Family and friends of Grenfell Tower residents took to social media with appeals for help finding loved ones after the west London highrise caught fire Wednesday morning. Artist Khadija Saye was reported missing by British Labour politician David Lammy. Her work is  on display at the 57th Venice Biennale. Lammy said in a Facebook post that Saye lives on the 20th floor with her mother. “Khadija is the mentee and employee of my wife, a dear friend of our family, a beautiful soul and an outstanding emerging artist.” *** I am looking for information on the whereabouts of Kadija Saye, who lives on the 20th floor of #GreenfellTower with... *** I am looking for information on the whereabouts of Kadija Saye, who lives on the 20th floor of #GreenfellTower with... The Italian Foreign Ministry said two Italians are missing. They are believed to be Marco Gottardi and his girlfriend, Gloria Trevisan, based on information from Gottardi’s cousin. Pamela Pizziolo said on Facebook that Gottardi and Trevisan were in their apartment on the 23rd floor when the fire broke out. Facebook post not found. Post has been removed or is no longer public. Facebook post not found. Post has been removed or is no longer public. Denis Murphy was reported missing by nephew Stevan Racz. Murphy, who lives on the 14th floor, last spoke to the family between 1:30 and 2 a.m. Wednesday, Racz said. “He called us this morning to say the flats were on fire and he couldn’t breathe. We couldn’t get hold of him after,” said Murphy’s nephew, Stevan Racz. He said his uncle, who is 54 years old, has lived in the building for more than 25 years. “He is a much loved father, brother, son and uncle. [He’s a] friend to many in the area,” Racz said. Lorenzo D’Agostino, Eliza Mackintosh, Emanuella Grinberg and Christina Zdanowicz contributed to this report.


Peruvian authorities have detained two men suspected of lynching a Canadian man in a remote part of the country’s Amazon rainforest in an apparent reprisal attack for the killing of a respected indigenous leader. The suspects were identified by a video posted to social media that purportedly showed the killing of Sebastian Paul Woodroffe, according to Peruvian state media Andina, which cited statements from a lead prosecutor. The video appears to show him pleading for his life before he is killed. Woodroffe’s body was found buried in a shallow grave Saturday about 700 meters from where the video was taken, with red marks around his neck, court documents say. Authorities believed he had been killed 48 hours earlier, on the same day Olivia Arevalo Lomas was shot dead near her home. Arevalo, 81, was a civil rights activist who spent years advocating on behalf of the Shipibo-Conibo tribe Ucayali. La vida de Olivia Arévalo deja un gran legado de conocimiento y defensa por los derechos indígenas y ambientales. #ONUMujeres condena su asesinato y se adhiere a otros actores haciendo un llamado a la justicia. #JusticiaParaOlivia pic.twitter.com/ayEmuqJIkn Ricardo Palma Jimenez, the lead prosecutor, told local media that authorities believe a mob killed Woodroffe because they believed he was responsible for Arevalo’s death, but noted that police are still investigating her death and the motive for the lynching. Woodroffe was identified by Peruvian National Police on Saturday as the “principal suspect” in the Arevalo killing. An Indiegogo fundraising page that appears to have belonged to Woodroffe shows he may have been in the country to learn about what he called “plant medicine” in his quest to become an addiction counselor. Westerners travel from around the world to the Amazon, entranced by the supposed healing powers of plants and concoctions like ayahuasca, a hallucinogenic that advocates say has helped people with addiction, depression and PTSD. Jimenez was quoted by Andina as saying his office was working meticulously to make sure the killings of Woodroffe and Arevalo would not go unpunished. Peruvian Attorney General Pablo Sanchez met Canada’s ambassador in Lima, Gwyneth Kutz, to discuss the investigation into Woodroffe’s death, his office said on its verified Twitter account. Peru’s Culture Ministry described Arevalo as a “wise woman” who maintained the “traditional knowledge of the Shipibo-Konibo community” in a statement acknowledging her death. Brianne Maxwell, a spokeswoman for Global Affairs Canada, which manages the country’s diplomatic and consular relations, told CNN in an email that her country is aware one of its citizens was killed in relation to Arevalo’s killing. “Canada extends its deepest condolences following the reported assassination of Olivia Arevalo Lomas, an Indigenous elder and human rights defender of the (Shipibo-Konibo) people in Peru’s Ucayali region,” she said. UN Women, the United Nations group promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment, condemned Arevalo’s assassination on its Spanish-language Twitter account. “The life of Olivia Arevalo left a great legacy of knowledge and defense for the indigenous and environmental rights,” it said. CNN’s Ana Melgar, Begona Blanco Munoz and Hande Atay Alam contributed to this report


The measure must be signed by Uruguay's president If approved, Uruguay will become the second Latin American country to legalize same-sex marriage The Catholic Church has vocally opposed the measure Backers say it's a matter of recognizing inherent human rights Uruguayan lawmakers have approved a same-sex marriage measure, leaving just one more key step – the president’s signature – before such couples can wed in the South American country. A marriage equality bill passed the lower house Wednesday, with 71 of 92 lawmakers supporting the measure. The house approved a different version of the measure in December. Last week, Uruguay’s senate approved the bill in a 23-8 vote. If signed by President Jose Mujica, who has indicated he supports the measure, the proposal would make Uruguay the second country in Latin America to legalize same-sex marriage and the 12th country in the world to do so. Neighboring Argentina legalized such marriages in 2010. In Argentina, the push to legalize same-sex marriage met with fierce opposition from the Roman Catholic Church, with Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio – then the archbishop of Buenos Aires and now Pope Francis – engaging in a notorious war of words with the government over the issue. In Uruguay, the church has taken a similar tack, with officials describing the measure as a harsh blow to the institutions of marriage and the family. “Why make relative or devalue an institution that is already so injured, like the family, introducing deep modifications that are going to confuse more than clarify?” the Rev. Pablo Galimberti, bishop of Salto, wrote in a recent post on the website of the Uruguayan Bishops Council. Uruguay’s Broad Front, a coalition of left-wing political parties, backs the measure. Last week, the group’s president stressed that the proposed law changes a civil institution and has nothing to do with the church. “Here we are speaking about RIGHTS, with capital letters. Rights that were denied and repressed for a long time, and which a society that is trying to be modern and inclusive necessarily must recognize, to advance in equality,” wrote Sen. Monica Xavier. “Rights that are inherent to people, that are not a legislative creation, but something that the law must recognize.” Same-sex marriage has sparked debate and impassioned demonstrations from supporters and opponents in many countries. Legislators in France and the United Kingdom are among lawmakers worldwide weighing proposals to legalize same-sex marriage. In the United States, the question of same-sex marriage went before the Supreme Court last month, and justices are now deliberating the matter. The first same-sex couples walked down the aisle in the Netherlands in 2001. Since then, almost a dozen countries have passed laws allowing same-sex marriages and domestic partnerships, including Canada, South Africa, Belgium and Spain. In 2009, Uruguay was the first Latin American country to allow same-sex couples to adopt children. It was also one the first Latin American countries to allow same-sex civil unions. The measure approved by Uruguayan lawmakers Wednesday removes the words “man” and “woman” from the country’s civil code and replaces them with the word “spouse,” CNN affiliate Teledoce reported. Journalist Dario Klein contributed to this report from Montevideo, Uruguay. CNN’s Edwin Mesa and contributed to this report from Atlanta.


Khairullozhon Matanov sentenced to 2.5 years in prison Thursday for obstructing bombing investigation Matanov was a friend of Boston marathon bombers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Khairullozhon Matanov, a friend of Boston Marathon bombers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, was sentenced to two and a half years in prison Thursday for obstructing the bombing investigation, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office in Massachusetts. Matanov pleaded guilty in March to one count of “destroying, altering, and falsifying records, documents, and tangible objects in a federal investigation, specifically information on his computer” and three counts of “making materially false, fictitious, and fraudulent statements in a federal terrorism investigation,” the U.S. Attorney’s office said in a statement. Matanov was not charged with participating in the bombings but with trying to conceal his connection to the Tsarnaev brothers. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 21, was sentenced to death last month by a federal jury in Massachusetts on six counts related to the second of two pressure-cooker bombs, which caused the explosion on Boylston Street in front of the Forum restaurant on April 15, 2013. His older brother, Tamerlan, was killed in the manhunt days after the bombings. According to prosecutors, Matanov was notified that he might be questioned by federal authorities in connection with the attack and tried to keep the FBI from learning the extent of his friendship and communication with the suspects. Prosecutors said Matanov did not know about the bombings beforehand but invited and bought dinner for the Tsarnaev brothers about 40 minutes after the blasts, according to the indictment. Once photos of the suspects were released, Matanov viewed them several times on CNN and on the FBI’s website before trying to reach Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, according to the indictment. In the hours and days after the bombings, Matanov contacted and attempted to contact the suspects by phone and saw Tamerlan Tsarnaev at least twice, according to the indictment. Matanov, a part-time taxi driver, tried to give away his cell phone to friends and deleted hundreds of videos and documents from his computer, the indictment said. He also misled police about his relationship with the brothers. The federal prosecutor’s office said Matanov also hid from investigators that he shared the “philosophical justification for violence” that the Tsarnaev brothers held. CNN’s attempts to reach an attorney representing Matanov were unsuccessful. Other associates of the Tsarnaev brother were also prosecuted. Azamat Tazhayakov, 21, was sentenced earlier this month to three and a half years in prison for conspiring to obstruct justice and obstructing justice with intent to impede the bombing investigation, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office. Robel Phillipos, 21, was sentenced to three years in prison for making false statements to law enforcement in a terrorism investigation. A third friend, Dias Kadyrbayev, also 21, was sentenced to six years in prison for retrieving and later disposing evidence in the investigation. CNN’s Jason Hanna and Mariano Castillo contributed to this report.


The day the sun disappears (for a short time) is fast approaching. Here’s what else you need to know today to Get Up to Speed and Out the Door. (You can also get “5 Things You Need to Know Today” delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up here.) Vladimir Putin’s cutting staff at US diplomatic missions Russia in response to the sanctions bill that Congress passed last week. Seven hundred and fifty-five people will have to “stop their activities” by September 1. That will leave about 455 people, which matches the number of Russian diplomats currently in the US. President Trump has indicated that he’ll sign the sanctions bill, which passed both houses of Congress by overwhelming (and veto-proof) numbers. Venezuela’s President says there was a huge turnout for the controversial election to pick a new national assembly. There were huge protests throughout the country too. President Nicolas Maduro said eight million people – that’s about 40 percent of the country’s registered voters – cast ballots for the new assembly, which would have the power to rewrite Venezuela’s constitution. All members of the assembly would be nominated by his administration, so the opposition there thinks this is just one big power grab by Maduro. On the streets, at least six people died in violent clashes between protesters and police. More protests are set to begin today at noon.  At least 125 people have died in the ongoing unrest since April. Also over the weekend, one of the candidates in the election, a lawyer, was shot dead in his home, and an opposition leader also died. Police in Sydney conducted raids today after four men were arrested over the weekend, accused of plotting to bring down a plane. Authorities said the men planned to use an “improvised device”  in the attack but wouldn’t provide any further details. Exra security measures have been put in place in Australian airports since the terror plot was thwarted. There was a big escape from a county jail in Alabama. Twelve prisoners broke out of the Walker County Jail, but authorities haven’t said when or how. Ten of the men have since been recaptured, leaving two others still on the run. Police in the city of Jasper, Alabama, have asked people living downtown to stay indoors and turn on all of their outdoor lights. Thousands of tourists had their vacations cut short after a power outage hit two islands in North Carolina’s Outer Banks. Power on Ocracoke and Hatteras islands was lost late last week after a transmission line was cut during construction work on a bridge. It’s not clear how long it’ll take to fix the problem, so people have been ordered to leave. Crews are working on two possible solutions: building a new overhead transmission line or dig down to the damaged cables and splice them back together. People are talking about these. Read up. Join in. All about O.J. Thought O.J. Simpson’s parole hearing is the last we’ll see of him for awhile? Wrong. Now there’s a “pop-up” museum dedicated to his famous murder trial. E.T. phone here The search for aliens is over; just look in the mirror. That’s because a new study says we might all be made up of stardust. Ewww, emojis “The Emoji Movie” isn’t the worst reviewed movie ever, but it’s darn near close. A single, semi-positive review kept it from getting a 0% on Rotten Tomatoes. Walk, don’t watch You can do a ton of stuff while visiting Honolulu, but walking and watching your cell phone while on a crosswalk is not one of them. Rare red Diamonds are rare gems, and red diamonds are even rarer. One found in a mine in Australia could sell for over $10 million. 22,000 The number of music fans evacuated from the Tomorrowland festival in Barcelona, Spain, after the stage caught on fire. No injuries were reported. Fed up with felines Want to know why some people like dogs better than cats? Because dogs won’t deliberately knock over a picture frame, setting off your alarm in the middle of the night. (Click to view)


A Democratic candidate challenging House Intelligence Committee chair Devin Nunes took in more than $1 million in the first quarter of 2018, a sign of Democrats’ enthusiasm to oust the California congressman who has allied himself closely with President Donald Trump. Andrew Janz, the Deputy District Attorney in Fresno County, is still considered a long shot in his bid to unseat Nunes. CNN currently rates the 22nd District as a “safe Republican” seat. But Nunes’ role in running interference for Trump on the investigations into Russia’s role in the 2016 election has made him a target for Democrats nationwide. According to fundraising figures provided to CNN by the campaign, Janz has raised more than $1 million so far in 2018 with just three days left in the first quarter. The campaign received a huge influx in fundraising cash from donors across the country in the wake of Nunes role in releasing a controversial memo detailing concerns Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee had with the federal investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Related article Trump praises Nunes, White House denies memo coordination “We feel like he is the one person that is really standing in the way of the (FBI Special Counsel) Robert Mueller investigation,” Janz told CNN. “We think people deserve to know what happened to our elections in 2016 and what is happening in 2018. And every day my opponent is out there trying to undermine federal law enforcement, the special prosecutors probe and really working for Trump instead of the American people.” Janz said that Nunes’ focus on defending the Trump administration’s role in the investigation, instead of focusing on issues important to California voters, is part of what is leading to the fundraising surge. “Devin Nunes is in Washington playing games on the House Intelligence Committee,” Janz said. “And while he is doing that the issues back here at home that people care about are being ignored.” The Nunes campaign did not respond to a request for comment. The fundraising totals by Janz put him in a position to be one of the most successful Democratic House candidates in terms of fundraising for the first quarter of 2018. Much of his cash is coming from the online fundraising tool ActBlue. According to February figures released by the group, the only Democratic House candidate to raise more money was Connor Lamb, who was running in a competitive special election in Pennsylvania that garnered national attention. Related article What you need to know right now about the 2018 midterm elections Janz campaign officials touted the fact that his average donation is $42.55 and the median donation is $20.18. Janz has promised to not take a penny in corporate PAC donations. But despite Janz’s impressive haul, his race is still not considered a top tier democratic pick up opportunity. Janz is not listed among the candidates being supported by the influential Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. That perception might change if Janz is able to turn his fundraising into tangible evidence that he is gaining on Nunes in the polls. Even with this remarkable quarter, Janz will likely still be trailing Nunes significantly in fundraising. According to his last FEC filing, Nunes has close to $4 million cash on hand. Democratic campaign officials, while not convinced Janz is prepared to take out Nunes, believe that he is running his campaign the right way, using Nunes’ controversial national profile to raise money while focusing on issues important to the district while campaigning at home. Janz has said he will not support fellow California Rep. Nancy Pelosi for House Speaker if he wins and Democrats take back the House. He said the concerns he hears from voters are not about Nunes’ role on the House Intelligence Committee but about his lack of focus on his district. “He’s (Nunes) been there for 15 years, 8 terms and provided little or nothing by way of jobs or infrastructure projects that he has talked about getting for us in the Central Valley and I think that come November people are going to be very surprised that Devin Nunes is no longer going to be a Congressman here,” Janz said.


Watts came to studying Russian cyber meddling almost by chance He has a counter-terrorism background The Senate Intelligence Committee heard Thursday from a counter-terrorism expert who described a sophisticated Russian propaganda machine that specifically sought to bolster and influence President Donald Trump. So who is Clint Watts? Watts, who testified on a panel of experts as part of the committee’s ongoing investigation into Russian meddling in the US election, has a military and intelligence background, largely in counter-terrorism. Watts came to studying Russian cyber meddling almost by chance, when he noticed a pattern of social media trolls attacking him online for a 2014 article he wrote about Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. He and two social media analyst colleagues began studying the patterns and suspicious pro-Russia WhiteHouse.gov petitions, leading them to study the Russian social media propaganda machine. Watts has been a fellow on national security and the Middle East at the Foreign Policy Research Institute since 2011, and is a senior fellow at the Center For Cyber and Homeland Security at The George Washington University. He published research in November with Andrew Weisburd and JM Berger titled: “Trolling for Trump: How Russia Is Trying to Destroy Our Democracy.” Watts himself became the target of a cyberattack in 2015 after a post he wrote about the research, which prompted the FBI to notify his organization, the Foreign Policy Research Institute, about the attack, he said during his testimony. Since then, Watts and his colleagues have “watched and tracked the rise of Russia’s social media influence operations witnessing their update of an old Soviet playbook known as Active Measures,” he added. He now works as a consultant and does training and research programs for a range of military, intelligence and law enforcement entities, his biography said. Previously, Watts served as an Army infantry officer, an FBI special agent on a joint terrorism task force and was the executive officer of the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point. Related article Senate hearing: Russian meddling did not stop at the election Watts also is a frequent writer and commentator – and often shows off his sense of humor. His biography on the website War on the Rocks adds to his resume: “His service to the nation has earned him the award of ‘Platinum Elite’ from the Marriott Corporation. Follow him on Twitter @selectedwisdom where you will not understand most of his sarcasm.” While Watts is not known as a cyber expert, the associate vice president and director of the Center For Cyber and Homeland Security told CNN that his background in understanding networks as part of his counter-terror work makes him specially qualified to do the research he is doing on Russian propaganda. “A lot of the analytical and methodological kind of thinking have applicability to this,” Frank Cilluffo said. “So yeah, he kind of came to it accidentally, but that background has a lot of relevance here as well.” Cilluffo also noted that Watts often operates outside the mainstream school of thought, allowing him at times to “push the envelope.” “He’s a good researcher, he has operational experience, he marries those up well and is an innovative or disruptive thinker, which I think can rub some people a little abrasively, but by and large he’s spot on,” Cilluffo said. During the hearing, Watts testified on a variety of fronts that the Russian propaganda effort extended beyond the campaign between Hillary Clinton and Trump. “This past week we observed social media campaigns targeting Speaker of the House Paul Ryan hoping to foment further unrest amongst US democratic institutions,” Watts told senators. Watts also noted that Russians likely targeted every candidate in the campaign – including one member of the Intelligence Committee, Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio. “They were in full swing during both the Republican and Democratic primary season – and may have helped sink the hopes of candidates more hostile to Russian interests long before the field narrowed,” Watts said. “Sen. Rubio, in my opinion, you anecdotally suffered from these efforts.” Watts also highlighted research that has been mostly reported in niche circles, including that the Russian bots strategically push propaganda when they expect Trump may be watching. “I can tell you right now today, gray outlets that are Soviet pushing accounts tweet at President Trump during high volumes when they know he is online and they push conspiracy theories,” Watts said. “So, if he is to click on one of those or cite one of those it just proves Putin correct – that we can use this as a lever against the Americans.” CNN’s Tom LoBianco contributed to this report.


NEW: ISIS claims responsibility for deadly attack on Twitter At least 35 wounded in blast at a parking lot near Supreme Court, hospital official says At least 20 people are dead after a suicide blast Tuesday outside Afghanistan’s Supreme Court in Kabul, police and other officials told CNN. A suicide bomber detonated his explosives in a parking lot near the court in the Afghan capital, according to Basir Mojahid, spokesman for Kabul’s chief of police. The attack at around 3:45 p.m. local time targeted Supreme Court employees as they were leaving for the day, Mojahid said. At least 35 people were wounded in the blast, according to Saleem Rasooli, head of Kabul hospitals. In a post Wednesday on Twitter, ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack. An eyewitness told CNN that he felt the explosion shake the ground as he was leaving his office, opposite the Supreme Court. Nimatullah Mati said the area is home to several residential apartments and was crowded Tuesday afternoon with people who were heading home from work. Ambulances and firetrucks arrived on the scene within five minutes, Mati said. Afghanistan’s chief executive, Abdullah Abdullah, expressed his condolences on Twitter. “The blood of our people isn’t cheap & won’t be wasted,” he said. I condole with the families of the victims in today's terrorist attack in #Kabul. The blood of our people isn't cheap & wont be wasted. -AA NATO also condemned the attack. “Anyone who seeks to destabilize the pillars of a functioning government are enemies of Afghanistan,” Italian army Lt. Gen. Rosario Castellano, deputy commander of the NATO mission in Afghanistan, said in a statement. The blast comes a month after at least 36 people were killed and dozens wounded in two suicide bombings near the Afghan Parliament in Kabul. The Taliban claimed responsibility for those January 10 attacks. Tuesday’s blast underscores the growing concern about the security situation in Afghanistan, where the country’s security forces and its international allies have been fighting Taliban militants and other radical groups for years. A new report Monday from the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said more than 11,000 people were killed or injured in 2016. That’s the highest number of civilian casualties in a single year since the United Nations began systemically documenting those in 2009. The report also shows a record spike in the number of children killed in the long-running Afghanistan War. Of the 3,498 killed last year, 923 were children, the report said. Anti-government forces, mainly the Taliban, were behind almost two-thirds of the casualties, according to the report. ISIS militants have established a presence in the country, and their attacks particularly target Shia Muslims, the report said. Journalist Ehsan Popalzai reported from Kabul, and CNN’s Chandrika Narayan reported and wrote from Atlanta. Journalist Sandi Sidhu contributed to this report.


Weekend's events serve as an opening salvo for a new period in the region's crisis-ridden history, analysts say They represent an escalation in a yearslong proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran When 32-year-old Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman rose to power two years ago, many predicted that change was afoot. The events of November 4 have shown that change would not just be swift, but also seismic, extending unremittingly beyond the kingdom’s boundaries. Related article Saudi crown prince promises 'a more moderate Islam' A 24-hour sequence of political bombshells began on Saturday afternoon, when Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri announced his resignation from the Saudi capital of Riyadh, blindsiding his country’s political establishment. Hours later, Saudi Arabia’s official news agency reported that the country’s military had intercepted a Yemen-borne ballistic missile over Riyadh. Even as images of the blast were flashing on TV sets around the region, similarly dramatic news began to trickle in: Some of Saudi Arabia’s most high-profile princes and businessmen were being sacked and detained in an anti-corruption drive led by bin Salman. The events serve as an opening salvo for a new period in the region’s crisis-ridden history, analysts say. They represent an escalation in a yearslong proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran, threatening to activate new fronts in the region, with the Saudi show of force beginning with a sweeping consolidation of power from within. On Friday, ISIS’ last strongholds in Iraq and Syria fell. It marked a major milestone in a fight that saw archrivals converge on the extremist group until its so-called caliphate was on its last legs. On Saturday, regional powerhouses appear to have trained their sights on one another. “I think the end of ISIS, the so-called Islamic State, does not really mean the end of geostrategic struggles,” London School of Economics Professor Fawaz Gerges told CNN’s George Howell. “On the contrary, the dismantling of the so-called caliphate will basically intensify the geostrategic struggles between the pro-Iranian camp led by Iran, Syria, Hezbollah and its allies in the region, including the United States.” Related article Lebanon's Prime Minister resigns, plunging nation into new political crisis On Friday evening, Lebanon’s Saad Hariri was summoned to the Saudi capital. It was his second visit to the country in a week. Hariri is a dual Saudi-Lebanese citizen and the regional powerhouse is widely seen as his political patron. Just a week before, it appeared the Prime Minister had averted a major crisis between Lebanon and Saudi Arabia. He had met with the Crown Prince and outspoken Saudi Minister Thamer al-Sabhan, appeasing their fears about the Iran-backed Hezbollah, which has members in his Cabinet. “A long and fruitful meeting with my brother Prime Minister Saad Hariri. We’ve agreed on many issues that concern the good people of Lebanon. God willing, the best is yet to come,” Sabhan wrote in a tweet. The meeting came on the heels of a series of tweets in which Sabhan chastised the Lebanese government for its inclusion of Hezbollah. Hariri appeared to have defused tensions with his visit. Independent Lebanese MP Yassin Jaber, a member of a pro-Hezbollah parliamentary bloc, told CNN that he met with Hariri just as he returned from Saudi Arabia, and described the premier as cheery and in a “joking” mood. But when Hariri returned to Saudi Arabia the second time, it was an altogether different matter. It would be the first time a Lebanese premier submitted his resignation from outside the country. Multiple local media reported that nearly all Hariri’s closest aides were caught unawares. “Over the past decades, Hezbollah has unfortunately managed to impose a fait accompli in Lebanon by the force of its weapons, which it alleges is a resistance weapon,” Hariri said in his resignation speech. “I want to tell Iran and its followers that they are losing their interferences in the Arab nation affairs. Our nation will rise just as it did before and the hands that want to harm it will be cut,” he said in remarks apparently aimed at Hezbollah, which he shared a coalition government with. Hariri’s resignation spells the collapse of a 30-member government of national unity that saw Saudi-backed Hariri fill the post of prime minister, and Hezbollah-backed Michel Aoun occupy the presidency. That government, analysts say, was one of the byproducts of the Obama administration’s landmark Iran nuclear deal. “With this arrangement, we saw some sort of appeasement where we saw mutual steps from the US and Iran in improving relations and lowering tensions in various areas,” said Riad Kahwaji, director of Institute for Near East and Gulf Military. The period marked a brief time of stability, in which Lebanon seemed to have steered clear of regional fault-lines. “With (Hariri’s) resignation yesterday, this arrangement has come to an end and we are back to an escalation between Iran and Saudi Arabia on the Lebanese front. Lebanon is back in the arena of the showdown between Iran and Saudi Arabia. “Everyone in Lebanon is holding tight and worried … we’re seeing now that we may again be engulfed in conflict,” said Jaber. Related article Saudi Arabia intercepts ballistic missile over capital Hariri’s resignation triggered a crescendo of war drums. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the remarks were a “wake-up call” to “take action” against Iran. Saudi Minister Sabhan promptly tweeted: “The hands of treachery and aggression must be cut off,” echoing Hariri’s threats against Hezbollah. Just hours later, Yemen’s Houthi rebels launched a ballistic missile targeting King Khalid International Airport in the Saudi capital. Saudi forces intercepted the missile over northeast Riyadh, the Saudi Ministry of Defense said, but the Houthis hailed it as a “success” that “shook the Saudi capital.” The attack was conducted using a Yemeni-made, long-range missile called the Burqan 2H, the rebels said. The missile launch was the first time the heart of the Saudi capital has been attacked. The Saudi-led coalition accused a regional state of providing material support to the Houthi rebels, saying the firing of a ballistic missile at Riyadh “threatens the security of the Kingdom and regional and international security,” according to a statement carried by Saudi state-TV al-Ekbariya. The coalition didn’t name the country. Saudi Arabia has been fighting a proxy war in Yemen against Iran, which it accuses of arming the Houthi rebels. Analysts dubbed this a “major escalation” in the Yemeni war. “This is a major escalation and will have tremendous implications on the situation in Yemen itself, because Saudi Arabia now feels extremely the urge to retaliate against the Houthi movement that controls the government in Sanaa,” said Gerges. Gerges added that combined with the political rupture in Lebanon, the ballistic missile attack spells an outbreak of tensions “throughout the region.” Related article Saudi anti-corruption sweep leads to high-profile arrests Saudi Arabia was still putting out the fires caused by the missile attack when state TV announced the onset of an anti-corruption crackdown led by the crown prince. Over 17 princes and top officials were arrested on graft charges, according to a list obtained by CNN and cited by a senior royal court official. The list includes billionaire business magnate Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, who owns 95% of Kingdom Holding, which holds stakes in global companies such as Citigroup, Twitter, Apple and News Corp. The list also includes formal head of the royal court Khaled Al-Tuwaijri, Saudi media mogul Waleed Al-Ibrahim and Prince Turki Bin Nasser. “Some of the wealthiest figures in the Arab world are in apprehension today,” said military analyst Riad Kahwaji. “This is unprecedented. We’re seeing it for the first time and it’s definitely causing shockwaves across the region.” Reportedly, the detainees are being held at the lavish Ritz-Carlton hotel. “I think there’s a lovely irony in that many of these corrupt deals happened at the Ritz-Carlton and now these guys are locked up there,” said historian Robert Lacey, who wrote two books about the kingdom. “In historic terms, what we’ve seen in the last few months is nothing short of revolutionary,” said Lacey. “I’ve been waiting for 40 years for these things to happen, and they happened in four months.” Mohammed bin Salman’s campaign of “two fronts,” as analysts have dubbed it, is being met by cheers and apprehension. But there is near consensus that these are uncharted waters, and the results will be dramatic. CNN’s Becky Anderson, Chandrika Narayan and Sarah El Sirgany in Riyadh contributed to this report.


A Minneapolis piñata maker is apologizing for hanging pieces of his work – piñatas which look like black people – from the front porch of his house. The episode caused an uproar in his mostly African-American neighborhood after passersby mistook the piñatas, which he says he hung up to dry, for a racist display. It all started when Victor Chavarria, owner of Happy Kids piñatas, was filling an order for a wedding. The customer had requested racially diverse piñatas that looked like members of their wedding party. So Chavarria got up at 4 a.m. Friday to create the papier-mache piñatas, then hung them on the front porch of his home in northern Minneapolis to dry. Someone driving by his house that morning snapped a photo of the piñatas and put it on Twitter. The social post soon brought a stream of threats to Chavarria, and even his wife and two toddlers. He immediately took the piñatas down and called the police because of the threats and all of the people driving by his home. Chavarria, a Mexican immigrant, said he considered going back to Mexico to get away from the uproar, which continued through the weekend. But after talking with his friends and neighbors, including a few African-American pastors, he decided to stay in the neighborhood where he’s lived for three years and explain that it was all a misunderstanding. “There’s no hate in this home. I don’t know how else to deliver this message,” Chavarria told CNN. “I’m very, very sorry for my lack of judgment and lack of sensitivity.” Chavarria said he understands now, after looking at the picture, how the scene must have looked to his neighbors. “Out of context, I admit the images look disturbing,” he said. “Out of context everything can be horrible.” He said the wedding order was canceled because of the controversy. But Chavarria said he is actually grateful for the conversations it has sparked. Many of his African American neighbors explained to him why the photo disturbed them, he said, but they also offered their support for the man known as “the piñata guy” in the neighborhood. One of those neighbors parked his truck in front of Chavarria’s home and talked to the many people who were driving by, explaining that Chavarria meant no harm. Chavarria said he’s willing to do whatever he can to fix the damage from the misunderstanding. He’s also making one other change: From now on, he’ll dry his piñatas in the back of the house.


Gabbard said Trump should negotiate personally with Kim The process that led to the false alarm must be "fixed immediately" and those responsible must be "held accountable," Gabbard said The false ballistic missile warning in Hawaii was “unacceptable” and points to a need for President Donald Trump to negotiate with North Korea directly, Hawaii Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard said Sunday. “We’ve got to get to the underlying issue here of why are the people of Hawaii and this country facing a nuclear threat coming from North Korea today, and what is this President doing urgently to eliminate that threat?” Gabbard said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” A false alarm in Hawaii on Saturday warned people to seek shelter due to an inbound ballistic missile threat. State leaders and emergency officials said it was a false message, and Hawaii Gov. David Ige told CNN “an employee pushed the wrong button,” causing the erroneous alert. Gabbard said she wants Trump to negotiate with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un personally. “I’ve been calling on President Trump to directly negotiate with North Korea, to sit across the table from Kim Jong Un,” Gabbard said, adding that the talks should “happen without preconditions.” She said forcing the precondition that North Korea relinquish its nuclear program would be unlikely and self-defeating, adding that the US must recognize Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons development is informed by decades of US attempts to overthrow foreign governments. “They see it as the only deterrent against the US coming in an overthrowing their regime there,” Gabbard said. Trump has dismissed attempts by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to deescalate the situation through direct talks, and last month the White House reined in Tillerson’s offer to start talks without preconditions. Trump has insulted Kim as “Rocket Man” on Twitter and in a speech before the United Nations, and he has threatened North Korea with “fire and fury.” Kim has insulted Trump and threatened to attack the United States as his country continues to develop and test nuclear weapons and missile systems. In an apparent shift on Wednesday, Trump said he might be willing to have dialogue with North Korea when it’s “appropriate.” Outside of the nuclear threat posed by North Korea, Gabbard said the false alarm highlighted the threat of nuclear war due to mistakes and false information. “It’s not just the President making a decision to launch a nuclear weapon,” Gabbard said. “It’s these kinds of mistakes that we have seen happen in the past that bring us to this brink of nuclear war that could be unintentional.” Gabbard said she was “angry” the false alarm went out and said she was hearing stories from all over Hawaii about the traumatic moments in the wake of the alert. “The fact that these processes failed so epically, that caused this trauma, that caused this terror all across the state of Hawaii, must be fixed immediately, and those responsible for this happening need to be held accountable,” Gabbard said. CNN’s Zachary Cohen contributed to this report.


Dozens killed in recent days in region home to Rohingya Muslims Villages are being burned to the ground Concerns are mounting about escalating violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine State after a series of army raids on villages that have left dozens dead and hundreds arrested. At least 17 members of Myanmar’s security forces and 69 people described as “violent attackers” were killed in the latest uptick of violence in the state, home to the country’s Rohingya Muslims, according to state media. Though the government says it’s going after terrorists, Myanmar security forces have been accused of conducting a violent, heavy-handed response that’s targeting Rohingyas. Head of the ruling National League for Democracy,  Aung San Suu Kyi, has remained silent on the issue amid criticism and calls for her to do more to stop what some say amounts to genocide. “The problem is the Burma Army has a really lousy record when it comes to civilians,” says Phil Robertson, the deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia division. “It’s really shoot first, ask questions later.” Robertson said Human Rights Watch has heard about cases of arbitrary arrests, torture, looting by Burmese soldiers and allegations of extrajudicial killings. The government has announced hundreds of arrests of suspected attackers and terrorists in the past week, including 31 yesterday and 234 since November 9. Former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who chairs the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State, issued a statement expressing his concern over the recent violence in northern Rakhine, which he said “is plunging the State into renewed instability and creating new displacement.” The US State Department also said it was monitoring the spike in violence in Rakhine State. In the township of Maungtaw, violent attackers were accused of torching houses by state media. Reports surfaced that the government troops were responsible for the destruction, which the military has denied. Satellite images from Human Rights Watch showed the extent of the damage was “greater than first thought.” The NGO has accused the Myanmar government of limiting access to, and the information flow from, the region. It’s also calling for the Myanmar government to allow the UN to assist in investigating human rights violations. “It’s a real escalation [of violence], and this is combined keeping out of everyone from the area,” Robertson said. “Leaving it to the Burma Army to investigate it themselves is a recipe for a cover-up.” Myanmar’s shame: Living inside Rohingya ghettos The Rohingya are a stateless Muslim minority in Myanmar’s Rakhine state thought to number about 1 million people.Myanmar does not recognize them as citizens or one of the 135 recognized ethnic groups in the country.Myanmar regards them as illegal immigrants, a view rooted in their heritage in East Bengal, now called Bangladesh. Though many Rohingya have only known life in Myanmar, they are widely viewed as intruders from across the border.According to Human Rights Watch, laws discriminate against the Rohingya, infringing on their freedom of movement, education and employment.They are denied land and property rights and ownership, and the land on which they live can be taken away at any given time. The Rohingya are a stateless Muslim minority in Myanmar’s Rakhine state thought to number about 1 million people.Myanmar does not recognize them as citizens or one of the 135 recognized ethnic groups in the country.Myanmar regards them as illegal immigrants, a view rooted in their heritage in East Bengal, now called Bangladesh. Though many Rohingya have only known life in Myanmar, they are widely viewed as intruders from across the border.According to Human Rights Watch, laws discriminate against the Rohingya, infringing on their freedom of movement, education and employment.They are denied land and property rights and ownership, and the land on which they live can be taken away at any given time. Last month, Penny Green, the director of the international state crime initiative at Queen Mary University of London has called Northern Rakhine State an information black hole. The State Department said the US Ambassador to Burma, Scot Marciel, recently visited Rakhine State. It said the delegation stressed the need for the country to investigate the allegations “to improve transparency and information sharing, and to provide access for both media as well as humanitarian aid.” Rakhine State is home to a large population of Rohingya Muslims, a stateless ethnic minority that’s faced discrimination and persecution for years. The Myanmar government’s official position denies recognition of the term “Rohingya” and regards them as illegal Bengali migrants. The latest round of violence kicked off last month, when more than a dozen soldiers and police were killed after troops in the town of Maungtaw were attacked by about 300 armed men, state media reported. The attackers were not identified by the Myanmar government, but the United Nations said “ethnic armed organizations” had clashed with the country’s security forces. Since then, the army and police have basically shut down the area and turn it into special ops zone, sweeping through villages where they believe militants are hiding, HRW’s Robertson said. “The way they’re doing this is scorched-earth,” he said. “They have a right to find out who attacked the border guards, but they’re going way overboard.” Myanmar’s government says Air Force helicopters opened fire on attackers in Rakhine State Sunday after two soldiers were killed in clashes. As many as 500 men ambushed troops as they tried to carry out “clearance operations” in Maungtaw and Yathedaung townships near the border with Bangladesh, according to a government statement. CNN’s Vivian Kam, Rebecca Wright and Katie Hunt contributed to this report


Sanders said the administration is keeping "our options open" Trump waived the sanctions at the last deadline President Donald Trump has not yet made a decision on whether to sign an Iran sanctions waiver later this month, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Tuesday. But Sanders said the administration is keeping “our options open” as far as sanctions against Iran are concerned, particularly as popular protests continue to grip Iran. Trump faces a mid-January deadline when he must decide about renewing temporary waivers for US sanctions against Iran. The renewal of those waivers – which provide relief from US sanctions not set to expire for several years – must occur every 120 days under the terms of the agreement. Related article Nikki Haley on Iran: 'We must not be silent' “We certainly keep our options open in terms of sanctions. In terms of signing a waiver later in January, the President hasn’t made a final decision on that,” Sanders said. “He’s going to keep every option on the table.” Trump waived the sanctions at the last deadline, but has since decertified Iran’s compliance with the nuclear agreement, raising questions about whether the US will continue to extend sanctions relief stemming from the deal to Iran. Trump must also decide this month once again whether to certify Iran’s compliance with the nuclear agreement or not. The administration has said it is seeking new legislation through Congress to end the perpetual certification process every 90 days, but nothing has yet to come out of Capitol Hill on that front. Sanders also echoed Trump’s support for the popular protests in Iran and said the White House believes “the Iranian people are angry at the rising tide of corruption in their daily lives. “The people are tired of paying the price for their violent and corrupt rulers,” Sanders said of the largest protests in Iran since 2009. “The international community cannot sit silent as it did then. We call on the regime to respect its citizens’ basic right to express their desire for change.” Sanders declined to say whether the White House supports regime change in Iran, cautiously fielding questions on the topic. “We support them giving basic rights to the people of Iran and we support them stopping being a state sponsor of terror,” Sanders said when she was asked about US support for regime change in Iran. Pressed again later, Sanders offered a similar reply. “Those are the changes we’re looking for. If they want to do that through current leadership – if that’s possible – OK,” Sanders said. CNN’s Zachary Cohen contributed to this report.

US administration's Iran sanctions policy


"Yes, I think the Republican nominee is unfit to serve as president," Obama said Obama cited Trump's criticism of a Gold Star family President Barack Obama offered one of his sharpest denunciations of Donald Trump to date Tuesday, declaring the Republican nominee entirely unfit to serve as president and lambasting Republicans for sticking by their nominee. The strong rebuke in the White House East Room came after Trump’s criticism of the family of a slain Muslim US soldier, along with comments that displayed apparent confusion related to the Russian incursion into Ukraine. “The Republican nominee is unfit to serve as president,” Obama said at a White House news conference with the Prime Minister of Singapore. “He keeps on proving it.” The Trump campaign responded by going after the Democratic nominee as well as the President. “Hillary Clinton has proven herself unfit to serve in any government office,” a Trump statement said, listing a number of policy concerns. “Obama-Clinton have single-handedly destabilized the Middle East, handed Iraq, Libya and Syria to ISIS, and allowed our personnel to be slaughtered at Benghazi.” Later Trump in an interview with WJLA said of Obama: “He’s a terrible president. He’ll probably go down as the worst president in the history of our country. He’s been a total disaster.” Obama on Tuesday described his feelings about Trump as unprecedented, recalling disagreements with previous GOP presidential nominees Sen. John McCain and Mitt Romney – but never an outright sense they were unfit to serve. “The notion that he would attack a Gold Star family that made such extraordinary sacrifices on behalf of our country, the fact that he doesn’t appear to have basic knowledge of critical issues in Europe, the Middle East, in Asia, means that he’s woefully unprepared to do this job,” Obama said. RELATED: Donald Trump’s bad 72 hours Speaking alongside Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in the White House East Room, Obama said there are now weekly episodes in which even Republican party leaders distance themselves from Trump. “There has to be a point at which you say, ‘Enough,’ ” Obama said. Obama placed responsibility for Trump’s statements squarely on his fellow Republicans, many of whom denounced his statements on the slain soldier’s family but didn’t withdraw their support. “What does this say about your party that this is your standard-bearer?” Obama asked of GOP leaders. “This isn’t a situation where you have an episodic gaffe. This is daily and weekly where they are distancing themselves from statements he’s making. There has to be a point at which you say, ‘This is not somebody I can support for president of the United States, even if he purports to be a member of my party.’ “ Obama said that denunciations from Republicans of Trump’s remarks “ring hollow” without an accompanying withdrawal of support. READ MORE: Russia continues to shadow Trump “I don’t doubt their sincerity. I don’t doubt they were outraged by some of the statements that Mr. Trump and his supporters made about the Khan family,” Obama said. “But there has to come a point in which you say, ‘Somebody who makes those kinds of statements doesn’t have the judgment, the temperament, the understanding to occupy the most powerful position in the world.’ “ Trump and the family of the slain soldier have been locked in an increasingly bitter dispute over Muslims in America and the nature of patriotic sacrifice. Related video Lt. Gen. Flynn: Bigger issue is radical Islam After Khizir Khan, who lost his son in a suicide bombing in Iraq, declared at last week’s Democratic National Convention that Trump had “sacrificed nothing,” the Republican nominee claimed he’d been “viciously attacked” and questioned why Khan’s wife, Ghazala, didn’t make her own remarks. Criticism from Trump’s own party came swiftly, including in a lengthy statement from McCain, whom Trump previously derided for having been taken captive in the Vietnam War. But he and other top GOP leaders, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan, made little indication they would withdraw support for the Republican candidate. Trump has also taken flak for appearing unaware that Russian forces had annexed Crimea in early 2014, saying on ABC’s “This Week” Sunday that President Vladimir Putin is “not going into Ukraine.” Later, he argued that the people of Crimea “would rather be with Russia than where they were” – an argument that Putin himself has made in justifying his annexation of the disputed Ukrainian territory. And he’s maintained his view that fostering better ties to Putin would benefit areas of American foreign policy, including in the fight against ISIS. “If we could get along with Russia, wouldn’t that be a good thing, instead of a bad thing?” Trump asked Monday during a campaign appearance in Pennsylvania. Trump also took heat for calling on Russia last week to release deleted emails from Clinton if they had obtained them in a hack of the Democratic National Committee, which US officials have fingered Moscow for. At the news conference, Obama said the alleged Russian hacking wouldn’t necessarily prompt a complete freeze in relations between the the country and the United States. Noting that the FBI was still investigating the hack, Obama said cybersecurity was just another dispute of many between Putin and himself. “If in fact Russia engaged in this activity, it’s just one on a long list of issues that me and Mr. Putin talk about,” Obama said. “I don’t think that it wildly swings what is a tough, difficult relationship that we have with Russia right now.” RELATED: Russia continues to shadow Trump Obama’s administration, through the Justice Department’s national security division, continues to investigate the hack. Neither the White House nor the FBI have publicly blamed Russia for the intrusion. But federal officials said there is strong evidence indicating the breach was perpetrated by hackers working on behalf of Russia intelligence. Trump has brushed off Democratic charges that Putin could be behind the hack in order to tip the US election in his favor, claiming he’s never met the Russian leader and doesn’t maintain a relationship with him. In statements from only a few years ago, however, Trump said he enjoyed warm ties with Putin. Obama’s remarks Tuesday intensify his patten of inserting himself into the rancorous presidential race. While the President has freely criticized Trump in the year since the businessman entered the race, his denunciations have come faster and harsher in the last several weeks. At last week’s convention, Obama named Trump repeatedly, arguing the candidate was ignorant of facts and intent on dividing the nation. And in June, Obama lit into Trump’s response to the mass shooting in Orlando, saying he was peddling a dangerous vision. The President is expected to play an outsized role on the campaign trail in the coming months as Clinton works to motivate the supporters who helped elect Obama to office twice.


Editor’s Note: Issac Bailey has been a journalist in South Carolina for two decades and was most recently the primary columnist for The Sun News in Myrtle Beach. He was a 2014 Harvard University Nieman fellow. Follow him on Twitter: @ijbailey. The views expressed in this commentary are his own. Issac Bailey: Trump's consideration of Haley for Cabinet post could lift her star higher She may lack experience, but those on left and right are wrong to dismiss her, he says The oddest thing has happened. In the wake of the 2016 election and Hillary Clinton’s loss, South Carolina has inadvertently positioned itself to become the state that could produce the nation’s first woman president: Nikki Haley. Back in January, I wondered if Gov. Haley had missed her window to take advantage of her enormous political potential on a national stage. She’s smart, a quick-learner and one of the craftiest politicians in the nation. Yet instead of running for the top job, she was then giving the GOP response to President Obama’s final State of the Union address and being talked up as a vice presidential prospect for candidates who soon washed out of the race. Now, it looks as though that window may not be closed after all, as Haley is reportedly in the running to be secretary of state in the Donald Trump administration. If, as the daughter of Indian immigrants, she becomes America’s top diplomat (or even if she manages her consideration wisely), she will be back in line to do in her party what Obama did in his: break barriers while backed by a diverse coalition of Americans. Related article Source: Haley under consideration for State Dept., Trump meeting Thursday There’s one obvious catch – she’d have to work for Donald Trump, a man she rightly stiffed-arm throughout the Republican primary and did not openly support or endorse during the general election, despite high-level pressure to fall in line with other Republican leaders. In South Carolina, Haley has seen first-hand the extreme end of what can happen in the kind of environment Trump has fostered with his embrace of open bigotry, beginning with his becoming the nation’s top birther, to kicking off his campaign describing most Mexican immigrants as rapists and murderers, and since the election having a top supporter alluding to the internment of the Japanese during World War II, one of America’s great sins, as good “precedent” for a possible Muslim registry. Haley has cried with the families in Charleston who lost loved ones because a young white supremacist allegedly decided that a massacre in a historically black church was a proper way for white people who’ve felt left behind in a browning America to be heard. She then led a group of leaders to do what was once unthinkable: taking down a racially-divisive flag at the state capitol that many South Carolinians (myself included) believed would fly forever. Her handling of that dark period in the Palmetto State, and subsequently record-level flooding and the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew, brightened her political prospects like nothing else. Related article Nikki Haley seizes the political moment amidst Confederate flag debate Being secretary of state could, theoretically, take those prospects from bright to dazzling. But having to do so by working for Trump could diminish her in ways from which her image may not recover. She is now known as the woman who brought down the Confederate flag after it flew for more than 50 years. But Trump’s presidency, to many of the people who have rallied around Haley since Dylann Roof became a household name, is akin to putting the Confederate flag right back up, this time not in front of the South Carolina Statehouse but on the White House lawn. It’s easy to see why Haley’s an appealing prospect for the Trump transition team. Hiring her could give Trump something to brag about and his supporters, desperate to deny the bigotry upon which their hero rose to national political prominence, something to point to, his willingness to appoint a woman from a minority group who did not cow to him during the election cycle. Foreign policy experts are meanwhile wringing their hands over Haley’s lack of experience. “I mean, there may have been foreign policy types who passed through South Carolina, I think there’s a BMW factory there,” David Rothkopf, editor of Foreign Policy magazine, said during an interview on MSNBC while making clear he thought she would be a terrible choice. Is Trump the Godfather of trade? Andrew Puzder pick is a huge contradictionRomney pick would be a coup for TrumpGhitis: When Trump attacksMichigan’s ‘Springsteen paradox’ I understand his reservations. Haley has been an effective governor of one small red state. That’s not the foundation upon which a strong foreign policy resumé is built. That inexperience, coupled with some of the other reported hires and appointments Trump is contemplating or has already made, should give everyone pause. And I’ve disagreed with her plenty. I still believe one of her greatest failures is her refusal to accept a Medicaid expansion that would have provided health insurance to maybe 200,000 poor people in our state while creating an estimated 40,000 jobs. Related article Nikki Haley response to Trump attack: 'Bless your heart' But regardless of whether she actually gets this job, it’s clear to me that those who dismiss Haley are making a serious mistake. I was there when Haley came through Myrtle Beach during her first run for governor and was being mocked then, too, by experts who said she had no shot in a state who had only elected white men for its highest office. Anyone paying attention to how she handled questions during press conferences way back then could see how clear it was that she was a force to be reckoned with. She was then dismissed again during her first term as she traded elbows with a Republican-controlled General Assembly not always allied with her – until she got the job done, again and again. Nobody should be mocking her now. Secretary of state or not, Nikki Haley could be a future political titan in a political party that finds itself with unprecedented levels of national power and internal chaos. Now, she’s perfectly positioned to do what many believed Hillary Clinton would have. #NeverTrumpers have reason to admire her. Trump supporters have reason to embrace her. And she has an opening with voting populations who have long been skeptical of the GOP and are now even more so because of Trump. Sign up for CNN Opinion’s new newsletter.Join us on Twitter and Facebook If she wisely manages even the possibility of her being appointed secretary of state, in four years, heading the State Department might seem like a job too small for her.


In sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in rural areas, accessing a health clinic isn’t always as simple as it should be. Poor roads can mean a trip to the doctor could be a days-long journey. As a result, several start-ups have launched that bring medical advances directly into the home – or smartphone. Despite the huge leaps being made in the medical field in Africa, there are still an estimated 3.2 million children living with HIV, with a majority in sub-Saharan Africa. And 90% of the world’s malaria fatalities also come from the region. But it doesn’t mean that Africa is a lost cause. Mobile technology is emerging as a powerful ally in medical innovation on the continent. As it continues to grow at an exponential rate, a vibrant mobile health – or mHealth – industry is blossoming. Startups are emerging with one purpose in mind: to create tech solutions for healthcare professionals. One such company is Access Mobile, founded in Uganda by social entrepreneur Kaak Yelpaala. After years of working in the public health sector – Yelpaala began his training at Yale University before becoming one of the early employees of the Clinton Health Access Initiative in East Africa – he was inspired to develop his own startup providing mobile tech solutions for the industry he had become so passionate about. “Access Mobile is a company that builds software solutions for healthcare providers to better improve the health of their patients through mobile phones,” he says. “Having lived in countries like Tanzania, Kenya, here in Uganda and other parts of the region, what really compelled me was believing that no matter where you live in the world you should be able to access a certin level of care. And technology plays a role in that.” Cue his first software platform – an app called Clinic Communicator designed to facilitate an easier interaction between doctors and patients in the region. The web-based platform helps medical professionals communicate with the patients through emails and SMS. Doctors are able to send messages directly to their patients and in the process tackle issues like long waiting times, unnecessary queuing, missed appointments and prescription reminders. Yelpaala is not the only tech-savvy entrepreneur using mobile technology to reach patients and provide better healthcare. To crack down on counterfeit drugs and medicines in the marketplace, former astrophysicist Bright Simons went back to Ghana and created mPedigree, a simple idea where codes are printed on prescription packaging and customers can check its legitimacy by sending a text message. Meanwhile, Cameroonian IT specialist Arthur Zang designed “Africa’s first handheld medical computer tablet” last year to provide medical professionals in more rural regions to get cardiac tests results to specialists in a speedier manner. It hasn’t always been smooth sailing for Yelpaala. It’s been four years since he began his business and he had to provide incentives to peak interest at first. “We have started to get our first customers which has been a great milestone for us. Our first approach was to offer the product on trials and say “use this product”.” He adds: “What we’re finding now is that we’re already starting to get traction in Kenya. We’re partnering with healthcare facilities there. The thought is that we have to think very big, we have to think Pan-African, and we have to think about how we can innovate for the world.” More from African Startup

mobile health startups in sub-Saharan Africa


NEW: Investigators arrest two men, bringing total arrested to 13 Ariana Grande to hold benefit concert in Manchester British authorities are trying to contain the network they believe is behind the Manchester attack as it emerged that the suicide bomber, Salman Abedi, reportedly spoke to his brother in Libya just 15 minutes before he detonated his explosives. “We are following up on the network, rolling it up, trying to contain it. As you’ve seen from the number of arrests, we are on the right track to try to contain it,” UK Security Minister Ben Wallace told CNN in Manchester on Friday. “In the end, you get to the bottom of a network.” Investigators continue to work around the clock to track down associates of Abedi, a 22-year-old Briton of Libyan descent, amid fears he is part of a network plotting further mayhem. On Friday, authorities arrested a man from Manchester’s Rusholme neighborhood. Then, two more men were arrested early Saturday, police said in a statement. The men were taken into custody after officers carried out a controlled explosion to enter a home in the Cheetham Hill area of central Manchester. Those actions brought the total number of people arrested in the investigation to 13, with 11 still in custody. Two people have been released without being charged, Greater Manchester police said. His younger brother, Hashim Ramadan Abu Qassem al-Abedi – detained in Libya in the aftermath of the bombing – knew of his brother’s movements and about the plot, Ahmed Ben Salem, spokesman for the Special Deterrence Force in Tripoli, told the private broadcaster, Libya’s Channel, on Thursday night. The brothers spoke on the phone just minutes before the attack at a concert at Manchester Arena, Ben Salem said, but Hashim told his Libyan interrogators that he did not know details about where and when the blast would be. The Special Deterrence Force in Tripoli, a militia nominally under the control of Libya’s interior ministry, arrested Hashim al-Abedi a day later on suspicion of links to ISIS. The militia also arrested the brothers’ father, Ramadan al-Abedi. Earlier this week the militia said Hashim had admitted – under interrogation – that he and Salman were members of ISIS. It also said Hashim was in Manchester during the planning for the attack and that he had been aware of the plot. Salman Abedi entered Libya on April 19 and left on May 17, telling his family that he was going to Saudi Arabia to perform the Umrah pilgrimage, Ben Salem told Libya’s Channel. It was a deception, and only his brother Hashim knew that Salman actually returned to the UK, according to Ben Salem. Asked if there was any indication Salman Abedi had received training in Libya or planned an attack inside Libya, Ben Salem said, “I don’t think so.” Based on what the bomber’s brother has told the militia, “everything was prepared in Manchester” since the end of 2016, he said. US officials told CNN this week that it is likely Salman Abedi received some ISIS training by traveling to Syria in the months before the bombing, according to information gathered in the preliminary investigation. Monday’s attack on concert-goers leaving an Ariana Grande show killed 22 people, many of them children, and injured dozens more. In her first comments since the attack, Grande said Friday in a note on Twitter that she is sorry for the “pain and fear” her fans are feeling. She said the fans killed Monday will be on her mind and in her heart forever. “I will think of them with everything I do for the rest of my life,” said the singer, who also announced Friday that she will hold a benefit concert in honor of the victims of the Manchester attack. As police raids continued Friday, specially-trained firearms officers were being assigned patrol duty on trains for the first time in Britain. The UK threat level is at its highest level, meaning another attack may be imminent. British authorities have stopped and disrupted five plots since March 22, when a terror attack outside Parliament in London left five people dead, said Wallace, the security minister. “There are over 400 investigations currently ongoing by the security services and police into terrorist planning or people thinking about terrorist planning.” Meanwhile, Prime Minister Theresa May said she and other leaders at G7 summit in Italy agreed Friday that the threat from ISIS “is revolving, rather than disappearing.” The Prime Minister and @POTUS met at the G7 Summit and agreed the G7 could do more collectively on counter-terrorism pic.twitter.com/lmc8MfliyE “As they lose ground in Iraq and Syria, foreign fighters are returning, and the group’s hateful ideology is spreading online,” May told reporters at the summit. “Make no mistake: The fight is moving from the battlefield to the Internet,” she added. She said the G7 would press tech companies to develop abilities to identify “extremist material and hateful propaganda,” remove the material automatically, and report such content to authorities. May and US President Donald Trump “noted that there had been strong agreement in discussions so far that the G7 should do more collectively on counter terrorism,” Downing Street said in a statement. Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the Labour Party, the official opposition to the British government, drew a link between UK foreign policy and terror attacks as the main political parties resumed general election campaigning Friday, following the Manchester attack. Saying the war on terror “is simply not working,” Corbyn urged national unity but also said the government must ensure “that our foreign policy reduces rather than increases the threat to this country.” Corbyn, who has a long record of voting against UK military intervention overseas, said a Labour government would “change what we do abroad” if elected, while acknowledging that no government can prevent every attack and that terrorism has many causes. “Many experts, including professionals in our intelligence and security services have pointed to the connections between wars we have been involved in or supported and and fought in other countries, such as Libya, and terrorism here at home,” he said. Related video Victim's mother: 'Don't let this beat us' “That assessment in no way reduces the guilt of those who attack our children,” he said. “But an informed understanding of the causes of terrorism is an essential part of an effective response that will protect the security of our people, that fights rather than fuels terrorism.” May, at the G7 summit, took exception. “I want to make one thing very clear to Jeremy Corbyn and to you, and it is that there can never, ever be an excuse for terrorism,” May said. “There can be no excuse for what happened in Manchester.” She continued, “And I think that this choice that people face in the general election has just become starker. It’s a choice between me, working constantly to protect the national interest … and Jeremy Corbyn, who frankly isn’t up to the job.” Opinion: How Islamist terror can be defeated May’s discussion with G7 leaders Friday, including Trump, comes on the heels of a spat with the United States over the leaking of intelligence to US media of details around the Manchester bombing investigation. The leaks culminated in the New York Times publishing crime scene photos. Britain responded Thursday by temporarily halting intelligence sharing on the investigation with the United States. Amid efforts to soothe jangled nerves, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson arrived in London Friday on his first official visit to Britain, meeting with his UK counterpart Boris Johnson and signing a book of condolence for the Manchester victims. Tillerson said the United States took full responsibility for the leaks, adding that the “special relationship that exists between our two countries will certainly withstand this particular unfortunate event.” CNN’s Hala Gorani reported from Manchester and Laura Smith-Spark wrote and reported from London. CNN’s Lonzo Cook, Jomana Karadsheh, Mariano Castillo, James Gray, Richard Allen Greene, Sarah Chiplin and Barbara Starr contributed to this report.


NEW: Sentencing was "shocking and exhausting for the family," spokeswoman says North Korean state news: The Rev. Hyeon Soo Lim convicted for "subversive plots and activities" Lim's family says he traveled to North Korea in January on a routine humanitarian trip North Korea sentenced a Canadian pastor Wednesday to life in prison “for subversive plots and activities,” according to its state news agency. The official news agency KCNA reported that the Rev. Hyeon Soo Lim “confessed to all heinous crimes he had committed.” The report accused Lim of having “committed anti-DPRK religious activities, conducted false propaganda among overseas Koreans, and took active part in the operation of the U.S. and (a South Korean) conservative group to lure and abduct DPRK citizens … in their programs for ‘aiding defectors from the north.’ “ North Korea already had detained him for 10 months. Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs expressed dismay at what it called “the unduly harsh sentence given to Mr. Lim by a North Korean court, particularly given his age and fragile health.” Lim’s trial was the first time Canadian officials had seen the 60-year-old since he was taken into custody in February, the department said in a statement. It said the North Korean government’s refusal to let Canadian representatives “verify his health and well-being” in person represents “a serious violation of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations and the right of states to have consular access to their citizens.” The Canadian government said it wants Lim’s rights to be respected and for him to return home. It declined to offer any more information “in the interest of Mr. Lim’s case.” Family spokeswoman Lisa Pak said the sentencing was “shocking and exhausting for the family,” and it asked North Korea to relent. “We entreat the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to remember Reverend Lim’s heart for the people of the DPRK. The family and the church hope for a demonstration of mercy and compassion. Finally, we ask the global community for your continued support in prayers,” Pak said. The sentencing allows diplomats to take further action, Pak said. “Despite the severity (of the sentence), we do have hope because it means that the possibility of diplomatic talks for his release can move forward rather than just stay in limbo,” Pak said. “We’re still asking people not to give up. We’re asking people to keep praying and we’re asking the government not give up,” added Pak, who’s a leader at Lim’s church. A Canadian citizen who emigrated from South Korea in 1986, Lim is a minister at the 3,000-member Light Korean Presbyterian Church in Toronto. He has spent a lot of time in North Korea, taking more than 100 trips there, according to his family. Lim’s most recent visit came January 30 when he traveled there via China on what a family spokeswoman characterized as a routine humanitarian trip. He planned to tend to aid projects established by his church in the northeastern city of Rajin, North Korea, including an orphanage, nursery and nursing home. “It is this tremendous love for the people of the DPRK that motivated Mr. Lim to travel (there),” Pak said. But North Korea painted a different picture of his motivation. In July, Lim was brought out a news conference where he read from a statement, confessing to activities aimed at toppling the North Korean government, according to KCNA. “The purpose that I traveled about several parts of the country on the pretext of ‘aid’ was to build a base to overthrow the system of the country and create a religious state, taking advantage of the policies of the U.S. and South Korean authorities,” Lim said, according to The Associated Press, which was present for the news conference. AP reported the press conference was in front of a packed room of Pyongyang-based journalists. In August, North Korea released footage of Lim confessing again – this time at a Pyongyang church. “My biggest crime is my act of blindness in severely insulting the highest dignity and system, the DPRK,” Lim is shown saying to a church congregation while dressed in a dark suit and tie. The video was posted on Uriminzokkiri, a state-run propaganda website. Canadian pastor detained in North Korea confesses to crimes Westerners held previously in North Korea have said their confessions were given under pressure from the state. In April, U.S. citizen Sandra Suh was released from detention in the country and deported to the United States after admitting to “plot-breeding and propaganda against the DPRK,” according to KCNA. The August 2 service where Lim made his second confession took place in Pyongyang’s Bongsu Church. This Protestant church is one of several places of worship in the North Korean capital, though it is known to be used for propaganda reasons. Some in the United States and elsewhere say North Korea’s handful of state-run churches are fronts to give the appearance of religious freedom. Critics accuse North Korean authorities of widespread religious persecution and other rights violations. Pyongyang hasn’t traditionally embraced organized religion, at least those with outside roots. The communist government is officially atheist. In the 1970s, it proudly declared itself “free from religious superstitions,” according to South Korea’s Unification Ministry. Canada has limited diplomatic relations with the reclusive country. But behind the scenes, the government waged an aggressive campaign to win Lim’s freedom, according to a source with knowledge of the proceedings. Two delegations from the Canadian Embassy in Seoul  held back-channel meetings with North Korean officials in Pyongyang, most recently after the Canadian Thanksgiving in October. And Canadian consular officials spoke informally with North Korean delegates on the sidelines of U.N. meetings, the source said. But no one from the Canadian government managed to meet Lim personally “despite repeated requests,” according to the Department of Foreign Affairs In November, following the victory of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his Liberal Party, a new set of state officials in Canada were charged with bringing Lim home. Canada’s election gives hope to family of Hyeon Soo Lim CNN’s Dave Shortell reported from New York and Vivian Kam from Hong Kong. CNN’s Greg Botelho wrote from Atlanta, and Michael Martinez contributed from Los Angeles.


Editor’s Note: John D. Sutter is a columnist for CNN Opinion who focuses on climate change and social justice. Follow him on Snapchat, Facebook and email. This story is part of a CNN series called “Vanishing.” Learn more about the sixth extinction and get involved. The Earth is on the verge of a mass extinction event. To understand how big of a deal that is you don’t have to look much further than the definition of “mass extinction.” It means that three-quarters of all species vanish – forever. In all of history, that’s happened only five times. The sixth extinction would be the first caused by humans. “We are basically annihilating the life on our planet – and that is the only known life … in the entire universe,” said Paul Ehrlich, Bing professor of population studies at Stanford University. We are failing the elephantsThe great bee die-off: Why you should careHow our throwaway culture is ruining the planetListening for the amphibian apocalypseSutter: We have 20 years to prevent mass extinction5 ways to prevent mass extinction We are failing the elephantsThe great bee die-off: Why you should careHow our throwaway culture is ruining the planetListening for the amphibian apocalypseSutter: We have 20 years to prevent mass extinction5 ways to prevent mass extinction “It’s life that shaped the planet, that made it possible for us to live here. It’s life that still makes it possible for us to live here. (If) we don’t have the diversity of other organisms, we’re done.” I’ve been reporting on the coming extinction crisis this year for a CNN series called “Vanishing.” And I can tell you that while this topic is enormously depressing, there is some good news: We know how to slow or hopefully stop the sixth extinction. Anthony Barnosky, another extinction expert, also from Stanford, told me humans have at most 20 years to make sweeping changes about our relationship with nature. If we do that, he said, we can avoid the sixth extinction. But here’s what needs to happen, according to the experts. Burning fossil fuels and chopping down rainforests is heating up the atmosphere. That’s creating trouble for all corners of the natural world, from the Rocky Mountains, where the tiny pika is overheating, to the oceans, where coral reefs are being decimated as the oceans warm and become more acidic. We know that to avert the worst of climate change we need to limit warming to at most 2 degrees Celsius. To do that, the world needs to be off fossil fuels this century – hopefully closer to 2030 than 2100. That’s a tall order, but Stanford University researchers have shown we can do it with existing technology like wind, solar and nuclear. Policies that promote cleaner energy include carbon taxes, cap-and-trade pollution pricing systems and renewable energy tax credits. The Paris Agreement on climate change, ratified by the United States and 115 other countries, also creates a framework for a rapid shift away from fossil fuels. The Trump administration in the United States, however, threatens to move the world’s second-biggest climate polluter away from that agreement and back towards dirty, climate-warming fuels. This idea comes from renowned biologist E.O. Wilson: Put aside half the surface of the Earth – both land and oceans – for the betterment of the nature and biodiversity. Maybe that sounds like a lot, but Wilson argues it’s necessary if we want to avert crisis. Some 84% of species could be saved if we protected all that land. “That amount, as I and others have shown, can be put together from large and small fragments around the world to remain relatively natural, without removing people living there or changing property rights,” Wilson wrote in an op-ed in The New York Times. The trouble: We’re not protecting nearly enough, according to experts. Currently, only 15% of land and 4% of the world’s oceans are protected from encroachment by humans, mostly in the form of farms. Already, people have used up nearly 40% of the world’s land for farms and raising livestock – much of it to grow feed for cattle. Eating less meat – or going vegetarian – uses less land (and is far better for the climate; beef is an especially big polluter). Some of the world’s most iconic species – particularly the elephant and rhino – are threatened with extinction simply because people are slaughtering these majestic creatures to sell their body parts on the black market. Elephant ivory is carved into trinkets. And rhino horn is mistakenly sold as an aphrodisiac. And there are other less-known markets, too, including those for pangolin meat (a delicacy), giraffe tails  (bracelets) and tiger bone (medicine). Efforts to shut down these markets have been grossly inadequate, as the black market in environmental products is estimated to be worth $91 billion to $258 billion per year. Compare that to drug trafficking, the most lucrative black market, which is worth $344 billion per year, according to a United Nations and Interpol estimate. Experts say better law enforcement is needed to stop poaching. And consumers – especially those in Asia, where wildlife products tend to be popular – need to stop buying these illegal and harmful goods. Groups like WildAid and Education for Nature Vietnam are using advertising campaigns to try to make these products seem uncool. It sounds callous, but more people means more food, more land and more resources. Ehrlich, from Stanford, said population growth is one of the main drivers of the Earth’s extinction crisis. The population was about 4 billion in 1980. It’s now 7.4 billion and is rapidly heading for 9.7 billion by 2050, according to the United Nations. There are ways for each person to conserve, of course. The World Bank says the average American, for example, produces about 10 times as much climate-change pollution per year as an average person from India. And we needlessly use resources we know are harmful. Plastics, for example, are clogging the world’s oceans. We dump the equivalent of one garbage truck of plastic into the ocean each minute, according to the World Economic Forum. Some researchers expect there to be more plastic than fish in the ocean, by weight, by the year 2050. That’s almost unthinkable. If there’s a fact that underlies all this, perhaps it’s this: We’re no longer connected to nature. We don’t understand it and therefore, naively, dangerously, we figure it’s doing just fine or will rebound. Barnosky, the extinction expert from Stanford, said we think of the natural world like a bottomless checking account when we need to see it as a savings account. We humans also have ridiculously short attention spans. Issues like extinction and climate change play out over decades, centuries and millennia. Our actions now – or inaction – will matter for thousands of years. “You can have catastrophic events that are seen in slow motion, basically, and not register on people very well,” said Ehrlich. We must find a way to reconnect with nature and to see this wave of extinction for the crisis that it is. Have other ideas or questions? Please e-mail me: john.sutter@cnn.com.

human impact on biodiversity and climate change


A flurry of raids and arrests on Wednesday took aim at a terror network associated with the former university student who conducted the bombing at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester days after returning from Libya, officials say. Salman Abedi, a 22-year-old British-born national of Libyan descent, has been identified by police as the suicide bomber in the Manchester Arena attack Monday night. The first images of the device Abedi is thought to have used to kill at least 22 people, including children, emerged Wednesday. The New York Times posted photos that show what it said could be the detonator, a battery, nuts and screws for shrapnel, and fragments of a backpack used in the attack. Meanwhile, two more victims were named, teenagers Chloe Rutherford and Liam Curry, who their families said were ‘inseparable.” New details about Abedi emerged Wednesday – including alleged links to terror groups, his troubles in Manchester after the death of a friend, his travel to Libya with a younger brother and their father’s attempts to keep them from returning to the UK. “It is very clear that this is a network we are investigating,” Greater Manchester Police (GMP) Chief Constable Ian Hopkins said. Six men have been arrested over the past two days in connection with the attack. They were taken into custody in the Manchester area and Nuneaton, about 100 miles southeast of Manchester, in the British Midlands. A woman arrested during a raid on flats in Blackley has since been released without charge, according to the Greater Manchester Police. Up to 3,800 military personnel have been made available to patrol key locations following the attack, Secretary Rudd said, and almost 1,000 are deployed. As police worked to learn more about the extent of Abedi’s network, more victims of the bombing were named. Tribute from the family of Chloe Rutherford, 17, and the family of Liam Curry, 19 pic.twitter.com/nVNf8dS0ZQ Among the dead are 8-year-old Saffie Rose Roussos from Leyland, and 15-year-old Olivia Campbell. Cheshire Police said one victim was an off-duty female officer. She was not identified. Tributes were also paid to teenagers Chloe Rutherford, 17, and Liam Curry, 19, who were described by their families as “beautiful inside and out.” On Thursday, the UK will hold a minute of silence two days after Prime Minister Theresa May said Britain’s threat level was raised from “severe” to “critical,” and warned a “further attack may be imminent.” Late Wednesday, Manchester United beat Ajax 2-0 to win the Europa League soccer tournament as fans in the stands in Stockholm, Sweden, carried banners saying, “Manchester stands against terrorism.” Analysis: UK raises terror threat: Are more attacks expected? Abedi was on the radar of intelligence services, Home Secretary Amber Rudd told the BBC. The bomber was in Libya for three weeks and returned days before his attack, US military officials assigned to US Africa Command told CNN. In Libya, Abedi’s brother – identified as 20-year-old Hashim Ramadan Abu Qassem al-Abedi – was arrested Tuesday night on suspicion of links to ISIS, said a statement from a Tripoli militia known as the Special Deterrence Force. The younger Abedi was allegedly planning a terror attack in Libya when arrested, the militia reported. He was picked up while allegedly receiving a money transfer from Salman Abedi. CNN has not been able to independently verify the details from the militia. The UK Foreign Office, Metropolitan Police and Greater Manchester Police had no immediate comment on the reported arrest in Libya. The militia claims the younger Abedi admitted knowledge about the Manchester attack and was in Britain for its planning. The statement also said he left the UK in mid-April and had been under surveillance about a month and a half. Abedi’s father brought Salman and his younger brother to Libya from Manchester about a month ago because they were getting in trouble in England, a family friend in Libya told CNN. The father, a police officer whose name is Ramadan, took his sons’ passports so they could not travel, the friend said. The friend and another source in Manchester’s Libyan community said Salman got his passport back after telling his father he was going on a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia. He returned to England instead. Abedi carried out the attack three days after returning to the UK, said the family friend, who described the father as “shaking” after learning of his son’s involvement. US military officials said American and UK intelligence services, along with the Africa Command, are looking at the possibility Abedi could have met with ISIS members or operatives from al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, a North African militant organization. Rudd earlier slammed the US for leaking several details on the attack investigation as “irritating” and asked them to stop. Rudd refused to respond to Collomb’s comments that Abedi was believed to have been to Syria. She also refused to elaborate on reports in Arab media Abedi’s father had links to Islamist rebel groups in Libya. Abedi’s three weeks in Libya has raised questions about his travel and how aware British authorities were of him and his movements in recent weeks. US Africa Command, which oversees US military involvement in Libya, is using contacts there to learn where Abedi went and whom he might have met with, US military officials said. Abedi was a student at the University of Salford in Manchester. The university said he studied business and management but was not attending this semester. Libya has become a hotspot for terrorism since the downfall and death of dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011. ISIS has gained a foothold in the country, and a tenuous UN-backed government there has struggled to assume full command of the security situation. ISIS claimed Monday’s attack, saying on its Telegram channel Tuesday that a “soldier of the caliphate” planted explosive devices at the arena, according to a US counterterrorism source. ISIS routinely claims attacks with which it has no proven connection. CNN’s Atika Shubert, Salma Abdelaziz, Barbara Starr, Jomana Karadsheh, Paul Cruickshank, Samantha Beech, Darran Simon, Lauren Said-Moorhouse, Bryony Jones, Pamela Brown, Jomana Karadsheh, Evan Perez and Ross Levitt contributed to this report.

Salman Abedi and associated terror network


Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois sent a letter to Nicholas Calio, the head of Airlines for America The message follows recent examples of alleged discrimination against Muslim and Arab airline passengers Alarmed by recent examples of alleged discrimination against Muslim and Arab airline passengers, a senior Democratic senator pressed the trade association for the major U.S. air carriers to explain what it is doing to prevent future incidents. “Airlines are entrusted with enormous responsibilities to keep our skies safe while respecting the rights of all passengers,” said Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois in a letter to Nicholas Calio, the head of Airlines for America. “No airline passenger should be subject to discriminatory treatment on the basis of the passenger’s religion or ethnicity.” “Ethnic and religious discrimination strikes at the core of our nation’s commitment to equal protection for all,” he wrote in the letter, which was obtained by CNN. In an email to CNN, Airlines for America managing director for government and regulatory communications Vaughn Jennings wrote, “we look forward to reviewing Sen. Durbin’s concerns and will respond to him accordingly.” Durbin, the second-ranking Senate Democrat and member of the Judiciary Committee, cited three examples that “concern” him. The first was of Khairuldeen Makhzoomi, an Iraqi refugee who is a student at the University of California at Berkeley.  He was removed this month from a Southwest flight from Los Angeles to Oakland after another passenger overheard him speaking in Arabic on his cell phone. The call turned out to be to his uncle in Baghdad whom he was telling about a meeting the political science major had the night before with Secretary General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon. “I felt oppressed. I felt afraid,” Makhzoomi told CNN after the incident. The second involves a Muslim family from Illinois that is seeking an apology from United Airlines after being removed from a flight last month. That happened after the mother, who was wearing a headscarf, sought help from a flight attendant securing a child’s booster seat. United issued a statement saying the family was booked on another flight because the booster seat “did not comply with federal safety regulations.” The airline holds “our employees to the highest standards of professionalism” and has “zero tolerance for discrimination,” the statement said. The third incident occurred last year when a United Airlines flight attendant refused to give a Muslim chaplain an unopened can of soda, explaining it could be used as a weapon. The airline later apologized. In his letter, Durbin citied U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch recently saying there has been “an alarming increase in anti-Muslim bigotry.” Durbin asked the trade association to answer three areas of inquiry related to what type of diversity and nondiscrimination training its member airlines carry out for their employees, what complaint procedures they have in place for people who feel they’ve been discriminated against and whether the airlines have procedures in place to fully investigate allegations of discrimination.