When news of the terror attacks in Paris rocked the world last week, news of a previous terror attack resurfaced on social media-— the April terror attacks at Garissa University in Kenya where 147 were killed at the hands of the Somali terror group Al-Shabaab. Islamist gunmen burst into the university, shooting students and taking hostages during early morning prayer services. Atlanta rapper Trinidad James, who headlined a “Pray for Kenya” benefit concert earlier this fall and launched a GoFundMe campaign to support the families of victims in Kenya, told CNN that when it comes to Africa, some issues are “swept under the rug.” “I honestly can tell you that no one was really talking about it at all … that’s sadder to me. Like I said, I’m not taking away from the point that I do, that is a very terrible thing that happened in Paris and I do care,” he said. “[But] If we as a whole joined together like we’re doing now for Paris on all the subjects that … in my personal opinion should matter, we’ll be in a better place.” Amid the shock and grief that struck the world following the Paris attacks, some voiced concerns on social media that other attacks like the one in Kenya or Beirut did not garner the as much attention as the attack in France. Facebook, for instance, came under fire for enabling “Safety Check”— a feature that allows users to inform their Facebook friends that they are safe— for Paris but not other recent tragedies. The social network quickly changed that policy. Since then, Facebook activated “Safety Check” after a terror attack killed 32 people in the northeastern Nigerian city of Yola. The Trinidadian-American rapper said that some people tend to be more desensitized to terror or violence when it occurs in places that seem less shocking, drawing parallels between terror attacks that occur in third world countries and shootings that happen in cities like Chicago, compared to those that happen in the American suburbs. If the shock value isn’t there, less people pay attention, James said. “I know that I’m desensitized to certain things and it’s not on purpose. It’s just because I’m imperfect as a human just like anyone else. But I feel like when you have that light bulb going off in your head,” he said. “Use your voice, use your platform for something that matters.” Listen to Trinidad’s take on terror and President Barack Obama in the video above and check out more from CNN’s “Gets Political” the series.


South Korean official says photos of test launch appear to be authentic But he says North Korea is estimated to still need years to develop the technology North Korea could have a fully operational submarine armed with ballistic missiles in the next four to five years, a South Korean defense official said Monday. The South Korean estimate comes after North Korea said over the weekend that it had successfully test-launched a ballistic missile from a submarine. Pyongyang’s announcement has focused attention on how soon the nuclear-armed regime might reach the capability of being able to launch missiles from submarines, a mobile threat that’s difficult to track. South Korean authorities are suggesting that North Korea’s submarine program is still in a relatively early stage. The Defense Ministry official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said Monday that the South Korean military believes the photos of the test launch published in North Korean media are authentic. But he said the secretive North Korean regime is estimated to need years to develop the submarine and missile technology to have a fully operational system. North Korea’s achievement of those goals would create a strategic headache for the United States and its key allies in the region, South Korea and Japan. Related gallery Kim Jong Un and North Korea's military “If they can deploy an operational submarine that could launch ballistic missiles armed with nuclear warheads, it would give them a pretty credible second strike capability, and it’s difficult to defend against,” said Daniel Pinkston, deputy project director for North East Asia at the International Crisis Group. “It would give them the kind of deterrent that they have said they wish to have,” Pinkston said following the reported test launch. A U.S. official told CNN that Friday’s alleged missile test was not a test of a ballistic missile but rather a “simulation of a test.” “This was not a test. It was a simulated firing,” the official said. A second U.S. official said the U.S. is “closely looking” at the possibility the picture of the water ejection behind Kim Jong Un could have been photoshopped. U.S. intelligence officials believe this was – “at best” – a test of a submarine missile “ejection system.” Over the weekend a U.S. State Department official said that “launches using ballistic missile technology are a clear violation of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions.” The exact status of North Korea’s nuclear weapons program is murky. Analysts say Kim Jong Un’s regime may well already be able to fit nuclear warheads on ground-launched missiles that can reach South Korea and Japan. Related video North Korea expands its nuclear arsenal David Albright, a former U.N. weapons inspector, told CNN last week that Pyongyang could have 10 to 15 nuclear weapons at this point and that it could grow that amount by several weapons per year. North Korea has demanded that the United States recognize it as a nuclear power. But the U.S. government has said North Korean commitment to denuclearization is the starting point for any negotiations between the two sides. There’s no sign that Pyongyang plans to back down on its nuclear program. “I think we have rapidly approached the point of no return over the past five-years,” Joel Wit, a visiting scholar at the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University, said last week. “This program has gained a lot of momentum over the past few years and not much has been done to stop it.” CNN’s K.J. Kwon reported from Seoul, and Jethro Mullen wrote from Hong Kong. CNN’s Kathy Novak and Brian Todd contributed to this report.

North Korea's submarine ballistic missile program


The President said he doesn't currently plan to fire special counselor Robert Mueller Trump also said no one has told him he will be questioned by the special counsel President Donald Trump said he dropped Paul Manafort as his campaign chairman because of Manafort’s involvement with “certain nations,” according to excerpts of an interview published Saturday. “Well, it was a friend of mine who was a businessman –  a very successful businessman and a good person, and you know, Paul was not there very long,” Trump said on Sharyl Attkisson’s syndicated show “Full Measure,” which will air in full on Sunday. He continued: “Well, I think we found out something about he may be involved with all – with certain nations, and I don’t even know exactly what it was in particular. But there was a point at which we just felt Paul would be better off – because we don’t want to have many potential conflicts.” The President also said he doesn’t currently plan to fire special counselor Robert Mueller. “Well, I hope he’s treating everything fairly, and if he is, I’m going to be very happy, because when you talk about innocent, I am truly not involved in any collusion with Russia,” Trump said. “Believe me, that’s the last thing I can think of to be involved in.” Trump also said no one has told him he will be questioned by the special counsel. “As far as I’m concerned, I haven’t been told that we’re under investigation, I’m not under investigation,” he said. Manafort and former Trump campaign official Rick Gates surrendered Monday to Justice Department authorities following a 12-count indictment that includes charges of conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money and unregistered agent of a foreign principal. The charges precede their involvement with Trump’s campaign. The two have pleaded not guilty. It was also revealed on Monday that former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to making a false statement to the FBI after he lied about his interactions with foreign officials close to the Russian government, the campaign’s clearest connection so far to Russia’s efforts to meddle in the 2016 election.


Two researchers argue that climate is the primary driver of aggression They say there's a "general trend" between proximity to the equator and violence One of the uncomfortable facts of life is that some countries — and within the U.S., some states — are more violent than others. Figuring out what makes societies and communities more violent is a big-time quest for social scientists, since if you know what leads to killing, you’ll have a better shot at defusing it. Drawing on a host of studies, a new paper (PDF) in Behavioral and Brain Sciences – lead-authored by Paul A. M. Van Lange of Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam – proposes a model for understanding violence with the only somewhat forced-sounding acronym CLASH, short for CLimate, Aggression, and Self-control in Humans. The authors argue that climate – in the form of the culture it gives rise to – is the primary driver of aggression. Basically, the authors say that living in a place with greater seasonality and lower temperatures prompts people to be more future-oriented and more greatly value self-control, which the researchers call the “slow life” strategy, as opposed to the “fast life” strategy associated with hotter, less seasonal places, many of which are clustered around the equator. “Climate is one of the broad and ubiquitous variables that is likely to be a powerful cause of culture (how groups organize, the norms they share, and how individuals think and behave),” Van Lange wrote to Science of Us in an email. Related article School shootings, mass killings are 'contagious,' study finds Climate shapes planning lots of ways, he says, like in how you hoard for the winter or plan for the next season as individuals, families, and communities. And while winter kills off lots of environmental threats, hotter places have more venomous animals and infectious diseases, adding to their unpredictability. “We do acknowledge that various other factors are linked to climate – such as prosperity – and they are also partially caused by climate,” Van Lange said. Blame climate change for making you less productive at work According to CLASH, violence comes from people assuming that they’re going to have shorter lifespans, less planning for the future, and less self-control. “We see evidence of a faster life strategy in hotter climates with less temperature variation – they are less strict about time, they have less use of birth control, they have children earlier and more often,” study co-author Brad Bushman said in a statement. The data around violence and climate is serious. A 2013 meta-analysis analyzed 60 studies on the relationship between climate and human conflict, and the authors found that for each standard deviation, the median effect was a 14 percent increase in conflict between groups and a percent increase for individuals. How the beach went from terrifying danger zone to beloved vacation spot Related article Southern charm, deadly streets And as Van Lange and his colleagues argue, there’s a “general trend” between proximity to the equator and violence. They cite a 2013 UN global homicide report (PDF) that finds startling regional differences: There are 26 homicides per 100,000 people in Central America and 18 per 100,000 in Middle Africa, compared with 5 per 100,000 in Europe and Northern America. You find it at the regional level as well: southern Europe (Turkey, Albania, Montenegro) has more murders than Scandinavia, and in the U.S., the South has more crime than the North (with the notable exception of Alaska, where there are outlier levels of rapes and aggravated assaults). Indeed, the authors report, there are even more mafia-related killings in Southern than Northern Italy. (But, you have to note, Africa and Central America are way poorer than North America and Europe, and the inequality – another strong correlate (PDF) to violence – within those countries is astounding.) This isn’t the first model to attempt to explain the link between temperature and violence. The General Aggression Model (PDF) argues that warmer temperatures put people into more highly aroused states, which primes impulsive, potentially aggressive behavior. Routine Activity Theory contends that crime goes up with temperature because people are more likely to be out in public spaces, making them more exposed to potential conflict. Van Lange and his colleagues argue that these models are incomplete: the General Aggression Model suffers from evidence (PDF) indicating that heat-induced hostility isn’t really that common (according to CLASH, the climate creates the culture, and the culture creates the predisposition to violence – it’s not people reacting directly to the heat, in other words). The Routine Activity Theory founders, they argue, since so much violence happens between friends and family inside the home, and because people getting together in public places actually increases (PDF) social cohesion, among other factors. (But, zooming out a little, it does seem that CLASH and Routine Activity Theory are compatible with one another – how could people spending more time outside decrease the odds of public violence?) How irritable are you? Take this test to find out Related article Temperature's up -- so are shootings in NYC There are lots of limitations to Van Lange and his colleague’s paper. For one, it’s presenting a model in the form of argument, rather than presenting original empirical research (with the logic that such a model will help frame further research). Beyond that, the most obvious thing is there’s something quixotic in trying to reduce the complexity of human-on-human violence to a single variable. It’s kind of like a radical leftist saying that the violence so present around equatorial states is simply the legacy of imperialism and colonialism, or a neoconservative saying that if we could only get all of these countries to be democracies, then we’d arrive at democratic peace (PDF). There are so many inputs into violent acts (and violent cultures like the “honor culture” (PDF) ethnographers have described in the American South) that attributing violence mostly to a single variable seems like a reach. Also, there’s ample evidence that contradicts the “temperature shapes culture which shapes violence” argument that animates CLASH. Just look at seasonal American cities: murders spike in Chicago and New York in the summer, and a Governing analysis of 384 law-enforcement agencies found that major offenses went up by 10 percent between June and August compared to the rest of the year. It’s not like every June Chicagoans suddenly transform to “low-trust,” “fast life” strategies and then go back to “slow life” long-term planning when the temperatures plunge in November. Something more short-term is taking place. See the latest news and share your comments with CNN Health on Facebook and Twitter. Finally, there’s the matter of saying that people’s behaviors are a product of their regions, which is awful close to saying that behavior is a product of their ethnic culture. When I asked Van Lange how CLASH avoids that determinism, he replied that he and his co-authors “think it is ultimately climate that is an important cause of culture, and therefore social and individual thinking and behavior,” noting research that finds that people who move from warm climates to colder climates “adapt quickly” to their new cultural environments. “For example, research has shown that people who immigrate from a low-trust nation such as Turkey to a high-trust nation in Northern Europe will rapidly show greater trust in people in general,” he argues. “People are in that sense ‘very adaptive’ and we think that what research has shown for trust will be also be largely true for long-term orientation and self-control.” But while research does indeed find that immigrants (and especially their kids) adapt to the social-trust norms of their adopted country, there’s a jump in the logic to say that it’s the climate that’s doing the work. People adapt to cultures, but that’s not proof that climate shapes violence.


USS Harry Truman carrier has picked up the pace of its bombings of ISIS targets Truman's planes have dropped 1,500 pieces of ordnance The planes never seem to stop coming and going. After six months in the Persian Gulf, the USS Harry Truman aircraft carrier has moved to the Mediterranean Sea, from where its bombers are jetting off faster and more frequently to strike ISIS targets in war-ravaged Syria and Iraq. CNN was given access to the Truman, where a new dramatic tempo has been set. Planes take off or land every few minutes, with only intermittent breaks, pushing others responsible for bomb supplies to work night and day to keep up with the new pace. The Truman has been instrumental to the United States’ military campaign against ISIS, known as Operation Inherent Resolve in Iraq and Syria. Aside from a land base in Turkey, it is the main launching point for bombing runs against ISIS. Related article ISIS shooting civilians trying to flee Falluja, NGO says It has now dropped more bombs on ISIS than any other vessel in America’s fleet. It is ratcheting up its attacks as U.S.-allied forces gain ground, with the support of the United States, in the conflict that has raged for five years, causing devastating civilian deaths and destruction. Iraqi Security Forces seem close to winning back the Iraqi stronghold of Falluja. In northern Syria, a pro-U.S. coalition of Kurdish and Arab troops is pushing ISIS out of the Syrian-Turkish border area and closing in on the extremists’ self-declared capital of Raqqa. From their initial position in the Persian Gulf and now from the Mediterranean, the carrier’s crew has flown more than 1,800 sorties and dropped around 1,500 pieces of ordnance weighing some 1.5 million pounds on ISIS targets. “It’s a graphic illustration of the flexibility that’s inherent with the naval forces,” the carrier strike group’s commander, Rear Adm. Bret Batchelder, said in an interview with CNN. “We can operate anywhere we want to in the world. As it happens on this deployment our priority has been the support of Operation Inherent Resolve in Iraq and Syria,” he said. Fallujah: The American and Iraqi ‘graveyard’ A cycle usually starts with several tanker aircraft taking off, followed by the F/A-18 Hornet strike aircraft, which are loaded with guided bombs to hit ISIS targets as precisely as possible. The missions are long, often around seven hours, and intensive. Each can require three refueling rendezvous with the tankers. CNN spoke to one of the first F/A-18 crews to return from a bombing mission in Syria after taking off from the new location in the Mediterranean. The crew would only let us use their call signs – pilot Lt. “Fanus” and weapons systems officer Lt. “Slips” of the “Fighting 103” out of Virginia. “It was a close-air support mission, so that means we don’t know the targets prior to taking off. But this time there did happen to be a few targets so we struck those targets,” Lt. “Fanus” told us, unable to say exactly what the targets were. The sailors responsible for making sure bombs are always available are working extra hours to keep up with the new pace. We met aviation ordnance man Ronald Canady, who is on his third carrier deployment. He and the other ordnance men and women not only have to get bombs on the carrier from supply ships and then get them to the planes, they also have to assemble them. “We get the call that we have to build the bombs. It is just the bomb body at the beginning. Then we have to assemble the tail piece. After that we configure the nose piece of the bomb,” he told us. The most common ordnance used is a 500-pound guided bomb called the GBU-38. “We drop these very regularly,” Canady said, standing on front of a rack of them in the carrier’s so-called “bomb farm.” “We also load some air-to-air missiles, but the air-to-ground munitions are most used right now.” Humanitarian groups have voiced concern over the increased tempo of American air operations, fearing that more bombs dropped will lead to more civilian casualties in ISIS-controlled areas. The Truman’s crew is aware of those concerns, and pilots told us they use smaller, 500-pound bombs rather than larger, 1,000-pound munitions to limit the impact area as best they can. But of course civilians in war zones are always at risk. The USS Harry Truman will remain in the Mediterranean Sea for several more weeks – a decisive time as ISIS’ grip on its Syrian and Iraqi strongholds appears to be weakening. The carrier’s crew is already under strain because their deployment has been extended by a full month. The ship’s commander, Capt. Ryan R. Scholl, acknowledges the long stay at sea is tough on many crew members, so senior officers try to boost morale. “We try to explain to each sailor so they know, okay, the initial number was 25% and (now) ISIS is losing 45% of its territory. Those numbers are tangible to them,” he said. The F/A-18 pilots have seen those gains evolve from the skies during their missions in recent months. “We have definitely degraded them and we have destroyed them in many different places in Iraq and Syria,” Lt. “Fanus” said after his bombing mission over Syria.  “So I feel like we have had a large impact.” Related article Voices from Falluja


Add EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt to the growing list of Trump administration officials who have used private planes for government duties. The EPA confirmed to CNN Wednesday that Pruitt used a private plane and military jet to travel for government duties instead of flying commercial for trips over the summer. Pruitt flew from Cincinnati to New York’s JFK airport on an Air Force jet on June 7. He then continued to Italy for an international summit on a commercial flight, an EPA spokesman told CNN. When asked for justification for flying on a military jet instead of a likely cheaper commercial flight, an EPA spokesman told CNN in a statement: “Due to logistical obstacles and the need to schedule meetings with the Vatican before the G7 Summit, we needed to take this flight.” The spokesman added that the flight was cleared by the EPA’s ethics counsel. Pruitt took a private jet on August 4 from Denver to Durango, Colorado, and back on the same day, EPA also confirmed, after the agency says his commercial flight was delayed. EPA general counsel documents obtained from an EPA official confirmed the June 7 and August 4 flights as well as a July 27 flight Pruitt took on a Department of Interior jet from Tulsa, Oklahoma, to Guymon, Oklahoma. The document showed Pruitt took the same aircraft from Guymon to Oklahoma City. Acknowledging the contents of the documents, EPA spokeswoman Liz Bowman said, “Administrator Pruitt took one charter flight and three government flights.” The EPA spokesman justified the use of the charter plane by saying that it “would have been impossible” for Pruitt to make it to his destination on time otherwise, due to a more than five-hour delay on the originally scheduled commercial flight. “It would have been impossible to make it to the important Gold King Mine visit with a bipartisan group of elected officials waiting for the administrator,” the spokesman said. “Due to the short amount of time we had to make a decision and while the governor’s office was working on logistics, we were able to find a charter plane which was cleared by the EPA’s ethics counsel.” The EPA general counsel justified the June 7 trip as necessary and part of a tight schedule, and backed the July 27 flight because commercial aircraft were unable to fly into Guymon. The office approved the August 4 trip because a commercial flight was canceled and Pruitt had to make it to the Gold King mine at a certain time. CBS first reported the flights. When asked how many times Pruitt has flown private or government planes, an EPA spokesman said there was one round trip on a private jet and two trips on a government plane. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin have also come under fire for using or requesting to use private and government planes for official government business. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos recently disclosed that she too uses private planes when conducing government business, but pays for them herself. When asked Wednesday whether he was considering firing Price for using private planes, President Donald Trump responded, “we’ll see” adding that he is unhappy with his HHS secretary. CNN’s Eli Watkins contributed to this report.


Trump in recent days has escalated his attacks against U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel Gonzales said the appearance of impropriety could be enough for him to reasonably request that Curiel recuse himself The first Latino attorney general in U.S. history believes Donald Trump has a right to question whether a judge with Hispanic background who is presiding over a Trump University lawsuit is able to adjudicate the case unbiasedly. Trump in recent days has escalated his attacks against U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who last week ordered parts of internal documents, including “playbooks” regarding running the enterprise, to be released as part of a lawsuit against Trump University. The documents were released in response to a request by The Washington Post. Alberto Gonzales, who led the Justice Department under President George W. Bush from 2005 to 2007, wrote in a Washington Post op-ed Saturday that Curiel’s Mexican heritage shouldn’t be enough to disqualify him from overseeing the case. But, Gonzales said, Trump is entitled to a fair trial, and the appearance of impropriety could be enough for him to reasonably request that Curiel recuse himself. He cited Curiel’s membership in the La Raza Lawyers Association’s San Diego chapter – although the lawyers group is unaffiliated with the National Council of La Raza, an advocacy group that has opposed Trump, the billionaire “may be concerned that the lawyers’ association or its members represent or support the other advocacy organization.” “These circumstances, while not necessarily conclusive, at least raise a legitimate question to be considered,” Gonzales wrote. “Regardless of the way Trump has gone about raising his concerns over whether he’s getting a fair trial, none of us should dismiss those concerns out of hand without carefully examining how a defendant in his position might perceive them — and we certainly should not dismiss them for partisan political reasons.” Saturday afternoon, Trump replied to Gonzales’ op-ed. “Thank you Attorney General Gonzales,” Trump tweeted, “so many people feel this way.” Trump this week alleged that Curiel might have an “inherent conflict of interest” because of his background as Trump calls for tougher immigration policies and new trade agreements with Mexico. The billionaire has attracted criticism from both sides of the political spectrum, with House Speaker Paul Ryan on Friday calling the remarks “out of left field” and Hillary Clinton on Saturday saying his comments are “a prejudiced, bigoted attack.” Trump has vociferously denied that his criticism is motivated by racism. “If he was giving me a fair ruling, I wouldn’t say that,” Trump told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Friday, pointing again to Curiel’s background. “I think that’s why he’s doing it.” CNN’s Dan Merica contributed to this report.


Trump's interest in nuclear negotiation goes back as least as far as 1984 Trump's plan was to personally negotiate a nuclear arms deal and do nothing less than end the Cold War Dr. Bernard Lown didn’t even know who Donald Trump was when he first heard the name in 1986. Just the previous year, Lown – an accomplished cardiologist – had accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of a group he co-founded to bring physicians together to prevent nuclear war. The next year, Lown was working to fund a cardiovascular institute. When a member of its executive board said that a wealthy New York real estate developer named Trump wanted to meet him, Lown jumped at the chance. That meeting in the spring of 1986, though, didn’t go exactly as expected, as Lown first described to The Hollywood Reporter. Lown arrived at Trump Tower, he told CNN and “There (Trump) was in all of his pretentious glamour.” But before Lown could ask Trump for a donation, Trump had an unexpected question of his own, Lown said: “I understand you know about Gorbachev.” And, in fact, Lown did. After winning the Nobel Peace Prize, he and the Russian co-founder of his group, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, had been invited to meet with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Gorbachev had only recently become general secretary in March 1985 after the death of Konstantin Chernenko, which meant Lown was one of the first Americans to sit down with him. What was supposed to be a 15-minute encounter turned into three hours. And Trump wanted to hear all about it. But why? Because, Lown recalls Trump saying, “I’m going to call Ronnie and ask him to make me ambassador plenipotentiary to Moscow.” It took Lown a minute to realize that by Ronnie, Trump meant President Ronald Reagan. Related video The Cold War: Then and now Trump’s plan, Lown says today, was to personally negotiate a nuclear arms deal and – in the process – do nothing less than end the Cold War. “It’ll take one hour of discussion before the Cold War is over,” Lown said Trump told him. Lown told Trump that in his opinion, Gorbachev might be ready to make a deal and that he also found the Soviet leader intelligent and knowledgeable. It was not the same impression he formed of Trump. “I thought he was inattentive and self-concentrated. I thought what he said was idiocy. He didn’t understand the complexity of the issues.” A representative of the Trump Organization did not respond to a request for comment on Trump’s past plans to be a negotiator. Trump’s interest in nuclear negotiation goes back as least as far as 1984 when he told The Washington Post “it would take an hour-and-a-half to learn everything there is to learn about missiles. … I think I know most of it anyway.” “Some people have an ability to negotiate,” he continued. “It’s something that somebody should do that knows how to negotiate and not the kind of representatives that I have seen in the past.” Related article Timeline of Trump's life Trump never explained to Lown why nuclear weapons were of such an interest to him, and Lown – who is credited with pioneering the lifesaving cardiac defibrillator – never did have a chance to ask Trump for a donation to his cardiovascular foundation. Trump would eventually visit Moscow in 1987 to meet with Gorbachev, although not as an ambassador. The topic, as The New York Times reported at the time, was developing luxury hotels. But the Times also noted that “Mr. Trump’s calls for nuclear disarmament were also well-known to the Russians.” The following year, an early schedule of Gorbachev’s trip to New York City called for a return visit to Trump at Trump Tower, but it never materialized. Russian officials blamed the earlier itinerary item on a misunderstanding. Trump’s plan to negotiate with Gorbachev wasn’t that much different from his negotiating style 30 years later. Everything was about Trump’s personality, Lown said. “He would so charm Gorbachev that he would have no option but to agree with him,” he said.


NEW: Reports say investigators found antidepressants in Andreas Lubitz's apartment Patrick Sondenheimer was the pilot of the doomed flight, says a man who says he's a relative Ripped medical-leave notes found at his home indicate the co-pilot hid an illness, officials say German investigators found antidepressants in the apartment of Germanwings co-pilot Andreas Lubitz this week, according to published reports. Die Welt, a German newspaper, cited an unidentified senior investigator who said Lubitz suffered from a severe “psychosomatic illness” and German police seized prescription drugs that treat the condition. Lubitz suffered from a “severe subjective burnout syndrome” and from severe depression, the source told Die Welt. The New York Times also reported that antidepressants were found during the search of his apartment. CNN has not been able to confirm the reports. Investigators continued to work Saturday to piece together the secret life of Lubitz, who officials say was hiding an illness from his employers. He had been declared “unfit to work” by a doctor. They were expected to question his relatives, friends and co-workers as they try to pin down what could have prompted the seemingly competent and stable co-pilot to steer a jetliner into a mountainside on Tuesday. As their efforts continued, dozens of people attended a remembrance ceremony for the victims of the crash at a church in a nearby town, Digne-les-Bains. There were 150 people on board Germanwings Flight 9525, including Lubitz. Relatives of the victims and local residents also gathered Saturday afternoon by a simple stone memorial set up near the crash site, in the village of Le Vernet. Flowers have been laid there, in the shadow of the snow-covered peaks of the French Alps. Related video Police search Germanwings co-pilot's home for clues Much attention has focused on Lubitz’s state of mind, with some media reports speculating that he may have had mental health issues. Investigators found a letter in the waste bin of his Dusseldorf, Germany, apartment saying that Lubitz, 27, wasn’t fit to do his job, city prosecutor Christoph Kumpa said Friday. The note, Kumpa said, had been “slashed.” Just what was ailing Lubitz hasn’t been revealed. The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed sources, reported Friday that Lubitz suffered from mental illness and kept his diagnosis concealed from his employer. A subsequent New York Times report on Saturday, citing two officials with knowledge of the investigation, said Lubitz sought treatment before the crash for vision problems that might have put his career at risk. According to those unnamed officials, Lubitz also was being treated for psychological issues. Other media reports indicate he was treated for depression. Lubitz passed his annual pilot recertification medical examination in summer 2014, a German aviation source told CNN. An official with Lufthansa, which owns Germanwings, said the exam only tests physical health, not psychological health, and that if Lubitz had vision problems that would have been discovered during the tests. “We can’t believe it. If anything was wrong with his eyes during the physical exam we would have known,” the official says. The Lufthansa official also said the company was never given any indication Lubitz was depressed, and that if he went to a doctor on his own  he would have been required to self-report if he had been deemed unfit to fly. A Dusseldorf clinic said he’d gone there twice, most recently on March 10, “concerning a diagnosis.” But the University Clinic said it had not treated Lubitz for depression. German investigators said they still have interviews and other work to do before they can reveal what they gleaned from the records found in the apartment and at his parents’ home in the town of Montabaur. Related video Prosecutor: Co-pilot hid 'illness' from airline But the fact that investigators found “ripped, recent medical leave notes, including for the day of the offense, leads to the preliminary conclusion that the deceased kept his illness secret from his employer and his professional environment,” prosecutors said. Germanwings corroborated that assertion, saying it had never received a sick note from Lubitz. Authorities left Lubitz’s apartment Friday night with boxes of papers and evidence folders after spending about 90 minutes inside. Dusseldorf police said Saturday that a small team of French investigators had arrived in the city and that they were sharing information. Jean Pierre Michel, lead investigator for the French inquiry, told French TV from Dusseldorf that the French team would work in “full transparency” with their German counterparts. “We will interview people related to the investigation in the coming days. The hearings will be conducted in the coming days and weeks,” he said, according to CNN’s French affiliate BFMTV. Asked by a journalist about reports of Lubitz’s possible mental illness, he replied: “The elements of the investigation are strictly confidential and we cannot address these matters today.” No scenario can yet be ruled out, including mechanical failure, “as we do not have the necessary evidence,” he said. The German tabloid newspaper Bild said Saturday it had interviewed an ex-girlfriend of Lubitz. The woman is not named in the story and CNN has not been able to verify the report independently. According to Bild, the ex-girlfriend said Lubitz was a very nice and sensitive man who needed a lot of care and attention, and he was very troubled. She said he would get into fights with her. The newspaper also cited the ex-girlfriend as saying that Lubitz had bad dreams that his plane was going down. Patrick Sondenheimer was the pilot of Germanwings Flight 9525, according to Reiner Sondenheimer of Dusseldorf, Germany, who says he is a relative of Patrick’s. Patrick Sondenheimer is the pilot believed to have been locked out of the cockpit by his co-pilot, Lubitz. Related video Germanwings pilot identified CNN spoke to Reiner Sondenheimer at his Dusseldorf apartment. Also at the apartment was a woman who did not provide her name but said she was Patrick Sodenheimer’s relative. That woman also said that Patrick Sondenheimer was on the doomed flight. Reiner Sondenheimer declined to say anything else, other than the family wanted time to grieve. The pilot has not been named by German authorities. Another Germanwings pilot who once flew with Lubitz, Frank Woiton, told WDR, a local broadcaster belonging to CNN’s German affiliate ARD, that his impression of Lubitz was that he was “friendly” and that there was “nothing suspicious.” Woiton also said Lubitz “was a good pilot and had a good command of the plane.” Woiton’s first job after he found out about the crash was the route Dusseldorf-Barcelona-Dusseldorf – the same route as had been taken by Germanwings Flight 9525 a day earlier. He was praised in German media for the emotional announcement he made to passengers before takeoff, in which he said the crew, like everyone else on the plane, wanted to get home safely to their families. At the scene of the crash, two helicopters were being deployed above the mountainside by recovery crews Saturday. The weather has improved after high winds Friday made their complex task even more treacherous. Lt. Col. Xavier Vialenc, a spokesman for the Gendarmerie, told CNN there were about 40 officers at the crash site Saturday. Once at the crash site, recovery workers spend all day working there, he said. Back in Seyne-les-Alpes at the end of the day, they can see a psychologist if they choose and have a debriefing session with all the workers. Vialenc said the operations were going well so far and that the progress made was meeting their expectations. Yves Naffrechoux, captain of rescue operations at Seyne-les-Alpes, told CNN on Friday that rescuers have found bodies at the rugged crash site, but few of them are intact. Related video Investigators: Recovery effort going 'bit by bit' It could be weeks before all the bodies are recovered, identified and released to the families, authorities said. What could have prompted Lubitz to deliberately destroy the aircraft, killing everyone on board, remains the focus of investigators in Germany. Related video Lufthansa CEO: Speechless that co-pilot crashed plane He had passed medical and psychological testing when he was hired in 2013, said Carsten Spohr, CEO of Lufthansa, which owns Germanwings. Spohr also told reporters that Lubitz had “interrupted” his pilot training, which he began in 2008. That break lasted several months, he said, but added that such an interruption isn’t uncommon. Spohr didn’t give a reason for the break. While the ailment Lubitz had sought treatment for hasn’t been revealed, that he was declared unfit for work is an important detail, aviation analysts say. Pilots are required to maintain their fitness to fly and must tell their airline if they’re found unfit, CNN aviation analyst David Soucie said. Who was co-pilot Andreas Lubitz? Although authorities have recovered the cockpit voice recorder, the flight data recorder remains missing. It could shed crucial details about what happened inside the cockpit, authorities say. Lubitz was the co-pilot on Tuesday’s flight between Barcelona, Spain, and Dusseldorf when he apparently locked the captain out of the cockpit, then activated a control causing the plane to descend toward rugged terrain. Germanwings said the plane dropped for about eight minutes from its cruising altitude of 38,000 feet before crashing. The only sounds, authorities said, were those of pounding on the cockpit door, Lubitz’s steady breathing and, eventually, screaming passengers. Lubitz and 149 other people on board the plane died in an instant, authorities say. Most were from Germany and Spain. Mother, daughter among 3 American victims CNN’s Pam Brown, Frederik Pleitgen, Mary Kay Mallonee, Michael Pearson, Nic Robertson, Margot Haddad, Stephanie Halasz, Sandrine Amiel, David Fitzpatrick, Felix Gussone, Karl Penhaul and Anna Maja Rappard contributed to this report.


Former President Bill Clinton on Saturday denied accusations that his charity used donations for Haiti to pay for his daughter Chelsea’s wedding to investment banker Marc Mezvinsky in 2010. “No Clinton Foundation funds — dedicated to Haiti or otherwise —were used to pay for Chelsea’s wedding,” Clinton tweeted Saturday. “It’s not only untrue, it’s a personal insult to me, to Hillary, and to Chelsea and Marc.” No Clinton Foundation funds—dedicated to Haiti or otherwise—were used to pay for Chelsea’s wedding. It’s not only untrue, it’s a personal insult to me, to Hillary, and to Chelsea and Marc.https://t.co/YEHqqYrsxW The former President included a link to a report in The Washington Post that fact-checked the allegation, labeling it “a claim lacking any evidence.” The allegation first surfaced in November of 2016, after WikiLeaks published an email exchange between a former Bill Clinton aide and Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, John Podesta, dating to January 2012. In the exchange, the former aide, Doug Band, refers to Chelsea Clinton as “using foundation resources for her wedding and life for a decade,” but Band doesn’t get into specifics. Bill Clinton’s denial of the years-old accusations comes after President Donald Trump reportedly called African nations “shithole countries” this week during a White House meeting with lawmakers to discuss immigration policy. Trump has denied he made the comment. After Trump’s remarks were reported, Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton all posted reactions on Twitter. “The anniversary of the devastating earthquake 8 years ago is a day to remember the tragedy, honor the resilient people of Haiti, & affirm America’s commitment to helping our neighbors,” Hillary Clinton tweeted. “Instead, we’re subjected to Trump’s ignorant, racist views of anyone who doesn’t look like him.” Chelsea Clinton tweeted: “Mr. President, immigrants from El Salvador, Haiti and the 54 countries in Africa likely helped build your buildings. They’ve certainly helped build our country.” The comments prompted Tom Fitton, president of the conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch, to repeat the allegations about the use of foundation resources for Chelsea Clinton’s wedding on Fox News.


Nigeria’s President Buhari will meet with United States President Donald Trump at the end of the month, the White House said. Trump will discuss ways of combating terrorism, promoting economic growth and building Nigeria’s role as a leader in West Africa at the April 30 meeting, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said in a statement Sunday. “President Trump looks forward to discussing ways to enhance our strategic partnership and advance our shared priorities: promoting economic growth and reforms, fighting terrorism and other threats to peace and security,” the statement said. Nigeria has been battling Boko Haram insurgency for nearly nine years in the northeast of the country, a war which has killed hundreds of thousands and displaced at least 2.1 million people internally in the country according to recent report. The group is behind the notorious kidnapping of more than 200 schoolgirls in Chibok. Related gallery Chibok girls and the journey home Last year, the State Department under President Trump approved the sale of 12 military planes and security equipment worth $600 million to Nigeria. President Obama had previously agreed the sale but halted it following incidents such as the accidental bombing of a refugee camp by a Nigerian Air Force fighter jet, according to a Reuters report. Trump made calls to President Buhari and then South Africa President Jacob Zuma when he took office last year, inviting them to Washington at a mutually convenient date. Related article Trump touts 'close partnership' in letter to African leaders The US president has also sought to improve relationship with African governments after his alleged reference to African nations as “shitholes” in January. He was forced to write a letter to the African Union telling them that he “profoundly respects” the United States’ partnership with Africa. He also sent one of his top diplomats, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on a visit to the continent in March to affirm US partnerships across the continent. However the trip was cut short and Tillerson fired. Despite concerns over his health and increasing criticism over insecurity in the country, Nigeria’s President Buhari, who is currently in London attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) recently declared he would be standing for a second term Related gallery Penetrating Boko Haram's stronghold: The Sambisa Forest His opponents argue that he has not fulfilled his campaign promises to tackle corruption and insecurity in northeast Nigeria. President Buhari has responded to some of the backlash saying his administration had not “done too badly,” considering the economic challenges facing the country before he took office in 2015. “If they had used 50 percent of the money we made when oil prices went as high as $143 per barrel, and stabilized at $100 with production at 2.1 million barrels per day for many years, Nigerians would have minded their business,” Buhari said at a meeting of the Diaspora for Buhari group in London. Some of Buhari’s public criticism has come from surprising quarters; his wife. Aisha Buhari gave an interview where she spoke out about members of her husband’s cabinet who she said were were derailing his administration. Related article Nigerians react to president saying First Lady "belongs in the other room" Referring to them as “hyenas and jackals,” she said in the interview she would find it hard to campaign for her husband in the 2019 election if he did not shake up his government. However, she recently explained that the criticism was not meant to ridicule the President but rather came from her own “sense of justice.” “Nigerians elected this administration based on the trust and confidence they have on my husband,” Aisha said in a statement Sunday. “I, therefore, feel that we are here to serve Nigeria to the best of our ability,” she added in the statement.


Trump is the denying an allegation that, literally, no news organization made. Because trust in the media is so low -- particularly among Trump's base -- his strategy of making up an allegation that he can then deny might work. After an appearance alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Monday, President Donald Trump paused to push back against reports that he had disclosed highly classified information to the Russians. “Just so you understand, I never mentioned the word or the name ‘Israel’,’” Trump told reporters in Jerusalem. “Never mentioned it during that conversation. They were all saying I did. So you had another story wrong. Never mentioned the word ‘Israel’.” The story Trump was reacting to was this one, which ran a week ago in the Washington Post. And the thing about that story is that, well, the word “Israel” is never mentioned. Not one time. As Greg P. Miller, one of the authors of that story, tweeted: “Trump still non-denying denying that he shared classified intel with Russian officials.” In a follow-up story, the New York Times reported – citing anonymous sources – that the information that Trump had passed along had come to the United States from Israel. But even in that piece there is no allegation that Trump mentioned the word “Israel” in his Oval Office meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. Interactive: The many paths from Trump to Russia Trump is the denying an allegation that, literally, no news organization made. He’s also implicitly confirming that, yes, he did talk to the Russians about classified information. While the president has total freedom to de-classify material, the White House has urged media organizations – including CNN – not to report on the specific information Trump passed along due to how highly sensitive it is. Why? That’s always the toughest question when it comes to diving Trump’s motivations.  But, I can think of two obvious reasons: 1. He’s showing off in front of Netanyahu: Remember that, at heart, Trump is a showman.  And he likes to perform on the big stage when he knows lots and lots of important people are watching.  He also knows that Netanyahu is well aware of the reporting that Trump passed along information from Israel to the Russians and wants to publicly combat the issue. Even if what he is saying just doesn’t gibe with the facts. 2. He’s trying to change the subject: Trump is a master at deflection. The ongoing story of his May 10 meeting with the Russians is a total disaster for him and one that he and his White House team haven’t figured out a good answer for yet. So it’s possible Trump is free-lancing – denying a claim no one made as a way to say “This is all fake news. And I’ve already addressed it.” Because trust in the media is so low – particularly among Trump’s base – his strategy of making up an allegation that he can then deny might work.  But that doesn’t change the basic underlying facts. Which, to reiterate because it’s important, are these: Trump told two Russian officials highly classified information in the Oval Office. Period. Nothing Trump said today in Israel disputes those facts – or explains them. Correction: This post has been updated to correct the date of Trump's meeting with the Russian foreign minister and ambassador.


The winners of the 2017 National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year have been announced. And, as always, the photographs are spectacular. Sergio Tapiro Velasco of Mexico was awarded the prestigious grand prize for his awe-inspiring image of the moment an erupting volcano was hit by a bolt of lightning. National Geographic also awarded prizes for photographs in three categories – Nature, Cities and People. Velasco’s image snagged first prize in the Nature category as well. Norbert Fritz of Hungary took top prize in the Cities category for his photo titled “Levels of Reading,” while “Worship” by F. Dilek Uyar of Turkey won the People category. The prize-winning photos, as well as several honorable mentions, are featured in the above gallery. MORE: 9 of the world’s best photography vacations “I was inspired by the variety of locations and creativity of the photographers in their quest to make compelling images,” says judge Molly Roberts, senior photography editor at National Geographic. The eclectic subjects of the photographs range from swans flying over water in Japan, to tourists observing a Rembrandt painting at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Velasco’s grand prize photograph features the Volcán de Colima, in Mexico’s Jalisco state. The photographer says he took the image after tracking the volcano’s seismic activity for nearly a month. “The image showed those amazing forces of nature interacting on a volcano, while the lightning brightened the whole scene,” he says. “It’s an impossible photograph and my once in a lifetime shot that shows the power of nature.” MORE: 2016 National Geographic travel photo contest entries Velasco’s efforts paid off – he’s won an incredible trip to the Galapagos Archipelago. Once there, he will snorkel amongst exotic sea creatures and visit the Charles Darwin Research Station. First, second and third prize winners in each category receive $2,500, $750 and $500, respectively – plus a subscription to National Geographic Traveler magazine.

National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year contest


NEW: Tropical Storm Cindy will bring flooding rains along much of the Gulf Coast New policies at the National Hurricane Center allow it to issue watches and warnings earlier The system swirling in the central Gulf of Mexico has reached tropical storm status and gained a name: Cindy. It was earlier called “Potential Tropical Cyclone Three” before it developed a well-defined center of circulation Tuesday afternoon, the threshold at which it can be called a tropical storm. But tropical storm watches and warnings had already been issued for portions of the Gulf Coast. That was done Monday afternoon, even though there wasn’t yet a named storm, thanks to new policies in place at the National Hurricane Center which allow forecasters to issue full advisories – including a forecast track and watches and warnings – for storms that could form and impact land within 48 hours. Related article Starting hurricane season without leaders of NOAA and FEMA should 'scare the hell out of everybody' In the past, even if the hurricane center thought a system had a high chance of developing, it couldn’t issue watches and warnings. This new policy allows residents and businesses to have more time to prepare for storms that form near the coast. The disturbance already had winds of 45 mph, but satellite and aircraft data now indicate that the storm has a well-defined center. Cindy is moving to the northwest and should reach the coast by late Wednesday or early Thursday. However, residents all along the Gulf Coast are being urged not to focus on the exact track of the storm. Strong wind shear – the change in wind direction and speed with height – in the region will keep the system on the weaker side. Related article Are we prepared for a major hurricane? With weaker storms, the center is far less important, but the heavy rainfall is projected to have a widespread impact. Heavy rain is already impacting the central Gulf Coast and many areas will receive 4 to 8 inches, with some places topping a foot. The most torrential rain is likely to be to the east of the center of the storm, because these areas will see a prolonged period of onshore flow. Cindy is one of two storms currently in the Atlantic. Elsewhere, Tropical Storm Bret formed on Monday. Much like Cindy, there were watches and warnings in place before Bret was named. According to Colorado State University research scientist Dr. Phil Klotzbach, this is the first time since 1968 that the Atlantic has had simultaneous storms during the month of June. Bret impacted Trinidad and Tobago with heavy rain Monday night and continued to affect the northern coast of Venezuela. This southern track is relatively rare. The southern Caribbean islands of  Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao are under a tropical storm watch. The storm will impact these areas Tuesday night into early Wednesday. The good news for anyone vacationing in the southern Caribbean is that Bret is scurrying along and the effects will be short-lived. The fast movement, combined with dry air from land and high wind shear over the Caribbean should lead to the dissipation of the storm during the middle of the week. CNN Meteorologist Judson Jones and CNN’s Alanne Orjoux contributed to this story


He’s the man Donald Trump credits with spearheading an effort to save more than 1,000 jobs at an Indiana plant, and Will Cornett is returning the favor by calling the President-elect his hero. On Thursday, Trump visited the Carrier site in Indianapolis, addressing a crowd of still-employed workers, and referencing Cornett specifically. Related video Trump touts Carrier deal at Indianapolis plant “Because of him,” said Trump, referencing a video of Cornett he’d consumed via an un-named news source. “Is he in the room by any chance?” While he wasn’t in the room during Trump’s speech, Cornett was in front of a microphone and camera and speaking to Brooke Baldwin less than an hour later. During the presidential campaign, Trump promised Cornett and his co-workers that Carrier jobs would remain stateside, despite news that they’d soon be shipped to Mexico. Trump said that promise was meant to be of a broader nature, but Cornett was nonetheless fully aboard “Team Trump.” “I believed him 100%. That’s why I voted for him,” he told Baldwin during “CNN Newsroom.”  “This was … a promise that he was going to make us and I believed in it.” Related article Carrier victory bolsters Trump's economic chops Months after the promise, and now with Trump set to assume duties in the country’s highest office, Cornett is as convinced as ever.  And though he hadn’t yet had a chance to meet the President-elect, he knows what he’ll say if he does. “I would just say ‘thank you for keeping your promise,’ ” he told Baldwin. ” ‘I believe in you, and today you’re my hero.’ “ Man from @Carrier video earns shout-out from @realDonaldTrump today, tells @BrookeBCNN #POTUS-elect is his "hero" https://t.co/Pm6ObD62xf During his victory lap in Indiana, Trump made a point to refer to Cornett as “handsome,” in the process praising his mother, who was in attendance during the speech. Pleased to learn of the compliment, Baldwin’s live guest left viewers with one final message to anyone doubting Trump’s abilities to make good on his campaign promises. “I’d tell them … not to doubt ‘the Donald,’ you know? He did it once, he can probably do it again.”


China has released 9 foreign nationals detained for "terrorist video clips" Family members say they watched a documentary on Genghis Khan China has deported nine tourists who had been detained on suspicion of alleged links to terror groups because they watched a documentary on Genghis Khan in their hotel rooms, a press release distributed by the families said. The visitors, from the United Kingdom, South Africa and India, were expected back home over the weekend. The tourists, who had been on a 47-day luxury tour of China, were detained due to a “misunderstanding,” the statement said, after the film on the Mongolian historical figure was mistaken for “propaganda.” “No one in the group has been charged and it is believed the reason they were arrested was because of an unfortunate misunderstanding,” the statement said. “They watched a BBC documentary video on Genghis Khan to further their understanding of the region they were in at the time, and this may have mistakenly been deemed as ‘propaganda’ material. The group visited the Genghis Khan Mausoleum in Ordos (in Inner Mongolia) on the day before their arrest.” Eleven of their travel companions, who were arrested alongside the nine, had previously been deported. Chinese authorities said Saturday that the group were deported for illegally “watching video clips that advocate terrorism and religious extremism.” Gift of the Givers, the charity that organized the tour, said that China had originally detained some of the group because of suspicions of alleged links to terror groups. It stressed they had no terror links or criminal records. “Twenty foreigners were suspected of violating laws and committing crimes in Ordos, Inner Mongolia, on July 11,” China’s foreign ministry said in a written statement to CNN. The ministry did not address CNN’s question on the reason for their detention. “The case is under investigation. China will guarantee the legitimate rights of relevant people in accordance with law, and will continue to provide necessary convenience and assistance to counselor officials of foreign embassies,” the ministry added. In a Facebook post last week, Gift of the Givers, a large disaster relief organization based in South Africa, said the 20 foreigners included 10 South Africans, nine Britons and one Indian. The post said the group was on a 6-week tour to explore ancient China until they were suddenly stopped by police at the Ordos airport on Friday, July 10. “They were detained without charge, with no access to any communication nor to legal representation,” the post said. “It was only on Sunday, 48 hours later, when the tour operator realized that something was amiss and made the trip to Ordos, that the first information on the detained citizens came to light.” “The Chinese, now trying to find reasons for the detention suggested that some members were linked to a terror group, to a banned organization, to watching propaganda videos in their hotel room.”


Trump has previously warned that immigration from Muslim-majority nations threatens European and US security The retweets were immediately met with outrage in the United Kingdom President Donald Trump retweeted Wednesday morning three inflammatory videos from a British far-right account rife with anti-Muslim content. The videos, posted by Jayda Fransen, the deputy leader of Britain First, a far-right and ultra-nationalist political group, depict purported Muslims assaulting people and, in one video, smashing a statue of the Virgin Mary. Trump, who has previously warned that immigration from Muslim-majority nations threatens European and US security, frequently retweets other messages whose political views he finds favorable. But he has seldom shared messages as offensive and explosive as he did on Wednesday, and the retweets were immediately met with outrage in the United Kingdom and resulted in a rare rebuke from the British government toward its American ally. Fransen reacted jubilantly online, touting that the videos had been shared with Trump’s nearly 44 million followers. “GOD BLESS YOU TRUMP!” she wrote in all caps. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders defended Trump’s retweets, telling reporters that he shared them to start a conversation about border security and immigration. “I think his goal is to promote strong borders and strong national security,” Sanders told a small group of reporters after appearing on Fox News. Sanders also downplayed questions about whether the videos were authentic, because “the threat is real.” Related article White House defends anti-Muslim Trump tweets, says it doesn't matter if videos are real “That is what the President is talking about, that is what the President is focused on, is dealing with those real threats, and those are real no matter how you look at it,” she said. One of the videos purports to show a young “Muslim migrant” attacking a boy on crutches. The Dutch attorney general’s office, which handled the case, said the incident occurred in May and the suspect was born and raised in the Netherlands. A spokesperson would not comment on the suspect’s religion, saying it was against their policy to share such information. Sanders said she didn’t know how Trump came across the videos, but conservative commentator Ann Coulter, who is one of the 45 accounts Trump follows, had retweeted Tuesday one of the clips shared by Fransen. Fransen was found guilty of religiously aggravated harassment in November 2016 after abusing a Muslim woman wearing a hijab while she was with her four children. She was fined by the court and ordered to pay costs. In a separate development, Fransen was also charged over using “threatening, abusive or insulting words or behavior” during a speech she made in Belfast in Northern Ireland. She is set to appear at Belfast Magistrates Court on December 14. Trump’s retweets were leading several major British news websites Wednesday morning, and officials condemned him on Twitter. A spokesperson for UK Prime Minister Theresa May said Trump was “wrong” to share the videos, adding that “Britain First seeks to divide communities through their use of hateful narratives which peddle lies and stoke tensions.” “British people overwhelmingly reject the prejudiced rhetoric of the far-right, which is the antithesis of the values that this country represents – decency, tolerance and respect,” added the spokesperson, who also said Trump’s upcoming 2018 state visit for now remains on. A senior member of May’s Conservative government, Communities secretary Sajid Javid also tweeted about the issue, writing: “So POTUS has endorsed the views of a vile, hate-filled racist organisation that hates me and people like me. He is wrong and I refuse to let it go and say nothing.” So POTUS has endorsed the views of a vile, hate-filled racist organisation that hates me and people like me. He is wrong and I refuse to let it go and say nothing The Muslim Council of Britain slammed Trump in a statement, saying the retweets were “the clearest endorsement yet from the US President of the far-right and their vile anti-Muslim propaganda. The US-based Council on American-Islamic Relations similarly condemned Trump’s retweets, saying he is “clearly telling members of his base that they should hate Islam and Muslims.” Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the UK opposition Labour Party, called the retweets “abhorrent, dangerous and a threat to our society.” Labour lawmaker David Lammy told the President he was “not welcome in my country and my city.” Trump sharing Britain First. Let that sink in. The President of the United States is promoting a fascist, racist, extremist hate group whose leaders have been arrested and convicted. He is no ally or friend of ours. @realDonaldTrump you are not welcome in my country and my city. Brendan Cox, the husband of Jo Cox, the British MP who was murdered last year by a man who reportedly shouted “Britain First” as he attacked her, tweeted, “Trump has legitimized the far right in his own country, now he’s trying to do it in ours. Spreading hatred has consequences & the President should be ashamed of himself.” Trump has legitimised the far right in his own country, now he’s trying to do it in ours. Spreading hatred has consequences & the President should be ashamed of himself. Asked about Trump’s retweets on CNN’s “New Day,” former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said he found them “bizarre and disturbing.” “I think it causes friends and allies to question where is he coming from with this. So it has all kinds of ripple effects both in terms of perhaps inciting or encouraging anti-Muslim violence, and as well, causes, I think, our friends and allies to wonder about the judgment of the President of the United States,” he said. One person who applauded Trump’s Twitter actions: former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke, who tweeted, “Thank God for Trump! That’s why we love him!” Trump has repeatedly used examples of terrorism and immigration in Europe to bolster his case for a travel ban in the United States against several Muslim-majority nations. The travel ban would not affect travel from the United Kingdom. On September 15, the President reacted on Twitter to a terrorist attack in London, calling the terrorists “sick and demented people,” ending the tweet by declaring, “Must be proactive!” He also added to his tweet that he would like to see a stronger travel ban: “The travel ban into the United States should be far larger, tougher and more specific-but stupidly, that would not be politically correct!” Related article Cillizza: Donald Trump's assault on truth circles back to birtherism Several versions of Trump’s travel ban have been tied up in court battles. The Supreme Court is currently considering whether to allow all of the third version of the ban to go into effect pending appeal. Trump’s previous comments about Muslims have been cited in court rulings blocking previous versions of the ban, and it’s possible his retweets on Wednesday could be cited in the future. As a candidate, Trump called for a “total and complete shutdown” of Muslims entering the US and often cited Muslim migration to Europe as his justification, tweeting in December 2015 that the UK was “trying hard to disguise their massive Muslim problem.” The United Kingdom is trying hard to disguise their massive  Muslim problem. Everybody is wise to what is happening, very sad! Be honest. The President has also been critical of German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the past for her handling of immigration into Germany. “What’s happening in Germany, I always thought Merkel was like this great leader. What she’s done in Germany is insane. It is insane. They’re having all sorts of attacks,” Trump said in an October 2015 interview. CNN’s Tom Lumley, Maegan Vazquez, Ariane de Vogue, Dan Merica, Donie O’Sullivan, Eliza Mackintosh and Vasco Cotovio contributed to this report.


Ali was raised as a Christian but became an Ahmadi Muslim as an adult Ahmadis are sometimes viewed as non-Muslims and have been killed in attacks Of all the memorable moments at the Oscars Sunday night, Mahershala Ali’s win for best supporting actor marked an especially poignant triumph. Ali is the first Muslim actor to take home the golden statue. And he comes from a sect of Islam, Ahmadiyya, that has faced persecution and violence. Ali did not mention his Muslim faith during his Oscars acceptance speech for his role in “Moonlight,” in which he plays a kind-hearted Miami drug dealer who becomes a father figure to a boy who is struggling with his sexuality. But while accepting a Screen Actors Guild Award last month, Ali talked about his conversion to Islam and what it has taught him. Related video Defying convention in 'Moonlight' “I think what I’ve learned from working on ‘Moonlight’ is we see what happens when you persecute people. They fold into themselves. And what I was so grateful about in having the opportunity to play Juan was playing a gentleman who saw a young man folding into himself as a result of the persecution of his community,” Ali said. “Taking the opportunity to uplift him and to tell him he mattered, he was OK and accept him – I hope that we do a better job of that,” he said, instead of focusing on “the details that make us all different.” Ali was born Mahershalalhashbaz Gilmore and raised as a Christian in Oakland, California. “My mother is an ordained minister. I’m a Muslim. She didn’t do backflips when I called her to tell her I converted 17 yrs ago,” he added. “But I tell you now, you put things to the side, and I’m able to see her and she’s able to see me. We love each other. The love has grown. And that stuff is minutia. It’s not that important.” When Ali was in graduate school he began to “question the divinity of Jesus” and “why I was taught, told, and instructed to pray to Jesus, instead of God,” he wrote in a book titled, “Short Stories by American Converts to Islam.” Ali said he was introduced to a mosque by a friend and was interested in converting. But still, he had some reservations. Related video Coming-of-age drama 'Moonlight' shines “And to be quite honest, I was concerned that it might be a cult,” Ali wrote in the book. Members of the Ahmadiyya sect, also known as Ahmadi Muslims, are sometimes viewed as non-Muslims because they do not consider Mohammed as the last prophet sent by God. But after he met members of the Ahmadiyya community, Ali said that sect of Islam made the most sense to him. For example, since the actor travels often for work, non-Ahmadi Muslims told him he would need to lay down a rug in the middle of a plane’s aisle and pray mid-flight. The Ahmadi sect said he could pray while seated. Because of their beliefs Ahmadis have faced persecution from fundamentalist Islamic groups. Opinion: Why Americans should care about Ahmadiyya Muslims One of the deadliest days for Ahmadis came in 2010, when terror attacks that targeted Ahmadi mosques killed 98 people in Lahore, Pakistan. Julie Lenarz, director of the Human Security Centre in London, said Ali’s Oscar triumph marks a victory for a sect that is often harassed. Congratulations to Mahershala Ali, first Ahmadiyya Muslim to win an Oscar - a denomination brutally persecuted for being not "true Muslims". “Congratulations to Mahershala Ali, first Ahmadiyya Muslim to win an Oscar - a denomination brutally persecuted for being not ‘true Muslims,’ she tweeted.


Bana Alabed meets with Turkish President Alabed had tweeted Turkish leaders for help Bana Alabed, the 7-year-old Syrian girl who brought the plight of Aleppo’s victims to the world, wrote the latest chapter in her extraordinary story by meeting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara. The meeting at the presidential palace in the capital was captured on camera and appears to show Bana thanking Erdogan in English, saying: “Thank you for supporting the children of Aleppo and help us to get out from war. I love you.” Her story caught the attention of Erdogan and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, who spoke with the child on Twitter and encouraged her to stay strong. Bana took to Twitter during the siege of eastern Aleppo to share her experiences, which were written by her mother, Fatemah, an English teacher. She has nearly 360,000 followers on the social network and tweeted after the meeting of how happy she was to meet with the President. @AlabedBana (Bana) ve ailesi #CumhurbaşkanıErdoğan ve Sayın #EmineErdoğan tarafından #Külliye 'de ağırlandı :) pic.twitter.com/ivf5XGAwyP Turkey’s involvement in Syria is complicated. On one hand, the Turks are eager to help eradicate ISIS. On the other, Ankara has worked to drive Kurdish fighters from the Syrian side of the border, fearing that an entrenched Kurdish canton there would fuel momentum for an independent Kurdish state that could claim Turkish territory. Who is fighting who in Syria Halepli kızımız @AlabedBana ve ailesi Külliye'yi ziyaret ederek bizleri mutlu etti. Türkiye her zaman Suriyeli kardeşlerinin yanında olacak. pic.twitter.com/sew4YAyotN The video of the meeting has been posted to the official Twitter account of Hasan Dogan, the chief of the cabinet of Erdogan. Erdogan later tweeted: “I was pleased to host @AlabedBana and her family at the Presidential Complex today. Turkey will always stand with the people of Syria.” Bana’s mother had appealed directly to Turkey to end the siege of eastern Aleppo and help those trapped inside escape. There are 172 Aleppo evacuees, including 68 children, now undergoing treatment at Turkish hospitals, Turkish state news agency Anadolu reports, quoting the Directorate General of Press and Information on Wednesday. The injured, particularly those in critical condition, had been transported to hospitals in Turkey’s southeastern Hatay province, Anadolu said.  The ongoing evacuation of eastern Aleppo has been facing delays. Describing Bana as the girl “who announced the Aleppo massacre to the world on social media”, Cavusoglu told Anadolu that she and her family would be brought to Turkey earlier this month. Bana has two brothers – Mohammed, 5, and Noor, 3 – along with her mother and father. The young pig-tailed, gap-toothed girl kept a harrowing log of the conflict on Twitter with the help of her mother. Following the evacuation, mother Fatemah spoke of her sadness at leaving Aleppo, saying she had “left her soul” in the besieged city. READ: Aleppo girl Bana offered new home in Turkey “When we got out we had a lot of suffering because we stayed almost 24 hours in bus without water and food or anything … like a prisoner,” she told the pro-opposition media organization Qasioun News. “But finally we arrived here and we thank God and all our friends who are supporting us.” Very happy to meet with Mr Erdogan. - Bana #Aleppo pic.twitter.com/kXqlGGnjgU Three months ago, Fatemah decided she wanted the world to hear her children’s voices and see their faces, hoping that maybe she could galvanize global support for those in Aleppo. Bana has since become an embodiment of the human toll this grinding conflict has had on the children of Syria. Bana’s family went into hiding after their home was reduced to rubble on November 27. More than three weeks later, on December 19, Bana tweeted that they had “escaped” from eastern Aleppo. Sarah Sirgany in Abu Dhabi and Natalie Gallon in Atlanta also contributed to this report.


While some Republicans issued sharp warnings Sunday to President Donald Trump against firing special counsel Robert Mueller, recent efforts in Congress to protect the special counsel have stalled. Republican leaders have said they see no reason to intervene given what they considered good cooperation between the White House and the Mueller team. But that was before this weekend. Tensions escalated after Trump’s lawyer, John Dowd, issued a prayer Saturday that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein would “bring an end” to Mueller’s probe into possible collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russians in Moscow’s meddling in the 2016 election. That was followed by unprecedented tweets from the President going after Mueller by name, an approach he’s avoided as he’s sought to appear accommodating in the investigation. “The Mueller probe should never have been started in that there was no collusion and there was no crime,” he tweeted Saturday. Trump followed this Sunday morning with another tweet more directly condemning Mueller’s team. “Why does the Mueller team have 13 hardened Democrats, some big Crooked Hillary supporters, and Zero Republicans?” Trump wrote. “Another Dem recently added … does anyone think this is fair? And yet, there is NO COLLUSION!” Reacting to the backlash over Trump and Dowd’s remarks, White House special counsel Ty Cobb emphasized in a statement Sunday night that the President is not considering firing Mueller. “In response to media speculation and related questions being posed to the administration, the White House yet again confirms that the President is not considering or discussing the firing of the special counsel, Robert Mueller,” Cobb said. Republican lawmakers on Sunday sought to warn the President that any action against Mueller would not be tolerated by Congress. “If he tried to do that, that would be the beginning of the end of his presidency,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina on CNN’s “State of the Union.” Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona made similar remarks on the show. “I mean, talking to my colleagues all along it was, you know, once he goes after Mueller, then we’ll take action,” he said. House Oversight Chairman Trey Gowdy, himself a former federal prosecutor, also defended Mueller. “I think the President’s attorney frankly does him a disservice when he says that, and when he frames the investigation that way,” the South Carolina Republican said on “Fox News Sunday.” He added later: “If you have an innocent client, Mr. Dowd, act like it.” Their comments potentially signal stepped up action by Congress as lawmakers return this week to the most serious threat they’ve faced of possible action by the White House against Mueller. But it’s unclear whether Congress will make any moves. Lawmakers face a must-pass spending bill amid other major action in the Senate on sex trafficking and a war authorization — all before they leave town Friday night for a two-week recess. Concerns about Trump trying to push out Mueller have been brewing since the former FBI director was appointed to the job last May. CNN reported in January that Trump wanted Mueller fired last June, but White House counsel Don McGahn refused to order the Justice Department to let the special prosecutor go. The New York Times first reported the incident, citing four people who were told of the matter; Trump denied that he moved to have Mueller fired. Senators introduced two bipartisan bills last year aimed at protecting a special counsel from political pressure from the White House. The “Special Counsel Integrity Act,” introduced by Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware, would allow a special counsel to be fired only for “misconduct, dereliction of duty, incapacity, conflict of interest, or other good cause, including violation of DOJ policies.” Another bill, the “Special Counsel Independence Protection Act,” was introduced by Graham and Democratic Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey and would require a federal judge to first sign off on any action to discipline or fire a special counsel. The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing in September that looked at the two bills, but the legislation has gone nowhere since then. In January, after the news broke that Trump had tried to get Mueller fired, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee urged Trump to let Mueller’s investigation “work its course” and said he was “open” to considering the legislation that would shield the special counsel from political pressure. “I just don’t think the President – as unpredictable as he is – would fire Mueller, and I take the view, and I said so maybe not directly to the President, but indirectly to the President: Just let this work its course,” Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley said in an interview with CNN. At around the same time, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he saw no efforts underway at the White House to undermine the Mueller investigation. “I don’t feel any particular need to reach out to protect someone who seems to need no protection,” McConnell told reporters. A spokesman for the majority leader did not have anything to add Sunday. Grassley said he wanted the two bills to be reconciled and then he would examine any potential constitutional concerns about the separation of powers. His spokesman, Taylor Foy, did not comment directly Sunday on whether the committee will move forward with the legislation, but said, “Chairman Grassley has said on many occasions that the special counsel’s investigation should be allowed to continue uninterrupted.” Coons issued a statement Sunday calling for more senators to support his bill with Tillis. “Any attempt by the President to obstruct or remove the special counsel would create a constitutional crisis and represent an attack on the core American principle that nobody, including the President of the United States, is above the law,” he said. A spokesman for Tillis did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday on whether the senator will try to bring more attention around his bill given the events over the weekend. In January, Tillis spokesman Daniel Keylin said the bill didn’t have the support it needed to move through Congress, in part because the President’s team was showing signs of cooperation with the special counsel at the time. Tillis and Graham also joined with Grassley last week to call for a second special counsel to investigate alleged abuses by the FBI and the Justice Department’s handling of the Trump-Russia investigation up until the appointment of Mueller — a move that backs up complaints made by Trump about the Justice Department. Responding to Trump’s tweets this weekend, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, tweeted Sunday that “the President must cease and desist with these attacks.” She was one of several other Democrats who took to Twitter this weekend to defend Mueller, while Republicans were largely silent aside from those who appeared on the Sunday morning shows. A spokeswoman for House Speaker Paul Ryan did not comment directly on the question of whether Congress should move forward with legislation to safeguard Mueller. But when asked about the President’s tweets this weekend, AshLee Strong said, “As the speaker has always said, Mr. Mueller and his team should be able to do their job.” CNN’s Jeremy Herb, Manu Raju and Gloria Borger contributed to this report.


Trump met with eight pharmaceutical company executives at the White House "We have no choice" but to limit regulations, the President said President Donald Trump issued a message Tuesday to pharmaceutical company executives akin to one he delivered to auto executives last week: bring your production back to the United States and the Trump administration will lower regulations for you. In a “pharma” meeting in the Oval Office, the President told executives from companies such as Merck & Co. and Johnson & Johnson that they have done a “terrific job over the years” but that prices for drugs must come down. “So you have to get your companies back here. We have to make products … We have to get rid of a tremendous number of regulations,” Trump said. “I know you have some problems where you cannot even think about opening up new plants. You can’t get approval for the plant and then you can’t get approval to make the drugs.” Dems delay committee vote on Sessions “We have no choice,” the President added, sitting at a table surrounded by aides, Vice President Mike Pence and eight pharmaceutical executives. “For Medicare, for Medicaid, we have to get prices way down, so that’s what we’re going to be talking about. We’re also going to be streamlining the process so that from your standpoint so that when you have a drug you can actually get it approved – if it works – instead of waiting for many, many years.” Reading from a statement for a portion of the meeting, which was partially closed to the press, the President stressed that drug pricing has been astronomical in the United States – a talking point that crosses party lines with support from progressive senators such as Bernie Sanders – and that he wants to accelerate cures and accelerate US Food and Drug Administration drug approvals. The President said that he’s been “disturbed” to see terminally ill patients who need a drug that the FDA has yet to approve. Much like his stance on taxing foreign-made cars, Trump said that there will be a trade policy that will “prioritize that foreign countries pay their fair share for US manufactured drugs so our drug companies have greater financial resources to accelerate development of new cures.” Reiterating a favorite line of his, Trump said: “It’s very unfair what other countries are doing to us,” pointing to devaluation. “Look at what China is doing. You look at what Japan has done over the years. They play the money market, they play the devaluation market and we sit there like a bunch of dummies,” he said. The President said he plans to announce someone “fantastic” to the FDA soon. Robert Bradway, chairman and CEO of Amgen, said that he shared a desire to eliminate and eradicate disease, noting the company is adding 1,600 jobs. The CEO of Eli Lilly, based in Pence’s home state of Indiana, said to the President that “some the policies you’ve come out and suggested could help us do more … and tax deregulation, is a thing that could really help us expand.” Merck & Co CEO Kenneth Frazier spoke with reporters by the West Wing of the White House after the meeting concluded. “The President is very much focused on how we can actually do better for patients, giving them more choice, helping them to deal with the medical bills that they have in a way that also stimulates innovation,” he said. When asked if he’s more hopeful for this administration than he was of the last, Frazier said: “I think there is a real opportunity if we actually work on all those things.” Sanders and Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Maryland, issued a joint statement shortly after the meeting saying they hope Trump “really” takes on the pharmaceutical industry. The pair said they will introduced measures to lower prescription drug prices, a cornerstone of Sanders’ presidential campaign. Part of the proposal would allow Medicare to negotiate with drugmakers for lower prices, according to the news release.


Ali Charaf Damache has been extradited to the United States from Spain Damache is the first foreign-born terror suspect to be brought to the US to face charges under President Trump The Trump administration has transferred an Algerian terror suspect from Spain to the United States to be tried in federal court rather than at the Guantánamo Bay naval prison. Ali Charaf Damache was extradited from Spain and arrived in Philadelphia on Friday, where he made an initial appearance in court on charges of conspiring to provide material support to terrorists, the Justice Department says. In 2011, he was indicted in the United States and accused of conspiring with three others to recruit men to “wage violent jihad” in Europe and South Asia and of organizing a “violent jihad organization consisting of men and women from Europe and the US.” Among those with whom Damache is alleged to have conspired, according to DOJ, is American citizen Colleen LaRose – also known as “Jihad Jane” – who pleaded guilty to following orders from alleged al Qaeda operatives in plotting to kill a Swedish artist over his drawings of the Muslim prophet Mohammed. LaRose was convicted and is serving time in prison. LaRose was prosecuted in the US federal court in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the same court in which Damache now faces charges. Both President Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions have previously said that terrorism suspects should be held and tried at Guantanamo instead of facing charges in civilian courts. “We’re gonna load it up with some bad dudes,” then-candidate Trump said of the detention center at Guantanamo Bay. Trump also suggested to the Miami Herald that he would support trying American citizens accused of committing acts of terror at Guantanamo Bay. In a March interview with Hugh Hewitt, Sessions said Guantanamo is “just a very fine place for holding these kind of dangerous criminals.” “In general, I don’t think we’re better off bringing these people to federal court in New York and trying them in federal court,” Sessions added, arguing that trial in federal court grants terror suspects representation by “court-appointed lawyers” and “discovery rights to find out our intelligence.” The news of Damache’s extradition comes on the heels of Sessions’ first trip to Guantanamo Bay as attorney general earlier this month. He spent part of a day touring the prison camp, along with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, and White House homeland security and counterterrorism adviser thomas Bossert. “The purpose of the trip is to gain that understanding by meeting with the people on the ground who are leading our governmentwide efforts at (Guantanamo),”  Justice Department spokesman Ian Prior said in a statement at the time. “In addition to the Department of Justice’s role in handling detainee-related litigation, it is important for the Department of Justice to have an up-to-date understanding of current operations.” The Justice Department did not say whether the Damache case represents a broader shift in Sessions’ views on the use of civilian courts or Guantanamo Bay. “The individual involved in this case was indicted in 2011 in federal district court,” Prior said in a statement. “The United States has consistently used the extradition process to obtain indicted fugitives who are overseas, so that they can stand trial in our federal courts.” There are, however, several aspects of Damache’s case that would lead to his prosecution in federal court, according to a law enforcement source, including the fact that relevant witnesses and his alleged co-conspirators are in Pennsylvania. What’s more, the European officials responsible for Damache’s extradition to the United States would have opposed an extradition to the Guantanamo Bay facility. The American Civil Liberties Union expressed its support for Damache’s trial in federal court. “We welcome and support this announcement. Prosecuting terrorism cases in federal courts is the right thing to do,” the civil liberties group said in a statement Friday evening. Damache, also known as “Theblackflag,” is set to appear again in court on August 28.