said the department moved to make it more humorous to increase readership.

   Last year, the Austin Chronicle recognized Campus Watch with a Best of Austin title, naming the crime roundup as the “best way to stay safe on campus.”

   Moore said it can take him half a day to put together. The jokes, he said, are a collaborative effort, almost like a law enforcement writers room where he bounces ideas off his fellow officers.

   “The reports write themselves,” Brewster said. “It’s amazing what drunk people say or do.”

   Moore and Brewster don’t try to find humor in something that simply isn’t funny, such as an assault, she said.

   And they don’t want to offend anyone.

   But lighter offenses are described with a wink and a nod.

   After a student later arrested on a DWI charge drives behind an officer with his brights on, the officer pulled over and “returned the favor,” flicking on his lights for a traffic stop.

   Contact Ciara O’Rourke at 512-445-3548.

University of Texas police officers Jimmy Moore and Layne Brewster are the university’s crime prevention officers. They also write Campus Watch. RODOLFO GONZALEZ / AMERICAN-STATESMAN

BEST OF CAMPUS WATCH

   Aug. 20: “The UT police officer smelled a strong odor of alcohol emanating from the driver and noticed she began to hiccup. The driver ran into a few more ‘hiccups’ while performing a series of sobriety tests that indicated she was intoxicated.”

   Aug. ›5: “UT police officers responded to ... a report of a stolen phone. ... The subject stated he ‘took the phone to make a call and was going to return it when he finished.’... The subjected was arrested for criminal trespass and transported to central booking, where he was able to complete his call.”

   Aug. ›2: “A UT police officer observed an ironic crime, which was the word ‘crime’ written in white spray paint on a window at the Lavaca Building.”

   Aug. ›: “After trying to pass a parking garage ticket as his legal form of identification, the UT police officer arrested the subject for public intoxication, rather than validating his parking.”
*Found at Austin American Statesman


3. Prominence- This story is prominent because Nyad did something that no one else has done before, thats why she is newsworthy.

'Never, ever give up:' Diana Nyad completes historic Cuba-to-Florida swim

By Matt Sloane, Jason Hanna and Dana Ford, CNN

updated 8:23 AM EDT, Tue September 3, 2013

Key West, Florida (CNN) -- "Find a way."

That's the mantra Diana Nyad said she had this year. And that's exactly what she did.

On Monday, Nyad became the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida without a protective cage, willing her way to a Key West beach just before 2 p.m. ET, nearly 53 hours after jumping into the ocean in Havana for her fifth try in 35 years.

Shortly after conquering the Straits of Florida, the 64-year-old endurance swimmer sat down with CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

"It's all authentic. It's a great story. You have a dream 35 years ago -- doesn't come to fruition, but you move on with life. But it's somewhere back there. Then you turn 60, and your mom just dies, and you're looking for something. And the dream comes waking out of your imagination," Nyad said.

"With all the experience I have, especially in this ocean, I never knew I would suffer the way I did," she said. "For 49 hours the wind just blew like heck, and it was rough."

At one point, she was vomiting because she had so much salt water in her system and was shivering. She sang lullabies to help her relax.

"It was really rough that first day, Saturday, after the start and I just said: 'Forget about the surface up. Get your hands in somehow, and with your left hand, say, push Cuba back, and push Florida towards you,'" Nyad said.

Through it all, she held her mantra close: "You don't like it. It's not doing well. Find a way."

'You are never too old'

Dozens of onlookers -- some in kayaks and boats, many others wading in the water or standing on shore -- gathered to cheer Nyad on as she finished the more than 100-mile swim.

She pumped her fist as she walked onto the beach toward an awaiting medic before being guided to an ambulance.

"I got three messages," an exhausted and happy Nyad told reporters. Her face was sunburned and swollen.

"One is we should never, ever give up. Two is you never are too old to chase your dreams. Three is it looks like a solitary sport, but it's a team," she said.

The swim was a long-awaited triumph for Nyad, who was making her fifth attempt since 1978 and her fourth since turning 60.

The first four tries were marked by gut-wrenching setbacks; if the rough, strength-sapping seas didn't force her to quit, an hours-long asthma attack or paralyzing and excruciating jellyfish stings did.

But for this swim, besides donning a suit meant to protect her against her jellyfish nemesis, she wore a special mask to prevent jellyfish stings to her tongue, a key factor in her failed attempt last year.

"This time, I am 64. So, the years of my life are shorter to the end," she said at a news conference in Havana on Friday. "So this time I am, all the way across ... going to think about all those life lessons that came up during the swim."

Fatigue almost seemed poised to derail her again early Monday.

About 7:30 a.m. ET, she was slurring her speech because of a swollen tongue and lips, her support team reported on its website.

As the team called her around dawn for her first feeding since midnight, she took longer than normal to reach the support boat, the report said.

Divers swam ahead of her, collecting jellyfish and moving them out of Nyad's path.

Swimmer's challenge: Cross 103 miles of shark-infested water

When instructed Monday morning to follow the path that's been cleared for her, she flashed her sense of humor, replying, "I've never been able to follow it in my life," according to the website.

'Tell me what your dreams are'

Nyad's home stretch followed an overnight in which she became so cold, the team didn't stop her for feeding until first light "in the hopes that swimming would keep her warm," the website said.

Every stroke she swam put her deeper into record territory. On Sunday night, she broke Penny Palfrey's record for the farthest anyone has managed on the trek without a shark cage.

In 1997, Australian Susie Maroney completed the swim from within a shark cage. She was 22 at the time.

Nyad set out from Havana at 8:59 a.m. Saturday with a crew of 35, including divers to watch for sharks.

In her first attempt to cross the Straits of Florida in 1978, rough seas left her battered, delirious and less than halfway toward her goal.

She tried again twice in 2011, but her efforts ended after an 11-hour asthma attack and jellyfish stings.

Last year, she abandoned an attempt about halfway through after severe jellyfish stings and a lightning storm put her in danger.Nyad, who was 29 when she first tried the swim, said last week that she wanted to show that "you can dream at any age."The swim wasn't easy.

Nyad was a swimming sensation before these attempts. In the 1970s, she won multiple swimming marathons and was one of the first women to swim around the island of Manhattan.

She was 8 years old when she first dreamed about swimming across the Straits of Florida. At the time, Nyad was in Cuba on a trip from her home in Florida in the 1950s, before Fidel Castro led a Communist takeover in Cuba and the country's relations with the United States soured.

The Los Angeles woman had said this was going to be her final attempt.

"I decided, this one no matter what happened, I don't want that experience again -- like right now, tonight -- talking to you about the journey is worth everything. It is. But I didn't want to be here packing up again," Nyad told CNN's Gupta.

She demurred when he described her as a hero but said she hopes she can serve as some sort of inspiration.

"I think that a lot of people in our country have gotten depressed, pinned in, pinned down with living lives they don't want," Nyad said.

She continued: "I do write all the time about -- you tell me what your dreams are. What are you chasing? It's not impossible. Name it."

http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/02/world/americas/diana-nyad-cuba-florida-swim/index.html?hpt=us_c1

4. Impact- This story is very important because it affects our entire nation. If we attack Syria it could make us involved in another war which effects everyone in America.

Obama gains backing for attack

U.S. Sens. John McCain, Lindsey Graham favor a limited response.

By Jackie Calmes, Michael R. Gordon and Eric Schmitt NEW YORK TIMES

   WASHINGTON — The White House’s aggressive push for congressional approval of an attack on Syria appeared to have won the tentative support of one of President Barack Obama’s most hawkish Republican critics, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, who said Monday that he supported a “limited” strike if the president did more to arm the Syrian opposition.

   In an hourlong meeting at the White House, McCain said Obama gave general support to doing more for the Syrian rebels, although no specifics were discussed. In the same conversation, which also included Sen. Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Republican, officials said that Obama indicated that a covert effort by the United States to train the Syrian rebels was beginning to yield results: the first 50-man cell of fighters, which has been trained by the CIA, was beginning to sneak into Syria.

   There appeared to be broad agreement with the president, McCain and Graham said, that any attack on Syria should be to “degrade” the Syrian government’s delivery systems — which could include aircraft, artillery and the kind of rockets that the Obama administration says were used by the forces of President Bashar Assad to carry out an Aug. 21 sarin attack in the Damascus suburbs that killed more than 1,400 people.

   The senators, who both toned down past criticism that the president’s plan was too weak to change the course of Syria, now said they plan to meet with Susan Rice, Obama’s national security adviser, to discuss the strategy in greater depth.

   “It is all in the details, but I left the meeting feeling better than I felt before about what happens the day after and that the purpose of the attack is going to be a little more robust than I thought,” Graham said.

   But McCain said that the Obama did not say specifically what weapons might be provided to the opposition or discuss in detail what Syrian targets might be attacked.

   “There was no concrete agreement, ‘OK, we got a deal,’ ” McCain said. “Like a lot of things, the devil is in the details.”

   In remarks to reporters outside the West Wing, McCain called the meeting “encouraging,” urged lawmakers to support Obama in his plan for military action in Syria and said a no vote in Congress would be “catastrophic” for the United States and its credibility in the world. McCain said he believed after his conversation with the president that any strikes would be “very serious” and not “cosmetic.”

   Although the words from McCain and Graham were a positive development for Obama and a critical part of the administration’s lobbying blitz on Syria on Monday, the White House still faces a tough fight in Congress.

   Many lawmakers entirely oppose a strike, and others favor a resolution that provides for more limited military action than what is in a draft resolution that the White House has sent to Capitol Hill.

   The conflict of opinion underscores Obama’s challenge in winning a vote in the House and Senate next week and avoiding personal defeat.

   A Labor Day confer ence call with five of Obama’s highest-ranking security advisers drew 127 House Democrats, nearly two-thirds their total number, after 83 lawmakers of both parties attended a classified briefing on Sunday.

   Pertinent committees are returning to Washington early from congressional recess for hearings this week, starting Tuesday with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which will hear from Secretary of State John Kerry, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

   “The debate is shifting away from ‘Did he use chemical weapons?’ to ‘What should be done about it?’ ” said Rep. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, in an interview after the Monday conference call.

   In Washington, the White House’s “flood the zone” effort, as one official called it, will continue. Classified briefings will be held for all House members and senators Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.

   Obama has invited the Republican and Democratic leaders of the House and Senate defense, foreign affairs and intelligence committees to the White House today.

   But Tuesday night, he departs on a long-planned foreign trip, first to Sweden and then to Russia for the annual G-20 summit meeting of major industrialized and developing nations, a forum that is sure to be dominated by talk of Syria, and bring Obama face-to-face with Assad’s chief ally and arms supplier, President Vladimir Putin of Russia.

   House Democrats on the conference call with administration officials, which lasted 70 minutes, said Kerry, who has been the most aggressive and public prosecutor for military action, took the lead.

   Democrats said he portrayed not only the horrors of chemical weapons inflicted on Syrian civilians in the Aug. 21 attacks outside Damascus, but also the potential threat, if left unanswered, that such weapons posed to regional allies like Israel, Jordan and Turkey.

   Kerry argued that inaction could embolden Iran or non-state terrorists to strike those Middle East allies, and further encourage Iran and North Korea to press ahead with their nuclear programs.

   “The United States will not go it alone,” he said at one point, according to a senior Democrat who declined to be identified. Offers of “military assets” have come from France, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, he said, without identifying the assets, and more are expected.

DEVELOPMENTS

   United States: A Marine Corps spokesman says the Marines’ recruiting website was tampered with and redirected temporarily, but no information was put at risk. Capt. Eric Flanagan wouldn’t say who was responsible for the hacking, but the site was redirected to a message from the Syrian Electronic Army, a hacker group that’s claimed responsibility for disrupting the New York Times website, Twitter and other media sites the group sees as sympathetic to Syria’s rebels.

   Syria: President Bashar Assad said military strikes against his country would risk triggering a regional war. He said the Middle East is a “powder keg” and no one can say what will transpire if the West takes military action against Syria.

   France: A French intelligence report estimated that the Syrian regime launched the alleged Aug. 21 attack involving a “massive use of chemical agents” and could carry out similar strikes in the future.

   Russia: The Russian news agency Interfax said President Vladimir Putin hopes to send a delegation of lawmakers to the U.S. to discuss the situation with members of Congress. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said “there was nothing specific” in the evidence the U.S. showed Moscow to blame the Syrian regime for the alleged chemical weapons attack.

   United Nations: Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon planned to brief the Security Council’s 10 non-permanent members on the Syria crisis Tuesday morning. Angela Kane, high representative for disarmament affairs, planned a briefing Tuesday for member states that requested the investigation of alleged chemical weapons attacks.

   ASSOCIATED PRESS
*Found at Austin American Statesman


5. Conflict- This is conflict because the opposing forces are Afghanistan and the U.S.

3 killed in attack on U.S. base

Casualties said to be Taliban insurgents in what NATO calls a failed attack.

By Rhim Faiez and Rahmat Gul ASSOCIATED PRESS

   MOHMANDARA DISTRICT, AfgHANISTAN — Militants attacked a U.S. base in Afghanistan near the border with Pakistan on Monday, setting off bombs, torching vehicles and shutting down a key road used by NATO supply trucks, officials said. At least three people — apparently all attacking insurgents — were killed.

   The Taliban claimed responsibility for the strike in the Torkham area, the latest in a surge of attacks in Afghanistan as U.S.-led foreign troops reduce their presence en route to a full withdrawal by the end of next year. Militants frequently target NATO’s supply lines in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.

   Attacks on Afghan security forces and civilians have also mounted this week killing dozens and adding to fears the draw-down of foreign troops, most of whom are due to leave the country by the end of next year, is allowing insurgents to regain lost territory.

   In a brief statement, NATO confirmed an “unsuccessful coordinated attack by enemy forces” but said none of its personnel were killed. The military alliance generally does not release information on wounded troops. No members of the Afghan security forces or civilians were killed or wounded, according to Esa Khan Zwak, chief administrator in Mohmandara district, in which the base is located.

   Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, spokesman for the governor of Nangarhar province, said several militants wearing suicide vests and carrying other weapons staged the attack, and that Afghan and U.S. forces exchanged gunfire with the insurgents. NATO helicopters joined the fight, he added.

   The encounter began around 6:30 a.m. and lasted three-and-a-half hours, said Masoum Khan Hashimi, deputy provincial police chief in Nangarhar province. Afghan security forces trying to clear the area were still in the process of defusing a bomb in a car. At least one car bomb also was successfully detonated.

   An Associated Press photographer at the scene saw three bodies of suspected attackers — apparently shot dead from the NATO helicopters. The suspected insurgents didn’t manage to enter the main base area, but had tried to hide under a small canal bridge near it when they were hit.

   The highway between Jalalabad city and Torkham, an important route for NATO supply trucks, was closed. Militants on both sides of the border have frequently targeted the supply line, leading NATO to shift much of its delivery toward routes from Central Asian states instead of through Pakistan.

   In an emailed statement, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said the insurgent group was behind Monday morning’s attack, and claimed it had destroyed several tanks — an assertion Hashimi denied.

   The United States has been putting pressure on Afghanistan to finalize a bilateral security agreement (BSA), which will mandate how many, and where, U.S. soldiers will remain once the NATO mission ends.

   Reuters contributed to this story.

POLICE DEATHS ON RISE

   Police deaths in Afghanistan have doubled this year after withdrawing NATO forces handed security of the war-ravaged country to poorly equipped local troops with less frontline experience fighting Taliban insurgents.

   Almost twelve years after coalition forces invaded Afghanistan, swathes of territory are firmly under Taliban control and Afghan troops are still heavily reliant on foreign air support, particularly in remote areas. Their lighter vehicles make them particularly vulnerable to roadside bombs.

   The Afghan government, anxious not to damage morale, has been reluctant to publish regular casualty numbers. It no longer publishes death tolls for the army.

   However, in a speech on Monday, new Interior Minister Umer Daudzai revealed that 1,792 police have been killed since March, most of them by roadside bombs. The same number died in the preceding 12 months.

   It is one of the highest police death rates in the world and raises further questions over how the government will be able to keep the Taliban at bay once foreign troops have withdrawn fully from Afghanistan at the end of 2014.
*Found at Austin American Statesman


6. Human Interest- This is Human Interest because it shows the emotional struggle of a teen and many others can relate to this emotionally. It also makes people want to stop bullying.

Friends: 15-year-old Connecticut boy who committed suicide was bullied

By Brian Vitagliano, CNN

updated 6:48 AM EDT, Tue September 3, 2013

CNN) -- A 15-year-old Connecticut boy who shot and killed himself last week with the family shotgun had sustained years of bullying, friends said Monday.

Bart Palosz committed suicide August 27 after attending the first day of his sophomore year at Greenwich High School in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Friends who knew Bart, a Polish immigrant, told CNN he was the target of bullies due to his size -- the teen was 6 feet, 3 inches tall -- and Polish accent. The friends described him as "a little awkward in his body" but said he was a "giant sweetheart" who related more with adults than his peers.

Lisa Johnson's 13-year-old son Izzy was good friends with Bart and the Palosz family. She gave one of several eulogies at his funeral Friday, saying, "Bart was one of the kindest kids I had ever met. ... It was a life-changing friendship for Izzy. Bart was two years older, and he was so kind, funny, and refreshingly different from any kid Izzy had ever been around. Our family is absolutely devastated by the loss of Bart in our lives."

Woman goes after cyberbullies

Facebook may face prosecution over bullied teenager's suicide in Italy

Johnson confirmed to CNN that Bart had indeed been bullied for years and said that his family had done everything they could to inform the school district of the situation.

Kim Eves, communications director for the Greenwich School District, said the district is "looking at the entire history in his experiences in our school that is an ongoing investigation."

Johnson said that Bart did not publicly exhibit any signs of a child in trouble.

But after Bart's suicide, several posts came to light on Palosz's social network site on Google Plus that appear to reveal his internal struggles.

"Hey if I were to stab my eye out due to school caused insanity, who would miss me?" he posted in June alongside a photo of himself with a knife next to his eye.

Another post in June appeared to indicate he had attempted suicide by ingesting lighter fluid.

Japan: Family and nation grapple with teen bullies

The following month he posted, "I notice if I sound sad I'm normal and if I act happy, cheerful, and 'normal' there is a high chance that I will try to poison myself, cut myself, commit suicide, or jump in front of a truck :)"

A preliminary investigation by the Greenwich Police Department found that the gun Bart used to kill himself was family owned and had been stored inside a gun locker in the home.

"The incident continues to be investigated by members of the Greenwich Police Detective Division," a police statement said, declining to provide further information.

Bart's family has flown back to Poland to bury him and was not available for comment Monday, Johnson told CNN.

Why telling bullying victims to 'just fight back' doesn't work

http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/02/us/connecticut-teen-suicide/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

7. Novelty- This article represents novelty because a jellyfish proof is weird, new, and people haven't heard about them before.

(CNN) -- OK, so it looks like something from a horror movie.

Diana Nyad's jellyfish-proof face mask

By Brandon Griggs, CNN updated 12:54 PM EDT, Tue September 3, 2013 | Filed under: Innovations

(CNN) -- OK, so it looks like something from a horror movie.

But a customized silicone mask, fitted over the face, head and mouth of endurance swimmer Diana Nyad, was a key difference-maker in helping the 64-year-old complete the grueling, 100-mile swim from Cuba to Key West, Florida, on her fifth try.

Nyad needed the mask for protection against box jellyfish, deadly creatures common to tropical waters and whose venomous sting cut short her fourth attempt to swim from Cuba last summer. Because the mask is cumbersome and bruised her mouth, she only put it on it when her support team spotted the jellyfish nearby.

"The mask is tough to swim in. That's a given," said Nyad in a post on her website, written before her historic swim. "I have to press hard to get the mouth up high enough to avoid a lot of salt water intake. And yet still I do take in quite a bit of sea water because of the narrow opening and not being able to judge where the waves are hitting, as I can without it.

After Cuba-Florida feat, Nyad to swim 48 hours in New York

"It slows me down and tires me out."

Even so, it was necessary. Venom from box jellyfish contains paralyzing toxins that attack the skin, heart and nervous system and is considered to be among the most deadly in the world. Twenty to 40 people die from stings from box jellyfish annually in the Philippines alone,according to the National Science Foundation.

During last year's swim, Nyad wore protective gear over her face, hands and body. But the jellyfish still stung her repeatedly in the mouth, aborting her attempt about halfway between Cuba and Key West.

"Literally the only square inch exposed of my entire body was the lips. We just couldn't design a way to protect the mouth and still breathe while swimming," she said on her blog. "Yet these animals ... are brilliant at finding animals to sting and they indeed found my lips. On both occasions, I suffered the paralysis, the otherworldly sensation of being burned alive."

So Nyad partnered with Stefan Knauss, a California prosthetics expert who spent a year developing the silicone mask. They tried many molds and different designs of the mouth area before finding one that worked best. Nyad tested the mask, along with her other protective gear, by swimming through a swarm of hundreds of box jellyfish in June.

"As difficult as the swimming was, I was not stung once," she said. "Those deadly tentacles could not penetrate."

According to initial accounts, the jellyfish were not a problem on Nyad's triumphant fifth crossing, which she completed Monday afternoon after nearly 53 hours in the water.

But the jokesters of Twitter had some fun with her mask.

"Not only did Diana Nyad finish her swim, but that new mask of hers can double as a Halloween costume. One-stop shopping. Smart lady," wrote a Boston-based blogger on Twitter.

And there was this, from a Kansas-based comedian: "Somewhere under the sea the King of the Jellyfish yells at his men "WE HAVE FAILED. DIANA NYAD'S SILICONE MASK HAS SHAMED US ALL."

http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/03/tech/innovation/diana-nyad-face-mask/index.html?hpt=hp_c2