Charity: Malnourished children are at least three times more likely to die if they get cholera World Health Organization reports More than a million children already suffering from acute malnutrition are at risk from a cholera outbreak sweeping war-torn Yemen, charity Save the Children warned Wednesday. The charity said it was sending more health experts to the worst-affected areas as it tries to ease the crisis. A ravaged health care system, devastated infrastructure and near famine – the results of a bloody civil war that began in March 2015 – have all contributed to the spread of the disease. Related video Beasley: Humanitarian aid is in U.S. interest Data analysis shows more than a million acutely malnourished children under the age of 5 – almost 200,000 of them with severe acute malnutrition – are living in areas with high levels of infection, Save the Children said. Malnourished children are at least three times more likely to die if they contract cholera because of their reduced immune systems, the charity said. The illness, which  is spread through contaminated water and causes diarrhea, is easily treated if basic healthcare is in place. But where that is lacking, its symptoms worsen malnutrition even in those who survive the infection, pushing them closer to starvation. More than 425,000 suspected cases of cholera were reported across Yemen from late April to late July, with 1,900 deaths, according to the World Health Organization. Children under the age of 15 now account for 44% of new cases and 32% of deaths, an increasing proportion. Tamer Kirolos, Save the Children’s country director for Yemen, appealed for international action to tackle the crisis. “After two years of armed conflict, children are trapped in a brutal cycle of starvation and sickness. And it’s simply unacceptable. Our teams are dealing with a horrific scenario of babies and young children who are not only malnourished but also infected with cholera,” Kirolos said. Related video First-hand witness decries Yemen suffering “The tragedy is both malnutrition and cholera are easily treatable if you have access to basic healthcare. But hospitals and clinics have been destroyed, government health workers haven’t been paid for almost a year, and the delivery of vital aid is being obstructed.” Al Hali district in Hodeidah has the country’s highest number of suspected cholera cases, Save the Children said, with an estimated 31,000 children – or more than a quarter of children aged under 5 – in need of treatment for acute malnutrition. Last week, the head of the UN’s relief organization, Stephen O’Brien, warned the UN Security Council that the country’s citizens faced a “triple threat” of “armed conflict, famine, and deadly disease that has already killed, injured, displaced or otherwise affected millions and it will spare no one if it continues unchecked.” Meanwhile, the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross warned that with the rainy season approaching, it expects more than 600,000 cholera cases by the end of the year. Peter Maurer called on Yemen’s warring parties to allow the free flow of aid and let humanitarian workers reach vulnerable populations, in order to ease what he called a “manmade” crisis. Regional powers are fighting a proxy war in the country of 27 million, located in the southern Arabian peninsula. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are supporting the central government in its fight against the Iran-backed Houthi rebels who have toppled the internationally recognized leadership there. More than two years after it began, the conflict shows little signs of abating. The Saudi-led coalition and Houthi rebel groups continue to bombard one another, while terrorist groups operate unhindered – leaving millions of civilians in the crossfire. Saudi Arabia last week announced a donation of $66.7 million to UNICEF, the World Health Organization and their partners to fight the disease. The Yemen conflict has been dubbed the “forgotten war” because it has been overshadowed by events in Syria and journalists have struggled to get access.


The UN Security Council (UNSC) failed yet again on Wednesday to pass a resolution condemning last week’s chemical weapons attack that killed dozens of people in Syria. Permanent member Russia vetoed the resolution which sought to condemn the killings and call on the Assad regime to cooperate with an international investigation into the attack. Over 20 UNSC resolutions on Syria have been passed, most with unanimous backing, but if one of the five permanent members of the UNSC vetoes a draft resolution, it automatically fails. Wednesday’s veto was the eighth time Russia has used its veto – often along with China – to torpedo a UN draft resolution on Syria since its civil war began in 2011. The first time a UNSC resolution on the Syrian civil war failed to pass came six months after the beginning of the bloody conflict. The council drafted a statement “expressing grave concern at the situation in Syria,” and stressing the only solution to the current crisis in Syria was “through an inclusive and Syrian-led political process with the aim of effectively addressing the legitimate aspirations and concerns of the population.” Vetoes: China, Russia The Russian and Chinese delegations both used their “no” votes again four months later, blocking a resolution which expressed “grave concern at the deterioration of the situation in Syria,” and “profound concern at the death of thousands of people… calling for an immediate end to all violence.” Vetoes: China, Russia Later in 2012, the Russians and Chinese again voted against a draft resolution, “condemning the Syrian authorities’ increasing use of heavy weapons… and armed violence in all its forms, including by armed opposition groups; Condemning the continued widespread violations of human rights by the Syrian authorities, and armed opposition groups.” Vetoes: China, Russia This resolution had sought to ensure “that perpetrators of violations, including those that may constitute crimes against humanity, are held accountable; Condemning the continued widespread violations of human rights by the Syrian authorities, and armed opposition groups.” Vetoes: China, Russia Over two years later, as Assad’s forces descended on the rebel-held city of Aleppo, the UNSC again attempted to register “outrage at the alarming number of civilian casualties caused by escalating level of violence and indiscriminate aerial bombings in Aleppo.” The resolution referred the “grave.. distress” at the “deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Syria, and the fact that now more than 13.5 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance.” Russia was alone in vetoing the draft, China abstained. Veto: Russia As the humanitarian crisis in the besieged town of Aleppo worsened, a resolution called on all “parties to the Syrian conflict” to “cease… any and all attacks in the city of Aleppo to allow urgent humanitarian needs to be addressed for a period of seven days.” It also called for all parties to give the United Nations and its partners “unimpeded humanitarian access.” Both China and Russia voted against the resolution. Vetoes: China, Russia Despite passing a resolution in September 2013 which called for the verification and destruction of Syria’s chemical weapon stockpile, China and Russia blocked a draft resolution this February that called for sanctions on parties involved. Members had been asked to vote on the “imposition of sanctions on entities and individuals deemed to have been involved in the production or use of chemical weapons in Syria.” Vetoes: China, Russia The latest resolution to fail at the hands of Russia’s veto power came in the wake of the gas attack on Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib province.  The draft resolution condemned the attacks and called for an international investigation into the perpetrators. This time China abstained. Veto: Russia CNN’s Richard Roth contributed to this report


Editor’s Note: Gwen K. Young is the director of the Women in Public Service Project, housed at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. The views expressed in this piece are solely those of the author. Gwen K. Young: Today's global problems require leaders with diverse skill sets Women have proven they are able to benefit policy in important ways, she says From America to Britain to the United Nations, women are taking to the center of the political stage. At this week’s Democratic convention, Hillary Clinton was officially selected as the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee, accepting the nomination with a striking video message that opened with a symbolic shattering of glass. “When there are no ceilings, the sky’s the limit. So let’s keep going, until every one of the 161 million women and girls across America has the opportunity she deserves,” Clinton said Thursday night. But in Britain, Theresa May has already become the second woman to break through the glass ceiling, taking the helm after David Cameron stepped down and becoming Britain’s second female prime minister. Meanwhile, at the United Nations, several of the leading candidates to succeed Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon are women. All of this important – and not just for the sake of basic fairness. Writing five years ago on the question of whether female leaders matter, The New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristoff explained that “the most effective way to fight global poverty, to reduce civil conflict, even to reduce long-term carbon emissions, is typically to invest in girls’ education and bring women into the formal labor force.” Having spent my career in humanitarian relief and international development I can attest that placing women in leadership positions on development programming assures that resources are allocated fairly and effectively. Why? The evidence shows that female leaders typically have more compassion and empathy, and a more open and inclusive negotiation style. This is not, of course, necessarily true of all women – there are many different leadership styles. That said, modern ideas of transformative leadership are more in line with qualities women generally share: empathy, inclusiveness and an open negotiation style. In developing nations, having women at the table impacts how policy resources are spent – either through gender budgeting efforts or simply, such as in the case of climate change, showing how women in the developing world experience issues differently than men. The involvement of women in the climate movement, for example, has led to better policy making and spurred solutions like clean solar cookstoves. Women’s leadership also helps drive direct change in structural policies including parental leave, child care and pay. Related article What this week showed me about women As the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has noted, “Women typically invest a higher proportion of their earnings in their families and communities than men.” USAID, meanwhile, says that when “10% more girls go to school, a country’s GDP increases on average by 3%,” adding that when women have the same amount of land as men, “there is over 10% increase in crop yields.” It’s not just developing countries that can benefit from increasing female participation in the workforce, including in leadership positions. A 2014 Goldman Sachs report argued that Japan could boost its absolute GDP by 12.5% if female workforce participation rose to match that as men. And in Canada, one study on the impact of women in public service showed that women have had a clear impact on “policy, programs and operations such as in fisheries, the automotive industry, national security, natural resources, the environment, science, human resources and international relations.” This impact arises not only from the inclusion of women’s perspectives, but also from leadership styles that are open, collaborative and less hierarchical. Thankfully, there have been noticeable advances for women in leadership roles, and in the workforce more generally. While based on current trends, it could take another 118 years to close the income gap, according to the World Economic Forum, as women are moving into leadership positions in both the private and public sphere. WEF notes that about half of the world’s countries have had a female head of government or state at one point. Currently there are around a dozen women holding the office of head of state or government, while the top three of the Forbes 100 most powerful women list are in politics: Angela Merkel, Hillary Clinton and Janet Yellen. In Australia’s recent parliamentary elections, there was such a large increase in new women being elected to their parliament that the country went from 56th best in the world for gender parity in politics to 37th. These elections followed the groundbreaking poll earlier this year in Taiwan, which elected its first female leader, while Samoa – located in one of the worst places for female political representation, the South Pacific – has finally seen women elected into government. Women are starting to break through in politics and rise, and although we’re still well short of the Women in Public Service Project’s goal of governments being composed of 50% women by 2050, the world is making encouraging progress nevertheless. Today’s global problems require leaders that have diverse skill sets and innovation that can only come from diverse ideas and players. Women bring the skills, different perspectives and structural and cultural difference to drive effective solutions. In short, female leaders change the way global solutions are forged. That’s why it is important to keep pushing forward. Fairness and equality are admirable goals in themselves. And women have consistently proven that they are able to benefit policy in important ways. But having more female leaders – from politics to the boardroom – is important for another reason, too. Simply having female leaders changes the norms about who can lead and what qualities are necessary in leadership. Having women in leadership roles is breaking down cultural and structural barriers – improving leadership around the world and showing everyone what women can achieve.


Speaking to Vietnamese leader, Trump offers to help resolve competing claims in contested Asian waters South China Sea dispute involves several Asian nations US President Donald Trump has offered his services as a “mediator and arbitrator” over disputed territorial claims South China Sea issue, one of the most pressing issues for many of Asia’s leaders. Speaking to his Vietnamese counterpart, Tran Dai Quang in Hanoi, Trump said he could employ his diplomatic skills to help Asian nations come to an agreement over competing maritime claims. “I can help mediate and arbitrate. Please let me know,” Trump said. “I know you’ve had a dispute for quite a while with China, if I can help in any way, I’m a very good mediator and a very good arbitrator.” “I’ve done plenty of it from both sides, so if I can help you, let me know,” he added. In a joint news conference, Quang said he had “shared my thoughts with (Trump) on the recent developments in this area and it is our policy to settle disputes in the South China Sea through peaceful negotiations, and with respect for diplomatic and legal process in accordance with international law, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.” China is claimant to swathes of ocean, extending far outside its internationally agreed 200-mile economic exclusion zone (EEZ). Several other Asian nations hold overlapping claims to areas of ocean and shoals, islands and sandbars, making the issue a regional flashpoint. Trump is in Vietnam for a state visit and to attend meetings of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) group. Following the conclusion of the APEC meetings, many attendees will next head to Manila, where a meeting of members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will commence. US finds unlikely ally in Vietnam as a former partner tilts to China Whilst in Vietnam, Chinese Premier Xi Jinping also discussed the South China Sea issue with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, which has claims in the region. Ahead of the next regional meetings, the ASEAN summit in Manila, Chinese state media reported that Xi pledged to work with China’s ASEAN partners “to maintain peace and stability, as well as development and prosperity.” The report added that Duterte had pledged that his nation will handle “maritime issues through bilateral channels in accordance with the consensus reached by the two sides.” Ahead of his trip to Vietnam, Duterte said he would ask his Chinese counterpart what Beijing’s intentions in the region are. “You want to control the passage, or do we have free passage? Unbridled, undisturbed, unmolested while we use that small way from the Indian Ocean … facing Palawan,” Duterte said, referencing the southern Philippines province which juts out into the South China Sea. Duterte also said he “might” raise the issue of the South China Sea dispute with Trump, alongside trade, Islamic extremism and terrorism, according to a statement. Ahead of his visit to Vietnam, Xi also said that China and Vietnam – another claimant – need to “stay committed to seeking a fundamental and durable solution to their maritime issues acceptable to both sides through friendly consultation,” he is quoted as saying in Chinese state media.  He added that the two need to “jointly uphold peace and stability” in the region. Dotted with small islands, reefs and shoals, the South China Sea is a crucial shipping route and home a messy territorial dispute that pits multiple countries against one another. Tensions in the contested waters have ratcheted up since 2014 as China has turned sandbars into islands, equipping them with airfields, ports and weapons systems and warned US warships and aircraft to stay away from them. China, Taiwan, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei all have competing claims to various island chains in the South China Sea. Briefing reporters in Beijing during the China leg of Trump’s Asia tour, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the US view on the maritime dispute hadn’t changed – that “claimants should stop construction and militarization” of disputed islands. He said that Trump and Xi had discussed ways to “prevent mishaps, misunderstandings and miscalculations” in the vital seaway. At a joint statement with the two leaders in Beijing, Xi told Trump the Pacific Ocean was “big enough to accommodate both China and the United States.” Since Trump took office, priorities in the region lie elsewhere, with US focus largely on containing the North Korean threat. While China is frustrated with the intractable nuclear standoff, the US focus on it does afford China “a lot of strategic opportunities,” Harry Kazianis, director of Defense Studies at the Center for the National Interest told CNN ahead of Trump’s Asia trip. “(US) Foreign policy in Asia has had its oxygen sucked out the room,” he said. “The South China Sea, Taiwan, the East China Sea. For China, this is their time.” China is a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which sets territorial limits at 10 miles, with a 200-mile economic exclusion zone from a country’s coast. The country claims a huge swathe of the South China Sea. It’s claims are based on its traditional “nine-dash line” – waters that extend hundreds of miles to the south and east of its island province of Hainan, abut its neighbors’ claims and, in some cases, encroach upon them. Beijing has also ignored a landmark ruling last year by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, which said there was no legal basis for China’s maritime claims. A dangerous dance: China, Vietnam posture in the South China Sea CNN’s Katie Hunt contributed to this report.


Four police officers praised for subduing suspect quickly They helped commuters evacuate after suspect Akayed Ullah was in custody One is an US Army veteran with three combat tours. Two are former US Marines, including a bomb technician. The fourth is an attorney with about 20 years as a police officer. The four officers with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey are being hailed as heroes for quickly subduing the suspect in Monday’s explosion at a New York transit hub before he was able to do anything else. The Port Authority Police Benevolent Association identified the officers as Sean Gallagher, an ex-Marine; Drew M. Preston, a solidier who served in Iraq and Afghanistan; John “Jack” F. Collins, who’s also a lawyer; and Anthony Manfredini, a former Marine and bomb technician. “Today, four courageous Port Authority police officers risked their lives confronting an armed terrorist to protect others from harm,” Paul Nunziato, the union president, said in a statement Monday. “I am so thankful there was no loss of life and I could not be prouder of our Port Authority police officers, their actions and dedication to their sworn duty.” pic.twitter.com/DldP4Stz5F The four officers happened to be assigned to the Port Authority Bus Terminal police command at the right time. Manfredini was first at the scene – a walkway linking the bus terminal to the subway system, according to Bobby Egbert, an association spokesman. The officer saw panicked commuters running out of the passageway, Egbert said. He made a radio call and soon the others joined him as smoke and debris filled the tunnel. Officials say Akayed Ullah , 27, set off a pipe bomb strapped to his chest Monday morning in the underground walkway. Ullah and five others were injured in the blast, which triggered panic in the busy commuter hub during rush hour. Manfredini encountered the suspect on the floor with what he said appeared to be shrapnel wounds, Egbert said. The officers saw wires running from the suspect’s jacket to his pants, according to Egbert. Ullah was reaching for a cell phone, which the officers knew from training could be used as a detonator. After a brief struggle, they managed to separate Ullah from his phone, Egbert said. Once Ullah was in custody, the officers began to evacuate commuters safely. Members of the bomb squad cleared the suspect of any additional explosive devices before he was transported to a hospital, according to Egbert. Collins arrested Ullah at gunpoint with the help of the other officers, CNN affiliate WABC reported. He was working his regular assignment on the lookout for child trafficking at the bus terminal. Port Authority Chairman Kevin O’Toole praised the four officers for swiftly putting an end to the situation. “Thanks to the quick response of these brave Port Authority Police officers, the suspect was apprehended, there were no serious injuries and the PABT was secured without further incident,” O’Toole said, according to WABC. “Our officers responded immediately and put themselves in harm’s way to protect the public.” CNN’s Ray Sanchez and Lauren Del Valle contributed to this report.


Editor’s Note: Julian Zelizer, a history and public affairs professor at Princeton University and a CNN political analyst, is the author of “The Fierce Urgency of Now: Lyndon Johnson, Congress, and the Battle for the Great Society.” He’s co-host of the “Politics & Polls” podcast. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own. Julian Zelizer: US history has seen restrictive policies used in the name of national security Following the London terror attacks, President Trump tweeted against "political correctness" The United States must not let fear dictate politics or policy. And yet as soon as news broke about the horrific attacks in London, President Donald Trump tweeted out: “We need to be smart, vigilant and tough. We need the courts to give us back our rights. We need the Travel Ban as an extra level of safety!” The President, who is preparing to bring his blocked travel ban to the Supreme Court, has chosen to use this moment of fear as a justification to build public support for his controversial executive order. He continued with even more tweets connecting his campaign rhetoric with the attacks. “We must stop being politically correct and get down to the business of security for our people.” In another, he went after gun control advocates: “Did you notice we are not having a gun debate right now? That’s because they used knives and a truck!” These tweets should give members of Congress pause. We have a long history of making bad policy decisions in times of fear. When there are threats to our national security at home or abroad, the government has moved in directions that are counterproductive – and often made conditions worse. Capitalizing on the fears of the electorate, politicians have many times implemented policies that undercut our civil liberties, enter us into costly and deadly battles that have little to do with the threat we face, and undermine our standing overseas. We need to be smart, vigilant and tough. We need the courts to give us back our rights. We need the Travel Ban as an extra level of safety! This could easily turn into one of those moments. The Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 started us off on the wrong foot. As the US prepared for the possibility of war against France, President John Adams and the Federalist-controlled Congress enacted a series of laws that tightened citizenship restriction laws for immigrants and empowered the government to imprison and detain citizens who were seen as dangerous. The target of the laws was the opposition party, then called the Democratic-Republican Party, as much as any real or external threat. During the Civil War, one of President Lincoln’s most controversial decisions was to suspend the writ of habeas corpus, which allowed for the indefinite detention of “disloyal persons” without any trial, in response to unrest in the border states. Related article 7 questions about the London terror attacks During World War I, the federal government and citizen vigilante groups rounded up German immigrants who had come from a country which was then fighting against the United States. On April 4, 1918, a crowd of drunken people lynched a German American named Robert Prager in Collinsville, Illinois. Congress imposed harsh punishment against mail used to send “treasonous” material, a law that was used against anti-war magazines such as The Nation. Finally, under raids conducted by Attorney General Mitchell Palmer, agents rounded up suspected immigrants and sent them overseas. In World War II, President Franklin Roosevelt authorized the internment of Japanese-Americans based on fears that they would not be loyal to the nation. And, during the early Cold War, Sen. Joseph McCarthy went after alleged communists living in the US, destroying the careers and lives of many figures from the left who were caught up in this sweep. With ongoing attacks on civilians by individuals directly connected or associated with ISIS, we risk making the same mistake once again. The courts have blocked President Trump’s proposed travel ban that targets some Muslim-majority countries on the grounds that it violates First Amendment protections for religious freedom. Related article London attacks: Murderers came to my city tonight Most experts agree that the travel ban would do nothing to stop the kinds of attacks that have been taking place in cities across Europe because most of the attackers are homegrown. Indeed, the ban does not include countries from which the 9/11 terrorists came. In fact, Saudi Arabia – one of the countries where most of the 9/11 attackers were from – just received a huge assistance package from President Trump. The ban would also make it much harder for intelligence officials to work with communities where potential threats might reside, by creating an unnecessary barrier between federal agents and the law-abiding and patriotic citizens who are prepared to offer much needed assistance. Worse yet, the travel ban would fuel extremism by providing the best propaganda possible that the United States is in a war against Muslims. Rather than tweeting about the travel ban, it would be better for President Trump to focus on measures that would actually work. Cities and suburbs need to ramp up their protective infrastructure with better barriers and check points at vulnerable areas. The federal government needs to provide more funding for improved intelligence-gathering to discover threats before they emerge. And the President needs to strengthen – not weaken – relations with our allies in Europe, who are critical in working to counter the terror threat. We need a State Department that is fully staffed so that it can conduct the needed diplomatic discussions with allies to build alliances against the terrorists. The US also needs to continue to gain ground in Syria and Iraq – frontlines in the war against ISIS. Sign up for CNN Opinion’s new newsletter.Join us on Twitter and Facebook We can look to London as an example of how to move forward. The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan,  told his city’s residents following these “barbaric” and “cowardly” attacks, that there was “no reason to be alarmed” about the heightened police presence in the city. He has reminded them that London is one of the safest cities in the world and they need to protect their democratic institutions and values rather than letting the terrorists destroy those. The Mayor said: “We are all shocked and angry today – but this is our city. We will never let these cowards win and we will never be cowed by terrorism.” Taking the Mayor’s statements out of context, Trump this morning tweeted: “At least 7 dead and 48 wounded in terror attack and Mayor of London says there is ‘no reason to be alarmed!’ Shortly after the tweet from POTUS went out, Brendan Cox, the husband of the slain MP Jo Cox, who was murdered by a man with extreme far-right views, tweeted to him in response: “You represent the worst of your country, @SadiqKhan represents some of the best of ours.” The President, who undoubtedly disagrees with the assessment, would benefit from heeding this larger warning.


The bill could take on added urgency amid the DACA debate The legislation would invest $15 billion over four years on border infrastructure A key House committee is set to consider a major border security bill, the committee’s chairman and bill author announced Wednesday, a development that comes as Congress debates what to do about the end of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. The House homeland security committee will mark up the bill next week, Chairman Mike McCaul announced Wednesday. The Texas Republican’s bill, first introduced in July, would invest $15 billion over four years in border infrastructure – including physical barriers – technology and personnel. A similar bill has been introduced in the Senate by fellow Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn. “Now that we have a partner in the White House who has made this a top priority, it’s time to send a bill to President (Donald) Trump’s desk so we can deliver the American people the security they have long demanded and deserve,” McCaul said. But while McCaul and Cornyn have worked on border security for years, and this proposal for months, the timing of the markup of the House homeland security committee could take on additional urgency with the debate raging in Congress over how to protect young undocumented immigrants brought to the US as children who were given the ability to work and study in the US under DACA. Related article DACA working groups form in Congress, but path forward remains at Trump's mercy When Trump announced the Obama-era program’s end at the beginning of the month, he allowed renewals of the two-year permits to continue until March, when individuals protected will begin losing their DACA status. That has sparked a flurry of activity in Congress to try to codify the executive branch program into law. Democrats and most Republicans are in agreement on wanting to find a solution for the young people who have in many cases known no other home than the US, but deep divisions remain over what that should look like. Republicans, including Trump, are demanding that any DACA deal include border security and possibly interior enforcement. House Speaker Paul Ryan has put together an immigration working group of Republicans that includes McCaul to come up with options the House GOP could get behind. A source familiar with the process downplayed the timing, saying the bill might have been marked up months ago but was slowed down by working through input from the administration. McCaul’s Border Security for America Act would require “physical barriers” and technology to be deployed on the Southern border, would increase air and marine patrols, would add 5,000 border agents and 5,000 customs officers, would waive polygraph requirements for a narrow set of Customs and Border Protection applicants and would mandate an entry-exit system for entering and leaving the United States that collects biometric information. Of the total investment, $10 billion would be for new border security and $5 billion would be for modernizing ports of entry. Related article DACA deal: Here are just some of the things that could go wrong Other provisions in the bill include authorizations for the National Guard and Defense Department to loan troops and supplies to the border security effort with reimbursement from the federal government – though they would not be authorized to do immigration enforcement tasks. The measure may be controversial, though there is precedent. In 2010, President Barack Obama deployed 1,200 National Guard troops to the Southern border to fight drug crime and provide intelligence, and in 2014, then-Texas Gov. Rick Perry sent troops to his state’s border with Mexico amid a surge of undocumented immigrants. The bill would allow for the National Guard and military to engage in activities like building, intelligence gathering and surveillance. Another potentially controversial measure would waive a number of federal laws to give Customs and Border Protection nearly absolute access to the border to conduct its patrols and for security needs, prohibiting federal agencies including environmental agencies from restricting that. The legislation would also require the department to conduct a security assessment of the southern border and submit strategic plans for securing it going forward.


Anti-ISIS coalition troops and allied Syrian opposition forces have repelled an attack by the terrorist group on a joint base in southern Syria, according to the coalition. The US-led coalition said ISIS initiated a complex attack on Saturday at the At Tanf Garrison on the Syrian-Jordanian border using a vehicle-borne IED, and 20-30 fighters followed with a ground assault and suicide vests. Related article Which nations are attacking ISIS? “Coalition and partnered forces engaged and defended the ISIS attack with direct fire before destroying enemy assault vehicles and the remaining fighters with multiple coalition airstrikes,” the coalition said in a news release. It is not known how long the battle lasted. Initial reports indicate the assault did not result in any coalition casualties, a coalition official told CNN. Some American forces were at the base at the time of the assault, the official said. Russia bombed the At Tanf Garrison in June 2016, but there were no US forces there at the time. During that incident the coalition sent aircraft in an attempt to prevent airstrikes. The Syrian opposition forces, known as VSO, who participated in Saturday’s fight are separate from the Syrian Democratic Forces the coalition is working with in the northern part of the country. “In Southern Syria, vetted Syrian opposition forces focus on conducting operations to clear ISIS from the Hamad Desert and have been instrumental in countering the ISIS threat in southern Syria and maintaining security along the Syria-Jordan border,” said the coalition. ISIS has seized large swaths of land in its quest to create a caliphate – an Islamic state – that stretches from western Syria to eastern Iraq. Countries participating in the US-led coalition battling ISIS include the United Kingdom, France, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Jordan, among others.


Thousands of refugees and migrants are arriving in Europe from countries like Syria, Iraq Last week, Hungary refused to let many migrants travel on without the right paperwork Other countries, like Germany, have opened their borders to thousands Europe is in the midst of an unprecedented human migration. Fleeing war, fearing for their lives and dreaming of a better life far from the poverty and upheaval of their unstable nations, hundreds of thousands are flocking to Europe’s shores. The migrants and refugees risk their lives in rickety boats and cramped trucks – only to be greeted by governments that can’t agree on how, or if, to welcome them. The United Nations’ refugee agency, UNHCR, estimates that 366,402 refugees and migrants have crossed the Mediterranean Sea to Europe this year, with 2,800 dead or missing. Migrant crisis in Europe: How you can help Here’s a look at the latest country-by-country developments in the refugee and migrant crisis unfolding across much of Europe: Around 11,000 migrants and refugees have crossed into Austria from Hungary since Saturday, Austrian Interior Ministry Spokesman Alexander Marakovits told CNN on Sunday. The Austrian border remains open and more migrants are arriving in buses from Hungary, Marakovits said. Austrians waiting at the border cheered as refugees arrived, left the buses and crossed the border on foot – welcoming them with water and food. A post shared by Fred Pleitgen (@fpleitgencnn) The Interior Ministry said Saturday that only a dozen or so of the thousands of refugees had applied for asylum in Austria. The rest had continued on to Germany. Austria earlier had stern words for other European countries over the challenge Germany has stepped up to meet. “All of Europe must wake up now. The dreaming has to end now,” said Austrian Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner Saturday. “Now, it’s up to the continent of Europe.” Related video Migrants getting food, water, and train tickets On Friday, Interior Ministry spokesman Karl Heinz Grundboeck in Vienna said his country was not planning to change policies along its border with Hungary in light of the massive influx of migrants across Central Europe. Austrian officials don’t currently enforce border controls on their side of the border under terms of a 1985 agreement that eliminates such internal controls in 25 European nations. Grundboeck could not comment on what Hungarian police might or might not do on their side of the border. Many of the migrants crossing into Austria had been transported by bus after earlier walking for hours out of Hungary’s capital, Budapest. The mass march began Friday when more than 1,000 men, women and children trudged along the side of a highway outside Budapest, carrying their belongings with them, CNN’s Arwa Damon said at the scene. Related video Migrants: Who are they? People in the throng told CNN they had decided to set out on foot because they simply could not wait in the Keleti train station any longer for Europe’s politicians to make decisions – and that they’d walk all the way to Germany if they had to. The Austrian capital, Vienna, is about 250 kilometers (150 miles) from Budapest. The government sent 100 buses to transport to Austria the people walking along the roadway, as well as people at Budapest’s main train station, spokesman Zoltan Kovacs said. But migrants have been wary of Hungarian authorities’ transport offers, fearing they want to place them in holding camps – an option they reject because they say they were badly treated at camps when they first crossed into Hungary from Serbia, which Hungary denies. Hungary’s right-wing government  is building a barbed wire fence along the Serbian border.  And on Friday, lawmakers passed a package of bills – due to take effect next week – aimed at tightening border restrictions to prevent migrants from entering illegally, Hungarian news agency MTI reported. Related gallery German football unites in response to Europe's migration crisis As more migrants poured into Hungary on Sunday, the will of the German government to relieve more pressure there appeared  to have its limits. Germany’s acceptance of thousands of people who entered Hungary while fleeing entrenched bloody conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan should be seen as the exception and not the rule, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Saturday. “The help in (Friday’s) emergency situation was tied to an urgent reminder not to make that the practice for the coming days,” he said at a meeting of Europe’s foreign ministers in Luxembourg, according to the website of the German newspaper Die Zeit. Germany is attractive to refugees because of its robust economy, strong democracy and long history of taking in refugees. After World War II, in the face of the Cold War, Germany instituted liberal policies toward applicants for political asylum. EU foreign ministers began an informal gathering in Luxembourg on Friday to discuss the crisis. Addressing reporters Saturday, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said Europe is finally starting to see the problem for what it is – not just affecting certain EU states, such as Italy and Greece, but a Europe-wide issue. Related video European leaders respond to refugee crisis “We also have to start using the right words. It is partially a migrant flow, but it is mainly a refugee flow, which puts us in a different situation when it comes to our legal and moral duties,” she said. It’s also a situation that is “here to stay,” she warned. Mandatory quotas have been rejected by some EU members. However, a voluntary system makes decisions more difficult, she said, so common systems are needed to speed up the process. More must also be done to tackle the networks of human traffickers exploiting migrants who seek to cross the Mediterranean from North Africa to Italy, or to travel from Greece via the Balkans to northern Europe, she said. Restoring stability to Libya and finding a political solution to the war in Syria are key to resolving the issue longer term, she said. France and Germany have proposed a welcoming mechanism that would be permanent and mandatory in Europe, French President Francois Hollande said Thursday. Related gallery 24 hours of Europe's migration crisis “What exists today is no longer enough, and there are countries – and I will not name them here because we have to work with all of them – but who are not responding to their moral obligations,” Hollande told reporters. “Europe is a group of principles, of values which oblige us to welcome those who are pushed out and look for refuge because they are persecuted.” Finland’s Prime Minister has offered to open his house to asylum seekers in need of accommodation, the country’s state broadcaster said Saturday. Prime Minister Juha Sipila promised to accommodate asylum-seekers coming to Finland in his home in Kempele, near the coastal city of Oulu, saying he wants to encourage all Finns to help with the refugee crisis, Finnish broadcaster YLE said. The Prime Minister has also appealed to churches and volunteer organizations to help with the growing need for accommodations. “I hope this becomes some kind of people’s movement that will inspire many to shoulder part of the burden in this refugee housing crisis,” Sipila said. “What we need now is a show of compassion.” Related video Mixed reception for migrants arriving on Kos More than 5,000 migrants and refugees per day have crossed the Aegean Sea into Greece over the past week, the International Organization for Migration said Friday. The largest group is Syrians, followed by Afghans, it said. Many of the families, especially the Afghans, include pregnant women and newborns, the IOM said. The small islands of Kos and Lesbos have found themselves on the front lines of the crisis. Many new arrivals are having to wait several days to be registered by police, camping out by overstretched reception centers. Rights group Amnesty International said its team in Kos had witnessed a violent attack Thursday night on refugees by a group of 15 to 25 people brandishing bats and shouting “Go back to your countries” and other abuse. Riot police intervened with tear gas only after the physical attacks had started, the rights group said. Related gallery Europe's refugee crisis in 20 photos The United Kingdom “will accept thousands more” Syrian refugees, Prime Minister David Cameron said Friday. “Britain will act with our head and our heart, providing refuge for those in need while working on a long-term solution to the Syria crisis,” he said. Cameron insisted Britain was doing its part, saying it had already accepted about 5,000 Syrian refugees, but would now take in more vulnerable Syrians from camps in neighboring countries. “As the second-largest bilateral donor to the crisis, we have provided over 900 million (British) pounds in aid to help those affected in Syria and the region. We have funded shelter, food, water and vital medical supplies for millions of desperate refugees fleeing the conflict and helping them to survive in the countries around Syria, like Jordan and Lebanon,” he said. On Friday, the head of the United Nations refugee agency called for a common approach to tackle what he said was “a primarily refugee crisis, not only a migration phenomenon.” “Europe cannot go on responding to this crisis with a piecemeal or incremental approach. No country can do it alone, and no country can refuse to do its part,” U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said in a statement. A new system must be set up, he said, based on a common policy. “Concretely, this means taking urgent and courageous measures to stabilize the situation and then finding a way to truly share responsibility in the mid to longer term.” CNN’s Radina Gigova contributed to this report.

European countries' response to the refugee crisis


US President Donald Trump approved fresh sanctions on Russia Wednesday after Congress showed overwhelming bipartisan support for the new measures. Congress passed the bill last week in response to Russia’s interference in the 2016 US election, as well as its human rights violations, annexation of Crimea and military operations in eastern Ukraine. The bill’s passage drew ire from Moscow – which responded by stripping 755 staff members and two properties from US missions in the country – all but crushing any hope for the reset in US-Russian relations that Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin had called for. Here’s what you need to know. The bill refers to sanctions on Russia, Iran and North Korea, and it substantially reduces the President’s power to waive or ease certain sanctions without Congressional approval. The Russian sanctions will target people and entities that: – undermine US cybersecurity on behalf of the Russia government – invest certain amounts in Russia’s energy export pipelines – conduct “significant” transactions with Russian defense and intelligence agencies (though this will come into effect six months from now) – commit, or assist in, serious human rights abuses – commit acts of “significant” corruption – provide support to the Syrian government to acquire arms – invest, or facilitate the investment of, $10 million or more in the Russian government’s privatization of any state-owned asset in a one-year period that could unfairly benefit government officials or their associates. The bill lists 12 types of sanctions that can be imposed and obliges the President to use at least five in many cases against those affected. They can include freezing assets, such as property, revoking US visas and banning exports from the United States to those sanctioned. Ukraine: The United States and the European Union rolled out a rash of coordinated sanctions in 2014 over Russia’s occupation, and then annexation, of the Crimea peninsula from Ukraine. Certain Russian individuals were hit with travel bans and asset freezes, and companies were hit with restrictions on their activities in the US and EU. Russia’s powerful elite, including members of President Putin’s inner circle, were targeted. The sanctions were largely aimed at hurting the Russian economy. They targeted Russian state banks and major corporations, including state oil companies, such as Rosneft, and arms makers. US election meddling: On December 29, US President Barack Obama announced fresh sanctions on Russia for allegedly interfering in the 2016 US election. Those sanctions included the closure of two Russian compounds used for intelligence purposes and expelled 35 Russian diplomats from the country. A report by intelligence agencies in January this year alleged that Putin had ordered a cyber influence campaign to help boost Trump’s chances of winning the election. The US and EU have spearheaded sanctions against Russia, but other countries have followed suit. Canada joined the US and EU in the initial round of specifically targeted sanctions on March 17, 2014, after a referendum in Crimea on whether people wanted to join Russia or remain part of Ukraine – the US considered the poll to be illegitimate. Hours after those sanctions were placed, Putin signed a draft bill for the annexation of Crimea, and five days later, he officially signed that bill into law. Other countries imposed their own sanctions in the days and months following, including Japan and Australia, as well as several non-EU countries in Europe, including Norway and Switzerland. Measuring the impact of sanctions on Russia’s economy is not an exact science, and different experts have different opinions. But what seems clear is that the price of oil – which Russia’s economy depends on – has had a far greater impact than sanctions. Opinion: Sanctions alone won’t get the job done An International Monetary Fund report in May showed that the Russian economy was climbing out of a two-year recession and was expected to grow 1.4% this year, in part on resurgent oil prices. But the report also said that medium-term growth would be subdued, at about 1.5%, partly because of “the lingering effects of sanctions that restrain the potential to increase investment.” In 2015, when the Ukraine-related sanctions had begun to take hold, the IMF reported that the measures could shrink the economy by 9% over time. A reduction in trade with Russia has also hit some parts of the EU, if not the economy overall, and in August 2014, Russia retaliated by placing a ban on food imports from the countries that had imposed sanctions. That hit the EU’s agri-food sector profoundly. Putin has repeatedly ridiculed the sanctions and called on countries, particularly the US, to drop them. But Russia’s economy is beginning to show new signs of life, so such calls may now be aimed at improving conditions for certain individuals, companies or sectors. It appears that Russia has lobbied for the US to drop other sanctions imposed under the 2012 Magnitsky Act, which targets Russians whom the US considers human rights abusers. Related article Why is everyone talking about Russian adoptions? In Putin and Trump’s second meeting, at the G20 in Germany this month, Trump claims the two leaders spoke about “adoptions,” an issue strongly associated with the Magnitsky sanctions. Russia banned Americans from adopting Russian children in response to the Magnitsky Act. The law was drafted after the alleged beating to death of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in prison in 2009. The Russian government has never admitted any crime was committed, saying he died of heart failure. Reinstating Russian adoptions would likely go hand in hand with weakening the sanctions applied under the Magnitsky Act. Bill Browder, a key proponent behind the act, has said that Putin is desperate to have the US drop the Magnitsky sanctions, arguing that they will likely hit Putin himself in the future. “For Putin, this is his single largest foreign policy priority, to get rid of these sanctions, which sanctions him and the other people around him,” Browder told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria in a recent interview. The EU has been at the forefront of sanctions on Russia, but it’s nervous about the sanctions being mulled in US Congress. That’s because there is concern they could hinder several key energy projects in Europe and further inflame internal EU divisions, CNN Money reported. The bill proposes sanctions on people and entities making investments of a certain level in Russian energy export pipelines. The US argues that Russia is using pipelines to exert its influence in Europe. But the European Union says the sanctions would unfairly penalize its countries interested in their own energy security, while Germany has said the bill breaches international law. One project in particular is stoking animosity – the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project that would extend from Russia across the Baltic to Germany. It is being pursued by Russian energy giant Gazprom. Despite efforts to reduce a reliance on energy imported from Russia, the country supplies roughly a third of the EU’s natural gas. Energy security is therefore highly politicized and an issue that Europe views as being off limits – even for close allies like the US.


As Donald Trump, the President, weighs how to respond to a chemical attack in Syria his administration blamed on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, he may want to consult Donald Trump, the reality TV star and prolific tweeter, who had countless strong opinions about not going into Syria in 2013. Trump is by no means beholden to his past comments about military operations in Syria, and the President has often shown that what he said years ago on social media doesn’t necessarily reflect any deep held beliefs he has on an issue. Trump also said on Wednesday that the video of children suffering from the chemical attack has “changed very much” his view of Syria and Assad. But as Trump meets with his top military and foreign policy advisers in Florida to discuss taking action in Syria after this week’s chemical attack, Trump’s past opinions and comments cast doubt on how much he is behind action in Syria and whether he plans to go to Congress to get approval. When Obama considered asking for approval, Trump said it would be a “big mistake” if he didn’t. “The President must get Congressional approval before attacking Syria-big mistake if he does not!” The President must get Congressional approval before attacking Syria-big mistake if he does not! As president, Trump has not said whether he will go to Congress to ask for approval, should he want to authorize military action. Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill said Thursday they support Trump asking them for approval before moving on Assad. As Trump has made clear, though, he would rather surprise Syria with action and not telegraph what he plans to do. When Obama considered and eventually backed away from action, Trump knocked him for signaling his plans. “Why do we keep broadcasting when we are going to attack Syria. Why can’t we just be quiet and, if we attack at all, catch them by surprise?” Why do we keep broadcasting when we are going to attack Syria. Why can't we just be quiet and, if we attack at all, catch them by surprise? Throughout the debate, Trump urged Obama not to take action, even at one point saying he was “foolish” to even consider it. AGAIN, TO OUR VERY FOOLISH LEADER, DO NOT ATTACK SYRIA - IF YOU DO MANY VERY BAD THINGS WILL HAPPEN & FROM THAT FIGHT THE U.S. GETS NOTHING! And regularly told him not to do it: President Obama, do not attack Syria. There is no upside and tremendous downside. Save your "powder" for another (and more important) day! @walaa_3ssaf   No, dopey, I would not go into Syria, but if I did it would be by surprise and not blurted all over the media like fools. If we are going to continue to be stupid and go into Syria (watch Russia), as they say in the movies, SHOOT FIRST AND TALK LATER! Let the Arab League take care of Syria. Why are these rich Arab countries not paying us for the tremendous cost of such an attack? There is a difference, though, in what Trump knows now and what he knew then. The President is now briefed on all the information the United States has about the Syrian civil war, something he did not have as a private citizen with a Twitter account. This could have a sobering effect on the president, as it has for past commanders-in-chief, who regularly expressed surprise when aspects of their campaigns met the realities of the White House. Trump ran on a platform of less foreign intervention, even arguing that Hillary Clinton, his 2016 opponent, would cause World War III with a war in Syria. Hillary Clinton “wants to start a shooting war in Syria… that could very well lead to World War III,” Trump said in Florida days before Election Day.


Patton Oswalt delivered a monologue that took on Trump at the WGA Awards Aaron Sorkin and director Oliver Stone also gave politically themed speeches A few of the honorees at the Writers Guild of America Awards had strong words for President Donald Trump on Sunday night. The award show – one of the last stops on the Hollywood praise train known as award season – gave out honors to “Moonlight,” “Arrival,” “The Americans” and “Atlanta.” But it was also notable for the defiant speeches from honorees, including Oliver Stone and Aaron Sorkin. Host Patton Oswalt also delivered some criticism of the president with a monologue that, among other things, called the night a celebration of “the end of the written word.” “Donald Trump taking Obama’s job would be like if the head of linguistics at Rutgers made fun of David Lee Roth, and David Lee Roth was like, ‘I’m gonna take his job,’” Oswalt joked, as he mimicked a hit song from the 80’s icon. Oswalt was accompanied on stage by two men dressed as “soldiers from armed forces of the Russian Federation.” The gag continued all night, with the two uniformed men standing on stage as the evening’s honorees accepted their awards. Sorkin, who was awarded the Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award for Television Writing Achievement, quipped that it should come as “no surprise” that he had comments of a political nature to make while accepting his statue. “We’ve been told that as coastal elites that we’re something less than real Americans and out of touch. If you find it mind-boggling that living and working in the two largest cities in America make you less than a real American, you are not the one who’s out of touch,” he said. Sorkin went on to lambast Trump’s travel ban, his claims about illegal voting (of which the president has not provided evidence) and his criticism of mainstream media. “If you don’t think that turning away people who are seeking a safe haven, from unspeakable brutality, is a morally defensible idea, then you’re not the one who is less than a real American,” said Sorkin. Stone was honored with the WGA West’s Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement. In his acceptance speech, he encouraged the room of young writers to “be critical of your government and your society.” “It’s fashionable now to take shots at Republicans and Trump and all that and avoid the Obamas and Clintons,” he said. “But remember this: In the 13 wars we’ve started over the last 30 years and the 14 trillion dollars we’ve spent and the hundreds of thousands of lives that have perished from this Earth, remember that it wasn’t one leader but a system – both Republican and Democrat.” Stone is a veteran of the Vietnam War. “Try to find not what the crowd wants so you can be successful, but try instead to find the true inner meaning of your life here on Earth and never give up on your heart and your struggle for peace, decency and telling the truth,” he said. Neither President Trump nor White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer had addressed the criticisms on Twitter as of Monday morning. The White House did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.


“McMafia” is a somewhat unfortunate title for an AMC series that feels like Mafia Lite, creating an image of assembly-line added on to an existing franchise. While there are strong moments in this globetrotting international series, it plays like a retread of earlier mob tales – albeit with a timely tie-in to the Russians and money laundering – in a way that represents an offer you can safely refuse. Based on Misha Glenny’s best-selling book and produced in concert with the BBC, the series stars James Norton as Alex Godman, the son of an exiled Russian mob boss (Aleksey Serebryakov, who almost exclusively speaks in subtitled Russian). Having been raised in England, Alex has gone legit, holding a high-powered job in finance when a threat to the family draws him into a web of corruption. In response, he forges an alliance with a shadowy exile turned Israeli citizen, played by the ever-reliable David Strathairn, who wants to launder $100 million through his fund. If it all sounds a little like “The Godfather” – the privileged son destined for better things reluctantly drawn into the family business, but oddly suited to it with his steely, cool-headed nerve – rest assured, it is. Throw in a pinch of “Billions” in the high-stakes financial machinations, where Alex’s actions provoke suspicion on the part of an astute coworker. Even working from that familiar playbook, the particulars have their merits, such as when Alex balks at a transaction because of its illegality. “How illegal?” his mother (Mariya Shukshina) asks. The problem is that while the characters prove reasonably strong, they all feel like mere variations on what we’ve seen before. Through four previewed chapters of the eight-episode series, Alex slides farther and farther down the rabbit hole, while providing a travelogue of Europe as he visits various opulent locales – basically, Lifestyles of the Rich & Corrupt. In the process, his early protestation that “I’m a banker, not a gangster” becomes increasingly hollow, especially with the threat of violence never far away. Those who pay attention to the headlines, naturally, will find extra oomph in the subject matter, inasmuch as the flow of money from unsavory Russians – including oligarchs operating with their government’s blessing – has been very much in the news of late. Still, the show joins such a rich, storied history of organized crime on screen, from “The Godfather” to “The Sopranos,” that it has to be categorized in that basket, and can’t help but look a bit pale by comparison. In that regard, “McMafia” isn’t exactly fast food, but it’s easily overlooked as another storefront in a genre that, in TV and movie terms, has long since become its own sort of franchise. “McMafia” premieres Feb. 26 at 10 p.m. on AMC.


Hours before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was set to meet US President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday, a third Netanyahu confidant turned state’s witness in the corruption investigations into the Israeli leader and his inner circle. Nir Hefetz, who formerly served as the long-time Netanyahu family spokesman, signed a state’s witness agreement, agreeing to work with investigators in Case 4000. It’s a growing probe in which Netanyahu and his wife have just become suspects. He was questioned by police in the probe last week. Netanyahu wanted to keep his meeting with Trump focused squarely on friend and foe – thanking the American President for the upcoming move of the US Embassy to Jerusalem, while lobbying against the Iran nuclear deal. But the latest development in the investigations means the continuing probes will cast a shadow over his entire US trip. Related article Netanyahu's White House visit shrouded in scandal Two weeks ago, Shlomo Filber, another member of Netanyahu’s inner circle, signed a state’s witness agreement, agreeing to work with prosecutors. Netanyahu’s former chief of staff, Ari Harow, signed a similar agreement in August. Hefetz was a suspect in Case 4000, which dealt with the relationship between Israel’s Ministry of Communications – then under Netanyahu – and Israeli telecommunications firm Bezeq, controlled by Netanyahu’s friend, Shaul Elovitch, also a suspect in the case. Prosecutors say Netanyahu advanced regulatory benefits worth up to 1 billion shekels (approximately $280 million) for Elovitch in exchange for favorable media coverage. Netanyahu has denied wrongdoing in all the graft probes, often saying, “There will be nothing because there is nothing.” In a response to the latest development, a person close to the Israeli leader said, “When there is really something, you don’t need even a single state witness. And when there isn’t, even a thousand state witnesses won’t help.” “The endless race for state witnesses is the best proof that there is nothing – and there will be nothing,” he added.


President Donald Trump is all in on pushing the idea, accurate or not, that the FBI may have inserted a spy into his campaign. He teased it again Tuesday, on the odd occasion of a meeting with the South Korean President. “A lot of people are saying they had spies in my campaign,” he said of the FBI he now leads, as his foreign counterpart looked on. “If they had spies in my campaign that would be a disgrace to this country. It would be very illegal.” Wednesday morning, he was tweeting, cramming his earlier comments into the conspiracy theory and dubbing the whole thing “SPYGATE” in one post. “Look how things have turned around on the Criminal Deep State. They go after Phony Collusion with Russia, a made up Scam, and end up getting caught in a major SPY scandal the likes of which this country may never have seen before! What goes around, comes around!” he tweeted in another post. The truth, which appears to be that the FBI spoke with a confidential source about his dealings with Trump campaign officials, requires some nuance. But as with his unfounded claims that then-President Barack Obama “wiretapped” his phones at Trump Tower, the President has taken a kernel of truth and contorted it into an all-out conspiracy theory of entrenched bureaucrats out to get him. Some of his Cabinet secretaries are joining him. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said Tuesday that she was “unfamiliar” with the US intelligence community’s repeated and unanimous assessment that Russia meddled in the 2016 election in an effort to help Trump and hurt Hillary Clinton. Trump’s tortured relationship with his Department of Justice is the heart of the “deep state” fears he brought into the White House but it seems to have festered as morsels of information emerged about the methodical and apparently wide-reaching special counsel investigation into possible collusion with Russians by Trump campaign officials. Trump has not been cowed into silence by the probe, but rather has lashed out on social media and during talks with reporters, calling the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller a “witch hunt.” If you put together the wiretapping allegation, the apparently failed demands of personal loyalty from people like former FBI Director James Comey and now the teased idea of a government spy infiltrating his campaign, you come away with the picture of an executive ready to uproot portions of government. Related video GOP lawmakers call for second special counsel “You have a President who truly believes there is such a thing as a ‘deep state,’ the FBI is at the center of the deep state and is out to get him. There simply has been no evidence brought forth to support that,” Bob Baer, a former CIA agent and a CNN analyst, said Monday. Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, called Trump’s spy theory “a major threat to the rule of law.” In attempting to protect himself from Mueller and erode trust in the special counsel and FBI with these outbursts, Trump has also declared war on the institutions of American government, inviting the public to question them in the same way he does. It’s working, too. CNN’s most recent polling, conducted in May, suggested Republicans were shifting more negative on the Mueller probe as the President turned his rhetorical fire against it. And it’s not just the Mueller probe that Americans, particularly Republicans, are beginning to doubt. A Pew survey released in February showed the favorable view of the FBI among Republicans and Americans who lean Republican was down 10 percentage points – from 65% to 55% – in one year. Negative views of the FBI among that subset rose from 21% in 2017 to 36% in 2018. Democrats, meanwhile, view the FBI more favorably. That’s still a majority favorable view for the FBI in February. Trust in government more broadly is much lower, 18%, according to a Pew survey out in December. Trump seizes on that distrust and fuels it with his “deep state” conspiracy rhetoric. Trump has been fueling theories about conspiracies for years. When he didn’t like Obama, he became a major backer of the silly but subversive idea that Obama was not born in the US and therefore not a legitimate president. Later, when Trump was the underdog to win the White House, he said over and over that the system was rigged, presumably so he could dispute the results if he lost. But he won. When he didn’t win the popular vote, he became adamant that millions of votes had been cast illegally, oddly working to cast doubt on the Rust Belt wave that swept him in. Frustrated by court decisions, he’s called out the 9th Circuit and said the system is “broken and unfair.” And now, faced with Mueller, he cries “witch hunt” and suggests a “deep state” within government was spying on him. Trump does not trust the government he leads – and if that wears off on people, it could end up being a legacy of his presidency.


This page includes the show Transcript The Weekly Newsquiz tests your knowledge of events in the news September 22, 2017 This Friday, our down-the-middle explanation of a Republican plan to repeal and replace a U.S. health care law is followed by an examination of health care in America. We’re also bringing you up to speed on the path and effects of Hurricane Maria. And after a random segment about “nightingale floors,” we’re discussing a random occurrence of a not-quite-driverless van in Virginia. WEEKLY NEWSQUIZ Click for a printable version of the Weekly Newsquiz. 1. How many members of the United Nations are part of the organization’s General Assembly, which is holding its annual meeting in New York City? 2. What historic, U.S. event took place on September 17, 1787? 3. Name the Atlantic hurricane that roared across the Caribbean this week. 4. Prior to this week’s storm, how many years has it been since a Category 4 hurricane directly struck the island of Puerto Rico? 5. In what sport do more concussions occur than in any other sport in the U.S.? 6. What was the magnitude of the relatively shallow earthquake that struck Mexico on Tuesday, causing damage hundreds of miles away? 7. Including this week’s address, how many times has U.S. President Donald Trump spoken at the United Nations General Assembly? 8. By what famous river is the Egyptian city of Luxor, where a tomb that’s believed to be 3,500 years old was recently discovered? 9. What percentage of Puerto Rico’s population lost electricity when a hurricane struck this week? 10. U.S. Republican senators recently unveiled the Graham-Cassidy plan to repeal and replace what 2010 health care law? TRANSCRIPT Click here to access the printable version of today’s CNN 10 transcript. CNN 10 serves a growing audience interested in compact on-demand news broadcasts ideal for explanation seekers on the go or in the classroom. The show’s priority is to identify stories of international significance and then clearly describe why they’re making news, who is affected, and how the events fit into a complex, international society. Thank you for using CNN 10


The Greek island of Kos has always been a hot spot for German tourists Those tourists are now sharing the island with migrants seeking a new life in Europe A relative calm prevailed over the Greek island of Kos by the time photographer Jörg Brüggemann landed there in August. The site of overloaded dinghies carrying migrants from the Aegean Sea became less common. Riots began dwindling. Only a few relics from the crisis remained: rows of deflated boats and scattered life vests strewn over the island’s white sand. It was the right moment for Brüggemann, who was on assignment for a German magazine. “The idea,” he said, “was to look at German tourists doing their holidays there, the ones who had booked in advance but instead of asking for their money back as they were entitled to, they decided to go ahead with the holiday.” When Brüggemann arrived to Kos, “it was obvious there was something very unique going on, like a clash of civilizations,” he said. His images were very different from the images of the migration crisis we have already seen. “There are so many sad images,” he said, “and sadly, people just don’t feel anything anymore. “You see a strong Syrian father bringing (his) family to safety on the shore and you can say, yes, that’s a strong image. But you also know that a German family will set up their picnic right by that image. And that is what I found interesting.” Cash-strapped Greece depends strongly on their northern visitors for tourism dollars. Germans and other northern European travelers are some of the top contributors to Greece’s gross domestic product. That essential contribution has been threatened by the migration crisis, which triggered a wave of hotel and flight cancellations. With this context in mind, Brüggemann adds a level of critical irony to the Kos refugee story, shadowing the ubiquitous German tourist as he tiptoes through refugee tents. Brüggemann’s photos also show scantily clothed vacationers sunbathing by modestly dressed refugees. “It was really strange,” Brüggemann said. “Here are the Germans, working all year to have these two weeks of holidays in Greece.  They work hard and they come here and they obviously feel they are in a very strange situation psychologically.¨ Social mediaFollow @CNNPhotos on Twitter to join the conversation about photography. Brüggemann’s images work like a silent film, carrying a narrative of their own. His strong characters lead us through critical moments and circumstances, hinting at personal transformations as they encounter another reality. We meet hotel owner Reinhilde Michalakopoulos, who has given herself the colossal assignment of feeding fresh peaches to refugees and later on, entertaining German guests with dancing and Ouzo. A fair-skinned couple dozing off under the shade of the hotel’s olive trees is followed by an image of a refugee sleeping in a tent made of recycled trash and palm trees. A tourist reading about the refugee crisis on a German newspaper illustrates the truth: These cultures are physically together and – at the same time – conceptually apart. Wherever they turned, German tourists could not get away from the angst of one of Europe’s most challenging human dilemmas. Many, Brüggemann said, lived up to the challenge. “Some said, ‘I don’t want to see this,’ and others said quite the opposite: ‘We want to go there and see what’s been on TV and witness history in the making,’ ” Brüggemann said. He met a 20-year old from the Black Forest region who convinced his girlfriend to go out of the hotel area to see what was going on. On one of the couple´s first encounters with the reality outside the hotel facilities, they witnessed a British tourist giving a young Syrian girl a toy. “The little girl looked so happy, and that’s when his girlfriend started to cry,” Brüggemann said. Complete coverage on the migration crisis Jörg Brüggemann is a German photographer based in Berlin. You can follow him on Instagram. He is represented by Ostkreuz Agency.


Kal Penn spends his days at the fictional White House on ABC’s “Designated Survivor.” But the actor took to Twitter on Tuesday to remember the days when his acting career’s survival meant auditioning for a number of offensive roles. “Found a bunch of old scripts from some of my first years trying to be an actor,” Penn wrote before sharing pieces of scripts in a series of tweets. “They were awful. ‘Can you make his accent a little more AUTHENTIC?’ That usually meant they wanted Apu.” The character Penn referenced was named “Careem,” who was described as having a “slight Hindi accent.” Jeez I remember this one! They were awful. "Can you make his accent a little more AUTHENTIC?" That usually meant they wanted Apu pic.twitter.com/3F5XRORO3n Apu is an Indian animated character on “The Simpsons.” Another script described a character named “Parmesh,” who is a “quirky, Indian lab buddy” whose “language is peppered with Indian cultural references.” It was for a pilot called “The Stones,” according to Penn. “Tried to convince them to let me speak without an accent & make it funny on the merits (was told no),” he wrote. This was a pilot called The Stones. Tried to convince them to let me speak without an accent & make it funny on the merits (was told no) 😂 pic.twitter.com/SuUVYT7rip Oh wait yes they did pic.twitter.com/xwB3qIoXoF Penn also shared a peek at a script from a commercial where he played a “Pakistani computer geek” and another project where the character, named Rajid, talked about “elephant dung.” He also highlighted problematic characters he auditioned for on shows like “Smart Guy” and “King of Queens.” Penn was offered and accepted the role of Prajeeb on “Sabrina.” “Sabrina the Teenage Witch! Man. We got INTO it about why he had to have an accent,” he wrote. “I’m laughing about it now but they were such d—s.” Friggin King of Queens man! I used to love that show until I got to audition for it lol pic.twitter.com/2BYu0nnd57 This was for some project called The Marriage Clause I guess. pic.twitter.com/0yKjepAHqy All of those series noted by Penn ran in the late ’90s and early ‘00s. More recent years have seen Hollywood – in particular television – showcase actors of Indian descent in roles that broke aged and harmful stereotypes. Last year, Aziz Ansari became the first South Asian actor to be nominated in the lead actor category at the Emmys for his work in Netflix’s “Master of None.” Penn doled out praise for series like “The Steve Harvey Show,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Angel,” “24,” and other “really smart, creative people who didn’t have to use external things to mask subpar writing.” He also praised “House” creator David Shore, saying his “largely color & gender blind” storytelling led to a “more interesting” show and good ratings. Penn played Dr. Lawrence Kutner on “House” from 2007-09. Willing to call out racist behavior – be it in Hollywood or online – Penn recently raised more than $500,000 for Syrian refugees after he received a hateful message on Instagram saying he didn’t “belong” in America.


Railway station hotels might be convenient, but they’re often drab, unmemorable stops on a traveler’s itinerary. But Japan’s Tokyo Station Hotel stands out from this lackluster crowd and has been doing so for more than a century. Founded in November 1915, the small, high-end hotel is among the oldest still operating in Tokyo. Not bad for a city where earthquakes and wartime bombing have meant that there are few buildings more than 70 years old. It’s also Japan’s only hotel located inside a designated Important Cultural Property: Tokyo Station’s 101-year-old Marunouchi Building. With rooms and facilities facing into the historic train station, Tokyo Station Hotel offers guests access to otherwise private corners of one of the capital’s most iconic symbols. The hotel reopened in 2012 following a five-year refurbishment but its history – surviving World War II and the Great Kanto earthquake of 1923 – remains an important part of its identity. Throughout the hotel’s hallways and common areas, guests can spot patches of the building’s original red brickwork – an intentional reminder of the hotel’s past. To prepare for the re-opening, “we sent some staff to the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York,” says the hotel’s general manager, Hitoshi Fujisaki. “We learned a lot from that kind of historic and grand hotel.” The hotel is offering a history-themed accommodation package to celebrate the anniversary. There’s a more private way to experience the hotel’s unique location – staying in one of the Dome Side Rooms (starting at ¥46,000/$380). The rooms have windows looking into the station’s interior – with magnificent views of the station’s signature heavily ornamented European-style domes. Fully preserved during the last renovation, the yellow and white domes are decorated with intricate animal-shaped sculptures and reliefs – not an everyday sight in modern Tokyo. 10 things you didn't know about Tokyo Station Fujisaki says the Dome Side Rooms are the most popular. Once the last train departs at night, guests get to be the only ones to enjoy the space. In the morning, guests are greeted by the unique contrast between the (surprisingly) quiet bedroom and the view of thousands of Japanese commuters beginning their day at the country’s busiest station. Rooms that don’t have views of the station interior overlook either the train tracks or the Imperial Palace. Guests unable to get a Dome Side Room can still enjoy a similar view from the hotel’s second-floor balcony. A cafe here serves coffee, Japanese green tea and small meals. Overnight hotel guests get another exclusive perk – breakfast at The Atrium under the roof of Tokyo Station. The elegant space is housed on the fourth floor of the hotel with nine-meter-high ceilings. The buffet menu includes both international and Japanese fare – French pastries, Japanese porridge, made-to-order omelets. Japan’s legendary bartender Hisashi Sugimoto, who joined the hotel’s Bar Oak in 1958, has returned with his hugely popular signature drink, Tokyo Station, a a blend of Tanqueray gin and Suze liqueur. The hotel’s main attraction remains its unmatched proximity to Japan’s extensive high-speed rail network. The hotel offers special rates to Japan Rail Pass holders. It provides a meet-and-greet service where hotel porters pick up or drop off guests’ luggage directly on the train platform, saving them from trying to navigate Tokyo’s notoriously complex rail station. To celebrate: You’re too late to join the hotel’s 100th birthday banquet if you don’t already have a ticket – the 120 seats sold out in 20 minutes. But you can see the anniversary light show beamed from the roofs of the Marunouchi Building’s north and south domes on November 2 from 6 to 9 p.m.


Need another reason to be worried about climate change? It’s screwing up coffee. Here’s what else you need to know to Get Up to Speed and Out the Door. (You can also get “5 Things You Need to Know Today” delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up here.) We’ll finally get to see what’s in the Senate health care bill, when Republicans release a “discussion draft” later today. Here are a few things we know so far: The Senate bill would dramatically change Medicaid, just like the House version. Spending on the program would be reduced by $800 billion over 10 years, partially by eliminating Medicaid expansion funding. The Senate bill also would offer more generous tax credits for lower-income and older Americans. The House bill replaces Obamacare’s subsidies with tax credits, but they’re considered inadequate to help those groups. The Senate’s fix, however, could tick off conservatives, who think the tax credits are too much like the subsidies they’re supposed to replace. The Senate’s bill may not include the House bill’s prohibition on federal funding for Planned Parenthood, something else sure to make conservatives unhappy. A vote is possible before Congress leaves town for the July 4 recess. The FBI is investigating the stabbing of a police officer at Flint, Michigan’s airport as an act of terror. Police said Amor Ftouhi, a Canadian, yelled “Allahu akbar” (“God is greatest,” in Arabic) before he stabbed the officer in the neck with a knife with an 8-inch blade. The officer is in stable condition; Ftouhi, 50, is charged with carrying out violence at an international airport. Tropical Storm Cindy will make landfall this morning over southeastern Texas or southwestern Louisiana. Tornadoes and as much as 15 inches of rain are possible along parts of the Gulf Coast. The storm has already killed one person, a 10-year-old boy who was struck at an Alabama beach by a log on a wave. Cindy is the second tropical storm to form during this year’s Atlantic hurricane season. You can track Cindy here. A former Milwaukee cop was acquitted in the shooting death of a man during a foot chase. Dominique Heaggan-Brown was found not guilty of first-degree reckless homicide in the August 2016 shooting of Sylville Smith. The shooting sparked days of protests. Heaggan-Brown was the third police officer in the past week to be tried for shooting a black man. Convictions are rare. Teen sex habits and use of contraception haven’t changed much in the past decade. A new survey from the CDC says 42% of female teens and 44% of male teens reported having had sex at least once, a slight drop from the mid-2000s. Almost 90% of females and about 95% of males reported using contraception, again not much of a difference from a decade ago. “1,000% false” US officials’ response to the ISIS claim that the US blew up a historic mosque in Iraq People are talking about these. Read up. Join in. False alarm It was the big one that wasn’t. The USGS sent out an alert about a 6.8-magnitude quake striking Cali. But the alert was about 90 years too late. Alternative facts A couple claimed they can survive without food and instead use the universe’s “energy.” Some media outlets reported this, but we’ll call it what is: B.S. Hat tip The Queen wore a hat that looks a lot like the EU flag while giving a speech to Parliament, and the internet just couldn’t handle it. Lie detector Want to know if someone’s lying? Just watch the way they move a computer mouse, because scientists say that’s a dead giveaway. Internet spud So a (seemingly) smart guy invents a self-driving potato that acts like a cat because, well, it’s the internet and that’s what it does. (Click to view) CORRECTION: An earlier version of the first item incorrectly identified the program that the Senate bill could dramatically change. It is Medicaid.


Two experts from Pyongyang university detained in three weeks News of detention follows accusations of plot to kill Kim Jong Un In the last three weeks, two US citizens have been detained by the North Korean regime. Both men work at Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, one of the few schools to employ foreign experts in North Korea. Kim Hak-song, an ethnic Korean, born in Jilin, China, and educated at a university in California, was detained Saturday on suspicion of “hostile acts” against the regime, state media reported. In April, Kim Sang Duk, also known as Tony Kim, was also detained for “hostile acts” while trying to fly out of Pyongyang International Airport. Related video N. Korea accuses US of assassination attempt Michael Madden, a visiting scholar at the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University, says the timing of the US detention was “no accident.” The detentions come amid heightening tensions on the Korean Peninsula; just last week, North Korea state media published an 1,800-word report accusing the US and South Korea of plotting to kill leader Kim Jong Un. Friday’s report said that a “hideous terrorist group” conspired with the CIA and South Korea’s National Intelligence Service to mount the “bio-chemical” attack. CNN was not able to independently corroborate the report and South Korea’s intelligence service told CNN they knew nothing about an alleged plot. Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, or PUST, is run by evangelical Christians. Due to exposure to foreign faculty members, pupils are heavily vetted for something Madden calls “political reliability” before they are admitted. The university is still highly outward-looking by North Korean standards, in a nation where foreign academics are relatively rare. Even so, it’s expected that students report on their interactions with foreign staff. “Foreign nationals in the DPRK really have to allow for there to be no ambiguity or interpretation about any of their interactions or what they’re doing,” says Madden, a contributor to North Korean monitoring organization 38 North. He says that plausibly innocuous exchanges can be interpreted differently by the North Korean security authorities who read the reports. In 2011, writer Suki Kim went undercover at PUST, posing as an English teacher and missionary. Currently held:• Kim Dong Chul, the president of a company involved in international trade and hotel services, was arrested in 2015 and is serving 10 years on espionage charges.• Otto Warmbier, a University of Virginia student, was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in 2016 for removing a political sign.• Kim Sang Duk, also known as Tony Kim, a university professor, was detained in Pyongyang in 2017 and accused of attempting to overthrow the government.• Kim Hak-song, a native Korean born in China (Jin Xue Song is the Chinese version of his name) and professor working at the same university as Tony Kim was detained May 6 on suspicion of “hostile acts” against the regime.Americans released in 2014:• Kenneth Bae served nearly two years of hard labor after accusations he was part of a Christian plot to overthrow the regime.• Matthew Todd Miller was also accused of “hostile acts” after tearing up his tourist visa and seeking asylum after entering North Korea.• Jeffrey Fowle spent five months in a North Korean prison after being caught with a Bible inside the country. The subsequent book – Without You, There Is No Us – detailed, in Kim’s words, “the psychology of North Korea’s future leaders and their very complex and human and inhumane world.” “There, in that relentless vacuum, nothing moved. No news came in or out. No phone calls to or from anyone. No emails, no letters, no ideas not prescribed by the regime,” Kim wrote in her bestselling book, which was published in 2014. According to Madden, the behavior of faculty members and exchanges at the university will inevitably have been under additional scrutiny by security forces as a result of the book. “PUST is certainly going to be in the crosshairs for – let’s say special attention – by the North Korean authorities because of that book,” says Madden. Suki Kim strenuously denies her book has anything to do with the latest detentions. She told CNN she was “threatened repeatedly” when North Korean security services found out about the book soon after it was published. She says since then PUST has been able to continue functioning – and even expand – under the regime. The school offers free education to children of the North Korean elite, many of whom would otherwise be sent abroad for school. “PUST exposes them to all sorts of subject matter and to interesting people,” Madden says. “They benefit enormously from that, and North Korea is not going to upset that applecart.” “The book has been out for a while,” says John Delury, associate professor at the Yonsei University Graduate School of International Studies in Seoul. In his view, it’s impossible to separate the link with PUST in these detentions from wider tensions on the peninsular. “So much is at play now and they’re both US citizens – there’s a lot in the air now as far as perceived threats.”


Lawsuit says scientists infected hundreds of Guatemalans with sexually transmitted diseases A similar lawsuit filed against the U.S. government was dismissed Remember the Tuskegee syphilis experiment from the 1930s? Scientists studied poor African-Americans in Alabama who’d contracted the venereal disease but didn’t tell them they had the disease or do anything to cure them. A lawsuit filed this week alleges Johns Hopkins University and the Rockefeller Foundation helped conduct a similar study in Guatemala from 1945 to 1956. Orphans, inmates, psychiatric patients and prostitutes were deliberately infected with sexually transmitted diseases to determine what drugs, including penicillin, worked best in stopping the diseases, the lawsuit says. The subjects of the experiments weren’t told they’d been infected, the lawsuit says, causing some to die and others to pass the disease to their spouses, sexual partners and children. The suit seeks more than $1 billion in damages and has 774 plaintiffs, including people who were subjects in the experiments and their descendants. This is the second attempt to collect damages. In 2012, a class-action federal lawsuit was filed against the U.S. government over the Guatemala experiments conducted by the U.S. Public Health Service. A judge dismissed it, saying the Guatemalans could not sue the United States for grievances that happened overseas. The new lawsuit was filed in the Baltimore City Circuit Court. Johns Hopkins and the Rockefeller Foundation filed statements on their websites condemning the experiments, but denying responsibility. “The plaintiffs’ essential claim in this case is that prominent Johns Hopkins faculty members’ participation on a government committee that reviewed funding applications was tantamount to conducting the research itself and that therefore Johns Hopkins should be held liable,” the Johns Hopkins statement said. “Neither assertion is true.” The lawsuit alleges the Rockefeller Foundation funded Johns Hopkins’ research into public health issues, including venereal disease, and employed scientists who monitored the Guatemala experiments. The lawsuit, the Rockefeller Foundation statement said, “seeks improperly to assign ‘guilt by association’ in the absence of compensation from the United States federal government.” The suit says Johns Hopkins and the Rockefeller Foundation designed, supported and benefited from the Guatemala experiments. Bristol-Myers Squibb pharmaceutical group and that company’s owner, Mead Johnson, also are defendants. The pharmaceutical company supplied drugs for the experiments, the suit says. On Saturday, a spokeswoman for Bristol-Myers Squibb sent this statement to CNN: “We’ve only just received the complaint in this matter. Bristol-Myers Squibb played an important role in the development of penicillin in the past and today we continue to focus our work on developing breakthrough medicines for serious disease. As a company dedicated to patients, we take this matter very seriously and are reviewing the allegations.” Nobody doubts the experiments happened. In 2010, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton apologized to Guatemala for the experiments, saying they were “clearly unethical.” In the 1930s and 1940s, the government followed a policy of funding scientific medical research but not controlling individual doctors, the suit says. The lawsuit says John Hopkins controlled and influenced the appointed panels that authorized funding for research into venereal disease. The lawsuit says prostitutes were infected to intentionally spread the disease and that syphilis spirochetes were injected into the spinal fluid of subjects. A woman in a psychiatric hospital had gonorrhea pus from a male subject injected into both her eyes, the suit says. The lawsuit doesn’t say why the experiments ended. The results were never published and were not revealed until 2011, when the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues wrote a letter to President Barack Obama telling of its investigation, the suit says. CNN’s Deanna Hackney contributed to this report.


The presumptive Republican nominee was talking trade in New Hampshire Trump has made building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border a centerpiece of his economic platform Donald Trump’s latest jab at Mexico is taking off. As a plane flew overhead at Trump’s Thursday afternoon town hall in Manchester, New Hampshire, Trump said, “That could be a Mexican plane up there – they’re getting ready to attack.” Trump was talking trade in New Hampshire, touting his plans to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, which he said has allowed Mexico to siphon away U.S. manufacturing jobs. The presumptive Republican nominee has made building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border a centerpiece of his economic platform, and has angered Hispanic voters as well as immigrants’ rights groups when he said last year that some of those people crossing the U.S.’s southern border illegally were “rapists” and “killers.”


Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, says he believes Republicans are engaged in an “unprecedented” attempt to impugn special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation and the integrity of the FBI. The Nunes memo, which was released to the public on Friday, is the latest episode in what Warner believes is a campaign “to undermine the very validity of the Mueller investigation, and when it does appear that they may not get enough traction to fire Mueller … undermining the integrity of the FBI and the Department of Justice,” Warner told David Axelrod on “The Axe Files,” a podcast produced by the University of Chicago Institute of Politics and CNN. “We are in an area again where I can’t think of any administration in my lifetime that has gone out and actively undermined law enforcement,” the Virginia senator said. Warner, who is leading the Senate investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election alongside Sen. Richard Burr, R-North Carolina, said neither he nor his Republican colleague was permitted to view the memo before its release after being flatly told “we will not grant you access.” Read the disputed memo hereWho is Devin Nunes?What is the FISA court, and why is it so secretive?Trump hopes release of memo will undermine Russia probeThe Point: Why the Nunes memo really isn’t a partisan fight Read the disputed memo hereWho is Devin Nunes?What is the FISA court, and why is it so secretive?Trump hopes release of memo will undermine Russia probeThe Point: Why the Nunes memo really isn’t a partisan fight Warner said he believes both he and Burr were blocked from viewing the memo prior to its release because “any legitimate entity would question both the methodology behind the memo, the willingness to use classified information this recklessly and … feel like we need to contradict or at least need to point out its flaws.” When the House Intelligence Committee “voted again on party lines not to allow the Democrats to release their document, which again just doesn’t pass the smell test,” Warner said it reconfirmed what is, to him, the partisan nature of the memo. House Speaker Paul Ryan said Friday the memo helps “provide greater transparency” and that he supports Democrats releasing their own memo. The Russia investigation in the Senate is ongoing, and Warner said it’s key to defending against future threats of cyberwarfare. “The fact that the President has not acknowledged this is a national threat means we have no whole-of-government approach to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” Warner said. “And that makes our country less safe.”

Republican efforts to undermine the Mueller investigation and the FBI