Two months to the day since their separation surgery, twins Jadon and Anias McDonald leave hospital The boys, born joined at the head, moved to a nearby specialty facility for months of rehabilitation Jadon and Anias McDonald, the twins born joined at the head whose separation surgery captivated millions around the world, were gently placed in a red wagon. They lay side by side, Anias in a blue jumpsuit and Jadon in a gray one. They wore specially fitted white helmets, but there was no evidence of the tubes, IVs or monitors that have been their lifelines since surgery. Outside the room, more than 30 doctors, nurses and staff at the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore Medical Center lined the hallway. A red carpet was rolled out for the boys. It was time to say goodbye. Among those on hand Wednesday were lead neurosurgeon Dr. James Goodrich and lead plastic surgeon Dr. Oren Tepper. Both were armed with celebratory baby rattles. Others waved pom-poms and shook tambourines as the boys made their way down the hall of the 10th-floor pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). The staff had posted a sign on the wall: “Way to go! You did it! We are so proud of you.” Sitting at the front of the wagon was the boys’ 3-year-old brother, Aza. The boys’ father, Christian McDonald, pulled the wagon as their mother, Nicole, walked with them. Both parents paused to hug almost everyone. The moment stood in stark contrast to the boys’ arrival on February 18. On that day, the twins were on a private flight to New York from Illinois. While in the air, Anias stopped breathing and turned blue. Nicole, a pediatric physical therapist, did everything she knew to try to rouse him and worried Jadon would soon be next. “It was a 10-minute period when all of this was happening where (Anias) was in and out of consciousness,” Nicole said. They were rushed to the emergency room immediately upon landing. It turned out Anias was suffering from a severe strain of the flu. And now, here the family was, leaving the same hospital amid such jubilation. They were headed to Blythedale Children’s Hospital, a specialty facility in suburban New York where they will undergo months of rehabilitation, including physical, occupational and speech therapy. “It’s the most exciting step for me, because I want to see what they can do,” Nicole told CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta moments before she left the twins’ hospital room for the last time. “We’ve all come to agreement that it’s not goodbye. It’s just a see-you-later.” Added Christian, “I’m excited. No ifs, ands or buts about it. I’m just so glad. From this point on, we can actually be all together as a family.” It marked two months to the day since the 27-hour surgery to separate the boys ended on October 14 – what their dad described as a moment of “hope and a chance for a normal life.” It also marked one of the fastest such recoveries on record. Goodrich, who earlier in the day performed craniofacial reconstruction surgery on a 9-month-old boy, acknowledged that he’d miss the twins. “Am I happy to see them go? No,” he said. “But it’s time to move on. It’s time for the next stage.” The day before, Jadon and Anias took a similar wagon ride. It was the first time they’d ever left their room for something non-medical. This time, the staff wanted to throw them a farewell party. The wagon carries meaning for the parents. After they were born, the only way the conjoined twins could be moved was for their parents to pull them in a red wagon. As the months passed, the two could no longer fit in it. They had grown too long. As they rode Tuesday, they looked up at their mother and held hands. Jadon’s head was fully revealed, with none of the bandages that once covered his scalp. Anias, whose skull cap was removed following persistent post-surgical infections, wore a turquoise knit cap. After a quick elevator ride to the second floor, the boys made their way through a maze of hallways and into the hospital’s Grand Hall banquet room. Awaiting them were more than two dozen staff members, from the nurses and doctors on the surgical team to those in the PICU who’ve gotten to know the boys best. There were tears and hugs, smiles and moments of glee. And photos. Lots of photos. Goodrich, the world’s leading expert on craniopagus surgery and the boys’ main surgeon, whipped out his iPhone and snapped commemorative shots. Related video Separated twins 'ahead of schedule' “It’s a pretty emotional day, I’ve got to say,” said Goodrich, who delivered homemade cookies and other treats to the twins’ room before the party. Another guest was Martin O’Malley, a longtime Bronx resident who lives across the street from the McDonalds. He’s helped raise donations for the family, delivered them food and felt compelled to join the party. “It’s amazing. It’s amazing. It’s amazing,” said O’Malley, 83, whose twin sister died at birth. “It’s hard to imagine just two months ago they were attached. I’m so happy for this family.” Dr. Carrie Stern, a plastic surgeon resident who took part in the surgery, glanced at the boys in the wagon and whispered, “They’re so cute. It’s just so amazing seeing them from beginning to end.” A week before the party, Nicole and Christian tended to the boys in their room. They couldn’t help but wonder about the future for Jadon and Anias. They know about Carl and Clarence Aguirre, craniopagus twins from the Philippines whom Goodrich separated 12 years ago. With twins joined at the head, one is more dominant, his body working overtime to keep the other twin alive. Carl was the non-dominant child. He suffered a neurological decline a little over a year after surgery, resulting in permanent disabilities. He speaks only a few words and is confined to a wheelchair. When the McDonald twins were joined, Jadon was dominant. Since the surgery, Anias has suffered multiple seizures, in addition to having his skull cap removed. He will undergo another surgery when he is 7 to insert bone. For now, his skin is the only thing covering the top of his head, and he will have to wear a protective helmet. “There are just so many unknowns,” Christian said. “We just don’t know how it’s all going to turn out.” Added Nicole, “Because we know other cases have had that regression, you just hope and pray that that doesn’t happen in this circumstance.” The couple gave up their jobs in Illinois and moved to the Bronx to be close to the hospital. When the new year arrives, they’ll face a $15,000 insurance deductible, plus whatever unexpected costs might arise. Their apartment lease is up in February, and they don’t know whether to renew for another year, because it’s unclear how long the boys will be in rehab. The couple started a GoFundMe page after the twins were born, but after donations swelled to nearly $300,000, the McDonalds told well-wishers to instead help a friend’s child in need of a kidney transplant. With the long-term financial reality of their situation sinking in, they are once again receptive to people giving. “I feel like we’ve got a long ways to go,” Christian said. He noted that Anias will be cognizant by age 7, aware of the surgery he will have to face to repair his skull cap: “My heart already goes out to him.” Christian and Nicole faced a decision no parent should have to make. Craniopagus twins occur in one out of every 2.5 million births. About 40% are stillborn, and another third die within 24 hours. Of those who survive, 80% die of medical complications by age 2 if not separated. Mom and Dad said they have no regrets about choosing surgery. “When you walk into the room and Jadon throws his arms up and wants you to pick him up and you can! He looks at me,” Nicole said. “He wiggles from side to side. He giggles. And I can just swoop him up and just hold him and feel his warmth.” Of Anias, she said, “He has really come full circle and begun doing all the things he used to do. And that’s been so encouraging, because I always had that worry about Anias.” As she spoke, the boys held hands on a bed where Mom spread them out. At one point, Jadon pulled Anias’ hand to his face and then nibbled on his brother’s finger. Mom quickly intervened to save Anias from being bitten. A sense of parental normalcy, when nothing is normal. At the goodbye party, doctors, nurses and staff sat around tables, a buffet of chicken, salmon, green beans, mashed potatoes and salad behind them ready for the feast. Aza bounced around the room, excited for the twins. All eyes were on Dr. Steven M. Safyer, president and CEO of Montefiore Medicine, as he told Nicole and Christian how the 35,000 Montefiore employees have been rooting for their boys and consider them family. Related article New life, apart: Conjoined twins separated in marathon surgery “I believe that for life, you’re members of our world, and this is a wonderful world,” Safyer said. He noted that it’s been nine months since he first met the family and that “in a way, this is a nine-month deal. This is the rebirth of these two guys.” Tepper, the lead plastic surgeon, told the crowd he was humbled by the fact that the “McDonalds chose us. They put their trust in us to take care of their boys.” “Hands down, unquestionably, the two leaders of this team are Jadon and Anias,” Tepper added. “It’s their resilience, it’s their determination that steered this voyage. There’s a reason the world calls them ‘The Little Warriors.’ “ Goodrich told the crowd he remembered speaking by phone with Nicole the first time, back when the boys were in utero and she was wondering what could be done to separate them. She told Goodrich she had just one question. Forty-five minutes later, they were still talking: “Totally in tune and all the right questions.” The neurosurgeon thanked everyone in the room, from hospital brass to his team in the operating room to Christian and Nicole. Then he held up a hand-written note he received from Ireland, “to show you how far this story went.” It was addressed simply: Dr. James Goodrich, surgeonChildren’s Hospital Montefiore Medical CenterAmerica No ZIP code. No city or street address. “Somebody in the postal system got this to me,” Goodrich said. When it came time for the parents to speak, the room grew quiet. Many clutched tissues and dabbed their eyes. Christian told the group that as grateful as he and Nicole are, they will “never be half as grateful” as their sons. Related article Separated twins: After hardest surgery, the quickest recovery “Sixteen years down the road,” he said, “they’re going to be driving their car. They’re going to be maybe out on a date. … Just the fact that they’ll be able to go to the bathroom and take a shower by themselves. They’re not going to take those things for granted.” It’s ordinary for people working their jobs, he said, to not fully grasp the significance of their work. “Maybe on one of those hard days,” he told them, “when it may feel like another day at the office, please know … you’re going to change people’s lives, not only individuals’ lives for the better, but you’re going to impact whole families’ lives for the rest of their life. It’s a huge thing.” Before the crowd broke into loud applause, Christian ended with a message from his boys: “If I may, I just want to be their voice and say, ‘Thank you for giving us, Jadon and Anias, a hope and a chance for a normal life.’ “ Then it was Nicole’s turn. She wept as she began. She said she had written three pages of material and then tossed it in the trash. “I decided to throw it away and to get up here and to look at you all in the face and tell you just how I feel.” When she was pregnant, she told the crowd, she knew that her boys would be separated and that “this would be the outcome.” “I knew that I would have a miracle. I didn’t know how.” She repeated, “I didn’t know how.” “I prayed every day for God to make the how happen, and you are all the how,” she said through tears. She said that she considered everyone in the room part of her family and that saying goodbye was extraordinarily difficult. “That is a huge testament to you that we don’t want to leave here. That’s an odd thing that somebody doesn’t want to leave the hospital. Everyone is usually itching to get out. We want to stay. I want the boys to talk here first. I want you to see all that, because it was you that contributed to our miracle.” She compared her boys’ transition to a caterpillar’s metamorphosis into a butterfly. “Every one of you have been the fiber of that cocoon. You have been what has brought us to this moment: And now they will fly.” There wasn’t a dry eye in the room. Nicole handed out gifts, from framed hand-drawn butterfly paintings to photo collages of the boys’ progress over the months. Dad tended to Aza while Nicole’s mom picked Jadon up and glided around the room with him in her arms. Many of the workers were on the clock. They scarfed down food quickly because, after all, there are more kids who need their care. The featured dessert was a cake with white frosting decorated in black with the symbol for infinity, which is also used to represent conjoined twins and, now, the family’s infinite love for the hospital team. “Anias and Jadon,” read the black lettering. “God has answered + God has heard.” Plastic surgeon Stern stepped up. Two months ago in the operating room, she was the surgeon who made the final cut that separated the twins. Now, she made the first cut of the cake that marked the next step of their journey. The boys’ wagon ride on Wednesday took them to the lobby of Montefiore, where paramedics and EMTs transferred them to stretchers. Aza jumped onto the stretcher carrying Jadon. More staffers crowded the lobby to send them off. Two ambulances awaited outside, one for each twin. Aza cried uncontrollably when he had to get off the stretcher as Jadon was being placed in his ambulance. It was 2:58 p.m. when the twins left. The sun was shining bright over the Bronx on a beautiful 43-degree day. The ambulances drove together at a steady 20- to 30-mph pace along New York parkways to Valhalla, arriving at Blythedale Children’s Hospital at 3:45 p.m. See the latest news and share your comments with CNN Health on Facebook and Twitter. “It’s almost surreal. I can’t believe this is finally happening,” Christian said as the boys were wheeled into the new facility. “It’s such a big step in the right direction.” Unlike their sendoff at Montefiore, their arrival at Blythedale was tranquil and peaceful. By 3:49 p.m., the boys were in their new room, spacious and brightly colored, with two beds – one for each boy – and two sofas that can fold out into beds for Mom and Dad. It is this facility where the boys will learn how to eat, play and walk. Nicole held Anias in her arms and marveled at Jadon as he settled into his new bed. “This is beautiful. I know that the boys will flourish here. It’s an exciting step, and we’re ready to take off.”


Doctors Without Borders says there are "many deaths" at the scene but cannot confirm how many As many as 700 migrants are thought to have been on board the fishing boat It capsized and sank as rescuers arrived at the scene Rescuers are trying to save hundreds of migrants Wednesday after their fishing boat capsized off the coast of Libya, Cmdr. Filippo Marini of the Italian Coast Guard, which is coordinating the rescue operation, told CNN. Ireland’s Minister for Defence Simon Coveney said an Irish naval vessel is also involved in the rescue of approximately 600 people who were aboard the capsized boat. At least 165 people have been pulled from the water alive, but 17 bodies have also been recovered, he said, warning that the death toll is expected to rise. “Our thoughts and prayers are with all those who have lost their lives, the survivors and the rescuers for whom this is an extremely difficult operation,” Coveney said. Two vessels operated by the medical aid group Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) are also assisting near the shipwreck, just 15 miles off the Libyan coast. The medical group confirmed that there are “many” deaths at the scene but could not say how many. The ships were sent to the scene after a distress call from the fishing boat, Marini said. The boat crammed with migrants capsized as soon as the Irish vessel arrived, he said, likely because all those on board moved to one side at the same time. Rubber boats were immediately put into the water to save people as the boat went down. MSF spokeswoman Sibylle Berger gave a different figure for how many people may have been aboard the vessel, saying it could have been as many as 700. More ships, including Italian navy and coast guard vessels, are heading to the area to help in the rescue effort, Marini said. The fishing boat is just the latest vessel overflowing with migrants seeking to reach European soil to go down in the Mediterranean. More than 2,000 migrants have now died this year as they tried to make the perilous crossing, the International Organization for Migration said in a statement Tuesday. “As in 2014, the overwhelming majority died in the Channel of Sicily on the Central Mediterranean route connecting Libya and Italy, where unseaworthy vessels used by smugglers and traffickers significantly increase the likelihood of tragedies occurring,” the organization said. At the same time, thanks to international maritime efforts, some 188,000 migrants have been rescued in the Mediterranean so far this year, it said. Why migrants head to Mediterranean Journalist Livia Borghese reported from Rome and Laura Smith-Spark wrote from London. CNN’s Jack Maddox contributed to this report.

migrant rescue efforts in the Mediterranean


Graham said he'd support Ben Carson over Donald Trump He also defended remarks he's made in the past when he's praised Hillary Clinton Lindsey Graham on Thursday questioned the ability of Republican candidates with little political experience to adequately respond to terrorism in the Middle East. “I don’t know Dr. (Ben) Carson’s foreign policy. He’s got to explain it to me,” he told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. “Carly (Fiorina) said she’s not reached the point where she would say we need boots on the ground in Iraq and Syria. I don’t know what point we’ve got to reach. It’s obvious to me that we’re well past the point where we need to deal with ISIL on the ground and Iraq and Syria.” Related video Lindsey Graham: 'In my world Hispanics are Americans' Graham said he’d support Carson over Donald Trump and committed to support the eventual Republican nominee, regardless of their plan to protect the U.S. from terrorism. “Here’s what I would say to my colleagues: Come up with a plan of your own. I’ve given you very detailed plans. We need a ground component. Part of it has to be an American ground component or we’re going to get hit here at home,” he said. Carly Fiorina distinguishes herself on debate stage Speaking later on CNN’s “The Lead” with Jake Tapper, Graham expanded on his position on needing ground troops to fight terrorism – saying he’s “disappointed” that the Republican Party largely seems to be favoring a less aggressive policy. “I am a little bit confused, I guess, disappointed,” Graham said. “I believe we need to destroy ISIL and I’m committed to doing it, and if you don’t have a ground component, of which America will have to be part of, you’re never going to destroy ISIL and they’re going to hit us here.” Fact-checking the candidates Graham said the idea of arming troops in the region won’t work. Related gallery Republican debates: The main event “If I hear one more time that we’re going to send the Kurds to go clean up the whole world, that’s just ridiculous. The Kurdish military is not an expeditionary force,” Graham said, adding that sending Kurds into Syria could start a war with Turkey. Speaking with Blitzer, Graham also defended his positive remarks about Hillary Clinton’s international work serving women and children in Africa. “If the test of conservatism is that you’ve got to say bad things about everybody to be conservative or liberal, God help us all,” he said. Top social media moments from the #CNNDebate But the Air Force Reserve veteran said Clinton needs to answer for her role in the 2012 Benghazi terror attack and other international issues. “She’s got a lot of things to be held accountable for, but she did some good things too,” he said. “I don’t want to live in a America where the only way you can advance yourself is to always have to run somebody else down.” Most awkward moments in the GOP debate Graham was praised for both his substance and humor in the undercard debate. But limited campaign funds could make it difficult for him to reach the next prime-time debate, he acknowledged. “I’m trying to concentrate on Iowa and New Hampshire. That’s where I hope to breakthrough. I don’t have the money to spend on national advertising, so I’ll just keep being Lindsey Graham,” he said. “Do anything I can to get my message out.”


Shaesta Waiz began her journey from Florida in a six-seater plane She was born in a refugee camp in Afghanistan and was terrified of flying as a girl The first time Shaesta Waiz remembers seeing a plane, she was a child watching the news about an aircraft accident. “I said to my mom, ‘I hope I never ever have to fly in an airplane,’” she said. “I was so scared and terrified.” Now Waiz is a certified pilot in the middle of a solo flight around the world. By the time the 30-year-old completes her journey in September in Daytona Beach, Florida, she plans to have made more than two dozen stops in some 18 countries. She also hopes her trip will “inspire girls and young women worldwide to dream big and achieve more,” especially in the fields of science, math, engineering and aviation. Her flight, in a single-engine Beechcraft Bonanza A36, will take Waiz more than 25,000 miles. But it pales compared to her personal journey, which began three decades ago in a refugee camp in Afghanistan. Soon after Waiz was born in the refugee camp, her family came to the United States in 1987 to escape the Afghan-Soviet War. One of six girls, she grew up in Richmond, California. As a child, becoming a pilot was not anything she thought about. “I struggled (as a girl) with dreams, and I thought … a woman like me, the best thing to do is have kids … so they might do something grand,” Waiz said via Skype from a stop in Sri Lanka. Her only female role models were the women in her extended family. “They were all housewives, and that’s all I aspired to be.” As a child she didn’t live near an airport, and nobody in her family flew. “We weren’t wealthy enough to fly in an airplane,” she said. “It was something out of reach, something very scary.” The first time Waiz remembers being on a plane, she was a teenager going from California to Florida. She remembers buckling her seat belt and praying. “I thought this airplane was going to launch into the sky like a rocket … like a roller-coaster,” she said. But when the plane took off, “it was so romantic.” In the years that followed, Waiz started plotting her dreams. She went from a community college to an aeronautical university. She also began to navigate cultural resistance from members of her family. Her uncle told her women did not belong in the cockpit. Her grandmother asked her, “what Afghan man would want to marry a woman who flies?” Growing up, Waiz always straddled two cultures. She attended American schools, but spoke Farsi and Pashto at home. She was training to become a pilot, but her family still enforced a curfew. “Growing up in the United States, I never felt like I was American … my parents reminded me that I was Afghan, I was not American,” she said. “But sometimes, when I would speak to my cousins in Afghanistan, they thought I was American. There was confusion of where I belonged.” Flying changed that. “When I was in an airplane, all of that (confusion) disappeared,” said Waiz, who now lives in Daytona Beach. “The plane does not care. The plane responds based on the skill of the pilot. In the air, I can be whoever I am.” Waiz’s route so far has taken her to Canada, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. She also made a three-day stopover in Kabul last month. It was the first time she’d returned to Afghanistan since she left as a baby. While there Waiz met with the president and the prime minister of the country, connected with her extended family and began to dream up what she wants to do next. “I had the chance to meet a lot of my cousins, a lot of young girls,” she said. “What I noticed is that these girls are so ambitious, and they’re so hungry to do something.” She also noticed that the ambition of these young Afghan women came with limitations: They had to be accompanied by their fathers to be able to move around the city. Waiz is funding her trip though sponsors and a nonprofit, Dreams Soar, that she founded to inspire future generations of female pilots and women in the STEM fields (science, technology, engineering and math). As she notes on her website, only a small percentage of the world’s pilots are women. Her family is now supportive of her passion. And after her trip to Kabul, she’s dreaming of starting a STEM school for girls in Afghanistan “so that young girls can go somewhere and use their talents.” For Waiz, the world has opened up since she was a scared teenager buckling up for her first flight. “I used to read in geography books about countries like Sri Lanka and India and Greece and Italy. To me they were just names in a book,” she said. “And when I sat in that plane and that plane took off, (I thought) maybe one day those names could be memories.”


The fund aims to provide to female entrepreneurs with financial support in the form of capital and access to networking But the fund could open the President up to charges of hypocrisy Just two days into President Donald Trump debut foreign trip, a member of his inner-circle has already reaped benefits to the tune of $100 million. In a sunlit ballroom Sunday morning at the Tuwaiq Palace in Saudi Arabia, Ivanka Trump’s proposed Women Entrepreneurs Fund – a concept she first shared during her own inaugural international trip as first daughter last month to Berlin, Germany – was promised a combined $100 million by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates specifically to help women in the Middle East. The fund, which will be run by World Bank, not Ivanka Trump, aims to provide to female entrepreneurs with financial support in the form of capital and access to networking and financial markets, something Trump says she anticipates will be important to the future growth of women. But Saudi Arabia places severe restrictions on women’s rights and participation in society, including prohibitions on driving and finances. The creation of a fund that solicits donations from such countries and is championed by Trump’s daughter, one of Trump’s closest advisers, could open the President up to charges of hypocrisy, saying that the concept is not dissimilar to the Clinton Foundation, which he roundly criticized as a candidate. The first daughter spoke of the need for transformation at Sunday’s women’s economic empowerment roundtable, which was attended by 15 women, most of them Saudi business and government leaders and entrepreneurs. “We are living in a pivotal moment in history for women,” she said. “Around the world, women continue to achieve unprecedented levels of rights and freedoms. Today, you all stand on the front lines of the fight for gender equality. You recognize the indisputable truth that empowering women is key to driving economic transformation.” “Yet in every country, including United States, women and girls face unique challenges that hold them back from full and meaningful participation in all parts of society,” added Trump, who wore a powder blue designer suit; the rest of the women in attendance at the roundtable wore traditional Muslim garb, their hair covered in abayas or scarves, according to reporters traveling with the first family. Last year, however, Donald Trump bashed the Clinton Foundation for accepting money from countries with human rights issues, implying the move was in direct contrast to the help the foundation was established to provide. “Saudi Arabia and many of the countries that gave vast amounts of money to the Clinton Foundation want women as slaves and to kill gays,” Trump wrote on Facebook. “Hillary must return all money from such countries!” During his campaign for president, Trump also tweeted about what he claimed was a “pay-for-play” agreement with countries that donated to the Clinton Foundation. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday. World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, who said he first heard about the Women Entrepreneurs Fund when it was pitched to him by Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, said the program will only expand. “We had no idea how quickly this [fund] would build,” said Kim, who added that World Bank would be able to announce at the G-20 summit in July that it has created, with additional donations from the United States and other countries, a fund with a total of $1 billion for women’s economic empowerment. “I really have to say that Ivanka’s leadership has been tremendous.”


National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster is increasingly isolated in President Donald Trump’s administration, congressional and administration officials tell CNN, finding himself in conflict with senior White House officials, Cabinet members and the President himself. A congressional source tells CNN that McMaster is at odds with President Trump on many key national security issues. McMaster has also found himself undercut by others in the President’s orbit like chief strategist Steve Bannon and he has clashed with Defense Secretary James Mattis, according to congressional and administration officials. McMaster’s dust-ups with the President and his team have bubbled up over a long-delayed plan for Afghanistan, where the President has yet to sign off on a McMaster-backed strategy that would increase the number of US troops deployed to bolster America’s longest war. Related article Despite frustration, Tillerson says Trump relationship is 'good' As the dispute has dragged on, administration officials have speculated that McMaster could be on his way out of the White House, potentially taking a new job within the administration or military outside of the National Security Council. McMaster met with Trump in the Oval Office on Thursday as the NSC looks to finalize an Afghanistan strategy that the President will sign off on. CNN has spoken to a number of government officials who say several scenarios are possible in the coming weeks, including the unlikely possibility McMaster could be transferred to command troops in Afghanistan or tapped as a new “special envoy” for South Asia, where he would oversee policy and strategy for Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. A senior administration official dismissed the notion as premature and not under serious consideration. McMaster staying put as the national security adviser, the sources say, will depend largely on how comfortable Trump feels keeping him on in his current position amid all the disarray in the White House. However, two intelligence officials caution that the warnings about McMaster’s fate that have arisen in recent weeks may originate from other factions in the administration trying to undermine the national security adviser’s authority. “Bannon’s been undercutting him and NSC, but that’s nothing new,” said a Republican congressional aide. “It’s Game of Thrones over there.” The drama surrounding McMaster comes amid reports several others in Trump’s Cabinet are feeling frustrated and could be on the way out. Trump has taken the extraordinary step of attacking his own Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, on Twitter in recent days. The President said Tuesday he was “disappointed” in Sessions but would not say if he would fire him, adding only that “time will tell” Sessions’ fate. Related article Cabinet members beware: What Trump is doing to Sessions can happen to you Two sources told CNN on Sunday that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson could be on the way out, too, amid his own issues with the White House. The State Department has pushed back, and Tillerson said Wednesday he’ll stay “as long as the President lets me.” He added that his relationship with Trump is “good.” McMaster has clashed with Bannon over a troop increase in Afghanistan for several months, as they have competed to win over Trump on the issue. The dispute has sparked leaks about McMaster losing his standing within in the White House, including a Politico report Monday that Trump’s hesitation to add troops in Afghanistan was a no-confidence vote in his national security adviser. An NSC Principals Committee meeting on Afghanistan last week was heated and “words were exchanged,” according to Politico. McMaster has expressed concerns about Russian aggression, as has Mattis. But as a longtime proponent of military counter insurgency, McMaster may have run afoul of the White House interest in limiting large scale military involvements and instead focusing on the use of special operations forces. The National Security Council declined to comment on the record for this article. Steve Bannon did not respond to a request for comment. The National Security Council’s Principals Committee met again Wednesday to debate US policy in South Asia, including the future of the US effort in Afghanistan, administration officials said. Pence chaired the meeting instead of McMaster, and he was there to ask questions and help guide the discussion, according to the officials. One official pushed back on the notion McMaster is isolated, insisting that McMaster and other members of the principals committee have worked together to secure the President’s support on major decisions like granting the Pentagon additional troop management authority and recertifying Iran’s compliance with the nuclear agreement. Related article Mattis on Afghanistan troops decision: 'We are working to get it right' Another senior administration official told CNN the meeting primarily focused on addressing the concerns Trump has expressed in recent weeks about the US’s long-term commitment to the war in Afghanistan and his questions about what success would look like there. The officials established barometers to measure success as the US presses forward in the 16-year war, and claimed the top national security and foreign policy officials emerged from the meeting united on ways to address the President’s questions and concerns on the US’s ongoing commitment to Afghanistan. The official said that while chief strategist Steve Bannon, who has feuded with McMaster over the strategy in the past, attended the meeting, he did not speak up. McMaster joined Trump’s White House in February as an active-duty three star general replacing Michael Flynn, a retired three-star general. The move put McMaster in an awkward place with Flynn’s allies in the White House, which was exacerbated when McMaster removed Flynn loyalists from the NSC – and got Bannon removed from the principals committee. Retired Col. Derek Harvey, a Flynn appointee to the NSC, was removed from his post on Thursday. But internal White House politics aren’t McMaster’s only issues in the administration, as Mattis has also grown frustrated over the delay on an Afghanistan decision and the two have clashed over it, according to Republican lawmakers and administration officials. “The biggest problem is he and McMaster have had these tensions,” said a Republican senator. “That’s the problem – over roles, missions, budgets. Why do you think we haven’t got a strategy yet?” Defense officials also pointed out that as a three-star general, McMaster is essentially outranked by both Mattis, a retired four-star Marine general, and Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Related article US Joint Chiefs blindsided by Trump's transgender ban While McMaster has immediate access to the Oval Office, he is more of a coordinator than policymaker in the eyes of the Pentagon, defense officials say. Mattis, they say, has no hesitation about going directly to Trump when he feels it’s necessary. Of course, the Afghanistan strategy delay also underscores Mattis’ own difficulties with Trump. Mattis had promised Congress a plan by mid-July that has still yet to materialize. And Wednesday’s decision to ban transgender troops caught nearly everyone in the Pentagon off guard – including the Joint Chiefs – and came while Mattis was on vacation. One military official who has worked with McMaster says he has made some at the Pentagon uncomfortable for publicly taking what they see as political positions in defending the President, including when he publicly defended Trump after his Oval Office meeting with the Russian ambassador and foreign minister and disputed reports that the President had shared classified information. Mattis dismissed reports that he and McMaster are at odds, or that McMaster could be on his way out at NSC. “We love reading those kinds of stories going – I’m amazed sometimes when I’m having a fight with and everything, somebody I haven’t talked to in two weeks. I’m having a fight with them. It’s good. You know, it keeps us smiling,” Mattis told reporters last week.


Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said Australia would view “with great concern” any foreign military bases being built in the South Pacific, following reports Beijing was in talks with Vanuatu to host Chinese forces. Turnbull said in a press conference Tuesday the High Commissioner of Vanuatu had assured the Australian government no Chinese requests for a military presence had been made. “The maintenance of peace and stability in the Pacific is of utmost importance to us,” he told reporters. The small island nation of about 282,000 people sits in the South Pacific, close to Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. Any Chinese military presence could see warships based less than 2,500 kilometers (1,553 miles) from Australia’s coast. It has long been a large recipient of Australian government aid, but in recent years has received hundreds of millions of dollars in loans and grants from the Chinese government. The suggestion that China was looking to establish a base in the South Pacific nation, as first reported by Fairfax Media Tuesday, was met with denials from both Vanuatu and Australian government officials. Australia’s Foreign Minister Julie Bishop also tried to quell fears of an increased Chinese military presence in a region which has traditionally been under Canberra’s sphere of influence. “I remain confident that Australia is Vanuatu’s strategic partner of choice,” Bishop told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Tuesday. But Australian broadcaster, Nine News, separately quoted a senior defense official on Tuesday claiming the Chinese government had “certainly expressed its interest” in a greater military presence in Vanuatu. The Vanuatu government denied the reports on Tuesday, slamming suggestions there were any talks between the two countries along those lines. “We are a non-aligned country. We are not interested in militarization, we are just not interested in any sort of military base in our country,” Foreign Minister Ralph Regenvanu told ABC. When asked at his daily press briefing, China’s foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said the reports were “fake news.” CNN tried to contact both the Australian Defense Ministry and the Vanuatu Foreign Ministry, but did not get an immediate response. Reacting to the report Tuesday, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said it was ultimately a matter for Vanuatu and China to decide on, according to Radio New Zealand. “But I’m very openly expressing now, and would do either privately or publicly, that we take a strong position in the Pacific against militarization,” she said. Any moves towards a military presence on Vanuatu would have strategic implications of not only Australia and New Zealand, but also the United States, Euan Graham, director of the International Security Program at Sydney’s Lowy Institute, said. “People who look across the Pacific will look from a geostrategic point of view and obviously take notice of this very bold statement of ambition, if it is true, that the Chinese navy is now seeking to acquire some sort of presence,” he said. Graham said while he found suggestions of Vanuatu agreeing to a permanent military base unlikely, a dual-use civilian military facility which could give occasional access to People’s Liberation Army vessels could be possible. China has diplomatic relations with several Pacific nations and is a major sponsor of development and aid projects in Vanuatu, Tonga, Papua New Guinea and Fiji. Between 2000 and 2012, China offered about 30 major projects to Pacific island countries, including the construction of government official buildings and infrastructure such as highways, bridges and hydropower stations, according to a paper by Professor Yu Chang Sen, of the National Center of Oceania Studies, at Guangzhou’s Sun Yat-sen University. In Vanuatu specifically, China has provided $243 million dollars in loans and grants from 2006 to June 2016, according to figures from Sydney’s Lowy Institute, a figure that while large, lags behind Australia which provided $400 million during the same ten year period. Chinese financial aid in Vanuatu has so far focused on key infrastructure development, including Luganville International Wharf, on the island of Espiritu Santo, a large 300-meter docking facility that can accommodate two mid-sized freighters, or a single large cruise ship at any one time. The wharf, constructed by the Shanghai Construction Group, was described by China’s Ambassador to Vanuatu as “a new milestone of China-Vanuatu cooperation in the field of infrastructure development.” In recent years Beijing has been stretching its maritime muscles outside of East Asia. China formally established its first international military base in Djibouti in July last year, in the strategically important Horn of Africa, this was followed several months later by the country’s controversial acquisition of the Hambantota port in Sri Lanka. Malcolm Davis, a senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute in Sydney, described the Hambantota deal – which saw Sri Lanka grant China a 99-year lease on the port to service some of the billions in debt it owes to Beijing – as part of a “bigger picture.” “The more you invest in the Belt and Road initiative, the more the Chinese are in a position to force your country to align politically in terms of policy,” Davis told CNN last year, referring to China’s ambitious One Belt One Road (OBOR) international development strategy. “So you become dependent on their investment and their largesse, and you’re less likely to be critical of them and you’re more likely to accommodate their interests strategically.” Under President Xi Jinping those strategic interests have shifted, with the Chinese navy in particular undergoing a significant transformation, in line with China’s own rise as a global superpower. Whereas previously China’s navy was largely defensive and confined to the country’s immediate coastal waters, today it boasts significant “blue-water” capabilities, meaning it could operate anywhere in defense of China’s interests.


"We could literally have a nuclear war with Vladimir Putin," Moulton said earlier in the week Moulton went on to assail the Trump administration's relationship with Russia Rep. Seth Moulton doubled down Friday on recent remarks he made claiming a potential nuclear war with Russia was a possibility. “That’s right,” the congressman told CNN’s Poppy Harlow on “New Day” when asked to clarify the comment he made at the South by Southwest festival Tuesday. “(R)ussia now says … they will ‘escalate to de-escalate,’” continued the Massachusetts Democrat. “They are willing to use nuclear weapons to de-escalate a conventional attack, and I think that the problem here is that we don’t have a plan to deal with that.” At the festival in Austin, Texas, the former Marine Corps officer and member of the House Armed Services Committee first warned of potential nuclear conflict. “We could literally have a nuclear war with Vladimir Putin,” Moulton said, speaking on the podcast “Pod Save America.” Later in the “New Day” interview, Moulton went on to assail the Trump administration’s relationship with Russia, suggesting members of President Donald Trump’s team are on the dole of Vladmir Putin’s regime. “Donald Trump’s minions are paid by the Russian regime,” he said. Moulton did not provide any evidence for his claim, and CNN has reached out to the White House for comment on his accusation. On Thursday, CNN reported that a top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee has learned that Flynn was paid more than $33,750 by Russia’s state-run broadcaster RT TV-Russia for a speech in Moscow in December 2015. “(T)he bottom line is this – everybody should be paying more attention to the threat from Russia,” Moulton told Harlow. “It’s serious and significant and Democrats and Republicans need to come together to fight back. This is about our national security and fundamental tenets of our democracy.”


US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley on Sunday cited “the will of the American people” in defending President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move the US Embassy there. “For 22 years you have had presidents and the American people ask for the embassy to be moved, and no president – not Clinton, not Bush, not Obama – actually had the courage to make that move and listen to the will of the American people,” Haley said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” On Wednesday, Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and announced plans to move the US Embassy to the city. “Today, we finally acknowledge the obvious: that Jerusalem is Israel’s capital,” Trump said Wednesday. “This is nothing more or less than a recognition of reality. It is also the right thing to do.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the President’s announcement. But the decision brought swift condemnation from Palestinian leaders and several nations and sparked clashes around the world. Because of the Trump administration’s move, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will not meet with Vice President Mike Pence during his upcoming regional visit, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki said Saturday. Pence spokeswoman Alyssa Farah said in a statement Sunday on the Palestinian president’s decision, “It’s unfortunate that the Palestinian Authority is walking away again from an opportunity to discuss the future of the region, but the administration remains undeterred in its efforts to help achieve peace between Israelis and Palestinians, and our peace team remains hard at work putting together a plan.” Haley defended the administration’s decision at an emergency UN Security Council meeting Friday, which was called in response to the announcement about the plan to move the US Embassy to Jerusalem. Haley acknowledged the pushback while speaking with CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday. “When it comes to those that are upset, we knew that was going to happen, but courage does cause that,” she said. Following Wednesday’s announcement, Palestine Liberation Organization Secretary-General Saeb Erekat, said in a statement that it “destroyed any possibility of a two-state (solution)” and told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour that “President Trump tonight made the biggest mistake of his life.” But when asked about the backlash, Haley insisted that the decision would help peace process. “I strongly believe this is going to move the ball forward in the peace process,” Haley said. CNN’s Allie Malloy contributed to this report.

US decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move the US Embassy


Satellite images appear to show the monastery razed to the ground It's unlikely the monastery collapsed naturally, analysts said ISIS has not claimed responsibility for the fate of the religious site A 1,400 year-old Christian monastery – the oldest in Iraq - was “razed to the ground” just months after ISIS took over the Iraqi city of Mosul, satellite pictures show. The Saint Elijah monastery – also known as Dair Mar Elia – was located on the outskirts of Mosul. Despite its age, it’s unlikely the monastery collapsed naturally, according to experts at AllSource Analysis, an imagery intelligence company which studied the photos. Several factors suggest the demolition was deliberate, the experts said. First, when comparing before and after images of the site in 2014, there’s evidence that indicates the structure was “pulverized” and reduced to “pretty well dust,” AllSource said. Related gallery The greatest buildings you'll never see: 20 priceless monuments lost in conflict Second, satellite imagery shows parallel white lines thought to be vehicle tracks indicative of a bulldozer having come into the area. Third, the timing could point to ISIS as the culprit, AllSource said. Mosul fell to ISIS in June, 2014.  Analysis of the imagery pinpoints the destruction of the monastery as happening in either late August or September of 2014 – just a few short months later. Iraqi veteran who fled Mosul: ISIS will never, ever leave my city While ISIS has not publicly announced destroying the monastery, it wouldn’t be the first time the terror group has targeted historic sites. In August, the Islamic extremist group blew up a nearly 2,000-year-old temple in the historic ruins of Palmyra in neighboring Syria. Related gallery Historic sites damaged by ISIS ISIS considers all religious shrines – Islamic, Christian, Jewish, etc. – idolatrous. “[ISIS] doesn’t care if you’re Christian, Muslim or Turkoman or anything, because this is a brutal group that is going after anybody who does not line up specifically with them,” said Col. Steve Warren, spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve, the U.S. military operation against ISIS. Duraid Hikmat Tobia, who used to be the minority affairs advisor to Mosul governor, told CNN that he has not heard from relatives or friends in the area about the fate of the monastery. Tracking ISIS’s trail of historical obliteration The Rev. Paul Thabit Habib, who once led the Chaldean Catholic Church in Mosul, said he was heartbroken at the religious and historical loss after looking at the satellite pictures. Habib now oversees a congregation of thousands of internally displaced Chaldean Christians who fled Mosul and relocated to Erbil and the surrounding areas.  “We see these historical sites destroyed on daily basis,” he said. “This is a big loss. This will never be replaced… it goes back to the 6th century. We are talking about history of civilization being wiped out.” Opinion: Why ISIS destroys antiquities CNN’s Kareem Khadder and Hamdi Alkhshali also contributed to this report.


Several states are also bringing claims In order to bring suit, states must prove that they have been harmed As challenges to President Donald Trump’s travel ban ping pong through federal courts across the country, both sides are still fighting on a preliminary issue: whether the order should be temporarily blocked, and if so, where. Legal filings hint at the broad constitutional and statutory arguments to come, but judges have not yet ruled squarely on the merits one way or the other. The challenges began a week ago when individuals with valid visas, among others, found themselves in legal limbo. They were in transit when Trump’s order went into effect on the evening of January 27 and they were not immediately allowed into the country. Now several states are also bringing claims, including Washington, Minnesota, Massachusetts and Hawaii among others. The claim brought by attorneys general in Washington and Minnesota – the one that led federal Judge James Robart in Seattle to put a temporary nationwide halt to the travel ban Friday night – is the furthest along so far, but the legal landscape changes quickly. Trump’s order bars citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries – Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen – from entering the US for 90 days, all refugees for 120 days and indefinitely halts refugees from Syria. In order to bring suit, states must prove that they have been harmed. In court papers, attorneys general for Washington and Minnesota argue they have the legal right to be in court. “Washington has declared that practices that discriminate against any of its inhabitants because of race, creed, color or national origin are matters of public concern that threaten the rights and proper privileges of the State and harm the public welfare,” they wrote. They also claim the executive order would hurt the state’s economy, pointing to Microsoft, which is headquartered in the state. “Microsoft’s US workforce is heavily dependent on immigrants and guest workers,” they write. “At least 76 employees at Microsoft are citizens of Iran, Iraq, Syria, Somalia, Sudan, Libya or Yemen and hold temporary work visas.” Minnesota stresses that the order would impact the Mayo Clinic that is based there. “The Mayo Clinic, an internationally known health care institution that treats patients who travel to it for health care services from around the world, has publicly stated that approximately 80 staff, physicians and scholars have ties to the affected countries.” The government says the states don’t have the right to be in court, and on the threshold issue, government lawyers say the states are attempting to manufacture standing. In court papers, lawyers for the government argue that “lost tax revenues, or reputational injury to its universities – are not concrete, particularized harms.” And the lawyers say that the states can’t rely on any injuries to lawful permanent residents because the White House has clarified that the 90-day suspension of entry does not apply to those individuals. “In effect, the states are arguing that, unlike individuals temporarily detained at the airport, they will suffer a longer-term economic injury from the executive order – one that therefore allows them to challenge it,” said Steve Vladeck, CNN legal analyst and professor of law at the University of Texas School of Law. “This is a controversial argument, but, more than a little ironically, it’s based on similar reasoning to what a number of more conservative states, led by Texas, successfully used in the lower courts to challenge President Obama’s deferred action immigration program,” he said. Moving to the merits, the states make a variety of statutory and constitutional arguments. Washington and Minnesota argue that the executive orders “target individuals for discriminatory treatment based on their country of origin and/or religion, without lawful justification” and they say the order was “motivated by animus and a desire to harm a particular group.” They also say that the order violates the Establishment Clause that prohibits the federal government from preferring one religion over another. They say parts of the order, coupled with some statements made by the President in the press, “are intended to disfavor Islam and favor Christianity.” And they make a due process claim arguing that the federal government cannot deprive individuals based on their liberty interests without due process of the law. Also in play is the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which they argue “prohibits discrimination in the issuance of immigrant visas on the basis of race, nationality, place of birth, or place of residence.” Hawaii Attorney General Doug Chin echoed these arguments in a different case. He argues the executive order “is subjecting a portion of Hawaii’s population to discrimination and second-class treatment, and denying them their fundamental right to travel overseas. Moreover, the executive order is eroding Hawaii’s sovereign interests in maintaining the separation between church and state and in welcoming persons from all nations around the world into the fabric of its society.” “There are so many different legal objections to the executive order – and so many different changes in policy in the order – that it’s hard to know which ones will stick,” said Vladeck. “The whole order is potentially vulnerable to the religious discrimination claims, whereas the due process objections are more to how individual sections of the order restrict the liberty of different classes of immigrants. But there’s almost no way the entire order survives these lawsuits unscathed,” he said. In the hours after Robart issued the nationwide order blocking the ban, Trump was quick to respond. “The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!” Trump tweeted Saturday morning. The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned! In court papers, his lawyers have so far been more measured. On the merits, they note that Congress “expressly has delegated to the President the broad power to suspend entry ‘of any class of aliens into the United States.’ “ “The order was well within the President’s authority under Congress’ delegation, particularly in an area, like immigration, in which the admission to the United States of foreign aliens is subject to plenary control by the political branches,” they said. In issuing his temporary restraining order, Robart, the US district judge for the western district of Washington, acknowledged that issuing it is “an extraordinary remedy” but he held that the executive order “adversely affects the states’ residents in areas of employment, education, business, family relations, and freedom of travel.” He said the harms are “significant and ongoing,” and concluded that the order against the government was necessary until the court could hear arguments for further relief. His order came after a different judge in Massachusetts declined to renew a temporary restraining order previously issued. Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts said one of the factors he had to consider was whether the plaintiffs were likely to succeed on the merits. “Because plaintiffs have not demonstrated that they are likely to succeed on the merits of their claims, an extension of the restraining order at the present time is not warranted,” he said.


Publisher Lee Bo is the fifth person linked to Hong Kong bookseller Mighty Currents reported to have gone missing Hong Kong police announced Lee's missing person report was canceled upon the request of his wife The mysterious disappearances haven't stopped Hong Kong's forbidden books industry A government investigation into the mysterious disappearance of five Hong Kong publishers and book sellers this week thrust an unusual publishing industry into the media spotlight. In this free-wheeling, specially-administered corner of China, several publishing houses and bookshops have spent years churning out books banned on the Chinese mainland. Speciality bookseller Paul Tang says the books focus on taboo topics: politics, religion and sex. “All forbidden in China,” he adds. Tang spoke to CNN within the tight confines of the People’s Bookstore, his book-lined shop and coffee-house perched overlooking Hong Kong’s high octane Causeway Bay commercial district. Cheekily-decorated with vintage posters of Chairman Mao, the shop caters to customers who come almost exclusively from the other side of the northern, “internal” border which divides this coastal city from the rest of China. As for the titles he sells, “50% of our books are not allowed in China.” The covers of many of these books feature portraits of Chinese President Xi Jinping, as well as Bo Xilai, the disgraced Chinese official imprisoned as part of Xi’s anti-corruption campaign. With titles like “Rumor and Truth About Chinese Authorities” and “The Secret Trade Between Rich People and Top Officials,” some books peddle poorly-sourced secrets and rumors about the top echelons of China’s ruling Communist Party. Most customers have to hide these banned books when traveling back to mainland China. “They try to hide them in their luggage or handbags … smuggling,” Tang explains. But despite these precautions, it’s not unusual to see customs agents confiscating books from Chinese travelers upon arrival at mainland airports. Hong Kong’s Mighty Current publishing house specializes in sensationalist political books. “The content of the banned books that Mighty Current publish are mainly gossip and scandals,” Tang says. “Very juicy!” he adds with a laugh. Four of Mighty Current’s executives and employees were reported to have gone missing last November. And on January 1, the wife of Lee Bo, the part-owner of a store owned by Mighty Current, filed a missing person report with Hong Kong police after her husband also disappeared. In a bizarre turn of events Monday night, Hong Kong police announced Lee’s missing person report was canceled upon the request of his wife. She has not responded to multiple requests for comment from CNN. Lee’s store, the Causeway Bay Bookshop, is a second-floor walk-up on another busy street not far from the People’s Bookstore. The store has been shuttered since Lee’s mysterious disappearance last week. Well-wishers have hung handwritten notes next to the “closed” sign on the shop door, with messages like “come home soon and be safe,” and “May God bless the staff and family of this bookstore.” “The books here are pretty special,” says 26-year old Stephanie Lee, a Hong Kong native and previous customer of Causeway Bay Bookshop. She came with a friend to see the closed store first-hand. “There’s a lack of transparency, no explanation” about the missing publishers, says her friend Michael Lee, a 21-year old resident of Hong Kong. “That’s part of what’s worrisome.” An editorial in China’s state-run Global Times newspaper denounced the Causeway Bay Bookshop on Monday, accusing the store of “causing trouble on the mainland.” In Hong Kong, widespread speculation that the publishers may have been targeted for their criticism of China’s Communist Party prompted the city’s chief executive to re-assert that “freedom of press and freedom of publication and freedom of expression are protected by law in Hong Kong.” Under the unusual “One country, two systems” arrangement brokered between China and the UK, the former British colony enjoys democratic freedoms denied throughout the rest of mainland China. And despite the disappearance of the publishers, Hong Kong’s forbidden books continue attracting customers from the mainland. Among those shopping at the People’s Bookstore on Monday was a retiree from the southern Chinese city of Guiyang. The man, who asked not to be named to protect himself from possible retribution in China, said he was looking for books about Chinese history which were censored on the mainland. “I can learn about history here,” he says. Bookshop owner Paul Tang says his family is now worried after the disappearance of other publishers. “I say, I’m just in retail, I’m selling books.” If the authorities tell him to stop, Tang insists, he can easily switch to selling another commodity highly-prized by customers from the Chinese mainland: baby formula. CNN’s Chieu Luu and Vivian Kam contributed to this report.


Editor’s Note: Maria Lombard is an assistant professor at Northwestern University in Qatar where she teaches writing and travel literature. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author. Maria Lombard: Everyone seems to love taking travel selfies She says it's not about narcissism; it's a very human need to capture our place in history With spring breaks concluding or starting – depending on where you live in the world – everyone seems to be taking travel photos. No longer are these photos shared days or weeks after a trip, but instead, they are often shared from the very tourist site they’re taken from. Instead of living in the moment and observing, appreciating and gaining cultural insight while visiting new places, travelers are often more focused on taking the perfect selfie to share on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter and counting the number of likes and shares. We could blame social media for encouraging this, or blame the selfie stick, which is perhaps the most ubiquitous of all travel gear these days and is now being banned in museums throughout America and abroad because of its intrusiveness. Even Apple announced a ban on selfie stick at its upcoming Worldwide Developers Conference. We might also choose to label these tourists as narcissistic for taking self-portraits with famous landmarks and catastrophes alike. One study showed that people who post more selfies scored higher on measures of narcissism and anti-social characteristics. Perhaps selfies are about narcissism, especially those who seem to take them everywhere and all the time, such as Kim Kardashian. But I believe something deeper is behind all the travel selfies – the need to capture our own place in history. This need is why some tourists have been caught making their mark, literally, on ancient sites and artifacts around the globe, like the two young American tourists who recently carved their initials on the wall of the nearly 2,000-year-old Roman Colosseum. They were caught just after taking selfies with their new mark on the historic site. This desire to show that “I was here” is not new; just the mode for expressing it is. Throughout history, travelers have written about the places they visited and their marks have not always been seen as destructive. When I visited Egypt a few years ago, the tour guide pointed out inscriptions in temples and tombs, noting that early visitors left them long before the age of mass tourism. That was just before a Chinese teenager decided to add his name to one of the statues in the Karnak Temple. During a rainy visit to Pompeii, I found the same reminders of ancient visitors, faint graffiti on the crumbling walls.  Words and images were preserved, put there by people who lived before Vesuvius exploded and covered the town with ash in AD 79. Travel graffiti has roots in primitive social media. Harkening back to cave paintings and hieroglyphics, travelers want to write on and connect with the spaces they occupy, even temporarily, to enhance social relations, demonstrate status and establish presence. Travelers want to write their names, dates of visit, and maybe where they come from. They want to do this for the same reason students at Oxford carved their names in dormitories, couples shackled their love locks on the Pont des Arts bridge in Paris, and tourists post their selfies online. They want to document that they came face-to-face with history and then, when possible, to share that experience with their network of friends, family and followers who could not physically be there. The Rio statue guy’s guide to taking epic selfies Clearly, the preservation of historical sites is a good reason for prohibiting tourists from inscribing their names and dates of visit. Governments, archeologists and other preservationists spend a great deal of time and money to safeguard sites for future generations. But it is short-sighted to deny the innately human need to do something while being there. Some tourist destinations are embracing social media by setting up booths to help tourists get the best selfie. When I was in Dubai recently at a popular beach boardwalk, I used one of the open-air selfie booths to capture a few family photos. Perhaps historical sites should embrace social media more. What if the Colosseum turned the tables and instead of prohibiting people from writing on the stone walls, it launches a social media campaign inviting people to “Come Write on Our Wall” – as in, their Facebook wall. A new Instagram campaign using the hashtag #smilelikeagladiator might be just the ticket to get tourists to snap photos and connect with the Colosseum and fellow travelers worldwide. I don’t blame tourists for wanting to make a connection with the places they visit and share it in a tangible way. Connection and understanding are, after all, among the reasons to travel, write and take selfies. But tourists need to learn to do it with conservation and cultural sensitivities in mind, something tourist sites can assist with by providing them with a harmless way to engage with history and share those memorable experiences. Read CNNOpinion’s new Flipboard magazine. Follow us on Twitter @CNNOpinion. Join us on Facebook.com/CNNOpinion.


Dementia is not a single disease but a complex problem with more than 50 underlying causes Most drug treatments in development target pathology of Alzheimer's, the most common form of dementia Finding a cure for neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s is challenging. They’re difficult to diagnose, and drugs struggle to get into the brain as the brain’s blood supply is largely separate to the rest of the body. Not surprisingly, several companies have left this territory in recent years. Last week, pharmaceutical giant Pfizer announced it will stop research into developing drugs to treat Alzheimer’s disease, after costly failed attempts over the past decade. In recent years some clinical trials involving potential dementia drugs have had disappointing setbacks. In 2012, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson halted development of the antibody drug bapineuzumab, after it failed in late-stage trials to treat patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s. Related article Despite failed trials, experts believe we'll have an Alzheimer's drug by 2025 Despite last week’s announcement, Pfizer’s support of the UK’s Dementia Discovery Fund, an initiative involving the government, major pharmaceutical companies, and Alzheimer’s Research UK, may be where their money can make the most impact in this space. The fund aims to boost dementia research investment by financing early-stage drug development projects. And other pharma companies, such as Eli Lilly, Biogen and Novartis have continued to pursue dementia drug development with modest but promising success to date. We’re not ready for the ‘silver tsunami’ of older adults living with cancer So what makes dementia such a difficult condition to treat with drugs, and is progress being made towards a treatment? Despite the vast number of people affected globally, with an estimated 46.8 million people currently living with dementia, there is currently no cure. While current treatments manage symptoms (the latest drug to gain FDA approval was memantine, in 2003) they offer no prospect of recovery. Related article Bill Gates' newest mission: Curing Alzheimer's Part of the difficulty in finding treatments for dementia stems from the fact it’s not a single disease, but a complex health problem with more than 50 underlying causes. Dementia can be better thought of as an umbrella term describing a range of conditions that cause parts of the brain to deteriorate progressively. Most drug treatments currently in development have targeted the pathology of Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia, which accounts for about 60 to 70% of all cases. Finding a successful treatment for Alzheimer’s faces two major hurdles: the first being we still don’t know enough about the disease’s underlying biology. For example, we don’t know what exactly regulates the toxic build-up of amyloid-β plaques and tau tangles in the brain that are found in Alzheimer’s patients, which specific types of these are toxic, or why the disease progresses at different rates in different people. Related article The 10 warning signs of Alzheimer's It doesn’t help that symptoms of Alzheimer’s develop gradually and slowly and a diagnosis might only be made years after the brain has started to undergo neurodegenerative changes. To boot, it’s not uncommon for Alzheimer’s to be present as well as other forms of dementia. Knowing the signs of Lewy body dementia may help speed diagnosis The second major hurdle to finding a treatment is that drugs need to first cross the blood-brain barrier. The blood-brain barrier provides a defence against disease-causing pathogens and toxins that may be present in our blood, and by design exists to keep out foreign substances from the brain. The downside is that it also keeps the vast majority of potential drug treatments from reaching the brain. Currently available medications such as those which block the actions of an enzyme that destroys an important chemical messenger in the brain for memory (acetylcholinesterase inhibitors) or blocks the toxic effects of another messenger, glutamate (memantine) temporarily manage symptoms. But new treatments are focused on slowing or reversing the disease process itself, by targeting the underlying biology. Related article Death rate from Alzheimer's disease in the US has risen by 55%, says CDC One approach, called immunotherapy, involves creating antibodies that bind to abnormal developments in the brain (such as amyloid-β or tau), and mark them for destruction by a range of mechanisms. Immunotherapy is experiencing a surge of interest and a number of clinical trials – targeting both amyloid-β and tau – are currently underway. Aducanumab, an antibody targeting amyloid-β, has shown promise in clinical trials and phase 3 trials are currently ongoing, as are several tau-based strategies. If any are successful, we would have a vaccine for Alzheimer’s. Early-onset Alzheimer’s: should you worry? It’s estimated only 0.1% of antibodies circulating in the bloodstream enter the brain – this also includes the therapeutic antibodies currently used in clinical trials. An approach my team is taking is to use ultrasound to temporarily open the blood-brain barrier, which increases the uptake of Alzheimer’s drugs or antibody fragments. See the latest news and share your comments with CNN Health on Facebook and Twitter. We’ve had success in mice, finding ultrasound can clear toxic tau protein clumps, and that combining ultrasound with an antibody fragment treatment is more effective than either treatment alone in removing tau and reducing Alzheimer’s symptoms. The next challenge will be translating this success into human clinical trials. The task of dementia drug development is no easy feat, and requires collaboration across government, industry and academia. In Australia, the National Dementia Network serves this purpose well. It’s only through perseverance and continued investment in research that we’ll one day have a treatment for dementia. Jürgen Götz is director of the Clem Jones Centre for Ageing Dementia Research at the University of Queensland.


The Walker family left their home in Buenos Aires in March Their VW bus broke down in Guatemala, where they were delayed almost three weeks They finally arrived in Philadelphia, where they met the Pope The Walker family from Argentina traveled 13,000 miles in a remodeled Volkswagen bus to be in Philadelphia for the papal visit. Never in their wildest dreams did they imagine they would actually meet the Pope. But on Sunday, their phone rang at 6 a.m. It was the Vatican calling. Pope Francis had taken notice of his fellow citizens from Buenos Aires and their 194-day journey through 13 countries. He decided to take the time to meet with Catire Walker, 41, his wife, Noel Zemborain, 39, and their four children, ages 3 to 12. Walker said chaos ensued after the Vatican called and told them to head to the Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary. The six of them scrambled to get ready as fast as they could. When they arrived, still incredulous, they were told to wait in a hall. Within five minutes, they were standing before Francis. “Are you the family who traveled from Buenos Aires? You’re crazy,” the Pope said, laughing. It was exactly the reaction the family had predicted back in July when I’d asked them what the Pope might think of their long journey. But back then, they had no idea the Pope was following their travels – the family keeps a blog and has been posting on Facebook and Twitter. Walker said the conversation felt as though they were meeting an old friend for coffee. It was casual, laid-back and comfortable. He said the Pope recognized their courage for the journey they made as a family. They told the Pope there were thousands of families in America that loved him and were praying for him. The Pope responded that he had enormous responsibilities and that he needed their prayers, Walker said. Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi acknowledged the Walker family at a press conference Sunday. “The Pope has met an interesting Argentinean family who came in a Kombi (the VW bus) with four children, from Argentina to Philadelphia,” Lobardi said. “The Pope said to me explicitly to say this because for him it was a very interesting moment, and the experience of this family has touched him very much.” The Walkers’ eldest daughter, Cala, 12, threw her arms around the Pope’s waist and would not let go. She had a rosary with her and asked Francis to bless it. Then, before departing, the entire family engaged in a group hug with the Pope. “Thanks for coming,” he told them. “Thank you for inspiring us to go out and make a bit of trouble,” they said. As the Pope was leaving, he turned around and said with a chortle: “You are some troublemakers!” In March the Walker family packed all they would need into their 1980 Volkswagen and began driving north from Buenos Aires. They were not hippies, they insisted, but admitted they were a taking a risk with such an adventure. But for Walker and Zemborain, it was important to make this road trip. It afforded them the time they wanted to spend with one another and their children. “We celebrate the family. Ours and all,” they said upon their arrival in Philadelphia, where they have been attending the 2015 World Meeting of Families. Their VW bus, named Francisca after the Pope, bears a sticker with the event’s logo. Their journey, said Zemborain, had been enriched by the many people they encountered along the route who opened up their homes and their hearts. She thanked them in a Facebook post. “We are so happy. Today you were all in the van with us!” Everywhere the family visited, the curious stopped to ask – and were left in awe of the family’s love for one another and their faith in God. Faith, for the Walkers, has never been about church and its rituals but about the everyday occurrences of life. In Francis, they finally saw a pope who understood ordinary people like them, a pope who talked about things no pope had discussed openly before. Besides, they felt immensely proud that Francis was a fellow Argentine. They had followed Jorge Bergoglio closely when he was archbishop of Buenos Aires and had even seen him up close right after he was named pope. They made the journey of their lives to see him again in Philadelphia. Sunday, the Pope returned their efforts by making time to meet with them personally. It was, they said, the best gift of all at the end of a long journey.


One family included two Florida doctors and their two children A rabbi says five victims were members of a temple in Scarsdale, New York Relatives and friends are mourning the deaths of 10 Americans, including two families, killed in a New Year’s Eve plane crash in Costa Rica. The dead included two doctors from Clearwater, Florida, and their two children, and a couple from the New York suburb of Scarsdale who were traveling with their three sons. Another victim was 33-year-old Amanda Geissler, a travel guide who led families on tours of Costa Rica, her family said. Drs. Mitchell and Leslie Weiss were on the plane with their children Hannah and Ari, according to a rabbi at the synagogue they attended. Mitchell Weiss was a vascular and interventional radiologist and his wife, Leslie, was a pediatrician and neonatal hospitalist, their employers said. “Mitch was a tremendously skilled interventional radiologist who will be sorely missed by his partners, his medical team and the patients whose lives he touched.  It was an honor to practice medicine with him,” said Dr. John Fisher, president of Radiology Associates of Clearwater. “We all grieve for the tragic loss of not only Mitch but his wife, Leslie, and his children, Hannah and Ari.” “This is a tragic event for their family, for our congregation and synagogue community as well as the Pinellas County community. They will be sorely missed,” said Rabbi Jacob Luski of Congregation b’Nai Israel of St. Petersburg. Bruce and Irene Steinberg and their three children, Zachary, William, and Matthew were also killed. They were congregants at Scarsdale’s Westchester Reform Temple, Rabbi Jonathan Blake wrote in a statement posted on Facebook. “This tragedy hits our community very hard. Bruce, Irene and their children have been devoted members of WRT since 2001.” the statement said. The Facebook post does not include the family members’ ages. It says the Steinbergs were active in Jewish organizations in the community and were “cherished members” of the Sunningdale Country Club in Scarsdale. “They’re just loving people,” their neighbor, Susan Adler, told CNN affiliate WCBS. “When I moved in, she was very welcoming, brought me a cake, offered her friendship, and it’s just devastating news.” Another neighbor, Lisa Flicker, told WCBS it doesn’t feel real. “It’s so devastating because they’re great people, and the kids are great, and I feel like they’re the family you look to to emulate,” Flicker said. Geissler’s family said she had an adventurous spirit and lived life with no regrets. “Amanda’s love for the outdoors, setting goals and crushing them, and adoration for her family and friends are like no other,” the family’s statement said. “She is loved by many, and with a heavy heart it will be hard to say goodbye. If Amanda could leave us all with one thing it would be – write down whatever it is you want to do … and make it happen.” Also killed in the crash of the single-engine turboprop were the two Costa Rican pilots, President Luis Guillermo Solis Rivera said in a statement posted on social media. One of the pilots was the cousin of former Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla, she said on her Twitter account. A spokesperson for the US State Department confirmed the deaths of “multiple US citizens.” “We express our condolences to all those affected by this tragedy. We are in contact with Costa Rican aviation authorities and will continue to monitor the situation,” the spokesperson said. #ÚltimaHora #NoticiaLamentable Aeronave de Seguridad Pública MSP 006 confirma la localización de una aeronave en llamas,... #ÚltimaHora #NoticiaLamentable Aeronave de Seguridad Pública MSP 006 confirma la localización de una aeronave en llamas,... Costa Rica’s Ministry of Public Security posted several images of the aftermath of the crash on its official Facebook page, showing smoke billowing from burning wreckage in a wooded area. It was not immediately clear what caused the crash, which happened Sunday afternoon in Nandayure, a town in Guanacaste province on the Nicoya Peninsula, on Costa Rica’s western coast. Authorities said Sunday they were focusing on recovering the victims’ bodies and would begin an investigation into the cause of the crash Monday. The plane took off from the Punta Islita Airport at 12:10 p.m. Sunday bound for Costa Rica’s capital, San Jose. Officials received reports of the crash around 12:20 p.m., 10 minutes after takeoff, CNN affiliate Teletica reported, citing civil aviation authorities. Heavy winds earlier in the day had forced the plane’s pilots to land at another airport and delay their arrival in Punta Islita, Teletica said. Costa Rica’s President expressed his condolences on Twitter. “The government vows to do everything necessary to help the victims’ family members in whatever they need in this difficult moment and sends them the solidarity of all the Costa Rican people,” Solis said. The private aircraft, a Cessna 208B Grand Caravan registered as TI-BEI, was part of Nature Air’s fleet, officials said. Officials from the airline could not be immediately reached for comment. The Caravan is a popular utility aircraft that’s routinely used for carrying passengers or cargo. More than 2,500 have been built since the aircraft entered service in 1984, according to the Aviation Safety Network. CNN’s Dave Alsup, Melissa Gray, Jamiel Lynch, Lauren del Valle, Kiarinna Parisi, Florencia Trucco, Radina Gigova, Karen Smith and Jon Ostrower contributed to this report.


Technology used to track a hurricane has improved immensely, but predicting intensity tricky Hurricane lab in Miami is able to recreate and study a Category 5 hurricane in a 38,000-gallon tank Inside a nondescript building on South Florida’s Biscayne Bay, a 38,000-gallon water tank could soon help solve the mysteries surrounding hurricanes. Where’s the storm going? How strong will it be? What’s causing it to intensify? These are all questions that mystify weather experts because of the inexact science of hurricane forecasting. But, that’s slowly changing. “Over the past 10 years, we’ve improved our track predictions on average by about 40%. Our cone that we have is about 40% smaller now than it was at the time of Katrina,” according to James Franklin with the National Hurricane Center. Typically, forecasters are more accurate at predicting the track of a storm than its intensity, but the opposite has been true this week with Hurricane Joaquin, CNN senior meteorologist Dave Hennen said. Early in the week, he said, no model had the storm hitting the Bahamas, but Joaquin’s eye passed over the archipelago’s Samana Cays on Thursday. On Wednesday, U.S. models were predicting landfall in the Carolinas, while the European models had the storm hitting Bermuda – a difference of roughly 700 miles, Hennen noted. On Thursday, however, the U.S. models had Joaquin hitting the Canadian Maritimes, composed of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, some 1,300 miles northeast of the Carolinas. By Friday, most models suggested the storm would not make landfall in the United States and would instead churn out to sea - though it could cause severe flooding in South Carolina and North Carolina. So why is it so challenging to forecast a hurricane’s intensity and track? “It’s so complex. There are so many factors, it’s impossible to model,” Hennen said, explaining that “millions of factors” go into these predictions. And when it comes to predicting the strength of  a storm, Frankin said, “Intensity prediction has been pretty much flat.” That’s where the hurricane lab at University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science comes in. Dubbed SUSTAIN (Surge Structure Atmosphere Interaction Facility), the lab allows scientists to use an enormous water tank to recreate massive storms – some as strong as a Category 5 hurricane, with wind speeds of 157 miles per hour. The tank sits in a room the size of a small warehouse. Researchers use huge paddles to make waves that are then intensified by powerful wind turbines. A shoreline and scaled-down home sit on the other end of those waves to help scientists figure out the real-life impact on structures and the environment. Related video Hurricane Joaquin may bring 15 inches of rainfall “This is the first time that we’ve been able to get to these really intense winds of Category 5 equivalent in the laboratory and study how they interact with the ocean surface,” Brian Haus, professor of ocean sciences at the University of Miami, said. “We want to know how they get from less intense to more intense and all different steps along the way.” The steps are part of the challenge because of the many factors that go into predicting a hurricane’s strength. “Track is easy because hurricanes are steered by large features in the atmosphere that are easy to measure and easy to model. The hurricane intensity depends on things going on much smaller scales. Waves, the organizations of individual clouds and thunderstorms, complexes to rain bands – everything is happening on a smaller scale, and that’s part of what makes it difficult,” says Franklin. The technology used to measure such things has improved immensely in recent decades, but there’s still plenty of room for advancement, Hennen said. Forecasters have been flying planes into storms since the 1940s, but today, not only do you have “core punchers” that can fly into the eye of a storm, but the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration also employs modified G-4 Gulfstreams that fly over and around storms for up to 12 hours at a time, dropping instruments in hopes of narrowing down a storm’s path and predicting its intensity. With Joaquin, as with any storm that threatens the eastern seaboard, forecasters are also launching balloons along the East Coast to measure the upper atmosphere. All this takes a beast of a computer, and Hennen said some of the fastest computers in the world are used to crunch the available data. The government has recently earmarked significant funding – most notably via the Weather Forecasting Improvement Act of 2013 – to make sure NOAA has the computing and modeling capabilities necessary to make the most effective predictions. Related video How are hurricanes named? As an example of how the technology has evolved, about 30 years ago, forecasters used computers that measured two levels of atmosphere, Hennen said. The advanced computers measured four levels, he said. Now, you could run those programs with the computing power of today’s mobile phones, and modern programs measure dozens of layers of atmosphere, Hennen said. If forecasters are able to more accurately figure out a storm’s intensity – and more importantly, when it will intensify – Franklin says it could save countless lives. He points out examples such as Hurricane Charley in 2004, which rapidly strengthened just before making landfall along Florida’s southwest coast. The storm ended up killing 31 people in the United States and cost $15 billion in damages across the country, according to the U.S. government. “If we could get a better forecast that helps in evacuation planning – particularly in large cities. The sooner you can get good information on how strong a storm is going to be, the more safely you can plan to evacuate people that are at risk,” Haus said. It’s important to keep in mind, Hennen said, that in some of the most at-risk locales – such as the Florida Keys – it could take two or three days to fully evacuate the endangered area. Adding to the challenge for scientists is climate change. Because hurricanes are powered by the heat in the ocean, researchers concede it’s growing more difficult to predict where or when storms will pop up and strengthen. Haus points to another issue. “I think what is clear for coastal areas is that sea levels are rising. There’s no way we’re going to get around that,” he said. “So the risk that coastal communities are facing is just going to be getting higher and higher, particularly in low-lying areas – Miami, Tampa, Houston, Washington D.C., the Northeast. These areas, like you saw with Sandy, are very vulnerable.” CNN’s Eliott C. McLaughlin contributed to this report.


Former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, are continuing to recover from a nerve agent attack, and their rehabilitation has been “slow and extremely painful,” the daughter said Wednesday. Sergei, 66, and Yulia Skripal were found March 4 slumped on a bench in Salisbury, England, after being exposed to novichok, a military-grade nerve agent. While Yulia Skripal, 33, spent 20 days in a coma before she was released from the hospital in April and taken to a safe location, her father remained hospitalized until last week. “We are so lucky to have both survived this attempted assassination,” she said Wednesday from an undisclosed location, her first public appearance since the attack. “I don’t want to describe the details, but the clinical treatment was invasive, painful and depressing. Our recovery has been slow and extremely painful.” They both are progressing, she said, but her life has been turned upside down, and she’s experienced physical and emotional changes, on which she did not elaborate. “I take one day at a time and want to help care for my father until his full recovery. In the longer term, I hope to return home to my country,” she said. In requesting privacy and emphasizing that no one speaks for either her or her father, Yulia Skripal thanked the Salisbury District Hospital staff and others involved in their care. She added, “I’m grateful for the offers of assistance from the Russian Embassy, but at the moment I do not wish to avail myself of their services.” Lorna Wilkinson, director of nursing at the hospital, said last week that Sergei Skripal would continue his recovery outside the hospital, the UK Press Association reported. The poisoning of the Skripals sparked a diplomatic row between the UK and Russia, which has consistently denied allegations it was behind the poisoning The UK expelled 23 Russian diplomats who had been declared as unidentified intelligence officers. The United States, Canada, Australia and 18 European Union states kicked out Russian diplomats in a show of support for the UK. Detectives with London’s Metropolitan Police believe the Skripals first came into contact with a nerve agent at Sergei Skripal’s home. In late March, police identified the highest concentration of the nerve agent on the home’s front door. Upon Sergei Skripal’s release, Russian President Vladimir Putin wished him good health, but questioned the British claim that a military-grade nerve agent was responsible for his illness. “A military-grade poisonous substance is so powerful that the person dies within seconds or minutes,” Putin said at a news conference alongside German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Sochi, Russia. “We repeatedly offered UK authorities our help, and we asked to be given access to the investigation, but there is no response,” he said. “Our offer stands.” CNN’s James Masters contributed to this report.


While the families of several Americans released by Iran are celebrating the return of their loved ones, the family of an American who went missing in Iran in 2007 says the prisoner swap brought them no news from Iran or the United States about his whereabouts or his fate. “Unfortunately, we are not able to enjoy the same joy that they have,” Christine Levinson, the wife of Robert Levinson, said Monday. “It’s very difficult for our family. And especially difficult for that we were not told before this happened. We actually had to learn it on our own, watching TV,” she told CNN’s Jim Sciutto. The family is desperate to know what happened to him, and what the U.S. administration can still do to win his release, Levinson’s son Daniel Levinson said. Related video Robert Levinson not part of Iran, U.S. prisoner swap Levinson, a retired FBI agent, vanished after traveling to the Iranian island of Kish in March 2007. His family has said he was looking into cigarette smuggling, and the FBI has said he was working on behalf of several large corporations. An e-mail obtained by the family indicated he was trying to investigate corruption involving Iranian officials. But he was also doing independent contract work for the CIA at the time, the Levinson family eventually confirmed. The CIA has not confirmed that allegation. But three CIA employees – including Levinson’s handler – were eventually fired, and seven others disciplined in connection with the case, and the CIA paid the family $2.5 million to avoid a lawsuit, family attorney David McGee told CNN. Fast Facts: Robert Levinson Secretary of State John Kerry said that while Levinson’s fate remains unknown, the administration will not stop trying to get answers. Opinion: Why did Iran prisoner swap not include my father? “I feel horrible for the family,” Kerry told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. “The Iranians have agreed to continue to try to help us find the whereabouts. Whatever may or may not have happened to Bob Levinson, we are going to continue that effort.” Related video John Kerry talks dealing with Iran, Bob Levinson Iranian officials in the United States did not reply to an inquiry from CNN on Monday, but Iranian officials have repeatedly said they do not know Levinson’s fate or his whereabouts. But Levinson’s son treats the Iranian denials with skepticism. “I think it’s very obvious that the Iranian government knows exactly where he is,” he said. “Any kind of comments about locating him and cooperation is nonsense to us.” In late 2010 his family received a “proof of life” video of a gaunt-looking Levinson. In 2011, they received photographs of him with unkempt hair and beard. In the photos, he was wearing an orange prison jumpsuit, holding signs with messages including “Help me” and “I am in Guantanamo.” In the video, he looks into the camera and says, “I am not in very good health,” and says, “I need the help of the United States government to answer the requests of the group that has held me.” It was unclear if he was under duress, and where he was being held. In 2011, the State Department said there was reason to believe Levinson may be held outside Iran, perhaps in southwest Asia. Related video Iran says it doesn't have Bob Levinson Adding to the mystery, Levinson is believed to have had a meeting shortly before he disappeared with Dawud Salahuddin, an American fugitive who lives in Iran. Salahuddin has told CNN  he was detained by Iranian officials in plainclothes and taken to be interrogated about his Iranian passport in 2007. When he was freed the next day, he said, he was told by officials that Levinson had returned to Dubai. His story matches accounts from friends of Levinson, who say Levinson feared he would be arrested after meeting with Salahuddin. But American officials caution they do not consider Salahuddin to be a credible source of information, because he has admitted to killing an Iranian diplomat who was loyal to the Shah in Maryland in 1980. Iranian officials have offered to help in the effort to find Levinson. But some analysts are skeptical of Iran’s claims to know nothing. “When he disappeared, he was on Iranian soil. The Iranians cannot deny that,” said former Ambassador John Limbert, who served as deputy assistant secretary of state for Iran, and in 1979 was one of the Americans taken hostage in the American embassy in Tehran. And according to former CIA officer Reuel Marc Gerecht, now with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, “If he disappeared on that island, he disappeared because they ‘disappeared’ him.” But Gerecht also believes it was unwise for Levinson to travel to Iran, given his FBI and CIA ties. “The idea that an American could go into Iran, on some type of intelligence mission, collect valuable information, and meet up with Iranians who know he’s coming, is just an invitation to be bushwhacked.” The FBI is offering a $5 million reward for information on Levinson, and the Levinson family is trying to keep attention focused on his disappearance with media appearances and the hashtag #whataboutbob. “We miss him every day,” his wife told CNN, “and if he can see this, I certainly hope that he knows that we will never stop searching for him. And we will bring him home safe and sound. And that he needs to stay strong.” CNN’s Ashley Fantz, Brice Laine, Joe Sterling, Susan Candiotti, Michael Pearson and Catherine E. Shoichet contributed to this report.