AQAP leader reportedly praises lone-wolf attacks on West, saying "America is first" An expert considers AQAP to be the most dangerous al Qaeda branch to the United States Al Qaeda’s branch in Yemen, which officials have called the terror group’s most dangerous affiliate, has issued two threatening new communiques praising recent lone-wolf style attacks against the West and calling for more of them. “We urge you to strike America in its own home and beyond,” says a letter attributed to Ibrahim al-Asiri, the master bomb-maker with al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). The letter, according to a translation by SITE Intelligence Group, states, “America is first.” CNN is unable to independently verify that Asiri himself wrote it, but the letter has drawn the attention of terror trackers such as MEMRI, Flashpoint and SITE. Another senior AQAP leader, Khaled Batarfi, released a video, which appears to have been shot in a studio, carrying a similar statement. Batarfi does not attribute the message of the video to Asiri, despite its similarities to the letter. AQAP sprung Batarfi from a Yemeni jail in April. Related gallery Leaders of deadliest terrorist groups A U.S. counterterrorism official described the letter as “consistent with rhetoric the new leader stated upon taking over al Qaeda’s most active affiliate that is known to threaten Western interests.” Asiri has a $5 million bounty on his head, and analysts say if he did write the letter, he may have been putting himself at risk. “The concern for Asiri would be that somehow the message would be traceable back to him – whether by courier, or some digital stamp inside of the message,” said Katherine Zimmerman of the American Enterprise Institute. “We have seen U.S. drone strikes kill a series of top al Qaeda leaders in Yemen over the past few months.” But if the letter is genuine, it would indicate that Asiri, who rarely makes public statements, is still alive. Intelligence officials say Asiri was a key player in the 2009 Christmas Day bomb attempt in which a passenger from Africa almost managed to detonate a bomb aboard a Detroit-bound plane that he’d hidden in his underwear. Asiri was also behind the placing of bombs in printer cartridges aboard planes headed for the United States that were intercepted before they reached their targets. He even designed a bomb to be carried on the body of his own brother, Abdullah al-Asiri, in attempt to kill Saudi Arabia’s counterterrorism chief in 2009. The bomb killed his brother, but the Saudi minister survived. What is AQAP? “He’s without question the most dangerous terrorist operative that the United States faces today,” said CNN terrorism analyst Paul Cruickshank. “Intelligence suggests that he is developing a new generation of explosive devices including a new generation of underwear and shoe-bomb devices.” Zimmerman says Asiri is believed to have taught his skills to a cadre of bomb-makers. “He has trained a series of individuals who are able to do what he does, which is bring imagination and innovation to an explosive device that could make it through U.S. or Western security,” she said. Batarfi is featured in a second threatening video. In it, he praises the July attack in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in which a gunman killed five American servicemen at a military installation, as “a blessed Jihadi operation.” And he also praises two gunmen who tried to mount an attack in Garland, Texas, in May for their “sacrifice and heroism.” “Blood for blood,” Batarfi says in a speech posted online. He then encourages further lone-wolf attacks against America and the West. “To the warriors of Lone Jihad: may Allah bless and guide your efforts,” he says. A U.S. intelligence official said this video is believed to be genuine. “Batarfi has become a main AQAP media figure since his escape from a Yemeni prison this spring,” the official said. While a number of AQAP leaders have been targeted by strikes this year, the fighting in Yemen between warring factions has deprived the United States of a partner on the ground to work with on tracking and targeting militants. James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, recently told a conference in Aspen, Colorado, that “in terms of proximate threat, I would view … AQAP – even though they’re kind of consumed right now with what’s going on in Yemen with the Houthis – as probably our most concerning al Qaeda element in terms of threat to the homeland.” Who must be killed to beat ISIS and al Qaeda? CNN’s Nic Robertson, Anas Hamdan, Mohammed Tawfeeq and Paul Cruickshank contributed to this report.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP)


A Saudi court has sentenced a poet to death on charges of apostasy The death sentence overruled an earlier judgment dismissing the charge The case has sparked an international outcry, with writers condemning the sentence Hundreds of writers around the world have joined human rights groups in urging Saudi Arabia to release a poet who faces a death sentence on charges of apostasy for his poetry. Palestinian poet and artist Ashraf Fayadh, 32, was sentenced to death by a court in the southwestern Saudi city of Abha this month on a series of blasphemy charges, according to Human Rights Watch, which viewed the trial documents. The charges included insulting the “Divine Self” and the Prophet Mohammed, mocking the Quran and spreading atheism. His sister, Raeda Fayadh, appealed to King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia to grant clemency to her brother in an interview Monday with CNN. She said her brother had done nothing wrong, having been falsely accused by a man with a personal animosity toward him. There was nothing blasphemous in her his writings, she said, and those who had accused him were damaging the image of Saudi Arabia, she said. “He wrote in words that stupid people misunderstood,” she said. Fayadh had originally been handed a lesser sentence of four years in prison and 800 lashes on the charge of having inappropriate relations with members of the opposite sex. Related video Grandfather faces lashing for making wine The court had dismissed a prosecution request for a death sentence on the apostasy charge, citing Fayadh’s declared “repentance” and testimony that indicated hostility between Fayadh and the complainant, Human Rights Watch said. But the prosecutor appealed the ruling, according to the rights group. In mid-November a new judge dismissed the earlier decision, saying Fayadh’s repentance was not enough to avoid a death sentence for apostasy, citing verses from the defendant’s poetry. An English translation of the poems has been posted on the blog of U.S.-based activist and writer Mona Kareem. Fayadh was initially arrested in 2013 after a personal disagreement with a man at a coffee shop in the town of Abha in relation to his poetry, according to Human Rights Watch, writers’ association PEN International and the poet’s sister. Raeda Fayadh, who spoke to CNN from her home in Gaza, said the men had been watching a European soccer match at the coffee shop when the fight started. The man reportedly complained to the ultraconservative kingdom’s religious police, accusing Fayadh of insulting Islam in his book of poems and insulting the Saudi state. Fayadh reportedly has 30 days to appeal the death sentence after which the case goes to the Supreme Court, Human Rights Watch reported. Related video Execution in Saudi Arabia sparks condemnation After Fayadh was arrested, according to the rights group’s account based on the court documents, the religious police discovered on his phone photos of Fayadh with several women, whom Fayadh said he met at an art gallery. These photographs were the basis for the charge of having inappropriate relations with members of the opposite sex. Raeda Fayadh said the pictures were “all of his friends, artists that he worked with” and that there was nothing improper about them. “If you open the net you will find the same pictures, it’s not pictures of naked women or anything – they are all normal pictures,” she said. “There is no issue at all.” Activists have posted scans online purporting to be the original trial documents. CNN cannot verify the authenticity of the documents, but they appear to match Human Rights Watch’s reporting. CNN has reached out to Saudi officials for comment on Fayadh’s case but hasn’t received a response. The sentence has drawn condemnation from rights groups, cultural figures and social media, with the hashtag #FreeAshraf appearing in response to reports about it. Poetry is not a crime #freeAshraf Prominent writers, including Britain’s poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy, and Syrian poet Adonis signed an open letter by PEN International saying they were “appalled” by the judgment. “It is not a crime to hold an idea, however unpopular, nor is it a crime to express an opinion peacefully,” read the letter. An online petition launched by Amnesty International calling for his release has already reached more than 22,000 signatures. Related video Wife of flogged Saudi blogger appeals directly to King “The sentencing of Ashraf Fayadh to death after an unfair trial shows the deep flaws in Saudi Arabian criminal justice system and is yet another appalling example of the authorities flouting their international human rights obligations,” said Sevag Kechichian, Amnesty International’s Saudi Arabia researcher. “Fayadh was imprisoned solely for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression – he should be immediately and unconditionally released and his conviction should be quashed.” Sarah Leah Whitson, Human Rights Watch’s Middle East director, said that “regardless of what Fayadh said or didn’t say, Saudi Arabia should stop arresting people for their personal beliefs.” “The fact that Ashraf Fayadh is facing the prospect of being beheaded only adds to the outrageousness of this court ruling,” Whitson said. Related video Saudi prisoner faces execution, crucifixion Fayadh, a Saudi-born Palestinian, has been a prominent figure in Saudi Arabia’s nascent contemporary art scene, where he was involved in the Saudi-British art group Edge of Arabia and curated its exhibit for the 2013 Venice Biennale. Saudi Arabia has faced increasing criticism for the punishments handed down by its judicial system, including beheadings, crucifixions and floggings. Raif Badawi, a liberal Saudi blogger, was handed a 10-year prison term and ordered to be lashed 1,000 times last year for “insulting Islam.”


Photojournalist David Gilkey was killed in Afghanistan on Sunday after a rocket-propelled grenade hit his armored Humvee. Also killed were his NPR colleague, interpreter Zabihullah Tamanna, and an Afghan soldier driving the Humvee. Colleagues remembered Gilkey, 50, as someone who worked tirelessly in the world’s most difficult places. His images were not always easy to look at – from the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan to hungry and terrorized Sudanese in Darfur. But few could turn away from Gilkey’s photography. He drew his viewers in, putting them on the ground where his subjects were to give them a better understanding of the situation. He captured the essence of places through people, many of them in forgotten lands. As NPR’s David Greene said in a tweet Monday: Gilkey “could capture someone’s soul in a portrait.” Gilkey won many well-deserved accolades, including the George Polk Award. I first met Gilkey in Iraq. At first he seemed like many of the war-hardened soldiers I had met there. Brusque. Harsh, even. But later when I knew him better, I understood he was the opposite. “I know people in the newsroom called him ‘Smiley’ because he never smiled; he was really gruff,” said Gilkey’s colleague Tom Bowman, who was on assignment with him in Afghanistan. “But he was a real sensitive soul and he was a real, complete artist. His pictures were absolutely beautiful, and the ones he recently took on a mission we went on were just unbelievable.” Gilkey showed his true self in his pictures, which can be seen in the gallery above.


NEW: Activist in Aleppo tells CNN that evacuations will begin at 6 a.m. with 150 people Military activity in eastern Aleppo has ceased, Russian diplomat says The Syrian government has established control over eastern Aleppo, Vitaly Churkin, Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, told the UN Security Council on Tuesday. “Over the last hour we’ve received information that the military activities in east Aleppo have stopped,” Churkin said, according to a simultaneous translation provided by the United Nations. “So there’s no question about cessation of hostilities, or humanitarian operations. The Syrian government has established control over east Aleppo so now the stage has come for practical humanitarian initiatives.” At the same time, sources inside Aleppo tell CNN a ceasefire and evacuation agreement has been reached in the beleaguered eastern part of the city. Journalist and resident Karam al-Masri, who is in Aleppo, told CNN Tuesday that residents received cell phone messages from rebel leaders announcing a ceasefire. Aleppo Media Center posted to its Facebook page on Tuesday that a ceasefire had been announced in Aleppo “in preparation for the evacuation of civilians from besieged areas through safe passages.” The Aleppo ceasefire and evacuation agreement was reached with “Turkish mediation,” a commander in the Islamist rebel group Ahrar al-Sham told CNN, adding that civilians will start being evacuated from the eastern area of the city Wednesday morning local time. An activist in Aleppo told CNN the evacuations will begin at 6 a.m. (11 p.m. Tuesday ET). The first group of civilians to leave will consist of 70 injured people and family members – a total of 150 people. The Turkish Foreign Affairs Ministry confirmed that talks between rebels in eastern Aleppo and the Russian military led to the ceasefire deal. Under the agreement, civilians and then opposition fighters will evacuate to nearby Idlib, the ministry said. Turkey said its diplomats had been working on establishing a humanitarian corridor in Aleppo for weeks and that their efforts “increased in recent days.” There has been no confirmation of a cessation of hostilities or an evacuation agreement by Syrian state media. The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting Tuesday to address the situation. Afterward, Staffan de Mistura, UN special envoy to Syria, said he was informed by the Russian ambassador that an agreement on Aleppo was reached. But the United Nations still needs to verify the deal, de Mistura said. “We need to verify that on the ground, that they have reached an agreement with the armed opposition. It is imminent, if not already taking place,” he said. “It’s not clear to me yet as whether they are allowed to withdraw with their light weapons, which was one of the issues which had been discussed, or without weapons.” De Mistura also reiterated the need for the UN to have access to eastern Aleppo to independently verify what is going on there. The developments came as government forces continued their advance on the last rebel-held neighborhoods in Aleppo in their bid to retake the city, once Syria’s commercial and cultural heart. Earlier, a spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Rupert Colville, said he had been told that 82 civilians, including women and children, were shot in their homes or on the streets Monday. The gruesome reports of executions prompted the UN Security Council’s emergency meeting Tuesday afternoon at the urging of the United Kingdom and France. Tough words were aimed at Syria and its allies. “We have collectively failed the people of Syria,” said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Ceasfire broken as evacuations delayedSyrians post goodbye messages on TwitterChildren who put Aleppo’s suffering on the map‘Assad will reign over a wasteland’Photos: The Battle for Aleppo‘Aleppo is being destroyed by world’s silence”Why Aleppo is so importantWhat you need to know about Aleppo Ceasfire broken as evacuations delayedSyrians post goodbye messages on TwitterChildren who put Aleppo’s suffering on the map‘Assad will reign over a wasteland’Photos: The Battle for Aleppo‘Aleppo is being destroyed by world’s silence”Why Aleppo is so importantWhat you need to know about Aleppo US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power excoriated Syria, Russia and Iran for the bloodshed in Aleppo and asked, “Are you truly incapable of shame? and “Is there nothing you will not lie about? “Your barrel bombs and airstrikes … it is your noose,” she said. “Three member states of the UN contributing to a noose around civilians.” Rebel groups held eastern Aleppo for more than four years after the Arab Spring uprising and a Syrian regime siege on the area had essentially cut it off from the outside world, sparking a humanitarian crisis there. Thousands were fleeing Monday as bombs continued to fall on the remaining rebel-held areas of the city. Activists said anyone with links to the rebels who seized control of the enclave in 2012 was being hunted down. “Every hour, butcheries are carried out,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The Syrian government did not comment on the killings in state-run media. CNN has not been able to verify the execution reports. Analysis: Assad is winning a battle, but not the war for Syria Humanitarian volunteers in Aleppo have issued a desperate plea for help and safe passage for the estimated 100,000 civilians and rebels still trapped in the city’s east, now a wasteland of carnage and rubble. Amid the chaos, the self-styled Syria Civil Defense volunteer rescue group – also known as the White Helmets – was among groups pleading for safe passage out of Aleppo for their volunteers and civilians. “The regime has been trying to kill us for five years,” the group said on Twitter. “Please don’t give them this chance.” “We hear children crying, we hear calls for help, but we just can’t do anything.” The Assad regime was already in control of western Aleppo and in just over two weeks has taken most if not all of the east. Seizing the whole of Aleppo would put the government in control of Syria’s five major cities, marking a turning point in the war. A 7-year-old girl who has been tweeting from eastern Aleppo wrote an ominous post Tuesday: “This is my last moment to either live or die.” My name is Bana, I'm 7 years old. I am talking to the world now live from East #Aleppo. This is my last moment to either live or die. - Bana Another Twitter user – who goes by the user name “Mr_Alhamdo” and says he is a “teacher, activist and reporter” in the city – posted a number of tweets bidding farewell to his followers, describing the scene as “doomsday.” “This is a call and might be the last call,” he said in one. “Save Aleppo people. Save my daughter and other children.” this is a call and might be the last call.Save Aleppo people. Save my daughter and other children. #StandWithAleppo It is the doomsday inside Aleppo. Bombs bombs are over the head of civilians. people are running running but don't know where to go. Some of those left in the last few rebel-held areas had begged the international community to stop the regime’s advance. “Please, go to the embassies and block the way,” said Salah Ashkar, an activist in east Aleppo, in a video posted on Twitter. Related video Goodbye messages from Aleppo “Please, don’t let them sleep. Do it, do it, do it, do that now. There is no minute to spare. Please, please, stand with Aleppo,” he said. But for others, the regime’s military push was cause for celebration. Syrian state-run Ekhbariya TV broadcast people chanting with joy, firing gunshots in the air and blaring car horns. CNN’s Sonia Moghe, Waffa Munayyer, Richard Roth, Merieme Arif, Joel Williams, Fred Pleitgen, Alexander Felton, Emanuella Grinberg, Kareem Khadder, Jomana Karadsheh, Eyad Kourdi, Basma Atassi, Hilary Clarke, Kara Fox, Eliza Mackintosh and James Masters contributed to this report.


Less than six months before the midterm elections, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi will address the most pressing issues facing the nation, in a live, internationally telecast town hall, CNN announced Wednesday. The one-hour event, moderated by CNN’s Chris Cuomo, will air Wednesday, May 23 at 9 p.m. ET, and feature audience questions. With control of the House, and possibly the Senate, on the line, the California Democrat is expected to face an array of domestic and foreign policy questions as Congress continues to struggle with how to find common ground on issues ranging the 700,000 undocumented immigrants protected under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program to taxes. The town hall is taking place in the run up to President Donald Trump’s denuclearization talks with North Korea on June 12. Pelosi, who has led the House Democratic caucus for 15 years, is expected to speak about her party’s political strategy heading into Election Day. Democrats need a net gain of 23 seats in the midterm elections to wrest control of the majority out of Republican hands. Nathan Gonzales, publisher of Inside Elections and a CNN contributor, notes the political climate at this time indicates the “most likely outcome: Democratic gains in the teens to a more dramatic electoral wave.” With spiking global interest in American politics, the town hall will not only be broadcast in the United States on CNN US, but also around the world on CNN International, CNN en Español as well as CNN SiriusXM Channels 116, 454 and the Westwood One Radio Network. The program will also be made available to the American Forces Network, seen on US military installations around the world. In addition to live television viewing, the town hall with Pelosi can also be viewed via CNNgo at CNN.com/go and via CNNgo apps for Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire, Samsung Smart TV and Android TV along with all CNN mobile apps for iOS and Android. Cuomo, who was recently named the host of “Cuomo Prime Time,” will permanently move into the 9 p.m. ET slot on June 4.


NEW: Russia says its warplanes targeted ISIS north of Palmyra NEW: "We've seen violations by both sides," State Department spokesman says US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov agreed to extend the ceasefire in Syria for another 48 hours, State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters Wednesday. Toner acknowledged the situation hasn’t been perfect. “We’ve seen violations by both sides,” he said, adding, “we’re continuing to monitor this very closely.” The move comes as the ceasefire in the brutal civil war appears to be holding into its second day, with one monitoring group reporting no deaths in the area covered by the US-Russia agreement. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on Wednesday said no fatalities have occurred in Homs, Latakia, Hama, the Damascus suburbs, Idlib and the rest of the Syrian areas included in the deal that began Monday. The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency reported that “armed groups” breached the truce with mortar fire, citing a military source; the news agency also reported there were no deaths. But for hundreds of thousands of besieged Syrians, the wait for humanitarian relief may last somewhat longer. Aid convoys are positioned at the Turkish border town of Cilvegozu, poised to enter the country and deliver food and medical aid to rebel-controlled eastern Aleppo, where the United Nations says between 250,000 and 275,000 people have been cut off from assistance since early July. Related video The struggle for a ceasefire in Syria An activist with the opposition-aligned group Aleppo Media Center said people are hopeful this initiative will work, even though past agreements have fallen apart since the conflict began in 2011. “We are still optimistic this will happen, but no one knows,” he said. “But so far it’s been the best days seen since five-plus years ago. This is something promising. We shall wait and see what happens tomorrow.” Jens Laerke, a spokesman for the UN humanitarian office, said the aid convoys were awaiting assurances of safety in Syria’s volatile northwest. “The UN convoy from Turkey to eastern Aleppo is still in customs area on the border this morning because of lack of de facto assurances of safe passage by all parties,” Laerke said. “The convoy is ready and will move as soon as conditions allow.” Staffan de Mistura, the UN special envoy for Syria, said Tuesday night that there was a “need of assurances that the drivers and the convoys will be unhindered and untouched.” Syria’s Foreign Ministry has said aid can only be delivered to Aleppo if it is coordinated through the government and United Nations – especially aid coming from Turkey. The Syrian military is ready to pull out of a key Aleppo highway – Castello Road – to allow safe passage of humanitarian aid into the city, according to Vladimir Savchenko of the Russian Center for Reconciliation in Syria, Russian state news agency Tass reported. The Syrian government has not confirmed or reported this news. The Aleppo activist said it’s the first time the United States and Russia have forged an agreement that “paves the way for humanitarian aid access” and a no-military zone for people to use the highway. Nevertheless, the ceasefire appears to have led to a respite in violence in the five-year civil war. Related video Moment of joy for Aleppo's children De Mistura, the UN envoy, noted a “significant drop in violence” since the ceasefire went into effect Monday. There were still intermittent incidents, including an airstrike overnight on Khan Toman in the countryside south of Aleppo, according to an Aleppo Media Center activist. In general, the situation remained quiet in Aleppo, with no significant violations, the activist said. The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency said that rebel groups had breached the truce by firing seven mortars Wednesday morning in the countryside near Homs. In recent days, images have emerged from Syria showing people taking advantage of the rare calm to celebrate the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha. On Eid al-Adha, Syria’s children laugh again The ceasefire deal, intended to bring humanitarian relief, calls for a halt to the violence between the Syrian regime and rebel forces. But it does not cover militant groups considered terrorists, such as ISIS and Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, formerly known as al Nusra Front. Related video Syria truce officially begins Under the terms of the deal, if the peace holds for seven days, Russia and the United States will begin coordination to target terror groups in the conflict. Russia’s warplanes have attacked a group of ISIS militants north of Palmyra, killing hundreds of terrorists, Viktor Poznikhir, the first deputy chief of the General Staff’s main operations directorate, told the media Wednesday. The militants lost 250 men and 15 pickup trucks, Poznikhir said. The ceasefire is the second such concerted attempt to bring peace to Syria this year. The United States and Russia coordinated a partial ceasefire in February, but violence soon resumed. The Syrian civil war has killed hundreds of thousands of people and forced more than 5 million to flee the country, spawning an international refugee crisis. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group, estimates that up to 430,000 people have been killed in the conflict, although an accurate estimate is almost impossible to obtain. CNN’s Vasco Cotovio, Hamdi Alkhshali, Sebastian Shukla, Schams Elwazer, and Joe Sterling contributed to this report.


Watch CNN’s special report, “The Trump-Russia Investigation,” hosted by Pamela Brown,  Monday at 9 p.m. ET. One year ago, this week, the US intelligence community publicly confirmed Russia's interference in the 2016 election In the months after the election, the Trump team denied that there were any contacts with Russians during the campaign It’s easy to lose track of the Trump-Russia investigation with what at times feels like daily bombshells, the denials that end up getting debunked, the hearings, the subpoenas and the difficult-to-pronounce Russian names. If you’re not paying attention – even if you are – it is admittedly challenging to stay on top of it all. One year ago this week, the US intelligence community publicly confirmed Russia’s interference in the 2016 election and accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of personally ordering the operation. At the time, the report felt like the final chapter of a contentious election. But throughout the past year, we’ve learned of secret meetings, intercepted phone calls, overseas contacts, lies to the FBI and more. Even our comprehensive timeline can’t capture the full picture. So, for the first time, CNN produced a documentary that tells the Russia story, from the beginning, and strings together the many threads with insights from the reporters and analysts who’ve been covering it. “The Trump-Russia Investigation,” hosted by CNN’s Pamela Brown, airs Friday at 10:00 p.m. ET and Monday at 9:00 p.m. ET. Here’s a look at the key stories from the investigation, which are featured in the documentary. In the months after the election, the Trump team denied that there were any contacts with Russians during the campaign. Trump said so himself at a news conference in February 2017. “I have nothing to do with Russia,” he declared. “To the best of my knowledge, no person that I deal with does.” That’s why it was so shocking when The New York Times dropped this bombshell over the summer: The President’s son, Donald Trump Jr., met with a Kremlin-connected lawyer during the campaign after being promised dirt on Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. Not only that, but Trump Jr. was joined by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort, who was the campaign chairman at the time. Related video Russian lawyer is 'right out of a spy novel' “When Donald Trump Jr. is told the Russian government is trying to elect your father president, he doesn’t say, ‘what do you mean? How can that be?’ He says, ‘I wanna hear this’,” said CNN’s chief legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin, referring to the emails sent to Trump Jr. before the meeting. Special counsel Robert Mueller’s team started investigating the meeting. It also posed a political problem for the White House. “You’re saying constantly there was no effort to collude with the Russians in any way, shape or form, and suddenly, you have your son, your campaign manager, and your senior adviser all in a meeting with Russians who have promised to bring you dirt,” said CNN’s chief political analyst Gloria Borger. Trump Jr., Kushner and Manafort have all denied participating in any collusion. Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya has told conflicting stories about the purpose of the meeting and her Russian government connections. “This is not normal, this is not how presidents behave. It’s a dark moment in American history today.” That’s how Toobin reacted on May 9, 2017, the day Trump unexpectedly fired FBI Director James Comey, the man who was overseeing a federal investigation into Trump’s presidential campaign. Related video Journalists remember how James Comey was fired Everyone was caught off guard, including senior White House aides. The FBI director himself learned about his fate while in California on official business by watching it on television. Trump later admitted he was thinking about Russia when he decided to fire Comey, seeming to contradict the official White House line that Comey was fired for mishandling the Clinton email investigation. An action perhaps designed to neutralize the Russia investigation instead triggered a series of events that led to Mueller’s appointment as special counsel. “That just gives you a sense of how impulsive this firing was and it really did backfire,” said CNN’s chief political correspondent Dana Bash. After his firing, Comey stayed in the limelight. He starred in a highly anticipated hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee, which was aired live on the networks and shown at bars throughout Washington. And in the future, he might find himself on the witness stand, if Mueller sees fit. Three men close to Trump – Kushner, Manafort and former national security adviser Michael Flynn – all got entangled in the Russia probe last year. Kushner went before congressional committees investigating potential collusion, and was asked to turn over documents to the special counsel. He denies knowing about any collusion with Russia, though Mueller’s investigation continues to scrutinize his activities, with no clear end in sight. Related video Sources: Obama advised Trump not to hire Flynn “Jared Kushner is incredibly important for several reasons,” Toobin said. “He is a witness to virtually all the central issues in this investigation. He is also important because he is an independent actor. He is someone who had contacts with Russian representatives.” Then there’s Flynn, who pleaded guilty in December to lying to the FBI and is now cooperating with Mueller. He started 2017 as the incoming national security adviser – a plum job for someone who had been previously fired from a high-ranking intelligence post during the Obama administration. And finally, Manafort is slated for the fight of his life in 2018. Manafort and co-defendant Rick Gates, his longtime business partner and deputy on the Trump campaign, go on trial this spring. They pleaded not guilty to a dozen federal charges of money laundering, undisclosed foreign lobbying, and conspiracy against the United States. “Paul Manafort has, for decades, been the Washington lobbyist and influence peddler around the world for a lot of the most vicious dictators we’ve seen,” said investigative reporter and Pulitzer Prize winner David Cay Johnston. Related video Miss Universe and the Russia probe Trump’s ties to Russians go back way before the election. In fact, he’s been trying to do real estate deals in Russia since the 1980s. In recent years, he partnered with a wealthy Russian on the 2013 Miss Universe pageant, which was held in Moscow, and sold a Florida mansion to a Russian in 2008. “We know that there’s plenty of Russian money that the President has benefited from,” said CNN justice correspondent Evan Perez. The Florida estate alone was sold for about $95 million. Not only that, but the Trump Organization also negotiated with a Russian company during the presidential campaign to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. Trump even signed a letter-of-intent, but the deal fell through in early 2016, a few weeks before the first primary contest in Iowa. Related video Trump details Russian business connections It is yet to be seen how aggressively Mueller will examine these old business deals that predate the election. Trump and his lawyers have made it known that they don’t want Mueller to cross that line. While the Russians disrupted the presidential campaign through hacked emails and high-profile leaks, they were also active on a more granular level that affected millions of Americans: social media. It took months to learn the full scope, which still might be unknown, but leading US technology companies like Google, Facebook and Twitter now acknowledge that Russians were active on their platforms during the election, creating fake accounts and stirring up political tensions on controversial topics. Related video How Russian imposters weaponized social media “There was an entire English language department specifically assigned to insert messages, social media posts in the United States,” Michael Isikoff of Yahoo News said about the Russian misinformation campaign. “They were required to watch ‘House of Cards’ to better understand American politics.” Some of the Russian trolls even organized in-person protests on US soil. “You may very well have driven by a protest for any hot-button issue,” said CNN’s Dylan Byers, senior reporter for media and politics. “These protests in some cases were organized out of Russia.” CNN led the way reporting on the social media element of Russian interference, exposing fake accounts linked to the Kremlin, revealing Russian efforts to target specific US communities, and uncovering that some key swing states also were subjected to Russian-backed Facebook ads. This bombshell, one of the biggest of the year, was broken by CNN weeks before Trump took office: During a briefing by the nation’s top intelligence chiefs similar to the one then-President Barack Obama had, Trump was told about a collection of memos, written by a respected former British spy, that alleged widespread collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians, and that the Russians had compromising personal information on Trump. Related video The Trump dossier levels sensational charges “It was our sense – our strong sense – that the nation’s senior most intelligence officials would not waste the time of the president and the president elect if it was cockamamie easy to dismiss information,” CNN’s chief national security correspondent Jim Sciutto said. “It’s a remarkable step.” The memos came to be known as “the dossier.” Shortly after the initial CNN report, the full dossier was published online by BuzzFeed for everyone to read – even the unconfirmed, salacious allegations. In the past year, the dossier has become the boogeyman of Republicans and a sacred text for Democrats. Regardless of the partisan spin, CNN has reported that US investigators have corroborated some aspects of the dossier, especially claims relating to conversations among foreign nationals. It has yet to be seen how many of the allegations in the dossier are true, and if that will even matter. Mueller’s investigation has focused on examining the links between the Trump campaign and the Russian government, and his team has already secured two guilty pleas and another two indictments.

Russia's interference in the 2016 US election


Haley visited a refugee camp in Ethiopia's western region of Gambella on the border with South Sudan South Sudan is a major focus of her diplomatic mission, the conflict in the country has been marked by brutal attacks on civilians After getting a first-hand glimpse of the impact of South Sudan’s brutal civil war, US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said the US bears an important responsibility to push for an end to the conflict. Haley, the first Cabinet-level official in the Trump administration to go to sub-Saharan Africa, visited a refugee camp in Ethiopia’s western region of Gambella on the border with South Sudan. Nearly 400,000 refugees have fled to Gambella, outnumbering even the local population. “No human being should live the way these people have lived, should have the memories that these people have and should feel the pain that they have felt,” she said after a day visiting with refugees and meeting with aid officials. “It’s just inconceivable.” Related article Haley warns African conflicts becoming 'breeding ground' for terrorists Haley is in Ethiopia on the first stop of a three-nation tour that will also take her to South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Next to Uganda, Ethiopia hosts the second largest number of South Sudanese fleeing the conflict. South Sudan is a major focus of her diplomatic mission, the conflict in the country has been marked by brutal attacks on civilians, including sexual violence against women. Some parts of the country have experienced famine, and the swelling refugee crisis is now reminiscent of what happened after the Rwandan genocide, with 4 million people, one third of the population displaced from their homes. Aid groups say that South Sudan’s president, Salva Kiir, has impeded the access of humanitarian aid workers, which has further exacerbated the misery. Haley visited the Nguenyyiel refugee camp in Ethiopia, where South Sudanese women told her horrific stories of watching their children being killed by enemy forces during the conflict. “You felt the pain in that room,” Haley said. “It’s heartbreaking. It’s terrible. And to see one tell their story and the rest of the women start to cry, as a woman I feel for them, because they saw their husbands killed, they saw their children killed. They have been forced to survive, and they still miss home. They still want to go home. They are tough, and they manage to keep a smile on their face. It’s really such an amazing sense of inspiration to see the survival to see what these people have gone through.” Related article Nikki Haley: This is why the President is sending me to Africa It was her first visit to Africa, and Haley was visibly moved by what she saw. Though she has visited camps in Turkey and Jordan for refugees displaced by Syria’s civil war, Haley said the conditions for South Sudanese were the worse she had ever seen. She noted that the camp had only one health clinic for the entire population of 86,000. “You can never prepare yourself for this, you can never prepare, and you see these little kids, they are malnourished, you can physically see how malnourished they are,” she told reporters traveling with her. “You see the women and how mentally hurt they are and all the trauma they went through, and you just see everybody somewhat in a daze.” The US helped midwife South Sudan’s independence from Sudan after decades of conflict in 2011 by supporting a peaceful referendum that saw Kiir become president. Related article US team in Niger was collecting intel on terror leader The world’s youngest country, South Sudan spiraled into civil war in 2013 when Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, fired his deputy Riek Machar, a Nuer. A peace deal reached in August 2015 with US help has since collapsed, and subsequent efforts have not been able to bring Kiir and Machar to the table. “The United States in any country holds great responsibility when you get involved in another country’s life,” Haley said. Though she said the US had the best of intentions, “we also have to keep our ego in check from a standpoint of, if you make a decision, don’t be too prideful to go back, and maybe that wasn’t the right decision.” She added: “We should never lose that flexibility to right wrongs when we see them.” The US is the biggest contributor to the UN peacekeeping mission to South Sudan, which costs more than $1 billion annually. Related article South Sudan Fast Facts The Trump administration has signaled it is reviewing its relationship with Kiir and last month sanctioned three of his associates. Officials have raised the possibility of an arms embargo and suspending aid to Kiir’s government Haley said it was unclear whether aid could be used as leverage with Kiir. “When you look at South Sudan, you have to really think hard before you pull US aid, because President Kiir doesn’t care if we pull US aid. He doesn’t care if his people suffer, and that’s the concern we have.” Haley said the US didn’t bear “sole responsibility” and in an op-ed for CNN before her trip, she pointed the finger at the United Nations for failing to bring peace to South Sudan and the Democratic Republican of Congo, which she will visit later this week. “The UN’s track record of long-term success is not good. Neither South Sudan nor the DRC has shown any real progress toward political solutions that would stop the violence,” she wrote. The US is the biggest contributor to the peacekeeping missions in both countries, which are the most expensive carried out by the UN at at a cost of $1 billion a year each. Haley has focused on cutting costs of UN peacekeeping since taking office and pledged in her op-ed to take a critical look at the UN operations in both countries. However, most of Haley’s ire was saved for Kiir, who she said created the crisis, along with Machar, the former vice president. “If you look at the disaster and you look at the families broken apart and you look at the kids that were killed and you just look at the families that were deprived of so much, it really just is incumbent on the entire international community to look at President Kiir and say this must stop,” she told reporters in Gambella. While she promised to deliver that message to Kiir when they meet Wednesday, she was unsure of exactly what she would say now that she has seen the disaster firsthand and had what she called a “heavy heart.” “I’ve got to take all this in because I think that what I was going to say was probably tame now compared to what I want to say,” she said at the end of her visit. “I was mad when I left the camp. How do you not go through listening to those women talk and hearing what their families went through and not just be totally angry at those that are responsible.”


The No Love Locks campaign seeks to outlaw the practice of affixing padlocks to Paris's historic bridges The Pont des Arts bridge is groaning under the weight of 700,000 padlocks and is at risk of collapse, campaigners say A petition to ban the locks and move them elsewhere has gained more than 1,700 signatures Joy Monroe, a tourist from Montana, has come to Paris’s Pont des Arts bridge on a mission of love. To celebrate her marriage of 28 years, she attaches a padlock to the bridge’s rail then throws the key into the river below. “Our love is locked forever,” she says. It’s an act that’s been repeated thousands of times, barnacling the Pont des Arts with a dense mass of “love locks.” But its popularity is now straining both the bridge and Paris’s relationship with its romantic visitors, prompting a campaign that seeks to outlaw the trend. MORE: Paris ends relationship with ‘love locks’ American Lisa Anselmo and French-American Lisa Taylor Huff say they co-founded No Love Locks because the padlocks are endangering historic landmarks and have become a threat to safety. ‘Vandalism’ “I understand that this is a modern expression of love and it’s cool, but history should not be compromised,” says Anselmo. “It’s almost painful to watch this vandalism.” She and Taylor Huff say the Pont des Arts, built in the 1800s under Napoleon and damaged in a 1979 barge collision, might not survive much longer unless authorities act. MORE: Do pollution car bans actually work? The bridge currently carries about 700,000 locks with an estimated combined weight of 93 metric tons – roughly the same as 20 elephants standing on a bridge designed for pedestrian traffic. Sections of fencing have already fallen out under the weight only to be replaced by unsightly wooden panels. No Love Locks has created a petition that’s collected more than 2,200 signatures. “We just want to give back to the city we love and protect its heritage and beauty,” says Anselmo. “One lock is a poem; hundreds of thousands are a conundrum.” Pollution concerns According to the official Paris website, the padlock trend started in 2008 and was initially seen as charming. But the practice quickly got out of hand, with padlocks spreading to other bridges and reappearing as quickly as authorities removed them. There are concerns that the keys thrown in the Seine will add to the river’s existing pollution. Graffiti, pickpockets and vendors selling cheap padlocks have also become a problem, prompting many locals to avoid the once picturesque promenade. MORE: Ten best French restaurants in Paris “Parisians feel helpless because we don’t want to appear unwelcoming to tourists,” Anselmo says. “But people need to understand that what you’re doing is impacting the residents of the city you love.” She points out that a lock is an inappropriate symbol for love in France, a country where the main annual holiday celebrates an historic assault on a prison – the storming of the Bastille. Olivier Passelecq, the deputy mayor of the Parisian neighborhood that includes the Pont des Arts, agrees that the locks have become invasive. “The public has to know that a public monument is not there just for lovers,” he says. “[The bridge] has an historical perspective as one of the most beautiful spots in Paris between the French Institute and the Louvre.” Both Passelecq and No Love Locks want to find another place for the locks, mirroring similar schemes in Moscow and Rome. “Travelers want to leave their mark on Paris – it’s touching and we understand that,” Anselmo says. “But show love to the history, to the beauty first, and maybe not putting a lock is the most loving thing you can do.”


High school where alleged rape happened asks for heightened police presence ICE: One of two students arrested is an undocumented immigrant The alleged rape of a Maryland high school student by two schoolmates – one an undocumented immigrant – has prompted a torrent of threats and hate messages to the school and the school system, a county school spokesman said Thursday. Hundreds of hate-filled emails and calls have been received by Rockville High School and the Montgomery County Public School District, Derek Turner said. The calls and emails came after police said two students, 18-year-old Henry Sanchez-Milian and 17-year-old Jose Montano, had been arrested and charged as adults with first-degree rape. They both also face two counts of committing a first-degree sexual offense in the alleged assault in a school bathroom on March 16. Sanchez-Milian “will plead 100% not guilty,” his attorney, Andrew Jezic, said Wednesday. Ronald Gottlieb, a public defender representing Montano, was unavailable for comment Thursday. Since news of the alleged rape broke earlier this week, around 500 emails and 200 hate-based phone calls have been received by the county school system, Turner said. Two anonymous phone calls to the school – apparently prompted by the arrests – included threats to “shoot the illegals” and cause “physical damage to the school,” he said. Police responded to the school, but found no evidence to suggest the threats were credible. School officials have requested a heightened police presence, he said. Sanchez-Milian is in the United States unlawfully, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE officials would not comment on Montano’s citizenship, citing his age. After Sanchez-Milian’s arrest, ICE issued an immigration detainer, an order to local law enforcement to hold a suspect for a pending immigration review. The rape allegations come less than a month after President Donald Trump directed the Department of Homeland Security to create an office tasked with focusing on crimes committed by undocumented immigrants. Asked about the allegations at a Tuesday briefing, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said the case was “horrendous and horrible and disgusting.” “I think part of the reason the President has made illegal immigration and crackdown such a big deal is because of tragedies like this,” he said. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos on Thursday issued a statement about the case. “As a mother of two daughters and grandmother of four young girls, my heart aches for the young woman and her family at the center of these terrible circumstances. We all have a common responsibility to ensure every student has access to a safe and nurturing learning environment,” the statement said. But school district officials in Maryland have rejected the notion the incident has implications for immigration policy. “While some would try to make this into a question and issue of immigration, what comes down here is we serve every student who walks through our door,” said Jack R. Smith, superintendent of the Montgomery County Public Schools. “We are a public school system, and we serve all of our students when they come to us.” Related article Why controversy over undocumented rape suspect is moot Matthew Bourke, a spokesman for ICE, said Sanchez-Milian, a citizen of Guatemala, was stopped by a border patrol agent in Rio Grande Valley, Texas, in August 2016. Bourke said Sanchez-Milian was detained for 12 days before being placed with the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which reunited him with his family in Maryland. Sanchez-Milian’s attorney told CNN his client was held for four weeks by ICE and was put on a Baltimore-bound flight by ICE officers to reunite him with his father, who has lived in the United States for 14 years. Bourke said such a delay in an immigration hearing was “not atypical” and that Sanchez-Milian had been free to travel in the interim. “There are a lot of people waiting to see an immigration judge,” he said. According to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University, more than half a million cases are pending in immigration courts across the United States. Sanchez-Milian is due in court on April 14. Montano has a hearing scheduled for March 31. CNN’s Julian Cummings contributed to this report.


On Wednesday night at a joint press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at Mar-a-Lago, Bloomberg’s Jennifer Jacobs asked President Donald Trump a simple question: Had he decided, in light of recent events, that it no longer was advantageous for him to sit down for an interview with special counsel Robert Mueller? What came next was a word salad that amounted to a on-the-fly mashup of Trump’s greatest hits when it comes to the ongoing Russia probe. Trump said the phrase “no collusion” three times in the first sentence he uttered as an answer. He went on to say it twice more. Trump also called the Mueller probe a “hoax” cooked up by Democrats to cover for their embarrassing election loss at least twice, and noted that Democrats had a tremendous built-in advantage in the Electoral College. Abe, showing this isn’t his first political rodeo, simply stared into space as Trump talked. None of this is new rhetoric from Trump. And therefore it shouldn’t be surprising. And yet, the whole thing felt jarring and hugely out-of-place. An American president insisting that a special counsel probe being run out of his Justice Department and being spearheaded by a former FBI director appointed by a Republican president is a sham created by his political opponents? Really? The Point: Trump has one gear. Whether he is speaking at a campaign rally or taking questions at a joint press conference with a foreign leader. Full speed ahead. Always. Read Wednesday’s full edition of The Point newsletter.


Russian military says FOAB is four times more powerful than the American "mother of all bombs" Analyst says when FOAB is used, "living things within the area of detonation are vaporized" Born in Russia in 2007, the “father of all bombs” may be holding a title surpassed by no other. The Russian military says it’s the most powerful thermobaric bomb of its kind, four times more powerful than the American “mother of all bombs,” the largest non-nuclear bomb in the US arsenal and the largest non-nuclear bomb the United States has ever used in combat. Based on the specifications the Russian military has released, analysts say Russia could be right. “We believe it’s real,” said retired Col. Rick Francona, military analyst and former US military attache in Syria. “The Russians have been among the pioneers of these thermobaric bombs.” “I don’t have any doubt that they could build this,” Francona said. “It falls under their technological capabilities.” “The FOAB, if what has been reported about it is true, is the most powerful non-nuclear bomb in the world,” said retired Col. Cedric Leighton, military analyst and former member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. FOAB has never been used in combat. “The FOAB is a thermobaric bomb, which means that its payload explodes at much higher temperatures,” Leighton said. “The result is that living things within the area of detonation are vaporized, making the FOAB a spectacularly terrible weapon.” Russia announced that the bomb was first tested in 2007. In a national broadcast that aired on September 11, 2007, deputy chief of the general staff of the Russian Armed Forces at the time, Alexander Rukshin, said the first test of a new  bomb, capable of sending shock waves with the power of a nuclear bomb, was completed. “The results of the tests of this air ammunition have shown that it can be compared with a nuclear weapon by its efficiency and capabilities,” Rukshin said. “At the same time, I particularly want to emphasize that the impact from this ammunition does not pollute the environment in any way compared to a nuclear munition,” he added. A Channel 1 broadcast, as well as other recent publications in Russian state media, claim that FOAB is four times more powerful than MOAB, with explosion power equivalent to 44 tons of TNT, compared to 11 tons for the MOAB. FOAB is also reportedly lighter, weighing 7,100 kilograms, compared to 8,200 kilograms, while its blast radius is double that of the MOAB, at 300 meters, or about 984 feet. Leighton said analysis conducted by his group supports those claims but there are some questions whether the explosion shown in the specific video was produced by a weapon like FOAB. Alexander Mozgovoy, editor of Russian magazine National Defense, said he believes the Channel 1 video is accurate and he thinks Russia may have developed more than one FOAB, just like the United States has built several MOABs. “I don’t think there is only one bomb [of this kind] but definitely not a lot of them,” he said. “This bomb doesn’t leave anything alive. It turns everything in ashes.” When the US military first tested the GBU-43/B MOAB in 2003, the Cold War era was long gone but the rivalry between the world’s two superpowers never really ended. Why the ‘mother of all bombs’ and why now? After MOAB was introduced, Russian developers built their own bomb and by analogy nicknamed it the “father of all bombs,” according to the Channel 1 report. While the nickname has become widely popular today, it was originally created as a secret code name for the weapon, according to Channel 1. Since then, not much additional information about the bomb has become available. “We’ve only seen what the Russians have told us,” Francona said. “Russia has not exported this weapon to any other nation as far as we know and it is unlikely that they will export it in the future,” said Leighton. “At the moment, the FOAB’s technology would be deemed to be too sensitive to export,” he added. “These are very unique weapons, so the demand for them is very, very low, because you won’t use these indiscriminately,” Francona said. MOAB was originally intended to be used against large formations of troops and equipment or above-ground bunkers, but later the targets expanded to caves and tunnels buried under softer surfaces. It was used for the first time on April 13, 2017, by the US military in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province, targeting a network of fortified underground tunnels that ISIS used to stage attacks on government forces. The ISIS tunnels in Afghanistan were the right target for the MOAB, said Francona. “Those cave complexes, tunnel complexes really call for this weapon,” he said. Russia started developing FOAB during the Afghan war, said Mozgovoy. It was intended to clear safe airspace so military helicopters can fly though, he said. Nonetheless, it would be unthinkable to use a weapon like FOAB in areas where the Russian military operates in Syria, because of the potentially “immense” number of civilian casualties, Francona said. “This would be on a scale unseen in Syria,” he said.  “I hope that we won’t see the FOAB deployed in Syria, because it’s just not the right target.”


Comey testified on Thursday Trump took questions Friday A defiant President Donald Trump said Friday he was willing to testify under oath about his conversations with James Comey, further fueling the swirling controversy ignited by the fired FBI director’s bombshell testimony before the Senate on Thursday. “One hundred percent,” Trump said when asked about his willingness to deliver sworn testimony. Trump aggressively addressed some questions during the bilateral news conference with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis on Friday, but coyly answered others. Asked directly whether he was recording conversations in the Oval Office – a claim he hinted at on Twitter last month – Trump dodged. Related article Digging in for long haul, Trump tried mute for the day “I am not hinting at anything. I will tell you about it over a very short period of time,” Trump said, twice declining to elaborate. He later said reporters were “going to be very disappointed when you hear the answer.” The noncommittal response leaves the door open to White House tapes, something that legal experts say would fall within the purview of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s 2016 election meddling and the Trump campaign’s potential role. Trump also indirectly accused Comey of perjury when he adamantly denied the fired FBI director’s claim that the President asked him to end the FBI’s investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn, a close Trump confidante. “I didn’t say that,” Trump said. And he denied that he asked Comey for his loyalty, though he added: “There would be nothing wrong if I did say it.” But as much as Trump looked to undercut Comey’s testimony, he also heralded some of his claims, namely his comment there was no evidence of collusion between Trump and the Russians and no investigation into Trump personally during his time at the FBI. “No collusion, no obstruction, he’s a leaker,” Trump said during a Rose Garden news conference, knocking Comey for disseminating the content of a memo he kept on a dinner he had with the President. Trump concluded his team emerged “very happy” after Comey’s testimony. The Rose Garden press conference was the first time since last month that Trump formally took questions from reporters. The brief news conference – where each President took four questions from the press – comes the day after Comey’s bombshell Capitol Hill testimony in which the fired FBI director accused the White House of “lies.” Trump was publicly silent while Comey testified on Thursday, but tweeted an accusation Friday that Comey – whom Trump fired in May – lied under oath. “Despite so many false statements and lies, total and complete vindication,” Trump tweeted, “and WOW, Comey is a leaker!” Despite so many false statements and lies, total and complete vindication...and WOW, Comey is a leaker! Trump’s comment tracked with Republican talking points about the hearing, where the Republican National Committee and White House urged surrogates to emphasize the fact that Comey clearly said the President was never an explicit subject of the Russia probe during his time at the FBI. But Comey’s testimony about the President has darkened the clouds hanging over the White House. The former FBI director said Trump’s private comments urging him to drop the probe into former national security adviser Michael Flynn led him to tell his Justice Department colleagues they needed to be careful. And he said multiple times that he choose to take detailed notes about his interactions with Trump because he worried the White House and President would lie about them if he didn’t. Trump has remained relatively media shy since the Justice Department tapped former FBI Director Robert Mueller to be the special counsel looking into Russia’s meddling into the 2016 election and the Trump campaign’s possible ties to it. The President last formally took questions on May 18, when he held a bilateral news conference – similar to the one that will happen Friday – with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos.


China says it has landed long-range bombers for the first time on an island in the South China Sea, the latest in a series of maneuvers putting Beijing at odds with its neighbors and Washington over China’s growing military presence around disputed islands. The People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) announced on Friday it successfully organized the takeoff and landing of several bombers, including the nuclear-capable H-6K, on an unspecified island. The PLA claimed the mission was a part of China’s aim to achieve a broader regional reach, quicker mobilization, and greater strike capabilities. “The islands in the South China Sea are China’s territory,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said in a statement Monday. “The relevant military activities are normal trainings and other parties shouldn’t over-interpret them. “As for the so-called militarization mentioned by the US, what we do is fundamentally different from the US sending its military aircraft and warships from thousands of miles away to this region and posing a threat to other countries.” A military expert, Wang Mingliang, was quoted in the statement as saying the training will hone the Chinese air force’s war-preparation skills and its ability to respond to various security threats in the region, where China claims large swathes of territory. The South China Sea is one of the most contested regions in the world, with overlapping territorial claims by multiple countries including the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Vietnam. Over the past few years China has been rapidly transforming various reefs and inlets into artificial islands to install military infrastructure. Some experts have called them “unsinkable aircraft carriers.” A Twitter post by the Chinese Communist Party’s official newspaper, People’s Daily, shows video of a long-range bomber taking off, flying, and landing on one of the islands. Analysts at the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) said it was thought to be Woody Island, China’s largest base in the Paracel Islands and the only one with an airstrip long enough to allow bomber landings. Chinese bombers including the H-6K conduct takeoff and landing training on an island reef at a southern sea area pic.twitter.com/ASY9tGhfAU The move is a strategic accomplishment for China to further reinforce its military and political power in the disputed waters. The H-6K is a considerable upgrade from the fighter jets believed to have previously landed on the islands. China’s top-of-the-line bomber is capable of reaching a nearly 1,900-nautical-mile (3,500-kilometer) radius. Flying the twin-engine bombers out of Woody Island would mean the entirety of Southeast Asia is within combat flight range, experts say. “The H-6K is significant because it provides Beijing with longer-ranging bomber capabilities that can drop precision-guided munitions on both ground and sea targets,” Rand Corp. defense analyst Derek Grossman said in an email to CNN. “Moreover, landing the bomber on Woody Island provides an opportunity for Chinese pilots to train under realistic circumstances,” Grossman said. While Woody Island sits in the central South China Sea, the AMTI says satellite imagery indicates China has built near identical operational runways at its three main outposts in the Spratly Islands known as Mischief, Subi and Fiery Cross Reef, which sit near the southern extent of the sea. China for the first time landed bomber aircraft, including H-6Ks, on Woody Island in the #SouthChinaSea. AMTI shows the bombers' range, why it matters, and the likelihood of more showing up on the Spratlys https://t.co/doqM4stwZE pic.twitter.com/bl0IUdNOiu Should Beijing soon pursue deployments from the Spratlys, as predicted, they could potentially reach northern Australia and US defense facilities on Guam, according to the AMTI. This comes just weeks after reports that the Chinese military installed radar jamming equipment and deployed their first missiles in their Spratly holdings. And in mid-April, China conducted its largest-ever naval parade in the South China Sea, which came after the aircraft carrier Liaoning led a flotilla of 48 naval vessels plus 76 fighter jets in two-days of combat drills. In a 2015 visit to Washington, Chinese President Xi Jinping assured then-US President Barack Obama, “China does not intend to pursue militarization.” But US military officials say China’s recent military activities belie that promise. Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Christopher Logan told CNN, “the United States remains committed to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” he adds, “China’s continued militarization of disputed features in the South China Sea only serves to raise tensions and destabilize the region.” Related article China's release of images reinforces vow to keep Taiwan as a territory At the US Navy Pacific Fleet’s change of command ceremony in Hawaii on Friday, outgoing commander Adm. Scott Swift called what is happening in the South China Sea an example of “using might to make it right … a creeping genesis of a new rules-based order formed on the basis of military power, not international consensus.” Earlier this month, the Trump administration warned China’s growing militarization would provoke “near-term and long-term consequences,” according to White House press secretary Sarah Sanders. But experts, and one key US military commander, say China has put itself in a very strong position in the South China Sea. While the US Navy regularly conducts freedom of navigation operations through the area, the PLA’s maneuvers and deployments there suggest the operations have done little to slow the process. “The Chinese don’t fear they are provoking a crisis,” said Bonnie Glaser, the director of the China Power Project at Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. “China has many more tools that it can use against its neighbors in peacetime and the US doesn’t have sufficient capability to shape events.” Related article China's first homegrown aircraft carrier heads out for sea trial “China has advantages in the “gray zone,” she said. “As long as China builds up its military forces, but doesn’t employ those forces, the US is not likely to use military force.” US Adm. Phillip Davidson, nominated to head the US Pacific Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee during his confirmation last month, “China is now capable of controlling the South China Sea in all scenarios short of war with the United States.” Experts say Beijing has no intention of backing off any time soon. “South China Sea exercises are inevitable, though the precise timing may depend on the extent to which Beijing assesses that it needs to deter counter-claimant activities and freedom of navigation operations by the US and its allies,” Grossman said. Exercises around the South China Sea islands are “small steps that incrementally change the status quo in China’s favor without provoking a military response from the United States,” said Glaser. But they still give Washington plenty to worry about. “We know they have runways, they have cannons, they have — everything in there is military. And it’s really pretty scary,” Republican US Sen. James Inhofe said at Adm. Davidson’s confirmation hearing. CNN’s Serenitie Wang, Brad Lendon and Ryan Browne contributed to this report.

China's military presence in the South China Sea


AP photographer captured moment gunman opened fire in Turkey gallery, killing Russian envoy He has opened up about his decision to continue working as "calculated" attack unfolded The Associated Press photographer who captured images of Russian ambassador Andrey Karlov’s assassination at an art exhibition in Ankara has recalled the terrifying moment the gunman opened fire. “I heard shots, very loud – bam bam bam,” Burhan Ozbilici told CNN. “The people standing in front they disappeared. They threw them(selves) on the floor. They were trying to hide, to take shelter. I was shocked … afraid … not panicked.” Ozbilici hadn’t planned to attend the new photo exhibition in the Turkish capital but made a snap decision to stop in on his way home from the office. With Russia-Turkey relations appearing to thaw in recent weeks, the AP photographer thought some images of Karlov speaking at the gallery might be useful in the near future. “He was very soft, calm, a very natural man. Not a diplomat we usually see.” Russian ambassador killed: What we know But in the blink of an eye, the tranquil scene in the gallery was shattered. Gunshots rang out and people scattered as a blind panic hung in the air. Ozbilici scrambled to the back of the showroom, finding partial refuge behind a wall. He watched as the gunman walked around the ambassador’s body, describing him as agitated as he ripped several of the photographs on display off of the wall. “In difficult situations, I’m calm. I have a responsibility to record the event,” he told CNN. “The ambassador was lying on the ground – not moving. And the (shooter) was making (a) politically-motivated speech. He added: “Some people were screaming, crying, so i could not hear well.” “I was, of course, fearful and knew of the danger if the gunman turned toward me,” he wrote earlier on APNews.com. “But I advanced a little and photographed the man as he hectored his desperate, captive audience.” “This is what I was thinking: ‘I’m here. Even if I get hit and injured, or killed, I’m a journalist. I have to do my work. I could run away without making any photos … But I wouldn’t have a proper answer if people later ask me: ‘Why didn’t you take pictures?’” He added: “I even thought about friends and colleagues who have died while taking photographs in conflict zones over the years.” All the while, Ozbilici continued working, documenting the political assassination from a perspective that would lead news outlets across the globe within hours. “As my mind raced, I saw that the man was agitated – and yet, he was, strangely, in control of himself. He shouted at everyone to stand back. Security guards ordered us to vacate the hall and we left.” Ozbilici told CNN it wasn’t until later when he began editing his photos that he truly comprehended the premeditation behind the shooter’s calculated attack. “When I got back to edit my photos, I saw (in) my two very first photos (that) the gunman was standing behind ambassador … like he was part of embassy staff or somebody from the art gallery – very calm. “I felt very bad to see an innocent man lying on the ground… lifeless.” Within minutes of their release, Ozbilici’s photographs spread like wildfire through social networks. Photographers and journalists the world over praised his composure in the face of terror. What bravery AP's @BurhanOzbilici showed to capture those photos. Wire staff very often unsung and very often the heroes of this trade. pic.twitter.com/JYpXbrxIUm “What bravery AP’s @BurhanOzbilici showed to capture those photos. Wire staff very often unsung and very often the heroes of this trade,” wrote Barry Malone, online editor at Al Jazeera English. Journalist Bronwen Dickey wrote on Twitter: “Before I die, may I know one-hundreth of @BurhanOzbilici’s courage.” Hiroko Tabuchi of The New York Times added: “Awed by the courage of the photographer who captured this terrifying shot. (Credit: Burhan Ozbilici/AP).”


A top White House aide called Steve Bannon’s comments in a new book on President Donald Trump “grotesque” Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” before anchor Jake Tapper cut him off for not answering questions. “It’s tragic and unfortunate that Steve would make these grotesque comments so out of touch with reality and obviously so vindictive,” White House senior policy adviser Stephen Miller said, referring to Trump’s former chief strategist. During the contentious interview, Miller offered largely combative responses and focused on presenting Trump as a “political genius,” repeatedly refusing to answer questions until Tapper decided to cut him off and move to the next segment. CNN has not independently confirmed all the assertions in “Fire and Fury” by author Michael Wolff, which portrays Trump allies questioning the President’s mental fitness for office. Trump on Saturday took to Twitter to defend his mental abilities, saying he is “like, really smart” and a “very stable genius.” The White House issued a statement Wednesday attacking Bannon as excerpts of the book emerged with quotes attributed to him that denigrated the President and Donald Trump Jr. The book quotes Bannon as saying a 2016 Trump Tower meeting between Trump campaign officials and a Russian lawyer purportedly offering damaging information about Hillary Clinton was “treasonous.” Miller on Sunday echoed the language of the White House’s statement to attack Bannon as well as CNN. “(Bannon’s) role has been greatly exaggerated, whereas the President hasn’t gotten the due that he deserves for the movement that he put together to tap into the kinds of people whose life concerns don’t get a lot of attention on CNN,” Miller said. Miller praised Trump extensively, saying the “reality” is that the President is a political genius and that Trump’s Twitter missive declaring himself a “very stable genius” did not undermine the claim. “The President’s tweets absolutely reaffirm the plainspoken truth: A self-made billionaire revolutionized reality TV and tapped into something magical that’s happening in the hearts of this country,” Miller said. Trump again slammed the book on Twitter Sunday morning and appeared to reference questions raised about the mental fitness of former President Ronald Reagan, who disclosed in 1994 that he had Alzheimer’s disease. “I’ve had to put up with the Fake News from the first day I announced that I would be running for President. Now I have to put up with a Fake Book, written by a totally discredited author. Ronald Reagan had the same problem and handled it well. So will I!” Trump wrote. I’ve had to put up with the Fake News from the first day I announced that I would be running for President. Now I have to put up with a Fake Book, written by a totally discredited author. Ronald Reagan had the same problem and handled it well. So will I!


Veteran war crimes prosecutor Carla del Ponte is quitting the UN’s  Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria, the panel confirmed on Sunday. Del Ponte was one of three members on the UN-appointed panel tasked with probing human rights violations in Syria, including chemical weapons attacks, torture of prisoners, and the targeting of hospitals. “I am quitting this commission, which is not backed by any political will,” she told a panel discussion at the Locarno Film Festival, Reuters reported. “I have no power as long as the Security Council does nothing,” she added. “We are powerless, there is no justice for Syria.” Del Ponte has served on the commission since September 2012 – one year after the Syrian conflict started. Since it began, the Syrian civil war has left some 400,000 people dead and millions displaced. Related article Gasping for life: Syria's merciless war on its own children The UN Commission of Inquiry said in a statement that its work would continue after del Ponte’s departure. “It is our obligation to persist in its work on behalf of the countless number of Syrian victims of the worst human rights violations and international crimes known to humanity,” the commission said, thanking del Ponte for her contributions. “Such efforts are needed now more than ever.” Del Ponte informed her colleagues, Brazil’s Paulo Pinheiro and Karen Koning AbuZayd from the United States, in mid-June of her decision to leave, according to the statement. The commission, which was appointed by the Geneva-based United Nations Human Rights Council, has produced a number of reports chronicling evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity. In 2016, the panel found that ISIS had committed genocide against the Yazidi religious minority. In the same year, it documented how government forces unlawfully detained and tortured people in Syrian prisons. Related article 8 times Russia blocked a UN Security Council resolution on Syria In order to prosecute such crimes, the Security Council must refer the conflict to the International Criminal Court, which is unlikely given Russia’s power to veto such a move. Russia has supported Syria since the beginning of the conflict in 2011, providing military assistance to President Bashar al-Assad’s government. Del Ponte, a former Swiss attorney general who made her name prosecuting war crimes in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, said the crimes she’s seen in Syria are unparalleled – hinting at her exasperation over a lack of accountability. “What we have seen here in Syria, I never saw that in Rwanda, or in former Yugoslavia, in the Balkans. It is really a big tragedy,” she added. “Unfortunately we have no tribunal.”


Here’s what you might have missed on CNN today: – Russian government officials discussed potentially “derogatory” information about then-presidential candidate Donald Trump and associates during his campaign, sources say. –Michael Cohen, one of Trump’s personal attorneys, declined to cooperate with congressional investigators. – President Trump urged Republicans to change Senate rules to a simple majority vote to speed up passage of health care and tax reform bills. – White House communications director Mike Dubke is leaving the administration. – Tiger Woods was found asleep at the wheel the morning of his arrest on suspicion of DUI. – ISIS bombing targeted an ice cream parlor. – One officer was fired and one suspended in the Tamir Rice shooting probe. – Venezuelans are furious with Goldman Sachs. – The gay son of an Indian immigrant is likely to be Ireland’s next leader. – Do school dress codes end up body-shaming girls? – A new antibiotic could stop superbugs, but it’ll be years before it hits the market.


U.S. and NATO say missile defense system is to defend against Iran Putin must be taken seriously, military analyst says Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia will retaliate against the placement of U.S. missiles in nearby countries such as Romania, according to Russia’s state-run news agency TASS. The United States launched a ground-based missile defense system earlier this month in Romania. The system is meant to defend Europe against rogue states like Iran and not intended to target Moscow’s missiles, Washington has said. Putin issued his threat during a news conference Friday after meeting with Greek Prime Minister Aleksis Tsipras in Athens. Related video See Russian jets buzz U.S. Navy ship “If yesterday in those areas of Romania people simply didn’t know what it means to be in the cross hairs, then today we will be forced to carry out certain measures to ensure our security,” Putin said. Could Russia REALLY go to war with NATO? NATO, which operates the missile defense system, said the missiles could not be used offensively as they don’t include explosives and are designed to simply “punch” targets out of the sky. “Any threats from Russia are unjustified and irresponsible,” said NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu. “Russia knows full well that our Ballistic Missile Defense system is defensive and neither designed nor directed against Russia.” Related video The power of Russia's military The NATO run system is housed at a U.S. naval support facility in Deveselu, Romania, the site of a Romanian military base. An additional anti-missile platform is planned in Poland. “It will be the same case with Poland,” Putin warned. “We will wait until Poland takes certain action. We won’t take any action until we see rockets in areas that neighbor us.” U.S. launches long-awaited European missile defense shield Putin has a track record of acting on this threats, so Washington and NATO have to take him seriously, military analyst Lt. Col. Rick Francona (ret.) told CNN. Related video See Russian jets buzz U.S. Navy ship “I don’t think he wants to get into an armed confrontation with NATO,” Francona said, “but of course Washington has to look at this. He is a very maniacal personality and we’re not quite sure how he’s going to react to this.” Putin’s foreign policy in numbers NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will visit Poland Monday and meet with Polish President Andrzej Duda. The missile installation in Romania is the first land-based defensive missile launcher in Europe. It is part of a larger NATO defense shield that includes a command-and-control center at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, a radar installation in Turkey and four ships capable of identifying enemy missiles and firing their own SM-3s based in Rota, Spain.


Austria’s new coalition government, which includes the far-right Freedom Party, was sworn in on Monday as demonstrators protested outside. President Alexander Van der Bellen, a member of the Green Party, presided over the ceremony at Vienna’s Hofburg Palace. The new Chancellor is the leader of the center-right People’s Party. Sebastian Kurz, at 31, is the youngest leader in the world. The vice chancellor is Heinz Christian Strache, 48, a former dental technician and the Freedom Party’s leader. Police say between 5,000 and 6,000 people attended a demonstration against the new government in Heldenplatz square in front of the palace as the inauguration ceremony was underway. Bearing placards like “Don’t Let Nazis Govern,” the protesters included women’s groups and left-wing parties. Austrian police said in a tweet some “pyrotechnical” missiles were thrown by demonstrators. “After throwing several pyrotechnical objects, they are being asked to stop doing so,” the police said. Even so, protests were muted compared to the last time the far-right entered government in Austria in 2000, when demonstrations nearly brought Vienna to a halt. “As representative of all Austrians I have the will and the well-being of everyone in mind,” President Van der Bellen said in a tweet. “Incidentally, the same applies also to the new government. From now on, it too has to take the well-being of all Austrians into account,” he said. When the Freedom Party joined the coalition in 2000, the European Union slapped sanctions on Vienna to protest the presence of the far right in the birthplace of Adolf Hitler. So far this time, the response from Austria’s EU partners has been cautious. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said at a press conference Monday she hoped Austria would remain “an active partner in Europe.” She did not mention the far-right. She later called Kurz and invited him to come to Berlin soon. President of the European Council Donald Tusk issued a statement saying: “I trust that the Austrian government will continue to play a constructive and pro-European role in the European Union. “This is especially important at a time when the European Council is engaging more directly on politically sensitive issues in the context of the Leaders’ Agenda. I am looking forward to meeting you soon and to closely cooperating with you during the Austrian Presidency of the European Union in the second half of 2018”. Kurz is set to travel to Brussels on Tuesday for a meeting with Tusk and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. He will meet Wednesday with Antonio Tajani, president of the European Parliament. Unlike in Germany, where the success of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in recent elections caused a seismic shock, the Freedom Party has long been part of Austria’s political landscape. Founded by former Nazis in the 1950s, it first entered government 17 years ago, the first far-right party to do so in postwar Europe. Strache has sought to modernize the party, though accusations of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia continue to linger. Austria took in around 90,000 asylum seekers in 2015, representing about 1% of its population, many fleeing the war in Syria. The new Austrian government’s program includes pledges to stop illegal immigration and slash taxes, as well as oppose further EU political and economic integration. In a coalition statement following their agreement on Friday, the new government said it wanted to “steer the EU back in the right direction towards its fundamental ideas,” meaning less centralized decision making. It also plans a clampdown on asylum seekers, offering only temporary protection. “Immigration into the Austrian social welfare state…must be stopped,” the coalition said. The coalition said it was prepared to close Islamic schools to prevent what it described as “the creation of parallel societies.” Some of the strongest reactions to the new government came from Turkey. “Islamophobic, antisemitic, xenophobic and anti-migrant parties are on the rise. Now this movement is in power in Austria,” tweeted Omer Celik, Turkey’s EU Affairs Minister. The World Jewish Congress also expressed unease. “It is severely disquieting that despite the many real concerns known and expressed about the (Freedom Party), it will now retain a position of serious influence, giving the Austrian government a real push even further to the right,”   WJC President Ronald S. Lauder said in a statement published on the WJC website. Right-of-center politicians were more positive. Alice Weidel, co-leader of Alternative for Germany, tweeted “Austria will change, and drastically. And I’m looking forward to that!” The AfD entered the German Parliament for the first time after emerging from federal elections in September as the country’s third-largest party. Nadine Schmidt in Berlin also contributed to this article.


Mohamed Fahmy is one of three Al Jazeera journalists accused of supporting Muslim Brotherhood At his trial on Wednesday, owner of another TV channel testifies about media procedures and Fahmy's character Naguib Sawiris says he's sure Fahmy was not part of Muslim Brotherhood The legalities and procedures of journalism were questioned at the trial of Al Jazeera journalists in Egypt on Wednesday as business tycoon Naguib Sawiris took the stand to testify in favor of the main defendant, Mohamed Fahmy. The judge asked Sawiris in his capacity as the owner of an Egyptian satellite channel, ON TV, if he would hire an unlicensed reporter and if laws permit his channel to broadcast from the official “media city” outside Cairo or elsewhere in the country. In addition to the media city, TV channels can get permits to broadcast unfolding events on site, Sawiris told the court. “There is no law that forbids this. … And up to this moment, there are channels that broadcast from hotels.” Fahmy, Baher Mohamed and Peter Greste were arrested in Egypt in December 2013, accused of supporting the Muslim Brotherhood and broadcasting footage – including video of clashes between police and protesters – that portrayed the regime falsely with the intention of bringing it down. Fahmy and Greste were arrested at their room at the Marriott Hotel. The journalists have said they were just doing their jobs, covering all sides of the stories in Egypt. At the time of their arrest, Egypt was mired in political turmoil surrounding the coup of President Mohamed Morsy and his Muslim Brotherhood-backed government. After Morsy’s ouster, the military, which had staged the coup, declared the longtime political party a terrorist organization. All three were convicted last year on charges that included conspiring with the Brotherhood, spreading false news and endangering national security, but they have maintained their innocence. The three appealed their convictions, and in January their attorneys announced that Egypt’s highest court had granted them a retrial. The judge expressed reservations about Sawiris’ statement that journalists would be allowed to broadcast from anyplace. “We’ve realized a year ago, when we first walked into court, that the judicial community and the prosecutor were pretty much clueless about what it means to be a journalist, the details of what restrictions and what rules are required  to be a journalist in Egypt, and I think they were picking up on it as the trial went on,” Fahmy told CNN outside the court. Defense lawyers will have to explain to the judge the laws that regulate print and TV journalists’ accreditation and limitations to the press syndicate membership. READ: Amal Clooney to push Egypt to free Fahmy The main charge in the trial remains terrorism. Sawiris testified that Fahmy – accused of being the ringleader of what the police and the local media describe as the “Marriott cell” – is not a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, which is designated by authorities as a terrorist organization. “I knew Fahmy when he worked with CNN, which interviewed me repeatedly. They used to work from the Intercontinental Hotel,” Sawiris told the court. “I can say that Mohamed Fahmy can’t belong to the Muslim Brotherhood, and this is based on general discussions and, to my knowledge, his participation in the January 25 (revolution) and the June 30 protests before getting rid of the (Muslim Brotherhood) regime.” Sawiris was called as a character witness, drawing on his fame as one of the main opposition voices against the Muslim Brotherhood during and after its control of Egypt’s government. He repeatedly told the court he is not neutral and his personal views would conflict with his opinion about professional journalism practices. He explained that the role of Al Jazeera English was different from the “incitement” of its sister channel, Jazeera Mubasher Masr. The defendants are accused of working with Mubasher Masr, which was banned by an Egyptian court and was later shut down by Al Jazeera management during attempts at diplomatic reconciliation between Egypt and Qatar. Confusion arose about the case of Greste, the Australian journalist who spent over a year behind bars following his arrest in Cairo. He was released and deported in February and returned to Australia. He was the first to benefit from a new law allowing the president to extradite foreign defendants and convicts held in prison. It’s not clear how the law would be implemented when it comes to an ongoing trial, whether Greste would be tried in absentia or if he could be put on trial in his home country. The judge told lawyers that there is nothing in court documents about his current status. The judge ordered the prosecution to provide proof that Greste has left Egypt and to obtain documents from the State Information Services on whether the journalists were accredited and had permits to broadcast throughout Egypt. The trial will resume on April 28. CNN’s Ian Lee and Jason Hanna contributed to this report.


Editor’s Note: James Shields is professor of French politics and modern history at Aston University in the United Kingdom. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author. Jeb Bush has apologized for comparing the U.S. Senate to a "French work week" James Shields: His remarks do a positive service to France by offering a chance to set facts straight Never let the facts get in the way of a good jibe. Or a bad one. Jeb Bush has apologized for comparing the U.S. Senate to a “French work week” requiring only three days’ attendance of his presidential rival, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida. The remark, made during the recent GOP debate, was widely reported in France and drew a rare rebuke from the French ambassador in Washington, Gérard Araud, who tweeted less than diplomatically: “A French work week of 3 days? No but a pregnancy paid leave of 16 weeks yes! And proud of it.” There is, of course, a long Anglo-Saxon tradition of sneering at the Gallic way of doing things. The French have even coined a name for it: “le French bashing.” After his swipe at the French work ethic, however, Bush seems keen to make amends. So he has issued a mea culpa, acknowledging, according to Time magazine, that he “totally insulted an entire country” and “did a huge disservice to France.” But did he? The answer has to be no, since his remarks do a positive service to France by offering a chance to set a few facts straight. So let’s do just that. The French officially work a 35-hour week, but this is just a threshold beyond which employers are obliged to pay overtime or offer rest days in return for extra hours worked. And very many employees do work more hours. According to Eurostat figures for 2014, full-time employees in France work on average 40.5 hours per week compared with 41.5 hours in Germany and across the European Union as a whole. In terms of hours worked in the year, the French average 1,473, exceeding the Germans on 1,371 but far from the 1,789 hours worked on average in the United States. And what about time away from work? When it comes to paid vacation, the United States and France occupy opposite ends of the spectrum. A report in 2013 on statutory paid vacation requirements across the world’s richest countries found the United States to be the only one that did not require employers to provide paid vacation time. The same report showed France to have the most lavish provision with 30 work days of paid vacation annually. This gulf in paid leave entitlement goes a long way to explaining why employees in the United States work so many more hours in the year than their French counterparts. So how does France fare on that ultimate measure of output for input that we call “productivity,” or goods and services produced? Really rather well. For gross domestic product per hour worked, figures from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) show French workers to be among the most productive in the EU, outperformed only by workers in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. Average workforce productivity in France was valued last year at $64 per hour, compared with an OECD average of $49 and an EU average of $49.90. German productivity comes in marginally lower at $63.50. And if workers in the United States come out as more productive at $67.40, workers in the United Kingdom lag way behind French workers at $49.20. So there we have it. The French do work and they do produce. They also enjoy the most generously funded vacation entitlement in the developed world. Fewer employees work very long hours than in the United States, with more time devoted to leisure and personal care. And if they are less productive than their U.S. colleagues while they are working, the French stand a better chance of living longer once they stop. Has France’s impugned national honor been restored then? Ambassador Araud was quick to accept Bush’s apology, tweeting in a blend of English and Latin: “Everything is forgotten and forgiven. Errare humanum …” To err may indeed be human. But a presidential hopeful would do better to be known for getting things right than to be forgiven for getting them wrong. Join us on Facebook.com/CNNOpinion.Read CNNOpinion’s Flipboard magazine.