TASK DEFINITION: In this task, you are given news articles and you need to generate a highlight, i.e., a short summary, with a maximum length of 10 lines.
PROBLEM: Mexico City, Mexico (CNN) -- What was Hurricane Karl weakened Friday to a tropical storm after making landfall, but the heavy rain it spawned could still cause mudslides and flash floods in the Mexican interior, forecasters said. Karl was downgraded after coming ashore as a Category 3 hurricane about 10 miles (15 kilometers) north of Veracruz, Mexico, CNN's satellite and radar estimates showed. The storm is forecast to weaken to a tropical depression later Friday or Saturday and dissipate over the mountains of Mexico on Sunday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said Friday evening. It added the Mexican government has discontinued all coastal watches and warnings. The storm delivered torrents of rain and fierce winds several hours before it hit land around 11:30 a.m. (12:30 p.m. ET). Photographs sent to CNN's iReport by Ricardo Arcaraz, who lives in Veracruz, showed heavy rain and trees on top of power lines. He reported widespread outages. Maximum sustained winds later weakened to around 70 mph (115 kph) with higher gusts, according to the Hurricane Center. Karl, located about 75 miles (115 kilometers) east of Puebla Mexico, was moving west-southwest at about 9 mph (15 kph), it said. Satellite images and surface observations from Mexico suggest Karl is weakening rapidly as it passes through steep mountains, the Hurricane Center added. High winds remain a threat, though forecasters said they will likely weaken too in the coming days. The homes of at least 3,000 families in central Mexico were damaged, the state-run Notimex news agency reported. "Tropical storm force winds are occurring in a small area near the center. These winds will continue to spread inland along the track of the center tonight but should decrease rapidly as Karl weakens," the Hurricane Center said. Potentially dangerous rain also was forecast. "Karl is expected to produce rainfall accumulations of 5 to 10 inches across portions of south-central Mexico, with isolated amounts of 15 inches possible in the mountains," the center said. "These rains could cause life-threatening flash floods and mudslides." Within the past day or so, some 8 inches of rain has fallen in Veracruz, according to CNN meteorologist Brandon Miller. Some local flooding was already reported, the Mexican Interior Ministry said. Officials closed some roads and urged evacuations for large, low-lying areas in Veracruz. Mexico's National System for Civil Protection issued a red alert, the highest level, for central and southern Veracruz. An orange alert was in place for northern Veracruz and the states of Hidalgo, Tlaxcala and Puebla. A yellow alert was issued for the states of Tamaulipas, San Luis Potosi and Oaxaca. Mexican President Felipe Calderon also sent a warning Friday morning on his Twitter account. "An alert for Hurricane Karl in the nation's central states," it said, adding that Karl "could convert to a Category 4. It will enter through Veracruz around midday." Texas could be spared any major problems because a storm surge occurs only near the landfall location, said CNN meteorologist Sean Morris. Coastal flood advisories have been issued for south Texas, which means forecasters expect a small amount of coastal flooding but nothing serious, Morris said. A larger threat to south Texas will come from several inches of rain that could cause flooding and mudslides. The area could see as much as 4 inches by Sunday, with isolated amounts of up to 6 inches in far southern Texas. CNN meteorologists Brandon Miller and Mari Ramos contributed to this report.

SOLUTION: NEW: Karl is downgraded to a tropical storm .
NEW: It is weakening rapidly over the mountains of Mexico .
Hurricane Karl made landfall in Veracruz, Mexico .
Heavy rain could still cause problems .

PROBLEM: (CNN) -- For decades, skyscrapers have served as iconic symbols of national pride or flashy trophies of corporate wealth, reshaping the skyline of the world's major urban centers. Perhaps in the future, the high-rise superstructures could also help revolutionize the way we travel. That, at least, is the fanciful concept behind the Vertical Hyper-Speed Train Hub, a futuristic proposal of two UK-based architects envisaging trains roaring up and down the side of specially-designed skyscrapers nearly as high as the Empire State Building. Towering above the crowded streets of future metropolises, these giant buildings are designed to minimize the large slices of real estate that major railway terminals occupy by flipping them on their side. The goal, designers Christopher Christophi and Lucas Mazarrasa say, is to free up valuable space in the densely-packed cities of tomorrow, which will be significantly challenged by overcrowding and a sharp drop in public space availability. "In 60 years' time, it will be very difficult for governments to find attractive pieces of available land for public use in the heart of megacities," says Christophi, 27. "Governments will be able to take advantage of such spaces in order to re-adapt the cities' structure to society needs," he adds. How it works . The designer's vertical station concept calls for a tall cylindrical skyscraper whose small footprint would allow the transformation of the surrounding area into an urban park. Passengers arriving at the tower would use a lift to make their way up into the platform and from there into their carriage, which could accommodate 10 people sat in two rows opposite each other. But, you might wonder by now, how could commuters stay on their feet whilst the train slides in hyper speeds along the huge tower's faÃ§ade? The main idea is that instead of traveling on normal rails beneath, the carriages would be supported by magnetic tracks running up the skyscraper's exterior. Each carriage proportion is designed as a cubical shape to enable it to function both vertically, when docked, and horizontally, while traveling After the train's departure, the wagons would pivot like a "Ferris wheel," allowing commuters to remain in an upright position and enjoy breathtaking views of the city. Connecting cities . The radical proposal won the designers an Honorable Mention at this year's eVolo Skyscraper competition, which encouraged people from around the world to propose new ideas for vertical structures of the future. The designers say the towers, which would be capped off by a rooftop green plaza, are envisioned as individual pieces of infrastructure that could be replicated in cities around the world. The hope is to connect a new hyper-speed network of underground tunnels and overground routes where superfast trains would cover distances of 300 miles in 30 minutes. This, they claim, would not only save commuting time and simplify the way public transport is being used, but would also help to cut down CO2 emissions by replacing ways of transport powered by fossil fuels. "Our conceptual design is based upon utilizing existing and viable technologies that can currently be seen in hyper speed rail networks, for example in China," says Mazarrasa, 29, adding that is a matter of time before we're able to reach the rail speeds their concept requires. "The Maglev trains currently travel at 360 miles per hour -- this technology by the 2075 will in no doubt move leaps and bounds from what it already is today, making the hyper-speed trains probably the fastest and safest way of transporting goods and people." Of course, there are a number of limitations to the project -- the proposal deals only with stations designed to accommodate city by city travel, not to mention efficiency issues around loading trains in high volume terminals and connecting train routes. Yet, like in most futuristic transport proposals, practical details are best to take a back seat for now to allow us to enjoy the thrilling ride -- that is, unless you're afraid of heights.

SOLUTION: A futuristic proposal flips the traditional designs of today's major train stations vertically .
The Vertical Hyper-Speed Train Hub wants to cut the footprint of rail terminals by 2075 .
The proposal won an Honorable Mention in 2014's eVolo Skyscraper competition .

PROBLEM: (CNN) -- An argument before the Supreme Court on October 1 in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum will have enormous significance. The case concerns the torture of Ogoni leaders in Nigeria, but at stake is the future of the law under which this case was brought, the Alien Tort Statute. The United States stands at a crossroads. At its best, our nation has played a crucial role in championing human rights throughout the world and pioneering human rights law. At its worst, it has abandoned its lofty ideals in the name of realpolitik and supported dictators and policies that were responsible for horrible abuses. Passed in 1789, the Alien Tort Statute was a prescient piece of legislation. It allows foreign victims of human rights abuses in foreign nations to seek civil remedies in U.S. courts, and its animating idea -- that people anywhere should have recourse for violations of the "law of nations" -- was the foundation of our modern understanding of human rights. In the 1990s, Royal Dutch Petroleum (Shell) had extensive oil drilling operations in the Niger Delta in Nigeria, a region long plagued with poverty, human rights violations and environmental disaster. A popular movement of the Ogoni people resisting what they saw as reckless oil development in the region was violently suppressed by Nigeria's military dictatorship. In the suit, the plaintiffs accuse Royal Dutch Shell of helping the former dictatorship in the arrests on false charges and torture of 12 members of the Ogoni tribe, who sought to peacefully disrupt Shell's operations because of the devastating health and environmental effects of unregulated drilling. All the plaintiffs were themselves tortured except Esther Kiobel, who brought her claims on behalf of her late husband, Barinem Kiobel. Kiobel was executed through a sham trial process in which the plaintiffs believe Shell played a central role. The Supreme Court court accepted Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum last fall after a federal appeals court ruled that the statute could not be used to sue corporations. The justices indicated in February that they might question not just the application of the statute to corporations but whether and under what circumstances it applies to any human rights violations, even by individuals, that take place outside the United States. They ordered the case to be re-argued on exactly that question. The case has been brought in the United States because of our nation's historical role in promoting the idea of universal rights and in the development of international human rights law. From Franklin D. Roosevelt's Four Freedoms speech and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that Eleanor Roosevelt tirelessly worked for, to the stirring oratory of Robert Jackson at the Nuremberg Tribunal, mid-century Americans gave voice and visibility to the idea that all people, everywhere, were entitled to certain fundamental rights. Since 1977, the State Department has annually produced Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. The international leadership of the past century is a long way from where we find ourselves now. Our own era is defined by a different legacy: one of waterboarding and "torture memos," extraordinary renditions, indefinite detention at Guantánamo Bay and targeted killings in countries with which we are not at war. "The United States is abandoning its role as the global champion of human rights," Jimmy Carter wrote bluntly in The New York Times in June. Shell Oil must aid Nigeria workers who were tortured, abused . On this grim and morally and legally compromised horizon, the Alien Tort Statute is still one bright spot for human rights advocacy. In a groundbreaking case in 1980, the family of a 17-year-old Paraguayan, Joelito Filártiga, who had been tortured and killed by a henchman of Gen. Alfredo Stroessner, brought and won a civil case against his murderer, Americo Peña-Irala. The young man had been tortured to death because his father opposed the government. The ruling established that the statute could be used to hold modern torturers accountable for their actions, wherever they are committed. In the wake of the case, Filártiga v. Peña-Irala, the Alien Tort Statute developed into a new tool in human rights law. Successful cases were brought against government officials, against non-state actors like Radovan Karadžić in Bosnia-Herzegovina and against multinational corporations before the Second Circuit ruling in Kiobel that disallowed that. It is this legacy that is at stake in the Kiobel case before the Supreme Court. The immediate questions before the court on October 1 concern the reach of the Alien Tort Statute and whether it will continue to be possible for people like the Filártigas and the Kiobels to pursue their tormentors and hold them accountable for their heinous acts, and whether corporations can be held to account. But the larger question is: Does the U.S. want to be a leader or a laggard in upholding international human rights? If the statute is narrowed and its promise of universal accountability curtailed, it will rightly be perceived as yet another step by the U.S. away from its once leading advocacy for human rights. If, on the other hand, the Supreme Court upholds the Alien Tort Statute, it will signal to the world that we do still believe that people everywhere are entitled to certain fundamental rights and that we will help enforce those rights. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Vincent Warren.

SOLUTION:
Vince Warren: At its best, U.S. has been key in championing universal human rights .
Warren: A longstanding law lets foreign victims of human rights abuse find justice in U.S. courts .
Supreme Court to rule in international human rights case whether law will stand, he says .
Warren: If court upholds the law, the world will see U.S. still supports human rights for all .

