A German man, who says he was mistakenly shipped to a secret prison in Afghanistan as part of the CIA's "extraordinary rendition" program, took the stand at the European Union's human rights court today.

After unsuccessfully seeking redress in the U.S. and Germany, Khaled El-Masri is suing Macedonia, where he was allegedly kidnapped. El-Masri argued that the country was callous and calculating when it turned him over to the U.S. This hearing could also mark the end of the legal road for a case that spans eight years.

The AP reports:

"El-Masri, who is of Lebanese descent, says he was brutally interrogated at a secret CIA-run prison in Afghanistan for more than four months after being kidnapped from Macedonia in 2003, apparently mistaken for a terror suspect. He says he went on a hunger strike for 27 days and was eventually flown back to Europe and abandoned in a mountainous area in Albania. ...

"'Mr. El-Masri has spent the last eight years seeking legal redress for the crimes that were committed against him,' James Goldston told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. 'There is abundant evidence including data on CIA flights to and from (Macedonia's capital) Skopje.'"

The Guardian reports that this is the first full hearing this case has received. In the United States, for example, a court threw out his case against former CIA head George Tenet, citing "state secrets," which the Guardian explains "allowed the U.S. government to have the case dismissed without ever getting to the merits."

The American Civil Liberties Union, which filed a lawsuit on behalf of El-Masri in the United States, calls El-Masri a "victim of torture."

In a press release, the ACLU argues that the United States has yet to answer some basic questions. It writes:

"To add insult to El-Masri's long-lasting injury, according to State Department diplomatic cables, the Bush administration pressured Germany not to prosecute CIA officers responsible for his kidnapping and abuse. Despite the fact that the former President Bush and other senior government officials acknowledged the existence of the U.S. rendition program, and the details of El-Masri's rendition and torture are widely known, the U.S. continues to deny responsibility and has invoked the "state secrets privilege" to protect government officials, CIA operatives and corporations from civil accountability. A 2005 ACLU lawsuit on behalf of El-Masri against former CIA director George Tenet was dismissed by lower courts on state secrecy grounds, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case. Because of the U.S. government's failure to provide redress for El-Masri, in 2008 the ACLU filed a petition on his behalf against the United States with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Over four years later, the U.S. government is yet to respond. Thus while his torturers enjoy impunity for their crimes, El-Masri has yet to receive an apology — or any other form of legal redress."

President Barack Obama will award a posthumous Medal of Honor today to Spec. Leslie H. Sabo Jr., a Pennsylvania rifleman killed after sacrificing his body to grenade fire in Vietnam during 1970's "Mother's Day Ambush".

A Defense Department description of Sabo's heroic actions says the 22-year old saved the lives of several other soldiers. He charged enemy positions and killed several North Vietnamese fighters while drawing fire away from his unit.

Later, when a grenade was tossed near a wounded fellow soldier, Sabo used his body to shield his comrade from the blast. Wounded from fire, Sabo then crawled towards an enemy bunker and dropped a grenade that "silenced the enemy fire, but also ended Specialist Sabo's life."

The Associated Press explains the four decade delay in recognizing Sabo's actions:

"The Army says paperwork for the award was done at the time of the war by George Koziol, one of the men wounded in the battle of Se San but that it was lost in 1970 and did not resurface for three decades.

"In 1999, Alton Mabb, a 101st Airborne Division Vietnam veteran, found the original paperwork while at the National Archives researching an article for the division's magazine. A few weeks later he asked archive personnel to send him copies of the paperwork and began the push to get Sabo recognized."

President Obama will present the medal to Sabo's widow, Rose Mary Brown, and brother, George Sabo.

The White House will live stream the medal ceremony, starting at 3 p.m. EDT.

There's quite a bit of news coming of out of Syria today. The big one is a report from The Washington Post, quoting "U.S. and foreign officials" saying that the Persian Gulf states and the United States have stepped up their efforts to assist and arm the opposition.

The Post reports that a senior State Department official says the U.S. is providing "non-lethal assistance," such as help with a command-and-control infrastructure.

The paper adds:

"The U.S. contacts with the rebel military and the information-sharing with gulf nations mark a shift in Obama administration policy as hopes dim for a political solution to the Syrian crisis. Many officials now consider an expanding military confrontation to be inevitable.

"Material is being stockpiled in Damascus, in Idlib near the Turkish border and in Zabadani on the Lebanese border. Opposition activists who two months ago said the rebels were running out of ammunition said this week that the flow of weapons — most still bought on the black market in neighboring countries or from elements of the Syrian military — has significantly increased after a decision by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other gulf states to provide millions of dollars in funding each month."

At the same time, the United Nations rescued a team of international observers whose vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb on Tuesday.

The AP reports that no one on the team was hurt but they did have to spend the night with the rebels. The AP adds:

"He said the observers were meeting with members of the rebel Free Syrian Army when Tuesday's explosion occurred. He said three vehicles were damaged. It was not clear who was behind the blast and no one claimed responsibility.

"More than 200 U.N. observers have been deployed throughout Syria to monitor the cease-fire agreement, which has been repeatedly violated by both sides since it took effect on April 12."

As we've reported, Syria is in the midst of an uprising that started more than a year ago and has killed more than 9,000 people. The international community has tried to broker a deal between rebels and the regime of Bashar Assad, but so far the violence is unabated.

The campaign corruption trial of former Democratic presidential contender John Edwards will not reach a dramatic climax with testimony from the former senator or the mistress he's accused of trying to hide with 2008 campaign funds.

According to The Associated Press, Edwards' attorneys said in court today that they will not be calling Edwards or Rielle Hunter to the stand and that they expect to rest their case later today.

They also won't be calling Edwards' adult daughter Cate to the stand, AP says.

As the wire service reminds us:

"Edwards is accused of masterminding a plan to use money from two wealthy donors to hide his pregnant mistress during his bid for the 2008 White House. Edwards faces six counts of campaign finance violations. If convicted, he could face up to 30 years in prison."

Edwards has said he did not break campaign finance laws.

Update at noon ET: The defense has rested it case. Closing arguments begin Thursday.l

Patty Akrouche says she's "never been prouder" of her 9-year-old son Josef Miles than she was this past weekend.

As Akrouche wrote on her Facebook page, she and Josef were on the campus of Washburn University in Topeka when they encountered some of the protesters from the tiny Westboro Baptist Church, which has gained notice in recent years for protesting against homosexuality, abortion and other issues outside the funerals of military veterans and celebrities.

Westboro's followers are infamous for their signs that — using an F-word we won't repeat — say "God Hates [Homosexuals]."

"Josef was determined to make his own statement so we went to the car and with pencil and his sketch pad, he made up his own little sign that reads 'GOD HATES NO ONE,' " his mom wrote. "Those people are scary but he stood strong, was respectful and stood by his convictions. He will be a good man, I have no doubt. I got my Mothers Day present early."

For his quiet counter-protest, Josef has gotten noticed too — for example, by The Huffington Post and the Morris News Service.

So, Buzzfeed may need to update it's "30 Best Anti-Westboro Baptist Church Protest Signs" page (note: some images there do have words we wouldn't use).

"I'm for Mitt Romney."

With four words, said to an ABC News reporter as an elevator's doors closed, former President George W. Bush on Tuesday confirmed what was pretty obvious — he is supporting his fellow Republican's bid for the White House.

But as The Associated Press reports:

"Romney's campaign doesn't foresee the 43rd president playing a substantive role in the race. Aides are carefully weighing how much the former president should be involved in the GOP convention — and for good reason. The Bush fatigue that was a drag on GOP nominee John McCain four years ago, and on the country, still lingers, including among Republicans."

"Bosnian Serb Gen. Ratko Mladic taunted Srebrenica survivors on Wednesday at the start of his trial for genocide, running his hand across his throat in a gesture of defiance to relatives of the worst massacre in Europe since World War II," Reuters writes from The Hague.

The wire service says Mladic "made eye contact with one of the Muslim women in the audience, running a hand across his throat, in a gesture that led Presiding judge Alphons Orie to hold a brief recess and order an end to 'inappropriate interactions.' "

According to The Telegraph, "Mladic made throat-cutting gestures to Munira Subasic, a woman who lost 22 relatives to Bosnian Serb military forces when the enclave of Srebrenica was overrun in July 1995, as she watched the trial from the glassed off public gallery."

As The Associated Press recounts:

"Twenty years after his troops began brutally ethnically cleansing Bosnian towns and villages of non-Serbs, Gen. Ratko Mladic went on trial Wednesday at the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal accused of 11 counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

"The ailing 70-year-old Mladic's appearance at the U.N. court war crimes tribunal marked the end of a long wait for justice to survivors of the 1992-95 war that left some 100,000 people dead. The trial is also a landmark for the U.N. court and international justice — Mladic is the last suspect from the Bosnian war to go on trial here."

There was a 2.6 percent increase in housing starts in April from March, the Census Bureau and Department of Housing and Urban Development just reported.

The Associated Press calls the increase "evidence that the battered housing market is slowly healing." Bloomberg News says the larger-than-expected increase signals the housing sector may be stabilizing. It adds that "employment gains, cheaper homes and record-low mortgage rates are combining to lift demand and encourage builders to take on projects."

With "the shockwaves from Greece's failure to form a coalition government" continuing to roil financial markets around the world, there's word from the BBC that Greece has now scheduled a new set of elections for June 17.

And there's also this:

"Greece's president [has spoken] of 'fear that could develop into panic' at the country's banks in the weeks before fresh elections that could precipitate Athens exit from the euro zone," Reuters reports.

According to the wire service, "afraid of the prospect of rapid devaluation if the country leaves the single currency," many Greeks are pulling euros out of banks, minutes of President Karolos Papoulias's meetings with political leaders indicate. The nation's central bank chief says Greeks pulled at least $894 million out of banks on Monday.

As Reuters has also reported, a "Grexit" from the euro (Greece pulling out of the currency bloc) is being increasingly discussed.

Good morning, here are some of the top stories we're looking at today:

Medical Report Details George Zimmerman's Injuries, ABC News Says.

Folks Seem To Like It, So Facebook Boosts Size Of Stock Offering By 25 Percent.

Greece Holds New Elections June 17th, Decides Fate Of Euro; World Stocks Fluctuate. (Guardian)

Accused Serbian War Criminal Ratko Mladic Makes Threatening Gesture At Trial. (Reuters)

New French President Meets German Leader After Lightning Strike On Plane Delays Trip Briefly. (Los Angeles Times)

Searchers Locate Flight Data Recorder From Russian Plane That Crashed On Demonstration Flight In Indonesia. (AP)

Amnesty International: Mali Facing Worst Human Rights Crisis, Food Shortages In 50 Years. (Amnesty International)

Deb Fischer Wins Nebraska GOP Senate Primary In Upset, Will Face Democrat Bob Kerry. (Wall Street Journal)

Germany's New 'Pirate Party' Of Online Activists Wins Votes In Local Election. (MSNBC)

Dinosaurs Had Arthritis, Or How A Pliosaur Got TMJ. (Discovery News)

The hoopla continues over Facebook's initial public offering of stock, with word that the social media giant has increased the size of Friday's IPO by 25 percent.

According to a statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission earlier today, the company now plans to sell 421 million shares — up from the previous estimate of 337 million. According to Reuters, at 421 million Facebook's IPO would be the third largest in U.S. history, after those of Visa Inc. and General Motors.

Tuesday, as we reported, Facebook said it was responding to high demand for the shares with an increase in the expected price, to between $34 and $38 per share from the original estimate of $28 to $35.

If the shares sell at the high end of the new range, Facebook would raise about $16 billion.

As we've also reported, though, it's going to be next to impossible for small investors to get their hands on the stock at its initial offering price — and there's word that General Motors is going to stop advertising on the website because it questions the effectiveness of such ads.

Related posts from our friends at Planet Money:

— Pizza Delicious Bought An Ad On Facebook. How'd They Do?

— Is Facebook Worth $100 Billion?

And from Tell Me More: Buying Facebook? Investing 101 For Newbies.

George Zimmerman had a broken nose, black eyes, cuts on the back of his head and a minor back injury the day after he shot and killed Florida teenager Trayvon Martin, according to medical records compiled by his doctor, ABC News reports.

Zimmerman, a 28-year-old neighborhood watch volunteer in Sanford, Fla., says he acted in self defense on Feb. 26 when he shot Martin, a 17-year-old African-American. Martin's family and supporters have argued that Zimmerman racially profiled the boy and followed him through the Sanford neighborhood before their tragic encounter. The case has rekindled a national discussion about race relations and racial profiling.

This latest report from ABC News means that network has in recent weeks gone from reporting that a police surveillance video of Zimmerman did not show any obvious evidence of injuries to saying that an enhanced version of that video did show some sort of injury on the back of his head to now reporting that according to the doctor:

"In addition to his physical injuries, Zimmerman complained of stress and 'occasional nausea when thinking about the violence.' But he was not diagnosed with a concussion. The doctor noted that it was 'imperative' that Zimmerman 'be seen with [sic] his psychologist for evaluation.' "

Zimmerman has pleaded not guilty to a charge of second-degree murder. He is currently out on bail.

Meanwhile, Orlando's WFTV-TV says that an autopsy report shows that along with the fatal gunshot wound to his chest, Martin had "broken skin on his knuckles."

Legal analyst Bill Sheaffer tells the station that Zimmerman's attorney may try to make the case that the injuries to Martin's knuckles support his client's case that he was punched by the teenager. But the injuries also "could be consistent with Trayvon either trying to get away or defend himself," Sheaffer told the station.

According to The Wall Street Journal and CBS News, General Motors is planning to pull its ads from Facebook.

That would be a big move because GM has spent about $10 million in Facebook ads and the news comes just days before Facebook goes public on Friday.

The Journal reports:

"Asked about the move, GM marketing chief Joel Ewanick said the Detroit auto maker 'is definitely reassessing our advertising on Facebook, although the content is effective and important.' Content refers to the unpaid Facebook pages many companies use to promote their products.

"GM, started to re-evaluate its Facebook strategy earlier this year after its marketing team began to question the effectiveness of the ads. GM marketing executives, including Mr. Ewanick, met with Facebook managers to address concerns about the site's effectiveness and left unconvinced advertising on the website made sense, according to people familiar with GM's thinking."

CBS reports that GM is the third-largest advertiser in the U.S. And while $10 million is a small portion of Facebook's $3.7 billion revenue, "losing a high-profile customer like GM could raise fears about other advertisers abandoning the service."

Reuters is reporting that it has received a statement from GM that confirms the Journal's report.

President Obama welcomed the Los Angeles Galaxy to the White House today in celebration of their Major League Soccer title.

The team, which has won three cups, is star studded. But there is no one bigger than David Beckham and president Obama took advantage of the opportunity to give the international soccer star a ribbing.

It's a "rare man who can be that tough on the field and also have his own line of underwear," the president said in reference to Beckham's underwear line for H&M. According to the AP, the president also made fun of the 37-year-old's age, saying half his teammates, "could be his kids. We're getting old, David."

This picture pretty much tells the story:

Carlos Fuentes, one of the most prolific and best known Spanish-language authors, has died. His death was reported on Twitter by Mexican president Felipe Calderon. The Mexican daily Reforma, which Fuentes often wrote for, reports the author died after experiencing heart problems.

He was 83.

"I am profoundly sorry for the death our loved and admired Carlos Fuentes, writer and universal Mexican. Rest in peace," Calderon wrote on Twitter.

El País, the Spanish newspaper that carried some of his essays, confirmed his death.

El Universal spoke to Consuelo Saizar, director of the National Council for Culture and Arts, who said Fuentes possesed a "great literary body of work."

"He was a vital man like his prose," Saizar said. "And dies without his very much deserved Nobel prize."

In the United States, Fuentes is best known for his novel Gringo Viejo, or The Old Gringo, which was made into a film in 1989 starring Gregory Peck.

Among his major literary awards was the Cervantes Prize in 1987.

Update at 3:39 p.m. ET. A Bit Of Biography:

Fuentes was born in Panama City in 1928. As the obit in El País notes, Fuentes' father was a Mexican diplomat so he moved around quite a bit. He was schooled in places like Argentina, Chile, Brazil and in the United States for eight years.

El País notes that when he was 12-years-old, Fuentes read Cervantes' El Quijote and that left such a mark that "Fuentes turned into one of the premiere experts on the first modern novel."

Update at 3:47 p.m. ET. His Work:

The AP has a bit more on Fuentes' body of work:

"His generation of writers, including Colombia's Gabriel García Márquez and Peru's Mario Vargas Llosa, drew global readership and attention to Latin American culture during a period when strongmen ruled much of the region.

"The Death of Artemio Cruz, a novel about a post-revolutionary Mexico that failed to keep its promise of narrowing social gaps, brought Fuentes international notoriety.

"The elegant, mustachioed author's other contemporary classics included Aura, Terra Nostra, and The Good Conscience. Many American readers know him for The Old Gringo, a novel about San Francisco journalist Ambrose Bierce, who disappeared at the height of the 1910-1920 Mexican Revolution. That book was later made into a film starring Gregory Peck and Jane Fonda."

Update at 3:55 p.m. ET. Searching For Identity, Searching For Differences:

Back in 2002, NPR's Morning Edition spoke to Fuentes. The occassion was his latest novel Inez, the tale of "a lovelorn orchestra conductor, a young Mexican soprano and a mysterious crystal seal."

Very little of that novel was based in Mexico. The lead character, Inez, was Mexican but the action took place across the world.

Fuentes told Bob Edwards that he would be surprised by modern Mexican literature. In the past, he said, Mexican literature was about identity.

"But, now, we have an identity," he said. "We know what it means to be Mexican."

The literature in Inez, he said, goes a step further by focusing on discovering differences.

Edwards, after noting that the author had more than 20 novels under his belt, asked Fuentes where his Nobel prize was.

"My Nobel was is in the pockets of Gabriel García Márquez," he said, adding that Márquez had received the honor for a whole generation of Latin American writers. He said he would leave the prize for a new generation.

We have a fondness for stories about centenarians, we have to admit.

There was Fauja Singh, the 100-year-old "Turbaned Tornado," who finished the Toronto Marathon last year.

And we've posted about Tennessee's Evelyn "Mama Bird" Johnson, who died last week at the age of 102. She held the Guinness world record for most hours logged by a female pilot.

Now we're hearing about Marie Kelleher in Virginia, who at the age of 99 is still setting swimming age-group records. Counted as being 100 because United States Masters Swimming rules "use the swimmer's age as of December 31 for competitions held in 25-meter courses," according to Virginia Masters Swimming, she just became "the oldest known American woman to have competed at a USMS-recognized meet."

The Richmond Times-Dispatch says that "Kelleher swims four days a week, usually logging about 10 laps per session. She arrives at the Tuckahoe YMCA at 5 a.m. on her swimming days, driving herself 9 miles from her home to arrive exactly when the Y opens."

"I need the swimming," she told the newspaper, with a grin. "I'm not much at walking anymore. ... I told somebody recently that I staggered when I walk. He said that didn't sound too good. So let's just say I wobble."

NATO has just asked the Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari to attend the May 20-21 summit in Chicago. The AP says the overture signals that the rift between NATO and Islamabad may be coming to a resolution.

If you remember, after an American airstrike killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in November, Pakistan closed its Western border to Afghanistan, effectively stopping an important supply route for coalition troops.

The AP adds:

"The U.S. expressed regret for the airstrikes and has been quietly pressing Pakistan to reopen the routes over the last two weeks. Washington and NATO stepped up those efforts in recent days by making it clear Islamabad would not be welcome at the two-day summit beginning Sunday in Chicago unless it did so.

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen phoned President Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday afternoon to invite him to the meeting, according to a statement from the Pakistan government and NATO.

"'This meeting will underline the strong commitment of the international community to the people of Afghanistan and to its future,' NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said in Brussels, where the alliance is based. 'Pakistan has an important role to play in that future.'"

The AFP reports that Pakistan has all but accepted the offer and this marks a "return from the cold for Islamabad, which boycotted the last major international talks on Afghanistan, held in Bonn in December."

The wire service reports that a cabinet meeting on Wednesday is widely expected to approve the reopening of the supply routes.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said a bomb detonated in the middle of Bogotá, the country's capital and largest city, was intended to kill former interior minister Ferdnando Londoño Hoyos.

El País reports that Santos condemned the attack, saying the bomb exploded next to the armored vehicle Londoño was travelling in.

The AP reports at least two people are dead, while Radio Caracol is reporting that at least five are dead with 19 injured. Two of the dead, reports Caracol, were Londoño's body guards. Londoño was injured, the president said, but is now out of danger.

It's still not clear whether the bomb was thrown at the vehicle or whether it was a car bomb. Photos from the scene show the bombed-out remains of a small bus.

"We don't understand what the purpose of this is," Santos said, according to Caracol. "But rest assured, the government will not allow itself to be derailed by these terrorist acts."

Update at 5:23 p.m. ET. Government Points Finger At FARC :

Radio Caracol reports that Andrés Villamizar, director of the country's national protection unit, says Londoño had been threatened by the guerilla group FARC because of his work with the Álvaro Uribe administration and because of his work as journalist currently.

Caracol reports the bomb was placed on the former interior minister's car using a magnet.

Aletta — a modest tropical storm spinning of the western coast of Mexico with 40 mph winds — is already special because of two reasons: It the first tropical storm in the Western Hemisphere and it has now broken a 41-day streak in which Earth did not see a cyclone.

Jeff Masters at Weather Underground provides a little more detail:

— First, he says, this season is off to an early start. "Since record keeping began in 1949, there have only been two that have formed by May 15—Hurricane Alma of 1990, and an unnamed 1996 storm."

— Second: "The formation of Aletta ends a 41-day streak without a tropical storm anywhere in the world. According to the UK Met Office, the 41-day period storm-less period is the longest span Earth has gone without a tropical storm in at least 70 years."

Aletta, by the way, is not expected to bother anyone. That's why The Washington Post jumps ahead and asks: Does this early storm — the Atlantic Hurricane season doesn't start until June 1 — mean we're in for an early start?

"The birth of Aletta in the eastern Pacific signals activity is picking up in tropical regions around the world," the Capital Weather Gang reports. "The agitated appearance of the cloud field in the eastern Pacific suggests there may be more development there in during the next few days."

Back in April, William Gray, the legendary meteorologist, released his forecast (pdf) for the hurricane season. He said he expected a season with "reduced activity."

"We anticipate a below-average probability for major hurricanes making landfall along the United States coastline and in the Caribbean," Gray wrote.

The Justice Department has begun looking into JPMorgan Chase's $2 billion-and-counting loss from a hedge account, The Wall Street Journal reports. It cites "a person familiar with the matter" as its source.

The Journal adds that "the probe is at an early stage and it isn't clear what possible legal violation federal investigators may be focusing on."

The Securities and Exchange Commission is already conducting its own probe into the bank's billion dollar blunder.

Meanwhile, at JPMorgan's annual shareholder meeting today in Tampa, CEO Jamie Dimon "survived a shareholder push ... to strip him of the title of chairman of the board," The Associated Press reports, and "won a shareholder endorsement of his pay package from last year, which totaled $23 million."

During the meeting, Dimon said the trading loss, "should never have happened. I can't justify it. Unfortunately these mistakes were self-inflicted." He pledged to learn from the mistakes "and fix them."

Update at 12:35 p.m. ET. Reuters Says New York Office Of The FBI Is Leading The Probe:

"The New York office of the FBI has opened an investigation into JPMorgan Chase & Co's $2 billion trading loss, a source familiar with the probe said on Tuesday. The source, who requested anonymity because the investigation is ongoing, said the probe was in a 'preliminary' stage."