The team of reporters, researchers and editors across CNN listened throughout the speeches CNN rated key statements as either true; mostly true; true, but misleading; false; or it's complicated The Republican Party gathered in Cleveland Monday for the first night of its convention, and CNN’s Reality Check Team put the speakers’ statements and assertions to the test. The team of reporters, researchers and editors across CNN listened throughout the speeches and selected key statements, rating them true; mostly true; true, but misleading; false; or it’s complicated. Reality Check: McCaul on Clinton’s plans for borders, Syrian refugees By Sonam Vashi, CNN “Hillary Clinton is promising more of the same. Open borders, executive amnesty and the surge of Syrian refugees,” said Mike McCaul, R-Texas, the chairman of the Homeland Security Commission. Clinton’s platform on immigration incorporates a pathway to citizenship and enforcing immigration laws, including deporting people who “pose a violent threat to public safety.” Clinton said in November that the US needs “to secure our borders. I’m for it, I voted for it, I believe in it, and we also need to deal with the families, the workers who are here, who have made contributions, and their children.” She also said in March that the US has “done a really good job securing the border.” Clinton’s proposed policies and past rhetoric do not reflect open borders. That’s false. Clinton does support President Barack Obama’s executive actions on immigrations, called DACA and DAPA, which were recently blocked by a deadlocked decision from the Supreme Court. Those actions are often called “executive amnesty” by conservatives, although the programs would only give temporary status some undocumented workers, not permanent status. That’s true, but misleading. Lastly, Clinton has advocated for a significant increase in the number of Syrian refugees. We’ve checked this claim a few times. In September, the White House announced it planned to admit 10,000 Syrian refugees this fiscal year, a significant bump at that point from the 1,500 refugees admitted since the start of the Syrian conflict in 2011. Shortly after, on CBS News’ “Face the Nation,” Clinton was asked if the current U.S. plan to increase the number of admitted Syrian refugees to 10,000 was enough. She replied, “I would like to see us move from what is a good start with 10,000 to 65,000 and begin immediately to put into place the mechanisms for vetting the people that we would take in.” So, it’s true that Clinton supports a surge in Syrian refugees. Reality Check: Sessions on middle-class incomes By Tami Luhby, CNN Money Republicans have been knocking Obama and Clinton for the declining fortunes of middle-class Americans throughout this election cycle. Speaking at the GOP convention on Monday evening, Sessions hit on this issue once again. “Fellow Republicans, we must understand that the incomes of middle-class Americans today are $4,000 less per year than in 1999. This is an economic disaster. We’re on the wrong track and the American people know it.” CNN’s Reality Check Team looked into how middle-class Americans have fared in recent years. It’s true that median household income was $4,186 lower in 2014, the latest figure available, than it was in 1999, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. However, that time period encompasses the administrations of both George W. Bush and Obama. Incomes declined more under Bush, a Republican, than under Obama. In 2000, just before Bush took office, median income stood at $57,724. By 2008, the last year of his term, it had declined $2,411 to $55,313, due in part to the Great Recession. By 2014, median income was at $53,657, or $1,656 lower than it was just before Obama’s administration began. We rate Session’s statement as true, but misleading, because he implies that Obama administration bears the sole responsibility. Reality Check: Sessions on new jobs going to immigrants By Tami Luhby, CNN Money Immigration is one of the hot button topics in this year’s election. Sessions stirred the flames in his Monday speech, saying that immigrants have taken all the jobs created in recent years. “From 2000 to 2014, while our existing population increased by millions, the number of jobs held by Americans actually declined. Amazingly, all the net job growth during that period went to immigrants,” he said. Sessions is citing a 2014 report by the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates curbing immigration to the US. The report says there are 5.7 million more immigrants with jobs than there were in 2000, while the number of native-born Americans, ages 16 to 65, with jobs declined by 127,000. It is based on Bureau of Labor Statistics data. The center, however, is looking at the change in employment for workers in a specific age range, 16 to 65. In a footnote, the center points out that expanding the range to all workers 16 and up, which includes older workers, native-born employment grew by 2.6 million. Therefore, Sessions’ statement that immigrants have taken all the jobs is false. Reality Check: Glenn on racial divisions, neighborhood safety By Sonam Vashi, CNN Glenn, a Colorado Senate candidate, made a few assertions about Obama. “We’re more racially divided today than before he ran,” Glenn said. Still referring to Obama, he went on to say, “Here’s some more facts, Mr. President: Neighborhoods have become more violent under your watch.” There have been a number of polls surveying America’s racial climate. A recent Pew Research Center survey found that about 61% of black people polled said race relations were generally bad, compared with 45% of white people (and a similar percent of white people said race relations were generally good). The New York Times and other polls have shown similar trends. In 2008, Pew reported that 52% of Americans thought race relations would get better with Obama’s election as President, including 75% of black respondents and 49% of white respondents. Pew’s recent findings indicate that 34% of Americans think the President has made progress on improving race relations, while 28% think he has tried but failed to make progress, and 25% think Obama has made race relations worse. The optimism Americans felt on race following Obama’s election has evidently dwindled, although at least one major survey finds that it’s unclear whether Americans feel that it is the fault of the President or not. We rate that part of Glenn’s claim as true, but misleading. Glenn also said American neighborhoods have become more violent since Obama has been in office. According to the most recent FBI data, violent crime across the nation has decreased since 2008. The violent crime rate (or the number of violent crime offenses divided by the U.S. population) was 458.6 in 2008 and 365.5 in 2014 – a 20% decrease. Glenn’s assertion here is false. Reality Check: Clarke on Americans’ worried about crime and violence By Chip Grabow, CNN Clarke said America cannot be great if Americans don’t feel safe in their homes, their streets and their communities. He said, “a recent Gallup poll confirms it. More than half of all Americans now worry a great deal about crime and violence, up consistently and dramatically from just a few years ago.” A Gallup poll from March cites the percentage of Americans who worry “a great deal” about crime and violence at 53%. It was an increase of 14 percentage points since 2014. The poll said that “level of concern about crime and violence was at its highest point in 15 years.” The public’s fear of crime, as the Gallup poll data shows, may be on the rise. But all that fear has been coming during a period when crime is actually declining. According to data from the FBI, the violent crime rate has declined 27.6% from 2001 to 2014. Verdict: True, but misleading. Reality Check: Security at Benghazi mission By Eve Bower, CNN Patricia Smith made a deeply emotional speech about her connection to the September 11, 2012, attack on a United States diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya. Smith’s son, Sean, was an employee of the US Foreign Service and was killed in the attack. The circumstances that gave rise to the attack, and the way communication about the attack was handled afterward, have become enduring controversies for Clinton, who was secretary of state at the time. From the convention podium, Smith placed the blame for her son’s death squarely on Clinton, saying, the night before the attack, Smith’s son told her “all security had been pulled from the embassy,” but “when he asked why, he never received a response.” Smith’s blame for Clinton is not substantiated by testimony and reports investigating the run-up to the attack. In fact, there have been nine separate investigations into what happened at that compound. Seven have been nonpartisan; one was led by House Republicans; and one was led by the State Department. None of them have found Clinton to be at fault. Here’s the list: The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform; The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs; The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence; The House Committee on Foreign Affairs; The House Committee on the Judiciary; The House Committee on Armed Services; The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence; The House Select Committee on Benghazi; The State Department’s Accountability Review Board The House Select Committee on Benghazi’s report, released last month, noted that in early August 2012, the mission had 34 security staff. By the end of the month – some two weeks before the attack – there were just six. During the committee’s hearings last year, Kansas Republican Rep. Mike Pompeo estimated that there were about 600 requests or concerns raised about security at the Benghazi facility. Clinton herself acknowledged these in her testimony before the committee. She said “a number of” requests for security were made, but that those requests never crossed her desk. The investigatory board deemed the State Department responsible for not adequately responding to security concerns, but found no evidence that Clinton was directly responsible for the inadequate response. Smith also said she was unsatisfied with the explanations for her son’s death, claiming a discrepancy between a leaked email Clinton sent to her daughter, calling the attack terrorism, and what Smith said Clinton told her at her son’s coffin ceremony, that “a video was responsible.” Smith said, “She lied to me and then called me a liar.” The “video” Smith mentioned was an inflammatory video made in the US, backed by anti-Islam groups, and uploaded to YouTube in the weeks before the attack. When asked about the conversation in late 2015, Clinton told a New Hampshire paper that she did not tell the families anything about the video, attributing the varying accounts of words exchanged that day to “the fog of war.” The conversations that took place at that private ceremony were not recorded, and Smith’s description of events varies from Clinton’s. To make matters murkier, there are others present at the ceremony who support Smith’s and Clinton’s versions, respectively. In a public statement Clinton made three days after the attack, she said, “We’ve seen rage and violence directed at American embassies over an awful Internet video,” but in that statement, she did not directly cite that video as the cause of the attack. Because Clinton’s role in the attack in Benghazi has been thoroughly investigated and she has been cleared of wrongdoing, we find Smith’s claim of culpability false. Because we do not know the contents of a private conversation – a conversation in which each party has given a different version of events – we rate Smith’s claim about being called a liar it’s complicated. Reality Check: Flynn on Obama’s ‘red line’ on Syria By Ryan Browne, CNN National Security Producer Flynn, who was often floated as a potential running mate for Trump, slammed the Obama administration Monday, saying, “a commander in chief does not draw ‘red-lines’ and then retreat.” Flynn was referring to Obama’s well-known warning during the open stages of the Syrian Civil War where he said, “We have been very clear to the Assad regime – but also to other players on the ground – that a red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized.” “That would change my calculus; that would change my equation,” Obama added. At the time, Flynn headed the Defense Intelligence Agency. Assad would eventually use chemical weapons against rebel forces, something Obama called “an assault on human dignity,” adding that failure to use force “in retaliation could lead to escalating use of chemical weapons or their proliferation to terrorist groups who would do our people harm. In a world with many dangers, this menace must be confronted.” However, after initially considering retaliatory airstrikes but failing to gain approval from a Republican-controlled Congress, Obama opted to scrap the attack plan. He opted later to pursue a Russian diplomatic proposal to remove the chemical stockpiles. Obama told The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg in an April interview it was “as tough a decision as I’ve made – and I believe ultimately it was the right decision to make.” The President did abandon airstrikes after initially mobilizing his national security apparatus and military to penalize the Assad campaign for its use of chemical weapons. Verdict: True. Reality Check: Ernst on ISIS in all 50 states By Chip Grabow, CNN Criticizing the Obama administration’s track record fighting ISIS, Ernst said the terrorist group’s threat is not limited to the Middle East, but is spreading. “Terrorists from ISIS are in every one of our 50 states,” Ernst said. Is it that widespread? During testimony given in October to the House Homeland Security Committee, FBI Director James Comey described how ISIS attempts to lure new recruits abroad. “ISIL has used the ubiquitous social media to break the model and push into the United States on the mobile devices of troubled souls in all 50 states a twin message: come or kill,” Comey said. He went on to say the FBI had an estimated 900 investigations against homegrown violent extremists, the majority being ISIS-related. In other comments made last year, Comey said the FBI has found ISIS leaders communicating with potential recruits in all 50 states. He told the National Association of Attorneys General, “We have investigations of people in various stages of radicalizing in all 50 states.” While the FBI may have terror investigations in all 50 states, many of which are related to suspected ISIS sympathizers, there have been arrests of ISIS sympathizers in just 24 states, and Ernst didn’t provide any evidence that there are ISIS terrorists in all 50 states. Therefore, we judge her statement false.


The truce involves the rebel-held city of Zabadani and the towns of Kefraya and al-Fouaa It's reportedly been negotiated between pro-government forces and rebel groups A 48-hour truce began early Wednesday between pro-government forces and rebel groups in three Syrian towns, Hezbollah-run Al-Manar television reported. The truce involves the rebel-held city of Zabadani on the outskirts of Damascus, and the towns of Kefraya and al-Fouaa on the outskirts of Idlib in the north. The ceasefire began at 6 a.m. Wednesday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London-based monitoring group, reported that negotiations were ongoing between “Iranian delegations and Hezbollah on one hand and the local Zabadani fighters and fighters of the factions in the other hand.” These involve two key issues, the group said – providing buses to evacuate Ahrar Al-Sham rebels from Zabadani, and allowing food aid into Kefraya and al-Fouaa, which have been besieged by rebel groups. Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif arrived in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, where he met with senior figures including the leader of Hezbollah, the Hezbollah media relations office said. He is also expected to visit Syria on his tour, Lebanon’s official news agency said. Iran props up both the Lebanese Shia militia Hezbollah and the government of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria. CNN’s Salim Essaid and Schams Elwazer contributed to this report.

the truce between pro-government forces and rebel groups in Syria


Unclear when plan would be presented to Congress Republican lawmakers have vowed to block President Obama Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Thursday he is readying a plan for President Barack Obama that would house some remaining Guantanamo Bay detainees in a secure facility in the U.S. “That plan will propose bringing those detainees to an appropriate, secure location in the United States,” Carter said. “While we work with Congress on a way forward, we will continue to transfer Guantanamo detainees to other countries when and as we have mitigated the risk to the United States.” A senior administration official said the plan does not include naming a specific site for relocation but rather includes a list of potential locations. The possibilities are understood to include the federal Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado; the military prison in Leavenworth, Kansas; and the Naval Consolidated Brig in Charleston, South Carolina. The official said Obama is in the “final stages” of reviewing the plan. It is unclear when the administration’s proposal to bring detainees to the U.S. will be presented to Congress, but House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, a Republican, is not waiting to blast it. “What Commander in Chief would let the enemy go back to the battlefield in the middle of a war?” said McCaul in a statement Thursday. “Sadly, the President seems more focused on letting terrorists loose than on rounding them up.” And House Speaker Paul Ryan responded to Carters announcement that some detainees will be brought to the U.S. by saying in a statement, “There’s only one problem with that, Mr. Secretary: It’s illegal, and that’s not going to change anytime soon.” Carter’s announcement came as the population of the detention center dropped below 100. The U.S. military transferred 10 more of the detainees from the prison on Wednesday, delivering them to the government of Oman. That leaves 93 at the facility – 34 of them already cleared for removal – down from a peak in 2003 of 680. Those who were removed this week include members of al Qaeda who fought U.S. forces in Afghanistan, including a member of Osama Bin Laden’s security detail and five detainees who were deemed “high risk” to the U.S. and its allies after a 2008 review. Obama says the prison – which holds suspected members of terrorist groups captured overseas – is a recruiting tool for terrorists and costly to maintain. During his presidency, the number of detainees has dropped from 241 to 107. But the President has hit roadblock after roadblock – most often placed by Republicans on Capitol Hill – in his effort to clear out the prison, one of his key campaign promises and something he reiterated during his State of the Union address on Tuesday. “The administration is working within the current statutory regime to make sure that owe can reduce that population,” Attorney General Loretta Lynch said in an interview with CNN on Wednesday. “I believe the President looks forward to continuing the discussion with Congress on the best way to resolve the matter.” CNN’s Kevin Liptak and Kevin Bohn contributed to this report.


Trump is acting on what he believes is a mandate from American voters He has advanced his America First agenda on the world stage In his first year as president, Donald Trump has torn at a thread running through international affairs for 75 years – the idea of the United States as a predictable bastion of global stability and champion of Western values. Trump, with bull-in-a-Twitter-feed diplomacy reflecting his impulsive, combative character, has turned the United States into an unpredictable and disruptive force. His attitude is born of a belief in keeping his enemies – and friends – off balance and rooted in his view that the rest of the world is exploiting America and his belief that the burdens of US leadership are too costly. Trump’s smoldering rhetoric, disdain for multilateral diplomacy, distrust of trade deals and apparent racial and religious prejudices have changed the kind of behavior the world expects from a US president. Related article Trump's first year of diplomacy finds friends and foes Trump maintains that his leadership is clearing up a global “mess” he inherited, and “America is being respected again abroad.” Yet his directional shift has compromised America’s image abroad, left the world uncertain about US policy on key issues and has allied leaders foundering as they work out whether flattering, appeasing, teaching or ignoring Trump works best. But no one should be surprised that Trump is acting on what he believes is a mandate from American voters. A year ago in his inaugural address, Trump delivered a stark warning to a world that had watched his campaign with a mixture of fascination and horror: that long-held assumptions about US behavior were no longer operable. “From this moment on, it’s going to be America First,” the President said. The roots of his foreign policy were right there in the speech, as he painted a picture of a world that had exploited American generosity, ripped off US firms and workers and was festering with radical Islamic extremism. He’s been as good as his word, putting his vision of America’s best interests first: pulling out of the Paris climate accord, ditching the vast Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact, attempting to kill the Iran nuclear deal, castigating NATO leaders for not paying their fair share and saying he would move the US Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. Each decision flew in the face of international consensus and the best advice of foreign policy elites at home. Often, foreign policy decisions seemed to be motivated more by a desire to please the 35% or so of Americans who compose Trump’s base and embrace his populist nationalism than from any sense of long-range foreign policy strategy. Trump’s fiery temperament, including flippant comments about the possibility of nuclear war, shattered conventions governing how presidents normally talk and engage with the world and have stoked fears about his readiness to lead in the event of a dangerous global crisis. Trump’s militaristic rhetoric and decision to gut his own State Department, his attacks on the press, downplaying of human rights and cozying up to autocrats raised doubts about whether he subscribed not just to Western values, but also to the fundamental principles on which America is built. Related article US slumps in global leadership poll after Trump's 1st year A new Gallup poll released Thursday put global approval of US leadership at just 30%, down from 48% in the last year of President Barack Obama’s administration. Germany was the top-rated global power, while China had edged ahead of the United States, at 31%. Across Europe, there is concern that issues crucial to the continent’s security, like the Iran nuclear deal and climate change, are becoming collateral damage to Trump’s desire to satisfy his political base. In Asia, there is mystification about what often is viewed as a US retreat, at a moment when China is stronger and more aggressive than it has been for centuries and keen to exploit a power vacuum. Part of the problem is that it’s often difficult to work out exactly what US foreign policy is on many issues. There is the orthodox, Republican approach pursued by Defense Secretary James Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson enshrined in the new National Security Strategy. Then there is the policy spelled out in Trump’s explosive tweets that have rebuked foreign leaders, poured oil on sensitive diplomatic negotiations and kept his own subordinates in line – as when he told Tillerson the secretary of state was “wasting his time” by trying to negotiate with North Korea over the nuclear crisis. Yet, as always with Trump, there is a tendency for the noise and chaos he creates to trample cool analysis. Some foreign policy experts say his performance is in fact more proficient than he makes it look. Alan Mendoza, executive director of the Henry Jackson Society think tank in London, says Trump is addressing the flaws of the Obama presidency, which he says was a period of retrenchment and decayed US prestige that left Iran rampant, Russia undeterred and North Korea racing toward a deliverable nuclear bomb and triggered human carnage in Syria. “It is clear that President Trump is unorthodox. It is clear that he is offensive in some ways, but has he got results? In many ways he has,” Mendoza said. Mendoza said Trump’s pressure appeared to have prompted European leaders to up military spending, and he praised the President for enforcing a red line against the use of chemical weapons in Syria with military action – unlike Obama. He said Trump’s approach has persuaded North Korea that the President is serious about potential military action, and may have prompted its diplomatic outreach to the South. “There is a lot of focus on the methodology of how the Trump administration conducts its policy, and far less paid to the results of what is happening. It’s only one year in but we have seen some positive signs,” he added. Still, there is consternation in many parts of the world about Trump’s approach. In Asia, US friends worry that his withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal has ceded the primary role in writing the rules of a huge chunk of the global economy to China. Chinese President Xi Jinping, meanwhile, has indicated he is ready to exploit perceptions that Washington is stepping back. He portrayed himself at last year’s World Economic Forum as the guardian of free trade, in a groundbreaking appearance that may have prompted Trump to travel next week to this year’s event in Davos, Switzerland. The power shift is worrying key US allies in the region. Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsieng Loong asked Americans a startling question in a speech in Washington last year: “What do you believe? Where do you stand? Do you still believe that you still have the most to gain from an interdependent world, open exchanges and multilateral rules?” In the Middle East, the Trump administration has had perhaps its greatest foreign policy success, with the defeat of ISIS in Syria, albeit by carrying out a plan initiated by the Obama administration. Trump has repaired US relations with Saudi Arabia and is adopting a more confrontational posture toward Iran’s regional ambitions than the previous White House. But his decision to move the US Embassy in Israel could have killed the Middle East peace process. European leaders have tried various approaches to deal with Trump but have found that his behavior and rhetoric have put them in tough political positions. British Prime Minister Theresa May put her faith in the special relationship but Trump’s unpopularity, exacerbated by his retweet of posts by a far-right British hate group, made it politically unsustainable for him to visit the UK – a stunning development for America’s President and its closest ally. French President Emmanuel Macron tried flattery – hosting Trump at a military parade on the Champs-Élysées, which the US President relished – but still could not persuade Trump to reverse his decision on the climate deal. German Chancellor Angela Merkel lectured Trump on freedom, human rights and racial tolerance in her congratulatory message after his election win. After watching Trump berate fellow NATO leaders in Brussels in May, she suggested to Germans that Europe could no longer rely on the US to always be there, saying they “really must take our fate into our own hands.” Much of the world is considering similar questions after the first year of Trump’s presidency, wondering whether he will succeed in a fundamental reordering of the US role in the world and what that turn inward will mean for the rest of the international system. Allan Gyngell, national president of the Australian Institute of International Affairs, says the draining of the State Department by a secretary of state who seems uninterested in its mission adds to signs that the US is abandoning the field of international diplomacy, for example, in its withdrawals from the Paris deal and UNESCO. “No doubt a more familiar sort of American government will take office in three or seven years, but the United States has been fundamentally altered by this experience,” Gyngell said. “The high watermark of American liberal internationalism has passed.”


NEW: "It was great. It's good to forget, just for a moment," says friend of attacks victims Amid tight security, Eagles of Death Metal take to a Paris stage Band's concert at Bataclan targeted in November's terror attacks At first glance, the rock concert looked like any other, but beside the leather jackets, jeans and band T-shirts, there were signs that this show was different. Counselors were here, wearing badges. People carried white roses, and a girl – visibly upset – sat on the stairs. A few concertgoers shuffled around on crutches. They’d all come to hear the Eagles of Death Metal, a rock group, which returned to play in Paris on Tuesday, three months after terrorists attacked their concert at the Bataclan, killing 89 of the band’s “friends.” A post shared by Bryony Jones (@bryonysjones) Front man Jesse Hughes and the rest of the band took to the stage to massive cheers. EODM opened with the song “I Only Want You,” stopping midway to bow heads and to ask for a moment of silence. Hours before the show started, Hughes had told CNN the concert wasn’t going to be a regular performance: “It’s much more than just a show.” He said he hoped the gig would be a kind of therapy – both for him and for the band’s fans: “I always lose myself in the music, but I’m going to lose myself in the kids, we’re going to get lost in each other.” A post shared by Bryony Jones (@bryonysjones) The sellout performance at the Olympia was expected to be packed with some 2,800 fans, including 900 survivors and relatives of those killed at the Bataclan on November 13 last year. The Bataclan remains closed. The raid, by men armed with guns and suicide vests, was one of a coordinated series of attacks on restaurants, cafes and venues including the Stade de France, which left a total of 130 people dead and scores more injured. A team of 30 psychologists were at the venue in case anyone in the audience was overwhelmed by the emotion of the evening. Security was tight to prevent any new attacks. EODM did not play “Kiss the Devil,” the song they were performing as the gunfire began, out of concern for those who were there that night. “It was perfect. Everybody wanted so much to be happy, and they (the band) didn’t leave any time for sadness. It was great. It’s good to forget, just for a moment,” said Floriane Schost, a concertgoer who lost a close friend in the Paris attacks. Recalling the night terror walked into their Paris show on November 13, Hughes said his first thought, as shots began to ring out around the concert venue, was: “We’re in trouble. I knew exactly what it was. You could feel it. I’m from America, I’m a hillbilly, I’ve been around firearms my whole life – and I knew it was all bad.” Survivors recall carnage in Paris As he ran around backstage trying to find his girlfriend and bandmates, Hughes said one of the gunmen had him in his sights, and that he was only saved because “the gun was too big, he couldn’t fit it through the doorway – it hit the doorframe.” Watching his fans gunned down in cold blood in front of him was, he said, “the most awful thing I’ve ever seen in my whole life, and that I think I will see.” Fellow band founder Josh Homme, who was not in Paris for the concert in November, said he had found out about the massacre in a text message from a friend who was at the Bataclan. “I wish I had the right consonants and vowels so I could make the right sound for that feeling,” he said, trying to express his horror at the news. Related video Couple shares their story of escaping Bataclan The pair said the band itself was not the target of the terrorists, but the whole of Paris, young people enjoying a Friday night out in the city’s bars, restaurants and venues. “Good guys are always targets,” said Hughes. But the band said that they’ve been “inspired” by the way the French people have “come together” in the wake of the attacks. And they were determined to return and finish what they’d started. “We were raised by decent people to be decent people – and besides, we were interrupted in the middle of an amazing rock and roll show,” said Hughes. Eagles of Death Metal praise fans’ heroism Hughes refused to be drawn on his previous controversial comments suggesting that France’s strict gun control laws had failed to stop the attack.  When asked about his stance on guns Monday, Hughes told the French channel iTELE: “Did your French gun control stop a single f****** person from dying at the Bataclan? And if anyone can answer yes, I’d like to hear it, because I don’t think so. I think the only thing that stopped it was some of the bravest men that I’ve ever seen in my life charging headfirst into the face of death with their firearms.” France has strict gun control laws with heavy restrictions and licensing requirements. “I don’t really care about guns,” he told CNN. “My weapon is a guitar.” The band said they spent the night before the comeback gig with 80 Bataclan survivors, dancing, playing darts and having fun. “It was beautiful,” said Homme. “Were there tragic stories? Yeah, from everyone, but the gathering was not focused on that.” Instead, he said, “It brought a lot of people together … A little bit of dancing goes a long way.” And Hughes said he’s determined not to give in to hatred or anger. “Nothing’s really changed for me. I still love people, I still love dancing, I still love rock and roll.”


"My forefathers have worked hard to give me and others these opportunities," he said Dozens of Democratic lawmakers are boycotting the election Rep. Elijah Cummings, a frequent critic of President-elect Donald Trump, said Thursday he will not boycott the inauguration on Friday. “My situation is, I want to be a witness to history,” the Maryland Democrat told CNN’s Chris Cuomo on “New Day.” “My forefathers have worked hard to give me and others these opportunities.” Dozens of Democratic lawmakers are boycotting the inauguration, particularly after revelations of Russia’s alleged meddling in the 2016 election and Trump’s rebuke of civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis for saying he didn’t believe Trump’s presidency was legitimate. Some members have said they will be protesting in Washington or in their home districts instead. These Democrats aren’t attending Trump’s inauguration Cummings said he understands his colleagues’ decision to protest. “I think that they should do what they believe in their hearts,” he said. “You gotta understand that we members of Congress have a lot of information that the public does not have,” he added. “If the public knew what members of Congress knew … The information will come out later at some point. Then the public will fully understand.” Congress needs to do more to investigate Russia’s involvement in the election and FBI Director Jim Comey’s role in Hillary Clinton’s email scandal, Cummings said. The Justice Department’s inspector general is looking into how the FBI handled the investigation of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private email server during the 2016 presidential campaign. “This is our watch and we have to protect this democracy,” said Cummings, the top Democrat on the Committee of Oversight and Government Reform. “This to me is bigger than President-elect Trump. I’m concerned that we are moving slowly but surely towards a crisis of legitimacy with regards to our core institutions.”


Men discussed attacking sites where crowds gather and police and military facilities, official says Plot appears to have been inspired, but not directed, by ISIS, Belgian counterterrorism official says Prosecutor's office: Plot targeted Brussels for New Year's celebrations New Year’s festivities in Brussels, including fireworks, have been canceled due to a heightened terror alert, Mayor Yvan Mayeur said in an interview with CNN affiliate RTL Wednesday. The cancellation comes after authorities arrested two people on suspicion of being involved in a plot to attack “emblematic sites” in Belgium’s capital during New Year’s celebrations. The country’s federal prosecutor’s office announced the arrests Tuesday. The men are members of a Muslim biker gang called the Kamikaze Riders and are suspected to have discussed attacking Brussels’ Grand Place square and other places where crowds gather as well as police and military facilities, a senior Belgian counterterrorism official told CNN on condition of anonymity. Related gallery The ISIS terror threat Toxic mix that makes Belgium fertile ground for terrorism The plot appears to have been inspired, but not directed, by the ISIS terror group, the counterterrorism official said. Because the investigation is in its early stages, a possible connection between suspects and ISIS cannot be excluded, André Vandoren, the head of Belgium’s coordinating body for threat analysis, told CNN on Wednesday. The arrests came as investigators conducted several searches in the Brussels area, as well as the surrounding province of Flemish Brabant and the eastern Belgian city of Liege, on Sunday and Monday, the prosecutor’s office said. Authorities were investigating an alleged plot that was to target several prominent sites in Brussels during “the end of the year/New Year’s celebrations,” according to the prosecutor’s office, which released no further details about the plan. The prosecutor’s office said the arrests are not linked to November’s deadly Paris terror attacks, which authorities say involved a number of militants who had been living in Belgium. Related gallery Night of terror: Paris attacks Investigators seized computer equipment, military-type training outfits and ISIS propaganda material, the office said. The names of the suspects were not released. But the counterterrorism official said they were based in the Brussels and Vilvoorde areas, had easy access to weapons and had been involved in robberies and other criminal activity. Belgians respond to Brussels terror alert by flooding Twitter with cat pics Because of the pair’s access to weapons, police felt they had to act quickly after the two allegedly discussed the terror plans, the counterterrorism official said. One of the men was arrested on suspicion of playing a leading role in the threat of attacks, participating in the activities of a terrorist group as a leader and recruiting to commit terrorist offenses as author or co-author, the prosecutor’s office said. The other was being held on suspicion of playing a leading role in the threat of attacks and taking part in the activities of a terrorist group as an author or co-author, the office said. The Kamikaze Riders gang in Belgium has been linked to terror investigations in the past, according to multiple Belgian media reports. A former leader of the group, Abdelouafi Elouassaki, was arrested in 2013 after one of his brothers, said to have traveled to wage jihad in Syria, allegedly called him from there to tell him about a plan to attack the main law courts in Brussels. Elouassaki was released without charge. At least one other member of the group has also been reportedly tied to pro-jihadi activity. New Year’s holiday threats prompt more security Morten Storm, a former Danish biker gang member who became a jihadi before becoming a double agent for the CIA for half a decade, told CNN that there was an increasing emergence of “gangster jihadism” in Europe. “Muslim gangsters and jihadis have one thing in common: They hate the system,” Storm said. “A significant number of Muslims involved in criminality are becoming born again in the religion and are becoming radicalized in jail, but many keep their ties to their old circles when they get out,” he said. New details emerged Wednesday in the investigation into the November 13 Paris attacks. A Samsung phone that was recovered outside the Bataclan concert hall – where dozens of concertgoers were gunned down – exchanged 25 messages before the attack with a phone that was in Belgium, the Belgian counterterrorism source and another source close to the investigation told CNN on condition of anonymity. The messages started the day before the attacks, and the last one extracted from the Samsung – sent on November 13 – read “about to start,” the sources said. The sources didn’t say who had the phone in Belgium, where several of the Paris attackers had lived. The phone in Belgium was deactivated right after the Samsung’s final message was sent, the sources said. Related gallery Paris attack suspects: What we know Previously, Paris prosecutor Francois Molins told reporters that one of the attackers’ cell phones was found in a trash bin outside the Bataclan, and that a message on the phone said, “On est parti, on commence,” which translates to, “We’ve left, we’re starting.” But authorities at the time did not say the phone was communicating with a phone in Belgium. The phone in Belgium was the only phone communicating with the Samsung on November 12 and 13, the two sources said. The latest details about the messages were first reported by the French newspaper Le Monde. The Samsung had downloaded a Telegram encryption application on the afternoon of the attack, the sources said. It wasn’t immediately clear whether any of the 25 messages were handled by the application. Earlier this month, officials briefed on the investigation told CNN that investigators believed some of the attackers used encrypted applications to hide plotting for the attacks. On the afternoon of the attacks, the Samsung phone was used to access floor plans of the Bataclan, as well as information about the American band that was playing at the venue that night, the Eagles of Death Metal, the sources said. Also Wednesday, the two sources said the Paris attacks’ ringleader, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, was in Paris communicating on a phone with someone using a separate phone in Belgium during the attacks. The sources did not say who was using the second Belgium phone. Related gallery Political violence is driving terrorism French authorities have previously said Abaaoud was in Paris, at times near the Bataclan, during the attacks with a phone. The Paris prosecutor has said that Abaaoud’s phone records show he was communicating November 13 with one of the three attackers who self-detonated outside the Stade de France north of Paris. The November 13 terror attacks in the Paris area killed 130 people and wounded hundreds. The attackers, armed with assault rifles and explosives, attacked six locations across the city, including the Bataclan concert hall, a stadium, and restaurants and bars. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks, and in response, French President Francois Hollande declared that the country was at war with the terror group, which commands large stretches of territory in Syria and Iraq. Abaaoud, a Belgian-Moroccan ISIS operative, was killed in a police raid on an apartment in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis six days after the Paris attacks. CNN’s Nic Robertson and Ram Ramgopal contributed to this report.


Editor’s Note: Jill Filipovic is a journalist based in New York and Nairobi, Kenya, and the author of the new book “The H-Spot: The Feminist Pursuit of Happiness.” Follow her on Twitter. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author. The Texas GOP wants the Medicaid money it lost in defunding Planned Parenthood Jill Filipovic: In Texas and elsewhere, the GOP's pro-life policies hurt families What does it mean to be pro-life? In today’s GOP, one thing: restricting access to safe abortion. Even if this doesn’t actually decrease the number of abortions, but just makes them more dangerous. Even if it means women and their children remain poor and vulnerable. Even if it means cutting off other necessary health care and aid. Even if it means women are injured. Even if it means women and babies die. It’s the “pro-life” performance that matters more than actual lives. Case in point: Republicans in Texas are now begging for the Medicaid dollars they gave up in order to defund Planned Parenthood four years ago. Should the Trump administration give Texas the Medicaid money it wants, it will open the door for other states to defund Planned Parenthood, too, a favorite cause of the anti-abortion right. Never mind that Planned Parenthood primarily prevents the unintended pregnancies that often end in abortion by providing affordable (and often free) contraception to women in need. Never mind the HIV and STI tests and the cancer screenings Planned Parenthood provides, and that there are many women for whom Planned Parenthood is the closest high-quality provider of health care. Related video Women of faith and their abortions In the name of being “pro-life,” Texas Republicans cut those women off from the care they trust. And not just them – to punish Planned Parenthood for offering a legal medical procedure (and not a dollar of Medicaid or other federal funds pays for elective abortions), Texas Republicans were happy to refuse millions of Medicaid dollars to care for the poorest women in their state. This is in a state where 27% of births are funded by Medicaid – a number that rose after Texas defunded Planned Parenthood and poor women found it more challenging to access contraception and legal abortion. This bizarre definition of “pro-life” extends overseas, too. In what is largely seen as a gift to his anti-abortion base, Trump expanded the Gag Rule, and this week his State Department broadened the order, which strips US funds from any organization abroad that so much as mentions abortion as an option for women – even groups that don’t provide abortions at all but simply tell women their legal rights. Related article Global Gag Rule: The result is life or death Under previous Republican presidents, the Gag Rule applied only to family planning funds (about $600 million under George W. Bush). Now it applies to $8.8 billion in US global health funding, including programs for HIV and malaria. Because American dollars have been barred from funding abortions since the 1970s, none of the funding subject to this rule was paying for abortions in the first place. Studies of the Gag Rule have shown that it doesn’t actually decrease abortions, but because it does cut off access to contraception, it actually makes abortion rates go up.  Who knows what will happen when the rule cuts off access to HIV drugs or vaccines. I’ve reported on the Global Gag Rule from Ghana, one of the countries hit hardest by Bush’s version of the rule. What most pro-lifers in America don’t seem to realize – or don’t care about – is that the health systems in developing countries are fragile and still being built, often in places that have seen recent conflict, and where there are low levels of public trust and long histories of trauma. Related video Donald Trump's evolving stance on abortion Many millions of people still lack access to basic health care, usually because of poverty or lack of proximity to a clinic. Health providers have done their best to centralize care, so a person can get contraception, HIV treatment, malaria pills and vaccinations from a single clinic or a mobile midwife going door to door in the village. And they’ve tried to build trust in that system. The Gag Rule undermines all of that. Trump also froze funding to UNFPA, a group that doesn’t provide abortions but does provide education and contraception. In Niger, where women have an average of seven children apiece, UNFPA works where few others do: The group runs “husband schools” to help educate men about getting their children in school, being respectful of their wives and spacing pregnancies so their wives and babies don’t die. In Nigeria, UNFPA is in refugee camps, tending to girls who have been kidnapped, raped and often impregnated by Boko Haram militants. But despite caring for so many rape victims, a UNFPA spokeswoman told me last year, they don’t offer abortions. Sign up for CNN Opinion’s new newsletter.Join us on Twitter and Facebook Women around the world, from Texas to Tanzania, being cut off from modern family-planning tools. Children in some of the world’s poorest corners losing their vaccinations and malaria medicine. People with HIV finding that the local NGO delivering their medicine must shutter for lack of funds. Health care providers forced to lie to their patients, and women doing what desperate women have always done – taking matters in to their own hands, and sometimes not living to tell about it. This is pro-life?


All available federal options are on the table, CNN is told Garcia Zarate was acquitted of murder and involuntary manslaughter in the case The Justice Department is considering bringing federal charges against Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, the man found not guilty in Kate Steinle’s killing Thursday night, DOJ spokeswoman Sarah Flores told CNN. Following the verdict by a California jury in San Francisco resident Steinle’s death, the DOJ is weighing whether it will take a separate action in bringing charges against Garcia Zarate. All available federal options are on the table, CNN is told. The jury acquitted Garcia Zarate, an undocumented immigrant, of murder and involuntary manslaughter charges, as well as assault with a deadly weapon. The jury, however, convicted the Mexican citizen of being a felon in possession of a firearm, which could bring a three-year sentence. Friday, a July 2015 federal arrest warrant for Zarate was unsealed along with a new amendment. The amendment, filed Friday in the Western District of Texas, added Zarate’s conviction on the firearm possession charge and other violations of his supervised release stemming from the Steinle case. Related article Trump says Steinle verdict a 'travesty of justice' Prosecutors had argued Garcia Zarate intentionally shot Steinle, 32, with a Sig Sauer .40-caliber handgun as she and her father walked on San Francisco’s Pier 14. But Garcia Zarate’s defense attorney said the shooting was accidental and the bullet ricocheted off the ground and traveled about 80 feet before hitting Steinle. Federal immigration officials said they will try to deport Garcia Zarate. He was deported from the United States five times prior to Steinle’s death. The Department of Justice said a federal detainer requires Garcia Zarate to be remanded into the custody of US Marshals Service to be transported to Texas. President Donald Trump reacted to the news early Friday morning, tweeting: “A disgraceful verdict in the Kate Steinle case! No wonder the people of our Country are so angry with Illegal Immigration.” CORRECTION: The headline and lead of this story have been updated to more accurately describe the jury’s decision. CNN’s Tal Kopan and Sophie Tatum contributed to this report.


Editor’s Note: Errol Louis is the host of “Inside City Hall,” a nightly political show on NY1, a New York all-news channel. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own. Errol Louis: James Comey's prepared statement to Congress makes clear that President Trump is his own worst enemy If he's wise, Trump will simply hunker down and try to stoically endure the storm of bad news coming his way, Louis writes Be careful what you wish for. Former FBI Director James Comey’s prepared statement to Congress makes clear that when it comes to the ever-expanding investigation of alleged Russian involvement in the 2016 election, President Trump is his own worst enemy. Against the advice of allies and adversaries alike, Trump has repeatedly, almost obsessively, attempted to shut down Russia-related inquiries. The effort, predictably, has backfired. Instead of tamping down the issue, Trump has revved up public interest. Instead of asserting control of the FBI and other intelligence agencies, he now faces a probe led by a formidable independent counsel, Robert Mueller, the second-longest serving director in FBI history. And instead of Comey’s statement clearing President Trump in the eyes of the public, he now looks like a man with something to hide. Comey’s words suggest that Trump, in meeting-after-awkward-meeting with his then-FBI chief, asked for things he had no business demanding. He wanted unspecified “loyalty” from an FBI director whose 10-year term is specifically intended to insulate the bureau from political interference. Related article Here's the single most telling line in James Comey's Trump testimony And most damaging of all, Trump asked for leniency for Michael Flynn, the fired national security adviser who allegedly lied about his contacts with a top Russian diplomat. “I had understood the President to be requesting that we drop any investigation of Flynn in connection with false statements about his conversations with the Russian ambassador in December … it was very concerning, given the FBI’s role as an independent investigative agency,” Comey’s statement says. The heavy-handed intervention will come back to haunt Trump. “Obstruction aside, it’s NEVER ok for a POTUS privately to ask an FBI Director to drop a criminal investigation. Extraordinary, wrong & dumb,” tweeted Preet Bharara, the former U.S. attorney based in Manhattan who Trump unceremoniously fired back in March. Bharara’s is a widely-held opinion. A majority of Americans think the President is interfering with investigations, and 61% think he fired Comey to protect himself, not for the good of the country, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. Every new tweet, ill-considered interview and attack on the media has dug a deeper hole for Trump. Plans to create a rapid-response “war room” to reject Russia-related stories turned out to be a bust, reportedly because experienced lawyers declined to  staff it for the White House. Sign up for CNN Opinion’s new newsletter.Join us on Twitter and Facebook That leaves an isolated President – a man with a penchant for lying – with the hopeless task of asking the public to believe him and not Comey. If he’s wise, Trump will simply hunker down and try to stoically endure the storm of bad news coming his way, thanks to Comey. Trying to intervene, it should now be obvious, makes the President look like a man bent on a cover-up, not clarity.


There is high risk of overdose with flakka, which can lead to violent behavior, hyperthermia and superhuman strength The chemical in flakka is similar to a key ingredient in "bath salts," which were banned in 2012 Flakka and "bath salts" could be more dangerous than stimulants such as cocaine It goes by the name flakka. In some parts of the country, it is also called “gravel” because of its white crystal chunks that have been compared to aquarium gravel. The man-made drug causes a high similar to cocaine. But like “bath salts,” a group of related synthetic drugs that were banned in 2012, flakka has the potential to be much more dangerous than cocaine. “It’s so difficult to control the exact dose [of flakka],” said Jim Hall, a drug abuse epidemiologist at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. “Just a little bit of difference in how much is consumed can be the difference between getting high and dying. It’s that critical.” A small overdose of the drug, which can be smoked, injected, snorted or injected, can lead to a range of extreme symptoms: “excited delirium,” as experts call it, marked by violent behavior; spikes in body temperature (105 degrees and higher, Hall said); paranoia. Probably what has brought flakka the most attention is that it gives users what feels like the strength and fury of the Incredible Hulk. Deadly High: How synthetic drugs are killing kids Flakka stories are starting to pile up. A man in South Florida who broke down the hurricane-proof doors of a police department admitted to being on flakka. A girl in Melbourne, Florida, ran through the street screaming that she was Satan while on a flakka trip. Authorities in the state are warning people about the dangers of the drug. Florida seems to be particularly hard hit by flakka overdoses. Hall said that there are about three or four hospitalizations a day in Broward County in South Florida, and more on weekends. It is unclear why the Sunshine State is a hotbed for flakka abuse; “it’s a major question in our community,” Hall said. Cases have also been reported in Alabama, Mississippi and New Jersey. Flakka, which gets its name from Spanish slang for a beautiful woman (“la flaca”), contains a chemical that is a close cousin to MDPV, a key ingredient in “bath salts.” These chemicals bind and thwart molecules on the surface of neurons that normally keep the levels of mood-regulating neurotransmitters, dopamine and serotonin, in check. The result is to “flood the brain” with these chemicals, Hall said. Cocaine and methamphetamine have similar modes of action in the brain, but the chemicals in flakka have longer-lasting effects, Hall said. Although a typical flakka high can last one to several hours, it is possible that the neurological effects can be permanent. Not only does the drug sit on neurons, it could also destroy them, Hall said. And because flakka, like bath salts, hang around in the brain for longer than cocaine, the extent of the destruction could be greater. Another serious, potentially lingering side effect of flakka is the effect on kidneys. The drug can cause muscles to break down, as a result of hyperthermia, taking a toll on kidneys. Experts worry that some survivors of flakka overdoses may be on dialysis for the rest of their life. Like most synthetic drugs, the bulk of flakka seems to come from China and is either sold over the Internet or through gas stations or other dealers. A dose can go for $3 to $5, which makes it a cheap alternative to cocaine. Dealers often target young and poor people and also try to enlist homeless people to buy and sell, Hall said. These are “people who are already disadvantaged in terms of chronic disease and access to health care,” he added. It is unclear at this point whether flakka is more dangerous than the “bath salts” that came before it. But it does have one advantage over its predecessor: it has not been banned – yet. “Flakka largely emerged as a replacement to MDVP [in ‘bath salts’],” said Lucas Watterson, a postdoctoral researcher at Temple University School of Medicine Center for Substance Abuse Research. Although the Drug Enforcement Administration has placed a temporary ban on flakka, drug makers can work around this ban, such as by sticking a “not for human consumption” label on the drug, Watterson said. It will probably take several years to get the data necessary to put a federal ban on flakka, he added. And a ban can be effective, at least in discouraging potential users. “The problem is when one of these drugs is banned or illegal, the drug manufacturer responds by producing a number of different alternatives,” Watterson said. “It’s sort of a flavor of the month.”


The Yellow fever outbreak in Brazil could spread, but a US outbreak is unlikely Health experts warn of the possibility of imported travel cases An outbreak of yellow fever in rural Brazil is raising concerns that the disease could spread across borders to the US, like Zika, say two health experts writing in an essay published in the New England Journal of Medicine. While the likelihood of yellow fever outbreaks in the US is low, “travel-related cases of yellow fever could occur, with brief periods of local transmission in warmer regions such as the Gulf Coast states,” wrote Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and colleague Dr. Catharine Paules. “In an era of frequent international travel, any marked increase in domestic cases in Brazil raises the possibility of travel-related cases,” they wrote. Experts fear spread of the disease may resemble that of the Zika virus, which emerged in Brazil in 2015 and later spread to more than 60 countries including the US, causing local outbreaks in Florida. The current yellow fever outbreak began in December, in rural areas of Brazil, and numbers reportedly exceed normal rates for this time of year. The majority of cases are clustered on the eastern side of the country mainly in the states of Minas Gerais, Espírito Santo and São Paulo. As of March 2, the virus has killed an estimated 220 people, according to an update from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). The health agency also counted 326 confirmed cases and 916 suspected cases of the disease. The fatality rate for this outbreak is 33% for confirmed cases and 11% for suspected cases. While the outbreak has remained in rural areas, some clusters of cases are close to urban centers including Rio de Janeiro, where people live in denser communities and mostly have not been vaccinated against yellow fever. “This proximity raises concern that, for the first time in decades, urban transmission of yellow fever will occur in Brazil,” the authors wrote. Yellow fever spreads to humans through the bite of an infected mosquito, and outbreaks usually occur in South America and Africa. The disease can spread through the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which also transmits the Zika virus. So far, the Aedes aegypti mosquito has not been reported to have a role in the recent outbreak, PAHO reported. The current outbreak has been spread through the Haemagogus and Sabethes mosquitos. Related article How soap, chairs and clothing could stop mosquito bites -- and diseases Symptoms are similar to the flu and could become severe to include fever, headache, muscle pain, nausea, vomiting, fatigue and jaundice – hence its name yellow fever. Thanks to better mosquito control and better sanitation practices, yellow fever has been virtually eliminated in the US and the Americas. But sporadic outbreaks occasionally pop up in tropical areas and cases can spread through travel, wrote Fauci and Paules. Because yellow fever is so rare in the US, doctors may not recognize the signs. Doctors should be aware, especially in travelers who’ve been to the affected areas, they wrote. The yellow fever vaccine provides up to 99% lifetime immunity. Related article Yellow fever outbreak still serious, WHO says But the vaccines take a long time to produce and the stockpile is low. A yellow fever outbreak in Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2016 exhausted the world’s emergency vaccine stockpile. More than 30 million people were immunized during emergency vaccination campaigns, according to the WHO. As vaccines ran low, health officials had to administer one-fifth of the standard dose to extend the supply, Paules and Fauci noted. That outbreak ended in the DRC in February and Angola in December. Brazil has distributed about 12.5 million doses as of February 24, but the campaign has had challenges because many people live in remote, dispersed locations, according to the World Health Organization. Officials there have also been using mosquito control measures. “In light of the serious nature of this historically devastating disease, public health awareness and preparedness are critical,” wrote Paules and Fauci.


French and Moroccan authorities identify the man as Gelel Attar, 26 He knew the Paris attackers well, according to a spokesperson A French official tells CNN that Attar traveled to Syria in 2013 with Chakib Akrouh Morocco has arrested a Belgian in connection with the November terror attacks in Paris, officials told CNN on Monday. French and Moroccan authorities identified the man as 26-year-old Gelel Attar, a Belgian of Moroccan descent. A spokesperson for the Moroccan Central Bureau of Judicial Investigations said Attar is from Molenbeek, Belgium, and knew the Paris attackers well. Molenbeek is an impoverished suburb of Brussels with a history of links to terror plots. It has a large, predominantly Muslim population of first-, second- and third-generation immigrants from North Africa and has gained an unwelcome reputation as a hotbed of jihadism. Attar was being held in Sale, close to the Moroccan capital, Rabat, the spokesperson said. His family, which was notified of his arrest immediately after his capture, is not under investigation, according to the bureau spokesperson Belgium couldn’t say for sure whether Attar would be extradited. “There is an international arrest warrant,” said Erik Van Der Sypt, spokesman for the Federal Prosecutor in Belgium. “Normally Morocco does not extradite its own nationals. So we will see. We don’t know yet.” A French law enforcement official told CNN that Attar traveled to Syria in 2013 with Chakib Akrouh, a suicide bomber who blew himself up in the police raid on a Saint-Denis apartment, days after the Paris attacks. Belgian CNN affiliate RTL quoted Moroccan authorities saying Attar also met in Syria with the suspected ringleader of the Paris attacks, Abdelhamid Abaaoud. The Saint-Denis raid happened four days after alleged associates of Abaaoud killed 130 people and injured hundreds in several locations in Paris and Saint-Denis, a guns-and-explosives attack claimed by the Islamist terror group ISIS. Attar was convicted in absentia by a Belgian court last year of recruiting jihadists and sentenced to five years in prison, RTL reported. Police are still looking for Salah Abdeslam, a 26-year-old Belgian-born French national who authorities believe played a role in the Paris attacks but went to Belgium afterward. A senior European counterterrorism official told CNN last month that the trail for Abdeslam had gone cold. CNN’s Hamdi Alkhshali, Wes Bruer, Jason Hanna, Margot Haddad, Tim Hume and Paul Cruickshank contributed to this report.


An ancient skull dating back more than 6,000 years may have belonged to the earliest known human victim of a tsunami, scientists say. The Aitape skull – named after a small coastal town in the north of Papua New Guinea, where it was found – was discovered in 1929 by Australian geologist Paul S. Hossfeld. Since then, archaeologists and anthropologists have been trying to unravel the circumstances that resulted in it ending up there. The most recent study, published Wednesday, suggests the skull may have belonged to a human who drowned in a tsunami or had his or her grave displaced by the tsunami’s waves. When Gossfield stumbled upon the skull in 1929, he mistakenly believed it belonged to Homo erectus, a prehistoric species of humans originating in Africa. But radiocarbon dating has shown it is, in fact, much younger, dating back 5,000 to 6,000 years. The area around Papua New Guinea is prone to tectonic disturbances, and often affected by natural disasters like tsunamis and earthquakes. More than 3,000 people died in 1998 when a tsunami struck the region near Aitape. Because sea levels were higher thousands of years ago, the remains probably originated from the area behind what would then have been the shoreline. In 2014, Ethan Cochrane and Mark Golitko led a team of researchers back to the location where Gossfield had found the skull more than 90 years ago. “We have now been able to confirm what we have long suspected,” said James Goff, the study’s lead author. “The geological similarities between the sediments at the place where the skull was found and sediments laid down during the 1998 tsunami that hit this same coastline have made us realize that human populations in this area have been affected by these massive inundations for thousands of years.” The discovery will help anthropologists understand how people adapt and thrive in coastal areas that are subject to these natural hazards, and why they chose to move into such areas and remain there despite the environmental dangers. “It might be because the New Guinea north coast is also very productive at this time in terms of food resources,” explained Cochrane, a senior lecturer at the University of Auckland. “So perhaps people are balancing risk and food reward. “Understanding these kind of adaptive tradeoffs will be key to mitigating risk and ensuring the livelihoods of coastal populations today,” he added. The new study, published in the peer-reviewed journal PLOS ONE, adds to a trail of research that has seen contributions by scientists from France, the UK, Australia, Papua New Guinea and New Zealand. Related article Inside the lab rewriting the origins of humanity “If we are right about how this person had died … we have dramatic proof that living by the sea isn’t always a life of beautiful golden sunsets and great surfing conditions,” said its co-author John Terrell, Regenstein curator of Pacific anthropology at the Field Museum in Chicago. Terrell, who has conducted extensive research in Papua New Guinea, also noted that the skull might help convince skeptics “that all of us on earth must take climate change and rising sea levels seriously.” “Many people in the world today face the threat of rising sea levels and (the) increasing numbers and power of climatic events, like tsunamis,” added Marta Mirazon Lahr, from the Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies at the University of Cambridge, noting that almost 80% of the world’s population today lives near the coast.

coastal populations affected by tsunamis and rising sea levels


Icy comments come in wake of fresh US sanctions over Crimea Russia hopes for "constructive dialogue" under Trump presidency The frosty relationship between the United States and Russia has become even more icy after Moscow said communications between the countries were at the bare minimum. “Nearly all levels of our dialogue (with the US) has been frozen,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview Wednesday with Russian state-run news agency RIA Novosti. “We do not talk to each other. Or we do it to a minimum,” he said. Related article What millennials think of Putin's Russia But US State Department spokesman John Kirby had a different take, saying in a statement: “Diplomatic engagement with Russia continues across a wide range of issues.” Indeed, US Secretary of State John Kerry spoke on the phone this week with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov about the situation in Syria, Kirby said. So why the cold words from Moscow? Peskov’s comments come a day after the United States imposed fresh sanctions on several Russian businessmen and companies. The sanctions were in connection with Russia’s occupation of Crimea and the conflict in Ukraine, the US Treasury said in a statement. Russia reacted angrily to the sanctions, with Peskov saying it “seriously harms our bilateral relations.” “We can only once again express regret and misunderstanding over this destructive persistence of our US colleagues,” he said, adding that Russia “will take adequate measures.” Russia annexed Crimea, a territory in the former Soviet republic of Ukraine, in 2014 following tensions with its neighbor. World leaders managed to install a shaky peace deal in 2015. But violence continues in the conflict zone in eastern Ukraine, and 2016 has seen an increase in casualties. It’s not just Crimea sparking a war of words between the countries. “Are you truly incapable of shame?” Samantha Power, US ambassador to the United Nations, said in a scathing attack on the Syrian regime and its allies – including Russia – last week. Russia is the most powerful ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, and has carried out airstrikes in the country since September 2015 to prop up the embattled leader. Power slammed Syria, Russia and Iran for the humanitarian crisis in eastern Aleppo, saying “you bear responsibility for these atrocities.” But Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin, hit back, accusing Power of acting like “Mother Teresa” despite America’s “track record” in the Middle East. Then there are accusations from Washington that the Kremlin was involved in cyberattacks in the US presidential election. Related video Obama: I told Putin to cut it out on hacking Those hacks resulted in the public release of thousands of stolen emails, many of which included embarrassing revelations about the Democratic Party and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the party’s nominee. Moscow has steadfastly denied meddling in the US election. “We have not seen a single fact, a single proof,” Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in an interview. Will relations between the countries be warmer under Donald Trump? The President-elect has already indicated he wants a friendlier relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying on the campaign trail: “Wouldn’t it be nice if we got together with Russia and knocked the hell out of ISIS?” Related article The good, bad and ugly of warmer US-Russia relations However, former US Ambassador Christopher Hill urged caution, telling CNN:  “Trump needs to understand that their (Russia’s) interest and their attitude (do) not align with ours.” When asked whether relations between the countries could thaw under a Trump presidency, Peskov told CNN: “We don’t have rose-tinted spectacles or any illusions that things will change in a second. “But we do hope for constructive dialogue.” CNN’s Matthew Chance, Alla Eshchenko and Adam Levine contributed to this report.


US Air Force F-35As making first overseas deployments Estonia shares almost 200-mile border with Russia The US Air Force is sending its newest fighter jets to Russia’s doorstep as part of a program set up after Russia annexed Crimea from the Ukraine in 2014, a US official tells CNN. F-35A stealth Joint Strike Fighters will fly from the United Kingdom to NATO-ally Estonia in the coming days, the official said. Estonia, a former Soviet republic, shares an almost 200-mile-long border with Russia. Estonia is wary of Russian aggression following Moscow’s annexation of Crimea. The official said the F-35A deployment to Europe is part of the European Reassurance Initiative set up in the wake of that annexation. The F-35s are just the latest of example of US Air Force jets sent to Europe in connection with the European Reassurance Initiative. Others have included F-22s, F-16s, F-15s and A-10s. Thousands of US ground forces have also been deployed in Europe as part of the program, including a US Army Armored Combat Brigade Team sent into Poland with great fanfare in January. A Russian official called that deployment “a threat to us.” “This is an action that threatens our interests, our security,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at the time. The movement of the F-35s, eight of which arrived in the UK on April 15 from their base in Utah, comes as Russian bombers have been making flights along the Alaskan coast. US fighter jets intercepted Russian planes four times in the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone last week, US officials said. The Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone is a designated region of international airspace, primarily surrounding the US and Canada, that is meant as a buffer to allow for the identification of aircraft heading towards North America. While these flights pose no real military threat, US defense officials are taking notice of the high frequency at which they’ve occurred in the past week. There is “no other way to interpret this other than as strategic messaging,” one official told CNN. Moscow, for its part, said it “regularly carries out patrol missions above the neutral waters of the Arctic, the Atlantic, the Black Sea and the Pacific Ocean.” “All such missions are carried out in strict compliance with international regulations and with respect to national borders,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a written statement. Likewise, the US says the F-35 deployment was not a reaction to any recent specific incident. “As we and our joint F-35 partners bring this aircraft into our inventories, it’s important that we train together to integrate into a seamless team capable of defending the sovereignty of allied nations,” Gen. Tod D. Wolters, commander of US Air Forces in Europe, said in a statement when the planes deployed to the UK. The presence of the F-35s in Europe also helps the US show off the jets to European allies who already have them or plan to acquire their own versions, including the United Kingdom, Italy, Norway, Belgium, Denmark and Turkey. The single-engine F-35 comes in three variants. The A version is flown by the US Air Force, the B version by the Marines, and the C version will become part of the US Navy’s fleet. Marine Corps F-35Bs began their first overseas deployment earlier this year when they were dispatched to Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni in Japan. That deployment was seen as the US bolstering allies in Japan and South Korea with the latest US high-tech combat hardware. The Air Force emphasized a similar line with the deployment to Britain. CORRECTION: This story has been updated to reflect that F-35s are heading only to Estonia and not Romania. CNN’s Zachary Cohen contributed to this report.


President Donald Trump ordered strikes on a Syrian air base Thursday Members of Congress want Trump to seek Hill's approval before pursuing more action Congress found a rare point of bipartisan agreement Friday, demanding that President Donald Trump consult them on any further action in Syria, but splitting over how soon they should open that debate and whether the US should launch another full-scale war in the Middle East. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have been broadly supportive of Trump’s decision to strike back after Syria’s chemical attack. But Democrats and some Republicans have said they now want more answers on what Trump’s next steps will be – and whether that will require Congress to authorize further action. The bigger question of whether the US should wage a full-scale war in Syria has scrambled typical partisan battle lines in the Capitol, with hard-line conservatives, libertarians and staunch liberals lining up against any intervention, and more moderate and mainstream Democrats and Republicans suggesting that Trump present a long-term plan before Congress. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi called on the House of Representatives Friday to return from its two-week break in order to debate whether to authorize military action against Syria. “The President’s action and any response demands that we immediately do our duty. Congress must live up to its constitutional responsibility to debate an Authorization of the Use of Military Force against a sovereign nation,” Pelosi wrote in a letter to House Speaker Paul Ryan, Friday, just 12 hours after US forces launched a missile strike on a Syrian airbase. But a Ryan spokeswoman would not say Friday whether he would agree to cancel lawmakers’ two-week break to open debate. “The chemical weapons attack committed by the Assad regime was a flagrant violation of international standards, and preventing a deepening of the humanitarian crisis and instability in Syria is clearly in the United States’ national interest,” Ryan spokeswoman AshLee Strong said in a statement Friday. “As such, last night’s response was fully within the President’s authority. It is now appropriate for the administration to consult with Congress as it considers next steps to resolve the long-running crisis in Syria.” Senators were briefed on the strike and next steps Friday afternoon at the Capitol. Just a few hours before that briefing, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said that US allies in the Middle East should be heartened by Thursday’s strike. “If I were one of our Sunni Arab allies watching this, I’d be encouraged that America was back in the business of being more assertive, less passive. That does not mean you are going to send in the troops every time there is a skirmish somewhere, but I thought it was very reassuring,” McConnell told reporters. RELATED: Lawmakers praise Syria strike, want more consultation from White House Liberal lawmakers, including Sens. Bernie Sanders and Kirsten Gillibrand, opposed military action in response to chemical attacks. “There is no ‘military only’ solution to the suffering in Syria,” Gillibrand said in a statement Friday. “The American people need answers from the Administration about their plan here and how they will bring coalition partners to the table for a long-term diplomatic solution.” Libertarian-leaning Republicans came to a similar conclusion, but based on opposition to the US engaging in another long-term quagmire in the Middle East. Sen. Rand Paul, who golfed with Trump last weekend, said that the President’s initial instincts voiced as a candidate about staying out of the Middle East were correct, and the recent shift he made after seeing the horrific pictures were a dangerous way to operate. There are horrifying things happening in all corners of the world, can’t get emotional. “I think the President’s instincts are similar to mine. I think he is not anxious to have the regime change, he’s not anxious to be involved in every civil war. I think he’s gone a different route on this particular instance,” Paul told CNN’s Phil Mattingly Friday. “But I think his overall persona and his overall beliefs about the Middle East are that being involved in every civil war is not a great idea.” Pelosi’s comments led a Democratic charge for Congress to vote to authorize military action in Syria. It’s a step Congress was unable — or unwilling — to take several years ago when Obama decided to ask Congress for approval first before he would strike the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Trump did not wait for that step, swiftly moving to respond to the chemical attack with a strike of 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from US warships. But Trump’s airstrike against Assad, in isolation, is more similar to Obama’s 2011 decision to use US warplanes to bomb Libya, which helped lead to the downfall of Moammar Gadhafi. Obama did not come to Congress before launching US military strikes in Libya, a decision that drew harsh criticisms from Republicans weary of an overreaching US military in the Middle East. Republicans, who frequently argued that Obama’s foreign policy in the Mideast was too timid, and didn’t need congressional approval for airstrikes are now suggesting that this time Congress be part of a debate on the continued strategy going forward. Rep. Tom Cole, an Oklahoma Republican and close ally of Ryan’s, pressed other lawmakers to go on record now on the issue, saying, “Congress owes President Trump our best counsel and our best advice, as to how he should pursue America’s priorities. The best way to do so is for his administration to seek an AUMF and for Congress to give him one.” Republicans on Friday were defending Trump’s strike. Sen. Marco Rubio, a defense hawk who has often been at odds with Trump, praised the President’s decision Friday and said that the missile strike was clearly legal. “For those reasons, I think that had a clear objective. and they put the appropriate resources in order to achieve that. And let’s remember, this strike is legal,” Rubio said on CNN’s “New Day.” Following Friday afternoon’s briefing, Sen. Bob Corker, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee and an occasional Trump adviser on foreign policy, cautioned the White House that it could do a better job next time alerting lawmakers before the missiles are launched. The decision to launch the strike was made around 4 p.m. ET, missiles were launched at 7:40 p.m. ET and struck around 8:30 p.m. ET, but many members of Congress were not alerted until around 8:30 p.m. Thursday. “I mean, they need to do a little better job on the front end. But they know that, they know that,” Corker told reporters. “They were scrambling around and they did the best they could, and they had multiple people contacting folks. They made an extreme effort, but they know that with the timing of this it would be a little bit better if, you know, there was a little more time and a little more interaction.” Sen. Lindsey Graham, a defense hawk who has been roundly supportive of Trump’s strike in Syria, cautioned his colleagues that if they have a problem with the strike or further strikes, they would have to hit at the defense budget. “To all of my colleague who think that this President cannot act without your approval you don’t understand the way the Constitution works,” Graham said. “Here is your authority and your power to do something about it, the power of the purse. If you don’t like what’s he’s going to do in the future or what he’s doing now then you can defund these operations. That’s the power of Congress.” The debate over authorizing military action against Assad is also reviving and effort for Congress to authorize the war against ISIS. Some lawmakers pushed during the Obama Administration to put Congress on record authorizing military operations against ISIS in Syria and Iraq, arguing that previous authorizations in 2001 and 2002 did not cover the current fight against the terror group. But leaders of both parties were reluctant to wade into the controversial debate so close to the 2016 election, especially after many publicly regretted their votes to approve the Iraq war. RELATED - Cardin: You can’t ‘bomb your way to peace in Syria’ “What Syria did and President Bashar al-Assad did required action,” Sen. Ben Cardin, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, also said on “New Day.” “The question is: What is the mission? What are we trying to accomplish? How do we get Assad out of Syria and end the civil war? We don’t know the President’s policies in that regard. There’s a lot of questions Congress would like answers to and the American people would like to have answers to.” In the hours after Thursday’s strike, several lawmakers said they were reintroducing their bills for a war authorization against ISIS. “This missile strike and the military action of our forces already in Syria, have yet to be authorized by Congress,” California Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said in a statement. “I will be re-introducing an authorization for use of military force against ISIS and al Qaeda when Congress returns to session.” RELATED: Syria just changed Donald Trump’s presidency Schiff’s war authorization bill, which he first introduced during the Obama administration, would set limits on the war against ISIS, including not allowing the use of US ground combat forces in Iraq and Syria. It would also give temporary authority for military action — a change from the 2001 AUMF that critics say have been used for an open-ended war on terror across the globe. The war authorization from Sen. Todd Young and Rep. Jim Banks, two Indiana Republicans, would not set the same limits. While the Banks and Young measure does repeal the 2001 AUMF and the 2002 Iraq War authorization — just as Schiff’s does — it does not restrict the use of ground forces beyond seeking in an ISIS strategy “an end-state and exit strategy for any planned combat deployment of United States conventional ground forces.” The differences in the two bills highlights the difficulties Democrats and Republicans will have agreeing upon the details of a new war authorization. CNN’s Phil Mattingly contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump's strike on Syria


On Monday morning, President Donald Trump took sides in the West Virginia Senate Republican primary. Trump didn’t endorse a candidate; instead he told GOP voters who NOT to vote for. “To the great people of West Virginia we have, together, a really great chance to keep making a big difference,” tweeted Trump. “Problem is, Don Blankenship, currently running for Senate, can’t win the General Election in your State…No way! Remember Alabama. Vote Rep. Jenkins or A.G. Morrisey!” Trump’s opposition to Blankenship comes as West Virginia Republican insiders suggest that the recent spate of controversy surrounding the former coal mine owner has actually given him a bit of momentum heading into Tuesday’s face-off against Rep. Evan Jenkins and state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey. What controversy, you ask? Where to start! There was the time that Blankenship referred to Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao’s father as a “wealthy Chinaperson.” Or the time when he said that term wasn’t racist because “races are Negro, white Caucasian, Hispanic, Asian. There’s no mention of race. I’ve never used a race word.” What about that time he referred to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Chao’s husband, as “Cocaine Mitch.” (That and much more on just how bad Blankenship is as a candidate is available here!) In urging a vote against Blankenship, Trump follows in the footsteps of his son – Donald Trump Jr. – who, at the end of last week, tweeted: “I hate to lose. So I’m gonna go out on a limb here and ask the people of West Virginia to make a wise decision and reject Blankenship! No more fumbles like Alabama. We need to win in November.” The key component of the Trumps – Donald and Don – is that Blankenship can’t win in November and, therefore, shouldn’t be supported by Republican primary voters. The entire focus is on winning.  Not on what Blankenship has said or what he believes. Retiring Arizona Republican Sen. Jeff Flake, a frequent Trump critic and someone mentioned as a possible 3rd party candidate for president in 2020, hit Trump for that mentality in a tweet Monday. Tweeted Flake: “The problem isn’t that Don Blankenship can’t win a general election in West Virginia, it’s that he shouldn’t win a general election in West Virginia. #CountryOverParty” The problem isn’t that Don Blankenship can’t win a general election in West Virginia, it’s that he shouldn’t win a general election in West Virginia. #CountryOverParty Trump’s tweet is a reminder that he believes, deeply, in the concept that winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing. Think back to Trump’s decision to get involved in the Alabama special election on behalf of embattled former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore. Sure, Trump endorsed Moore’s primary opponent – appointed Sen. Luther Strange – but when it became clear that Moore could well win despite the large number of women who came forward to say he had sought relationships with them when they were under age, Trump went all in for Moore. Why? Because ANY Republican is better than ANY Democrat. The only calculation in Trump’s mind is whether or not a person can win. If polling had shown Moore dead in the water, you can bet Trump would have been much more wary of getting involved. Seen through that lens, Trump’s decision to speak out – or tweet out – in opposition to Blankenship is wholly a reflection of the belief that the controversial coal baron can’t beat Sen. Joe Manchin (D) in the fall. Trump’s win-above-all-else strategy isn’t unique to him – or to his party. Or the country. People now see winning as the only goal. And any means to win justifies the end – as long as the end is a victory. Trump has made clear – over and over and over again – that he likes winners. He likes to be around them. And, he has also made clear that he doesn’t accept the idea of the president as a moral leader, someone who does the right thing rather than the political thing. Trump’s tweet on Blankenship starkly reveals both of those character traits.


President Donald Trump has renewed his criticism of the new US embassy in London, ahead of a planned visit to the UK in July. The billion-dollar embassy moved from its long-standing site in Grosvenor Square, central London, to its new home at Nine Elms, south of the city, in January. But during a rally in Michigan on Saturday, Trump criticized the move. “We had the best site in all of London,” he told supporters, before adding that now, “We have an embassy in a lousy location.” Trump told the rally that the previous site in Grosvenor Square was “sold for like 250 million” – but that organizers “spent all of that money, plus a lot more, to build a new embassy in a lousy location.” His comments come ahead of a planned visit to the UK on July 13, Trump’s first trip to Britain since becoming President, the White House and Downing Street announced last week. It will not be a state visit – a move welcomed by London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who told British talk show host Robert Peston on Sunday that he was glad “the red carpet will not be rolled out” for Trump. Trump and Khan have frequently traded barbs in the past, notably when the US President appeared to misconstrue a statement by the mayor in response to a terror attack in London last year. Related video Trump cancels visit to billion-dollar embassy Trump’s visit follows months of back-and-forth negotiations over the trip, with Trump canceling a previous visit to London in January to officially open the new embassy. “I was supposed to cut the ribbon,” said Trump at Saturday’s rally, before blaming the embassy deal on the Obama and Bush administrations. In fact, the decision to move out of the Grosvenor Square building in the high-end Mayfair district was taken under the Bush administration in 2008, principally because the building was proving harder to secure in an age of terrorist threats – and also, in small part at least, because the US government did not wholly own it. British property law historically allows the ground underneath buildings to be held by people and entities other than the owners of the bricks and mortar above. In this case, the land is owned by the Duke of Westminster, whose property empire controls much of the land in central London, and is leased back to the US at a nominal – or “peppercorn” – rent. “We looked at all our options, including renovation of our current building on Grosvenor Square,” then-Ambassador Robert Tuttle said. “In the end, we realized that the goal of a modern, secure and environmentally sustainable embassy could best be met by constructing a new facility.” The historic Mayfair site is now set to be converted into a luxury hotel by Qatari investors. The new embassy is a world away from its former concrete home, which was designed by Finnish-American modernist architect Eero Saarinen. Price: $1 billionSize: 48,128 square metersHeight: 65 metersSite: 4.9 acresDesign submissions: 37Embassy staff: 800Daily visitors: 1,000Construction began: November 2013 The 12-storey glass cube occupies an almost five-acre site, in a former industrial area south of the River Thames. Security requirements are tight – it is set back 100 feet from the street and boasts a semi-circular pond as a security measure. Designed by Philadelphia architecture firm KieranTimberlake, the embassy houses around 800 staff and is expected to receive 1,000 visitors daily. The building was paid for by selling other US government properties in London. CNN’s Carol Jordan contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump's criticism of the new US embassy in London


Palestinian president, Pope Francis meet at Vatican Palestinians open state embassy in Vatican City Pope Francis and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met Saturday to open a Palestinian embassy in Vatican City. “We are very grateful about the role that the Holy See has played for a just and lasting peace in the Holy Land, and for having opened an embassy of Palestine in the Vatican for first time,” Abbas said, according to the official Palestinian news agency WAFA. “We are proud to be the birthplace of Christianity and about having one of the oldest Christian communities in the world.” Issa Kassissieh, the Palestinian ambassador to the Holy See, called the move “a significant achievement for the Palestinian people,” WAFA said. Israel has yet to respond to news of the opening. Many other countries, including Israel, have embassies in Vatican City. Vatican policy has long held that a two-state solution is the best road to peace in the Holy Land, and Francis has taken steps to raise the profile of a Palestinian state. The Vatican had referred to Palestine as a state since November 2012, when the United Nations voted to recognize it as a nonmember observer state. Francis broke ground by formally recognizing Palestinian statehood in a legal document in May 2015. Also in 2015, Francis declared nuns Marie Alphonsine Ghattas and Mariam Baouardy the first two Palestinian saints of modern times. In June 2014, Francis hosted Abbas and late Israeli President Shimon Peres for an unprecedented prayer ceremony at the Vatican. The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution In September 2015 allowing the “State of Palestine” and the Vatican to raise their flags outside of UN headquarters and UN offices. At the Vatican on Saturday, Abbas said he planned to attend a conference the following day in Paris to explore ways to restart the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. US Secretary of State John Kerry is among officials from more than 70 nations who plan to attend the conference. Israel has said it will not participate.

Palestinian statehood recognition by the Vatican