Chinese doctors says Liu is "not suited for invasive procedures or radiation therapy." Liu was granted medical parole and released from jail last month after he was diagnosed with liver cancer Chinese doctors on Monday declared terminally ill dissident Liu Xiaobo in “critical condition.” The announcement came just one day after Western specialists said the Nobel laureate could travel safely for treatment overseas if he was permitted to leave China soon. A statement released by the hospital where Liu is being treated for liver cancer described his worsening symptoms and condition, quoting his medical team – composed of prominent Chinese oncologists – as saying he is not suited for invasive procedures or radiation therapy. “The doctors suggested close monitoring of the patient’s blood pressure, correction of low blood pressure level, active anti-infection therapy and blood purification,” the statement said, adding that Liu’s family has been informed of the team’s opinion. Related article Liu Xiaobo: China's mild-mannered political firebrand The two Western doctors who visited Liu on Saturday afternoon said earlier that he and his family had requested that the remainder of his care be provided in Germany or the United States. “While a degree of risk always exists in the movement of any patient, both physicians believe Mr. Liu can be safely transported with appropriate medical evacuation care and support,” said Dr. Joseph M. Herman of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and Dr. Markus Büchler of the University of Heidelberg, in a joint statement Sunday. “However, the medical evacuation would have to take place as quickly as possible.” A spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that the case is “of great importance to the chancellor and that she would hope for a sign of humanity for Liu Xiaobo and his family.” “This has always been a case which we have been following with great human sympathy,” the spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said. Related article China refuses cancer treatment abroad for Nobel winner Liu Xiaobo Amid growing international concern over Liu’s health, a Chinese vice minister of justice met with representatives from the US, German and EU embassies in late June to brief them about his case and told diplomats Liu was too sick to travel abroad, according to a source familiar with the meeting. A few days after the meeting, however, the authorities said they had approved the family’s request to invite Western doctors to join Liu’s medical team at a hospital in Shenyang in northeastern China. Before the hospital issued its latest statement, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman on Monday repeatedly declined to say if Beijing would allow Liu to leave the country. “We hope relevant countries will respect China’s judicial sovereignty and not use a so-called individual case to interfere in China’s internal affairs,” said Geng Shuang at a regular press briefing. A statement released Saturday by the Shenyang hospital quoted the Western physicians as saying to Liu’s Chinese doctors: “We have no better options – you’ve already done a very good job,” under the headline “American, German experts claim Liu has no better options abroad.” Liu, 61, was granted medical parole and released from jail last month after he was diagnosed with late-stage liver cancer. He had been serving an 11-year prison sentence for “inciting subversion of state power” in Jinzhou, near Shenyang. His most recent conviction, on Christmas Day 2009, stemmed from his co-authorship of Charter 08, a manifesto calling for political reform and human rights in China. Related video US-China tensions rising In 2010, while in prison, Liu was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for “his long and nonviolent struggle for fundamental human rights in China” – prompting an infuriated Beijing to place his wife under house arrest and freeze diplomatic ties with Norway, where the prize winner is chosen. Liu’s plight has come under a global spotlight amid allegations from his supporters that he had become gravely ill because his cancer wasn’t detected and treated in time in prison – and that China has refused to let him seek treatment abroad for political reasons despite calls from other governments, including the US. Some supporters, who had said the Western doctors’ remarks helped clear a major hurdle for Liu and his family to leave China, called the latest hospital statement “politicized.” “It’s a strong rejection of the foreign specialists’ conclusion, indicating that the Chinese government is not going to cave in under outside pressure,” said Hu Jia, a leading Chinese human rights activist who has known Liu’s wife for years and has served prison terms for his own advocacy. Earlier this month, 154 Nobel laureates across six disciplines signed and sent an open letter to Chinese President Xi Jinping, urging the Beijing authorities “on humanitarian grounds to grant Liu Xiaobo and (his wife) Liu Xia’s wish to travel to the United States for medical treatment.” The Chinese government, which continues to censor domestic news coverage of Liu, has been waging a public relations offensive in the face of strong global reactions to the story. Related video Poetry and Tiananmen Square The state-run Shenyang hospital has been steadily releasing more details on Liu’s condition and treatment, revealing that his wife has been staying with him at the hospital and that traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) practitioners have joined the medical team at the family’s request. An earlier statement from Shenyang officials also quoted Liu’s family as saying they were “satisfied” with his treatment in prison and at the hospital. It added that Liu had a history of hepatitis B before imprisonment and prison authorities had provided him with an annual physical examination as well as monthly checkups, and no abnormal conditions had been found before the recent diagnosis. A prolific writer and longtime activist, Liu has been in and out of jail since the bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 1989.


The FBI successfully identified a 4,000-year-old mummy They extracted DNA from the mummy's tooth The FBI has solved the mystery of the identity a 4,000-year-old mummy, after extracting DNA from its tooth. Since 1915, when the severed head of a mummy was discovered in the corner of a looted tomb in the ancient Egyptian necropolis of Deir el-Bersha, archaeologists have puzzled over its identity. Despite deciphering that the tomb belonged to a governor named Djehutynakht and his wife, they have long deliberated over whose head it was. “We never knew whether it was Mr Djehutynakht or Mrs Djehutynakht,” says Rita Freed, a curator at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts (MFA), that has stored the tomb’s entire contents since 1920. Now, almost 100 years later, thanks to research by the FBI published last month in the journal Genes, they can definitively say the head was male and that it belonged to the governor himself. For Freed, this not only marks the culmination of a century-old archaeological enigma, but is also a testament to the technological advances in DNA testing. “We now know the FBI has developed a technique to reconstruct the very most degraded DNA. If they can reconstruct DNA from a 4,000-year-old tooth, they can reconstruct it from just about anything,” she says. Read: Oldest ‘tattoo art’ discovered on Ancient Egyptian mummies The sheer age of the head, and the desert environment it was found in, made it particularly difficult to extract DNA. As Odile Loreille, a forensic scientist at the FBI, explains, DNA degrades faster in hot conditions. This understanding led to the belief that nobody would ever be able to retrieve DNA from ancient Egyptian remains, she says. It’s only within the last few years that this has been proven wrong – in 2017 scientists in Germany decoded the genome of ancient Egyptians for the first time. The damage endured by the mummified head made it even more difficult to analyze. It was found at the bottom of a 30ft pit, in a tomb that had been ransacked and robbed in antiquity. The looters had stolen most of the jewelry and precious metals, dislodging the couple’s corpses in the process. The decapitated head was found on top of the governor’s coffin. Modern archaeologists damaged it further when handling the head during the various attempts at identification since its discovery. In the early 2000s, in preparation for an exhibition on the tomb and its contents, the MFA reopened the case, making it their mission to solve the mystery of the mummy’s identity. Being in Boston, a so-called “medical Mecca,” Freed did what she says seemed natural: “We contacted Massachusetts General Hospital, the neurology department, because after all, we had a head.” Read: How the ancient Maya reared dogs for food In 2005, the hospital performed a CT scan on the mummy, but was still unable to determine whether it was male or female. All the scan revealed was that certain cheek bones and parts of the lower jaw – features that could have held clues to the mummy’s sex – had been removed in a highly skilled surgical procedure. Researchers suggested this could have been linked to the ancient Egyptian “opening of the mouth” ceremony, which was intended to enable the dead to eat and drink in the afterlife. Four years later, the hospital tried to test the head’s DNA, by extracting its tooth – the part least likely to be contaminated, because of the protective enamel. But to no avail. This is when the FBI came in – “a very unusual partner,” Freed admits. The US investigation unit reached out to the museum, attracted by the unusual sample. It was not so much the historical significance of the mummy that appealed to the FBI, but the scientific challenge it could pose, Anthony Onorato, chief of the FBI’s DNA support unit, tells CNN. “What we work with is evidence, and evidence is just everyday items that happen to be associated with a crime scene” he says. Read: Scientists unravel the mystery of the Roman ‘gate to hell’ Such evidence has often been exposed to extreme conditions, so the FBI saw the mummified head as an opportunity to practice extracting DNA from contaminated materials. “It’s not like the FBI has a unit – like an X-files unit – that just does historical cases,” says Onorato. “It’s that we’re actually trying to develop criminal procedures using historical items.” Read: 11,500-year-old infant remains reveal ancient population So, in 2016, the ancient dental crown was handed to Loreille, who has a successful track record of extracting genetic material from very, very old bodies. She has previously analyzed the DNA of a 13-month-old child who drowned on the Titanic and a 130,000-year-old cave bear. But even Loreille wasn’t optimistic. “I didn’t think it was going to work, I thought it would be too degraded, or that there would not be enough material,” she says. The forensic scientists set to work: they drilled into the tooth, collected the powder, dissolved it in a chemical solution, ran it through a DNA copy machine and then a sequencing instrument. Once they had obtained the data, Loreille studied it, checking the ratios of sex chromosomes in the DNA sequence. From this, she could determine that the skull was male. “I was very happily surprised,” Loreille says, “we got lucky.” When Freed read the research, she was overjoyed, and not just because the sex had finally been revealed. “It’s a wonderful example of the museum and science working together,” she says. The discovery “brings it right up to today – from 4,000 years ago to the cutting edge of science.” The case could have vast implications for crime solving. When the technique used successfully on the mummy, known as hybridization capture or next-generation sequencing, is routinized and the method accepted, it will be “game changer,” Onorato said. “I think what we’ve done, and what it means, is we’re on the cusp of another transition in forensic science,” Onorato said. That could mean closure for the thousands of families who have submitted DNA samples to laboratories across the country as they try to identify the remains of a missing loved one. In one of the rooms at the FBI’s gleaming facility in Quantico, Virginia, a double-door freezer filled with rows and rows of the samples and unidentified remains takes up nearly half of a wall. Sealed inside small, white envelopes, each scrap of evidence comprising the law enforcement agency’s DNA archive represents a mystery – but now, also an opportunity for hope. “Most of the skeletal remains we get have been in not the best conditions – they’ve been out in the elements, exposed to heat or a lot of humidity,” said Connie Fisher, the missing persons program manager in the DNA Casework Unit at the FBI laboratory. “Some of these samples we didn’t get a whole lot of information from, so with the instances like what we learned with the mummy case, we can go back and retest some of these samples to get more information,” Fisher said. “You’re going to see our success rates go up,” Onorato said. “There are going to be fewer and fewer samples that we’re not going to be able to characterize.” For the FBI’s scientists who toil each day in the unsolved cases, the technological breakthrough evokes a “very good feeling.” “I’ve met some family members that have missing loved ones and it’s very difficult for them to not know what’s happened to their loved ones,” said Patricia Aagaard, the FBI laboratory’s missing persons and international program manager for the CODIS Unit. “To know that you’re providing some sort of help to them, some sort of answer, it’s a very rewarding job.” CNN’s Madeleine Stix and Lesley Donelan contributed to this report


Mayor of Ponce, Puerto Rico, says aid isn't coming in fast enough Mayor estimates that damage to her city is $1 billion alone In Ponce, one of Puerto Rico’s largest cities along its southern coast, the lines of residents waiting to buy gas and withdraw cash from local banks are growing longer by the day. Twisted tree limbs and downed power lines continue to pile up. In the outlying mountains, the remote communities of La Yuca and Montes Llanos have been cut off from resources. “It is worse than Katrina. It’s worse,” Ponce Mayor María “Mayita” Meléndez told CNN on Thursday. “In Katrina, they lose everything. We are losing everything.” Meléndez estimates damage in her city alone has reached $1 billion. It’s been more than a week since Hurricane Maria pummeled the island, leaving millions of Puerto Ricans without power and little food and fuel. Nearly half of the country remains without water. With 90% of cell sites out of service, many residents still can’t communicate with loved ones. Aid from the US mainland has been trickling in, but Meléndez said it’s not fast enough. “It has to move faster. It has to move fast,” she said. She pleaded to FEMA: “Please hurry. We need water. We need food.” Liz Irizarry Guzman, whose home in La Yuca was crushed by a downed tree, said she and others need help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency so they can start rebuilding. “I hope that with the help that they give, I can start rebuilding little by little,” she said. “I need the home to be able to live.” Guzman, who has an 11-year-old son, said her community needs food, water, clothes and power. “There are a lot of homes that were left without anything,” Guzman said. “There are a lot of children that are suffering a lot.” Meanwhile, the American Red Cross has begun to respond to Ponce, a city with at least 145,000 people. Residents on Thursday received medical care from a Red Cross mobile medical center. Volunteers also set up a WiFi connection for those who want to send messages to their families. Although the city’s airport is not open for commercial flights, the mayor said, relief aid has been coming in there. Meléndez said that while the situation in Ponce is dire, she vowed to keep fighting for its residents. “I will prepare my city, and I will reconstruct my city, and you can be sure of that,” she said. CNN’s Alexa Miranda and Monica Serrano reported from Puerto Rico, while Veronica Rocha wrote from New York.


A special counsel could oversee an existing or future criminal investigations A select committee has certain investigative powers, like the ability to serve subpoenas A previous version of this story appeared in March. President Donald Trump’s stunning firing of FBI Director James Comey Tuesday triggered renewed demands from lawmakers, former government officials and watchdog groups for an “independent” investigation into possible ties between Trump campaign associates and Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. For months, some have argued for the appointment of a “special” counsel or prosecutor, while others want to form a congressional “select committee,” and a third group suggests launching a new bipartisan commission. While none of these options are mutually exclusive, there are, however, significant differences in the purpose, scope and viability of these approaches. Here’s a breakdown of the various paths available and how they differ: Attorney General Jeff Sessions decided in March to recuse himself from any existing or future investigations related to Trump’s presidential campaign (or transition) after reports surfaced that Sessions had met with a Russian diplomat last year. As a result of Sessions’ recusal, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is now overseeing the FBI’s investigation into whether there was any coordination between the Trump campaign and Russian interference in election. But Rosenstein’s role in Comey’s firing raised new questions about how he will proceed and whether he, too, should step aside. The attorney general’s regulations provide for appointment of outside “special counsel” in certain circumstances, including if handling by the Justice Department would “present a conflict of interest for the department or other extraordinary circumstances,” and if “it would be in the public interest to appoint an outside special counsel to assume responsibility for the matter.” In light of Sessions’ recusal, however, the decision to appoint a special counsel in this case will rest solely with Rosenstein. And while lawmakers on Capitol Hill have no role in the appointment of any special counsel, that hasn’t stopped top Democratic leadership from putting pressure on Rosenstein to appoint someone else in his place. “Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein sat in the Judiciary Committee and promised to appoint a special prosecutor at the appropriate time,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Tuesday. “That time is right now. The American people’s trust in our criminal justice system is in Rosenstein’s hands. Mr. Rosenstein, America depends on you to restore faith in our criminal justice system, which is going to be badly shattered after the administration’s actions today.” Experts say the main purpose of a special counsel in the Russia situation would be the pursuit of an independently driven criminal investigation. “They can utilize a grand jury, they can ask to return indictments, they would be empowered to pick staff (of their choosing), and provided with a budget to carry out responsibilities,” said attorney Richard Ben-Veniste, who served as the former chief of the Watergate Special Prosecutor’s Watergate Task Force and on the bipartisan 9/11 Commission. In other words, the goal of an investigation conducted by a special counsel “is not to answer public questions about what happened or what may still be happening,” as Wittes wrote in a post on Lawfare, but rather to conduct “a set of foreign intelligence and counterintelligence investigations that may (or may not) have criminal investigative elements.” While a number of House and Senate committees are currently examining Russian interference in the election, Arizona Sen. John McCain and other outside experts have specifically called for a “select committee,” with new members hand-picked by current congressional leadership. In the immediate aftermath of Comey’s firing, such calls grew louder. “I have long called for a special congressional committee to investigate Russia’s interference in the 2016 election,” McCain said in a statement Tuesday. “The President’s decision to remove the FBI Director only confirms the need and the urgency of such a committee.” Advantages of using such a select committee include newly dedicated staff with sufficient expertise and time, subpoena power to compel testimony and documents, and ideally, implementation without the arguable taint of influence by the White House – an accusation that has besieged existing structures like the House intelligence committee’s investigation. While both a special counsel and a select committee could employ certain investigative functions, Wittes cautions that they serve different purposes: The special prosecutor function is “designed to prosecute crimes,” whereas a select committee is “designed to do an investigation so that Congress would know how to pursue it’s constitutional functions.” But Caroline Fredrickson, president of the American Constitution Society, said the choice between a special counsel and a select committee “shouldn’t be either/or,” despite the fact that “there are somewhat different interests being protected” – both approaches are useful “given that the stakes are so high here.” On the other end of the spectrum, some have called for a new bipartisan independent commission to investigate Russia’s influence on the election, much in the same vein as the 9/11 Commission. Rep. Eric Swalwell, a California Democrat who sits on the House intelligence committee, accused the White House in March of “obstructing” the panel’s investigation, and called repeatedly for an independent commission to review the matter. The @realDonaldTrump @WhiteHouse is obstructing Congress's #RussianHacking investigation. Ind. Commission is only path to find the truth. https://t.co/TNa370VdT2 The purpose of such a commission is distinct from a criminal investigation, as its goal would be “inform the legislature or the public about something that happened,” Wittes said. “The purpose of the 9/11 Commission was to tell the story of how we got to this point.” “The advantage is that it’s flashy and very independent,” but it’s “not well-positioned to litigate” without certain investigative powers, Wittes added. The other downside of an independent commission is that it would require legislation to enact, which could prove challenging in the current political climate. If used, “it would no doubt be the result of substantial public pressure on Congress and the President, but it seems unlikely at this point,” Ben-Veniste said.

special counsel investigation into Trump-Russia ties


Schumer responded the meeting 'took place in '03 in full view of press & public under oath' It's not the first time Trump's team has used the photo on Twitter President Donald Trump slammed Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in a tweet Friday with Russian President Vladimir Putin and presenting a photo of the two leaders as evidence. Trump posted a photo of Schumer and Putin in New York smiling while eating donuts and coffee and wrote: “We should start an immediate investigation into @SenSchumer and his ties to Russia and Putin. A total hypocrite!” We should start an immediate investigation into @SenSchumer and his ties to Russia and Putin. A total hypocrite! pic.twitter.com/Ik3yqjHzsA The photo was taken during Putin’s visit to a Lukoil gas station in Manhattan in 2003. Lukoil is one of the largest oil companies in Russia. Schumer responded on Twitter, “Happily talk re: my contact w Mr. Putin & his associates, took place in ’03 in full view of press & public under oath. Would you &your team?” Happily talk re: my contact w Mr. Putin & his associates, took place in '03 in full view of press & public under oath. Would you &your team? https://t.co/yXgw3U8tmQ It’s not the first time Trump’s team posted the photo. On Thursday, White House social media director Dan Scavino used it in response to a tweet by Schumer calling for an evaluation of Russia’s interference in the US election. Schumer has not been accused of misconduct with the Russian government. Petraeus: We can work with Russia on some things After news broke that Attorney General Jeff Sessions met the Russian ambassador twice last year but did not mention either meeting during his confirmation hearings when asked about contacts between Trump surrogates and Russians, Schumer wrote, “The bottom line is we have an obligation to get to the truth. We must evaluate the scope of Russia’s interference in our election.” The bottom line is we have an obligation to get to the truth. We must evaluate the scope of Russia’s interference in our election. “Do it over a donut and coffee,” Scavino responded. .@SenSchumer- do it over a donut and coffee. pic.twitter.com/BvnYukwtXs I hereby demand a second investigation, after Schumer, of Pelosi for her close ties to Russia, and lying about it. https://t.co/qCDljfF3wN Then later Friday, Trump called for an investigation of Rep. Nancy Pelosi because of a photo reported by Politico where she is pictured at a table with Russian President Dmitriy Medvedev, current Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak and Democratic Rep. Steny Hoyer. He wrote, “I hereby demand a second investigation, after Schumer, of Pelosi for her close ties to Russia, and lying about it.” Pelosi, the House Minority leader, has called for Sessions to resign. The exchanges are the latest in the back-and-forth between the Trump administration and its critics over the continuing controversy surrounding reports that Trump’s associates made repeated contact with Russians known to US intelligence during the campaign. CNN reported Thursday that Sessions was a senator and a top Trump surrogate when he met the ambassador twice, once the sidelines of the Republican National Convention in July and again in September when he was a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Facing pressure from Democrats and some Republicans in Congress to step aside from any investigation of Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, Sessions announced Thursday that he would recuse himself. But Democrats say Sessions’ action doesn’t go far enough, and they are calling for a special prosecutor to investigate any connections between the Trump campaign and Russia. Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, was asked to resign by the President after the retired lieutenant general talked to the Russian ambassador but misled Vice President Mike Pence about their conversations.


Yulia Skripal, one of the victims of the nerve agent attack in the English city of Salisbury in March, has said she doesn’t need help from Russian diplomats in the United Kingdom and wants her cousin to stop speaking for the family. In a statement released Wednesday through London’s Metropolitan Police two days after she was discharged from hospital, Skripal said she is feeling better but is not strong enough to give a interview to the press. She cautioned the media that no one else speaks for her or her father, who is still in a hospital. She singled out her cousin, Viktoria Skripal, who has appeared on Russian television several times since the attack, once providing a recording of a phone conversation allegedly between herself and Yulia. Viktoria Skripal has also applied for a UK visa, a request that has been denied. “I thank my cousin Viktoria for her concern for us, but ask that she does not visit me or try to contact me for the time being,” Yulia Skripal said. “Her opinions and assertions are not mine and they are not my father’s.” Skripal said that “specially trained officers” are helping to take care of her as she tries to come to terms with her situation. “I find myself in a totally different life than the ordinary one I left just over a month ago, and I am seeking to come to terms with my prospects,” she said. The Russian Embassy has “kindly offered me their assistance,” she said, but adding that she doesn’t want any help from them now and will contact them if she changes her mind. Russian officials have spoken publicly about their requests for access to Yulia Skripal in the days and weeks after the attack – and about their offers of help since she regained consciousness. In a tweet on Tuesday, the Russian embassy in the UK asked for “urgent proof that what is being done to her is done on her own free will.” Skripal, 33, regained consciousness in late March, several weeks after the poisoning that left her and her father, former Russian spy Sergei Skripal, 66, in critical condition. The pair were found slumped on a bench in Salisbury – where Sergei Skripal lived – on March 4 after being exposed to military-grade nerve agent novichok, according to British authorities. Related article Russian envoy requests meeting with UK foreign secretary over poisoning row The UK government blames Russia for the attack, but Moscow has denied any involvement. The incident has led to a spiraling diplomatic dispute between Russia and the UK. Christine Blanshard, medical director of Salisbury District Hospital, said Tuesday that the condition of Sergei Skripal was also improving, albeit at a slower pace than Yulia. Her location is currently unknown and the Metropolitan Police have refused to comment on whether she is receiving police protection. In her statement Wednesday, Yulia Skripal said that she had been treated “with obvious clinical expertise and … kindness” but that she is “still suffering with the effects of the nerve agent” and that her father remains “seriously ill.” Related article Russian spy's cat and guinea pigs are dead, UK says “I am safe and feeling better as time goes by, but I am not yet strong enough to give a full interview to the media, as I one day hope to do,” she said. She also confirmed that she has access to family and friends. CNN’s Steve Almasy and Simon Cullen contributed to this report.


This page includes the show Transcript January 11, 2017 A looming economic disaster in Venezuela starts things off today on CNN 10, as we explain its causes and effects. After that, we’re examining coral bleaching and how it has impacted a fisherman’s family near Madagascar. And we explore the rise and fall of the Yahoo Internet company. TRANSCRIPT CARL AZUZ, CNN 10 ANCHOR:  Kicking off 10 minutes of international news explained.  I’m Carl Azuz.  Welcome to CNN 10. This January 11th, we’re starting with the report on Venezuela.  The nation is in an economic tailspin.  It’s located in South America.  It’s home to around 31 million people. And even though its president, Nicolas Maduro, increased Venezuela’s minimum wage by 50 percent this week, and even though that was the fifth time the country’s minimum wage was increased in the past year, it’s nowhere near the price increases of basic necessities, like food for many Venezuelans. Inflation is when prices go up and money buys less.  For perspective, average inflation in the U.S. is around 3 percent per year.  In Venezuela, the International Monetary Fund expects inflation will increase by more than 1,600 percent this year and almost 3,000 percent next year.  People can’t get the medicines they need. Venezuela’s bank notes are virtually worthless. President Maduro reportedly says that Venezuela is the victim of an economic war waged by his opponents.  But when Venezuela’s government began taking over the country’s oil industry in 1976 and eventually became dependent on oil for almost half the government’s revenue, the stage was set for a potential crisis if oil prices were to drop. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) SUBTITLE:  Venezuela’s economic disaster. PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT:  This economic crisis has been years in the making.  The socialist government here is being accused of really discouraging investment in this economy.  And what’s happened over the last years is we’ve seen severe shortages of food. What really made things dramatic, though, was when the oil price plunge about a year and a half ago now.  Venezuela depends on the selling of oil for almost all of its government income.  On top of that, it is now so reliant on imports of almost everything.  They are not taking in enough money to pay for all the imports that they need. (END VIDEOTAPE) (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) AZUZ (voice-over):  Ten-second trivia. Which of these invertebrates is an anthozoan known for its stony skeleton?  Coral, sea anemone, mollusk, or starfish? Answer here is coral.  The skeletons or the animal that secretes them, forming ocean reefs. (END VIDEO CLIP) AZUZ:  And while coral and coral reefs are known for their incredibly vibrant colors, they can bleach white if they get stressed.  Scientists observed this last year in the worst ever bleaching of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.  Coral’s colors determined by the algae that live on it, and the algae are coral’s food source. But if the coral gets stressed, it can lose these algae and then turned white.  This can happen if water temperatures get too warmed or too cold, or if there’s pollution or an extremely low tide.  It’s a sign of bad health, but the coral can recover. There’s more affected than the reef itself though.  Consider the ripple effects of a recent coral bleaching event near Madagascar. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JOHN SUTTER, CNN COLUMNIST:  This morning, Hary wakes up with the moon.  He and his 13-year-old son are hoping it will guide fish into their nets. HARY, NOSY ANDRAGNAMBALA, MADAGASCAR (translated):  This is how I make a living, through this net. SUTTER:  Today, they’re in luck.  A few fish.  But they say their catches are just a fraction of what they once were, and that’s because the coral reef that surrounds this remote island off the coast of Madagascar is disappearing and no one here understands why. This is Nosy Andragnambala, a tiny fishing community off the coast of East Africa.  It’s home to only a few dozen people, and among them are Hary and Lydia, who are raising six children. This family knows this reef better than anyone.  And until recently, they never saw coral this damaged.  Extreme heat this year has caused coral all around the world to start to suffocate and turned ghostly white.  The aftermath looks like a disaster zone, or the ruins of an ancient city.  No one here can make sense of it. Scientists do know what’s going on.  Divers survey these waters during a heat wave in April, and they say that about 70 percent of their reef here was damaged by the high temperatures. The family’s response to the vanishing coral, work harder.  Hary and his sons cast lines deep into the ocean while Lydia walks the reef flats in search for octopus. These skills are passed between generations.  Hary and Lydia are Vezo, and that name means “at struggle with the sea”.  It’s hard to imagine people who are more connected to the water. There’s no fresh water, electricity or school out here.  There’s no plan B.  It’s too expensive for Hary and Lydia to give their kids an education off the island.  So, the kids simply must learn to fish and sail. It’s a life many here would never trade and its one that brings plenty of joy to Harry, Lydia and their family. (SINGING) SUTTER:  This song is about their love for the reef and their efforts to protect it. (END VIDEOTAPE) AZUZ:  A company that was once the Internet’s “king of the hill” is now set to be sold for a fraction of its former value if the sale actually goes through.  We’re talking about Yahoo.  It’s in the process of being sold to communications company Verizon. If and when the sale is complete, Yahoo just announced that its CEO plans to resign from her job.  The company’s cofounder is stepping down.  Some other executives are leaving.  And they plan to change Yahoo’s name to Altaba. There’s still doubt about the Verizon deal, though, in large part because last month, Yahoo announced it had been hacked back in 2013 when was likely the biggest Internet hack ever.  Another major setback for a once dominant company. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) SAMUEL BURKE, CNN TECH CORRESPONDENT (voice-over):  At its peak, Yahoo is more than $100 billion.  Now, Verizon is buying it for just $4.8 billion. For Yahoo, it’s been 16 years of missteps and mistakes. Here’s a brief story of the website’s rise and fall. Founded by Jerry Yang and David Filo, the website Yahoo.com was launched in January 1995 and the company was incorporated in March.  Yahoo started as a pordo (ph) or an index to the new and growing World Wide Web. When the company went public in 1996, founders Yang and Filo became instant billionaires.  By 1997, Yahoo was the second most popular website on the Internet, behind only AOL. The dotcom bursts was the beginning of the end for Yahoo.  Stock dropped from $118.75 to just $4.06. REPORTER:  In hindsight, it appears so obvious.  The internet-mania was a giant bubble.  Yahoo is the most visited on the Internet, but it’s not number one when it comes to search.  That’s Google.  About two-thirds of all Internet searches take place on Google.  It’s the most money ever offered for an internet company, $44 billion. BURKE:  Yahoo’s board rejects a bid from Microsoft, saying the proposal substantially undervalues Yahoo. But the company was never worth that much again. Four CEOs in just six years didn’t help investor confidence in the brand either.  Finally, former Google executive Marissa Mayer was hired to transform Yahoo. MARISSA MAYER, YAHOO CEO:  For me, it’s God, family and Yahoo. BURKE:  Mayer’s early efforts focused on making Yahoo cool again.  Yahoo invested heavily in mobile, acquired popular social sites and updated Yahoo’s look. Perhaps the one bright light at Yahoo was its 32 percent stake in Chinese retail giant Alibaba.  Mayer tried to sell the stake in 2015 but it never happened. It’s been a long, painful fall for the once mighty Yahoo. (END VIDEOTAPE) AZUZ:  To the kids in the neighborhood of South Jordan, Utah, at least one dad gets a perfect “10 Out of 10”. A snowstorm hit right after Christmas, inspiring them to build a snow slide.  But the man who owns this yard has 15 children, so they keep going until they built their very own luge, a 300-foot-long masterpiece that gave a ride lasting longer than 20 seconds. It started to melt away in the recent warm spell, and after enjoying a deluge of popularity, the slide lost its cool before luging its appeal.  Guess the cold’s only around for snow-long, you really got to make the choice to use it or luge it. I’m Carl Azuz, and you got nothing to lose by joining us again tomorrow on CNN 10. 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


Yousef Erakat was told he'd never succeed Erakat has over 12 million YouTube followers He's starring in his first Tyler Perry movie Yousef Erakat is the kind of person who just makes you laugh. The YouTube digital artist has a spark about him; his online pranks spur laughter from his growing audience. But beneath that joyful exterior, Erakat struggled with bipolar disorder and depression. His condition can cause extreme mood swings, from manic emotional highs to the lowest of depressions. Bipolar disorder can be extremely serious. But it can be treated with therapy and medication. The 26-year-old was the youngest of four and was born to Palestinian immigrants. He grew up in a loving home and was surrounded by a supportive family. Erakat first realized he had a problem while attending San Jose State University. On Friday nights he noticed that everyone was going to parties, drinking and having fun. He was in his room crying to himself and writing poems. “I was so eager to try and fix myself. I ran to the doctors and hopped on medication thinking that was going to be a quick fix. It took me years to understand that the actual journey was going to happen deep within myself,” he said. At the same time, the YouTube artist was looking for new ways to get noticed by the industry in Hollywood. “I went to the dean at San Jose State University and told her that I was going to create a YouTube channel. She told me that it was the worst decision that I could make for my acting career because no director in Hollywood was going to take me serious,” he said. The advisor was wrong. In five years, Erakat gained more than 12 million viewers on his YouTube channel fouseyTUBE. “When I first started my YouTube channel in 2011, I would re-enact what it was like to live in a Middle Eastern household. I would dress up as my mom, my dad, my brother, my grandmother, my sister. How I got my idea was basically from my childhood. I would literally encompass every little thing that I saw, at family gatherings, at weddings, and I would bring them to life in a YouTube video,” he said. But as Erakat’s YouTube following grew, his depression got worse. The prankster decided it was time to get serious with his audience and with himself. In 2015, he opened up on his vlog channel DOSEofFOUSEY about his private struggle. “I just decided to be completely open with them and to tell them the struggles that I go through, and surprisingly it was the best decision I ever made in my career,” he said. He also described his physical transformation. “I woke up, and I was 236 pounds. I was unhappy with what I looked like. I was eating junk food. I was unhappy with what I felt like on the inside. I was living with depression and bipolar,” he said. Erakat went to rehab, began a 90-day workout program and lost 49 pounds. He ended up in the best shape of his life. “I was working out, and I was listening to motivational videos. I was pumping myself with positive aspiration and positive philosophy of life. I started to wake up early. I was forcing myself to do the stuff that I didn’t want to do.” His battle with depression will last the rest of his life, he said. But right now, there’s no doubt he’s winning. “Just because you have a mental disorder, it doesn’t mean that you are limited in your success in life. It doesn’t mean that you are restricted in receiving the blessings of life. So don’t sell yourself short. You can get through it,” he said. The California native recently starred in a horror zombie series called “YouTube Red’s Fight of the Living Dead.” He also has a role opposite Tyler Perry in the latest Madea installment, “Boo! A Madea Halloween” releasing later this month. “I am proof that nothing can stop you.”


The long-awaited declassified memo on the Russia investigation that had Washington in a tizzy for days is finally out for everybody to see. Now the question is, what will President Donald Trump, who views it as proof of corruption at the top of the FBI and “deep state” bias against him, do next? The document produced by Republican staffers on the House Intelligence Committee alleges serious abuses by the FBI of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. But Democrats says it’s a hack job drawn up to shield Trump from special counsel Robert Mueller, whose probe is moving inexorably closer to the President. Trump’s critics believe the purpose of the memo and coordination between committee Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes and the White House, is partly designed to discredit Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who is overseeing the Russia investigation. Related article Disputed GOP-Nunes memo released with Trump's approval Trump left no doubt on Friday that Rosenstein’s fate is hanging in the balance, telling reporters “you figure that one out” when they asked him whether he had confidence in Rosenstein, whom he appointed to the job. Democrats fear that Trump could use Rosenstein’s approval of an extended surveillance warrant for campaign foreign policy aide Carter Page, that is outlined in the report, as an excuse to fire him. “The President hasn’t needed much by way of justification to go after people and I hope he won’t use this as a mode of pretext, but you never know with Donald Trump,” said Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House intelligence panel. One source told CNN’s Jeff Zeleny that Trump blames Rosenstein for the current state of the Russia investigation and is “is unlikely to ever get beyond it.” But a Republican who speaks to the President said it was not clear that Rosenstein would be fired, despite clearly being in Trump’s sights. The purpose of dispensing Rosenstein would not just be to purge an official he views as disloyal, it would get Trump closer to Mueller himself and spur new speculation that the President could try to remove the special counsel. “He may use this memo, false and scurrilous as it is, as a weapon to try and decapitate the leadership of the FBI and the Justice Department as a way of getting to Bob Mueller,” said Tim Weiner, author of “Enemies, a History of the FBI,” on CNN International on Friday. “If so, A) he will have obstructed justice yet again and B) he will have created a constitutional crisis the likes of which we haven’t seen since the darkest days of Watergate,” he said. Trump, however, has learned that firing key officials does not make the Russia investigation go away – it simply makes it worse for him – following his removal of former FBI Director James Comey, which resulted in the appointment of Mueller and an expansion of the Russia probe to find out whether he obstructed justice. CNN’s Pamela Brown reported Friday that there were no current discussions about getting rid of Rosenstein in the White House, largely because Trump believes firing him would only prolong the investigation. But the fate of the deputy attorney general is not the only unknown that will play out in the coming days. So far, the FBI has not publicly reacted to the release of the memo. But the bureau vehemently protested against the publication of the document, which it said was blighted by the omission of facts that offered an insight into the true events that led up to the request at a special court for the surveillance of Page. But it is clear this episode has further fractured relations between the FBI and the White House, a breach that could lead to new and damaging public showdowns and an eroding of morale within the bureau’s ranks. “I can’t imagine what it must be like for these folks frankly in some of my old jobs,” the former head of the CIA and National Security Agency Michael Hayden said on CNN Friday. “We have gone to a place we have never gone before which is the injection of not just partisanship but hyper partisanship into the FISA process,” he added. There had been fears among senior officials in the White House that the memo’s release could prompt FBI Director Christopher Wray to quit. But he offered his agents a pep talk on Friday, telling them: “The work you do is important and I believe in our mission and support what we do every day.” That message may be a sign that Wray has no intention of walking out the door. Any sense among the rank-and-file that the bureau is being unfairly treated could convince its personnel to double down on their mission in a way that could be bad for Trump. If so, it would not be the only sign that releasing the memo might have backfired. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who has also been ostracized by Trump, appeared to dig in further behind Rosenstein and his the Justice Department’s No. 3 official Rachel Brand. “Rod’s had 27 years in the department, Rachel has a number of years in the department previously, so they both represent the kind of quality and leadership that we want in the department,” Sessions said on Friday before the release of the Nunes memo. The memo furor may also have political reverberations. The document is certain to drive days of news coverage on Fox News and other pro-Trump outlets, inflaming the already intense campaign that is designed to discredit the Mueller investigation ahead of its final report and to bolster opposition among conservatives against any eventual action against the President. Trump has made no secret of his purpose in cooperating with Nunes to get the memo published. “The top leadership and Investigators of the FBI and the Justice Department have politicized the sacred investigative process in favor of Democrats and against Republicans - something which would have been unthinkable just a short time ago, Rank & File are great people!” Trump wrote on Twitter Friday. The top Leadership and Investigators of the FBI and the Justice Department have politicized the sacred investigative process in favor of Democrats and against Republicans - something which would have been unthinkable just a short time ago. Rank & File are great people! Trump’s supporters are likely to be convinced that the memo does indeed show evidence of bias against him in the FBI and Justice Department, and those who disdain him will think the opposite, such is the nation’s polarization. But Republicans, who were out selling the report on television soon after it was released will hope that Friday’s drama could reshape public opinion even in a small way or simply fog the narrative of the Russia investigation. “This is the first time in American political history that an opposition research document has been injected into the bloodstream of our intelligence community,” Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Florida, claimed to CNN’s Jake Tapper. “That’s not a Republican or Democrat concern. That’s an American concern,” he said referring to the dossier drawn up by a former British spy on Trump and Russia that was partly paid for by Hillary Clinton’s campaign and which the memo said was the premier evidence for the FISA warrant. Democrats dispute that claim. But attempts to market the memo by Republicans will be challenged by Democrats who view it as evidence of a scheme by the President and Capitol Hill allies to undermine the Russia evidence based on one search warrant application. Democratic leaders hope the committee will vote next week to release their rebuttal to the memo that will challenge the Nunes report. But reflecting the relative powerlessness of Democrats, the document will then have to go to Trump who will have five days to register objections to declassifying it. There are also calls for a full inquiry into the surveillance application concerning Page, a process that Republicans could chose to pursue in the committee or elsewhere. Republican Rep. John Ratcliffe of Texas, one of the few lawmakers who has seen the underlying intelligence from which it the memo was drawn, called for further steps to investigate. “Further oversight and accountability for the individuals in question is necessary to ensure that the American people can have confidence in these important institutions going forward,” he said. CNN’s Shimon Prokupecz and Tal Kopan contributed to this report.

Republican memo on the Russia investigation


Stone said it's "naive" to think the intelligence community isn't politicized Stone has long assumed that he's under surveillance A longtime Donald Trump associate who has became a recurring topic in conversations about the relationship between the Trump campaign and Russian officials said that the US intelligence community has become “politicized.” Political adviser Roger Stone was asked Tuesday if he thought Americans should stop trusting recommendations from the intelligence community. “To think that our intelligence community has not been politicized would be naive,” he said on CBS “This Morning.” Stone said he does not think Trump should apologize or admit that he was wrong for making unsubstantiated claims that former President Barack Obama wiretapped Trump Tower during the presidential election. FBI Director James Comey said Monday he had “no information” to support the President’s accusations. “The people you are referring to are the same people that said there were weapons of mass destruction and (Saddam) Hussein had them, who lied about rendition, who lied about torture at Abu Ghraib,” Stone said. It was pointed out to Stone that Comey was not involved in those incidents. “The intelligence services, the ‘deep state,’ as a group,” Stone replied. Comey declined to answer repeated questions about Stone at Monday’s House Intelligence Committee hearing, but the former Richard Nixon aide said he’s long assumed that he’s been under investigation. Related article Why Trump just can't (and probably won't) quit the wiretap story “I assumed that I have been under surveillance now for some time,” he said. “What probable cause there is or what evidence that would dictate that, I don’t know.” Rep. Adam Schiff, the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, pressed Comey and National Security Agency Director Mike Rogers about Stone during the hearing. “On August 8th, Roger Stone, a longtime Trump political adviser and self-proclaimed political dirty trickster, boasts in a speech that he ‘has communicated with (WikiLeaks founder Julian) Assange,’ and that more documents would be coming, including an ‘October surprise,’” the California Democrat said. “In the middle of August, he also communicates with the Russian cutout Guccifer 2.0, and authors a Breitbart piece denying Guccifer’s links to Russian intelligence.” “Then, later in August, Stone does something truly remarkable, when he predicts that John Podesta’s personal emails will soon be published. ‘Trust me, it will soon be Podesta’s time in the barrel. #Crooked Hillary,’” Schiff added. But Stone pushed back on the insinuations Tuesday. “The inference that my now completely public exchange with a hacker Guccifer 2.0 who may or may not be a Russian agent somehow constitutes collusion is not true based on either the facts, on the actual texts which I released, or on the timing,” he said. Speaking to CBS Tuesday, Stone reiterated that he longs for the day when he can share his side of the story. “Let me have my day in court,” he said. Asked about Stone at a White House briefing Monday, press secretary Sean Spicer acknowledged that Trump has known him for a long time but didn’t believe the two had spoken “any time recently.”


Editor’s Note: Craig Newmark is the founder of Craigslist and the Craig Newmark Philanthropies, which supports and connects nonprofit communities and drives civic engagement. The views expressed in this commentary are his own. This is the next installment in CNN Opinion’s series on the challenges facing the media as it is under attack from critics, governments and changing technology. Throughout history, the media has been used to manipulate and influence political outcomes. Julius Caesar used war journaling, or a written firsthand account of war and its rationale, to justify the invasion and destruction of the Gallic tribes two millennia ago. His heir, Octavian, used a disinformation campaign to convince the Senate to declare war against Mark Antony. In later years, new communications tools, such as the printing press and moveable type, made it easier for philosophers including John Locke and Thomas Paine to influence new forms of democracy, which, while imperfect, have been more successful than other forms of government. What these historic figures didn’t have access to is digital technology, which democratizes media but also eases the spread of disinformation. The internet allows all who have access to participate, but it also amplifies the effectiveness of media manipulation via automation. Botnets (which are made up of networks of individual, social media and bot accounts that appear to be owned by real people) act as a force multiplier, distributing disinformation in the form of “fake news” on a massive scale. We saw this in the 2016 US presidential election, as Russian propaganda flooded social media platforms to divide the nation. However, a broad community of good actors, including foundations and nonprofits committed to journalistic integrity, are emerging to promote media literacy and good-faith reporting. As a news consumer and a philanthropist (not an expert), I’m invested in supporting these knowledgeable institutions and initiatives to ensure that we have access to fair and accurate reporting. I care about this issue because I believe a strong, vigorous and trustworthy press is the immune system of democracy. Last year that immune system failed, which is why we need to focus on rebuilding and sustaining a trustworthy press now more than ever. While a complex task, given the evolving uses of technology in spreading disinformation, in order to remedy this issue we must create a more formalized journalistic code of ethics for the digital age. Related article Ban the term 'fake news' There are several governing principles for such a code – more than can be covered in this piece. In fact, the Society of Professional Journalists (SJP) has a comprehensive code of ethics for news organizations to follow, and the Online News Association has a “Build Your Own” ethics code project, designed to let news organizations build codes of ethics for a digital age. However, a few principles stand out as fundamental to trustworthy reporting on digital channels. First, all media organizations with a digital presence should commit to a standard of honest reporting – one that places fact checking and the use of multiple sources above speculation and single sources. SJP already provides guidelines to this effect, advising journalists of any medium to always verify information, use original sources, avoid conflicts of interest and explain moral processes to audiences. A second principle – already standard in traditional media – should be that if a digital journalist makes a mistake, the outlet should admit it and correct it immediately. After all, if a mistake is made, the journalist is accountable, not just to the news organization, but to the readers at large. A correction should be done in a way that is equal or greater than the mistake that was published. For example, if the mistake is shared on a media outlet’s website and across its social media platforms, the correction should be shared in the same manner. As a news consumer, I’d like to see this happen in an effective and timely manner, so that the false information has a short digital lifespan. Related article Does a free press mean more regulation for Facebook? A third principle, building on an idea from The Trust Project’s Director Sally Lehrman and Google News Vice President Richard Gingras, encourages hyperlinking statements of facts, statistics or quotes to their original sources. This allows audiences to click through and assess the veracity of an article based on the research that has gone into its preparation. “An effective system would also allow audiences to alert editors to perceived inaccuracies … and follow corrections,” Lehrman and Gingras note. A final principle would make editors commit to drafting headlines that accurately represent the content of the article, not present the reader with a false understanding of what the piece is about. For example, opinion editorials should be labeled as such, not purport to be news articles. I’ve also observed a number of headlines that express the unverified claim as a question. This can leave the reader misinformed. While headlines should catch a reader’s attention, they shouldn’t be deceitful. We need help from social media platforms to reinforce these emerging standards and to counter media manipulation. Google, Facebook, Twitter, Bing and others are working to address this. Their work includes a commitment to using “Trust Indicators,” launched on November 16 by the Trust Project, a nonpartisan initiative from Santa Clara University’s Markkula Center for Applied Ethics. The Trust Indicators are a new set of transparency standards that help news consumers easily assess the quality and reliability of journalism.  According to the Trust Project, “each indicator is signaled in the article and site code, providing the first standardized technical language for platforms to learn more from news sites about the quality and expertise behind journalists’ work.” Related article The secret to a healthy relationship with the press Google’s Gingras has stated that “partnering with the Trust Project since its conception has been of significant importance to Google, in large part because … the indicators can help our algorithms better understand authoritative journalism – and help us to better surface it to consumers.” Facebook has already begun displaying the Trust Indicators to a small group of publishers, with plans to expand more broadly over the coming months. Another initiative that many of the tech companies are also involved with is the News Integrity Initiative at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism. The school describes it as “a $14 million fund supporting efforts to connect journalists, technologists, academic institutions, nonprofits and other organizations from around the world to foster informed and engaged communities, combat media manipulation and support inclusive, constructive and respectful civic discourse.” Initiatives like the Trust Project and The News Integrity Initiative are important because solutions are not going to happen in a silo – it will take many players working together. Sign up for CNN Opinion’s new newsletter.Join us on Twitter and Facebook My own experience as a supporter and member of these initiatives suggests that getting to a place where news consumers can easily assess the credibility of the news will take considerable time and care. First, it’s a bad idea to publish information that helps bad actors game a system. For example, if you disclose keyword or statistical filtering methods, that tells bad actors a lot about how to work around such protections. Second, there are unknown liability and legal issues. Different countries have varying laws about defamation, free speech or privacy. What’s offensive in one country might be illegal in another. What’s worse is that bad actors engaging in media manipulation are already attacking people who are trying to get honest reporting out there, like Snopes and Politifact. As with any complex undertaking, there are a lot of devils in the details here. But there is also the potential to give both news organizations and consumers the means for achieving increasingly smart media literacy, pushing back against those who wish to do us harm.


Arturo Hernandez has been in the US without proper documents since 2003 The 44-year-old father of two took sanctuary in 2014 in a Denver church An undocumented Mexican man who once took sanctuary at the same Denver church that is now a focal point of the fiery immigration debate was detained Wednesday by federal immigration agents. Arturo Hernandez, 44, took refuge in 2014 at the First Unitarian church. The site is now home to Jeanette Vizguerra, an undocumented mother of four from Mexico who was named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People for her efforts to win rights for immigrants. Vizguerra moved into the church in February when a stay on her deportation order was denied. Hernandez’s detention, seven years after he came to the attention of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE, was cast as routine by the federal agency. “Hernandez Garcia has overstayed his original six-month visa by nearly 14 years,” an ICE statement reads. “He has exhausted his petitions through the immigration courts and through ICE. He is currently in ICE custody pending his removal.” But the American Friends Service Committee, which helps undocumented people find refuge in churches, slammed the move as overreach by the administration of President Donald Trump, who has tightened immigration rules since taking office in January. “Nothing has changed in Arturo’s life,” the organization said. “Everything is the same except this administration, which is focus(ed) on removing all undocumented people and tearing families apart.” Family and community members say #KeepArturoHome! Call 720-875-2050 and demand for his release. pic.twitter.com/6t6Dny6n0l In that vein, Hernandez’s detention has drawn activists’ attention. Protesters, including Hernandez’s wife, gathered Wednesday outside an ICE processing center in Colorado to demand his release. Similar demonstrations have cropped up in recent months after undocumented people with minor criminal entanglements or no police record at all have been detained by ICE after living in the United States for years without authorization. Hernandez has been in the US since he overstayed a visitor visa in 2003. He has two teenage daughters – one a US citizen, the other a participant in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which allows undocumented people brought to the US as children to stay in the country for two years to work or study. Hernandez came to ICE’s attention in 2010, when he was arrested on “local criminal charges,” according to the agency. His supporters say he has no convictions. Related article Can churches provide legal sanctuary to undocumented immigrants? Hernandez was told to leave the country by December 2012, according to ICE. He did not, and when several appeals were denied, he sought refuge at the First Unitarian church. Though a church doesn’t legally provide added protection from deportation, ICE policy generally discourages arrests at “sensitive locations,” including places of worship. Hernandez lived in the church for nine months – getting his daily exercise by walking up and down a flight of stairs – until he got a letter from ICE telling him he was no longer an “enforcement priority,” he said. The church’s pastor confirmed to CNN that Hernandez received a letter to that effect. ICE has not responded to CNN’s request for further information about the letter. Vizguerra, who now lives at First Unitarian, said Arturo’s detention hasn’t made her more nervous about her own situation – but it has made her angry. Related article Why this church opened its doors to an undocumented mom “I am bothered, because I ask myself, ‘What is Congress doing?’ Who is going to put the brakes on this machine of torture that is this President, without feelings or emotions?” she told CNN Wednesday via Facebook Messenger. Vizguerra said she is praying for Hernandez. “Hope and faith is never lost,” she said, “and God is always present.” CNN’s Eileen Reslen contributed to this story.


South Korea, China and Japan woke up Friday to a new and uncertain diplomatic reality, after US President Donald Trump canceled what many considered to be the best chance of striking a deal for peace on the Korean Peninsula. In less than 24 hours the terrain shifted dramatically under their feet, from the prospect of talks between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, to doubt over the future of relations between the two countries. In Seoul, officials responded with confusion and disappointment to Trump’s announcement – the White House hadn’t informed South Korean officials of his decision beforehand – while the Japanese government called for talks to continue to find a way out of the political impasse. Beijing tried to highlight the positive on Friday afternoon, emphasizing both sides were still willing to talk, but experts said Trump’s decision has put China in a tough position. Across the region, people worried about whether the tensions between the US and North Korea could escalate, while officials scrambled to respond to the new political landscape. “Bungling this diplomacy could put the region at greater risk of conflict than ever before,” said Jean H. Lee, a North Korea expert at the US-based Wilson Center. A photo taken during an emergency meeting in South Korea on Thursday night showed a grim-faced President Moon Jae-in discussing the announcement with his advisers. Trump hadn’t notified the Blue House, South Korea’s Presidential office, of his plans to cancel the summit before the announcement was made, catching Moon by surprise. Related article North Korea says it's still willing to meet Trump after US President cancels summit In a phone conversation with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday, South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said her government was very disappointed the summit wasn’t going ahead. According to South Korea’s Foreign Ministry, Kang said the summit could have become a turning point in the bid for the complete denuclearization and establishment of permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula. South Korean papers plastered the news across their front pages on Friday. Multiple groups of protesters gathered outside the US embassy in Seoul to protest the decision, bearing signs saying “We want peace.” The unexpected decision will heighten the impression among South Koreans that the United States is an unreliable ally, Robert Kelly, professor of political science at South Korea’s Pusan National University, told CNN. “It will drive the South Koreans and the Americans apart … Moon teed up what could have been one of the greatest deals in history and Trump blew it,” he said. Kelly said that while Moon had perhaps pushed too hard for the meeting to take place, and had staked much of his reputation on its success, the South Koreans were more likely to blame the United States than their own president. “My concern is that South Korea will be so disgusted at Trump’s behavior we’ll have a really nasty patch of alliance politics,” he said. Early on Friday morning, Pyongyang said it was still willing to meet with Trump, in a unusually subdued statement on state media. It took hours after every other country in East Asia had responded for Beijing to comment the news of the summit’s cancellation. Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said in his daily briefing both the US and North Korea should show patience and goodwill going forward, and continue to aim for in-person talks. The story wasn’t even on the front page of the majority of the country’s Chinese language newspapers on Friday morning. The Communist Party’s paper of record – the People’s Daily – buried it on page 21. Related article Is Xi Jinping the puppetmaster behind North Korea's pushback on talks? On the country’s heavily-censored social media, most users discussed Trump’s unpredictability and joked about falling property prices on the Chinese border with North Korea. “People who invested in Dandong real estate are the real losers,” one Weibo user said. In the regularly provocative state tabloid Global Times, an editorial said the cancellation of the Singapore summit would hurt the United State’s standing in the region. “America’s national image has been damaged ever since Trump announced his withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal. The cancellation of the Singapore meeting will only enhance their negative image,” the article said. The abrupt decision to cancel the summit makes life much more complicated for Chinese President Xi Jinping, said Bonnie Glaser, director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ China Power Project. “If tensions ratchet up between the United States and North Korea, then China will end up in the middle, being seen as working closely with the country which is the problem, not giving up its nuclear weapons,” Glaser said. Despite Trump’s repeated allegations that Xi had encouraged Kim to push back against the Americans, Glaser said it was highly unlikely the Chinese President wanted to sabotage the summit. At worst, she said it was possible Xi had wanted the North Koreans to demand an end to the US South Korean drills, in line with Beijing’s policy. “I don’t really see how this plays to China’s advantage,” she said. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was on his way to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin when the news of the summit’s cancellation was announced. In recent months, Abe has been reaching out diplomatically to countries in the region, including China and Russia, to avoid being left out of the new diplomatic order on the Korean Peninsula. Speaking in St Petersberg on Friday, Abe said while he was disappointed in Trump’s decision, he continued to support the US President. “We are in complete sync on our policies,” he said, adding he would be hoping to speak to Trump once he returned to Japan. Related article Japan seeking own North Korea summit as Abe risks being left out Koichi Nakano, professor of Political Science at Sophia University, told CNN the cancellation could be an opportunity for Abe. “He may even try to use the current impasse as a vindication of his emphasis on pressure (on North Korea),” Nakano said, adding the Japanese PM could leverage the news to push his pro-military domestic policies. Japan’s newspapers were divided on where to cast the blame for the summit’s cancellation. The liberal Asahi Shimbun newspaper called in its editorial for Trump to “not close the door of dialogue” while the conservative Sankei paper said Kim had underestimated the United States. Yuka Arakawa, a 47-year-old accountant told CNN in Tokyo, she was shocked by the summit’s cancellation. “Progress was being made because it was President Trump. I still have hope that there is a chance to make the summit happen, despite this tough situation,” she said. In public statements, both Japan’s Foreign Minister Taro Kono and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga displayed little disappointment at the development. “What is important is not having the summit itself, but how the summit will serve as a chance to make progress on the missile and nuclear issue,” Suga said. Both Suga and Abe stressed the issue of abductions of Japanese citizens by North Korea as the “most important” issue to Tokyo. Both men called for the continuation of dialogue over the Korean Peninsula, with the cabinet secretary emphasizing the close relationship between the United States, South Korea and Japan. CNN’s Steven Jiang and Serenitie Wang contributed to this article.


Senior officer says he was purged after July 2016 coup attempt Denies any link to plot and says military capacity has been gutted “Something strange is happening in Turkey.” That was the ominous text message received by a senior officer in the Turkish military as he ate dinner with friends on a Friday night in July. The middle-aged officer, posted abroad in Europe, wasn’t initially alarmed. He continued his dinner. But when he began to search online, he discovered an attempted coup was taking place. “There was chaos. There was disorder. No one knew what was happening in Turkey,” he said, recalling scenes of tanks on the Bosporus Bridge. Within hours, Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan would appear on CNN Turk via Apple FaceTime from his vacation on the Mediterranean urging his supporters out onto the streets. By morning, the coup plotters had been subdued. Within weeks, the officer – along with hundreds more – would also be out of a job. He maintains he had nothing to do with the attempted coup, and has asked CNN to conceal his identity and location out of fear of reprisals on family and those he knows still in Turkey. “I condemn the coup,” he said in an interview with CNN. “I don’t think that any coup, regardless of the intention or the objective, could be acceptable.” But he’s concerned that the aftermath transformed Turkey, leaving the military dangerously understaffed, impacting the stability of the NATO alliance, and entrenching an authoritarian leader. Ordered to return to Turkey following the attempted coup, the officer refused out of concern for his safety. The first group of his colleagues to report home found themselves targeted. “As soon as they arrived in the country, ninety percent of the initial group who decided to go back were … imprisoned.” When he sought more information about the complaints against him, he says, he was told they were a “state secret.” A number of Turkish officers stationed in Europe have applied for asylum in the countries where they were based, according to some of them who’ve spoken to CNN. The officer says he eventually received a letter from the Turkish military saying he had been dismissed “due to an administrative decision.” CNN requests for comment from the Turkish government, on both specific allegations and a general response, have gone unanswered. Related video Erdogan: 'We shouldn't confuse criticism with insult' Turkey’s foreign minister, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, defended the government’s actions in an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in September. He said that the government had a responsibility to forestall another coup by arresting those involved in the attempt and suspending those who supported it. But, he added, mistakes could be made. “Our obligation is actually to take necessary measures that innocent people shouldn’t be affected or punished or purged.” Turkey’s transformation since the coup attempt last year is in little dispute. Erdogan said recently that 43,000 people have been arrested and 95,000 fired from state posts. The government has also repeatedly renewed the state of emergency imposed following the attempted coup. And in January, parliament approved a range of new amendments to the constitution that would hand more power to the president enabling him to stay in power until 2029. READ MORE: What happens if Turkey passes Erdogan’s ‘power bill’? Meanwhile, the military has stepped up attacks on Kurdish separatists in Turkey and Syrian Kurds across the border – the latter an American ally in the fight against ISIS. Turkey, a NATO member, has been beset by crises, including terrorist attacks at home and complex wars in Syria and Iraq. Its stability is a matter of concern for NATO, as it provides a crucial bulwark for Europe against flashpoints in the Middle East. That bulwark, the exiled officer said, is being severely tested as Erdogan’s purges weaken the country’s military capacity. Hundreds of pilots have been sacked, he said. “The capacity for the Turkish air force has collapsed,” he told Shubert. “That’s a nightmare for a country which relies on strong air force to defend a large airspace, on top of a geography where you never know how your neighbors could behave from day to day.” “To be very blunt over here, (the) Turkish military … have lost their war-fighting capability to a great extent.” NATO’s supreme allied commander in Europe, General Curtis Scaparrotti, said in December that he never had any reason to suspect that Turkish officers in his teams would be involved in a coup attempt. In their absence, and without their expertise, the capacity of his staff had been “degraded,” he told the Financial Times and Deutsche Welle. The Turkish officer said a “common denominator” for everyone targeted in the purges was that they were at least partially educated in the West. “It’s very normal. It’s not surprising for anybody in Europe or in Turkey or in NATO to see that the best Turkish officers had their education in the States or in Europe.” Rule of law, he said, can hardly be considered a “Western value.” “Do you believe in democracy? Do you believe in genuine democracy? Or do you accept so-called democracy where dictatorship or tyranny is being disguised behind a democracy picture?” The Turkish government blames the coup on Fethullah Gulen, a reclusive cleric and former Erdogan ally, who has been in exile in the US for nearly two decades. Gulen vigorously denies any direct involvement, although he concedes that people sympathetic to his cause may have been involved. The officer did not directly answer a question about whether he was a Gulenist himself, instead saying that by the Turkish government’s definition, anyone from Donald Trump to Pope Francis could be accused of supporting Gulen. “If you had any kind of affiliation with these supporters then you are a terrorist,” he said. Removed from the military and in exile, the officer is faced with building a new life. “I was a senior Turkish military official, with high credentials, with a good reputation,” he said. “Your reputation among your peers; your dreams for yourself, for your family, for your colleagues…they all collapsed at a single moment.” But he remains cautiously hopeful about the future of his country. “I think in the long term, our nation – the wisdom, the historical wisdom of our nation – would not allow this decline to turn out to be a collapse.”

Turkey under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan


Pope Francis addresses hundreds of bishops in Washington on first full day of U.S. visit Message comes as Catholic Church is under strain in the U.S. They may be embattled by the culture wars and bruised by the clergy sexual abuse scandal, but American bishops should not stoop to self-pity or harsh responses, Pope Francis said Wednesday. It was the Pope’s first full day in the United States, but he made it clear, in a speech to 300 bishops in Washington, that he knows the strains his American church is under. Millions of Catholics have fled the flock, leaving for other religions or for no religion at all. Meanwhile, the Catholic bishops have fought – and largely lost – public battles over same-sex marriage and abortion. Referring to the clergy sexual abuse scandal, which harmed thousands of children and cost the church billions in legal settlements, Francis praised the bishops’ “courage.” “I know how much the wounds of these last few years have weighed on your spirit,  and I have supported your generous commitment to bring healing to victims – in the knowledge that in healing we too are healed – and to work to ensure that such crimes will never be repeated.” But advocates for victims of clergy sexual abuse called the bishops anything but courageous. “Almost without exception, they have shown cowardice and callousness and continue to do so now,” said Barbara Dorris of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests. “They offer excuses, exploit legal technicalities and hide behind expensive lawyers and public relations professionals, hardly the marks of courage.” Earlier, Bishop Christopher Coyne told CNN he expected the Pope to meet with sex abuse victims when he travels to Philadelphia. Francis, the first Pope from Latin America, also thanked the bishops for welcoming and caring for thousands of immigrants in their diocese, saying such charity struck a personal note for him. “Now you are facing this stream of Latin immigration which affects so many of your dioceses. Not only as the bishop of Rome, but also as a pastor coming from the south, I feel the need to thank and to encourage you,” he said. “Perhaps it will not be easy for you to read their soul; perhaps you will be tested by their diversity,” Francis added. “But rest assured and keep in mind they also possess resources meant to be shared. And so open your arms and welcome them without fear.” Related video Watch President Obama greet Pope Francis The Pope addressed immigration earlier Wednesday in a speech at the White House. Francis, who is in the United States through Sunday, said he did not have a specific plan in mind for the bishops to rejuvenate their ailing church. But he did have plenty of advice. Here are his top suggestions for the American bishops: 1. “It is not about preaching complicated doctrines, but joyfully proclaiming Christ who died and rose for our sake.” 2. “Certainly it helps for a bishop to have the farsightedness of a leader and the shrewdness of an administrator, but we fall into hopeless decline whenever we confuse the power of strength with the strength of that powerlessness with which God has redeemed us.” 3. “I know full well that you face many challenges, that the field in which you sow is unyielding and that there is always the temptation to give in to fear, to lick one’s wounds, to think back on bygone times and to devise harsh responses to fierce opposition. “And yet we are promoters of the culture of encounter.” 4. “Harsh and divisive language does not befit the tongue of a pastor, it has no place in his heart; although it may momentarily seem to win the day, only the enduring allure of goodness and love remains truly convincing.” 5. “The innocent victim of abortion, children who die of hunger or from bombings, immigrants who drown in the search for a better tomorrow, the elderly or the sick who are considered a burden, the victims of terrorism, wars, violence and drug trafficking, the environment devastated by man’s predatory relationship with nature – at stake in all of this is the gift of God, of which we are noble stewards but not masters. It is wrong, then, to look the other way or to remain silent.” 6. “To this end, it is important that the church in the United States also be a humble hearth, attracting men and women through the attractive light and warmth of love.” 7. “I urge you, then, not to let (priests) be content with half-measures. Find ways to encourage their spiritual growth, lest they yield to the temptation to become notaries and bureaucrats.” Will the bishops heed the advice? At least one said he took the Pope’s message straight to heart. “It made me know that I should live the life of faith a lot more faithfully myself in order to lead,” said Bishop William Patrick Callahan of La Crosse, Wisconsin. CNN’s Catherine Shoichet contributed to this report.


On Wednesday, the White House sent a readout of President Donald Trump’s phone call with China’s Xi Jinping. Typical readouts from the press office usually give details about what the president and world leader discussed, if only in broad terms. Here are the 28 words about Trump and Xi’s call: ·         THE WHITE HOUSE ·         Office of the Press Secretary ·         FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ·         April 12, 2017 ·         Readout of President Donald J. Trump’s Call with President Xi Jinping of China ·         President Donald J. Trump spoke last night with President Xi Jinping of China to follow up after President Xi’s visit to Mar-a-Lago. It was a very productive call. For comparison’s sake, here’s what China released about the same call: Obtained and translated by CNN’s Steven Jiang in Beijing On the morning of April 12, President Xi Jinping talked to US President Donald Trump on the phone. Xi emphasized: “I’m very happy to talk to Mr. President on the phone. Our recent meetings at Mar-a-Lago produced important results, which have been recognized by the Chinese people as well as the international community. I thank the president for your warm hospitality and detailed arrangements.” Xi said: “We held in-depth exchanges on China-US relations in a new era as well as major international and regional issues, and reached important consensus. Mr. President and I have deepened our mutual understanding and established a good working relationship. Next, both sides should utilize the four high-level dialogue mechanisms, namely diplomatic and security, comprehensive economic, law enforcement and cyber security, as well as social and people-to-people dialogues. We should use them to promote the implementation of the ’100-Day Plan’ as well as expanding exchanges and coordination between the militaries and on law enforcement, cyber issues and people-to-people exchanges. We should strengthen our communication and coordination on major international and regional issues. We should strive to produce results sooner to inject new energy in the development of bilateral ties, and work together to promote global peace and development. Teams from both sides should work closely to ensure a successful and fruitful visit by Mr. President to China later this year.” Trump said that he was very happy to host Xi at Mar-a-Lago in Florida and to have held a very successful US-China presidential summit there. He said it is very important for both presidents to keep close contact and agreed that both sides should work together to expand pragmatic cooperation in a wide range of areas. He said he looked forward to paying a state visit to China. The two leaders exchanged views on issues of mutual concern including the situation on the Korean Peninsula. Xi emphasized: “China adheres to the goal of denuclearization of the peninsula and insists on preserving peace and stability on the peninsula. China advocates to resolve the issue through peaceful means, and is willing to maintain communication and coordination with the US on the Korean Peninsula issue.” On the Syria issue, Xi said: “Any use of chemical weapons is unacceptable.” He said: “We should adhere to the direction of resolving the issue through political means. Maintaining unity within the UN Security Council is very important to resolve the Syria issue and I hope the UNSC will speak with one voice.” The two leaders agreed to keep close contact through various means.


The Pope used the word Rohingya while addressing a group of refugees He is wrapping up a trip to both Myanmar and Bangladesh Pope Francis referred to the Rohingya people by name on Friday, the first time he has directly addressed Myanmar’s persecuted Muslim minority in his Asia tour. “The presence of God today is also called Rohingya,” the Pope said after speaking to an interfaith audience in the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka. He did not use the term in public earlier in the week in Myanmar, to the dismay of campaigners for the Rohingya, whose stories of escaping violence in the country have provoked international condemnation. Friday is the final full day of his trip. After his speech, the Pope met a group of Rohingya refugees one by one, giving some of them blessings and listening to the stories of others. “Your tragedy is very hard, very big. We give you space in our hearts,” the Pope said. “In the name of everyone, of those who persecute you, those who hurt you, and especially of the world’s indifference, I ask for your forgiveness. Forgive us.” “Many of you talked to me about the great heart of Bangladesh, which offered you refuge. Now I appeal to your heart to give us the forgiveness we are asking from you,” he told the group of refugees after meeting them. More than 620,000 Rohingya have fled across the border from Myanmar to neighboring Bangladesh since a spate of violence began in August. Many say they were forced to flee atrocities committed by the Myanmar military. Myanmar’s government does not use the term Rohingya to refer to the group. It considers the Rohingya people to be illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, even though some families have lived in Myanmar for centuries. The Rohingya are not recognized as an official minority in Myanmar, effectively meaning they are denied citizenship. During a speech Tuesday alongside Myanmar’s de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, Pope Francis did not use the term Rohingya despite hopes he would do so. Vatican spokesman Greg Burke dismissed the idea that Francis – who has used the Rohingya term before – diminished his moral authority by avoiding a direct reference to the group during his visit to Myanmar, the first by a Pope to the Buddhist-majority country. “People don’t expect him to solve impossible problems,” Burke said. Activists argued that because Francis did not use the term while he was in Myanmar, he was complicit in the country’s strategy to delegitimize the Rohingya plight by questioning their name and identity. “The term Rohingya is not a racial slur. It is a dignified term for more than two million people who are living across the world,” European-based Rohingya activist Nay San Lwin told CNN in an email. After the Pope’s remarks in Bangladesh, Lwin told CNN that he and other Rohingya advocates felt like “winners.” “Unexpectedly he used the correct term. He didn’t avoid when he met the Rohingyas in person,” Lwin said. The international community has been outraged by the stories of fleeing refugees. Jafar Alam, a 24-year-old Rohingya who was due to speak with the Pope in Bangladesh, told reporters before the meeting that the army lined up 30 people in his village and killed them all. The United Nations, the US and the UK have accused the Myanmar military of ethnic cleansing, systematically driving the minority Muslim population from their homes through murder, rape and terror. Myanmar’s military claims it is pursuing terrorists responsible for a deadly attack on security forces in August. It denies that it has systematically persecuted the Rohingya. During his visit to Myanmar, Francis met the country’s two most important leaders: Suu Kyi and Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, the commander-in-chief of Myanmar’s armed forces. During a brief meeting with Pope Francis Monday, Hlaing insisted that all faiths were able to worship freely in Myanmar. But many Myanmar watchers said Hlaing’s claim is false, pointing to the Rohingya crisis. “The mind boggles when you’re confronting such blatant falsehoods and incredibly bogus narratives that have been formulated by people covering up atrocities,” said Phil Robertson, the deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia division. Suu Kyi, a former Nobel Peace Prize winner for her nonviolent resistance to the military junta that ruled Myanmar for decades, has also denied that ethnic cleansing is going on her country. She addressed the crisis in general terms during a speech alongside Francis Tuesday, saying her government aims “to bring out the beauty of our diversity and to make it our strength, by protecting rights, fostering tolerance, ensuring security for all.” CNN’s Rebecca Wright contributed to this report


NEW: DEA says authorities will catch "El Chapo"; "If I was him, I'd be looking over my shoulder" Surveillance video shows Guzman entering the shower area for his escape Mexican authorities offer a reward and release a new photo of Guzman First he ducks into the shower of his prison cell, fully clothed. Then he leans down, but it’s not clear what the infamous drug lord is doing; the short shower wall blocks him from the surveillance camera. Seconds later, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman gets back up, sits down on his cell bed and changes his shoes. He goes back into the shower and bends down again behind the wall – but never resurfaces. Guzman, Mexico’s most notorious drug kingpin, slipped through a hole under the shower and escaped through a mile-long tunnel to freedom, authorities said. And the newly released closed-circuit video shows how calmly and easily he did it. Mexican Interior Minister Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong said Guzman’s cell was videotaped 24 hours a day. But the surveillance had two blind spots for privacy – the toilet and the shower. Guzman didn’t just evade the cameras; he also sidestepped another security measure with alarming ease. Guzman had a bracelet that monitored his every move, the interior minister said. But he left the bracelet behind before he crawled into the tunnel. Where Guzman could be hiding out now is anyone’s guess. Investigators on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border are searching for signs of the fugitive drug lord. But it’s no easy task, a top Drug Enforcement Administration official said. “The cartel headed by Chapo is probably the most well-financed, vicious, criminal entity we have ever seen, with unlimited resources both to bribe, corrupt and to transport,” Deputy DEA Administrator Jack Riley said. “So our job in this particular case, as much as it was over year ago when we captured him, is to use every legal tool we can, cooperate with our counterparts, and hit the ground. The hunt is back on.” The United States and Mexico are exchanging intelligence – including details from informants – in the manhunt, and the United States is providing technical support, a Mexican official said. Reports claiming authorities from the two countries aren’t working together simply aren’t true, Riley said. “Chapo is hoping and planning on the fact that the good guys, the cops on both sides of the border, don’t talk to each other, don’t connect the dots,” Riley said. “And I’m here to tell you we’re doing that better now than we have ever done it. And if I was him, I’d be looking over my shoulder.” It’s likely prison workers helped Guzman break out, the interior minister told reporters. Osorio Chong said he has already fired the prison director and other prison officials. At least 49 people have been questioned in connection with the Saturday escape, a Mexican official said. Mexican authorities announced a $3.8 million reward for information leading to Guzman’s capture. They released what they said was a recent picture of Guzman, showing him with a shaved head and face – but without his trademark mustache. Guzman took a sophisticated route during his escape, officials believe: a tunnel complete with lighting, ventilation and even a modified motorcycle on tracks “that was likely used to remove dirt during the excavation and transport the tools for the dig,” Mexican National Security Commissioner Monte Alejandro Rubido said. The tunnel began with a 50-by-50-centimeter (20-by-20-inch) opening inside the shower of Guzman’s cell, Rubido said. The tunnel stretched for about a mile and ended inside a half-built house. It’s likely the Sinaloa cartel had spent years infiltrating the country’s prison system, a Mexican official told CNN. Whoever helped in the plot likely had the architectural plans for the prison that pointed them toward the shower area, the official said. And this wasn’t the first time. Nicknamed “Shorty” for his height, Guzman already had pulled off one elaborate escape from a maximum-security prison. In 2001, he managed to break free while reportedly hiding in a laundry cart. It took authorities 13 years to catch him – closing in as he was sleeping at a Mexican beach resort. El Chapo’s escape: No light at the end of his tunnel The Sinaloa cartel moves drugs by land, air and sea, including cargo aircraft, private aircraft, buses, fishing vessels and even submarines, the U.S. Justice Department has said. The cartel has become so powerful that Forbes magazine listed Guzman in its 2009 list of “self-made” billionaires. Guzman’s estimated fortune at the time was $1 billion. Guzman has been a nightmare for both sides of the border. He reigns over a multibillion-dollar global drug empire that supplied much of the marijuana, cocaine and heroin sold on the streets of the United States. Chicago has labeled him the city’s “Public Enemy No. 1.” Related video Chicago: 'El Chapo' is 'public enemy number one' And Riley, who spent years fighting Guzman’s cartel there, said he’s personally angered over the escape. “I spent nearly five years fighting what he was doing to the city, what he was doing to the communities by bringing heroin in and working a business relationship with street gangs,” he said. “For me, personally, it was a milestone to see him in jail. And when I got the call at 2:30 in the morning last Saturday, I about passed out.” But no matter what it takes, he said, investigators will find a way to capture him. “I am sure his security is probably second to none in the country. But that’s not going to deter us. It didn’t deter us the first time,” Riley said. “This guy is going to be back in jail.” The Mexico drug war: Bodies for billions CNN’s Josh Gaynor, Marilia Brocchetto, Ashley Fantz, Eliott C. McLaughlin and Evan Perez and CNN en Español’s Juan Carlos Lopez and Krupskaia Alis, contributed to this report.