Trump is abroad, but revelations continue He will return to the US amid a cloud of controversy President Donald Trump may have nothing to hide when it comes to alleged links between his campaign and Russia – but he is behaving in a way that makes it look like he does. Related article Ex-CIA chief John Brennan: 'Russia brazenly interfered' in US elections The President is now facing questions about two potential incidents of obstruction of justice: applying pressure on and eventually firing FBI Director James Comey, and separately leaning on National Security Agency Director Adm. Mike Rogers and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats to publicly deny any collusion between his aides and a Russian operation to disrupt the election last year, according to sources cited by The Washington Post and CNN. Of all the rapid-fire revelations, these could be the most serious. They indicate not just a single decision, but a possible pattern of behavior – the scope of which appears to be broadening. A key question moving forward will be whether the President or his advisers had intent to influence the investigation into contacts between Russia and his campaign, or whether Trump’s actions were solely an attempt to manage a bad public relations cycle. The eye-opening new chapter in the swirling Russia saga unfolded as Trump was trying to recast the political narrative of a young presidency already facing an existential crisis. Related article Coats not commenting on report Trump asked him to deny evidence of Russia collusion But as he basked in red carpet welcomes – and some favorable headlines – in Saudi Arabia and Israel on his first foreign tour, his political and possibly legal plight back home seemed to be inexorably worsening. Sources with knowledge of the events confirmed Washington Post reporting Monday that Trump spoke to the two men after then-FBI chief Comey testified in March that the bureau was investigating whether there had been cooperation between the Russian operation and members of Trump’s campaign team. For Democrats, the new revelations added to the rapidly accumulating  pile of evidence that Trump conspired to obstruct justice. They also highlight Trump’s decision to fire Comey, and subsequent comments in an NBC interview that he did it out of frustration with the Russia probe. The disclosures over the past few days also include sensational reports last week that Trump told a high-level Russia delegation in the Oval Office that firing the “nut job” Comey had relieved “great pressure” over the Russia investigation. Trump’s critics are using the latest claims to bolster their contention that the White House is sailing into deeply questionable legal waters. The prospect of impeachment, distant though it may be, was once little more than a liberal pipe dream, but is now at the center of many conversations in Washington. Most of all, the sheer pace of the revelations, driven by almost daily reports by newspapers like The Washington Post, The New York Times, and by CNN, has made it impossible for the White House to frame a workable defense – even when the President was in the country. After all, Trump’s administration is only four months old. To have this kind of a drumbeat of scandal and revelation this early in a presidency is highly unusual. “I’m as shocked as anybody else, but it keeps coming,” Democratic Sen Joe Manchin told CNN’s Erin Burnett on Monday night. “This is coming at a pretty fast pace right now.” What nobody, possibly apart from Trump himself can know, is what lies behind his actions. But there are at least two possible opposing rationales. The most serious rests on the possibility that Trump does indeed have something to hide – some past link to Russia or involvement in the hacking scheme either personally or by one of the people in his inner circle. In logical terms, that would at least explain the decision to sack Comey, his comments to NBC and leaked accounts of his conversations with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Russian ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. Such a scenario would also validate Democratic claims that Trump has already abused his powers or obstructed justice, offenses that were at the centerpiece of articles of impeachment against Presidents Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton. In its Monday night article that first revealed Trump’s conversations with Rogers and Coats, The Washington Post reached for another historical analogy that will also trouble Trump’s supporters. It quoted Jeffrey H. Smith, a former general counsel of the CIA as saying that Trump’s move recalled President Richard Nixon’s “unsuccessful efforts to use the CIA to shut down the FBI’s investigation of the Watergate break-in on national security grounds.” Smith described Trump’s actions as “an appalling abuse of power.” Trump’s West Wing was unable or unwilling to provide any explanation that diminished the impact of the latest bombshell. “The White House does not confirm or deny unsubstantiated claims based on illegal leaks from anonymous individuals,” said a White House spokesperson who declined to be named. “The President will continue to focus on his agenda that he was elected to pursue by the American people.” But even if Trump is really covering something bad up, his behavior would still add up to an extraordinarily reckless strategy, that no one with any Washington experience would think could ever be remotely successful. Seeking to involve such experienced intelligence and political operators like Comey, Rogers and Coats for instance would almost certainly expose the President to grave political risk. It’s no surprise that Comey penned a memo detailing what he saw as troublesome conversations with Trump. An alternative explanation for the President’s response to the allegations allows for the possibility that there is no collusion with the Russians, or any nefarious behavior by his aides – at least that he is aware of – and encounters with the spy bosses instead reflect a catastrophic oblivion to barriers and protocols that exist between presidents and key intelligence operatives. Related article DOJ: No ethics conflict for special counsel in Russia probe It’s possible that the President’s fury is brewed from yet more frustration that he is not getting his due over last year’s election victory, and that he feels the permanent Washington establishment, of the media, Washington politicians and the intelligence agencies are victimizing him because he’s an outsider. “I don’t think anybody knew what to expect, to be honest with you. But the President isn’t a politician and I think you are seeing the good of that and some of the side problems that come with that, too,” Republican Sen. Marco Rubio said on CNN’s “New Day” on Tuesday. Trump’s fellow Republicans have little choice but to look on at the madcap cycle of revelations and suspicion that is unfolding and adopt the most hopeful interpretation of events. “It would be troubling for this President or any President to be viewed as interfering or take actions that would be interfering with any investigation and one of the things we would want to understand,” said Utah Republican Rep. Chris Stewart on “New Day.” But Stewart also suggested that Trump’s calls with Rogers and Coats could be be more innocent than they appear to many Democrats. “I think he was asking them to make a public comment on something he believed had come and gone, that is that he wasn’t under investigation for collusion. I think he wanted that to be known publicly. I’m not an attorney but it’s hard for me to believe it’s viewed as illegal and technically obstruction,” he said. Whatever the explanation, one that may only become clear to outsiders after special counsel Robert Mueller wraps up his investigation, probably after many months, it’s clear that the way Trump is handling the scrutiny is making the situation far worse from a political and possibly even legal point of view. It’s hard to believe that the President or his White House aides could have settled on the course of action Trump has pursued as a rational strategy to get out from under the Russian cloud that is now choking his administration. When he lands back in Washington early next week he will return to a White House under siege. He will face the blowback from what is already shaping up as one of the most eagerly awaited congressional appearances in decades, from Comey, sometime after Memorial Day. It remains unclear however how much the former FBI chief will say before he has consulted Mueller about his evidence that is expected to allege Trump asked him to shut down investigations into former national security adviser Michael Flynn. The latest revelations about Trump’s conversations with Rogers and Coats will fray the already tenuous relationship between the President and key members of his intelligence agencies and their capacity to work with the White House. Sources told CNN’s Jim Scuitto Monday that both men were uncomfortable with the nature of Trump’s request and refused to say that there was no collusion between the campaign and the Russians. “It goes further in my mind as a member of the intelligence committee than just the focus on the Russia investigation,” Rubio said. “I think it goes into the very nature of the intelligence community’s work and its ability to work with the executive branch and the presidency.” With Trump out of the country, the Russian thriller that is gripping Washington politics spun through a couple of new plot twists on Tuesday. Former CIA Director John Brennan was testifying before the House Intelligence Committee and was likely to be put on the spot about what the Obama administration knew about Russian election meddling. And the most intriguing figures of the hour, Coats and Rogers were due to appear before the Senate and House Armed Services committees. Their ostensible topic is budget issues but both men are likely to face a grilling from Democrats over the latest reports about their contacts with Trump. Yet another aspect of the now sprawling Russia mystery is also likely to challenge the White House – the increasing legal peril of Flynn. The former national security adviser is pleading his Fifth Amendment rights rather than comply with a subpoena to turn over documents related to the Senate intelligence’s committee’s probe into Russian election meddling. Of course, Flynn is exercising his constitutional rights against self incrimination and his move should not be seen as an admission of guilt. But his action further stokes speculation and intrigue that is damaging to the White House along with an impression that the Russia matter is now having serious consequences for people close to Trump and reaching into his inner circle. After all, Trump was advised by people including former President Barack Obama and his supporter, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie that Flynn was a poor fit for the administration and ignored them. Subsequent events, including Flynn’s telling of untruths to Vice President Mike Pence about the content of his conversations with Kislyak, that led to his resignation, at the very least reflect poorly on the President’s judgment in offering him such a senior administration post. None of this, for now, seems to have changed the reality that the ultimate threat facing Trump – impeachment, is a political question as much as a legal one. Despite clear discomfort about two weeks of often barely believable allegations, it’s not clear yet that Republican leaders are any closer to cutting their president loose. But the appointment of Mueller last week means that the Russia story is now a long game, and even incremental damage, week by week to Trump’s image and popularity could seriously weaken his political position, potentially increasing his vulnerability at the moment when Mueller finally reaches his conclusions.


The Taliban strengthened its hold over Afghanistan in the second half of last year, according to new US military data released to CNN on Tuesday. In October 2017, 14% of Afghan districts were under the control or influence of the Taliban or other insurgents, an increase of one percentage point on the previous data from August. The official figures offer a rare and tangible measure in which to assess the ongoing war – a war that President Trump has pledged to win. The newly released figures have been subject to some controversy, however. The US government’s own ombudsman of the war, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), had earlier complained the US military had barred the information from being released to the public. Related article Kabul military base attack shows ISIS and Taliban are in a brutal race The new data was released by US Forces in Afghanistan to CNN following inquiries on SIGAR’s complaint. According to the new information, 56% of districts were under Afghan government control or influence in October, while 30% are contested with the insurgency. The increase, though incremental, is indicative of the Afghan army’s loosening grip on the country in the face of a determined Taliban insurgency. In November 2015, the Afghan government controlled about 72% of the country, while the insurgents influenced just 7%. The news of the continued creep of Taliban influence in Afghanistan comes at the end of a week of violence and bloodshed across the country, which has left more than 130 people dead. Both the Taliban and ISIS have claimed separate attacks in Kabul, including a siege at an international hotel that killed 22 people as well as a devastating suicide bombing using an ambulance. Afghanistan’s government declared a national day of mourning on Monday in response to the attack, but residents of Kabul have told CNN they no longer feel safe in their own capital. A spokesman for US Forces in Afghanistan said the data was never meant to be restricted from the public and the SIGAR complaint was based on a misunderstanding. But SIGAR insists it was originally told the information could not be made public. John Sopko, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, said he was pleased the information had finally been released. “It’s unfortunate that they only did so after the press started to ask questions. We hope now they will release all the other important information they have unreasonably withheld from the American people,” he said. Previously, US forces have classified another key barometer of success in the war: the number of Afghan soldiers or police killed. They cited an Afghan government request to do so.


Khare is one of Pennsylvania's 20 electors He's received thousands of letters asking him not to vote for Trump Ash Khare came to America from India with two bachelor’s degrees, $8 in his pocket and a dream – the American dream. This year, he has a chance to realize that dream in an important way. A chance he could have never imagined growing up as a poor child in India. A chance he is proud of, he says with tears welling up in his eyes. Ash Khare is one of the 538 people who make up the Electoral College who today will cast their votes for president. Related article Electoral College set to make Trump's win official Khare arrived in America in 1969 on a scholarship to Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey. He was 21 years old.  At the time, India was a closed economy and Khare was a young man with drive and smarts, but no connections. “In India at that time to succeed and grow in a profession you had to be connected. I had no connections. We grew up in real poverty,” he says. “I even had to take a loan to buy my airplane ticket to America.” Related article Five enduring mysteries about Trump's victory Here, he learned he also needed more than a degree. He says he quickly realized the need to understand the culture, the correct way of speaking and how things were done. “I learned that by working in a grocery store for three years where I met all kinds of different people, some rich, some poor,” Khare says. After pushing past the initial struggles of poverty and loneliness that many immigrants face, he is a successful engineer and businesses owner. He’s also a serious player in the Pennsylvania Republican Party after embracing American politics with the gusto of a new convert in the first decades of his American life. “I’m a political junkie,” Khare says proudly. Being an elector is one of Ash Khare’s crowning achievements as an American. He gravitated toward the GOP in the 80’s and will proudly vote to elect Donald J. Trump, a fellow Republican, to the nation’s highest office. Khare knows how rare of a chance this is – it’s been nearly 30 years since a Republican presidential candidate won the swing state. Though he’s long been a player in helping elect Republicans to state office, this feels a bit different, he says. “I was a nobody that came from a third world country,” Khare says. He paused, choking back tears as he finished his thought. “And I am making a difference. It’s not by a handout. It’s by hard work and loyalty. That’s all.” Khare has made it very clear that he is going to do exactly what he said he would do: vote for the person his electorate voted for – Donald Trump. Despite his pride, Khare is paying a price for his role in picking the next president. A price he didn’t expect nor predict. Within hours 24 hours of Trump’s victory, Khare says his wife called to tell him he suddenly had 5,000 emails. Within a week, he had tens of thousands of emails. Then came the bags of mail. Then came the phone calls. Related article It's time for the Electoral College to fall on its sword Messages were pouring in from all over his state, the country and the world. They all had one simple directive: Do not vote for Donald Trump. Some of the missives came in Christmas cards, one came with a picture of a family saying they were afraid of Trump. Most pleaded with him– and a few threatened him – to change his mind. “This has for the time being turned my life upside down. I can’t find my bills in all the mail. I can’t find emails that pertain to my business. Even my rural post office had to designate someone specifically to deliver my mail because there is simply too much of it,” Khare said. He hauled in three suitcases filled with a few days’ worth of mail. They contained 3,300 letters. “What am I supposed to do with all of these?” Khare said. He’s read some, kept some and thrown some out. A new batch arrives every day.  He’s handed a few over to law enforcement, which led to a plainclothes officer being assigned to protect him. While he recognizes the rights of people to try to persuade him to change his vote, he will not be swayed. “I am doing my duty,” Khare said. “I am for Mr. Trump. I am for his agenda. I am totally excited. The way he his picking his cabinet, the way he is doing his thing. I believe the greatest days of this country are yet to come.  And I am glad I am alive to be able to see it.”  He says he is sure the 19 other Pennsylvania electors will vote for Trump too. Khare says the only difference he foresees between himself and his fellow electors is that when he’s sworn in as a member of the Electoral College at the Pennsylvania House chambers, he will not be putting his hand on the Bible. As a Hindu, he says his hand will rest on the Bhagavad Gita – holy scriptures written in Sanskrit that form part of several holy books in Hinduism. “I was asked what is my holy book. I told them. And they said okay they would bring one. This is America.” CNN’s Stephanie Becker contributed to this report


The FBI rejected a recent White House request to publicly knock down media reports about communications between Donald Trump’s associates and Russians known to US intelligence during the 2016 presidential campaign, multiple US officials briefed on the matter tell CNN. But a White House official said late Thursday that the request was only made after the FBI indicated to the White House it did not believe the reporting to be accurate. White House officials had sought the help of the bureau and other agencies investigating the Russia matter to say that the reports were wrong and that there had been no contacts, the officials said. The reports of the contacts were first published by The New York Times and CNN on February 14. The direct communications between the White House and the FBI were unusual because of decade-old restrictions on such contacts. Such a request from the White House is a violation of procedures that limit communications with the FBI on pending investigations. Late Thursday night, White House press secretary Sean Spicer objected to CNN’s characterization of the White House request to the FBI. “We didn’t try to knock the story down. We asked them to tell the truth,” Spicer said. The FBI declined to comment for this story. Related article Trump aides were in constant touch with senior Russian officials during campaign The discussions between the White House and the bureau began with FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus on the sidelines of a separate White House meeting the day after the stories were published, according to a US law enforcement official. The White House initially disputed that account, saying that McCabe called Priebus early that morning and said The New York Times story vastly overstates what the FBI knows about the contacts. But a White House official later corrected their version of events to confirm what the law enforcement official described. The same White House official said that Priebus later reached out again to McCabe and to FBI Director James Comey asking for the FBI to at least talk to reporters on background to dispute the stories. A law enforcement official says McCabe didn’t discuss aspects of the case but wouldn’t say exactly what McCabe told Priebus. Comey rejected the request for the FBI to comment on the stories, according to sources, because the alleged communications between Trump associates and Russians known to US intelligence are the subject of an ongoing investigation. The White House did issue its own denial, with Priebus calling The New York Times story “complete garbage.” “The New York Times put out an article with no direct sources that said that the Trump campaign had constant contacts with Russian spies, basically, you know, some treasonous type of accusations. We have now all kinds of people looking into this. I can assure you and I have been approved to say this – that the top levels of the intelligence community have assured me that that story is not only inaccurate, but it’s grossly overstated and it was wrong. And there’s nothing to it,” Preibus said on “Fox News Sunday” last weekend. CNN has previously reported that there was constant communication between high-level advisers to then-candidate Trump, Russian officials and other Russians known to US intelligence during the summer of 2016. Several members of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees tell CNN that the congressional investigations are continuing into those alleged Russian contacts with the Trump campaign, despite Priebus’ assertion that there is nothing to those reports. It is uncertain what the committees will eventually find and whether any of the information will ever be declassified and publicly released. But the push to investigate further shows that Capitol Hill is digging deeper into areas that may not be comfortable for the White House. The Trump administration’s efforts to press Comey run contrary to Justice Department procedure memos issued in 2007 and 2009 that limit direct communications on pending investigations between the White House and the FBI. “Initial communications between the [Justice] Department and the White House concerning pending or contemplated criminal investigations or cases will involve only the Attorney General or the Deputy Attorney General, from the side of the Department, and the Counsel to the President, the Principal Deputy Counsel to the President, the President, or the Vice President from the side of the White House,” reads the 2009 memo. The memos say the communication should only happen when it is important for the President’s duties and where appropriate from a law enforcement perspective. A Department of Justice spokesman said Attorney General Jeff Sessions is reviewing the memos and that “the Department is following the guidelines in its communications with the White House.” The effort to refute the CNN and New York Times stories came as increasing numbers of congressional members were voicing concern about Russia’s efforts to influence individuals with ties to Trump. On February 17, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence held a briefing with Comey. It’s unclear what was said, but senators suggested there was new information discussed about Russia. “Every briefing we go through we gain new information,” said Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma, a member of the committee. Lankford declined to be more specific about the briefing. Sen. Angus King of Maine also declined to reveal what was discussed during the Comey briefing. In response to a question on Priebus’ strong denial of the claims, King said he was “surprised” that Priebus would be “that categorical.” Rep. Eric Swalwell of California, a Democratic member of the House Intelligence Committee, said the goal of his panel’s inquiry is to follow “leads wherever they go even if they may be uncomfortable to Republicans.” “The American public will want to know if the President had personal or financial ties to the Russian government,” Swalwell said. UPDATED: This story has been updated to reflect new information and comment from the White House.


Three months before the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump Jr. met with a small group of people at Trump Tower in New York, including an emissary for two Arab princes and an Israeli social media specialist, who offered assistance to the Trump campaign, The New York Times reported on Saturday, citing several people with knowledge of the encounters. The Times identified the emissary as George Nader, a Lebanese-American businessman, and reported that he informed Trump Jr., President Donald Trump’s son, “that the princes who led Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were eager to help his father win election as president.” The newspaper reported that the social media expert and Israeli, Joel Zamel, talked about how his company could help a political campaign gain an advantage. According to the Times, the company had by then put together “a multimillion-dollar proposal for a social media manipulation effort to help elect Mr. Trump.” It is unclear, however, whether a proposal was ever executed, and details on who commissioned it remain in dispute, the Times reported. Prominent Trump supporter Erik Prince organized the meeting, the Times reported. Prince is the former CEO of the controversial private security firm Blackwater, which was later renamed and sold and now operates as Academi, and is the brother of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. Alan Futerfas, a lawyer representing Trump Jr., told CNN in a statement “Prior to the 2016 election, Donald Trump Jr. recalls a meeting with Eric (sic) Prince, George Nader, and another individual who may be Joel Zamel. They pitched Mr. Trump Jr. on a social media platform or marketing strategy. He was not interested and that was the end of it. “ CNN has previously reported that Nader was stopped and questioned by FBI agents at Washington Dulles International Airport in January and is cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election and any links between Trump campaign associates and the Russian government, two sources familiar with the matter told CNN. A lawyer for Nader, Kathryn Ruemmler, told the Times he has “fully cooperated with the special counsel’s investigation and will continue to do so.” Ruemmler did not immediately return a request for comment from CNN. CNN has also reported that Nader attended a December 2016 meeting in New York between Emirati officials and members of Trump’s inner circle, and another in January 2017 in the Seychelles islands between the Emiratis and Prince. Nader was also in the Seychelles when Prince met with a Russian banker, the sources familiar with the matter told CNN. A senior official in Saudi Arabia told the Times that the country has never employed Nader or given him authorization to speak on behalf of the crown prince. A lawyer representing Joel Zamel pushed back on the report in a statement to CNN, saying that Zamel “offered nothing to the Trump campaign, received nothing from the Trump campaign, delivered nothing to the Trump campaign and was not solicited by, or asked to do anything for, the Trump campaign.” The lawyer, Marc Mukasey, said that “media reports about Mr. Zamel’s engaging in ‘social media manipulation’ are misguided. Mr. Zamel’s companies harvest publicly available information for lawful use.” The White House did not return the Times’ request for comment, nor CNN’s request for comment, and Prince declined to comment to The Times through a spokesman. A request for comment from Prince sent to Frontier Services Group, which lists Prince as executive director and chairman, by CNN was not immediately returned. Mueller is already investigating another Trump Tower meeting involving Trump Jr. and other Trump campaign associates, including the President’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, as well as a Russian lawyer with ties to the Kremlin. That meeting took place in June 2016 after Trump Jr. was told that the crown prosecutor of Russia wanted to give incriminating information about Hillary Clinton to the Trump campaign. The Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, focused on US sanctions on Russia under the Magnitsky Act, which the US passed to punish Russians over human rights abuses, as well as “the adoption of Russian children by U.S. citizens,” according to Trump Jr.’s testimony on the meeting provided to the Senate Judiciary Committee. “I did not collude with any foreign government and do not know of anyone who did,” Trump Jr. said in his testimony. Prince, a Trump supporter during the campaign, has also come under scrutiny as part of efforts to probe Russia’s election meddling. CNN has previously reported that Prince testified to House lawmakers that he met with the head of a Russian investment fund in the Seychelles, but he said the meeting was not an attempt to establish a back channel between the incoming Trump administration and Russia and was not undertaken at the request of Trump transition officials. The Wall Street Journal reported later Saturday afternoon that Mueller has conducted interviews related to Zamel’s work, citing individuals familiar with the matter. The Journal said it had reviewed a subpoena “concerning Mr. Zamel’s work, but not issued to Mr. Zamel.” In response to a CNN request for comment on the Journal’s report, Mukasey, Zamel’s attorney, said in an e-mail, “We have been assured that our client is not a target of any investigation. This is much ado about nothing.” When asked for additional detail on when that assurance was made and by whom, Mukasey said, “Joel was interviewed by Mueller’s team months ago and was cooperative and transparent. I won’t comment on discussions with Mueller’s team, but Joel is not a target.” CNN’s Shimon Prokupecz, Kara Scannell, Sara Murray, Manu Raju, Jeremy Herb and Marshall Cohen contributed to this report.


The South Carolina Republican warned of rising prices on goods from Mexico "Any tariff we can levy they can levy. Huge barrier to econ growth," Graham tweeted Sen. Lindsey Graham isn’t quite ready to toast a potential 20% border tax on Mexico. The South Carolina Republican warned of rising prices on goods from Mexico, in particular citing “Corona, tequila or margaritas” if the Trump administration were to slap a 20% tax on imports from Mexico to help pay for a border wall along the US-Mexico border. “Border security yes, tariffs no. Mexico is 3rd largest trading partner. Any tariff we can levy they can levy. Huge barrier to econ growth,” the South Carolina Republican senator said in a pair of tweets. “Simply put, any policy proposal which drives up costs of Corona, tequila, or margaritas is a big-time bad idea. Mucho Sad.” Simply put, any policy proposal which drives up costs of Corona, tequila, or margaritas is a big-time bad idea. Mucho Sad. (2) President Donald Trump himself, of course, is known to end tweets by deciding something to be “sad.” Graham – who, as a GOP presidential primary candidate, once joked “we’re going to drink more” if he were elected – is a frequent critic of the President. White House press secretary Sean Spicer announced the proposal earlier Thursday, saying the President was backing the plan and had just discussed it with congressional Republicans in a private meeting. Hours later, amid an uproar from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, Spicer said that he was simply putting forward one idea Trump is considering to show how the administration could fund the multibillion-dollar construction of a wall on the US’s southern border.


Caught between an ascendent China and an increasingly unreliable United States, Singapore’s diplomatic future is at the heart of a debate on who really calls the shots in Asia. The Lion City has historically had strong relations with both countries, an ally in Asia for Washington during the Cold War and one of China’s first partners in their efforts to modernize their economy. Over the years Singapore has been very good at picking “the middle path” between the two superpowers, analysts tell CNN, balancing their positive relationships with both America and China. But as new US President Donald Trump’s attention drifts and Chinese leader Xi Jinping grows more powerful, Singapore finds itself in a tenuous position. “If anyone can do this balancing act, Singapore can,” Kerry Brown, director of the Lau China Institute at King’s College London, told CNN. “If Singapore can’t, no one can.” Just seven years ago it seemed like Singapore’s path was stable and secure. “We are in Asia; Asia is booming,” Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in an interview in 2010. “China is a big story and a major trading partner for us, but China is not the whole story … America plays a role in Asia which China cannot replace, and nobody can replace.” Singapore, which marks its National Day August 9,  is politically and geographically unique. The South East Asian nation, which is home to a majority ethnic Chinese population, is the only country in the world to have both English and Mandarin among its official languages. With a population of five million, the Lion City is also a international financial hub and a fiercely free market. As its neighbors have succumbed to successive waves of political and financial turmoil, Singapore has remained prosperous and stable. “It’s a bridge between the West and the East,” Wang Yiwei, professor at the School of International Studies at the Renmin University of China said. Singapore sits on one of the world’s most valuable trade routes, the Straits of Malacca, through which a huge portion of Asia’s oil flows every day. The former British colony is today one of the one of the richest countries in the world, in terms of GDP per capita. In 2015, hundreds of billions of dollars in exports and imports poured through Singapore’s teeming waterways, consistently the second busiest container port in the world after Shanghai. Politically, Singapore regularly punches above its weight. The city state was a founding member of ASEAN, the powerful grouping of south-east Asian nations including Indonesia and the Philippines, and since 2010 has often been invited to participate in G20 events. CNN contacted Singapore’s Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan for this story but he didn’t respond to a request for comment. The country’s power doesn’t just come from its wealth but also from the powerful friendships it has made with the world’s two largest superpowers. Singapore has close historic and military ties to the United States, forged during the Cold War when former leader Lee Kuan Yew took a firm stand against communism in South East Asia. “When the United States was fighting the Vietnam war, Singapore offered a place for US troops to come for their vacation, sometimes dock their ships and refuel their aircraft,” Chong Ja Ian, associate professor at National University of Singapore’s Department of Political Science, said. Today, it hosts a US air and naval presence,  including the Littoral Combat ship USS Coronado, and more than 1,000 active duty and civilian personnel, who provide repairs and resupply to members of the US’s 7th Fleet. Despite Lee’s firm stance against communism, Singapore was also quick to embrace China once it began to open up economically in the 1980s under then-paramount leader Deng Xiaoping. “Singapore seized the opportunity for working with the Chinese … in terms of friendship it blossomed very quickly, not just because of of the economic opportunities but linguistic similarities that made it a bit easier for them to enter the Chinese market earlier,” Chong said. In 2015, China’s Xi demonstrated how highly Singapore sat in Beijing’s estimation when he held a landmark meeting with then President of Taiwan Ma Ying-jeou in the city. The tactic paid off: China and the United States are today two of Singapore’s largest trading partners, according to UN numbers. A full quarter of Singapore’s exports, about $60 billion, are destined for China and Hong Kong while $30 billion of its imports flood in from the United States. Wang said Singapore is also an important hub for two of China’s major political and economic initiatives in the region – the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and Xi’s One Belt One Road global investment strategy. “It’s very natural … Singapore is a very important international trade and finance center not only in China but also for other countries (in the region),” he said. But in the past year, amid the rise of both Trump and an assertive Beijing, Singapore’s position has become less simple. “China sees Singapore as being too close to America and there’s a sense in which that’s correct,” said Michael Barr, associate professor of International Relations at Adelaide’s Flinders University and author of “The Ruling Elite of Singapore.” Barr said Singapore is uncomfortable with the unpredictability of President Trump, whose country the Lion State still relies heavily on for their ongoing security. “This is their dilemma. There is not a lot they can do about pulling back from America … (but) they know full well that in the long term they have to orient towards China,” he said. As with so much political wrangling in South East Asia, Singapore’s problems began with the South China Sea. Relations between Singapore and China certainly haven’t always been smooth. At an ASEAN meeting in Vietnam in 2010, incensed by discussions over the South China Sea, then-China foreign minister Yang Jiechi issued a warning to the Singaporean minister in attendance. “China is a big country and other countries are small countries, and that’s just a fact,” he said to the crowded room. Six years later, Singapore urged China to abide by a UN arbitration on the South China Sea, which was originally filed by the Philippines despite huge protests from Beijing. China immediately plunged relations with Singapore into a deep chill. Related article Friends again? China's premier to visit Singapore In November 2016, nine of Singapore’s armored troop carriers were impounded for two months in Hong Kong on their way back from Taiwan. It was widely seen as a slap on the wrist by Chinese authorities. While in May 2017, Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee was conspicuously absent from China’s One Belt One Road Forum in Beijing, despite being an early supporter of the initiative. Singapore’s relations with China appear to have since begun to improve. Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang has accepted an invitation to visit the city state and President Xi had a friendly chat with Singapore’s leader on the sidelines of the G20 in July. But the freeze showed China is fully willing to exercise its ever-growing regional and international power against countries who go against its interests. “China has reached the stage … where they feel that they can dictate to smaller powers the relationship they will have with China, and if they wish to exercise levels of independence then China will decide how far they can go,” Barr said. “It will be more and more like living with a cranky bear in a small cave.” In the past, Singapore’s strong security alliance with the United States helped temper concerns regarding China. But that’s no longer the case. “No one (in Asia) really knows what’s happening in Washington,” explained Brown. “Singapore are very aware they can’t make any assumptions now, their assumption for the past 50 years is that keep close to the Americans no matter what. But now the big boys are acting in a very unpredictable way.” The new US president hasn’t visited the Lion State but his Secretary of Defense James Mattis swung by in June for the annual Shangri-La Dialogue Asian Security Summit. Related article US defense chief: 'Americans will do the right thing' in Pacific “Once we’ve exhausted all possible alternatives, the Americans will do the right thing. We will still be there,” he said, pledging to stand by Washington’s allies in Asia. But experts have questioned whether the Obama Administration’s highly publicized pivot to Asia would survive under President Trump. There may also be stark policy disagreements between the two countries, on a topic they were previously in lockstep. Singapore is one of the world’s staunchest defenders of the free trade, because without it the tiny city-state would not be able to exist. Trump has promised an “America First” trade policy, more focused on one-on-one trade deals and possible tariffs, as well as raising the question of embargoes against China. “Trump on his own has the capacity to take away any good and sensible reason for Singapore and most of Asia to maintain relations with the US,” Barr said. “If he seriously goes down the path of closing down free trade, putting up obstacles, being an unreliable ally … I can see not just Singapore but the whole of South East Asia lining up with China.” Singapore is not alone in considering what Asia’s future will look like with a dominant China and an inward-looking United States. “Philippines, Malaysia, all across the region there’s been a real push (by Beijing),” Brown said. “Singapore is not unique, it’s just because Singapore’s been so adept at balancing (both sides).” One of the first signs of a closer relationship between Singapore and Beijing would be any changes to their military exercises with Taiwan, a sensitive topic between the two countries, as China views it as a breakaway province. “I think there is an awareness that at the end of the day the relationship with China is so much more important than anything else, in terms of economics, so they might think of this as something of a tradeoff,” Brown said. But already Singapore’s rhetoric has begun to change. In his Singapore National Day speech in 2016, Prime Minister Lee’s language had come a long way from his 2010 interview, where he said China could never replace the US. “We are friends with both America and with China … Both believe the Pacific is vast enough to accommodate both powers and President Xi said recently that America and China should “cultivate common circles of friends,” he told his countrymen. “That is precisely what Singapore’s trying to do.”


The White House holds a rare briefing for the entire Senate on North Korea Wednesday Friday, the US hosts a meeting at the UN about Pyongyang's nuclear program North Korea put on a muscle-flexing display of artillery power Tuesday to mark a national holiday and thumb its nose at US President Donald Trump’s declaration that the country has “gotta behave.” Pyongyang staged the pounding display of large caliber guns used in land warfare – perhaps a reminder that Seoul and its US military base lie within easy reach – shortly after detaining an American teacher, the third US citizen held by the regime. The US staged its own response, beginning joint naval drills in the region with South Korea and Japan as the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson moved toward the Korean Peninsula and one of the most powerful submarines in the American arsenal arrived in South Korea – part of an “armada” the US was sending to the region, Trump told the Fox Business Network in mid-April. On Wednesday, the White House will hold an unusual briefing about the Hermit Kingdom, with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Defense Secretary James Mattis and other officials outlining the threat for the entire Senate. On Friday, Tillerson will host a meeting on North Korea at the UN. And on Monday, Trump called on visiting UN ambassadors to apply more sanctions on Pyongyang. Related video US submarine arrives in South Korea Tensions surrounding North Korea, long on the rise, have risen sharply since Trump took office. Pyongyang has continued its pursuit of nuclear weapons and the missile capability to deliver a bomb as far as the continental US, even as the new president has declared the status quo is “unacceptable.” Trump is making a full-force effort to get China to pressure the rogue regime into compliance, declaring that if Beijing doesn’t do something, “we will.” North Korea responded in a statement Tuesday, slamming the “ridiculous and foolhardy” Trump administration for taking steps that are “little short of lighting the fuse of a total war under the present touch-and-go situation on the Korean Peninsula.” The statement, attributed to a Foreign Ministry spokesman and using the acronym for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, said that “the root causes of pushing the DPRK to have access to nukes” included US attempts to isolate them internationally along with “the nuclear threat” the US has posed to North Korea for “more than half a century.” The DPRK will stand against the US and “cut the windpipe of the US imperialists by dint of the strong revolutionary forces with the nuclear force, an almighty treasured sword, as their pivot,” the statement said. Related video North Korea's weapons: How dangerous are they? The growing danger has alarmed observers, analysts and lawmakers alike, in part because all attempts by former administrations to stop or slow the North Korean program through sanctions, aid, talks and attempts to draw Pyongyang into the world community have failed. North Korea is expected to conduct a sixth nuclear test imminently. “Kim Jong Un’s regime has thrown its full weight behind its quest for nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them,” John McCain, an Arizona Republican and chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Tuesday. “And unfortunately, the regime is making real progress.” “A North Korean missile with a nuclear payload capable of striking an American city is no longer a distant hypothetical, but an imminent danger – one that poses a real and rising risk of conflict,” McCain said. Kim’s steady progress and his ability to wreak havoc on South Korea and Japan with the missiles and weapons he already has means there are few good options beyond the pursuit of more sanctions – which Trump called for Monday during a White House meeting with ambassadors from the UN Security Council. “The council must be prepared to impose additional and stronger sanctions on North Korean nuclear and ballistic missile programs,” Trump said. His other options – ones used by previous administrations – include pressure, diplomacy and deterrence. Trump moved quickly on the diplomacy front, sending Mattis and Tillerson to Asia, while two of the President’s first visitors were Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Related video North Koreans celebrate 'Army day' And on the pressure and deterrence fronts, Trump is pushing to get more help from China, Pyongyang’s main protector. It’s a strategy that critics and supporters endorse even as they express doubts about how committed China is. “Engaging with China and making this more their problem than our problem is the only path forward that I see in the short term,” Senator Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat, said on MSNBC Tuesday. But the increasingly tough rhetoric about North Korea isn’t helping, according to some experts. Trump’s tough talk has been echoed by those who back the idea of a muscular response to North Korea. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Tuesday that “if you’re North Korea and you’re betting that Donald Trump is all talk and no action, you’re making a big mistake.” Earlier in the day, Graham had Tweeted that “Pres @realDonaldTrump is NOT going to let the nutjob in North Korea develop a missile – with a nuclear weapon on top – that can hit the US.” Pres @realDonaldTrump is NOT going to let the nutjob in North Korea develop a missile - with a nuclear weapon on top - that can hit the US. On Monday, the President spoke about North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at a reception for conservative media outlets, saying, “I’m not so sure he’s so strong like he says he is, I’m not so sure at all.” The comment, experts said, would almost certainly get under the 33-year-old dictator’s skin. “It’s been all about pressure and brinksmanship and military tools and tactics and (chest-thumping), and now to literally, directly taunt the leader of North Korea is like poking the hornet’s nest yet again,” said Paul Carroll, program director at the Ploughshares Fund, a group working to eliminate nuclear weapons. Experts like Carroll and others warn that North Korea, which celebrated the 85th anniversary of its founding Tuesday, would see the US rhetoric as a threat and, coupled with the increased US military activity in the region, could be provoked into action. The Michigan, the powerful nuclear submarine that docked in the South Korean port city of Busan Tuesday, can be armed with 154 conventional cruise missiles, the same type of missiles the US launched against Syria several weeks ago, and is capable of supporting special operations. US defense officials described the port call as a show of force amid the rising tensions. “If you do this kind of ratcheting (up) of rhetorical tensions but also sending military hardware into the region, if you do that absent of any kind of offramp or door or window for the North Koreans to consider walking through and reengaging in any sort of discussions, bad things are going to happen,” Carroll said. Seoul, with its population of about 10 million people, lies within 35 miles of the border with North Korea, which has the world’s largest standing army of more than 1.2 million active soldiers and plenty of conventional weaponry that puts the South Korean capital within reach. And there are handy US targets as well. North Korea said on Sunday it was ready to sink Trump’s armada. “Our revolutionary forces are combat-ready to sink a US nuclear powered aircraft carrier with a single strike,” said a commentary in the paper of the country’s ruling Workers’ Party. The Rodong Sinmun newspaper compared the USS Carl Vinson to a “gross animal” and said a strike on the aircraft carrier would “show our military’s force.” CNN’s Richard Roth and Ben Westcott contributed to this report.


Green markets, farmers’ markets, fresh markets, wet markets – whatever you call them, these are the places that make Walmart, Tesco and other supermarket chains look like crimes against cuisine. Often centuries old but full of freshness, markets are usually packed with dozens of vendors and worth visiting even if you have no intention of cooking anything yourself on your vacation. Believed to have originated in the 13th century as a pig market, the Mercat de Sant Josep de la Boqueria has grown into one of the finest outdoor markets in the world. It’s home to fishmongers, butchers, cheesemongers, greengrocers and dozens of small charcuterie shops specializing in Spanish hams and cured meats. With an entrance off busy La Rambla, La Boqueria is a popular spot to stop for lunch. The counters of any of the tiny gourmet restaurants provide fresh seafood and Mediterranean specialties. La Rambla, 91, 08001 Barcelona, Spain; +34 93 318 25 84 Tokyo’s Tsukiji Market is the largest wholesale fish and seafood market in the world, selling more than 400 types of seafood, from inexpensive seaweed to sea urchin and caviar costing hundreds of dollars. The market has the distinction of supplying restaurants all over the world with fresh fish. It’s also one of Tokyo’s biggest tourist attractions, where visitors gather in the pre-dawn hours to gawp at the frenetic auction of dozens of enormous tuna. The outer market, located in a maze of tiny streets packed with retail shops, allows visitors the chance to purchase seafood and other food supplies and enjoy an early morning sashimi meal. The Fish Market might soon have to move, however, due to road-building plans in preparation for the Tokyo Olympics in 2020. 5-2-1 Tsukiji, Tokyo, Japan In the 1970s, New York City’s Union Square was a seedy, crime-ridden area of Manhattan until a small farmers’ market took root and revitalized the area. The market has grown into one of the world’s best, with more than 140 regional farmers, fishmongers, bakers and butchers catering to more than 60,000 shoppers on peak days. The greenmarket showcases more than just fresh-picked produce, though. Celebrity chefs often use the space for cooking demonstrations. There are also school tours that teach local kids about seasonality and healthy eating and education programs, including one that helps New Yorkers learn about composting. Broadway at East 17th Street, New York City, United States; +1 212 788 7476 Located next to Bangkok’s busy Chatuchak weekend market, Or Tor Kor Market is as packed with perfect produce as its neighbor is with souvenirs and tchotchkes. Or Tor Kor displays exotic fruits and vegetables that are unique to Thailand, as well as imported specialties from around Asia. The market is immaculate and brightly lit, allowing shoppers to easily cruise for seafood, sweets and cooked foods. Tourists will enjoy Or Tor Kor’s wide selection of prepared curry pastes and spices to take back home, and a food court filled with Thai specialties. Th Kampangphet (next to Kampheng Phet MRT station), Bangkok, Thailand Toronto’s St. Lawrence Market lays on one of Canada’s finest shopping experiences. It’s the place that Toronto locavores shop for Ontario-grown-and-made products, including the freshest produce, homemade pies, freshly baked bread and elk, venison and other locally sourced game. On Saturdays, local farmers sell seasonal organic produce at the North Market, a tradition that began in 1803 and continues today, presenting a wide selection of not just fruit and vegetables but locally produced cheeses, grains and meats. Embracing more than 120 vendors, St. Lawrence’s South Market also sells imported items such as tropical fruits and avocados that are not easily grown in Ontario’s chilly climate. 92-95 Front Street East, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; +1 416 392 7219 The oldest fruit and vegetable market in London is also one of the world’s finest. Located in the Southwark neighborhood, Borough Market has been operating here since 1755 – but the area has been known for its fresh market since the 13th century. Specializing in locally grown produce and fruits, hand-made cheeses and fresh breads, the wholesale market is the supplier of choice for many of London’s best restaurants. On Thursday, Friday and Saturday the market is open to the public, who, in addition to doing their weekly grocery shopping, can sample the many snacks and gourmet foodstuffs on offer. 8 Southwark St., London, England; +44 (0) 20 7407 1002. Combining the bounty of Asia’s wet markets with immaculate hygiene standards, Kreta Ayer Wet Market in Singapore’s Chinatown is something to behold. The market stocks a fantastic variety of fresh Asian vegetables, from bok choi to choi sum, as well as exotic ingredients such as live frogs and turtles, preserved eggs, Chinese herbal remedies and a plethora of tofu products. Named after the ox carts that were used to deliver water to the area, the market is capped by a hawker center upstairs where exhausted shoppers can sit down with a bowl of noodle soup or other local specialties. Chinatown, Kreta Ayer Road and Keong Siak Road, Singapore Lancaster Central Market is the United States’ oldest continuously operated farmer’s market and stands in the heart of Amish country in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The historic market has been in operation since the 1730s, and was granted permanent status by King George II in 1742. It remains popular today, and tourists flock here to purchase hand-crafted products and foods made by the local Amish community. While the Pennsylvania Dutch wares might be the biggest draw for out-of-towners, locals appreciate the wide variety of imported goods sold alongside local produce, fresh flowers, just-caught seafood and hearty baked breads. 23 North Market St., Lancaster, Penn., United States; +1 717 735 6890. Located in Antibes’ historic old town, the Marché Provencal is brimming with gourmet ingredients from the Provence region of France. Visitors can learn the art of French cooking with the plethora of local specialties, including foie gras, honey, fresh lavender, wines and cheeses, fruit preserves and fragrant spices. In the afternoons local artisans display their works, from ceramics to wood carvings to paintings. Shoppers can also sit down to a coffee at one of the charming surrounding cafés or head across the street to the absinthe bar. Cours Masséna, Antibes, France In a metropolis known for the quality and quantity of its wet markets, Hong Kong’s Kowloon City wet market stands out. Both tourists and locals flock to this foodie destination for the highest-quality ingredients, including fresh imported meats hanging from steel hooks, live fish thrashing about and piles of perfect greens. The neighborhood is also home to many specialty food stores, including those in “Little Thailand” offering all sorts of Thai goods. In the wet market itself there’s a cooked food center that dishes up excellent Cantonese snacks and a wide array of not-too-spicy Thai dishes. 100 Nga Tsin Wai Road, Hong Kong; +852 2383 2224. Editor’s note: This article was previously published in 2013. It was updated and republished in 2017. Lina Goldberg is an American writer based in Siem Reap, Cambodia, and the author of “Move to Cambodia: A guide to living and working in the Kingdom of Wonder.”


To move legislation, the GOP will have to keep everyone in their party happy There will be opportunity for senators to gain leverage on key issues The Senate’s razor-thin balance of power – 52 Republicans and 48 Democrats – means that just a few senators can tip the scale on whether a bill passes – and some lawmakers are already embracing their potential influence. Related article Effort to defund Planned Parenthood threatens Obamacare repeal As the GOP looks to take advantage of having Republican President-elect Donald Trump in the White House, party leaders have promised an ambitious first 100 days agenda. But to do so, they’ll need to keep everyone in their party happy. And senators on both sides are quick to realize they can gain leverage if a vote will come down to party lines. That provides opportunities for senators with pet issues to draw lines in the sand, for vulnerable senators up for re-election to get airtime, and for moderates on both sides to work across the aisle on compromise bills. Some examples have already emerged. Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul voted against the motion to open up Obamacare repeal proceedings on Wednesday do to opposition to the underlying budget. Though Republicans still had the votes to proceed, Paul is lobbying his colleagues and working with members of the House to try to force his colleagues to oppose deficit spending, even if it jeopardizes Republicans’ pledged Obamacare repeal. Paul rallies House Republicans on deficit Paul met Thursday morning with the House Freedom Caucus, a group of roughly 40 Republicans in the House who have caused headaches far bigger than their small numbers for Republican leadership. Paul left the meeting without firm commitments, though the group plans to continue to meet on it. While on his way to make a similar pitch to his Senate colleagues, Paul said in response to a question that the Freedom Caucus could serve as a model for a small percentage of the GOP caucus having a big impact in the Senate, too. “We’re going to try. We’ll see,” Paul said. Another Obamacare issue is the fate of efforts to defund Planned Parenthood, which is opposed by most Democrats. Two pro-abortion rights senators, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, won’t commit to approving the bill with the Planned Parenthood provision in it, endangering GOP hopes of easily getting the Affordable Care Act repeal legislation through the Senate. Other senators are also flexing their muscles on key issues. As Trump continues to deny and downplay Russia’s role in hacking Democratic political groups in an effort to influence the election, as determined by the US intelligence community and third-party experts, Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham have been vocal in their condemnation of Russia’s interference. Republicans don’t agree on how to replace Obamacare McCain and Graham are working with Democrats, including Maryland Sen. Ben Cardin, on legislation that would impose sanctions on Russia beyond those announced by the White House last month, which would force Trump to accept the sanctions or publicly revoke them. McCain and Graham both emphasized that their work on Russia wasn’t out of the mainstream. “I think there’s a supermajority for what I’m talking about,” Graham said when asked about how much influence a few senators could have. But McCain acknowledged that the narrow Senate majority gives heft to a small voting bloc. “That makes it more impactful,” he acknowledged, while also emphasizing the bipartisan nature of the effort. The narrow majority has also allowed Republicans to hold sway over Trump’s nominees. When Trump nominated Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson as secretary of state, McCain and Graham joined Sen. Marco Rubio in expressing concerns and questions about Tillerson’s friendly relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, with whom Tillerson has interacted for his business interests in Russia. McCain has said since meeting with Tillerson some of his concerns have been answered and Rubio said Thursday he will meet with Tillerson early next week, but the nominee is sure to face tough questioning on the issue during his confirmation hearings on Wednesday. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which will hear Tillerson’s nomination, is one of the committees that only have a one-vote majority for Republicans this Congress – meaning any unsatisfied Republican could vote against advancing a nominee to the floor and make the nominee’s path more difficult. Membership on that committee includes Rubio; Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake, who is up for re-election this year, has sparred with Trump in the past and is likely to be targeted by Democrats; and Paul, whose foreign policy views tend to be more isolationist than his party’s and who is against nation-building. Rubio demurred when asked if he and his colleagues could seek to increase their influence by forming a bloc, as did Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz. The two close friends, along with fellow good friend Utah Sen. Mike Lee and blue-state Republican Nevada Sen. Dean Heller, have already teamed up on legislative advocacy in the first three days of this Congress. “I’m not sure anyone around here’s thinking in those terms,” Rubio said. “By and large, we worked real hard to have a majority so we can undo a lot of the damage that’s been done to this country over the last few years. So I’ve never heard or think there’s any effort ongoing to create some sort of bloc to steer policy and create some sort of leverage.” Still, if three members voted in concert, they could prove a make-or-break bloc on legislation. And Cruz and Lee have not shied away from taking on members of their own party in the past. And it’s not just Republicans who could take advantage of the narrow majority. On Thursday, 13 Democrats put out a statement appealing to Republican leadership on Obamacare, billing themselves as “moderate Democrats” open to working across the aisle, including Democrats such as North Dakota Sen. Heidi Heitkamp and Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill, who are up for re-election in red states in 2018. West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat in a red state also up for re-election next term, has also been looking to reach across the aisle, skipping a meeting with President Barack Obama and Democrats on the Hill this week in favor of talking to both sides. Manchin said he hopes Republicans also understand the importance of working with a few members of the other side, citing how many Democrats it will take them to overcome the 60-vote filibuster threshold. “They understand, it’s going to take eight. If they can hold all the Republicans at 52, then it will take eight of us to get anything moving,” Manchin said. “So you’re going to have to be working with 10, 12, truly sitting down with 10 or 12 moderate Democrats as you think that you want to move things forward.”


Editor’s Note: Frida Ghitis is a world affairs columnist for The Miami Herald and World Politics Review, and a former CNN producer and correspondent. The views expressed in this commentary are her own. Frida Ghitis: Trump called the country together for his hyperbolic Asia trip report, in which he puffed up his "accomplishments" He claimed that he secured big-ticket agreements that will create thousands of jobs -- but that is mostly a fantasy Remember when your relatives would come back from vacation and force you to watch their slide show to prove what a great time they had? President Donald Trump returned from his 12-day Asian trip and called the country to assemble and listen to him prove what a great job he did. Anyone who watched the progress of Trump abroad could have predicted exactly what he would say in his speech Wednesday: Everyone respects me. Everyone now respects America because of me. In remarks delivered in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House, Trump enumerated a number of achievements, but the reality is that the trip served mostly to show how far the United States is moving from its position of global leadership. The specifics Trump cited will trigger the customary stampede of fact checkers, now well-trained to refute the barrage of hyperbole and falsehoods we hear regularly from Trump. Related video Trump speaks following Asia trip (full) Indeed, because we all watched the trip, saw the tweets, and heard the comments it was easy to see – embarrassingly obvious – that foreign leaders know how to seduce the President. Trump loves praise. He showers himself with it and demands it from others. That makes him easy to manipulate, and that’s what we saw while he was in Asia. If Trump thinks red carpets, state dinners and adulation mean the world respects him, he is sadly mistaken. His claim, that his reception in Asia is “further evidence that America’s renewed confidence and standing in the world has never been stronger,” is patently false. Polls show the Trump presidency has resulted in a loss of confidence in the United States and a loss of trust in the American President in almost every country in the world. And while the President rubbed elbows with Asian heads of state, this trip was almost entirely devoid of interaction with everyday people. America’s role as an inspiration for younger generations, America’s promotion of freedom and democracy, were nonexistent. In their place, Trump lavished saccharine praise on dictators and strongmen. The North Korean leader came in for schoolyard-style criticism (Trump’s bonkers tweet about Kim Jong Un being “short and fat,” was the kind of pronouncement from the President of the United States that erodes confidence, rather than builds it), but there was nary a word about Philippine President Duterte and his so-called anti-drug campaign, which frequently consists of murdering people in the streets without any chance of due process. Trump boasted of his great achievements on trade on behalf of the American people. But on that score, all he did was talk. While he went on about bringing an end to unfair trade deals, the rest of Asia took concrete action to move on without America. Trump pulled the US out of the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership as soon as he took office. The deal would have boosted trade in countries accounting for 40% of global GDP. He promised to replace the deal with agreements between the US and each country individually. But what we saw during Trump’s trip is that no country has shown any interest in negotiating such an agreement with the US. And the remaining 11 countries of the TPP are forging the landmark agreement on their own. Trump claims he is making stronger economic alliances for the United States, but the reality is that he is isolating America in a globalized world. As in previous trips, he claimed that he secured big-ticket agreements that will create thousands of jobs. But that is mostly a fantasy. His claim that he secured $250 billion worth of deals with China turns out to be smoke, mirrors and promises – that is, many non-binding deals. (This is reminiscent of his boast after traveling to the Middle East, that he had made $110 billion in arms sales to Saudi Arabia. A closer look at those sales showed little of substance. One expert called it “fake news.”) It is true that the President has focused global attention on the North Korean threat. And perhaps that will pay off. But there’s no guarantee, and some, including US allies, fear that Trump may make the problem worse, even triggering a nuclear war. In fact, Trump’s foreign policy seems designed to damage America’s global influence. Trump’s deferential, admiring tone with China’s leader Xi Jinping, gave Beijing exactly what it wants, an apparent acceptance by the US that China has a claim to global leadership on a par with Washington. For White House staffers and other Americans watching nervously from the edge of their seat, fearing a major gaffe, the President’s trip was a triumph in that he mostly – mostly – avoided making outrageous statements. That triumph is the ultimate expression of the soft bigotry of low expectations. Trump’s trip report, his slide show, had the puffed up, dramatic descriptions and self-praise that we have come to expect. The truth is that the trip accomplished little, if anything, no matter what the traveler claimed.


The Axe Files, featuring David Axelrod, is a podcast distributed by CNN and produced at the University of Chicago Institute of Politics. John Kasich may not be planning to run for president again in 2020, but he’s not ruling out the possibility. The two-term Ohio governor noted that his “inclination is to say (he’ll) never run for anything again.” However, he is maintaining a political organization, planning on forming a team, and won’t be waiting on the results of the midterm elections to make up his mind. “You never want to say never to anything. You never know,” Kasich told David Axelrod on “The Axe Files,” a podcast from the University of Chicago Institute of Politics and CNN. Kasich said there is support for him to run again. “What I have found as I travel around the country for this book or I just travel around period is that people come to me and many of them are just almost begging me to run again,” he said. Kasich sees some of this public desire for him to launch a third bid – he was a candidate in 2000 as well as 2016 – as a result of a polarized nation longing for a moderate. “His supporters are rock solid but they’re not a vast number, it’s certainly not half the country,” Kasich said in reference to President Donald Trump’s supporters. “His people may want to take these strong positions, but these polls indicate that everybody would like to see people get along better.” After dropping out of the 2016 race, Kasich was not shy about his lack of support for then-candidate Trump, even writing in Sen. John McCain’s name on the general election ballot. Looking back, he told Axelrod that there are still parts of Trump’s victory that he doesn’t comprehend. Related article John Kasich on North Korea: 'Eradicate the leadership' “If I said some of the things he said, I would’ve been run out of Ohio,” Kasich said. “I cannot explain it, I don’t understand how people looked the other way and didn’t care about some of these incendiary things that and the way that not only him but others behaved.” Nonetheless, Kasich said he is behind Trump. “I’m going to be for him because he’s President. I support presidents and I’ve always supported presidents but that doesn’t mean I go along with them on everything,” he said. As he finishes his term as governor, Kasich said he is focusing on having “an effective voice” – and indicated it is something that may drive his decision to run for the White House. “When you’re talking about complicated issues like North Korea or you’re talking about health care or you’re talking about any of these things, you just don’t want to talk. You want to know what you’re talking about,” Kasich said. “The question is – and I’ve thought about this – is can you be an important voice without holding public office?” he continued. “I think it’s extremely difficult to maintain a voice if you’re not holding an office.” To hear the whole conversation with Kasich, click on http://podcast.cnn.com. To get “The Axe Files” podcast every week, subscribe at http://itunes.com/theaxefiles.


No change in EIU's top 10 liveable cities since 2011 Melbourne takes first place for fourth year in a row Damascus, Kiev among cities that declined significantly The Economic Intelligence Unit (EIU) claims its annual Liveability Survey could be used to “assign a hardship allowance as part of expatriate relocation packages,” among other things. But that needn’t apply to those in Melbourne, which for the fourth year running has been declared the best city in the world to live. The Australian culture hub was buoyed by superlative healthcare, infrastructure and education as well as a murder rate of 3.1 per 100,000 people, half the global average of 6.2. Melbourne’s total score of 97.5, assessed on various factors such as “stability” and “culture and environment,” as well as those mentioned above, was just 0.1 points above Vienna, which scored identically across all categories to Melbourne except culture and environment. The top 10 list hasn’t changed since 2011 and of the 140 cities surveyed, only 20 changed score in the last year. “Over half of the changes taking place over the past 12 months have been driven by deteriorating scores,” said the report, “with instability re-emerging as a key factor in influencing global scores. “Events in Ukraine, in particular, have had significant knock-on effects for cities such as Kiev, Moscow and St Petersburg. “Localized instability has also affected locations like Bangkok. “The score of Damascus in Syria has continued to decline, although the escalation in Iraq is not reflected in our ranking because Baghdad is not included in the survey.” Tehran in Iran, Tripoli in Libya and Amman in Jordan saw their scores improve, having “enjoyed periods of relative stability following significant falls in liveability.” But over the last five years, global liveability has declined overall, “highlighting the fact that the last five years have been characterized by heightened unrest in the wake of the global economic crisis.” Kiev (Ukraine), Tripoli (Libya) and Damascus (Syria) have seen the biggest falls in liveability over the last five years, says the report. 10 most liveable cities 1. Melbourne 2. Vienna, Austria 3. Vancouver, British Columbia 4. Toronto =5. Adelaide, Australia =5. Calgary, Alberta 7. Sydney 8. Helsinki, Finland 9. Perth, Australia 10. Auckland, New Zealand 10 least liveable cities 131. Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire 132. Tripoli, Libya 133. Douala, Cameroon 134. Harare, Zimbabwe 135. Algiers, Algeria 136. Karachi, Pakistan 137. Lagos, Nigeria 138. Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea 139. Dhaka, Bangladesh 140. Damascus, Syria Comment below: What’s the best thing about your home city?

Economic Intelligence Unit (EIU) Liveability Survey


A 77-year-old  former American citizen appears to have bested the daughter of a disgraced Peruvian president in a photo-finish race to become the next president of Peru. Pedro Pablo Kuczynski has won a bare majority of votes – 50.12% – over Keiko Fujimori, Peru’s national election office announced on its official Twitter page Thursday evening. Kuczynski cannot be named president-elect until the electoral college makes the vote official, the election office said. “Thank you Peru, it is time to work together for the future of our new country,”  Kuczynski announced on Twitter, although Fujimori has yet to concede. Kuczynski, a former World Bank executive and ex-prime minister of Peru who has also served as finance and energy ministers, ran for president the first time in 2011. He came in third in that race, behind Fujimori and current President Ollanta Humala. He had refused to renounce his American nationality, which had become a campaign issue. Known as PPK, he has since renounced his American citizenship, although he is married to an American woman and his children live in the United States. Fujimori is the 41-year-old daughter of controversial former President Alberto Fujimori who is imprisoned for corruption and human-rights violations. Her father, who was president from 1990 to 2000, is credited with restoring economic stability and with defeating the Maoist Shining Path guerrillas, who carried out terrorist attacks. But his authoritarian style led to accusations of human rights abuses and corruption. In separate trials, Alberto Fujimori, the son of Japanese immigrants, was found guilty of authorizing illegal wiretaps and bribing lawmakers and journalists. He was also convicted of using public money to pay the country’s spy chief and with burglarizing the spy’s chief’s house to steal incriminating videos. In 2009, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison after being convicted of authorizing the operation of a death squad responsible for killing civilians. Kuczynski is the son of a French teacher and a German Jewish doctor who fled the Nazis. The winner will take over Peru’s government on July 28 from Humala. Peru’s constitution barred him from seeking a second term. CNNE’s David Valenzuela and CNN’s Sarah Faidell in Atlanta  contributed to this story.


France's state of emergency will expire without parliamentary approval EU article requires countries to do all in their power to help if one of their number is attacked France has stepped up air strikes on ISIS in Syria following Friday's terrorist attacks Once again Wednesday, the French President used the W-word: France, he said, is at war. The terrorist group ISIS, President Francois Hollande said, “has an army, financial resources, oil resources, and occupies a territory.” In other words, last Friday’s terrorist attacks in Paris that killed 129 people, which authorities believe were committed by ISIS, were perpetrated by something that looks pretty much like a country. Paris attacks: Get up to speed Related video Why did ISIS target France? Hollande wants to rally his nation – to forge the kind of unity that nations rarely exhibit in times of peace. But there may be more legalistic reasons, as well. The French President wants what amounts to war powers at home. And he is choosing not to invoke an article of one of the European Union treaties that requires member states to help in case of “a terrorist attack.” Instead, Holland wants to invoke Article 42.7 of another treaty – the Treaty on European Union – that applies to war. Article 42.7 requires EU countries to do all they can to help when one of their own is the “victim of armed aggression.” This would mark the first time the article has ever been invoked. Essentially two things: He said he would ask the French Parliament to extend France’s state of emergency for three months. The French President also said he’d appeal to world leaders – including meetings next week with U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin, who have been at odds on what to do in the ISIS stronghold of Syria – to form a wider coalition to go after the group. French jets bomb ISIS stronghold of Raqqa The state of emergency is already in effect. Hollande declared it immediately after Friday’s attacks. But in France the president can only declare a state of emergency for 12 days. So on Wednesday, Hollande will ask Parliament to extend it for three months. A state of emergency gives authorities a range of powers, including the right to ban mass gatherings, close public spaces, limit the movement of people, search houses without court orders, and confiscate some weapons even if they’re legal. Article 42.7 of  the Treaty on European Union – the “mutual assistance clause” –  is not specific. But it requires European Union countries, if one of their number suffers armed aggression on its territory, to render “aid and assistance by all the means in their power.” Those conversations have so far been private. In public, Hollande has not been specific about what he wants other countries to do. Related video Hollande: Response to ISIS attacks must be pitiless However, judging from his rhetoric – and from France’s actions since the attack – Hollande clearly believes the response to ISIS must have a strong military component. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London-based monitoring group, said Wednesday that 33 members of ISIS had been killed by French and other military airstrikes in the last 72 hours. The organization said dozens of families of ISIS leaders and members, most of them non-Syrians, were abandoning Raqqa – where ISIS has its Syrian headquarters – and were headed to the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. Given Hollande’s actions and his repeated use of the word “war,” it seems safe to presume he wants to form a broad coalition that will take robust military action against ISIS. Opinion: The inconvenient truth about war on ISIS Related video Putin on ISIS: 'We will search for them everywhere' So far other countries have – at least in public – been long on sympathy and short on specifics. But that may change as other EU leaders look at the threats to their own counties. And Hollande has a certain ally in one non-EU member – Russia – which has already been targeting ISIS, and which had a passenger plane brought down – by ISIS, it is thought – in Egypt’s Sinai on October 31. Obama, who came to office promising to extricate the U.S. from Mideast entanglements may come under political pressure to step up action against ISIS. Almost certainly. Whereas the EU is a political project, NATO is a military alliance. Collective defense is what NATO is all about. And military action appears to be much on Hollande’s mind. Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty states that an attack on one ally shall be considered an attack on all. It has been invoked only once: following the terrorist attacks in the U.S. on September 11, 2001, which killed nearly 3,000 people.


Meghan McCain responded Friday to a White House staffer who joked about her father’s brain cancer, saying her family was doing well but asking how the Trump administration could retain an employee who made such a remark. “I don’t understand what kind of environment you’re working in when that would be acceptable and then you can come to work the next day and still have a job,” McCain said on “The View” Friday. On Thursday, Kelly Sadler, a special assistant who handles surrogate communications, told other staffers that McCain’s opposition to President Donald Trump’s CIA director nominee Gina Haspel does not matter because “he’s dying anyway,” a White House official told CNN. Related article Joking about John McCain's death is our terrible new normal Meghan McCain responded to Sadler’s comment at the top of Friday’s show. “Kelly, here’s a little news flash … We’re all dying. I’m dying, you’re dying, we’re all dying. And I want to say since my dad has been diagnosed … I really feel like I understand the meaning of life, and it is not how you die, it’s how you live,” she said. She added, “Don’t feel bad for me or my family. We’re really strong.” Neither the White House nor the President has denied or condemned Sadler’s comment. Sadler called Meghan McCain on Thursday to apologize for the remark, a source close to the situation told CNN, although it’s unclear what her response was. A White House official told CNN Thursday, “We respect Senator McCain’s service to our nation, and he and his family are in our prayers during this difficult time.” Sadler’s remarks also came on the same day that retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney attempted to defend the use of torture by saying it “worked on” McCain when he was a prisoner of war in Vietnam. “That’s why they call him ‘Songbird John,’” McInerney said on Fox Business Network. McCain on Friday called it a “real ugly nickname.” “My father’s legacy is going to be talked about hundreds and hundreds of years. These people: Nothingburgers. Nobody is going to remember you,” McCain said.


President Obama is in Saudi Arabia to meet with Gulf leaders They're expected to discuss regional conflicts, Iran and fighting terror President Barack Obama emerged from meetings with Gulf leaders Thursday proclaiming he’d pushed through lingering tensions with the region to reach agreements on battling ISIS and stabilizing the ever-volatile neighborhood. But he also conceded that his nuclear deal with Iran remained a source of strain. Obama said the pact didn’t reflect a shift in U.S. allegiances, however, citing longstanding efforts to bolster the security of Middle East allies. “The fact of the matter is friendship and cooperation between the United States and Gulf countries has been consistent for decades,” Obama said following a day of talks at the ornate Diriyah Palace in Riyadh. He cited ongoing efforts to battle ISIS and install a functioning government in Libya as examples of current areas of agreement. But he acknowledged “tactical differences” in dealing with Iran, which the Sunni Gulf nations are carefully monitoring as Western sanctions are eased. “We have to be effective in our defenses and hold Iran to account when it’s acting in ways that are contrary to international rules and norms,” Obama said, adding that it was also important to engage the moderate elements of Iran’s government to produce deals like the nuclear accord. RELATED: Obama looks for allies’ support on ISIS as ties and nerves fray Obama spent Thursday working to persuade other Gulf leaders to take a more muscular role in stabilizing their region. He pressed the various kings, emirs and sultans of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain and Qatar to provide more support to war-torn Iraq as a U.S.-backed coalition takes back ground from ISIS. He also worked to convince leaders to provide more resources to opposition fighters in Syria, and to lend firmer backing to a political transition process in the civil war-torn country. He said after his meetings that he shared the Gulf leaders worries’ about the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, citing “significant” disputes among the country’s Shiite political blocs. “I’m concerned. I think Prime Minister Abadi has been a good partner for us,” Obama said. “Ultimately it’s up to Iraqis to make decisions.” Saying he’s secured commitments from the assembled leaders to step up assistance to Iraq, Obama said it was too soon to tell where those new resources would be used. Thursday morning Obama met individually with the leaders of Kuwait and Qatar to make his case, the White House said, followed by a series of group meetings. But in both his bilateral talks and in the larger sessions, Obama faced the same skepticism that has clouded ties between Washington and Riyadh: fears over a resurgent Iran, doubts at Obama’s Syria strategy and differences in fighting terror. Obama’s schedule at the Gulf Cooperation Council summit was broken into three sessions Thursday, with the first focused on stabilizing regional conflicts. U.S. officials said that discussion included Yemen, where a fragile ceasefire between the government and Iran-backed rebels hasn’t stalled fighting; and Libya, where a power vacuum has led to an inflow of ISIS militants. “I think there’s broad agreement on where we’re trying to go in the region,” Obama’s deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters Thursday. “People would like to see stability restored to Yemen and a political transition in Syria away from (President Bashar al-) Assad, and people would like to see Iraq maintain its unity and increase its stability. On the core issues there’s agreement on where we want to go.” But Rhodes acknowledged there have been “occasional tactical differences on what we are emphasizing at any point of time.” The President and the Gulf leaders also convened two other separate sessions, one focused on fighting terror and another on Iran, whose moves following the easing of Western sanctions are being closely monitored by its Arab Gulf neighbors. Obama departed Riyadh soon after his meetings ended for a three-night stay in London. Obama arrived for his brief visit to the Saudi kingdom Wednesday, looking to overcome a strain in ties between Riyadh and Washington. Aside from fears over the Iran deal, the Saudis are anxiously eyeing Obama’s decision on declassifying pages that could shed light on the country’s hand in the September 11 terror attacks. They’re also monitoring U.S. efforts to combat ISIS in Iraq and Syria with some degree of doubt. RELATED: White House threatens to veto 9/11 lawsuit bill Officials here also balked at Obama’s suggestion in a recent magazine interview that the kingdom wasn’t pulling its weight in global military efforts. Emerging from a two-and-a-half hour meeting between Obama and Salman, U.S. officials described a productive session they claimed reduced some of the awkwardness that had seeped into the bilateral relationship. One official said Obama “really cleared the air” with Salman during their talks at the Erga Palace in Riyadh. While Saudi officials have recently threatened to withdraw assets from the United States if pending legislation allowing families of September 11 victims to sue foreign governments, that topic did not arise during Obama’s meeting with the monarch. Related video Can Obama smooth relations with Saudi Arabia? In parallel meetings this week, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter has pressed his Gulf nation counterparts to step up their assistance to Iraq, where a U.S.-backed government is still struggling to rebuild after years of war and invasion of certain regions by ISIS. Carter said during a news conference he encouraged Sunni-majority Gulf nations to “do more … not only militarily, as Saudi Arabia and the UAE have been doing – and I really appreciate that – but also politically and economically.” “Sunni support for multisectarian governance and reconstruction, particularly in Sunni areas of Iraq, will both be critical to ensuring that ISIL stays defeated,” Carter said, using the administration’s term for ISIS. OPINION: U.S. and Saudi Arabia, trapped in a bad marriage In particular, American officials have pressed Gulf nations to help rebuild areas of Iraq previously held by ISIS, including areas of Anbar province. Obama often touts successes on the ground in Iraq and Syria as evidence of a successful anti-ISIS campaign, but officials worry that retaken ground could be lost without an influx of resources. In a meeting with Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan late Wednesday, Obama “reiterated the importance of stabilizing areas of Iraq liberated from ISIL,” according to the White House. The pair also discussed Libya and the fragile ceasefire in Yemen. U.S. officials hope that an end to fighting there will free up Gulf nation resources to go after ISIS more aggressively. Opinion: How art can help diffuse Middle East tensions The GCC meetings are a follow-up to a summit convened at Camp David last year, which was meant to reassure U.S. allies amid final negotiations over the Iran nuclear deal. In both his talks with Salman and the Abu Dhabi crown prince, Obama sought to underscore the U.S. commitment to regional stability while encouraging a new relationship with Iran. “This conflict between the GCC and particularly between Saudi Arabia and Iran, it fuels chaos, sectarianism, and instability in the region, all of which help ISIL and other terrorist groups,” said Rob Malley, Obama’s coordinator for Middle East policy, using a different term for ISIS. “It’s clear who our allies and who our partners are. But if there could be a different relationship between the GCC and Iran, one that is less prone to fuel proxy wars. It’s our conviction, and certainly the President’s conviction, that that would be good for the region.”


Gary Glitter is sentenced to 16 years in prison after being convicted of child sex abuse The former "glam rocker" has been prosecuted previously on sex abuse charges British former pop star Gary Glitter on Friday was sentenced to 16 years in prison for child sex abuse offenses he committed more than three decades ago. Glitter, 70, whose real name is Paul Gadd, was convicted this month of one count of attempted rape of a girl under the age of 13, one count of having sex with a girl under the age of 13 and four counts of indecent assault against girls. He was sentenced at Southwark Crown Court in London for the six offenses, committed against three victims between 1975 and 1980. There is no statute of limitations for such offenses in the UK. Glitter was known as a “glam rocker” in the 1970s for his flamboyant clothes and performing style. He sold 18 million records with hits such as “I’m the Leader of the Gang (I Am!),” “I Love You Love Me Love” and “Rock ‘n’ Roll.” Detective Chief Inspector Michael Orchard of London’s Metropolitan Police praised the courage of the abuse victims in coming forward to police. “Paul Gadd has shown himself to be a habitual sexual predator, who took advantage of the star status afforded to him by targeting young girls who trusted him and were in awe of his fame,” Orchard said. “His lack of remorse and defense that the victims were lying make his crimes all the more indefensible.” Glitter was the first person to be arrested under the police’s Operation Yewtree, set up in 2012 in the wake of a flood of sexual abuse allegations against the late radio and TV star Jimmy Savile and others. Savile, who died in 2011 aged 84, was revealed after his death to have been one of Britain’s most prolific sex offenders. British police say more than 200 victims – between ages 5 and 75 – have been identified. Glitter had been prosecuted previously on sex charges. In 1999, he admitted possessing child pornography and was jailed for four months. While living in Vietnam, he was convicted of sex offenses against young girls and jailed for nearly three years before being deported to England. Glitter is the latest celebrity to be accused or convicted of historic sex offenses. Last year celebrity publicist Max Clifford was sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment for assaults on girls, while Australian entertainer Rolf Harris was jailed for five years for indecent assaults against four girls.