With tensions flaring between President Donald Trump and national security adviser Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, the Pentagon is considering options that would allow the President to potentially move the three-star general out of his current role and back into the military, according to half a dozen defense and administration officials. A search is quietly being conducted by the Pentagon to see if there is a four-star military job suited for McMaster, these officials said. Several sources told CNN that the push for a replacement comes after months of personal tension between McMaster and Trump. The task of easing McMaster out of his role as national security adviser presents a unique challenge for the White House. While administration officials have privately said the preference is to move McMaster into a position within the Army or Defense Department that qualifies as a promotion, some within the Pentagon feel he has become politicized in the White House and have expressed reservations about him returning to the military in a prominent role. Some defense officials caution that the President could also go as far as not to offer him a fourth star and force him to retire. Related article Facing staffing exodus, Trump struggles to fill West Wing This is not the first time McMaster has faced speculation that his job may be in jeopardy and sources with knowledge of McMaster’s standing in the White House have repeatedly said that he has been on thin ice for months. There was discussion in the West Wing about replacing him last fall, but he ultimately survived because officials, including the President himself, were skeptical about the optics of appointing a third national security adviser in less than a year, several sources told CNN. Trump’s first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, resigned amid controversy over his contact with Russian officials within a month of taking the job. The decision was also driven by the White House’s challenge attracting top talent for jobs in the administration due to Trump’s “blacklist” of individuals who have criticized the President, his personality and the Russia investigation, according to a senior Republican source. However, those familiar with the President’s thinking don’t believe McMaster’s job is any safer now. “He is safe until he’s not,” the senior Republican with knowledge of the White House added. On Thursday, the Pentagon referred all questions about McMaster’s future to the White House. “General McMaster works for President Trump. Any decision with regards to staff, the White House will make those determinations,” chief spokesperson Dana White said. The White House did not respond to CNN’s request for comment. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Tuesday that Trump “still has confidence in General McMaster.” Tensions between Trump and McMaster have been playing out for months and were on full display this weekend after Trump publicly chided him over remarks he made regarding Russian interference in the election. “General McMaster forgot to say that the results of the 2016 election were not impacted or changed by the Russians and that the only Collusion was between Russia and Crooked H, the DNC and the Dems,” Trump tweeted. “Remember the Dirty Dossier, Uranium, Speeches, Emails and the Podesta Company!” Related article Memo highlights friction within White House National Security Council The criticism laid bare the strained relationship between the two men and left some wondering how much longer McMaster has left in the administration. For months, Trump has privately expressed irritation with McMaster stemming from differences in “personality and style,” the senior Republican source said. The two have never gotten along, and Trump continues to chafe at McMaster’s demeanor when he briefs him, feeling that he is gruff and condescending, according to a source who is familiar with his thinking. He prefers the briefing style of someone like CIA Director Mike Pompeo or Defense Secretary James Mattis, who patiently answer his questions, regardless of the premise. McMaster, meanwhile, is the person who delivers the news that Trump doesn’t want to hear on a daily basis, according to the senior Republican source. The issue is not political but mostly stylistic, as McMaster and Mattis tend to discuss information before it is presented to the President, the same source added. Related article Trump advisers signal the knives are out for Bannon CNN previously reported that McMaster has been at odds with the President and other cabinet officials over the last year. He has also been undercut by others in Trump’s orbit like former chief strategist Steve Bannon, according to congressional and administration officials. A source familiar with the situation said Trump’s perception of McMaster is still influenced by the legacy of Bannon who maintained a tense relationship with McMaster after McMaster removed him from the National Security Council. “He paid McMaster back by spreading rumors and whispering in Trump’s ear,” the senior Republican source said, adding that “Bannon poisoned the well.” Officials could not yet confirm what job McMaster might be nominated for if he were to leave the White House. The current commander of US forces in South Korea, General Vincent Brooks, is expected to leave his post on a scheduled rotation in the coming months but his successor has already been earmarked within the Army but not yet made public, several officials said. Another possible option would be to name McMaster as the replacement for Gen. John Nicholson who has served as commander of the coalition in Afghanistan since 2016. Related article Donald Trump vs. John Kelly vs. Jared Kushner vs. Jeff Sessions vs. H.R. McMaster Some officials have told CNN that the Pentagon may be looking to identify a slot that is not too high profile, because McMaster would be transitioning back to the military from a White House position akin to a political appointee. If moved back into a military role that involves testifying before Congress, McMaster might be viewed as simply supporting the White House rather than providing lawmakers with his best military advice, one defense official said. Lawmakers on the Senate Armed Services Committee would likely have questions about McMaster’s time in the White House should he be nominated for a military role but an aide to one senior Republican member told CNN that there do not appear to be any obvious red flags at the outset that would inherently prevent his confirmation. A second defense official said McMaster is well aware of those political sensitivities. However, one top Pentagon official said McMaster’s role in the administration should not prevent him from earning his fourth star, comparing his transition to other military officers like Colin Powell who have gone back and forth between the Pentagon and the White House. McMaster would also have the option of retiring from active duty at any time if he chose to do so. But officials told CNN that the White House’s wish is to find McMaster a four-star job that is seen as acknowledging his service.


Michigan Republican Rep. Bill Huizenga is leading the charge for the rule's repeal Critics say the vote will be on the heels of the Republicans' aborted effort to gut the Office of Congressional Ethics Congress is preparing this week to start the process of rolling back multiple regulations, one of which is a bipartisan rule that requires extractive industry corporations, like oil, gas and mining companies to disclose payments they make to foreign governments for access to natural resources. The rule, the Cardin-Lugar Amendment, became law in 2010 as Section 1504 of the Dodd-Frank Act. After delays by court challenges by some in the oil and gas industry, the Securities and Exchange Commission implemented the rule, saying that all foreign and domestic companies listed on US stock exchanges and involved in oil, gas and mineral resource extraction must publish payments they make to foreign countries in which they operate. Michigan Republican Rep. Bill Huizenga is leading the charge for the rule’s repeal, which is scheduled for a vote in the House Wednesday. The Senate also will need to vote on this measure, with 51 votes needed to overturn the rule. “In reality, this very flawed rule is diverting precious resources not only from the SEC, but more importantly resources from American companies that could otherwise be used to create jobs,” his office told CNN in a statement. The congressman suggested the SEC is guilty of overreach. “Despite being instructed in federal court, the SEC continues to propose a resource extraction rule that is overly burdensome, puts US companies at a competitive disadvantage and fails to provide investors with useful information,” Huizenga said. His opponents say he is acting on behalf of an industry with a strong lobby. According to OpenSecrets.org, Huizenga’s campaign received $46,050 from oil and gas interests. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-California, ranking member of the House Committee on Financial Services, responded to Huizenga’s resolution, saying in a statement, “the American people have a right to know where Big Oil is drilling and who they’re paying, especially if it involves countries that have been hostile to the United States.” Waters specifically said companies like ExxonMobil would benefit, citing the company’s former CEO, Rex Tillerson, who is President Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of state. “Striking Section 1504 would mean that Big Oil companies like ExxonMobil would be able to continue their questionable dealings with corrupt parties such as Vladimir Putin and Russia,” Waters said. Critics say Wednesday’s House vote will be on the heels of the backlash Republicans received after planning to gut the Office of Congressional Ethics, a nonpartisan congressional watchdog, with a vote to strip the agency of its powers. House Republicans eventually pulled their plans to gut the agency. The rule is finalized and has legal standing but it has a phase-in period so companies do not have to disclose those government payments to the SEC until 2019. Jodi Vittori, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who also teaches courses in terrorism finance at Georgetown University and worked on counter-corruption efforts for NATO, said repealing this rule could impact US national security. Vittori said “a lot” of the money the gas and oil industry pays to many poor or fragile countries for access to their natural resources “gets diverted to other places out of these slush funds they can be going to hackers that are hacking political parties. It could be going to terrorists, insurgents, warlords, criminals, wherever these authoritarian governments or the cronies who have access to their money choose to divert it. “ But the American Petroleum Institute, a top lobbyist for the oil industry, said the SEC’s recent rule “undermines global payment transparency efforts” and the oil and natural gas industry “has been an advocate of greater revenue transparency for decades.” Exxon said the rule “likely will adversely affect the ability of publicly traded companies to compete globally,” though other oil giants, including Shell and BP, have supported it. Isabel Munilla, a policy adviser of Oxfam, an international confederation of charitable organizations focused on the alleviation of global poverty, said the rule helps the citizens of fragile countries and American taxpayers follow the money. “At a time when terror groups like ISIS’ largest source of revenue is from oil, we deserve to know where oil companies’ payments to foreign governments are going,” she said. Munilla added, “What does Exxon and Chevron have to hide? How does these payment disclosures put you at a competitive risk if your competitors are disclosing the same information? These oil companies are not being asked to disclose proprietary information.” API argues more than 90% of the world’s oil reserves are owned or controlled by state-owned oil companies, many of which are not subject to either the SEC’s jurisdiction or disclosure requirements. Competitors could examine the disclosures of US companies to discern commercially sensitive information, and countries wishing to avoid disclosure could divert their business to foreign competitors not subject to the US disclosure rule, the institute said.


The members of 20 organizations – including one Jewish organization – which advocate boycotting Israel will be banned from entering the country. The full list comes from the Ministry of Strategic Affairs, a governmental department created to fight the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement, known as BDS. “The anti-Israel boycott campaign seeks not to promote peace but to undermine Israel’s national security and existence,” said Minister Gilad Erdan. “The state of Israel will prevent groups working to undermine its security and core interests from entering Israel.” The list stems from a March 2017 law allowing Israel to deny entry to any nonresident who promotes a boycott of Israel. The final list was put together in collaboration with the Interior, Foreign Affairs and Justice Ministries. The new regulations are expected to take effect in March 2018, one year after Israel enacted the law enabling the ban. Related article Israel's travel ban: Boycott supporters to be turned away Critics of the legislation zeroed in on the ban of Jewish Voice for Peace, a left-wing Jewish organization that advocates the boycott as a nonviolent means of ending Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories while seeking “security and self-determination for Israelis and Palestinians” and a solution for Palestinian refugees. “A new crack in the wall of the occupation,” tweeted Ayman Odeh, an Arab member of Israel’s Knesset. “Minister Erdan has decided to ban Jewish activists who oppose the occupation, although they are entitled to Israeli citizenship by the discriminatory law of return. Oppressive regimes have collapsed because of such internal contradiction.” The “Entry Law,” as it’s called in Israel, carries an echo of President Donald Trump’s travel ban on majority-Muslim countries, which has been partially allowed to go into effect after numerous revisions and legal battles. It was approved by Israel’s parliament at virtually the same time Trump issued the second version of his travel ban. In a press release publicizing the list, the ministry of strategic affairs insisted the ban did not target any specific race or religion, instead targeting “central figures in key boycott organizations” while allowing for humanitarian exceptions. The ministry said those who have voiced political criticism of Israel will be allowed entry. Only those who have taken “material action” against Israel will be banned. That action is defined as “significant, ongoing and consistent to harm Israel through advocating boycotts.” But critics of the list saw it as nothing more than a travel ban. “The Netanyahu government’s Entry Law, which is a travel ban that uses blacklists and litmus tests to bar visitors from entering Israel based on their beliefs, flies in the face of the democratic principles enshrined in Israel’s declaration of independence,” said Daniel Sokatch, the CEO of the New Israel Fund. “We don’t have to agree with them to know that banning them from visiting Israel is just wrong.” Related article Lorde cancels Israel concert amid calls for cultural boycott Israel has lobbied hard against the BDS movement, urging European countries to oppose those who advocate boycotting Israel. President Reuven Rivlin, hosting Norwegian Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Soreide in Jerusalem on Sunday, said, “You must work against [BDS] no less than we, because it stands in the way of progress.” In late-December, Denmark agreed to more closely monitor foreign aid going to Palestinian organizations to prevent it from financing groups that support boycotting Israel. Celebrating the decision, Erdan said on social media, “We demanded from the European countries that they stop funding [organizations that support boycotting Israel] and now Denmark has made a move in the right direction and the funding will stop.” Last week, Israel approved $36 million to the creation of an agency to help fight the BDS movement, seeking to raise the same amount again from private donors and organizations. The BDS movement, founded as a grass-roots, nonviolent means of opposing Israel’s policies in the Palestinian territories, advocates for an economic boycott of Israel, modeled on the boycott of apartheid-era South Africa. The movement, backed by celebrities such as Pink Floyd front man Roger Waters, has claimed numerous successes in recent years, including pressuring the Israeli beverage company SodaStream to move its facility from the West Bank to Israel. In late December, New Zealand pop star Lorde canceled her concert in Israel after pressure from the BDS movement.


Turkey agrees to move troops from Iraq Iraq's government had insisted it never invited the Turkish forces into the country Turkey announced Saturday it would move its troops from Iraq after weeks of tensions over its military presence near the city of Mosul, according to a statement from the country’s Foreign Ministry. The Turkish government didn’t say where the troops would move to. It had said troops were deployed to the Bashiqa military base in northern Iraq earlier this month to protect a mission to train and advise Iraqi forces in their fight against ISIS. But Iraq’s government has insisted that it never invited the Turkish forces and that their presence constituted a violation of Iraqi sovereignty. Iraqi President Fuad Masum said Turkey violated international laws when its military entered the country. The move comes just one day after U.S. President Barack Obama urged Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to take steps to “de-escalate” tensions. Brett McGurk, the State Department special envoy to the anti-ISIS coalition, welcomed the move in a tweet: “Welcome statement by #Turkey MFA on movement of forces from #Iraq. US actively engaged, encouraging focus on #ISIL” Welcome statement by #Turkey MFA on movement of forces from #Iraq. US actively engaged, encouraging focus on #ISIL - https://t.co/tPgEGN9adZ Turkey said it will continue to coordinate with the Baghdad government in the war against ISIS. “Turkey reiterates its support for Iraq’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and acknowledges the miscommunication with the government of Iraq over the recent deployments of Turkish protection forces to support training activities for Iraqi forces in their campaign against DAESH (ISIS) in northern Iraq,” the Turkish statement said. “Turkey, in recognition of the Iraqi concerns and in accordance with the requirements of the fight against DAESH, is continuing to move military forces from Ninewa province that were the source of the miscommunication.” CNN’s Marilia Brocchetto and Kevin Wang in Atlanta contributed to this report.


Trump Jr. has come under fire for a meeting with a Russian lawyer The NYT reports that an email said she would provide information from the Russian government An email sent to Donald Trump Jr. last year stated that a Russian lawyer had “compromising” information about Hillary Clinton as “part of a Russian government effort” to help the Trump campaign, The New York Times reported Monday. Citing three people with knowledge of the email, the Times reported that Rob Goldstone, who connected Trump Jr. with the Russian lawyer, sent the email to Trump Jr. pointing to the Russian government as a source of potential information that could damage Clinton. The story that Trump Jr. was offered potential information from the Russian government to aide his father’s campaign came after months of staunch denials from President Donald Trump that his campaign had a connection to Russia. Alan Futerfas, a lawyer for Trump Jr., said in a statement following the story that it was “much ado about nothing.” The statement called the period of May to early June 2016 “an intensely busy time” for Trump Jr. The statement said Goldstone had emailed Trump’s son about alleged wrongdoing from Clinton regarding Russia. “The meeting lasted about 20-30 minutes, and nothing came of it,” Futerfas said. “His father knew nothing about it. The bottom line is that Don, Jr. did nothing wrong. I have been representing people in investigatory matters for almost 30 years, and I see nothing here.” In response to the Times’ previous reporting revealing the June 2016 meeting, Trump Jr. said in a statement Sunday that he met with Natalia Veselnitskaya, the Russian lawyer, in Trump Tower last June. He responded to the latest development on Tuesday morning, tweeting, “Media & Dems are extremely invested in the Russia story. If this nonsense meeting is all they have after a yr, I understand the desperation!” Goldstone did not immediately respond to CNN requests for comment on the latest Times reporting. Mark Corallo, a spokesman for the President’s legal team, reiterated an earlier statement saying, “The President was not aware of and did not attend the meeting.” The Times said it was not clear if Goldstone knew where the potential information was coming from, and one person the report cited said it appeared Goldstone was sending Trump Jr. information that had come through several other people. By the time of the June meeting with Veselnitskaya, Trump had clinched the Republican presidential nomination. In his statement, Trump Jr. said the meeting also involved Jared Kushner, his brother-in-law, who now serves as a senior adviser to Trump, and Paul Manafort, who was running the Trump campaign at the time. Trump Jr. on Saturday said the meeting primarily focused on adoption policy, and was not related to the campaign. Veselnitskaya has been a major campaigner against the Magnitsky Act, a US law targeting alleged Russian human rights abusers. In response to the passage of the Magnitsky Act, Russian President Vladimir Putin blocked Americans from adopting Russian children. On Sunday, Trump Jr. said in a statement that he had attended the meeting in the hope that there would be helpful information for the campaign. He defended his actions at length on Twitter, saying sarcastically at one point: “Obviously I’m the first person on a campaign to ever take a meeting to hear info about an opponent… went nowhere but had to listen.”’ He said in a statement that it quickly became clear in the June 2016 meeting that Veselnitskaya had no useful information and that the meeting ended after she attempted to talk to them about adoption policy. White House deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said earlier on Monday that the President did not know about Trump Jr.’s meeting with Veselnitskaya and asserted that Trump Jr. “did not collude with anybody to influence the election.” The White House has steadily denied collusion with Russia on the campaign. In March, then-FBI Director James Comey confirmed that the Department of Justice was investigating Trump associates for potential coordination with Russia as part of an effort to influence the election. A report from the intelligence community in early January accused Russia of attempting to influence the election to hurt Clinton’s candidacy and bolster Trump’s by taking several measures, including disseminating false information online and orchestrating the hacks of political officials like Clinton campaign chair John Podesta. The June 9, 2016 meeting occurred prior to reports that emerged later that month saying Russia had hacked the Democratic National Committee. In July, WikiLeaks began posting emails online from the DNC. Trump has denied any wrongdoing, as has Russia. WikiLeaks has denied Russia was the source for its releases. Following Comey’s ouster in early May, the Department of Justice appointed former FBI Director Robert Mueller as a special counsel to lead the investigation. Members of the Senate intelligence committee, which is conducting its own investigation, indicated they would want to speak to Trump Jr. about his meeting with the Russian lawyer. Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House intelligence committee, said on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday that the House panel would like to question everyone who attended the meeting. Futerfas said Trump Jr. had not received any request from a committee or office and would work with them to “convey what he knows.” CNN’s Diane Ruggiero, Dan Merica and Adam Levine contributed to this report.


Chiang Mai and the province of the same name blend ancient culture and natural wonders Chiang Mai's most famous dish is khao soi, a savory noodles dish The roads around Chiang Mai are some of the most scenic in the country With spectacular mountains, vibrant hill tribes and a relaxed vibe, Thailand’s unofficial “second city” of Chiang Mai is everything Bangkok isn’t. As the travel hub for northern Thailand, the city of Chiang Mai and the province that shares its name (population 1.6 million) blend ancient culture and natural wonders to create a character that’s unique to a region once known as the Kingdom of a Million Rice Fields, or “Lanna” in Thai. In a kind of repeat of history, parts of the city have been invaded by regional neighbors in recent years. In the past, invaders came from Burma, Siam or other regional rivals. This time, it’s tour groups from China, lured by the success of a massive-hit Chinese comedy movie called “Lost in Thailand,” which is partially based in Chiang Mai. Fortunately, you can still lose yourself in Chiang Mai’s majestic mountains, find a quiet picnic spot next to a cascading stream or visit with its friendly people. Nothing says “I’m in Chiang Mai” more than slurping a piquant bowl of khao soi, noodles bathed in an intense curry broth topped with crispy noodles. The dish is traditionally served with chicken or beef with a side of chili paste, pickled cabbage, raw shallots and wedge of lime. Arguably northern Thailand’s most famous dish, khao soi can be found from unnamed holes-in-the-wall to five-star resorts, all peddling renditions of the “best” noodles money can buy. For a fail-safe lunchtime introduction, Lam Duan Faham or Samoer Jai, both on Chiang Mai’s Charoenrat Road, are terrific choices. A glass of the herbal drink bai bua bok (Asian pennywort) helps you cool off after the spicy meal. The top snacks and curries in Chiang Mai With seven national parks in the province, many door-to-doi (mountain) excursions are within easy striking distance of the Chiang Mai city center. You can pitch your own tent at designated campsites or rent one on arrival from the park headquarters. Most parks also have cabins or huts for rent, though these must be reserved, easiest via the Department of National Parks website. Ob Luang National Park, with its dramatic river-canyon landscape littered with boulders, and Doi Inthanon National Park, named after the highest peak in the country, offer waterfall and cave attractions by day and stargazing by night. Both are within a two-hour drive from town. 10 things in Chiang Mai most visitors don’t see Presiding over the mountainous horizon to the northwest of the city, Doi Suthep mountain is the most recognizable landmark in Chiang Mai. Its glimmering mountaintop temple is a popular first stop for visitors. Most make the trek up the 300-plus steps of the Naga staircase to visit the working monastery in the daytime, from which, weather permitting, you can get panoramic views of the city. A better time to go is in the early hours of the morning, when you can avoid the heat and crowds, and watch the flickering lights of the city fade as the sun rises. The climb to the top is a thigh-buster, but it’s worth it for the great views. There’s also a scenic road up Doi Suthep for those who prefer to drive. Nearby hills or dois mean there are plenty of nature-based day trips in the area, often with a waterfall to cool off in. Tour operators will often combine a handful of excursions in a single day. The best and priciest outfits in town provide private customized tours that allow you to choose your activities and not be herded along with the crowd. A great leisurely activity, bamboo rafting in Mae Wang provides a closeup introduction to the region’s lush forests. To admire the greenery from top down, Flight of the Gibbon in Mae Kampong offers 5 kilometers of zip line through a forest canopy. The village of Mae Klang Luang is big on community-based tourism.  It’s a place to stop for a freshly brewed cup of coffee while overlooking terraced rice paddies before following a local guide on a 3-kilometer trek to a “hidden” waterfall. The man who founded a religion based on ‘The Big Lebowski’ In recent years, a slew of modern malls has sprung up in the city. But Chiang Mai’s vibrant street markets are still the place to get the classic retail experience. The best choices are the nightly bazaar on Chang Klan Road; Saturday Walking Street on Wualai Road; and Sunday Walking Street down Ratchadamnoen Road inside the old city walls. Sunday Walking Street is the most popular of the bunch, with back-to-back vendors selling trinkets, boutique fashion and handicrafts. With shopping comes sore feet. Fortunately, entrepreneurial massage ladies have that covered – in the market, rows of plastic chairs set up on the pavement lure shoppers with $5-an-hour foot rubs. You can get your feet rubbed while sipping on a drink from the market and watching crowds amble past. Festivals in Chiang Mai are celebrated with boisterous party fervor and observance of ancient traditions. One of the best holidays is Songkran, the Thai New Year, observed over three official days but often lasting five days each April (dates change every year). Cultural activities are centered around Wat Phra Singh, the city’s most visited temple, and the old town. To take part in Chiang Mai’s famed full-fledged water fight, you need to pick a strategic station and get ready to get wet – Tha Pae Gate, anywhere along the moat, next to the Ping River, around Central Kad Suan Kaew and Maya shopping centers, are areas of intense activity and big crowds. Another festival worth planning a trip to Chiang Mai around is Loy Krathong, which coincides with the Lanna festival of Yi Peng. On that November night (again, the dates change annually), tens of thousands of paper lanterns (khom loy) are set off into the sky and thousands more candle-lit floats are released along waterways. The best photo op is at the mass release behind Maejo University. Pictures of the world’s biggest water fight When the year-end holidays roll around and the mercury dips below 20 C (68 F), the cardigans and beanies come out as city folk head for Chiang Mai to enjoy the “winter.” Visitors tend to follow suit, putting away the tank tops and cutoffs and bundling up for the weather as they head for higher ground up in the dois. It really does get chilly. Hot springs suddenly make sense, especially if you stay the night to experience the misty mornings and maximum nighttime chills in the hills. Best day-trip spots for a steamy soak are the Fang Hot Springs at Doi Pha Hom Pok National Park and, closer to Chiang Mai, Pong Duead at Huay Nam Dang National Park. Both have hiking trails and impressive viewpoints. The roads around Chiang Mai are some of the most scenic in the country. One of the best known is the Mae Hong Son Loop, a 600-kilometer journey that starts from Chiang Mai, and, traveling counterclockwise, passes through Pai, Mae Hong Son and Mae Sariang before returning to the starting point. Driving yourself is the best way to do this multiday excursion – car and motorbike rental shops are found all over the city – allowing you to stop to admire the mountainous landscape, visit small villages and swim beneath waterfalls. The shorter, 100-kilometer Samoeng Loop makes for an easy day trip. It passes through Hang Dong and Mae Rim just outside of town. Both of these loops have food stops along the way, but it never hurts to have bags of sai-ua (northern Thai herb sausages) and sticky rice for a spontaneous hillside picnic en route. The pace of life in Chiang Mai is refreshingly slower than in Bangkok, giving it a sleepy ambiance that adds to its charm. To indulge in the chilled-out lifestyle, you’ll want to kick back in a waterside setting with views of the mountainous surroundings and, of course, good food. About an hour’s drive from town, and a longtail boat ride away, you can dine in one of the floating restaurants in Mae Ngat Reservoir in Sri Lanna National Park – there’s nothing to do here but eat, drink, swim and be merry. Houseboats can be rented by the day, and if you can’t tear yourself away from the scenic surroundings, it’s worth staying overnight. Closer to town, Huay Tung Tao lake has a similar food-nature-and-not-much-else appeal. Located close to the base of Doi Suthep, the lake is dotted with private open air huts on the water’s edge where you can order food from nearby restaurants, swim and just whittle away the day enjoying the moment. Very relaxed, very Chiang Mai. GALLERY: Chiang Mai’s laid-back street style For the best view of the city, you can reach for the skies in a basket. Weather permitting, Balloon Adventure Thailand (+66 84 611 4128) offers twice-daily hot air balloon flights year-round. Rides last about 90 minutes. Morning flights tend to be smoother, and you can enjoy views of rice paddies, sprawling valley floors and 360-degree doi-scapes. It’s quiet up here, so you can be alone with your thoughts, which will most likely turn to the champagne breakfast awaiting at the end of the ride. The vegetarian’s guide to Thailand travel


The Afghan government -- along with the U.S., China and Pakistan -- invited the Taliban to take part in peace talks But the Taliban rejects "rumors" that it will participate in what it expects would be "futile, misleading negotiations" The Taliban have been fighting the Afghan government and their allies since being ousted from power after 9/11 The Taliban are invited to the negotiating table, but they aren’t coming. The Islamist militant group made that clear Saturday, refuting reports that it would send representatives to upcoming talks involving the Afghan government, Pakistan, the United States and China in the Pakistani city of Islamabad. “We reject all such rumors and unequivocally state that the esteemed leader of the Islamic Emirate has not authorized anyone to participate in this meeting, and neither has the Leadership Council of Islamic Emirate decided to partake in it,” the Taliban said, using another name for itself. The announcement appears to be a significant blow to the peace talks and is a reversal from what the Taliban reportedly have done in the past. Taliban representatives met with their Afghan government counterparts, as well as with U.S. and Chinese officials, last summer in Pakistan, officials said. But just weeks later, the Taliban’s reported new leader (Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour) denied in an audio message that his Sunni Islamist group was trying to work toward peace with Afghanistan’s government. Such pronouncements haven’t stopped other parties from talking, or from trying to include the Taliban. After conversations in Kabul on February 23, the Afghan government sent out a news release noting President Ashraf Ghani’s “strong commitment … for peace and reconciliation with Taliban groups and Hezbi Islami Hekmatyar,” the latter being another nationalist militant group. Characterizing it as a “national priority,” Ghani called “on the Taliban and other groups to join early direct talks with the government of Afghanistan.” And the Afghanistan, Pakistani, Chinese and U.S. governments together “invite(d) all Taliban and other groups to participate … in the first round of direct peace talks” slated for early March in Islamabad, Pakistan. The Taliban didn’t just reject this invite; they explained why. It blamed the U.S.-led coalition that’s been in Afghanistan since the weeks after the September 11, 2001, attacks for “deploying fresh troops, … carrying out airstrikes and partaking in night raids.” The U.S. military has carried out several missions in recent weeks in the embattled Asian nation. Many have been aimed at ISIS’ growing presence there, including airstrikes last month that hit an ISIS radio station and killed 29 militants. Deadly airstrikes last fall hitting a hospital in Kunduz that U.S. authorities had mistaken for a Taliban site, according to officials in President Barack Obama’s administration. In its statement, the Taliban also accused the Afghan government of expanding its military operations and intensifying its “propaganda.” The Taliban have been behind scores of attacks that have threatened security and stability in Afghanistan for years, and there’s no indication they will let up anytime soon. Related video Taliban claim assassination of 11-year-old boy fighter Last weekend, the Taliban claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing near Afghanistan’s Defense Ministry that killed 12 people and injured many more, including eight civilians. And the Taliban have been battling Afghan forces in Helmand province, with Afghan forces last month withdrawing from certain districts there despite complaints from local leaders. A few weeks earlier, the group claimed it had killed an 11-year-old boy who allegedly battled the militants in Uruzgan province. The Taliban gave no indication in their statement Saturday about when their attacks would cease. On the subject of peace talks, the group said, “Unless the occupation of Afghanistan is ended, black lists eliminated and innocent prisoners freed, such futile, misleading negotiations will not bear any results.”


NEW: A second flight carrying victims' remains arrives in Russia A U.S. satellite detected a heat flash at the time of the crash, official says Metrojet blames "a certain impact" for the crash of Flight 9268 in Sinai on Saturday How close are authorities to pinpointing what caused a Russian passenger jet to break up in midair and crash in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula? That depends whom you ask. The airline says technical faults or human errors couldn’t have caused Metrojet Flight 9268 to crash. Related gallery Russian plane crashes in Egypt But Russian officials say it’s too soon to tell what made the passenger jet plunge to the ground Saturday, killing all 224 people on board. Experts agree it’s too early to know for certain, and officials have downplayed an apparent claim by Islamic militants that they brought down the Airbus A321-200, saying technical failure is the most likely reason for the crash. Here’s what we know so far: Flight 9268 was on its way from the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg early Saturday when it dropped off radar about 23 minutes into the flight, Egyptian officials say. Air traffic controllers apparently didn’t receive any distress calls. “There was nothing abnormal before the plane crash,” Egyptian Civil Aviation Minister Hossam Kamel said Saturday. “It suddenly disappeared from the radar.” The website Flightradar24, which tracks aircraft around the world, said it had received data from the Russian plane suggesting sharp changes in altitude and a dramatic decrease in ground speed before the signal was lost. A U.S. satellite that was over Sinai at the time of the crash detected a heat flash, according to a U.S. official directly familiar with the latest information in the investigation. U.S. intelligence and military officials are analyzing the data to determine whether the flash occurred in midair or on the ground and what that can tell them about what happened to the plane, the official said. Analysts say heat flashes could be tied to a range of possibilities: a missile firing, a bomb blast, a malfunctioning engine exploding, a structural problem causing a fire on the plane or wreckage hitting the ground. “The number of heat signatures is crucial,” said CNN aviation analyst Miles O’Brien. “If, in fact, only one was detected, that in some respects might steer one away from a missile launch and onto some idea of an explosion onboard the aircraft.” A top Russian aviation official has said the plane broke apart in midair. Alexander Smirnov, a Metrojet official, told reporters in Moscow on Monday the airline had ruled out technical problems and human error. Protection systems on the plane would have prevented it from crashing, he said, even if there were major errors in the pilot’s control equipment. Related gallery Russian plane crashes in Egypt “Therefore the only reason that could explain the plane’s breaking up in the midair can be a certain impact, a purely mechanical (and/or) physical impact on (the) flying vessel,” he said. The vague comment made translation difficult, with some interpreting that the executive said an “external influence” caused the crash. The head of the Russian Federal Air Transport Agency, however, quickly pushed back. “It is completely premature to speak about the reasons of this, as there are not grounds. And I’d like to call on the aviation community to refrain from any premature conclusions,” Transport Agency chief  Alexander Neradko told the state-run Russian news agency Sputniknews.com. Learning that the plane broke into pieces while in the air helps reduce the list of possible causes of the crash, but there are still plenty of scenarios, said CNN aviation analyst Peter Goelz. Related article Russian jet crash investigation: The key question “It narrows it down a little bit, but there are a number of issues that could have affected this plane,” said Goelz, a former managing director of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, or NTSB. “And terrorism has not been ruled out.” He suggested the disaster could have resulted from “some sort of catastrophic failure, perhaps caused by an earlier maintenance problem. It could have been a center fuel tank that might have exploded.” Related article Richard Quest: Russian plane crashed at what should have been flight's safest point The A321-200 was built in 1997, and the airline company Kogalymavia, which flies under the name Metrojet, had been operating it since 2012, Airbus said. The aircraft had clocked around 56,000 flight hours over the course of nearly 21,000 flights, the plane maker said. And so far, officials have said all its inspections were in order. The aircraft passed a routine inspection before takeoff, Egyptian Airports Co. chief Adel Al-Mahjoob said Saturday. Related video Report: Russian plane's condition concerned co-pilot According to the Aviation Safety Network, which tracks aircraft incidents, the same plane’s tail struck a runway while landing in Cairo in 2001 and required repair. At the time, the aircraft was registered to the Lebanese carrier Middle East Airlines, registration records show. Kogalymavia’s Andrei Averyanov said the plane had been damaged in 2001, but had most recently been thoroughly checked for cracks in 2013. Not enough time had passed for major cracks to develop to a critical size since then, he said. Smirnov said that he had personally flown the plane in recent months and that it was “pristine.” There were 217 passengers and seven crew members on board Flight 9268. Of the passengers, 209 were Russian, four were Ukrainian and one was Belarusian. The citizenships of three other passengers are unknown. Related video Russia mourns those lost in Egypt plane crash Russian media reported that the disaster created a large number of orphans in Russia, as a lot of parents left their young children with relatives while they took vacations in Sharm el-Sheikh. ‘Tragedy to lose so many children’ Most of the bodies retrieved at the crash site are intact, a medical source in Sinai told CNN on Monday, and showed no major burns. So far, two flights carrying remains of victims have flown to Russia, according to the TASS news agency. The first flight carried 130 bodies and dozens of body fragments. It was unclear how many victims’ remains were aboard the second flight, which landed in St. Petersburg early Tuesday. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has promised Russian President Vladimir Putin that he will allow “the broadest possible participation of Russian experts in the investigation,” according to the Kremlin, and Russian officials have joined their Egyptian counterparts at the crash scene. Putin has also ordered Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev to open an investigation, the Kremlin said. Related video Aviation official: Russian jet disintegrated in mid-air Aviation investigators from France and Germany, the countries where the plane was manufactured, are also taking part. The aircraft’s engines were manufactured in the United States. If the plane’s engines become a focus of the investigation, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board will likely dispatch a team to Egypt as well, a U.S official with knowledge of the investigation said. The plane’s black boxes, which were recovered at the crash site Saturday, have not yet been read or decoded, Smirnov said. Sharm el-Sheikh, where Flight 9268 began its journey, is a beach resort dotted with palm trees at the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula. The plane crashed about 300 kilometers (185 miles) farther north, near a town called Housna, according to Egyptian authorities. The Sinai Peninsula has been a battleground between ISIS-affiliated militants and Egyptian security forces. The conflict has killed hundreds of people. Is it safe to fly over war zones? How low can planes go? The militants appeared to claim responsibility for bringing down the Russian passenger jet in a statement posted online Saturday, but officials in Egypt and Russia disputed it. Related article Russian jet crash investigation: The key question Mahjoob, the airport official, said there was no evidence of a terrorist attack. And Russian Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov said the claim that terrorists brought down the plane with an anti-aircraft missile “cannot be considered reliable,” according to RIA Novosti. The Egyptian military said militants in Sinai have shoulder-fired, anti-aircraft weapons that shoot only as high as 14,000 feet, far short of the more than 30,000 feet at which Flight 9268 was flying when it dropped off radar. Kremlin spokesman Dimitry Peskov refused to discount terrorism, telling CNN’s Matthew Chance on Monday that “only (the) investigation can rule out something.” Metrojet executives also said Monday that it was too early in the investigation to speculate or draw any conclusions. But Smirnov referred to purported footage of the crash posted by militants, saying: “Those images you have seen on the Internet, I think they are fake.” CNN’s Barbara Starr, Sara Sirgany, Mariano Castillo, Nic Robertson, Alla Eschenko, Elena Sandyrev, Alexander Felton, Arwa Damon, Nancy Leung and Radina Gigova contributed to this report.

Metrojet Flight 9268 crash investigation


This page includes the show Transcript The Weekly Newsquiz tests your knowledge of events in the news March 24, 2017 Following the arrest of a man suspected of threatening Jewish centers in several countries, we’re bringing you perspective from a woman who survived a Nazi concentration camp in World War II. Our other stories today include a company’s plan to give undersea tours of the Titanic and a product that could help people correct their posture. WEEKLY NEWSQUIZ 1. What drug, which the U.N. calls the strongest painkiller in existence for medical use, poses a deadly overdose threat when abused? 2. The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently announced that more than 21,000 pounds of frozen pizzas had been recalled because of possible contamination by what kind of bacteria? 3. Name the director of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), who testified on Capitol Hill this week about various issues concerning the U.S. president. 4. Tuesday’s show featured a report about how virtual reality could potentially be used to treat various conditions, including agoraphobia – the fear of what? 5. Schoolchildren in Japan are participating in drills that could help them prepare for a possible missile strike from what other Asian country? 6. Name one of the two bodies of water separated by the Baja California peninsula. 7. Sears Holdings, whose sales have significantly declined in recent years, includes what two historic American companies? 8. What lawmaking assembly, the heart of political life in Britain, was locked down during a terrorist attack this week? 9. In what country was a suspect arrested and accused of threatening Jewish organizations in several nations? 10. Friday’s show reported on a company that’s offering tours of the Titanic’s wreckage. Name the ship that rescued survivors of the 1912 disaster. Click for a printable version of the Weekly Newsquiz. TRANSCRIPT CARL AZUZ, CNN 10 ANCHOR:  You’re one day away from the weekend and minutes away from being up to speed on world news events.  I’m Carl Azuz for CNN 10. For months, bomb threats had been made at Jewish organizations and community centers throughout the U.S., Australia and New Zealand.  And for months, international investigators have been trying to figure out who’s been making them.  Yesterday, they arrested a suspect. Police say he’s a 19-year-old Jewish man who holds citizenship in both Israel and the U.S.  He was arrested in Southern Israel.  International police say he used camouflaging technology to cover his tracks.  And while some leaders of Jewish institutions are calling the arrest a relief, others are saying they’re bothered by the fact that the person suspected of making threats against Jewish centers is himself reportedly Jewish. Israel officials are trying to figure out his motive.  The suspect’s lawyer says the 19-year-old has a history of behavioral issues and that he was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor when he was 14. In the U.S. alone, there had been more than a hundred bomb threats this year against Jewish schools and centers in 33 states.  Police believed most of the threats were made by one person and that copycats made some others.  None of the threats was carried out.  There were no actual attacks.  But they did cause evacuations at some of the targets and anxiety among many Jewish people. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) FANNY AIZENBERG, HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR:  We escaped to death. BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over):  An auditorium of teenagers listening to 100-year-old Fanny Aizenberg, a survivor of the Nazi Holocaust, tell of unimaginable fear more than 70 years ago. AIZENBERG:  Nine minutes on the clock, 100 people were dead. STARR:  The students crowd around, wanting to say hello at Washington’s Holocaust Memorial Museum.  But now at 100, anti- Semitism is back in Fanny’s life. (on camera):  You know that happened and now, today, you see things like the JCC? AIZENBERG:  Yes. STARR:  What do you think about that?  What is – AIZENBERG:  It scares me. STARR (voice-over):  More than 80 Jewish Community Centers and schools across the country have received bomb threats in a wave of anti-Semitism. AIZENBERG:  Next door is a JCC.  There were – they got already two warnings about a bomb.  That’s next door to where I live. STARR (on camera):  Explain to people what you think about all of this. AIZENBERG:  I’m afraid, too, because I’m too honest. STARR:  Tell me. AIZENBERG:  No, it hurts me and I say (ph), of all the places in the world. STARR (voice-over):  For elderly holocaust survivors, a struggle once again to understand why. AIZENBERG:  So why do you stop it?  If you don’t have the authority today and America is still the biggest power in the world, so why don’t we do anything about it? STARR:  Diane Saltzman works with survivors at the museum. (on camera):  The reaction you’re seeing is refusing to give up? DIANE SALTZMAN, DIRECTOR OF SURVIVOR AFFAIRS, U.S.  HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM:  There’s determination and even some defiance that they’re not going to stop.  Their message is really important. STARR (voice-over):  And Fanny Aizenberg’s life is testimony to that.  When the Nazis invaded Belgium in 1940, she had to send her daughter, Josiane, into hiding.  She wouldn’t see her for years.  Even now, Fanny says the decision to separate was unbearably hard. AIZENBERG:  How do you put a child away?  That’s the only thing I had. STARR:  She joined the resistance, hiding Jews and working as a courier before she was exposed to the Nazis and sent to Auschwitz, surviving Nazi medical torture, the family eventually reunited and coming to America. Today, she and other survivors struggle to understand a simple question, why do people hate? AIZENBERG:  I try to make people understand.  You cannot love each other, but you could understand others.  You don’t have to hate anybody. STARR:  Barbara Starr, CNN, Washington. (END VIDEOTAPE) (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) AZUZ (voice-over):  Ten-second trivia: The RMS Carpathia was most famous for what? First transatlantic voyage, sinking the Bismarck, rescuing Titanic survivors, first steamship? On April 15th, 1912, Carpathia sailed into history when she rescued 705 survivors of the Titanic disaster. (END VIDEO CLIP) AZUZ:  The wreckage of the Titanic lies more than two miles below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean.  It’s several hundred miles off the coast of Newfoundland.  And though it’s been well-documented and photographed since it was discovered in 1985, a British travel company is now allowing people to visit the site in person.  Adventurers would sail to the surface over the wreckage and then get into a submersible to explore the Titanic and its massive debris field, for up to three hours at a time. The cost: just over $105,000 per person and the company says the first voyage is already booked.  It also says that the price is what a first class ticket on the Titanic would have cost in today’s dollars, though a different company offered trips like this in 2012 for just over half as much. There are other organizations planning to give Titanic tours, but it’s not known for how long.  A study from last year claimed that a certain type of bacteria was eating away at the wreckage and that it may only last another 15 or 20 years. The number of health sites can tell you how bad posture can be a real pain in the neck.  Oh-uh!  But it goes beyond that.  Shoulder pain, low back pain, rotator cuff issues, all of it’s been linked to slouching.  And staring down at smartphones hasn’t done our posture any favors.  The pain and damage that can result from that has been nicknamed text neck. There are products that can help us straighten up, things you can use at work, in class, around the house.  The one you’re about to see starts at $80, but it’s not perfect. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) RACHEL CRANE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over):  It’s a small device that promises big gains for your back health. (on camera):  Oh, there you go. Can you describe to me how this whole system works? MONISHA PERKASH, CEO, LUMO BODYTECH:  So, Lumo Lift attaches to your shirt magnetically and when you slouch, it will vibrate, to remind you to straighten up. Also, it connects an app on your smartphone.  And on that app, it will track your posture habits that helps you to be aware of your posture, so that you can self correct and develop the muscle memory to hold yourself in a good form. CRANE (voice-over):  While posture devices like this one maybe helpful, physical therapist Karena Wu has concerns. KARENA WU, CLINICAL DIRECTOR, ACTIVECARE PHYSICAL THERAPY:  You have to remember to charge it, put it on and actually use it, and then you have to remember to attend to it because of how easily one can ignore sensory stimuli once you get used to it. It’s more about making the conscious effort to say, oh, you know what?  Let me sit up with good upright posture, because I know my health will be better in the long run. CRANE:  After having worn this thing, I realize that I’ve got a long way to go until good posture like this is my new normal. (END VIDEOTAPE) AZUZ:  It’s time to take a break y’all, and we’re going to the break room, a place where you first put on safety gear and then you get to break stuff and not get kicked out of the house. There’s a price to pay for doing all this damage.  It ranges from 30 to 90 bucks, depending on how many breakers you’ve got, what kind of stuff you want to break, and how broke you are. But the idea is that it helps people relieve stress by taking it out on unsuspecting household items. See?  We do cover breaking news and that was one of the breakups we’ve seen.  People who go there maybe entering and breaking, engaging in disorderly conduct, disturbing the pieces.  But the only laws being broken were the laws of physics. That pieces together another edition of CNN 10 where Fridays are awesome. 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

Jewish community centers and organizations


Early morning light lands on the North Portico of the White House in Washington. Former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and his ex-business partner Rick Gates, who also served on the campaign, turned themselves in to federal authorities Monday in relation to the special counsel’s investigation into Russian influence in the 2016 election. Manafort, left, leaves his home in Alexandria, Virginia. Manafort and Gates surrendered to federal authorities Monday. The indictment of United States of America v. Paul J. Manafort Jr. and Richard W. Gates III. A member of the media conducts a live broadcast outside of the FBI field office in Washington where Manafort and Gates turned themselves in. They are being charged with money laundering and tax evasion in the federal investigation into whether Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign colluded with Russia. Both pleaded not guilty. Traffic moves up and down 16th Street Northwest, north of the White House, on Monday morning. President Donald Trump tweeted: “Sorry, but this is years ago, before Paul Manafort was part of the Trump campaign. But why aren’t Crooked Hillary & the Dems the focus?????” “….Also, there is NO COLLUSION!” he added. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders answers reporters’ questions concerning the indictments of Manafort and Gates and the guilty plea from Papadopoulos in relation to the special counsel’s investigation during a news conference at the White House on Monday afternoon. People enter the federal court building in Washington. Later Monday morning, a former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser, George Papadopoulos, pleaded guilty to making a false statement to the FBI after he lied about his interactions with foreign officials close to the Russian government. Manafort makes his way through television cameras as he walks from Federal District Court in Washington on Monday. Manafort pleaded not guilty to felony charges of conspiracy against the United States and other counts. Gates, right, leaves federal court. Gates also pleaded not guilty to felony charges of conspiracy against the United States and other counts. Kevin Downing, Manafort’s lawyer, turns to exit after speaking to members of the media outside the federal courthouse in Washington. Manafort gets into a car as he leaves federal court in Washington. The United States Capitol building is seen as the Republican-controlled Congress prepares for a hectic week unveiling and promoting its tax reform plan. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump hand out goody bags and cookies to costumed children during a Halloween event on the South Lawn at the White House one day before the holiday.


Rachel Papo photographed homeschooled children in rural New York She found them to be "very special," she said, and they opened her mind about education Rachel Papo was still reeling from the shock of becoming a mother when her family moved from Brooklyn to the smaller, more rural town of Woodstock, New York, in 2010. In a cafe they frequented, they met a waitress and her 5-year-old daughter, True. The child was vibrant, “extremely special,” Papo remembers. “She told me she’s homeschooled,” Papo said, meaning that True didn’t attend a traditional school, but instead, learned at home. “I literally didn’t know it existed. When I heard about it, I thought it was really strange, a really odd thing. “How can these kids be normal if they’re not part of the mainstream?” Papo, a photographer, grew up in Israel and attended schools there. She was familiar with other educational models like Montessori and Waldorf. But the idea that children’s schools could be their homes, their parents the teachers, and the world their textbooks, intrigued her. Papo decided to shoot portraits of True and perhaps other homeschooled children living in the area. On their first visit, True changed Papo’s mind. “I went to her home and there was a whole world there for me to photograph,” said Papo, now based in Berlin. “She was incredible. She showed me everything in her house, everything around her house. I was running around after her. She had so much energy and life to her.” Over two years in Woodstock, Papo photographed about 15 homeschooled children in the area. The images will be published a book, “Homeschooled,” to be released in Europe this spring and in the United States in the fall. Essays from the parents of homeschooled children will be included, along with some insight from the kids themselves. Papo came to learn that many people choose homeschooling for religious reasons. But among those she met, people’s reasons were entirely their own. “Each one was completely different than the other, and each had different reasons and approaches,” she said. “A lot were extremely educated. Some are certified teachers, some are world travelers. The children were really pretty remarkable.” Social mediaFollow @CNNPhotos on Twitter to join the conversation about photography. Some kept a schedule, some were more flexible. Some worked on the family farm, some studied in groups with other homeschoolers. Many spent their days out in nature, learning about trees, plants and animals, or designed a curriculum around their own interests. “They were all very special and very sensitive and mature,” Papo said. “They were in a world of their own, but they weren’t afraid to share it.” Her mind opened as she met more homeschooled children and learned how full and deliberate their days could be. While the days sometimes moved slower, every moment was a chance to learn – whether they were feeding ducks, baking cookies or reading books. It didn’t turn Papo off of traditional schools, she said, but she wondered, “How could there be a way to bridge the two?” She would be interested in homeschooling her own children, she said. Her family is planning to move back to New York, and there, she would have the option. She just doesn’t think she could pull it off. “They have patience, which I don’t even have on the weekends,” she said of homeschooling parents. “I’m sure there’s a lot of failed attempts along the way. “I love that in America, you have the freedom to try it.” Rachel Papo is a photographer based in Berlin. You can follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. You can follow “Homeschooled” on Kickstarter.


President Donald Trump’s former campaign chief Paul Manafort pushed back Wednesday on a report that he allegedly earned millions of dollars by helping Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government push its interests around the world. Manafort confirmed that he worked for Oleg Deripaska, a Russian billionaire with close ties to Putin, but rejected an Associated Press report alleging that work was aimed at furthering the political interests of Putin’s government. “I worked with Oleg Deripaska almost a decade ago representing him on business and personal matters in countries where he had investments. My work for Mr. Deripaska did not involve representing Russian political interests,” Manafort said in a statement his spokesman provided to CNN. He issued another statement on the matter Wednesday afternoon: “I have always publicly acknowledged that I worked for Mr. Deripaska and his company, Rusal, to advance its interests. For example, one of the projects involved supporting a referendum in Montenegro that allowed that country to choose membership in the (European Union), a measure that Russia opposed. I did not work for the Russian government. Once again, smear and innuendo are being used to paint a false picture. I look forward to meeting with those conducting serious investigations of these issues to discuss the actual facts.” Manafort was referring to the 2006 referendum that resulted in Montenegro’s independence from Serbia and Montenegro, which set the country on a more pro-Western path. A spokesman for Deripaska told CNN on Wednesday that Manafort provided “investment consulting services” but declined to provide any additional details. “There was an agreement between Mr. Deripaska and Mr. Manafort to provide investment consulting services related to business interests of Mr. Deripaska which now is a subject to legal claims,” the spokesman said in a statement. The Associated Press reported Wednesday that Manafort pitched a plan to Deripaska to “greatly benefit the Putin government” and was subsequently paid millions of dollars, according to business records obtained by the AP and interviews the news outlet conducted with sources familiar with the matter. It is just the latest report pointing to a link between Manafort and Russian interests. Before he was brought aboard the Trump campaign, Manafort was well known for having served as an adviser to Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, who was close to Putin and fled to Russia after he was ousted in the 2014 political crisis. Manafort was later named in a Ukrainian government investigation last summer after a ledger detailed millions of dollars in secret payments to Manafort, which he denied. Manafort’s connections to Russia faced fresh scrutiny last month after current and former US officials told CNN that high-level Trump campaign advisers, including Manafort, regularly communicated with Russians known to US intelligence. Manafort called the allegation “100% not true” and said he didn’t “remember talking to any Russian officials, ever.” White House press secretary Sean Spicer on Wednesday said Trump “did not know” of Manafort’s work as disclosed in the AP report. “I think nothing in this morning’s report references any actions by the President, the White House or any Trump administration official,” Spicer said during the White House briefing. Spicer rejected the notion that Trump should have known about the work, asking in return whether Trump should have known who Manafort “played with in the sandbox.” That came two days after Spicer sought to diminish Manafort’s role in the campaign, claiming he played a “limited role” even though Manafort was campaign chairman and effectively took over as campaign manager after the firing of Trump’s first campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski. Manafort worked on the campaign from March until August 2016. “To start to look at some individual that was there for a short period of time, or, separately, individuals who really didn’t play any role in the campaign, and to suggest that those are the basis for anything is a bit ridiculous,” Spicer said Monday during a White House briefing. The Associated Press report comes days after FBI Director James Comey confirmed in testimony to Congress that his agency is investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 campaign and potential ties between Trump campaign associates and the Russian government. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said Wednesday that the new reports about Manafort are likely to be reviewed by the Senate Intelligence Committee. “I definitely do have concerns about that news report,” Collins told CNN. “I don’t know what the evidence is and I think it’s really important that we look at the evidence and do so aggressively. We need to follow the evidence wherever it leads.” And Virginia Democratic Sen. Mark Warner, the vice chairman of the committee, told CNN’s Erin Burnett Tuesday that “we’re going to need to bring (Manafort) in” to discuss connections between the Trump campaign and Russia. A cloud of suspicion has hung over Trump since the US government confirmed that the Russian government interfered in the presidential election with the aim of hurting Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and helping Trump. During the campaign, Trump called for a friendlier relationship with Russia, defended Putin from human rights abuse allegations and repeatedly cast doubt on US government conclusions of Russian interference during the campaign and after his election. Anthony Scaramucci, a hedge fund manager who served on Trump’s national finance committee during Manafort’s tenure at the helm, said he has “a lot of respect” for Manafort and said he believed Manafort’s denial. “I take Paul at his word that he was working on business interests for Oleg and it wasn’t tied to the Russian government,” Scaramucci said Wednesday on CNN’s “New Day.” CNN’s Noah Gray, Ryan Browne, Manu Raju and Emma Burrows contributed to this report.


Former CIA Director Michael Hayden downplayed on Tuesday Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s dramatic presentation in which he accused Iran of “brazenly lying” over its nuclear ambitions. “To the best of my knowledge – out of government, not getting the briefings – I think this is fundamentally old news,” Hayden told CNN’s “New Day.” Related article Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu defends Iran nuclear accusations On Monday, Netanyahu gave a presentation in English in which he claimed Israel has evidence that Iranian officials were “brazenly lying” when they said Iran wasn’t pursuing nuclear weapons and that the Islamic Republic is keeping an “atomic archive” at a secret compound. Calling it one of the greatest achievements in the history of Israeli intelligence, Netanyahu displayed what he said were files that demonstrate Iran planned to continue pursuing a nuclear weapons program despite the 2015 deal it brokered with the international community. Hayden told “New Day” the US has known many of Netanyahu’s recently announced findings for more than a decade. “We created a national intelligence estimate in 2007 that said that the Iranians had stopped the weaponization part of their program – missiles still going on, centrifuges still spinning – but the actual building of the weapon, that they had stopped in 2003,” Hayden said. He added that the trove of documents and digital records obtained by the Israelis gives “more detail to the plotline that we all knew, that we all agreed, existed.” Related article Israel's Netanyahu speaks about Iran deal The former National Security Agency director went on to say that based on American intelligence, “some research went on” and Iran was “hedging their bets” to “keep their options open.” “But we went in and told President (George W.) Bush and Vice President (Dick) Cheney and that was the heavy lift,” Hayden continued. “They’re still bad folks. They’re still heading in a bad direction, but our intelligence estimate now is they’ve stopped this particular activity.” Netanyahu’s presentation, Hayden suggested, may have been geared toward President Donald Trump. He added that in the intelligence field, some sources have labels to their remarks that say their comments were “designed to influence as well as to inform.” “I think that might apply to what the Prime Minister said yesterday,” Hayden remarked. CNN’s Eliott C. McLaughlin and James Masters contributed to this report.


The House Ethics Committee has cleared Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes in its investigation into whether he disclosed classified information to the Trump White House, which could create an avenue for Nunes to return to the helm of the panel’s Russia investigation. Nunes’s return could further inflame the partisan fervor surrounding the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 US election. The California Republican has already launched a joint investigation with the House Oversight Committee into the Uranium One deal that was agreed to in 2010 under the Obama administration, which Republicans claim involved illicit donations to the Clinton Foundation. He has also hammered the FBI and Justice Department for not turning over documents or making witnesses available in response to subpoenas related to the FBI’s connection to the Fusion GPS opposition research dossier on President Donald Trump and Russia compiled by former British agent Christopher Steele. The Ethics Committee announced Thursday that it was closing its investigation into Nunes after determining the information that he had disclosed was not classified. Related article Who's who in Trump-Russia saga “In the course of this investigation, the Committee sought the analysis of Representative Nunes’s statements by classification experts in the intelligence community,” the Ethics Committee said in a statement. “Based solely on the conclusion of these classification experts that the information that Representative Nunes disclosed was not classified, the Committee will take no further action and considers this matter closed.” In April, Nunes temporarily stepped aside from his role as the head of the committee’s probe into Russian election meddling amid questions about his decision to provide information to the White House about the “unmasking” of Trump officials at the tail end of the Obama administration. Rep. Mike Conaway, a Texas Republican, took the lead on the Russia investigation alongside the committee’s top Democrat, Adam Schiff of California. But Nunes has kept a hand in the investigation, as he’s continued to sign the committee’s subpoenas as chairman, with Conaway’s blessing. Nunes has said for months that he did not recuse himself from the investigation, but only temporarily stepped aside while the ethics panel’s investigation was ongoing. “I’m in charge. I was always in charge,” Nunes told Fox News on Thursday after he was cleared by the committee. Nunes’ role has been a sore spot for Democrats on the committee, and the investigation into Russian meddling and possible collusion with the Trump campaign has frequently been roiled by partisan tensions. Earlier this week, Nunes told CNN he was still planning to move forward on holding FBI Director Chris Wray and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in contempt of Congress for not complying with the committee’s subpoenas. In a statement, Nunes accused the Ethics Committee’s Democrats of making statements that appeared to prejudge him, and he called on the panel “to publicly release all its transcripts related to my case.” “While I appreciate the Ethics Committee’s work, I need to reiterate that the allegations against me were obviously frivolous and were rooted in politically motivated complaints filed against me by left-wing activist groups,” Nunes said. “I respect the ethics process, but I remain dismayed that it took an unbelievable eight months for the Committee to dismiss this matter.” The ethics investigation was launched over allegations that he had  discussed classified material following his clandestine meeting at the White House in March about the unmasking of Trump officials. Nunes has accused Obama administration officials of politically motivated “unmasking,” or the identifying of US officials in documents collected through foreign surveillance. The Obama administration officials have argued they had legitimate reasons for the unmasking requests they made. It could be complicated politically and logistically for Nunes to fully retake control of the investigation. The committee has spoken to dozens of witnesses since Nunes stepped aside in April, while Reps. Conaway, Trey Gowdy of South Carolina and Tom Rooney of Florida have taken the lead in interviewing witnesses on the Republican side. Conaway is already discussing the end game for the committee’s investigation, with a report he hopes to write when the committee finishes interviewing witnesses. Conaway has said he wants to wrap up the probe as soon as possible. Spokespeople for Schiff and Conaway did not immediately respond to a request for comment.


Syrian opposition says it can't achieve fair negotiations "without the departure of Bashar al-Assad and his regime members" The UN-backed peace talks are set to begin on November 28 in Geneva, Switzerland Key Syrian opposition groups insist that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad should play no role in any transitional period under any peace deal supervised by the United Nations. Saudi Arabia hosted a two-day “expanded” conference for the Syrian opposition forces in Riyadh on Wednesday and Thursday ahead of the UN-backed peace talks set for Geneva, Switzerland, to find a solution for the war-torn country. In its draft resolution of the Riyadh meeting, Syrian opposition groups said they can’t achieve fair negotiations “without the departure of Bashar al-Assad and his regime members at the beginning of the transitional period.” The Syrian opposition factions also called on the United Nations through its representative “to take immediate necessary measures to activate the political process and to correct the Geneva negotiations by holding direct and unconditional negotiations between representatives from the Syrian opposition members and Syrian regime members,” the draft said. Related article Syrians rebuild and rehabilitate under Turkey's watchful eye Opposition leaders, the United States and their allies hold the Assad regime responsible for the mass slaughter of civilians and rebel fighters seeking an end to his family’s decadeslong rule. US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has also repeatedly said there is no place for Assad in Syria’s future. UN Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura said on Wednesday that Syrian opposition groups meeting in Saudi Arabia should do all they can to unify ahead of a fresh round of the UN-facilitated talks scheduled to begin on Tuesday. The UN special envoy called for the opposition groups to take a “common line” on their country’s future. The UN-sponsored peace talks are part of a “road map” for peace detailed in UN Security Council Resolution 2254, which the council adopted in December 2015. Among the provisions, the resolution called for a political transition aimed at establishing “a credible, inclusive and nonsectarian governance” in Syria. It also foresees that negotiations will result in a new constitution and transparent elections. Opposition groups have demanded an end of nearly 45 years of Assad family rule but Assad hasn’t offered any indication he would step aside. Ahead of earlier negotiations last year in Switzerland aimed at ending the civil war, Assad’s chief envoy said Aasad’s political future was nonnegotiable. Chief diplomats from the United States, Britain and other Security Council nations have previously said Assad must leave office as part of any peace deal, arguing that Assad has lost his credibility to lead his country. But while the UN resolution calls for a political transitional governing body with full executive powers, it doesn’t mention or explicitly exclude Assad. Related article Russia, Iran, Turkey agree to hold Syrian 'congress' to talk peace Earlier this week, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia, Iran and Turkey agreed to hold a “congress” in Russia that would bring together Syria’s warring factions for the peace talks. Putin’s comments came after a meeting with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the Russian Black Sea resort town of Sochi. Putin and his government have been among the chief supporters of the Assad regime, both militarily and in helping to negotiate ceasefires in the country’s long-running civil war. Since the war began in 2011, an estimated 400,000 Syrians have been killed, according to the United Nations. Assad has ruled Syria as President since July 2000. The ongoing violence against civilians has been condemned by the Arab League, the European Union, the United States and other countries. As of March 2017, more than 5 million Syrians have fled the country and 6.3 million people are displaced internally. CNN’s Darran Simon contributed to this report.


On Wednesday, President Donald Trump signed the Russia sanctions bill that the Republican-led Congress had approved overwhelmingly. But he made sure everyone knew he wasn’t happy about it – and in so doing revealed, again, that he has either little understanding of or little care for the separation of powers built into the US government. Here’s the key part of Trump’s statement after signing the sanctions bill – which he did out of public sight and with little fanfare: “The bill remains seriously flawed – particularly because it encroaches on the executive branch’s authority to negotiate,” he said in the statement. “Congress could not even negotiate a health care bill after seven years of talking. By limiting the executive’s flexibility, this bill makes it harder for the United States to strike good deals for the American people, and will drive China, Russia, and North Korea much closer together. … I built a truly great company worth many billions of dollars. That is a big part of the reason I was elected. As President, I can make far better deals with foreign countries than Congress.” Set aside for a moment that Trump was outmaneuvered by Congress on the sanctions bill; both the House and Senate passed the bill with overwhelming supermajorities and that Trump was forced to either sign it or watch it become law without his signature. Trump is hardly the only president ever to blanch at what he believed to be an encroachment on his executive powers. George W. Bush clashed regularly with Congress over warrantless wire-tapping of US citizens. And Barack Obama enraged members of Congress with his willingness to end-run them with executive actions. What makes Trump’s derision of the division of power between the executive, legislative and judicial branches different is both how brazen he is about it and how many times he has expressed sentiments in his first six-plus months in office that suggest he simply doesn’t understand the fact that everyone in the government doesn’t work for him. Let’s start with Trump’s Russia statement. At its root, what Trump is saying is this: Congress doesn’t know what it’s doing! They wouldn’t even listen to me and pass a health care bill! And I made a bunch of phone calls! They shouldn’t get to have a veto over me on anything! Especially not when I am a great businessman of a “truly great company worth many billions of dollars!” This is not an isolated incident. In the wake of the failure of the attempted overhaul of the health care law in the Senate last week, Trump repeatedly scolded senators for not following his orders. “Unless the Republican Senators are total quitters, Repeal & Replace is not dead! Demand another vote before voting on any other bill!,” he tweeted on Saturday. In another tweet, Trump wrote: “Republicans in the Senate will NEVER win if they don’t go to a 51 vote majority NOW. They look like fools and are just wasting time….” Then there is what Trump has said about Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ decision to recuse himself from the Russia investigation. “It’s extremely unfair, and that’s a mild word, to the president,” Trump told The New York Times of Sessions’ recusal. Never in that Times interview – or anywhere else – does Trump acknowledge that Sessions might have been considering the American public when he made his decision. As in, Sessions thought that anyone with such a prominent role in one of the two presidential campaigns shouldn’t oversee an investigation into that election because of the way it might look to people. That is simply not a thought that occurs to Trump. That same mentality was on display when Trump reacted earlier this year to the rulings by federal courts that held up the enforcement of his travel ban. “The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!,” he tweeted on February 4 in response to a federal appeals court ruling that refused to lift a lower court’s stay on the ban. The next day, Trump doubled down with this tweet: “Just cannot believe a judge would put our country in such peril. If something happens blame him and court system. People pouring in. Bad!” Again, Trump’s view is clear: These people work for me! (They don’t.) They should do what I want! I am the president! Want one more example? How about “my generals”? In announcing his decision last week to ban all transgender people from serving in the military, Trump tweeted out that he came to that conclusion “after consultation with my Generals and military experts.” At his inauguration, Trump said something similar. “I see my generals … these are central casting,” he said. “If I’m doing a movie, I’d pick you general, Gen. Mattis.” While Trump is the commander-in-chief, presidents don’t usually tend to describe the military as working for them.  And they very rarely use the descriptor “my” to describe military men and women. Whether Trump’s seeming lack of concern with the traditional separation of powers is purposeful or him simply not knowing is immaterial. Either option equals the same thing – an executive who believes everyone in the US government (and beyond) works directly for him and should do what he says at all times. You can understand why Trump sees things this way. He comes from the world of business. In the Trump Organization, everyone did report to him and their jobs were, generally speaking, to do what he said. That’s the world he’s used to. It’s the only world he knows. But this is not that. Senators and members of Congress are elected to represent their citizens, not to do the bidding unquestioningly of the chief executive. “We work for the American people. We don’t work for the president,” South Carolina Republican Sen. Tim Scott told the Washington Post on Tuesday. “We should do what’s good for the administration as long as that does not in any way, shape or form make it harder on the American people.” Ditto for members of the judiciary, whose job it is to see how well legislation measures up to the law, not rubber-stamp the laws the president likes. The expansion of executive power has been a trend in the modern-day presidency. Each successive president in the past few decades has worked to broaden their powers – particularly in relation to Congress. But no president has shown such total disregard for the separation of powers as Trump. None are even close.


Mohamed Elshinawy, 30, of Edgewood, Maryland, was arrested Friday, authorities say FBI says he received $8,700 from people he thought were connected to ISIS for "nefarious purposes" A Maryland man has been accused of receiving almost $9,000 to finance a terrorist attack in the United States, the FBI said Monday in a criminal complaint. Mohamed Elshinawy, 30, of Edgewood was arrested Friday and charged with attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, obstruction of an investigation and making false statements. “According to the allegations in the complaint, Mohamed Elshinawy received money he believed was provided by ISIL in order to conduct an attack on U.S. soil,”  Assistant Attorney General Carlin said in a statement. A criminal complaint filed by the FBI said Elshinawy received about $8,700  for “nefarious purposes” from people overseas he believed were connected to ISIS. The money came through Western Union and PayPal accounts, the complaint said. The criminal complaint said authorities became aware last June that someone in Egypt had sent $1,000 to Elshinawy. The FBI had a “noncustodial interview” with Elshinawy on July 17. He first said his mother in Egypt sent the money, but upon being shown Western Union records admitted a childhood friend in Egypt connected him to an “unidentified ISIL operative” who sent the money, the FBI said. (ISIL is another way of referring to ISIS.) He first said he’d received a total of $4,000, knowing it was intended to finance terrorist activities, but that he never planned to carry out an attack, the complaint said. In an interview a few days later, he suddenly remembered receiving another $1,200, the complaint said. “Elshinawy sought to portray himself as someone who was simply trying to scam some money from ISIL members,” the complaint said. He spent some money on a laptop, several pay-as-you-go phones and personal expenses, the complaint says. The complaint does not mention spending money on any weapons. The FBI traced his social media communications and discovered he pledged allegiance to ISIS on February 17, telling a childhood friend that he was “a soldier of the state but was temporarily away,” according to the complaint. He told his brother, who was in the Mideast, on April 27 about his pledge, and said he had received money from ISIS and expected to receive more, the complaint said. After talking with the FBI, Elshinawy tried to conceal past communications with his contacts in Egypt, the complaint said. “This case demonstrates how terrorists exploit modern technology to inculcate sympathizers and build hidden networks,”  U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein said in a statement. The FBI said Elshinawy could be sentenced to 15 years on the charge of attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization and eight years each on the other two charges.


A 13-year-old Israeli-American girl was stabbed to death in her bedroom Thursday morning in the West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba, a spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces said. Hallel Yaffa Ariel was sleeping when a Palestinian teenager entered the house in the settlement near Hebron and killed her, authorities said. “Just like any teenager on summer holiday, my daughter was asleep, calm, relaxed. A terrorist murderer came and murdered her in her bed,” her mother, Rena Ariel, told Israel’s Channel 2. Security guards on the settlement entered the home and found the suspect still inside, the IDF said. During a fight, one security guard was stabbed, and the intruder was shot and killed. The Palestinian Ministry of Health identified the attacker as Mohammed Tarayra, 17, from Bani Naim, a village east of Hebron. In response to the attack, the IDF sealed off access to Bani Naim to everyone except humanitarian and medical workers. Related video Old conflict, young participants Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on the world to condemn the attack. “The horrifying murder of a young girl in her bed underscores the bloodlust and inhumanity of the incitement-driven terrorists that we are facing. The entire nation deeply identifies with the family’s pain and declares to the murderers: You will not break us. We will continue to take strong and determined action against terrorism everywhere and at all times,” he said in a statement. Netanyahu said he would revoke work permits for members of Tarayra’s family and has started the process of seeking approval to demolish Tarayra’s home, a not uncommon practice by Israeli authorities. The girl was a dual national of Israel and the United States. U.S. Secretary of State spokesman John Kirby said, “This brutal act of terrorism is simply unconscionable.  We extend our deepest condolences to her family. We also understand another individual who was responding to the attack was wounded by the attacker.  We extend our hopes for a quick and full recovery.” Hallel Ariel was a student in eighth grade. Hundreds attended her funeral Thursday evening in Hebron, a city with longstanding tensions between Israelis and Palestinians. Kiryat Arba is a settlement in the southern West Bank near Hebron. Israeli settlements in the West Bank are considered illegal by many in the international community. Sari Bashi, Israel-Palestine director of Human Rights Watch, said, “The fact that settlements are illegal under international law does not make their inhabitants, children as well as their parents, subject to lethal attack. At the same time, the killing provides no legal justification for the Israeli government to punish the alleged attacker’s family members.” CNN’s Ralph Ellis contributed to this report.


US President Donald Trump’s pledge to declare Jerusalem as the capital of Israel has caused controversy across the world. Trump could announce the move as early as Tuesday, US officials with direct knowledge of the matter and foreign diplomats have told CNN. Upon making his decision public, Trump is expected to sign a waiver to keep the US embassy in Tel Aviv for another six months, but say his administration will move the diplomatic mission to Jerusalem at some point – a goal long sought by Israel. Trump told CNN in March that moving the embassy would happen “very quickly.” The State Department’s security arm has been told to plan for potentially violent protests at US embassies and consulates if the Trump administration announces it is moving the embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. CNN’s Oren Liebermann, who is based in Jerusalem, walks us through what’s at stake. If the United States moved the embassy to Jerusalem, it would mean that the US effectively recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. That would overturn 70 years of international consensus, and, many argue, would effectively signal the end of moves to achieve peace between Israelis and Palestinians. The United Nations partition plan drawn up in 1947 envisaged Jerusalem as a separate “international city.” But the war that followed Israel’s declaration of independence one year later left the city divided. When fighting ended in 1949, the armistice border – often called the Green Line because it was drawn in green ink – saw Israel in control of the western half, and Jordan in control of the eastern half, which included the famous Old City. During the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel occupied East Jerusalem. Since then, all of the city has been under Israel’s authority. The city marks “Jerusalem Day” in late-May or early-June. But Palestinians, and many in the international community, continue to see East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state. Yes. Before 1980 a number of countries did, including the Netherlands and Costa Rica. In July of 1980, Israel passed a law that declared Jerusalem the united capital of Israel. The United Nations Security Council responded with a resolution condemning Israel’s annexation of East Jerusalem and declared it a violation of international law. Correct. In 2006, Costa Rica and El Salvador were the last to move their embassies out of Jerusalem, joining the rest of the world in locating their embassies in Tel Aviv. Some countries do maintain consulates in Jerusalem, including the United States, which has one in the western part of the city. Other countries – such as Britain and France for instance – have a consulate in the eastern part of the city, which serve as their countries’ main representation in the Palestinian territories. The US has never had its embassy in Jerusalem. It has always been in Tel Aviv, with the Ambassador’s residence in Herzliya Pituach, about 30 minutes north. Wait a minute, it gets more complicated. In 1989, Israel began leasing to the US a plot of land in Jerusalem for a new embassy. The 99-year lease cost $1 per year. To this day, the plot has not been developed, and it remains an empty field. In 1995, the US Congress passed a law requiring America to move the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Proponents said the US should respect Israel’s choice of Jerusalem as its capital, and recognize it as such. Every president since 1995 – Presidents Clinton, Bush and Obama – has declined to move the embassy, citing national security interests. Every six months, the President has used the presidential waiver to circumvent the embassy move. The first is to make use of the undeveloped plot that the US has been leasing since 1989. Or the US could turn its existing consulate in Jerusalem into the embassy. A final option might be to leave the embassy in Tel Aviv, but have the US Ambassador to Israel do his day-to-day work in Jerusalem. MORE: Trump pushes US embassy move in Israel amid outcry The Israeli government has lauded Trump’s pledge to follow through with the embassy move. Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat has been perhaps the most outspoken advocate, launching a campaign just days before the US President’s inauguration, urging him to make good on his promise. Palestinian leaders are adamant that an embassy move to Jerusalem would be a violation of international law, and a huge setback to peace hopes. President Mahmoud Abbas has turned to other world leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Jordan’s King Abdullah, to help pressure Trump to change his mind. The Palestine Liberation Organization has suggested it would consider revoking its recognition of Israel, and canceling all agreements between Israelis and Palestinians, should the move take place. More immediately, there are fears it could set off a wave of unrest – perhaps even street protests and violence – in the Palestinian territories and across the Arab world. The powerful Iraqi Shiite cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr, warned in January a statement on his website that moving the US embassy to Jerusalem would represent a declaration of open war against Islam. He called for the closure of the Israeli and US embassies in Islamic countries. CNN’s Caroline Kenny contributed to this article.


Huckabee plans to tour the border near San Diego Will secure the border in one year if he wins White House Mike Huckabee plans to visit the Mexico border this weekend and vowed to secure it within one year if he wins the White House. The former Arkansas governor was invited to tour the border near San Diego on Saturday by former Congressman Duncan Hunter, his campaign told CNN on Wednesday. “Governor Huckabee will address the media and outline his plan to secure the border within the first year of his presidency,” Huckabee spokesperson Alice Stewart said. “The governor has always said that the number one priority in immigration reform is securing the border first.” Huckabee previously told CNN that he favored “reasonable approaches”  to immigration reform. “I’m for some reasonable approaches to immigration that start with a secure border,” he said. “The fact that people say that we can’t secure the border, that’s nonsense,” he added. “This country can do it if we want to. You just have to have a president that’s committed to it.” Donald Trump and Ben Carson also have toured the border.