Hillary: Secretary of empowerment

Girls hug U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during a 2010 tour of a shelter run for sex trafficking victims in Cambodia.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Donna Brazile: Clinton stepping down as Secretary of State. Maybe she'll run for president


• She says as secretary she expanded foreign policy to include effect on regular people


• She says she was first secretary of state to focus on empowering women and girls


• Brazile: Clinton has fought for education and inclusion in politics for women and girls

Editor's note: Donna Brazile, a CNN contributor and a Democratic strategist, is vice chairwoman for voter registration and participation at the Democratic National Committee. She is a nationally syndicated columnist, an adjunct professor at Georgetown University and author of "Cooking with Grease." She was manager for the Gore-Lieberman presidential campaign in 2000.

(CNN) -- As Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton steps down from her job Friday, many are assuming she will run for president. And she may. In fact, five of the first eight presidents first served their predecessors as secretary of state.

It hasn't happened in more than a century, though that may change should Clinton decide to run. After all, she has been a game changer her entire life.

But before we look ahead, I think we should appreciate what she's done as secretary of state; it's a high profile, high pressure job. You have to deal with the routine as if it is critical and with crisis as if it's routine. You have to manage egos, protocols, customs and Congress. You have to be rhetorical and blunt, diplomatic and direct.

CNN Contributor Donna Brazile

As secretary of state you are dealing with heads of state and with we the people. And the president of the United States has to trust you -- implicitly.

On the road with Hillary Clinton

Of all Clinton's accomplishments -- and I will mention just a few -- this may be the most underappreciated. During the election, pundits were puzzled and amazed not only at how much energy former President Bill Clinton poured into Obama's campaign, but even more at how genuine and close the friendship was.

Obama was given a lot of well-deserved credit for reaching out to the Clintons by appointing then-Sen. Hillary Clinton as his secretary of state in the first place. But trust is a two-way street and has to be earned. We should not underestimate or forget how much Clinton did and how hard she worked. She deserved that trust, as she deserved to be in the war room when Osama bin Laden was killed.

By the way, is there any other leader in the last 50 years whom we routinely refer to by a first name, and do so more out of respect than familiarity? The last person I can think of was Ike -- the elder family member who we revere with affection. Hillary is Hillary.

It's not surprising that we feel we know her. She has been part of our public life for more than 20 years. She's been a model of dignity, diplomacy, empathy and toughness. She also has done something no other secretary of state has done -- including the two women who preceded her in the Cabinet post.

Rothkopf: President Hillary Clinton? If she wants it

Hillary has transformed our understanding -- no, our definition -- of foreign affairs. Diplomacy is no longer just the skill of managing relations with other countries. The big issues -- war and peace, terror, economic stability, etc. -- remain, and she has handled them with firmness and authority, with poise and confidence, and with good will, when appropriate.

But it is not the praise of diplomats or dictators that will be her legacy. She dealt with plenipotentiaries, but her focus was on people. Foreign affairs isn't just about treaties, she taught us, it's about the suffering and aspirations of those affected by the treaties, made or unmade.

Most of all, diplomacy should refocus attention on the powerless.

Of course, Hillary wasn't the first secretary of state to advocate for human rights or use the post to raise awareness of abuses or negotiate humanitarian relief or pressure oppressors. But she was the first to focus on empowerment, particularly of women and girls.

She created the first Office of Global Women's Issues. That office fought to highlight the plight of women around the world. Rape of women has been a weapon of war for centuries. Though civilized countries condemn it, the fight against it has in a sense only really begun.

Ghitis: Hillary Clinton's global legacy on gay rights

The office has worked to hold governments accountable for the systematic oppression of girls and women and fought for their education in emerging countries. As Hillary said when the office was established: "When the Security Council passed Resolution 1325, we tried to make a very clear statement, that women are still largely shut out of the negotiations that seek to end conflicts, even though women and children are the primary victims of 21st century conflict."

Hillary also included the United States in the Trafficking in Person report. Human Trafficking, a form of modern, mainly sexual, slavery, victimizes mostly women and girls. The annual report reviews the state of global efforts to eliminate the practice. "We believe it is important to keep the spotlight on ourselves," she said. "Human trafficking is not someone else's problem. Involuntary servitude is not something we can ignore or hope doesn't exist in our own communities."

She also created the office of Global Partnerships. And there is much more.

She has held her own in palaces and held the hands of hungry children in mud-hut villages, pursuing an agenda that empowers women, children, the poor and helpless.

We shouldn't have been surprised. Her book "It Takes a Village" focused on the impact that those outside the family have, for better or worse, on a child's well-being.

As secretary of state, she did all she could to make sure our impact as a nation would be for the better.

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The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Donna Brazile.

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Football: Fergie surprised by Beckham's PSG move

LONDON: Alex Ferguson admits he was surprised to see his former Manchester United star David Beckham sign for Paris St Germain.

Beckham had been looking for a new club since leaving LA Galaxy in November and snubbed interest from several Premier League clubs and other lucrative offers from around the world to join the French outfit on transfer deadline day.

Ferguson didn't think Beckham would come back to the Premier League as the boyhood United fan had previously said he could never play for another English club.

But the United manager was still shocked to see the 37-year-old former England captain unveiled by PSG on Thursday.

"I was surprised. I didn't see that," Ferguson told MUTV. "I didn't think he would join an English club.

"He always said he wouldn't after his career with United and he was true to his word. But I don't think anyone saw PSG coming."

While Beckham completed his high-profile move, English football was engaged in a typically frenzied finish to the January transfer window and Ferguson had no intention of being drawn into the mad scramble for new players.

"It is an absolute shambles," he said.

Referring to television coverage of the final hours of the window, which features reporters standing outside the training grounds and stadiums of all Premier League clubs, Ferguson said: "There is a young reporter being mobbed by 30 kids. It is humiliation. I am sure all the managers are glad it is all over."

- AFP/jc

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Attorney: Slain prosecutor brought gun to work

By Michael Martinez and Mariano Castillo, CNN

updated 7:29 PM EST, Fri February 1, 2013

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: Slain Texas prosecutor began carrying a gun to work daily, friend says


• NEW: Mark Hasse used a different courthouse exit every day, the attorney tells CNN


• NEW: Prosecutor didn't explain why he was fearful, she says


• NEW: Sheriff's chief deputy says he hadn't heard of fears and the gun carrying

(CNN) -- The Texas prosecutor shot to death in broad daylight outside a courthouse had feared for his life and carried a gun to work, according to a Dallas attorney describing herself as his friend.

Colleen A. Dunbar told CNN that she spoke with Kaufman County Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse on January 24, and he told her he began carrying a gun in and out of the county courthouse on a daily basis.

Hasse was gunned down in the parking lot while going to work Thursday. Investigators on Friday were reviewing his caseload for possible clues about what led to his killing.

"He told me he would use a different exit every day because he was fearful for his life," Dunbar told CNN.

Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse was one of 13 prosecuting attorneys in Kaufman County.

She said that Hasse offered no specifics on why he felt threatened, but only that he did. Dunbar said she was "shocked" by the killing.

When told of Dunbar's statements, Chief Deputy Rodney Evans of the Kaufman County Sheriff's Department she he was unaware of the information.

"But," Evans told CNN, "we've got 50 people here taking phone calls so somebody may know something I don't."

There were no significant advances in the case, Kaufman Police Chief Chris Aulbaugh said Friday, but that doesn't mean investigators weren't busy.

"We've fielded numerous tips coming in from the public. We are following up on every one of them," he said.

Police say they believe one or two people committed the crime, but there are few descriptive details because they hid their faces. Police are looking for a gray or silver older model sedan in relation to the case, Aulbaugh said.

Hasse was shot several times after "a very small, very short confrontation," police said.

Investigators are looking into whether Hasse's killing was retribution for any of the prosecutions he led. Hasse was one of 13 prosecuting attorneys in Kaufman County, each of whom handled between 380 and 390 cases.

Authorities hope that an ever-growing reward for information will reveal more leads.

Donors in area have raised $64,500 to be used as reward money, and the police chief has asked for more donations.

The Texas Rangers, the FBI and agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have joined the manhunt.

CNN's David Fitzpatrick contributed to this report.

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Katrina spurs transformation of New Orleans schools

(CBS News) NEW ORLEANS -- It was August 2005 when New Orleans nearly drowned. Hurricane Katrina broke through levees in 53 places, flooding 80 percent of the city. More than 1,100 people died.

New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu

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CBS News

But in catastrophe, there was opportunity. One of the biggest was recreating a school system from scratch. We asked Mayor Mitch Landrieu about that Friday.

SCOTT PELLEY: Paint the picture for me. What was the New Orleans school system the day after Katrina?

MITCH LANDRIEU: It was gone. It never existed. Every building was under water. But what also happened was structurally, in terms of governance, it just disappeared. Everybody that worked for the system didn't exist anymore, in terms of the jobs that were there or the schools. And we had to piece it back together.

They pieced it back, not as the traditional school system it was, but as a charter school system with teachers and principals hired, fired and promoted based on merit and parents given the freedom to choose schools they like.

LANDRIEU: One of the things that we had the ability to do was to actually physically rebuild every school with FEMA reimbursements and with other money. Now, we didn't put the school back like it was. We built a 21st century, state-of-the-art, knowledge-based school.

PELLEY: You've been doing this a little over five years. What have you accomplished?

LANDRIEU: What's happening now is the achievement level of the kids in the inner city is now beginning to match the kids on the statewide level in a very, very short period of time. And finally, if you go into any charter school in New Orleans right now, and you ask a kid when is he going to graduate, what he tells you is when he's going to graduate from college. And so they really have their eyes focused on, "I've got a future ahead of me. I intend to finish school. I don't intend to drop out."

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Simone Smith

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CBS News

Simone Smith has applied to 13 universities. She's a senior who chose to go to a high-performing science school called Sci Academy.

SIMONE SMITH: I want to go to Princeton. I very much want to go to Princeton.

PELLEY: What are the dreams?

SMITH: I want to be an actress, an attaché, hopefully one day secretary of defense. Yeah, I've got big dreams.

PELLEY: That's a lot of dreams.

Before Katrina, the graduation rate was less than 50 percent. Now it's more than 75 percent. Test scores are up 33 percent.

PELLEY: What did it mean to you to be able to pick the high school that you went to?

SMITH: It meant everything. I don't think I would be here if I wasn't able to pick the high school that I wanted to go to. Because I don't feel like you can be truly educated without having a choice. I think having a choice is kind of education.

Mayor Landrieu gave great credit to the Teach for America program, which sent 375 teachers from all over the country to New Orleans.

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Hillary Clinton Says Goodbye...Until 2016?

Feb 1, 2013 6:48pm

Image Credit: Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Photo

After four years, nearly a million miles traveled and 112 countries visited, Hillary Clinton stepped down as the 67th secretary of state on Friday. But even on this, her final day as America’s top diplomat, she could not escape the questions about what she’ll do four years from now.

Many of the 1,000 employees who gathered to see her off expressed hope that this was not the end of her political career.

“2016! 2016!” the crowd chanted as   Clinton waved and drove away. “We’ll Miss You!”

Right before her departure, Clinton gave the traditional farewell speech to staff on the steps of the State Department’s historic C street lobby. In a roughly 10 minute, often reflective speech she called the 70,000 State Department employees part of “a huge extended family.”

“I cannot fully express how grateful I am to those with whom I have spent many hours here in Washington, around the world and in airplanes,” she said, drawing laughter from the audience.

Clinton’s trademark sense of humor was on display, even as she grew emotional  speaking about how much the State Department had  meant to her over the last four years.

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“I am very proud to have been secretary of state. I will miss you. I will probably be dialing ops just to talk,” she joked to a cheering and laughing crowd. “I will wonder what you all are doing, because I know that because of your efforts day after day, we are making a real difference.”

But  Clinton also was somber when discussing the danger diplomats and foreign service officers face all over the world, using Thursday’s suicide bombing attack against the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, Turkey, in which a Turkish guard was killed, as an example.

“We live in very complex and even dangerous times, as we saw again just today at our embassy in Ankara, where we were attacked and lost one of our foreign service nationals, and others injured,” said Clinton “But I spoke with the ambassador and the team there. I spoke with my Turkish counterpart. And I told them how much we valued their commitment and their sacrifice.”

Clinton was flanked by trusted deputies, Bill Burns and Tom Nides, whom she gave warm hugs to at the end of the speech. With a huge “Thank You” sign behind her she walked a rope line after finishing her speech, greeting the hordes of employees who wanted to shake her hand and say goodbye before she walked out of the State Department as secretary of state for the last time.

“It’s been quite a challenging week saying goodbye to so many people and knowing that I will not have the opportunity to continue being part of this amazing team,” Clinton said. “But I am so grateful that we’ve had a chance to contribute in each of our ways to making our country and our world stronger, safer, fairer and better.”

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Fear and loathing in Egypt's Port Said

Behind the mask

Scales of justice

Moment of truth

Fans celebrate

Armed and ready

Rally at the club

Portrait of the dead

ACAB

Down with Morsi

Army in control

Port Said women protest

Al Masry ultras

The sound of machine guns

Aftermath

Protest

Shots fired

Empty stands

Harrowing reminder

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STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Chaos erupted in Egypt after 21 people were sentenced to death following a football riot


• More than 70 people died after match in Port Said between local club Al Masry and Al Ahly


• Egyptian league was suspended and has yet to restart due to threats of further violence


• Verdicts for 52 other defendants who were arrested after riot is expected March 9

(CNN) -- The faces of more than 70 young men and boys bore down on the crowd of thousands outside Al Ahly's training complex in Cairo.

As many as 15,000 members of the Ahlawy, the organized ultras fan group of Egypt's most popular soccer club, had gathered here early for the news they, and the country, had been waiting almost a year to hear.

At 10 a.m. a judge was to deliver a verdict on one of the darkest moments in the history of the game.

It happened on February 1, 2012, when more than 70 -- those young men and boys whose faces now appear on a billboard high above the entrance of the club -- lost their lives after a match in the Mediterranean city of Port Said, against local club Al Masry.

Most of the dead were crushed when the Al Masry fans stormed the pitch.

The players sprinted for their lives, finding sanctuary in the dressing room. And then the floodlights went out.

When the lights came back on 10 minutes later, the dead lay piled in a tunnel, in front of a locked, metal gate that had prevented escape before it collapsed under the weight of bodies.

Direct action

Seventy-three people were arrested, many accused of murder. They were mostly Al Masry fans, but included several members of the security forces.

The man allegedly responsible for cutting the power to the lights was also arrested. The Ahlawy suspected that a hidden hand was at work.

There were conspiracy theories, many asked questions: was this just a football rivalry gone very wrong? Or did police allow the violence as payback against the ultras for their part in the revolution?

Read: Clashes erupt after Egypt court sentences

The Ahlawy had played a crucial role in the revolution. They were an organized group of tens of the thousands of young men willing to fight the police -- as they had both inside and out of Egypt's soccer stadiums for the previous four years -- to make their voices heard.

The authorities denied any collusion. It was a tragic accident, they said. Hooliganism and ineptitude, no more, no less, no hidden hand.

But many of the Ahlawy fans were not convinced. The Egyptian soccer league was canceled and the Ahlawy waged a successful direct action campaign to prevent its restart until justice had been served.

The young men waited for the verdict on Saturday. Several had come armed, in anticipation of a further postponement or, worst still, a not guilty verdict. Some carried clubs, others homemade pistols and double-barreled sawn-off shotguns.

Tear gas

At 10 a.m. the judge rose on national television and delivered his verdict. Twenty-one of the accused were sentenced to death. The verdicts for the remaining defendants are expected March 9.

The news swept through the crowd, reducing those in its path to tears of joy; teenagers who had lost friends, mothers who had lost sons, wives who had lost husbands.

Scores dead in Egypt soccer riot

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"It's a very good decision by the court," said Mihai, a member of the Ahlawy who had come to hear the verdict. As with all the ultras, he declined to give his last name.

The guns that had been brought in anticipation of violence were fired into the sky in celebration.

One fan fired an automatic pistol until it jammed. He inspected the piece of failing, unfamiliar equipment. Unable to fix it, he tucked it into his belt and jumped into the sea of celebrating men.

"We hope it will be a perfect ending for this story. We have been waiting for this for so long. For 21 to get executed is a very good decision. So now we wait for the police decision. For sure it wasn't just them that made this," Mihai said.

Back in February, with the raw memories of Port Said just a few weeks old, the Ahlawy had demanded that those responsible should be put to death.

With the court verdict, they received their wish. Justice, they believed, had been served. At least partially.

"The police will be (put to) trial on March 9," said Mohamed, a founding member of the Ahlawy.

The previous night -- on the Egyptian revolution's anniversary -- Cairo was blanketed in tear gas as protesters roamed the streets surrounding Tahrir Square, venting their anger at President Mohamed Morsy and what they see as a lack of any real reforms.

Many, including the Ahlawy, expected further confrontations after the verdict.

But as the crowd moved inside the complex, holding a rally on the club's main soccer pitch, it became clear that no fighting would take place that day.

"I feel satisfied that some of those who committed what we suffered a year ago are going to face what they deserve," said Ahmed, another founding member of the Ahlawy who believed that the right decision had been made.

"It's a strong verdict but they don't deserve less than a strong verdict. Nobody ever wants to see someone dying but when someone kills he deserves a death sentence. He deserves that his life is taken. I don't see a way the police can get away with this."

Port Said ignited

Not everyone was happy, especially those who saw the verdict as a potential springboard to challenge Morsy, whom many of the Ahlawy view as no different from Hosni Mubarak, the former dictator who ruled Egypt for almost 30 years.

"They are giving us something of a painkiller to take out the anger from the young lads -- for me it is not enough," said Hassan, an Ahly fan standing on the training ground pitch.

Egypt unstable after days of protest

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"All the other political movements and parties were looking at what was going to happen today. Everyone had their hopes for the ultras and now they have given us this painkiller and it has lost its momentum of something really happening against the new regime," he added.

But what had -- if only temporarily -- calmed the Ahlawy, it ignited Port Said.

The verdicts were greeted with astonishment, disbelief, and anger by Al Masry's fans and the families of the 73 accused who had gathered outside the prison in Port Said where the suspects were held.

Like the Ahlawy supporters in Cairo, they too had come prepared. Two policemen were shot dead as the relatives tried to storm the prison. The police fired back. At least 30 people were killed in clashes. Among them was a former Al Masry player.

President Morsy addressed the nation and announced a 30-day curfew, from 9 p.m. until 6 a.m. in the cities worst effected by the violence.

A few hours before the first curfew was due to fall, a storm rolled into Port Said. The streets were empty, the skies dark and pregnant with rain as 9 p.m. approached.

The only sound was the faint, periodic burst of gunfire. It emanated from near the Al Arab police station by the sea.

Smoldering barricades

On approaching it, the dead streets suddenly came alive, as if the entire energy of the city had been focused on one point. Barricades made from burning tires separated the police from groups of young men, exchanging rocks for gunfire.

The clashes had followed the funeral of more protesters, killed the day after the violence outside the prison.

"There are some injuries here," a member of the Red Crescent said as he sheltered from the gunfire in a side street. Ambulances flew by, their sirens blaring.

"We've seen gun bullets from the government. In four days we have seen more than 450 (injured)."

The prospects of a hastily arranged march to defy Morsy's curfew, looked bleak.

But at 8.30 p.m. a crowd of thousands gathered near the same spot the Red Crescent had been waiting to ferry the injured to hospital. They marched through the smoldering barricades towards where the gunfire had previously come from.

Now the army, not the police, was in charge.

Armored personnel carriers and armed troops were stationed on street corners and outside important military and civilian buildings.

At its core were the fans of Al Masry ultras group the Green Eagles. But they were by no means alone. The marchers had come from all sections of Port Said. Several hundred women marched together, denouncing Morsy and Cairo.

The curfew came and went, the crowd mocking its passing. "It's 9 o'clock!" they chanted as they passed the stationed troops.

But there was no animosity towards the army. The police was the enemy. Protesters took it in turns to hug and kiss the young soldiers.

Few would readily admit to being Al Masry fans, nor say whether they were there on that fateful night almost a year ago that set in motion this chain of deadly events.

Vendetta

What they would say is that they believed a miscarriage of justice had taken place, that Morsy had sacrificed Port Said to prevent chaos in Cairo, that traditional antipathy towards Port Said was at play.

"People are truly sure that these people (the 21 sentenced to death) didn't kill anyone. We didn't do it and they (the Ahlawy) don't believe we didn't do this," said Tariq Youssef, a 32-year-old accountant who was on the march with a friend.

"Al Masry will not be back for five years. I'm a big Masry fan. But I can't go anywhere. All the supporters for the big teams in Cairo or anywhere believe that Al Masry supporters did this."

For Tariq, admitting to being an Al Masry supporter outside of Port Said was impossible.

"They say, 'You killed them the Ahly supporters. You are like a terrorist.' Nobody believes us we didn't do anything here. There will be no football in the next five years."

As the march moved back towards the place it had started, machine gun fire rang out once again.

This time it was all around the march, front and back. The crowd scattered. A protester had been shot dead at the back of the march, next to the Al Arab police station.

"In three days we have lost 21 people, judged to be executed, and also about 39 murdered and many injured so there is no family which have not lost a friend, a colleague, a neighbor.

"You can consider this a sort of vendetta between the people and the police," said Muhammad el Agiery, an English tutor who had stayed until the end.

"People are going to stay out all of the night, every day for a month. They reject and refuse the curfew imposed by Morsy," he added.

The next morning the storm was gone and the sun was shining. But the cycle of violence continues. Another funeral march will begin, another barricade will likely be set on fire, and another curfew broken.

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14 dead in Mexico City skyscraper blast: government

MEXICO CITY: At least 14 people died and 80 were injured in a blast that rocked the Mexico City skyscraper that houses the headquarters of oil giant Pemex on Thursday, Mexico's interior minister said.

"We have 13 dead at the scene and one more at the hospital. There are more than 80 wounded and we continue to look for survivors in the debris," Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong told reporters.

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14 killed in blast at offices of Mexican state oil company

By CNN Staff

updated 7:55 PM EST, Thu January 31, 2013

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: Witness: "People were screaming. ... You could see pieces of the wall falling"


• Fourteen people were killed in the blast, Mexico's interior minister says


• At least 80 people were injured, he says


• Some people are trapped in building's basement, the CNN affiliate says

Mexico City (CNN) -- An explosion rocked the offices of Mexico's state oil company Thursday, killing at least 14 people and injuring dozens more, the country's interior minister said.

At least 80 people were injured in the Mexico City blast, Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong told reporters.

Dozens of people were trapped in the building after the blast, Foro TV reported.

Rescuers were searching for survivors in basement of the large office tower, Osorio Chong said.

"People were screaming. ... You could see pieces of the wall falling to the ground," said Joaquin Borrell Valenzuela, an attorney for the Pemex comptroller's office who was in a courtyard outside the building at the time of the blast.

The blast prompted an evacuation of personnel from the Pemex offices, a company spokesman told Notimex.

A large plume of smoke rose near the office tower after the explosion.

Images from the scene showed emergency rescue teams carrying people on stretchers.

Authorities said helicopters carried some of the wounded to hospitals.

It was unclear what caused the explosion, which occurred in the building's basement, Pemex spokesman Francisco Montano told Notimex.

CNN's Rafael Romo, Edwin Mesa, Christine Theodorou, Rey Rodriguez and Rene Hernandez and CNNMexico.com contributed to this report.

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14 dead, 80 injured in Mexico oil company blast

Updated 7:52 PM ET

MEXICO CITY An explosion at the main headquarters of Mexico's state-owned oil company in the capital Thursday killed 14 people and injured 80 as it heavily damaged three floors of the building, sending hundreds into the streets and a large plume of smoke over the skyline.

There were also reports that as many as 30 people were trapped in the debris from the explosion, which occurred in the basement of an administrative building next to the iconic, 52-story tower of Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex. There was no immediate cause given for the blast.

"It was an explosion, a shock, the lights went out and suddenly there was a lot of debris," employee Cristian Obele told Milenio television, adding that he had been injured in the leg. "Co-workers helped us get out of the building."

The tower, where several thousand people work, was evacuated. The main floor and the mezzanine of the auxiliary building, where the explosion occurred, were heavily damaged, along with windows as far as three floors up.

"We were talking and all of sudden we heard an explosion with white smoke and glass falling from the windows," said Maria Concepcion Andrade, 42, who lives on the block of Pemex building. "People started running from the building covered in dust. A lot of pieces were flying."

A reporter at the scene saw rescue workers trying to free several workers trapped. Television images showed people being evacuated by office chairs, and gurneys. Most of them had injuries likely caused by falling debris.

Police landed four rescue helicopters to remove the dead or injured. About a dozen tow trucks were furiously moving cars to make more landing room for the helicopters.

In an earlier Tweet, the company said it had evacuated the building as a precautionary measure because of a problem with the electrical system in the complex that includes the skyscraper. It tweeted that several workers were injured.

Streets surrounding the building were closed as evacuees wandered around, and rescue crews loaded the injured into ambulances.

Interior Department spokesman Eduardo Sanchez confirmed that an explosion in a basement garage damaged the first and second floors of the auxiliary building, which is located in a busy commercial and residential area.

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What If Undocumented Immigrants Had Voted?

If every undocumented immigrant had cast a vote for President Obama in 2012, he would have won Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina and Texas, and he would have beaten Mitt Romney by nearly 11 percentage points nationally, instead of three.

Only citizens can vote, however, and 11.2 million unauthorized residents didn't get the chance.

But with immigration overhaul on the table, legalizing new Democratic voters looms as a threat for conservatives who don't want to hand their political foes a potential windfall of 11.2 million new voters with the creation of a pathway to citizenship -- and to voting rights -- with a comprehensive bill.

"The fear that many people have is that the Democrats aren't interested in border security, that they want this influx," Rush Limbaugh griped during his Tuesday interview with overhaul champion Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida. "For example, if 70 percent of the Hispanic vote went Republican, do you think the Democrats would be for any part of this legislation?"

New immigration policies could mean in influx of new voters, but Republicans needn't worry about it in the short term.

See Also: Gang of Eight Accelerates Immigration Reform Pace

"Under almost any scenario, it's pretty far in the distance," Jeff Passell, senior demographer at the Pew Hispanic Center, said of the prospect that unauthorized immigrants' gaining voting rights would pump up numbers significantly enough to meaningfully change the U.S. electorate.

Whitney Curtis/Getty Images

And yet, the "influx" wouldn't be negligible: "Realistically, we're talking about potentially adding probably 5 million potential voters or so in 10 years," he said.

Hispanic voters broke 71 percent for Obama in November, and Republican strategists recognize that the party has failed to court Hispanic voters effectively. But depending on how slowly the citizenship line moves, the Republican Party will have a decade or so to shake its anti-Hispanic stigma.

See also: A Glossary for Immigration Reform

"It's a long time coming. You're talking about 15 to 20 years before we're talking about a whole slew of new voters coming into the electorate," said Jennifer Korn, executive director of the Hispanic Leadership Network, who served as Hispanic outreach director for George W. Bush's presidential campaign.

"If Republicans can map out and change their positions with things that Hispanics do support -- on less government, lower taxes, less regulations on small businesses -- then they can really compete for the Hispanic vote over the next 20, 30 years."

There are 11.2 unauthorized immigrants living in the United States, according to the Pew Hispanic Center's estimate. While most are of voting age (Pew estimates just 1 million younger than 18), the deluge of new Democratic voters might not be as substantial as Limbaugh implied.

In other words, it's not as if Democrats will gain 11.2 million votes in the next few years. Here are some things to keep in mind:

• Not All Hispanics Vote for Democrats. Most do, but not all, and voter preferences vary from state to state. In Florida, 60 percent of Hispanic voters backed Obama, according to 2012 exit polls; in Arizona, 74 percent voted for the president. Even if all 11.2 million had voted in 2012, Obama would only have picked up North Carolina if they simply hewed to Hispanic voter trends. Romney still would have carried Arizona, Georgia and Texas, although he would have won Georgia by less than 1 percentage point. (Note: There were no exit polls in Texas or Georgia, and here the national rate provides rough estimates of how results would have changed.)

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