Tiffany Johnson survived a shark attack in 2017, but lost part of her right arm With a "smart arm," she's learning how to take on once-simple tasks Tiffany Johnson and her husband, JJ, are avid cruisers – self-described “vacation junkies.” In June 2017, the two left their home in Charlotte, North Carolina, and embarked on a relaxing cruise in the Caribbean. On their final day, the Johnsons chartered a snorkel expedition in the Bahamas. They took off in a small boat with another couple to a spot 10 minutes from Paradise Island. Thirty minutes into the snorkeling excursion, Johnson bumped into something. “I was just staring at the fish, and I felt a tug on my arm,” Johnson said. “I remember even just thinking ‘Oh, what did I bump into?’ And then when I turned, I was face-to-face with the shark.” All she could see was the shark’s black, beady eyes staring her down, then darting around. It was such a shock, it took a while for her to realize her entire arm was in the shark’s mouth. “It was just this weird, eerie presence,” she recalled. “Fear just took over.” Instinctively, Johnson tried to pull her arm out of its mouth, and that’s when it clenched down right below her elbow. Related article Prosthetic hand 'tells' the brain what it is touching “I remember hearing the sound of my screaming through the snorkel tube,” she said. “My body wanted to give up. I was seeing almost like a movie reel of my kids,” said Johnson, a mother of three. “And I remember thinking, ‘No, we are not going there.’ And that’s when the strength in the Lord just rose up from inside of me and gave me the strength to fight back.” Thrashing, pulling, praying, Johnson finally won the battle, but when she ultimately yanked her right arm free, half was gone, from the elbow down. “It was a mangled stump. And I remember even thinking right away, like, ‘Oh my gosh, my arm’s gone.’ But I didn’t feel any pain,” she said. The attack lasted no longer than a few minutes, she thought. The Johnsons later learned it was surprising that she survived at all. “Most people die from sharks pulling them down and drowning them,” she said, but Johnson was at surface level the entire time, breathing out of her snorkel tube. Johnson yelled out as she swam back with her left arm. Her husband, who had gotten out of the water earlier, dove in to help her back to the boat. Once on deck, Johnson was calm. She said she felt a peace beyond anything she could ever express. Related video Is it possible to map the entire nervous system? “My husband was frantic, you know, just in sheer terror, and the captain’s the same way, trying to grab the anchor,” she said. She had such a sound mind that she instructed her husband to grab their beach towel – the only available option – to stop the bleeding. “And then I laid my head down and I closed my eyes because in front of me I had literally sprayed blood everywhere. And I began to pray,” she said. They stopped at Paradise Island, the closest shoreline. But they couldn’t help with such a severe injury. They had to return to the main port in Nassau. “When the ambulance arrived (at the port in Nassau) and they started wrapping my arm, that’s the first time I felt pain. So, 45 minutes maybe without pain, which is just a miracle,” Johnson said. Related video The people who feel no pain She had her first surgery in Nassau, but the hospital there could only do so much. She needed to return to the United States for more intensive surgery. There was a problem: They didn’t have their passports, since they didn’t need them while cruising, and an emergency passport would take too long. “We had the minister of tourism in the Bahamas involved, the embassy involved, Customs involved. They were all trying to figure out a way to get us back to the US,” Johnson said. Johnson called her pastor back home in Charlotte. He had connections with a private jet company in the Bahamas. She was evacuated off the island the next day and taken home to Charlotte. Once Johnson arrived in Charlotte, she was placed under the care of orthopedic surgeons, Drs. Bryan Loeffler and Glenn Gaston. They’re two of the surgeons pioneering an innovative procedure called targeted muscle reinnervation, or TMR, developed by Dr. Todd Kuiken in 2002. The procedure has been the front line in the effort to improve the interface between humans and technology. The goal is simple: Give hope – and control – back to upper-limb amputees. TMR enables the user’s mind to communicate with artificial limbs via prosthetics that connect to the nervous system. When most people raise a thumb, the brain sends a signal down the spinal cord, through a network of nerves that go down the forearm and into the muscles of the thumb, telling it to lift. “When the hand (is) lost, you still have that same signal that can be sent down, but it doesn’t have a target anymore,” Loeffler said. With TMR, the surgeons take residual nerves that previously controlled the amputated limb and rewire them into the remaining part of the limb. It essentially gives that signal a target in a new muscle. “The signal that’s going from the brain, now it doesn’t have a dead end, it has a muscle, and it will cause it to contract. When the muscle contracts, it generates an electrical signal that is detected by a sensor that’s on the skin, and that signal is transduced into a prosthetic to allow the thumb function to occur,” Loeffler said. The intuitive, thought-controlled bionic arm has come a long way since its inception. Related article Thought-powered bionic arm 'like something from space' According to Gaston, within an hour of training, many patients are able to perform all the functions that the prosthetic allows. In the past, that would’ve taken months of training. “They literally just have to think ‘close my hand,’ and they close their (prosthetic) hand,” Gaston said. It also has another benefit for amputees – it greatly reduces or eliminates neuroma pain, also known as phantom pain, which is the experience of pain in the lost limb. Loeffler said the nerves that are severed from the amputation act like exposed live wires, but with TMR, they are now a closed circuit, since they’ve been assigned a purpose. Related article The new 'Fin' that propels amputees in the water According to multiple studies over the past decade, TMR offers a novel solution for post-amputation neuroma pain. For that benefit alone, both doctors say the procedure is worthwhile and can be performed at any time, even years after an amputation. For Johnson, it has been a tough journey since the attack. She has relearned how to perform once-simple tasks, such as eating, writing and cooking. She’s adapting to life with one arm, and so is her family. But there was another helping hand on the way. Johnson smiles and lights up the waiting room at OrthoCarolina Reconstructive Center for Lost Limbs, which is run by Loeffler and Gaston. Here, she’s a poster child for positivity. “She has been an incredible person through it all and I think her drive and her spirit to get through everything is really exemplary. And she’s rubbed off on a lot of our other patients,” Gaston said. Johnson is a fast learner. She signs her medical documents with her left hand fairly well for a new lefty and, as she quips, in handwriting better than her husband’s. Now it’s time for more learning. On this day, she is receiving her first mind-controlled “smart arm.” Electrodes are placed all around Johnson’s right elbow, and the mechanical prosthesis is placed on. Within minutes, she’s bending, grasping and pointing with the bionic arm. All of these actions originate from the simple intent to do so. It’s an incredible moment for both the patient and the doctors. “The real unique challenge with Tiffany was the very short residual limb that we had to work with. We had to be fairly creative with which nerves we re-routed to the few muscles remaining,” Gaston said. Johnson is excited to tie her hair up in a ponytail, and cook with both hands again. During the past 15 years, TMR has continued to bridge the gap between human and machine. “The pace of technology, particularly in this area, is mind boggling. It seems like every few months something else is coming along. I think, to some degree, the surgeries outpace the technology,” Gaston said. Right now the research lies in improving functioning of intuitive limbs, as well as implementing sensation into them. See the latest news and share your comments with CNN Health on Facebook and Twitter. When pressure is detected by the prosthesis, Loeffler said that can send a signal to their brain telling them it is touching something. “The ability to touch and perceive things without looking at them is what makes a hand a hand. We’re going to see, in the future, that these prosthetics are going to become more and more life-like,” he said. Above all, Johnson credits her faith for keeping her steady. “A couple of days after the attack, I started reading Psalm 18 and I couldn’t keep it together … where it says ‘the grave wrapped its robe around me. Death itself stared me in the face.’ That’s exactly what happened; I was staring face to face with that shark,” she said. “And then later, ‘He reached down from heaven and rescued me; he drew me out of deep waters.’ I was just in awe of reading this. I was just thinking, oh my God, this is my story.”

targeted muscle reinnervation (TMR) procedure


A new report predicts the world's population will hit a staggering 9.8 billion by 2050 Fertility rates are dropping globally but remain high in Africa Nine countries will contribute to more than half of the world's population growth, and five are on the African continent Nigeria will overtake the United States to become the third-most populous country in the world by 2050, according to a United Nations report. Currently the seventh-most populous country in the world, the West African nation is projected to surpass the 300 million people mark by 2050, according to The World Population Prospects 2017. The report predicted that the world population will hit a staggering 9.8 billion by 2050, and forecasted that over half of the expected growth between 2017 and 2050 is likely to occur in Africa. Here are five African countries that will contribute the most to the world’s population growth. With an estimated population of more than 180 million people, Nigeria experienced annual population growth of about 2.7% between 2010 and 2015, according to the UN. Current population: 187 million (2016) Population by 2050: over 300 millionLargest city: Lagos- between 17.5 and 21 million residents High fertility rates, high infant mortality rates and the cultural value of large families have all been cited as factors driving Nigeria’s population boom. Home to four of the world’s fastest-growing cities, it has been described as an economic powerhouse. However, there are fears that such an increase in population could cripple Nigeria’s already inadequate infrastructure. Current population:  79.8 millionPopulation by 2050: 214 million Largest city:  Kinshasha  7.8 million residents The Democratic Republic of Congo is the largest country in Francophone Africa, with annual population growth of 3.2%. As in Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda and Afghanistan, high fertility levels have contributed to the country’s population increase. The fertility rate in 2016 was 4.53 births per woman. The country’s capital, Kinshasa, has the third-largest urban agglomeration on the continent and is predicted to add more than six million people to its population by 2025, cementing its status as an African mega-city. Ethiopia is the second-most populous country in Africa and the 14th-most populous in the world. It experienced a rate of 2.5% annual population growth between 2010 and 2015. Current population: 101.7 million (2016) By 2050: 168.6 million Largest city: Addis Abbaba-3.6 million residents (city) 4.6 million residents (metro) As well as a population boom, the country has experienced an economic boost and is on target to become a middle-income country by 2025. Addis Ababa, the country’s capital and largest city, has an important role to play, but the city’s rapid development has led to tensions and accusations of marginalization. From 2010 to 2015, Tanzania experienced an annual population growth rate of 3.2%, and its population is predicted to exceed 130 million by 2050. Current population: 54.2 million (2016) By 2050: 134.8 million Largest city: Dar-es Salaam- 4.1 million residents Early motherhood, high fertility rates and falling mortality rates are some of the reasons given for Tanzania’s population explosion. According to the African Development Bank, Dar es Salaam, the country’s capital, is expected to grow by 85% from now until 2025. The city is expected to become a mega-city by the 2030s. Uganda has one of the fastest growing populations in the world. Between 2010 and 2015, it experienced an annual population growth rate of 3.3%. Current population: 36.6 million By 2050: 101.5 million Largest city: Kampala- 1.3 million residents As in many African countries, high fertility rates are a major contributing factor to Uganda’s population figures. It has the fifth-highest fertility rate in the world, with women having an average of 5.8 children in 2016. The World Bank estimates Kampala, the country’s capital, will experience rapid urbanization and the population will increase from six million in 2013 to more than 20 million by 2040. Torera Idowu contributed to this report


Buried in the jungle of the Democratic Republic of Congo is a secret artist colony. Its whereabouts are, for now, unknown except to teaching volunteers and nine hand-picked artists who, when not toiling on a local plantation, sculpt and draw. Renzo Martens, a Dutch artist who has spearheaded the project, known as the Institute for Human Activities, has grand visions. “I hope it will become central Africa’s most brilliant, extravagant and beautiful place for contemporary art,” he says. The DRC is a country that continues to struggle both economically and politically. Given that it is also one of the poorest countries in the world (it ranks 168 out of 178 on the 2015 Index of Economic Freedom), Martens’ goal may seem not merely lofty, but misplaced. He begs to differ. “It’s quite important that these people get to contribute to global debates, on poverty, on development, but they’re so damn poor they won’t ever contribute. They don’t have enough money to buy a cell phone, let alone take a course in English so they can talk to you about it,” he says. I hope it will become central Africa’s most brilliant, extravagant and beautiful place for contemporary art. Renzo Martens “We’re trying to make sure their political vision, their mental state, their voices, aren’t only given a platform, but that they’re remunerated and paid for speaking, because these are two things they need most: they need to be heard and they need to make money.” Currently, the resident artists use clay found in the local riverbeds to make self-portraits that Martens describes as “quite deep and harrowing in many ways.” The sculptures are scanned and brought back to Amsterdam, where they’re reconstructed as chocolate busts using 3D printing. Martens hopes to sell the finished products at a handful of planned exhibits in Amsterdam and Berlin, as well as in Art Brussels and Art Cologne. The proceeds, he says, will go back to the artists. At $60 per bust, Martens estimates the price per gram of chocolate soars 7,000%. “People in Congo export a lot. They export cocoa, for instance, but cocoa doesn’t speak. If you add emotions, all of a sudden it does speak, and as soon as it starts speaking, it’s worth a lot more money. That’s the big joke. You add feelings and emotions to chocolate and you get a 7,000 percent surplus.” The art world has a long history of exploiting the Congo, says Martens, from Western journalists who capitalize on selling images of impoverished locals, to multinational corporations like Unilever, who pay plantation workers a mere $240 annually while simultaneously sponsoring one of the world’s most significant modern art series. “Look at where the surplus money that Unilever spends on subsidizing these art exhibits comes from. It comes from people working on the plantations,” he says. Perhaps as a criticism of the economics of modern art, the original location for the Institute for Human Activities was on a former Unilever plantation, since bought out by Canadian firm Feronia. The institute was evicted from the plantation last year. Martens says Feronia told him the project was distracting their workers. “We don’t want to be disturbed,” says Martens as to why the current location is secret. “Some of Feronia’s workers work with us, and we don’t want them to be fired. We think it’s just safer if nobody knows where it is.”


Editor’s Note: Charles Arthur was technology editor of The Guardian from 2005-2014 and at The Independent from 1995-2004. He is currently writing a book on hacking incidents. He blogs at The Overspill. The opinions in this article belong to the author. The British comedians David Mitchell and Robert Webb captured perfectly the moment when realization dawns. Their comic skit opens with Webb, as a German commander, striding around an artillery encampment: “Now we’ll see how these Russians deal with a crack SS division,” he says firmly. Mitchell comes over, looking concerned. “Hans,” he says. “I’ve just noticed something. Have you looked at our caps recently? The badges on our caps. They’ve got skulls on them. Actually got little pictures of skulls on them.” He pauses. “Hans,” he says, a growing horror in his voice. “Are we the baddies?” One can imagine a scene a little like this playing out in the officer of Uber, the taxi-but-don’t-call-it-a-taxi business. Uber likes to say it’s not just a cheap cab service – it’s “redefining the city”. Related article The real story behind Uber CEO But in the past two months, a growing number of executives have departed, most recently its president of ride-sharing, Jeff Jones, as allegations of an ingrained culture of sexism allied with an aggressive attitude that rides roughshod over regulators and safety has become too loud to ignore. Uber’s CEO Travis Kalanick has taken the allegations seriously enough to order an internal investigation. Jones told Recode: “The beliefs and approach to leadership that have guided my career are inconsistent with what I saw and experienced at Uber.” In other words: are we the baddies? Meanwhile Google is being hauled before the UK government’s Cabinet Office to explain how adverts for the latter ended up on extremist videos on YouTube – where the video makers get a cut of the advertising money. The revelation prompted the withdrawal of millions of pounds of advertising by other brands including The Guardian, Marks & Spencer and the media buying agency Havas, which controls £175m of spending for clients. Again, you can imagine the astonishment in the Google offices: we’re giving money to extremists? Are we the baddies? Google’s European chief Matt Brittin has said that the company is sorry and “looking again at how we improve what we’re doing on enforcement,” but didn’t outline any solid policy changes when he spoke at the Advertising Week Europe conference in London. Tech companies are often encouraged to have an exaggerated view of themselves and the world. Steve Jobs urged Apple to make a “dent in the universe.” Google has “moonshots.” Mark Zuckerberg exhorted Facebook’s programmers to “move fast and break things.” The Silicon Valley ideal is “disruption” – tearing everything apart, throwing all the cards in the air. Why, you’re not just collecting and delivering washing door-to-door – you’re disrupting laundromats. Never mind that lots of people need laundromats. They’re stick-in-the-muds who’ll soon discover how wonderful it is to spend a quarter of their weekly wage on cleaning. And tax? As the fictional Valley company executive in Armando Iannucci’s satirical TV series Veep told the vice-president, “we like to think we’re post-tax.” But surely if you’re changing the world, that can’t be bad – can it? Look at Facebook, connecting everyone and making the world a better place. Oh, no, don’t tell me it’s also host to fake news, illicit gun sales and child abuse imagery. How about Twitter, whose mission statement is “To give everyone the power to create and share ideas and information instantly, without barriers.” That wasn’t meant to include attacks coordinated by huffy video game players on women or sexist racists attack the actress Leslie Jones, even though it has been warned about an incipient abuse problem for years. Related article Trump's critics are pulling a Trump, using Twitter to troll back Facebook has since updated its policy concerning posts about firearm sales, and has reported people circulating child abuse images to the police, but in both instances, the company relies on active users reporting misuse of the platform. Twitter, similarly, updated its policies for reporting abuse in November, allowing bystanders watching abuse happen to report an abusive user. It’s not hard to see why critics don’t think that these measures go far enough. But nobody at Twitter or Facebook could quite believe they might be the baddies – all they want to do is good in the world. But you know what they say about the road to hell. Having a blinkered view of the world is necessary in the early stages of a technology company, when there’s a need to find revenue and profit. But there comes a time for responsibility – and a little self-examination. As the author Stephen King observed, “nobody thinks of themselves as the bad guy.” Yet sometimes that’s where you find yourself. Silicon Valley’s big companies are so powerful now that their bad traits routinely affect thousands; on a bad day, millions, or even entire countries. In which case yes, they are the baddies. We can’t fix that. They have to.


The group claims it is secular and is not affiliated with terror groups like ISIS or al-Qaeda Myanmar's military says it has killed over 400 Rohingya insurgents in the recent fighting A violent crackdown by Myanmar’s military on insurgents from the Muslim Rohingya population has sparked a mass exodus of more than 300,000 people into neighboring Bangladesh. At least 1,000 people have died in what the UN human rights chief has called a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing.” Fighting erupted in Rakhine state on August 25, when Rohingya militants killed 12 security officers in coordinated attacks on border posts, according to Myanmar’s state media. The Rohingya militant group known as ARSA has since proposed a ceasefire to allow aid groups to respond to the humanitarian crisis, which the government has rejected, saying it doesn’t “negotiate with terrorists.” Who are the ARSA Rohingya militants and what do they want? ARSA stands for the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, and is also known by the name Harakat al-Yaqeen, or “Faith Movement.” A December 2016 report by the International Crisis Group said the group is led by a “committee of Rohingya émigrés in Saudi Arabia and is commanded on the ground by Rohingya with international training and experience in modern guerrilla war tactics.” In interviews with CNN the militants deny this. While they represent the Rohingya Muslims, the group has told CNN that it is secular and is not connected with Islamist groups like ISIS or al-Qaeda. The frontperson for the militant group is a man called Ata Ullah. The International Crisis Group report claims he was born in Karachi and moved to Saudi Arabia, details of his personal life that Ullah denies. In comments to CNN, he says not only is the group independent of influence from supporters in Saudi Arabia it also has no connection to groups in Pakistan, Bangladesh, or Afghanistan. He insists they are not terrorists and would never attack civilians. Their only targets, he says, are the repressive government forces. ARSA says it is fighting on behalf of the million Rohingya living in virtual detention in the western coastal state of Rakhine, who have few if any rights according to Myanmar’s government. They are fighting for freedom of movement, a right to basic education and healthcare, and citizenship, Ullah told CNN in an interview in February. In 1982 a citizenship law allowed Rohingya to apply for citizenship if they could speak an officially recognized language and had proof their family had lived in the country before independence. But most have never received the correct paperwork and are effectively stateless. Myanmar’s military says it has killed nearly 400 militants in the violence, but their current numbers are not known. The group is said to recruit from the ranks of fleeing villagers. Young men and boys are also being persuaded or coerced to stay behind and fight while women and children evacuate to escape the violence, according to the New York Times. The group has been fighting Myanmar government forces since last October, when it attacked a border post and killed a number of police. Even as more fighters rally to its ranks, ARSA is unlikely to ever match the power of the Myanmar military. Ata Ullah rejects claims that ARSA receives outside support or funding. One indication of whether they may have recently received assistance comes from the fighters themselves. When the group carried out last year’s October attack, Ullah said his fighters didn’t have “any sophisticated weapons.” “We attacked them using our machetes, swords, and knives, and we seized their weapons to use against them,” he said. In videos posted on social media recently, however, the knives are gone. Masked men tote assault rifles and address the camera, calling on supporters to join them in their fight.


In the next six months, the administration will weigh whether to extend status for more than 400,000 people Haitians have already been warned an end to their US stay could be coming As the nation’s immigrant community grapples with President Donald Trump’s decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, a similar move could be looming for hundreds of thousands of other immigrants who have been permitted to build lives in the United States, in some cases for decades. At issue is “temporary protected status,” a provision of immigration law that allows the government to grant temporary work authorizations and protection from deportation to immigrants, including otherwise undocumented ones, from certain countries where life remains dangerous. Conditions that could merit the status include armed conflict and civil war, natural disasters, epidemics and “other extraordinary and temporary conditions.” The status is intended to be temporary, but many of the designated countries have had their crises continue for years, resulting in certain groups’ protections lasting for decades. In the next six months, the Trump administration will weigh whether to extend the status for several countries whose immigrants have lived in the United States for as long as 20 years – with a decision to end that status potentially upending their lives. All told, more than 440,000 people in the United States are protected by the program. The Department of Homeland Security is overdue for a decision about Sudan and South Sudan; there are 1,039 temporarily protected immigrants from Sudan in the United States and 49 from South Sudan, according to data provided by US Citizenship and Immigration Services. Their status is set to expire November 2, and federal law requires a decision 60 days before the deadline and timely publication of that decision. Reached for comment about the decision, US Citizenship and Immigration Services issued a statement that said: “The Secretary has made a determination and USCIS will publish a (Federal) Register Notice shortly.” USCIS would not provide the decision that had been reached. Related article Admin memo: DACA recipients should prepare for 'departure from the United States' The expiration deadlines for decisions on Haiti, Honduras and Nicaragua, which have much larger populations of temporarily protected immigrants in the United States, are in January, meaning a decision will be due in November. Haiti’s temporary protected status was set to expire in July, but former Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, who has since become White House chief of staff, opted to extend it for six months. But when Kelly extended the status for Haiti, which was designated in 2011 after an earthquake devastated the island, he warned the nearly 58,700 recipients living in America to prepare their affairs for going back to Haiti or find another way to apply to stay in the United States. That sent a shock wave through the broader community of temporarily protected immigrants, which fears the warning was a sign of things to come. More than 86,000 Hondurans and more than 5,300 Nicaraguans are protected under the program. El Salvador’s temporary protected status is up for expiration in March. Salvadorans make up more than 263,000 of the immigrants who are temporarily protected, and they have been living in the United States since 2001. Trump has been especially harsh on immigrants from Central America in public remarks, blaming them for violence by the gang MS-13, which exists in its largest concentrations outside the United States in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. That further adds to the concern that acting Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke could decide to end the protections for Central Americans. “It’s going to be devastating to those families (if the program ends), and they typically are families, so you often have children that have grown up in the United States, people who are gainfully employed, settled in communities,” said Leon Rodriguez, a former director of USCIS now working as an immigration attorney. “So the impact from a family perspective, from a workplace perspective, from a community perspective, it’s quite, quite serious.” According to the rules, not everyone from the countries designated is automatically protected. Only people who can show they’ve continually lived in the United States since the triggering event – or subsequent designation times – are eligible. Related article DACA decision appears to shift to Congress, but action tough For example, Sudan was first designated in 1997 and was redesignated in 1999, 2004 and 2013. To qualify for protections from El Salvador, recipients must have lived in the United States since 2001, and for Honduras, it’s 1998, meaning any revocation of the program would upend lives built in the United States for nearly 20 years. Lawmakers have been pressing the Trump administration to preserve temporary protected status for the countries whose deadlines for redesignation are coming up soon, citing the communities that would be harmed. At a meeting in July with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, then-Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly indicated he could end Haiti’s status but hadn’t made a decision on Central America. In addition to the humanitarian concerns, supporters of the program point to analyses that show an economic impact from revoking it. “If El Salvador terminates, literally 260,000 eligible workers will fall out of the workforce at the stroke of midnight on whatever day that happens,” Rodriguez said. An analysis by the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, which advocates for pro-immigration policies, found that deporting all the immigrants from El Salvador, Honduras and Haiti who have temporary protected status would cost $3.1 billion and take away $6.9 billion in contributions to Social Security and Medicare and $45.2 billion to the gross domestic product over a decade. Turnover costs for their employers would total nearly $1 billion. “There’s different elements to the concern,” said Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a Democrat from California. “First, in the case of people who’ve been here a considerable period of time, people become members of their community, and so … a couple decades later, you own businesses, you have families, you have grandchildren, you’re kind of part of our situation here.” Lofgren said the designated countries often remain in dire straits, and sending people back to them would be “unwise.” The program is one of the issues that Congress needs to tackle as part of immigration reform because insisting on keeping recipients’ status temporary becomes untenable, she said. “There should be some rational way to transition people who have been here for a long time, and in the case of these people, they’ve been here in legal status, who because of the length of their stay have basically become valued members of our community,” Lofgren said. “That’s a matter of a change of immigration law.” This story has been updated with a comment from USCIS and more details on the timeline for decision-making.

Trump administration's decision on Temporary Protected Status


A new exhibition aims to show the former splendor of Orient Express The iconic train's first voyage was in 1883, and it connected Paris to Istanbul with stops on the way The train's luxurious carriages welcomed royalty, business elites and celebrated artists It also inspired many novels such as Agatha Christie's "Murder on the Orient Express" In 1883, what was to become the iconic Orient Express train pulled out of Paris’ Gare de l’Est on its maiden voyage to Istanbul, or Constantinople as it was known at the time. It was the creation of an entrepreneurial Belgian, George Nagelmackers, who had already founded the Paris-based parent company, the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits. Now, the SNCF French national rail company is planning on bringing the Orient Express back to life and before doing so has teamed up with the Arab World Institute to bring to the public a long lost era when time had another meaning and traveling to Istanbul took four days and three nights. It’s important to make one thing clear right away: the superb new exhibit, Once Upon a Time the Orient Express, thoroughly indulges in Orientalism. The exhibit celebrates the romanticized images that Westerners had of the Middle East during the late 19th century to the first half of the 20th. Curator Claude Mollard and his advisers were perfectly aware that they might be accused of colonial nostalgia and have gone about the exhibit intelligently, putting it into the historic and political context of the time. Moreover, that this world was a Western fantasy no longer becomes important when visitors board the several perfectly restored carriages of the Orient Express parked in front of the Arab World Institute: we would all have liked to be passengers on the train. Europe’s most opulent sleeper train is getting even more jaw-dropping The idea, explained Mollard, is to climb on board and imagine that the train has stopped in a station and the passengers have gotten out to stretch their legs, leaving their possessions  – a fur, a silk scarf or a tweed jacket draped over the seats – in the carriages. The first carriage is the 1929 Flèche D’Or, luxuriously decorated by René Lalique with molten glass nymphets set in panels made from Cuban mahogany. Champagne flutes are set on a table; a coat and women’s scarf are thrown negligently over the back of a club chair. A copy of Le Figaro newspaper from 1883 refers to the Orient Express’s first trip; photographs were not yet in use, the article is accompanied by an engraving of the train. On another table there is a bottle of brandy and a package of Gitanes cigarettes. The décor makes reference to the personalities who traveled in the train and often wrote about it – French novelist Pierre Loti, Robert Baden-Powell when he worked as an intelligence officer using the cover of a butterfly collector or Mata Hari, the spy. Josephine Baker was involved in an Orient Express rail accident in 1931 when Hungarian fascists destroyed a section of a viaduct near Budapest; she gave an impromptu concert to calm the survivors. One table is set up with a Remington portable typewriter in honor of Graham Greene, whose 1932 novel “Stamboul Train,” later adapted to film, was set on the Orient Express. In another compartment identical to the one in scenes from the 1963 Bond film “From Russia with Love,” the movie is projected onto a screen. With wall panels in precious wood and door handles in gilded brass, each compartment had a matching washbasin and a built-in toiletries cabinet. The 1929 Train Bleu’s décor was more abstract with Lalique floral motifs in molten glass set into plane tree paneling. A salon-bar is equipped with bridge tables and armchairs; gambling was regular pastime during the journey. Cupboards are stocked with champagne and Bordeaux wine. The exhibit would not be complete without mention of Agatha Christie, whose celebrated 1934 novel “Murder on the Orient Express” took place almost entirely on the train. Christie’s place at a table is set up opposite her archeologist husband Max Mallowan with whom she frequently traveled. They take the extension of the Orient Express, the Taurus Express, which covered routes from Istanbul to Cairo, Teheran and Basra. Peru’s Andean Explorer: A luxury train journey The second part of the exhibit is inside the Arab World Institute and includes an exact model reproduction of the Orient Express chugging around on a long toy track. (The actual speed was 70 kilometers an hour). A section of the museum is devoted to the Arab world and the Taurus Express train extension. A large-scale interactive map helpfully points out the major historical and political changes in the region from the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the Sykes-Picot agreement, the First World War, the Second World War up to the creation of the Israeli state. A gorgeous collection of Art Deco vintage travel posters is displayed, depicting the Pyramids and other Levantine monuments in vibrant colors, but also luxury hotels. The Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits opened hotels (such as the Pera Palace in Istanbul) in many of the cities the Orient Express and Taurus Express stopped in, in order to provide passengers with the luxury to which they were accustomed. One of the highlights of the exhibit is a documentary made in Lebanon with two former employees of the Taurus Express. At 95 and 100 years respectively, one sold Taurus Express tickets for Thomas Cook in Aleppo, while the other was a mechanic. These men provide the link to today’s world and are living proof of another epoch. The end of the line for American long-distance trains? 11 of the world’s most luxurious train journeys Spectacular, rarely seen images of China’s railways This article was originally published in April 2014.


Canadian pastor is reported missing by his family after a trip to North Korea Hyeon Soo Lim, 60, speaks Korean fluently and has visited North Korea numerous times Tour groups: North Korea is easing its Ebola policy A Canadian pastor is missing after going on a trip to North Korea in late January, his family and church say. The Rev. Hyeon Soo Lim, 60, went to North Korea on a humanitarian trip as he had done over a hundred times before, said Lisa Pak, a spokeswoman for his church, based in Mississauga, Ontario. On January 30, Lim traveled to North Korea from China with a companion from the church who last spoke with him the following day. Lim was scheduled to return February 4 from what was described as a “routine” trip to Rajin, in northeastern North Korea, where his church supports a nursery, orphanage and nursing home, according to the Light Korean Presbyterian Church. So far he has failed to show. The church has formally requested help in finding Lim from Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs, and has contacted the Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang, which provides consular help for citizens of the United States, Canada and Australia, which do not have diplomatic ties with North Korea. After not hearing from Lim, Pak said they thought he could have been caught up in North Korea’s recent Ebola policy. Lim’s church and family waited the 21-day incubation period that he would have been under quarantine. In October, North Korea announced it was taking “preventive measures” to “control the infection by Ebola.” Tour groups to North Korea announced that the country would restrict its borders to international tourists because of concerns about Ebola. This week, tour groups indicated that North Korea may be easing its Ebola policy. Tour operators, including Koryo Tours, Young Pioneers Tours and Uri Tours, announced on their websites that the country would ease its ban on foreign tourists. Nick Bonner, Koryo Tour’s co-founder and director, told CNN on Tuesday, “We’re pleased to announce that today marks the first time in more than four months that tourism in North Korea begins to resume as normal.” Related video Detained Americans released from N. Korea Lim’s family released a statement, thanking the Canadian government for its efforts to find the pastor and asking for privacy. In 1986, Lim immigrated to Canada from South Korea with his wife and son. He speaks fluent Korean and leads a 3,000-member church. Pak, the church’s spokeswoman, said she doesn’t believe Lim would have engaged in any type of proselytizing, which is prohibited in North Korea. “He knows the language, he knows the nature of the government, so we don’t see that as a legitimate reason that he would be detained,” she said. “We don’t believe that’s the way he would have behaved. He’s very wise about that.” Previously, North Korea has detained Westerners on religious grounds. Related video Former detainee's advice: Keep the faith Cases include American Kenneth Bae, who was detained for two years after North Korea accused him of trying to bring down the government through religious activities. Bae was released in November. Another American, Jeffrey Fowle, was arrested after leaving a Bible at a club in North Korea and released after five months in detention. Aijalon Mahli Gomes, a U.S. citizen sentenced to eight years of hard labor and believed to be a Christian activist, was released from North Korea in 2010 after a visit to Pyongyang by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter. CNN’s KJ Kwon contributed to this report from Seoul, South Korea.


After terror attacks in Jakarta, authorities warn that ISIS represents new generation of terrorists Indonesia police chief says that unlike al Qaeda, ISIS legitimizes the murder of fellow Muslims Three days after ISIS militants carried out a deadly terror attack in broad daylight, Indonesians poured out by the thousands onto the streets of this tropical city for an exuberant day of recreation. A stream of families walked, jogged, cycled, munched street food and enjoyed live music performances on Sunday morning. The festive scene took place within yards of the Starbucks that ISIS members attacked with suicide bombs and grenades on January 14. Read: 12 arrested after deadly Jakarta attack The happy procession on Sunday was not specifically a response to the deadliest terror attack Jakarta has seen in six years, which killed at least 4 civilian bystanders and wounded at least 25 people. Related video Jakarta defiant to terror after attacks For years every weekend, this teeming, steamy city closes vehicular traffic on several main boulevards as part of an initiative called “Car Free Day.” But there was a spirit of defiance among many residents of the capital this weekend. “This Sunday I’m quite happy, because look, everybody’s here,” said Rainier Daulay, an Indonesian hotel owner who took a break from exercising on his bicycle to smoke a cigarette. “We don’t care about terrorism.” He stood near a police traffic control booth that had been attacked by ISIS militants on Thursday. The battle-scarred structure was now decorated with the colors of the Indonesian flag as well as slogans that translated as “Brave Indonesia, Peaceful Indonesia.” In front of the Starbucks, still gutted and burned on the inside from the attack, men dressed in traditional costumes and skull and feather head-dresses danced with spears to the beat of a drum in a show of Indonesian patriotism. Thursday’s attack did not approach the scale of carnage caused by the 2002 al Qaeda-linked bombing on the Indonesian island of Bali, which killed more than 200 people. In fact, counter terror experts here say ISIS only attracts a fringe minority of support in the world’s most populous Muslim country. Related gallery Deadly explosions, gunfight in Jakarta And yet, law enforcement authorities warn ISIS represents a new generation of terrorists that could be more lethal than their al Qaeda predecessors. “ISIS is more dangerous in the case of Indonesia…because they perceive Indonesia as not Dawla Islamiya, not an Islamic country,” said Jakarta police chief Tito Karnavian in an interview with CNN. Unlike al Qaeda, Karnavian says ISIS legitimizes the murder of fellow Muslims. “I know some ISIS supporters personally,” said Harits Abu Ulya, an expert on Islamist extremism and founder of the Community of Ideological Islamic Analysis. “They are quick to declare that other people are infidels,” he explained. “They accuse opponents of acting incorrectly to such an extreme level to justify killing them.” Abu Ulya said for years he has been a close personal friend of Bahrun Naim, the 32-year-old who Indonesian authorities accuse of plotting the January 14 Jakarta attack. “I consider him like a younger brother,” he said with a smile. Abu Ulya said he first met Bahrun Naim in their native city of Solo, where he led a local chapter of the Islamist movement Hizb-u-Tahrir. “He was adventurous when he was in Hizb-u-Tahrir,” Abu Ulya recalled. “Searching for answers including in matters of jihad.” A spokesperson for the group, Ismail Yunanto, confirmed to CNN that both men were members of the movement, which operates legally in Indonesia. Related video Indonesians mourn terror victims “Then in 2010 Bahrun Naim was expelled from Hizb-u-Tahrir,” Yunanto said. At that time, police arrested Bahrun Naim for possession of ammunition. He was sentenced to more than two years in prison. Abu Ulya said that in prison, “Bahrun Naim became more militant … he got closer to other jihadis.” Abu Ulya insisted that it wasn’t until January 2015 that he knew Bahrun Naim had suddenly moved his family thousands of miles away to Syria. The radical had joined ISIS in Raqqa, the Syrian city that became the capital of the group’s self-declared caliphate. According to Indonesian police, Bahrun Naim planned and ordered last week’s attacks in Jakarta from Raqqa. “His vision is to join, to unite all ISIS-supporting elements in southeast Asia: Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines,” said Karnavian, the Jakarta police chief. Communication from ISIS stronghold Abu Ulya held up a Lenovo smartphone. There, in a text messaging application called Telegram that he said was favored by supporters of ISIS in Indonesia, was a long series of messages exchanged with someone identified as Syam BN. Syam is an Indonesian transliteration for the Arabic name for the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, which includes Syria. Abu Ulya said several months after Bahrun Naim reached Syria, he contacted him via Telegram. One of the final messages he received from the militant was dated December 3, 2015. Translated from the Bahasa Indonesian language it said “sorry sorry I was influenced by the boys.” The message ended with two smiley-faced emoticons. An undated photo of Bahrun Naim posted on his Telegram profile shows him dressed in a leather jacket, leaning against a wall decorated with Arabic flyers, holding a Kalashnikov assault rifle and wearing a Middle Eastern kaffiyeh scarf. The architecture of the buildings behind him is similar to structures one would see in many Syrian and Iraqi towns. Read: Is ISIS’ presence in South-East Asia overstated? Since ISIS announced the creation of a caliphate around Raqqa in 2014, the region has served as a magnet for jihadis from around the world. One ISIS-recruiting video shows a small group of men walking along a lake carrying weapons and an ISIS flag. “We are your brothers from Indonesia who have come to join the Islamic state,” says a man identified as Abu Muhammad al Indonesi. Speaking in Bahasa Indonesia, he urges fellow Muslims in Indonesia to drop familial and professional obligations to emigrate to Syria. In a separate video, Indonesians demonstrate how they celebrate Eid al Adha, or the Feast of the Sacrifice, in Raqqa. And they repeat the appeal for Indonesians to make the pilgrimage to the ISIS stronghold. Communicating via Telegram, Abu Ulya said he learned that Bahrun Naim took two wives and two children with him to Syria. In fact, at Bahrun Naim’s request, Abu Ulya said he informed the parents of the second wife that their daughter had gone to Syria. “The parents are so sad losing her,” he said. In November, Abu Ulya learned that Bahrun Naim had been injured in Syria. “He told me he was experimenting with chemicals and there was an accident,” Abu Ulya said. “Because of the accident, in his own words he became an ‘office boy.’” Around 14 weeks ago, someone identified as Bahrun Naim began posting blogs on a Google-plus account. The articles include hand-drawn instructions on how to make an explosive belt, as well as lessons on making remote-controlled bombs and detonators. Abu Ulya described Bahrun Naim as an “urban guerilla.” He disputed the Indonesian government’s claims, however, that his “little brother” was the leader of the ISIS movement in Indonesia, arguing that the 32-year old was too young to hold such a position. However, several scholars of Indonesia’s radical Islamist movements agree that with his social media profile and his presence in Syria, Bahrun Naim has become an inspiring figure for other young would-be supporters of ISIS on the Indonesian archipelago. “Many people respect him even though he’s very young,” said Al Chaidar, a lecturer at Malikussaleh University in Indonesia’s Aceh region. “We can see the new role of a new generation of the jihadi movement,” Al Chaidar added. Last December, Indonesian police ramped up security before Christmas after intercepting communications that ISIS was planning “a concert.” They interpreted that to be a codeword for an attack. Abu Ulya told CNN that in November 2015 he received a similar message from his old friend in Syria. “He once told me that he wanted to make a concert,” Abu Ulya said. “The date of the concert is not fixed yet, but he told me just to wait.” Abu Ulya said it was far too early to conclude that Bahrun Naim planned the January 14 terror attack. The militant’s younger brother Dahlan told Indonesian media last weekend not to jump to conclusions about his sibling’s alleged role in the suicide bombing. “Regarding those allegations against Bahrun, I think we should just let the law take its course,” said Dahlan Naim. Journalist Mohammad Eyad Kourdi contributed to this report from the Syrian-Turkish border.


Editor’s Note: This article was originally published by The Spaces, a digital publication exploring new ways to live and work. French billionaire François Pinault has big ambitions for Paris’ former stock exchange – and he’s enlisted Tadao Ando to realize them. The luxury goods tycoon has tasked the Japanese architect with transforming the storied Bourse de Commerce building into a new 32,000-square-foot gallery and exhibition space for his collection of contemporary art. Inside London's stunning $70M museum revamp “In creating this new museum, I am writing the next chapter of my cultural project, whose goal is to share my passion for contemporary art with as broad an audience as possible,” said Pinault. He already owns Christie’s auction house and two museums in Venice featuring Ando interventions. The protected building is said to be inspired by Rome’s Pantheon, and features a soaring glass dome and elaborate frescoes. Ando will insert a cylindrical three-tiered structure inside the historic rotunda to create gallery space for artworks from Pinault’s 3,000-piece collection, as well as an underground auditorium. Slated to open in early 2019, the new museum is expected to cost around 108 million euros ($121 million). Why museums around the world are celebrating fashion's great rebels “I thought that it should be up to me and my family to make the necessary efforts, and not to ask the state for funding,” said Pinault, who has leased the building from Paris for 50 years. Pinault – whose holding company also controls fashion brands Gucci and Saint Laurent, among others – has been trying to open a Parisian museum for decades. Added Tadao Ando: “This is a project that calls on the people to recall France’s proud identity as a country of culture and art and to renew their hopes for the future.” Los Angeles approves long-awaited George Lucas art museum The museum will be steps away from the Louvre and the Palais Royal. It’s also close to controversial 1970s shopping center Les Halles, which was given a makeover last year with the addition of a sculptural leaf-shaped canopy. Discover more new museums opening on The Spaces


System would also be deployed in East China Sea China says system for maritime environmental research China is planning to build a massive underwater observation system across the disputed East and South China seas, that experts say could be used to detect the movement of foreign ships and diminish the stealth capabilities of US submarines. According to state-run broadcaster CCTV, the monitoring networks will cost two billion yuan ($290 million) and “serve as a platform to provide long-term observation data and support experiments in the research of the maritime environments of the two seas.” China is engaged in hotly contested territorial disputes in both seas. Beijing claims almost all of the South China Sea – parts of which are also claimed by five other countries – and has built up and militarized many of the islands and reefs it controls in the region. In the East China Sea, disputed islands have soured relations between Beijing and Tokyo for decades, and led to tense stand-offs between Chinese and Japanese warplanes and ships. While there is no indication yet that the planned underwater monitoring system is anything but a scientific endeavor, Carl Thayer, a regional security analyst and emeritus professor at the University of New South Wales, said it was “a further unilateral assertion of China’s claim to indisputable sovereignty over the South China Sea.” This could anger other claimants, especially if, as Thayer warned, “undersea cables are placed on the seabed in disputed areas or are linked to facilities on any of China’s artificial islands.” CCTV’s report also suggested that the plan was about more than just science. Speaking to the broadcaster, Jian Zhimin, a marine scientist at Shanghai’s Tongji University said the move cemented China’s status as an “ocean power.” “An ocean power must be able to go to the high seas and go global,” he said. His colleague Zhou Huaiyang added the system could provide benefits to “national defense.” Thayer said China “could use the cover story for this undersea network to lay sensors designed to detect the movement of surface warships and submarines in particular.” Such a system, said Thayer, “mitigates the stealth advantage that submarines have. This would be of direct concern to the United States and other regional states that operate submarines.” As China has become more aggressive in pushing its claims in the South China Sea in recent years, other territorial claimants have also pursued militarization. This month, the Philippines revealed plans were under way to reinforce and upgrade facilities on Pagasa Island, in the Spratly Islands chain. As well as activity above the water, Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines have also reportedly been expanding their submarine capabilities. In the East China Sea, Japan also has a substantial underwater fleet. Thayer said China’s underwater monitoring system could serve the same purpose as the US sound surveillance system (SOSUS), the Cold War-era system used to detect and monitor submarine activity. In February this year, China State Council issued a draft law to revise its Maritime Traffic Safety Law, which if approved, would seek to prevent foreign ships from passing through Chinese territorial waters. According to the proposed draft, all foreign submersibles would be required to travel on the surface, display national flags and report to the relevant Chinese authorities when passing through the designated waters. The draft does not mention how China plans to enforce the law if approved. “From China’s point of view it needs accurate information not only on the deployment and patrols of regional submarines, but US nuclear submarines as well,” said Thayer.

China's underwater observation system in East and South China seas


Some of the countries with higher release rates than the United States had occasionally paid ransoms or conducted prisoner exchanges Journalists and NGO workers had the highest rates of abduction Americans kidnapped by jihadist groups are killed at nearly four times the rate of other Western hostages in captivity, while American hostages are the least likely to be released, according to a report released Thursday. The report, issued by West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center, found that six countries – the United States, Turkey, Italy, the United Kingdom, France and Germany – account for more than 60% of Westerners kidnapped by jihadist groups around the world since 2001. The report attributed the higher rate of abduction of individuals from these countries less to their nationalities and more to the “increased target availability or an expansion by jihadists of their zones of operation.” While being a “Westerner” may be central to the kidnapping of an individual, the study suggested that Americans were not a particular target at the abduction stage. However, the report noted that some of the countries with higher release rates than the United States – and the U.K. – had occasionally paid ransoms or conducted prisoner exchanges. “Nations who refuse to negotiate with jihadist organizations have a higher risk of their citizens being executed,” the report found. The 68-page report analyzed over 1,400 cases around the globe, with jihadist kidnappings in the Middle East and Africa the central focus. Of the approximately 36 global jihadist organizations, ISIS, the Taliban, and al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb – the al Qaeda franchise operating in northwestern Africa – account for 70% of the abductions of Westerners, according to the report. Related gallery ISIS' high profile victims However, the report noted that there were “multiple cases” where little-known militant or criminal groups did the initial abductions before giving or selling their captives to the jihadist group eventually deemed responsible for the kidnapping. ISIS was found to have the highest execution rate of its western hostages amongst jihadist groups, while there was no record of Jabhat al-Nusra, the al Qaeda affiliate in Syria, or Boko Haram, a terrorist group based in Nigeria, ever having executed a Western hostage. Altogether, jihadist groups released just over 60% of their hostages. And while jihadist groups tend to hold more hostages than other non-state entities, such as Somali pirate groups, they don’t keep them for as long. The report found that 18% of the latter abductions exceed six months, while more than 60% of abductions by jihadist groups are resolved between two weeks and six months. Journalists and NGO workers had the highest rates of abduction, according to the report. The report was compiled following the beheadings of Americans James Foley and Steven Sotloff, both journalists, and aid worker Peter Kassig at the hands of ISIS, and the death of American Kayla Mueller, also an aid worker, in ISIS captivity. But overall, Westerners who die in captivity are more likely to face death from causes other than execution, such as being killed during the course of a rescue attempt, the report said. Luke Somers, an American photojournalist, was killed in Yemen last year during an attempted rescue mission by U.S. Navy SEALs and American Warren Weinstein and Italian Giovanni Lo Porto, both aid workers held captive by al Qaeda, were killed earlier this year when a U.S. drone strike struck an al Qaeda compound where the pair were unknowingly held. The report noted that there appeared to be a reduction in jihadist kidnappings in 2015, possibly because of the publicity surrounding the gruesome beheadings by ISIS and the impact that might have had on individuals’ willingness to travel to high-risk areas. Authors Seth Loertscher and Daniel Milton cautioned against reading too much into the trend, however, until more information becomes available in the months ahead. The report examined multiple sources of information, including the Global Terrorism Database at the University of Maryland and data from private sector companies, but the authors said there is likely underreporting of kidnapping incidents because of a reticence to publicly discuss the specifics of ransoms or other sensitive factors.


Imagine the airport with no security. No metal detectors. No TSA guards. No luggage searches. Boarding an airliner with a firearm could be as easy as putting a pistol in your pocket and taking your seat. That’s the way it was in the United States in the early 1970s when an epidemic of airline “skyjackings” dominated the news. Hijackers’ motives ranged from political to financial. Their destinations spanned North America, Europe and Asia and quite often included the island nation of Cuba. The hijackings took place against a backdrop of dramatic social change and the Vietnam War. Three decades before the 9/11 attacks, these airline bandits triggered a chain of events leading to the modern airline security we enjoy – and suffer – today. Author Brendan Koerner details the most fascinating of these dangerous high-altitude confrontations in his book, “The Skies Belong to Us.” CNN: How did the idea hit you? Brendan Koerner: In October 2009 I was reading the Metro Section of the New York Times and there was a little item about this man named Louis Armando Pena Soltren who’d been a Puerto Rican nationalist, and he lived in the Bronx in the ’60s. And he and two of his comrades in 1968 hijacked a plane from New York to Cuba. He actually spent the next 41 years living in Havana. And then suddenly in 2009 he decided to come back to the US voluntarily. And so this piece was about the fact that he had been arrested the second he stepped off the plane at JFK. I was always vaguely familiar with the fact that planes had once been hijacked to Cuba, but I really didn’t know much about that era in aviation. It was a little bit before my time. So I started looking into this time period. And I was just blown away by how common hijacking was in America at that time. Related video Clue may lead to new D.B. Cooper details I was particularly intrigued by this one story. I was looking at names of people who had done this and it was pretty much all males, people with pretty obvious political motives. And there was this one name that leapt out at me. It was a young woman named Catherine Marie Kerkow, from a small town in Oregon, who had done this. And I really become interested in her case. And that became something that took me down a four-year journey – a four-year research and writing path. CNN: How old are you? And do you remember hearing about any of these hijacking stories in the news when you were a child? Koerner: I’m 37. The only hijacking story I really remember vividly from being a child was in the 1980s, there was a pretty famous TWA hijacking in the Middle East, I believe in Beirut. I was born after this hijacking epidemic, which pretty much ended in early 1973. So it definitely predates me. CNN: If the Nixon administration hadn’t clamped down and if 9/11 hadn’t happened, do you think skyjackings would still be going on today? Koerner: Ultimately the solution to it was a pretty prosaic one, in that after putting up with all these hijackings for so many years, they made a decision to finally compel all travelers to pass through metal detectors and have their carry-on luggage searched. And pretty much immediately after instituting that regulation, skyjackings dwindled to almost zero. So it was a pretty simple fix, and one that had been resisted for a long time because they didn’t want to inconvenience travelers. The airlines in particular were really terrified that their customers wouldn’t fly anymore because they didn’t want to be treated like criminal suspects just because they were flying. So they resisted very public calls for them to do this for many, many years. Would this still be going on today? It’s hard for me to fathom that we wouldn’t have done something about this eventually.  I think that they eventually put in those regulations when it became obvious that planes could be used as weapons of mass destruction. Related video Hijacking victim: 'I realized it's not a drill' There’s an incident in November ’72 which I discuss in the book, when a Southern Airways flight was hijacked and the hijackers threatened to crash it into a nuclear reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, unless they were given $10 million. And that was really the straw that broke the camel’s back. It became obvious that if that had happened there would have been a tremendous loss of life and destruction. So it wasn’t just a matter of, “Well, let’s give in to people and everyone will be safe.” It became too risky at that point. CNN: Your book describes the tipping point in the history of aviation travel where travelers have gone from being treated as welcome guests to – for some – feeling like they’re being treated as potential criminals. Koerner: That’s exactly right. It’s interesting that the fear of the airlines was that people would not fly anymore or they would lose a large percentage of their customer base. People would choose to drive instead of fly because they didn’t want to put up with this intrusion. But interestingly, when the dawn of the screening was covered in early 1973, pretty much universally people were in favor of it, because they recognized how dangerous the skyjacking epidemic had become. Related video Shooting on a plane at 35,000 feet isn't good I talk in the book a little bit about these reporters swarming these airports on the day they launched universal screening and hoping they would catch some kind of conflict or disgruntled fliers. But pretty much to a man and to a woman, people welcomed the new security because they recognized – especially in light of what had happened in 1972 with all the craziness – that this was a necessary step. CNN: Can you share some personal details about your research process and maybe some unique experiences or surprises you ran into along the way? Koerner: One thing that’s interesting for me is, I travel a lot as a journalist, but I’ve never really paid much attention to airline personnel on the planes and the lives of pilots and flight attendants. And that really became something I became very deeply immersed in. With this project I was trying to track down flight attendants and pilots who had been on this hijacked flight which is the focus of the book – Western Airlines Flight 701. I traveled all over the country talking to people who’d been on the flight to get their recollections of it. Most interestingly, I actually tracked down one of the hijackers. He was living in San Diego. And I found him and it took me a while – he was difficult to find. I couldn’t get a phone number. I eventually just got an address for him through a series of happy accidents. I sent him a letter and a copy of my first book and he was kind enough to respond. And that was a tremendous experience and a tremendous boost for the book, to get his recollections and memories and details that only he had. CNN: Was that Roger Holder? Koerner: Yes, it is. CNN: Based on what you knew about the hijacking and based on the man you met – how do you think he has changed? Koerner: You have to keep in mind that he did this act when he was quite young. He was 22 years old when he hijacked this plane, and he’d served four tours in Vietnam. I think the combination of youth and the difficulties associated with his military service and maybe some other factors – maybe some psychological factors – made him an angry person. And he lashed out. He acted out in a pretty extreme, spectacular kind of way with this hijacking. I think age and experience changes everybody. And the man I met was a very thoughtful, very calm, incredibly charismatic person. It was really a joy to sit down with him.  At the same time I could see him struggling to come to terms with what he’d done and what his role in history was. For him, he had pretty fond memories of a lot of aspects of this. Not so much causing people terror or consternation – but the experience that came afterwards with his travels and being in the public spotlight was something that weighed heavily on him and he thought about quite a bit. Related video 'I will kill a passenger every 15 minutes' CNN: So why don’t we know what happened to his co-hijacker Cathy Kerkow? Koerner: That’s the million dollar question in the book. I don’t want to give too much away, but certainly the last time that she connected with Roger, she said she was going to Switzerland for a brief trip with friends. Based on information I have, I believe she tried to carve out a new identity – that she decided that this was her chance to gain a new life. They were waiting around to be put on trial in France for hijacking and she didn’t know how that was going to turn out. Her relationship with Roger had come to an end – at least romantically. And I felt that she sensed that this was her opportunity to move beyond all this – to move beyond the folly of her youth. CNN: When you were writing the book were you sensitive to glorifying the anti-hero aspect of Holder’s and Krekow’s story? I’ve seen them compared to the notorious 1930s bank robbers Bonnie and Clyde. Koerner: I think you need to approach these kinds of stories with empathy for everyone involved. At the same time you do have to be judgmental to some extent and recognize that their actions caused a lot of people a lot of pain. And I know for a fact that they’re aware of that. It’s a deeply human story, and all humans have their pluses and minuses, so I think that should come through in all the characters in this book. CNN: You write about Holder’s anger about prosecutors’ treatment of political activist Angela Davis. During your research did you reach out to Davis? Koerner: I didn’t, because from what I understand she doesn’t like talking about the past, and she never met any of these characters. I did reach out to some other people who wouldn’t go on the record with me, for example (Black Panther Party leader Eldridge Cleaver’s widow) Kathleen Cleaver, who I know was an eyewitness to these events. CNN: Could you describe Fidel Castro’s Hijacker House? And how and why did Cuba set itself apart during all of this? Koerner: A lot of people were hijacking planes to Cuba in the ’60s. A lot of hijackers, I think, thought they would be greeted as heroes when they arrived in Havana. But it was actually quite the opposite. Fidel Castro had no patience for these crazy Americans coming with planes with their various motives. So as an American you basically faced one of two fates when you went to Havana with a stolen plane. One, you would be put in a South Havana dormitory called Hijacker House, where you were given about 16 square feet of living space with a cot, and they give you 40 pesos a month, (and) you kind of have to fend for yourself. It was a really awful life. And if the government really didn’t like you – for example, if you were violent on board the plane or if you robbed any of the passengers – they would actually send you to these gulags in the south of the country where you would harvest sugar cane. And the conditions there were just absolutely nightmarish. There was a hijacker named Anthony Bryant who wrote a memoir after spending about 11 and a half years in prison in Cuba for taking a plane. The details he has in that book are just really shocking about the treatment of prisoners there. CNN: If I traveled to Cuba today, would I see any remnants of that time when Cuba was a hijacker destination? Koerner: Well, you certainly would, because there are still some hijackers living there. Most came back, but there actually are still a few who decided stay there. Some of them make their living as tour guides, or translators or fixers for journalists. There are still people there who went there in the ’60s or ‘70s and never came back. CNN: Who was Capt. Eugene Vaughn? Koerner: Eugene Vaughn was a Pan Am 747 captain, and he was running a route from San Francisco to Saigon with stops in Honolulu and Manila and Guam, I believe. On the way to Southeast Asia, one of Vaughn’s passengers was a South Vietnamese native who had just graduated from the University of Washington and was on the way home. He decided to hijack the plane and take it to Hanoi to protest the bombing of North Vietnam. They land in Saigon and the captain went back and basically tackled this hijacker. Another of the passengers was an ex-cop from San Francisco. Vaughn knew the ex-cop was armed and Vaughn had him shoot the hijacker to death. The captain then literally picked up this hijacker and took his body to the rear exit of the plane and threw the corpse onto the tarmac. He said he did it because he was so offended that this guy, who would challenge his command, would remain on his plane – even while dead. He just had to get him off the plane. When he returned back to the US, a lot of people hailed Vaughn as a hero, because this was a moment in America during the skyjacking epidemic when the public was really through with it. They were really finished. It was no longer quaint or funny when people were hijacked. There were actually deaths involved and there was a lot of terror going on. That was kind of a turning point in the epidemic when it became clear the public wouldn’t put up with this anymore. CNN: What takeaways can you offer modern-day travelers based on what you’ve learned while writing this book? Koerner: When you’re going through security – and we all have our complaints about what the TSA is doing, and certainly a lot of those complaints are valid – but I think we need perspective about what life was like when we had no security, or very poor security. There are reasons why things are the way they are. And we can certainly have debates about the efficacy of certain techniques and tactics. But I think we also have this other perspective. There was a time when there was no security and we had this awful, awful crisis. And I think it would be even worse today if we stripped away a lot of security.

airline security measures in the United States


Trump has said he'll make a decision about the Paris climate agreement soon With President Donald Trump’s expected decision to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement, the US could be about to join a very rarified club. Nearly 200 countries agreed to the 2016 pact that would curb climate-changing climate emissions. The US would become only the third country to reject the accord – joining a club that includes just two other members: Syria and Nicaragua. Trump campaigned hard against the Paris agreement, and has called climate change a “hoax” perpetrated by the Chinese to gain economic advantage over the US. After winning the election, he appointed as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency Scott Pruitt, an Oklahoma lawyer who made a name for himself fighting the EPA’s efforts on climate change and clean air, often working closely with the fossil fuel industry to do so. Related video Trump has said often climate change isn't real Nicaraguan and Syrian representatives in the US didn’t respond to CNN’s requests for comment about their decisions not to become party to the Paris agreement. If the US joins them in opposing the deal, it would make for an odd alignment – and could be bad for US optics around the globe. Syria, of course, is waging a war against its own citizens that has raised concerns about possible crimes against humanity. While Nicaragua raises no such issues, the Latin American country and Syria do share a significant difference with the US when it comes to greenhouse gases: scale. A decision to pull out of the pact will make the US the world’s largest carbon emitter outside the Paris agreement. Trump, asked Wednesday afternoon if he had made a decision on whether to exit the Paris climate accord, responded, “Very soon.” “I’m hearing from a lot of people, both ways. Both ways,” he told reporters at the White House. The voluntary agreement has countries work to limit global temperature increases during this century to within two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and try to limit the rise even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Trump’s cabinet officials, including Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary James Mattis, have said that they believe in climate change. Tillerson – a former ExxonMobil CEO – signed an international declaration in April acknowledging the threat climate change poses to the Arctic. And during his confirmation hearing, he told senators that “I think we’re better served by being at the table than leaving that table.” The Pentagon takes it into account in its military planning. Related video Graham to Trump: Stay in Paris climate deal Conservative critics have praised the President’s stance. Brett Schaefer, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, said, “the Paris agreement is a costly and ineffective approach to global warming, and both the diplomatic costs of leaving and the benefits of staying have been exaggerated.” But others in the conservative camp think abandoning the pact is a mistake. “I would stay in the agreement and make it a better deal for worldwide business interests, to improve the climate, better deal for business,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, told CNN’s Dana Bash. “If he does withdraw, that would be a definitive statement by the President that he believes climate change is a hoax. Stay in the deal, make it a better deal, would be my advice.” Throughout, Trump has continued to telegraph his ambivalence, refusing to commit one way or another during his first overseas trip this month. Throughout, the issue of climate hovered. Pope Francis gave Trump a pointed gift – his encyclical “Laudato Si,” which calls for science and religion to partner in a drive to fight human causes of climate change. Climate came up later in the trip at the G-7 meeting where the leaders of Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Canada reaffirmed their commitment to the deal. Trump tweeted afterward that “I will make my final decision on the Paris Accord next week!” At the meeting, CNN reported that Trump told French President Emmanuel Macron he was under pressure to back out. “A lot of people in my country are against this agreement,” Trump said. In reality, 69% of Americans support the Paris agreement, seven in 10 Americans say global warming is happening and more than half think it’s being caused by humans, according to a January poll by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication and the George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication. European leaders telegraphed their expectation that Trump would not stick with the US commitment to the deal. “The entire discussion about climate was very difficult, if not to say very dissatisfying,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said at a press conference after the G-7. “There are no indications whether the United States will stay in the Paris agreement or not.” Derek Chollet, a former defense department official in the Obama administration, said Trump’s likely withdrawal from the Paris agreement marks a dark irony. “The irony is that in the first few years of the Obama administration, we had to spend a lot of time with the Chinese convincing them our climate change agenda wasn’t a Trojan Horse to limit their economic growth,” Chollet said. “We successfully worked them to the point – and reality set in – that they found religion and now positions have reversed. Now they’re leading the charge on climate change.”


Editor’s Note: Peter Bergen is CNN’s national security analyst, a vice president at New America and a professor of practice at Arizona State University. He is the author of “Manhunt: The Ten-Year Search for bin Laden – From 9/11 to Abbottabad.” David Sterman is a research associate at New America. Tunisia weathered the Arab Spring and has been buoyed by its tourism industry Authors: The fedayeen-style attacks are an effort to spread fear and weaken the nation Wednesday’s terrorist attack, which killed 23 people, hit Tunisia where it hurt by targeting its flourishing tourism industry. The deadly attack on the prominent Bardo Museum near Tunisia’s parliament in the country’s capital, Tunis, is the latest instance of an armed assault carried out by gunmen willing to fight to the death, a tactic that has been widely adopted by jihadist terrorists in recent years, including in North Africa. Such attacks mimic the 2008 Mumbai assaults in which 10 gunmen from Pakistan went on a rampage in the massive Indian port city. They took hostages and killed more than 160 people over a three-day period, in an attack that drew  sustained global TV coverage. The gunmen attacked iconic Mumbai targets such as the Taj hotel, which is frequented by Westerners. The Mumbai gunmen embarked on their attack knowing that it was a “fedayeen” mission – meaning “those who sacrifice themselves” – and that they would probably fight to the death. Only one gunman survived. In this week’s Tunisia attack, the gunmen took hostages, two gunmen died in the assault, and three survived and are being hunted by the Tunisian government. Tunisian Prime Minister Habib Essid said the attackers at the Bardo Museum had specifically targeted tourists to hurt the country’s economy. This seems a likely outcome of the attack, as tourism is vital to Tunisia’s economy, providing 15% of GDP. Tunisia is also the only country where the Arab Spring produced a successful, lasting democratic transition, making it attractive to tourists who are avoiding going to countries like Egypt, which did not weather the Arab Spring as well as Tunisia. Already, some tour companies are canceling excursions to Tunis. In January, in Tunisia’s neighbor Libya, the local branch of ISIS mounted a similar attack on the upscale Corinthia Hotel in the capital, Tripoli. Two gunmen, one of them a Tunisian, killed 10 people, including an American. Both gunmen died in the attack. This attack served ISIS’ purposes of sowing greater instability in Libya and expunging Western influence from the country, as the hotel was where many foreign businessmen stayed. A senior US official told one of us that the U.S. intelligence community estimates that jihadist terrorist groups such as ISIS now control a twelfth of the landmass of Libya, which is one of the largest countries on the African continent. This is a sobering finding for Tunisia, which had been largely immune from the kinds of terrorist attacks that have recently plagued Libya and other North African countries. While the museum attack in Tunisia and the hotel attack in Libya may help terrorist groups to achieve their strategic goals, more often than not, armed assaults by terrorists against so-called soft targets such as hotels, supermarkets and malls do not achieve much beyond the tactical successes of global news coverage and causing mayhem. In September 2013, Al-Shabaab, the Somali al Qaeda affiliate, killed 67 people in a fedayeen-style armed assault on the Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya. Four gunmen carried out the attack, which unspooled over a four-day period. The Westgate attack received much global news coverage and was designed to put pressure on the Kenyan government, which had sent troops to Somalia to fight Al-Shabaab. However, a year and a half after the attack on the mall, Al-Shabaab continues to lose territory in Somalia, and the Kenyan military has continued to battle the terrorist group. The plague of Mumbai-style armed assaults by jihadist terrorists is not confined to Africa. In January, Mumbai-style tactics were used in Paris when Cherif and Said Kouachi and Amedy Coulibaly conducted armed assaults on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket over a three-day period. All three gunmen were killed. In a videotape, Coulibaly said ISIS inspired him. The Paris attacks received considerable coverage around the world but had no impact on France’s willingness to continue its involvement in coalition airstrikes against ISIS. Read CNNOpinion’s new Flipboard magazine. Follow us on Twitter @CNNOpinion. Join us on Facebook/CNNOpinion.


Jeep carrying suspected militants blows up on highway near Damascus Mostly government-held cities were targeted in ISIS attacks Deadly explosions rocked Syria Monday, hours after the United States and Russia discussed an end to the violence during G20 talks. At least 40 people were killed and dozens more wounded in a series of coordinated explosions across the country, Syrian state media reported. The blasts happened in government-held areas of Damascus, Homs and Tartous, as well as at a Kurdish checkpoint in Hassakah. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks, according to a statement by the ISIS-affiliated Amaq agency. Of those killed, 30 died in two explosions on a main highway bridge near Tartous, on the Mediterranean  coast. Another four people died when a car bomb exploded at an army checkpoint in the government-held al-Zahraa neighborhood in Homs, according to Gov. Talal Barazi. A jeep carrying six suspected militants blew up after a soldier stopped the vehicle on a highway near Damascus. The soldier was killed. Police Gen. Jamal A-Bitar told Syrian TV he believes the car was on its way to carry out an attack in the capital. And in the Kurdish-controlled northeastern city of Hassakah, a suicide bomber on a motorcycle killed five Kurdish security forces at a checkpoint. The blasts come as high-level talks between the United States and Russia aimed at ending violence in Syria ended without an agreement, a US official said Monday. The meeting between US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Hangzhou, China, failed to resolve differences and left the Syrian question unanswered, the official said. Later in the day, US President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin also met for an additional discussion on Syria. The leaders directed Kerry and Lavrov to reach an agreement in the coming days, according to a senior White House official. Why Obama shouldn’t expect much from the G20 Meanwhile, Turkey is claiming success in its campaign to eradicate ISIS from its border regions. The terror group has reportedly lost control of the last strip of its territory along the Syrian-Turkish border, according to sources and the Turkish state-run news agency Anadolu. The border town of Jarablus, which Syrian rebels and Turkish forces recently recaptured from the terror group, is a critical location for supplies, money and fighters coming in and out of ISIS-held areas. Azaz is another key border city that was formerly held by ISIS. Inside Jarablus: What happens when ISIS loses control of a city The developments would be a major setback for ISIS, choking off supply lines for the terror group. CNN’s Schams Elwazer, Kareem Khadder, Kevin Liptak, Tim Hume, Hamdi Alkhshali and Chandrika Narayan contributed to this report.


President Donald Trump isn’t over the 2016 election, and Hillary Clinton isn’t either. That’s what she said in a commencement address at Yale. “No, I’m not over it,” she said. “I still think about the 2016 election. I still regret the mistakes I made.” But while Trump continues to goad his Department of Justice into investigating her campaign, she made jokes about the investigation into Russian election meddling that has already ensnared former staffers of his. Tapping into a Yale tradition involving crazy hats, she produced a Russian military ushanka. “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em,” she shrugged. While most of the speech centered on her own time at Yale, Clinton also offered stark warning about the state of the American government under Trump. “Right now we’re living through a full-fledged crisis in our democracy,” she said. “No, there are not tanks in the streets, but what’s happening right now goes to the heart of who we are as a nation, and I say this not as a Democrat who lost an election but as an American afraid of losing a country.” A few hours earlier, Trump, in a series of tweets, had been complaining about the Russia investigation and that Clinton wasn’t being investigated more. Clinton made multiple jokes about her email issues as secretary of state, about the release of her campaign staffers’ emails by WikiLeaks and more. She also did an extended riff on the opening of Tale of Two Cities, written in the lead-up to the French Revolution, but said it could be applicable today and encouraged graduates to “rise to the occasion” in this “tumultuous moment.” She encouraged people to embrace “radical empathy” and make connections across the political divide.


NEW: Some slam revisions to the agreement as cosmetic The revised peace deal now goes to Congress for approval The rebel leader waved his arms in the air as the crowd cheered. The President smiled at the audience, holding a pen made from bullets. Both men signed a historic peace agreement, then shook hands. It was a moment of diplomatic deja-vu. Thursday marked the second time this year that Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and FARC leader Rodrigo Londoño have signed a peace deal aimed at ending Latin America’s longest war. In October, Colombian voters rejected the first version of the agreement in a national referendum, sending negotiators back to the table. This time, the revised peace agreement will go to Congress for approval. And it’s likely to pass, since Santos’ coalition holds the balance of power in the legislative body. “This new accord is better than the one we signed in Cartagena,” Santos said after signing the deal Thursday. “It is better because we picked the hopes and observations of the majority of the people.” In Thursday’s ceremony, the leaders used the same pen they had used to sign the deal the last time around – made from recycled bullets once used in the conflict. But the ceremony was more somber than the celebration in September, when a choir sang “Ode to Joy” as officials from around the world watched, dressed in white, to symbolize peace. On Thursday, the crowd chanted, “Yes, it was possible!” after the deal was signed. Londoño, better known by his alias, Timochenko, began his remarks Thursday with a declaration of peace: “Let words be the only weapons of Colombians.” “The people of this country are tired of violence, intolerance and stigmas,” he said. “They want and demand profound change from the political customs that are corruption, lies, and deceit.” He thanked the Roman Catholic Church and the countries that were involved in years of peace talks in his wide-ranging speech, which even included a message of congratulations for US President-elect Donald Trump. The conflict between the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and the government has gone on for more than half a century and claimed more than 220,000 lives. Santos was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize this year for “his resolute efforts” to end the civil war, which is the longest running conflict in the region. But critics are already slamming the new deal. Alejandro Ordóñez, Colombia’s former inspector general, called the revised peace deal a “Revlon accord.” He told the Blu radio station that officials only added makeup to the original agreement and are “ignoring the people’s will.” “It needs to be the people who have the last word,” he said, “not Congress.”


When President Donald Trump announced he would attend the annual Gridiron Club Dinner last month, many wondered whether he would be able to joke about sensitive subjects like himself and his administration. The dinner, hosted in Washington and attended by hundreds of journalists, is similar to the White House Corespondents’ Dinner in that it is replete with roasts and laughter. But for a president who rarely provides the country with laughs – and who opted out of attending both dinners last year – the spotlight on his jokes at the dinner was all the brighter. Add to the mix his administration’s struggles in some key policy areas, Trump’s harshly critical tweets, and an ongoing investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election that has inched closer to Trump’s orbit, and one question jumps out: Does the President ever stop to joke about it all? Indeed he does, as only Trump can. “My staff was concerned that I couldn’t do self-deprecating humor,” Trump said. “And I told them not to worry, nobody does self-deprecating humor better than I do.” Before launching into a litany of humorous jokes at both his and his administration’s expense, Trump told the room of journalists that even Sen. Orrin Hatch – the Utah Republican whose over-the-top praise of Trump after the GOP passed its tax cut bill garnered him some notice – even agreed that he is the best at self-deprecating humor. “Orrin said that ‘Donald Trump is the best at self-deprecation in the history of America. Better than Washington and better than Lincoln,’” Trump said. Here are a dozen of the President’s top jokes from the dinner: On Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ recusal from the Russia investigation: “I offered him a ride over, and he recused himself. What are you gonna do? But that’s OK.” On the “failing New York Times”: “You, The New York Times, are an icon. I’m a New York icon, you’re a New York icon. And the only difference is, I still own my buildings.” On Vice President Mike Pence’s “Graham rule:”: “The other day we were in line shaking hands with men and women, and a woman came over to shake his hand and he said, ‘I’m sorry I can’t do that, my wife is not here.’ He’s 25 years ahead of his time, folks.” On talk of impeachment: “Lately, [Pence has been] showing a particularly keen interest in the news these days. He starts out each morning asking everyone, ‘Has he been impeached yet?’ Mike, you can’t be impeached when there’s no crime, please remember that.” On Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and his wife, Louise Linton: “We’re also honored to be joined by Secretary Steve Mnuchin. You saw him and his beautiful wife on stage before. A lot of energy in that room. When she asked whether or not she could sign the money, I said, ‘Steve, you’ve got a lot to handle.’ I said, ‘You can’t do that, Steven.’” On White House departures: “So many people have been leaving the White House. It’s actually been really exciting and invigorating ‘cause you want new thought. So, I like turnover. I like chaos. It really is good. Now the question everyone keeps asking is, ‘Who is going to be the next to leave? Steve Miller or Melania?’ On draining the swamp: “And I know Mayor Mitch Landrieu feels right at home in Washington coming from Louisiana — I love Louisiana. Where’s Mitch, where the [expletive] are you? I love you in Louisiana. Not too bad, right? Not bad, Mitch. But, he’s used to being in that swamp. It’s a beautiful swamp. I like that swamp. This swamp I hate. Not so good.” On Dreamers and the 2020 presidential Election: “But we were talking about the Dreamers and quite honestly, Democrats can fantasize all they want about winning in 2020 … those are the dreamers.” On Kim Jong Un: “I won’t rule out direct talks with Kim Jong Un. I just won’t. As far as the risk of dealing with a madman is concerned, that’s his problem, not mine. It’s his problem.” On Jared Kushner’s security clearance: “Before I get started, I wanted to apologize for arriving a little bit late. You know, we’re late tonight because Jared could not get through the security. I will tell you he is a good guy. And he has suffered. He is a great guy.” On Omarosa Manigault-Newman: “As I’m sure you’ve seen, we’re now riding very high in the polls, which is hard to believe considering I never get any good press. But, I just hit 50 in the Rasmussen poll. A lot of people said I wouldn’t be able to do so well after losing my so-called chief strategist. But somehow, we’re still doing great without Omarosa.” On the “opposition party”: “It might be hard for you to believe, but I do love gatherings like these. They give you a chance to socialize with members of the opposition party, it’s very important. And it’s also great to see some Democrats here also.”


It's the largest bust on Colombian territory in history, defense ministry says The gang targeted was the notorious Clan Úsuga The U.S. State Department has a $5 million reward regarding the capture of Clan Úsuga's leader Police in Colombia seized eight tonnes (more than 17,500 pounds) of cocaine from a gang in a series of operations across the country in recent days, authorities said. The drug bust was part of an offensive against a narcotrafficking criminal gang called Clan Úsuga, authorities said. De esta forma nuestra @PoliciaColombia @PoliciaAntiNar logró incautar 8 toneladas de cocaína del #ClanÚsuga pic.twitter.com/Sr9TCDyVbw Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos congratulated police on Twitter for carrying out the operation, which he said resulted in the largest drug seizure ever. The Colombian Defense Ministry called it the biggest cocaine seizure on Colombian territory in history. Pictures released by police showed hundreds of pre-packaged bricks of drugs laid out by police. .@PoliciaAntiNar y #BloquedeBúsqueda @PoliciaColombia incautaron 8 toneladas de cocaína del #ClanÚsuga en #Antioquia pic.twitter.com/kiS32BwdB1 Authorities also arrested four men and found a handful of weapons, according to a press release from Colombian National Police. One of the men, whose alias is “Micolta,” is charged with extortion and ordering homicides and is under investigation for a host of other crimes. Clan Úsuga is one of Colombia’s most powerful criminal gangs and has been designated as a narcotics trafficking group by the United States. The U.S. Justice Department calls Clan Úsuga Colombia’s “largest and most influential drug trafficking group” and has charged a handful of its alleged leaders with related crimes. The State Department has offered $5 million for help that leads the capture of the group’s leader, Dairo “Otoniel” Úsuga. It claims he leads Los Urabeños, “a heavily armed, extremely violent criminal organization comprised of former members of terrorist organizations that did not demobilize as part of the Colombian government’s justice and peace process. CNN’s Natalie Gallon and Elwyn Lopez contributed to this report