Passengers trade broken-down ship for broken-down bus

(CBS News) Thousands of passengers erupted into cheers Thursday night as the crippled triumph finally pulled up to the dock. As they stepped onto dry land, and into the arms of their loved ones some couldn't contain their excitement.

Carnival then chartered a caravan of buses to transport folks out of Mobile, Ala. To add insult to injury, at least one of those buses became stranded on the way to New Orleans, reports CBS News correspondent Anna Werner.

The nightmare started Sunday, when an engine fire knocked out power.

Passengers leave cruise ship telling tales of woe

Kendell Jenkins won the trip in a contest, but said it was more like cruising on a floating port-o-potty. "I'm just really thankful and blessed to be back," she said. "I mean there was sewage, water everywhere, mix that with some rotten food smells and welcome to carnival Triumph."

"No ships were coming, no boats, were coming, we saw no helicopters," said Jenkins. "It scared us because we thought the ship wasn't notifying or coming out to help us."

It took more than a day before the first tugboat arrived. As passengers got cell reception, they shared photos revealing squalid conditions - sewage seeping through the floors, plastic bags used for restrooms. Tent camps above deck, and mattresses sprawled out below. For some, the hardest part was losing contact with their family.

Stricken Carnival Cruise Line ship Triumph expected to dock in Mobile, Ala.

It took several grueling hours to drag the massive ship through a narrow channel Thursday. At the terminal, carnival C.E.O. Gerry Cahill addressed reporters.

"We pride ourselves in providing our guests with a great vacation experience and clearly we failed in this particular case," he said. He then boarded the ship and apologized to passengers, but some still want answers.

For Anna Werner's full report, watch the video in the player above

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Cruise Ship Now Faces Expected Wave of Lawsuits

Despite having their feet back on solid ground and making their way home, passengers from the Carnival Triumph cruise ship are still fuming over their five days of squalor on the stricken ship and the cruise ship company is likely to be hit with a wave of lawsuits.

"I think people are going to file suits and rightly so," maritime trial attorney John Hickey told ABCNews.com. "I think, frankly, that the conduct of Carnival has been outrageous from the get-go."

Hickey, a Miami-based attorney, said his firm has already received "quite a few" inquiries from passengers who just got off the ship early this morning.

"What you have here is a) negligence on the part of Carnival and b) you have them, the passengers, being exposed to the risk of actual physical injury," Hickey said.

Click Here for Photos of the Stranded Ship at Sea

The attorney said that whether passengers can recover monetary compensation will depend on maritime law and the 15-pages of legal "gobbledygook," as Hickey described it, that passengers signed before boarding, but "nobody really agrees to."

One of the ticket conditions is that class action lawsuits are not allowed, but Hickey said there is a possibility that could be voided when all the conditions of the situation are taken into account.

One of the passengers already thinking about legal action is Tammy Hilley, a mother of two, who was on a girl's getaway with her two friends when a fire in the ship's engine room disabled the vessel's propulsion system and knocked out most of its power.

"I think that's a direction that our families will talk about, consider and see what's right for us," Hilley told "Good Morning America" when asked if she would be seeking legal action.

While she said that she does not want to be greedy or exploit the situation, she does not feel that Carnival's $500 compensation is enough for the trauma passengers suffered.

Carnival's Triumph Passengers: 'We Were Homeless' Watch Video

Girl Disembarks Cruise Ship, Kisses the Ground Watch Video

Carnival Cruise Ship Passengers Line Up for Food Watch Video

"You talk about the emotional trauma and just last night, feeling what we went through last night while we were on land with our families and our insides just trembling," she said. "I don't think it begins to even say what is needed here."

In addition to the money, passengers will receive a full refund for the cruise, transportation expenses and vouchers for another cruise.

"We made our own nest [on deck] because we were just too terrified to go inside because of the smells and the germs, so we just banded together and made our own little nest and just survived," Hilley's friend Ann Barlow said.

Her friend Carolyn Klam said she got a stomach virus from drinking bad water once the power went out and friend Tammy Hilley said her cell phone was stolen this morning as the boat came into port.

"I think going back to our room was kind of traumatic and seeing that from day one we had no home, we were homeless," Hilley said. "We would go downstairs below deck and your feet could feel the sludge that you were walking through. The smells and the liquids draining from the ceiling and the stories of people sleeping in the hallways and the sanitary bags in the hallway, that was traumatic to just watch it start piling up."

The more than 4,000 passengers and crew began to disembark from the damaged ship around 10:15 p.m. CT Thursday in Mobile, Ala., amid cheers and tears. The last passenger left the ship at 1 a.m. CT, according to Carnival's Twitter handle.

Passenger Brandi Dorsett was thankful to be home, especially for her mother who was with her on the ship. Dorsett said she wasn't pleased with the doctor on staff.

"My mother is a diabetic, and they would not even come to the room because she cannot walk the stairs to help her with insulin. She hasn't had insulin in three days," Dorsett said.

The Carnival Triumph departed Galveston, Texas, last Thursday and lost power Sunday.

Cruise Ship Newlyweds Won't Be Spending Honeymoon on a Boat

After power went out, passengers texted ABC News that sewage was seeping down the walls from burst plumbing pipes, carpets were wet with urine, and food was in short supply. Reports surfaced of elderly passengers running out of critical heart medicine and others on board squabbling over scarce food.

"It's degrading. Demoralizing, and then they want to insult us by giving us $500," Veronica Arriaga said after disembarking the ship.

As the ship docked, passengers lined the decks of the Triumph, waving and whistling to those on shore. "Happy V-Day" read a homemade sign made for the Valentine's Day arrival, while another sent a starker message: "The ship's afloat, so is the sewage."

WATCH: Carnival CEO Gerry Cahill Apologizes to Passengers

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How safe are nanoparticles in food?

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Andy Behar: Some foods contain tiny, engineered particles called nanomaterials


• Behar: Nanoparticles might pose health risks, since they have adversely affected mice


• He says not enough studies have adequately demonstrated the safety of nanoparticles


• Behar: With an emerging technology such as this, companies have to be careful

Editor's note: Andy Behar is the chief executive of As You Sow, a nonprofit organization that promotes corporate accountability.

(CNN) -- Some foods sold in supermarkets across America contain tiny, engineered particles called nanomaterials. Our organization decided to test doughnuts after learning that the titanium dioxide used as a coloring in the powdered sugar coating likely contained nano-sized particles.

The tests, conducted by an independent laboratory, found that both Dunkin' Donuts Powdered Cake Donuts and Hostess Donettes did indeed contain titanium dioxide nanoparticles. In response, a spokeswoman for Dunkin Donuts said the company was looking into the matter.

You must be wondering: What are nanomaterials? They are microscopic in size. "If a nanoparticle were the size of a football, a red blood cell would be the size of the field." Nanoparticles have been heralded as having the potential to revolutionize the food industry -- from enabling the production of creamy liquids that contain no fat, to enhancing flavors, improving supplement delivery, providing brighter colors, keeping food fresh longer, or indicating when it spoils.

Andy Behar

But there are a few problems.

One is that no one knows how many and which food products have them. Companies are not being forthcoming about whether they are using nanoparticles. To further complicate the issue, some companies may not even be aware that they are selling products containing them.

Many companies are reluctant or uninterested in discussing the issue, and concrete information has been difficult to obtain. The majority of food companies are not responsive in providing information about their specific uses, plans and policies toward nanoparticles. There is also no law in the United States that requires disclosure. In contrast, companies in the European Union are required to label foods containing nanoparticles.

The bigger issue with nanoparticles is that they might pose health risks, as they have been found to in tests on mice.

There are not nearly enough studies that can adequately demonstrate the safety of nanoparticles in food additives or packaging. Scientists are still investigating how the broad range of nanoparticles, with their myriad potential uses, would react in the body.

When ingested, nano-sized particles can pass into the blood and lymph, where they circulate through the body and reach in potentially sensitive sites such as bone marrow, lymph nodes, the spleen, the brain, the liver and the heart.

Our knowledge about how nanomaterial food additives react in the body and their health impact is still in its infancy. While efforts are under way to understand them better, much deeper scientific inquiry should occur before nanoparticles are sold in food and food-related products.

More companies and consumers need to be aware of the use of engineered nanomaterials in foods and the potential unknown risks of this technology. More food products like M&M's and Pop-Tarts should be tested as recent studies have identified them as likely to contain nanomaterials as well.

Fortunately, a few companies have become willing to take a public position on nanoparticles.

McDonald stated that it "does not currently support the use by suppliers of nano-engineered materials in the production of any of our food, packaging, and toys." Similarly, Kraft Foods said that it was not using nanotechnology.

Some of the largest food companies in the world, including YUM! Brands, PepsiCo, and Whole Foods, need to know more about nanomaterials and check with their supplies to see if they are using them.

Americans are becoming increasingly interested in what is in the food they're eating. No longer content with label information on daily allowances of vitamins and minerals, U.S. consumers are following the lead of their counterparts in many other countries by demanding more disclosure about where and how their food is grown and whether it is safe.

Even though communicating risks to consumers can be challenging, the public's perception of safety will be paramount in determining the acceptance of nanomaterials. This is especially true for an emerging food-products technology the safety of which even the FDA has acknowledged a lack of understanding.

Follow us on Twitter @CNNOpinion.

Join us on Facebook/CNNOpinion.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Andy Behar.

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Olympics: Hands off wrestling, say Greeks

ATHENS: Greece threw its weight behind the campaign to keep wrestling, a sport which has survived from the ancient Olympics, on the Games programme on Thursday.

Greek Sports Undersecretary Giannis Ioannidis called on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) not to remove the sport from the 2020 programme.

In a letter to IOC president Jacques Rogge, Ioannidis said he expressed the feelings "of all the Greeks, but also the respect of our people and its sports history to keep the sport of wrestling in the Olympic Games programme".

The 15-member Executive Board of the IOC on Tuesday voted to remove wrestling from the Olympic schedule.

"With great surprise and great sadness we learned of the decision of the IOC Executive Board to remove the sport of wrestling from the program of the Olympic Games of 2020. The sport of wrestling is connected with Greece and the ancient Olympic Games," Ioannidis wrote to Rogge.

The Greek official added that wrestling has a huge global appeal, noting that the International Wrestling Federation has 180 countries as members.

"The history, the tradition and the social acceptance that marks the sport should not be sacrificed on the altar of media ratings and marketing," Ioannidis said.

On Wednesday the Hellenic Olympic Committee announced they fully support the Greek wrestling federation's fight.

"This is one decision that is clearly at variance with the history of the Olympics and sport in general," it said.

"There should be a revision of this decision and the Hellenic Olympic Committee will support with all its forces, any effort in this direction."

Greek wrestling federation president Kostas Thanos had already condemned the decision by the IOC was "sacrilege".

"Wrestling is a sport that is identified with the Olympics and we cannot throw away such a symbol. The way they are going they may even remove the name Olympics," Thanos said in a radio interview.

- AFP/jc

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Mom of boy held in bunker is worried

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Phil McGraw speaks with mother of former Alabama child hostage


• She tells him she worried about trying to put him back on a school bus


• Ethan told her the Army killed the 'bad man'


• The 6-year-old tells his mom that 'My bus driver is dead'

(CNN) -- Jennifer Kirkland says she caught her 6-year-old son Ethan just staring at a school bus the other day.

He was mesmerized, his eyes locked on the yellow vehicle. He didn't say a thing, and she didn't know what to say to him.

The last time he was on a bus, he was sitting just behind the driver -- as he always did -- waiting for his stop so he could go home.

But the "bad man" got on, and killed the driver, his buddy Mr. Poland.

Appearing on the "Dr. Phil" show, Kirkland told Phil McGraw she was worried how her little boy was going to react the next time she tried to put him on the bus to school.

After being kidnapped, the recovery ahead

Ethan has been having a hard time sleeping, she told the psychologist turned syndicated daytime talk show host.

He thrashes his arms, tosses and turns and sometimes he calls out.

It has only been almost 10 days since the FBI sent a rescue team into the bunker in Midland City, Alabama, where Ethan was held hostage for nearly a week by Jimmy Lee Dykes.

His mother hasn't asked Ethan what happened when he was there.

"I have not talked to Ethan about it," she said in an interview aired Wednesday. "I don't know how to. As a mother I want him to know that I'm there if he needs to talk. I don't know how to respond because I have never been through this."

Inside the bunker: From storm shelter to boy's prison

Ethan has seen two people shot to death. Dykes shot bus driver Charles Poland several times before he carried Ethan, who had fainted, off the bus and into an underground bunker Dykes had built on his property.

Then the FBI killed Dykes when negotiations broke down and authorities felt they had to rescue the boy before Dykes, who had a handgun, did something rash.

"The Army came in and shot the bad man," Kirkland said Ethan told her.

Kirkland said she had hoped Dykes wouldn't be harmed.

"From the very beginning, I had already forgiven Mr. Dykes even though he had my child," she said. "I could not be angry through this. My job was to be the mother."

She thinks Dykes had a soft spot for Ethan because he has disabilities. Dykes took care of her boy as best he could, she said.

He even fried chicken for the boy.

Still, as the crisis continued, she worried that Dykes might be spooked by something her child did -- or that he had enough supplies to stay down there for months. She worried her boy would think she had abandoned him.

She asked authorities to let her speak to Dykes.

"That's my baby. He's my world. He's my everything," she said. "Everything I do I do for him. And I was afraid I wasn't going to get him back."

When she did get him back, he was in the hospital, putting stickers on everyone in sight.

"Hey, bug, I sure have missed you," she recounted.

"I missed you, too," he answered.

FBI: Bombs found in Alabama kidnapper's bunker

Now she worries that even though he seems like the same playful little boy, there is an emotional storm ahead.

McGraw told her to talk to Ethan about his feelings, not what happened to him in the bunker.

"Let that decay in his young mind," he said.

McGraw asked Ethan a few questions, but as 6-year-olds are apt to do, he answered most with a "Yes" or a "No."

But when the doctor asked him how he got to school, Ethan said, "On my bus, but my ..."

Then he walked over to his mother and as if telling a secret, whispered in her ear, "But my bus driver is dead."

Kirkland told McGraw that it was Poland who helped Ethan conquer his fear of descending the steep school bus steps. Poland would cheer Ethan on and one day when the child hesitated and the mother went to help, the driver said, "Let him do it."

Since then, Ethan has had no problem.

But now his cheerleader won't be there, and Kirkland is anguished about her boy.

"Mr. Poland put him behind him so he could keep a good eye on him," she said.

Ethan hasn't been back to school yet. He's been busy opening birthday presents and playing with his favorite toys. On Wednesday, he made a new friend in Gov. Robert Bentley.

There's a picture from the event where little Ethan is sitting underneath the governor's desk. The child is beaming.

"Ethan is a loving, forgiving child," Kirkland said. "He is easy to go up to a perfect stranger and say, 'Can I have a hug?'"

That was the boy who went into that bunker. She is concerned it's not the child who came out.

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Couple describes Dorner ordeal, unexpected compliment

(CBS News) Police in Southern California are defending their actions in the manhunt for Christopher Dorner. They say they did not intentionally burn down the cabin where he apparently died.

Dorner was a suspected killer with a grudge against the Los Angeles Police Department, but two of his final victims say he didn't seem like a bad man.

Karen and Jim Reynolds are the owners of Mountain Vista Resort, the property where the alleged cop-killer had been hiding the day police tracked him down. On a routine check of one of their units, Dorner surprised them from upstairs.

"He opened the door and came out at us. He had his gun drawn," said Jim. "He yelled 'stay calm' and ran out."

"He talked to us trying to calm us down and saying very frequently he would not kill us," said Karen. "He had said 'I just want to clear my name.'"

Sheriff: Fire in cabin wasn't set intentionally
Calif. deputy slain in ex-cop shootout was father of two
Carjacking victim: Christopher Dorner told me "I don't want to hurt you"

Jim said that Dorner told them he didn't have a problem with them and wasn't going to hurt them.

Dorner had been keeping an eye Karen and Jim for days, and although he had broken in and tied them up, he paid them an unexpected compliment.

"He said we are very hard workers, we're good people. He talked about how he could see Jim working on the snow every day," said Karen.

"He said he'd been watching us shoveling the snow," said Jim.

Dorner left the couple behind, and tried to take their car. But he soon returned, asking how to start their keyless Nissan. Later, the Reynolds managed to undo their restraints and call police. A few hours later, the manhunt was over.

Although the Reynolds were aware of Dorner's alleged trail of violence, they couldn't help but feel some compassion for their captor.

"I really didn't wish him dead, though. I really didn't. I prayed for him a lot and I'm praying for his family now," said Karen.

For John Blackstone's full report, watch the video in the player above

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Cruise Passengers Celebrate as They Near Land

The 4,000 passengers and crew aboard the stricken Carnival Triumph cruise ship will disembark after dark tonight from the fetid cruiser dubbed "the poop deck" on social media, according to officials.

"It will come in. It will not stop," Alabama State Port Authority Director Jimmy Lyons said at a news conference today. "We're going to do everything we can from our standpoint to ensure that this is as smooth as possible."

He estimated the ship would arrive between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. tonight.

Delighted passengers waved at media helicopters that flew out to film the ship and passenger Rob Mowlam told ABCNews.com by phone today that most of the passengers on board were "really upbeat and positive."

Nevertheless, when he gets off Mowlam said, "I will probably flush the toilet 10 times just because I can."

Mowlam, 37, got married on board the Triumph Saturday and said he and his wife, Stephanie Stevenson, 27, haven't yet thought of redoing the honeymoon other than to say, "It won't be a cruise."

Lyons said that with powerless "dead ships" like the Triumph, it is usually safer to bring them in during daylight hours, but, "Once they make the initial effort to come into the channel, there's no turning back."

Click here for photos of the stranded ship at sea.

Lt. Cmdr. Paul McConnell/U.S. Coast Guard/AP Photo

Carnival Cancels All Scheduled Voyages Aboard the Triumph Watch Video

Carnival Cruise Ship Making Its Way to Port Watch Video

Carnival Cruise Ship Stranded for Third Day Watch Video

"There are issues regarding coming into the ship channel and docking at night because the ship has no power and there's safety issues there," Richard Tillman of the Mobile Bay Convention and Visitors Bureau told ABCNews.com.

When asked if the ship could be disembarked in the dark of night, Tillman said, "It is not advised. It would be very unusual."

Carnival Cruise Senior Vice President of Marketing Terri Thornton, however, insisted during a news conference at the port of Mobile today, "Our understanding is it will be alongside this evening."

Thornton denied the rumors that there was a fatality on the ship. He said that there was one illness early on, a dialysis patient, but that passenger was removed from the vessel and transferred to a medical facility.

The U.S. Coast Guard is assisting now and there are multiple generators on board. And customs officials will board the ship while it is being piloted to port to accelerate the embarkation, officials said.

After eight miserable days at sea, the ship's owners have increased the compensation for what some on board are calling the vacation from hell.

All 3,143 passengers aboard the 900 foot colossus, which stalled in the Gulf of Mexico after an engine room fire early Sunday, were already being given a full refund for the cruise, transportation expenses and vouchers for a another cruise. Carnival Cruise Lines is now boosting that offer to include another $500 per person. Gerry Cahill, president and CEO of Carnival Cruise Lines, announced the additional compensation Wednesday.

"We know it has been a longer journey back than we anticipated at the beginning of the week under very challenging circumstances," he said in a statement. "We are very sorry for what our guests have had to endure. Therefore, in addition to the full refund and future cruise credit already offered, we have decided to provide this additional compensation."

Carnival also said that it has canceled a dozen planned voyages for the Triumph and acknowledged that the crippled ship had been plagued by other mechanical problems in the weeks before an engine-room fire left it powerless in the Gulf of Mexico.

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Obama speech 'relied on amnesia'

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Matt Welch: State of the Union featured content-free calls to action for action's sake


• He says governed might want to know what they've gotten in return for ballooning debt


• Didn't we try repairing infrastructure with the stimulus package? he asks


• Welch: Rand Paul spoke to those who think government should get out of way

Editor's note: Matt Welch is editor in chief of Reason and co-author of "The Declaration of Independents: How Libertarian Politics Can Fix What's Wrong With America" (Public Affairs).

(CNN) -- The two most memorable lines of President Barack Obama's fourth State of the Union address were the ad-libbed: "Get it done" (which doesn't appear in the remarks as prepared), and the emotional "They deserve a vote," concerning victims of gun violence.

As exasperated appeals for an obstructionist Congress to get off its duff, the exhortations provided emotional catnip for Democrats. For the rest of us, however, they were sobering reminders of what governing liberalism has deteriorated into: content-free calls to take action for action's sake.

Consumers of national governance are within their rights to ask just what we've gotten in return for ballooning the cost of the stuff since 2000. The answer may lie in not just what the president said, but what he has assumed we've already forgotten.

Matt Welch

"Let's cut in half the energy wasted by our homes and businesses over the next 20 years," said the president, who promised a "Recovery Through Retrofit" three years ago. "The American people deserve a tax code that ... lowers tax rates for businesses and manufacturers that create jobs right here in America," said the man who before he took office vowed to, uh, give "tax breaks to companies that are investing here in the United States."

That "aging infrastructure badly in need of repair"? Well, what happened to the $50 billion from the stimulus package dedicated to precisely that task, or the $50 billion plan 18 months later? Making college "more affordable"? That has been the motivation for continuous ratcheting of government involvement in higher education, which has -- surprise! -- coincided with a several-decade increase in tuition costs and student loan debt.

Greene: In 2013, democracy talks back

Do-something politics works when Americans have amnesia, or are reacting to headline-making tragedies, or when they just want free stuff. But this irresistible force is butting up against the immovable object of a have-nothing U.S. Treasury. Debt service costs will soon overtake defense spending, and baby boomer entitlements are about to transform the federal government into a check-writing program for senior citizens.

Americans know by now that Obama can't possibly believe his own promises that his policies won't "increase our deficit by a single dime," not only because of his poor track record with that particular vow, but because he spends the rest of his time talking about all the various things the government needs to "invest" to create "broad-based growth." It's a conflict at the basic level of vision with those of us who think prosperity is mostly a private-sector affair that is on balance imperiled, not improved, by the exertions of a deficit-spending government.

Opinion: Obama dares Congress to get the job done

Thankfully, and quite unlike during the 2012 presidential campaign, the competing vision was voiced Tuesday night. Not necessarily by a dehydrated but game Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, who delivered the Republican response to the State of the Union address, but by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, who did the honors online for the tea party.

"The path we are on is not sustainable," Paul said, directly. "All that we are, all that we wish to be, is now threatened by the notion that you can have something for nothing, that you can have your cake and eat it, too, that you can spend a trillion dollars every year that you don't have."

Paul dinged Republicans as well as Democrats, targeted military spending as well as entitlements, and spent a good 30 seconds giving a more full-throated defense of wartime civil liberties than the allegedly anti-war candidate Obama ever did.

Most importantly, he laid out a truly alternative vision that speaks directly to the growing number of Americans who feel like the federal government has failed as the engine of economic growth, and needs urgently to take a back seat before it does more harm.

Rothkopf: This time, a president in full

"What America needs," Paul said, "is not Robin Hood, but Adam Smith." As Obamanomics continues underperforming through a second term, it will be fascinating to see whether Ron Paul's kid can get more people to agree.

Follow us on Twitter: @CNNOpinion.

Join us at Facebook/CNNOpinion.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Matt Welch.

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Bahrainis protest on eve of revolt anniversary

MANAMA: Thousands of Bahraini Shiites took to the streets Wednesday on the eve of the second anniversary of their crushed uprising, as a national dialogue aimed at ending a political stalemate resumed.

Following a call by opposition groups, demonstrators marched in 12 villages and chanted anti-regime slogans, witnesses said, amid calls for a general strike and nationwide protests on Thursday and Friday to commemorate the uprising.

"Khalifa! Step down," they chanted, addressing Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman al-Khalifa, an uncle of King Hamad who has been in office for more than four decades and is widely despised by the Shiite majority.

Although the protests ended peacefully, groups of youths later blocked streets in the village of Sitra, southeast of Manama, with garbage bins and rocks, an AFP correspondent said.

Riot police fired tear gas and shotguns to disperse them.

More demonstrations are expected on Thursday following calls by the February 14 Revolution Youth Coalition.

The clandestine radical cyber group has also urged a Friday march on what was once known as Pearl Square, where protesters camped for a month before being forcefully driven out in mid-March 2011.

The mainstream opposition led by the Al-Wefaq Shiite formation called for a demonstration on Friday in Shiite villages.

The Bahraini authorities have in turn appealed for people to ignore the calls for strikes and civil disobedience.

Meanwhile, representatives of the opposition, and other pro-government political groups, and the government held on Wednesday a new session of talks of the national dialogue that resumed at the weekend, BNA state news agency reported.

Opposition groups, including Al-Wefaq, made a last-minute decision to join the talks after they had walked out in the first round in July 2011, complaining that they were not serious.

But protesters voiced their opposition to the initiative on Wednesday, chanting: "No to dialogue".

The opposition issued a statement at the end of the demonstrations insisting that an end to Bahrain's deadlock would be through a "comprehensive political solution that would hand power to the people and end dictatorship".

Bahrain has been rocked by unrest since its forces crushed the protests in March 2011. The unrest has so far left 80 people dead, according to the International Federation for Human Rights.

- AFP/jc

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Body found in cabin may be Christopher Dorner

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: Michael Crain, who was allegedly shot by Christopher Dorner, is buried in Riverside


• Authorities have a "reasonable belief" that Dorner died in a mountain standoff


• Authorities have not conclusively identified the body found near Big Bear Lake


• The LAPD is still guarding some people named in Dorner's manifesto

Follow the story here and at CNN affiliates KCBS/KCAL, KABC and KTLA.

Riverside, California (CNN) -- Police from around the Los Angeles area gathered to bury one of their own Wednesday while investigators worked to confirm the man blamed for killing Officer Michael Crain and three other people was dead.

A squad of bagpipers led Crain's flag-draped casket through a cordon of blue uniforms into a church in Riverside, the Los Angeles suburb where he served 11 years on the force. Investigators say he was shot and killed by Christopher Dorner, a cashiered Los Angeles cop who launched a vendetta against his old department last week.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said authorities have a "reasonable belief" that the body found in a burned-out cabin in the San Bernardino Mountains late Tuesday is Dorner's. But while the SWAT teams that prowled the city in search of the former Navy officer have stood down, the officers detailed to guard his potential victims remain in place.

"I think we all are breathing a sigh of relief," Villaraigosa said Wednesday. "We do believe that it is the body of Christopher Dorner, but we don't know for a certainty. And until we do, those police officers who were targeted will continue to be protected. That's the least we could do."

Authorities say Dorner launched a guerrilla war against the Los Angeles Police Department over what he considered his unfair dismissal in 2009. He's accused of killing four people -- Crain, a San Bernardino County sheriff's deputy, the daughter of a former LAPD captain and her fiance -- and wounding three other police officers since February 3.

It wasn't clear when a formal identification could be made of the charred remains found in the cabin near Big Bear Lake, about 100 miles east of Los Angeles, after a Tuesday shootout with police. Until then, "a lot of apprehension" remains in the ranks of the LAPD, Lt. Andy Neiman said.

"It's been a very trying time over the last couple of weeks for all of those involved and all those families, friends and everybody that has been touched by this incident," he said.

Timeline in manhunt

Standoff

The fiery standoff that capped the search Tuesday came five days after Dorner's burned truck turned up on a forest road near Big Bear Lake. Officers converged on the remote area, but the trail went cold for days in a fierce blizzard. On Sunday, the San Bernardino authorities said they had scaled back the search.

Los Angeles authorities had issued a $1 million reward for Dorner's capture. Villaraigosa said it was too soon to say if anyone would be able to claim the reward.

What may have been the final act began Tuesday, when California Fish and Wildlife wardens said they spotted Dorner driving a purple Nissan down icy roads near Big Bear Lake. He was driving very close to school buses, as if using them as cover, Lt. Patrick Foy said.

No children were on the buses, he said.

The wardens, driving in two different vehicles, chased Dorner. A gun battle ensued.

One of the warden's cars was hit, and Dorner crashed his car and ran, according to authorities. He then carjacked a pickup truck.

Rick Heltebrake, a camp ranger, said he was driving when he saw the crashed purple truck -- and then something terrifying.

"Here comes this guy with a big gun, and I knew who it was right away," he told CNN affiliate KTLA. "He just came out of the snow at me with his gun at my head. He said, 'I don't want to hurt you. Just get out of the car and start walking.' "

Heltebrake said the man let him take his dog and walk away with his hands up.

"Not more than 10 seconds later, I heard a loud round of gunfire," Heltebrake said. "Ten to 20 rounds maybe. I found out later what that was all about."

How authorities identify a burned body

The fire

Dorner fled to a nearby cabin and got into another shootout with San Bernardino County deputies, killing one and wounding another.

San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon told reporters Tuesday the other deputy was in surgery, "but he should be fine."

Some of the firefight between police and the gunman was captured live on the telephone of a reporter for CNN affiliates KCBS and KCAL. Police in Los Angeles listened live over police scanners broadcast on the Internet, Neiman said.

"It was horrifying to listen to that firefight," he told reporters.

The cabin caught fire when police tossed smoke devices inside, a law enforcement source told CNN. The intense fire burned for hours as authorities waited at a distance.

After initially saying that no body had been found, sheriff's investigators finally confirmed overnight that they had found charred human remains in the ashes.

The department said it would work to identify the remains, but it could take a while.

Devices such as flash-bang grenades and tear gas canisters designed to disorient and disable suspects can cause fires, CNN contributor Tom Fuentes, a former FBI assistant director, said Wednesday.

Talk Back: Does the Dorner case teach us anything about guns?

Death toll

The deputy's death in the shootout Tuesday brought to four the number of people that police believe Dorner killed.

Dorner, who vowed to kill police officers to avenge what he called an unfair termination, was first named a suspect in two shooting deaths on February 3: Monica Quan, the daughter of his police union representative, and her fiance, Keith Lawrence.

Police say he killed Crain and wounded Crain's partner in an ambush on their patrol car Thursday. They say he also wounded an LAPD officer who chased him in the suburban city of Corona, California.

Manifesto

Police say Dorner promised a war on police after issuing a manifesto blaming the LAPD for mistreating him. He claimed he was railroaded out of the department after filing a brutality report against another officer and said a culture of racism and misconduct continues within the department.

The manifesto warned dozens of LAPD figures and their families that he would wage "asymmetric warfare" against the department, drawing on his training with the LAPD and as a naval officer in river warfare and security units.

He said it was not something he enjoyed, but called it a "last resort" to clear his name and bring change to the department.

He also predicted his own death would come in a confrontation with police.

"Self Preservation is no longer important to me," the manifesto said. "I do not fear death as I died long ago."

CNN's Miguel Marquez reported from near Big Bear Lake and Lateef Mungin wrote from Atlanta. CNN's Paul Vercammen, Stan Wilson, Casey Wian, Kathleen Johnston, Alan Duke, Matt Smith, Chelsea J. Carter, Michael Martinez, Holly Yan and Michael Pearson also contributed to this report.

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