Mark Wahlberg asks Massachusetts for pardon in 1988 crime

Mark Wahlberg is asking for a pardon for a 1988 crime.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Mark Wahlberg served prison time for committing assault when he was 16
• He's asking for a pardon because he's still affected by the convictions
• "I have dedicated myself to becoming a better person," he says

(CNN) -- On April 8, 1988, when he was 16 and long before he became a model, rapper and actor, Mark Wahlberg -- high on drugs and alcohol -- assaulted a man while trying to steal two cases of alcohol and then punched another man in the face as he attempted to avoid the police.

He was arrested, sentenced and tried as an adult, and he served 45 days in prison.

Today, at 43, Wahlberg is a much different person -- a father of four, a successful movie star, a philanthropist who works with at-risk youth -- but says he's still legally affected by his convictions. In apetition submitted Monday (PDF), he's asking for a pardon.

"I am deeply sorry for the actions that I took on the night of April 8, 1988, as well as for any lasting damage I may have caused the victims," he writes in the petition. "Since that time, I have dedicated myself to becoming a better person and citizen so that I can be a role model to my children and others."

Wahlberg says his record "can potentially be the bases to deny me a concessionaire's license in California and elsewhere," something important to him because of his interest in Wahlburgers, a restaurant he hopes to expand.

Moreover, he says, "given my prior record, Massachusetts and California law prohibit me from actually obtaining positions in law enforcement," which he says prevents him from becoming "more active in law enforcement activities."

Wahlberg has frequently acknowledged his troubled past. In July,he told CBS News that he draws on his experiences in his acting.

"I have a lot of real life experience that I can draw on," Wahlberg said. "And I think that shows in the characters that I play because I'm always trying to find somebody -- or find characters to play that I can identify with on a personal level or relate to. And I think it makes for a little bit more of an honest portrayal."

He added, "Once I got a second chance, I was never going to do anything to mess it up."

In the petition, Wahlberg notes that in 2001 he started the Mark Wahlberg Youth Foundation, which has donated $7 million to various youth causes, and he's very active in the Boys & Girls Club.

News reports have noted that Wahlberg left some details out of his pardon. As his sentencing memorandum states, he made a racial slur to the first man he hit and continued with such speech after he was arrested. One victim was left blind in one eye, according to an ABC News report.

Wahlberg admits that his reasons for asking for a pardon go beyond just having certain legal rights smoothed out.

"The more complex answer is that receiving a pardon would be a formal recognition that I am not the same person that I was the night of April 8, 1988," he writes. "It would be formal recognition that someone like me can receive official public redemption if he devotes himself to personal improvement and a life of good works."

The pardon would also be a message for troubled youths that "they too can turn their lives around and be formally accepted back into society," he adds.

Some observers have been skeptical of the request.

"Even if Wahlberg is not the same person anymore, he was that person at one point, and if he's seeking a pardon the full version of how he acted is what should be judged," wrote the Boston Globe's Austin Tedesco.

Commenters on Boston's WBZ's "Daily Talker" were harsher.

"Why him and not numerous others who have turned their lives around? Has he made amends to the victim?" wrote jockstevens.

"Ah, no. It wouldn't be fair to others in the same situation," wrote the flip side.

Wahlberg's case will be reviewed by the parole board, which will pass its recommendation to Gov. Deval Patrick, who will make the final decision pending approval by the eight-person Governor's Council.

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Typhoon Hagupit reminds Tacloban of past horror

Tacloban evacuates ahead of Hagupit

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Year after Typhoon Haiyan, people of Tacloban are again braced for a tropical storm
• Prospect of another massive storm so soon after Haiyan is enough to alarm people
• At school near Tacloban City, hundreds of families seek shelter in a school
• Police, military deployed with large number of foreign NGOs, soldiers from South Korea's military

Affected by the storm? Send your photos to CNN iReport, but please stay safe.

Tacloban, Philippines (CNN) -- Anyone who visits Tacloban would be struck by the resilience of its people, many of whom lost everything -- family, friends, homes -- when Typhoon Haiyan battered the central Philippines a year ago.

But imagine if you were them for a moment: you're told another storm, almost as powerful, is now heading for you. It's a horrifying prospect.

INTERACTIVE: See the latest satellite and path of the storm

This is a population used to frequent tropical storms and that was one of the problems in November 2013. So many people thought they could ride out the storm but didn't account for the deadly floodwaters from the storm surge that followed.

Tacloban: Preparing for another disaster

And what followed has been well documented -- entire communities flattened and decomposing bodies strewn along the side of roads. A death toll that eventually exceeded 5,000 of this country's most impoverished souls. Nearly everyone here lost someone.

Tacloban braces for Super Typhoon Hagupit

Year's worst storm threatens Philippines

Super typhoon could hit Philippines

Barely 12 months later and the people of Tacloban, a name that will be forever associated with this disaster, have only started to recover, with many schools and homes rebuilt, businesses reopened and the scars of lost relatives and friends beginning to heal.

READ: Philippines braces for Super Typhoon Hagupit

The current storm in question -- Typhoon Hagupit -- may not yet hit Tacloban, such is the chilling unpredictability of these weather systems, but the prospect of another massive storm so soon after Haiyan is enough to alarm people here.

And that has spurred many to act.

"I heard about the new storm on television," Charity Hilaria, a young mother, told CNN from outside her modest home on the edge of a dirt road into Tacloban.

"It scared me, I remembered last year," she added. As she cradled her weeks-old son, she told us that her family would be evacuating and spending the next couple of nights in a hotel. "We have to hide somewhere to be safe." Last year, she said they didn't understand the dangers of a storm surge because the government hadn't warned them.

Hilaria's home was completely destroyed by Haiyan. Her new one -- little more than a rickety wooden shack -- took six months to complete, and only after they managed to get financial assistance from one of the many NGOs and foundations active in the region.

READ: Philippines gets more than its share of disasters

While the safety of her family was the priority, she appeared resigned to losing her second home. All they can do is tie down the corrugated iron roof. Asked whether she'd consider leaving Tacloban for good, her sister, Christina, interjected: "No, this is where we grew up. We've been living here for almost 30 years, so it's hard for us to leave somewhere and start a new life."

Unfortunately, many of the homes of Tacloban's poorest rebuilt in the wake of Haiyan are little more than shanty-like structures located in areas extremely vulnerable to flooding and storm surges. The local government initially tried to ban them from these areas, but they eventually relented, such was the pressure to build new homes in the wake of Haiyan.

At one school on the outskirts of Tacloban City, hundreds of families sought shelter in a school, setting up makeshift camps along corridors outside classrooms labeled "Science lab" or "English," and inside a massive sports hall.

This is one of more than 60 evacuation centers dotted around the area.

As we walked into the sports hall, we were greeted by hundreds of smiling faces -- mainly children, who clearly viewed this as an adventure. One middle-aged woman told us she'd brought all 13 of her children along with her.

Another young mother said her husband insisted they leave their home despite the threat of losing their possessions to opportunist looters. She said memories of the Haiyan prompted them to look for somewhere safe to shelter.

As we moved towards the San Jose neighborhood, one of the worst-hit areas of Tacloban last year, the scars of Haiyan were evident, a single palm tree stood defiantly on the beach alongside a group of wrecked wooden shacks -- once the homes of entire families.

This is a particularly poor neighborhood that sits along the water's edge. Many residents like Ramil Arania, 40, have opted to evacuate too, though the police reportedly have orders to arrest anyone who ignores compulsory evacuation orders for this area anyway.

Now we pray that this new storm just disappears.
Tacloban resident Ramil Arania

With the incongruous sight of a young boy surfing in the background, Arania told us he and his family were inside when the waves started to lash their home during last year's storm surge. "We were lucky, because the water made a hole in our wall that created a pocket for the water to pass through and not collapse it," he said.

"We managed to get to the second floor -- if it wasn't for that hole, it would have collapsed and we'd have been swept away.

"And now we pray that this new storm just disappears."

While there's a very real fear that last year could happen again, the situation in Tacloban is calm. The police and military are deployed here alongside an impressive number of foreign NGOs and even soldiers from South Korea's military.

The feared run on supplies doesn't seem to have materialized -- yet. While some businesses have boarded up and closed, others, including gas stations, don't have long queues of people anxious to stock up.

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Former top Chinese official arrested in corruption probe

Former official arrested for corruption

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Zhou Yongkang had been one of nine on China's top decision-making body
• State news: He's been arrested and expelled from the Communist Party
• Investigators found Zhou took bribes, helped others, traded power for sex
• He's one of several people ensnared in China's anti-corruption campaign

(CNN) -- China's former top domestic security official, Zhou Yongkang, has been arrested as part of a corruption probe, the country's state-run Xinhua news agency reports.

Zhou -- who had been one of nine members of China's top decision-making body, the Politburo Standing Committee, before stepping down in late 2012 -- was also expelled from the Communist Party, according to Xinhua, citing a decision made Friday at a meeting of the party central committee's political bureau.

The decision comes amid a much touted anti-corruption campaign launched by President Xi Jinping, one that has already ensnared several men who had once been prominent figures in government and the ruling Communist Party.

Corruption is a lightning rod for public discontent across the Asian nation, which for decades has been run by the Communist Party. After taking power in late 2012, Xi banned official extravagance -- from banquets to year-end gifts -- and vowed to target "flies and tigers" alike in his fight against corruption when describing his resolve to spare no one, regardless of position.

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Are corruption arrests just politics?

Anti-corruption campaign surprises many

Author: Corruption hurt Communist Party

One of them was Gen. Xu Caihou, a former vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, which runs the world's largest standing army. Xu was expelled from the party and handed over to prosecutors after being found to have accepted bribes, Xinhua reported in June. Like Zhou, Xu was in the Politburo before retiring in 2012.

Also this summer, Xinhua reported on the downfall of Su Rong, a former vice chairman of China's top political advisory body. State media reported that Su and his wife profited tremendously through bribes and illegal land deals when he ran the southeastern province of Jiangxi.

Zhou officially got caught up in this campaign in July, when the Communist Party announced it was opening a probe into the retired senior leader for a suspected if then unspecified "serious disciplinary violation."

According to a statement released Saturday by the Supreme People's Procuratorate, or China's prosecutor's office, an investigation determined that Zhou took advantage of his positions to garner profits for others "and accepted huge bribes personally and through his family," Xinhua reported. He did so to help relatives, mistresses and friends, leaking party and country secrets while hurting state-owned assets, according to Xinhua.

The same report noted that investigators found that Zhou had affairs with a number of women, trading "his power for sex and money."

"What Zhou did completely deviated from the (Communist) Party's nature and mission, and seriously violated Party discipline," Xinhua said, citing the statement from the procuratorate. His behavior "badly undermined the reputation of the Party, significantly damaged the cause of the Party and the people and have yielded serious consequences."

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Al-Shabaab strikes again, killing 4 in attack on U.N. convoy in Somalia

Mogadishu, Somalia (CNN) -- One day after executing dozens of non-Muslims at a quarry in Kenya, the Islamist militant group Al-Shabaab waged an attack in its home base of Somalia -- killing at least four people, according to police, in an attack on a United Nations convoy.

Three of those killed in Wednesday morning's attack near Mogadishu's airport were civilians and another was a security force member, Police Col. Mohamed Hassan said.

"I saw at least two dead bodies lying in a pool of blood on the ground, and police arrived soon at the area and began shooting in the air to disperse the crowds," a witness named Sharma'arke said by phone from the scene.

A plume of black smoke could be seen rising from the airport, which also acts as a staging ground for United Nations operations and for the African Union troops on a peacekeeping mission in Somalia.

Al-Shabaab kills 36 in gruesome attack

Why Somali jihadists would strike Kenya

Two United Nations vehicles were damaged, a U.N. official said, but no U.N. staff members were killed or injured.

Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for what spokesman Sheikh Abdiaziz Abu Musab called "a sacred bomb attack" targeting "foreign mercenaries and U.N. staff." Abu Musab said this action had claimed the lives of "several Somali soldiers and foreigners working with U.N.," but he did not specify a number of dead or their nationalities.

Such violence -- in Somalia and carried out by Al-Shabaab -- is hardly unprecedented.

The group has been active in East Africa for years, waging an armed campaign that initially aimed to turn Somalia into a fundamentalist Islamic state, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.

Yet Al-Shabaab, which the United States designated as a foreign terrorist organization in March 2008, hasn't confined its targets to Somali authorities. Its militants have also killed international aid workers, journalists, civilian leaders and African Union peacekeepers.

Somali and allied AU forces have pushed back, even forcing Al-Shabaab from its last major stronghold in Barawe in early October, according to residents and military commanders. Yet they haven't stopped the group entirely, as evidenced by a deadly car bombing outside a popular Mogadishu restaurant one week after that milestone.

And it's not as though Al-Shabaab is confining itself to Somalia. The terrorist group -- whose then-leader, Ahmed Godane, pledged allegiance to al Qaeda in 2012 -- has been active elsewhere in Africa as well.

Its bombers attacked bars and restaurants in the Ugandan capital of Kampala on the night of the 2010 World Cup final, killing more than 60 people. And last fall, Al-Shabaab militants casually walked into the upscale Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya, and began gunning down shoppers -- allegedly torturing some hostages before killing them. The four-day-long siege ended with as many as 67 dead and parts of the mall destroyed.

Last month, authorities said at least 28 died after Al-Shabaab ambushed a bus in Kenya and sprayed bullets on those who failed to recite Quran verses.

And on Tuesday, the group's militants raided a quarry in the Kenyan village of Kormey, near the Somali border, separating non-Muslim workers from their Muslim counterparts and executing them, group spokesman Sheikh Ali Dheere said in a statement read on a pro-Al-Shabaab radio station in Somalia.

At least 36 bodies were found dumped in the quarry, according to the Kenyan Red Cross.

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