Editor’s Note: Now you can get “5 Things You Need to Know Today” delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up here. Trump’s primary treat, Obama’s SCOTUS defeat and Kanye’s cryptic tweet. It’s Wednesday, and here are the 5 things you need to know to Get Up to Speed and Out the Door: Rebel yell: Last night’s New Hampshire primaries belonged to the outsiders, to the rabble-rousers, to the rule-breakers. To two men once dismissed as sideshows but who seized on the fury of grassroots voters to screw with the conventional wisdom. Here’s the takeaway: Donald Trump, for all his bluster, is for real. And Bernie Sanders will do his darndest to crash a Clinton coronation. Both men made history: It was the Donald’s first political win - ever. And the Bern became the first Jewish candidate to win a primary. SCOTUS blocks POTUS: Remember last summer when President Obama proposed rules to seriously cut green house gas emissions from the mother of all polluters: electric power plants? Twenty-nine states immediately filed suit, worried they’d kill jobs. Yesterday, the Supreme Court stepped in, saying ‘Not so fast’ and temporarily blocked the plan. Bummer for the Prez because fighting climate change was supposed to be a huge part of his legacy. And now it’s stuck in court – just like his other legacy action: immigration. Judgment day:  Akai Gurley isn’t as well known as Michael Brown or Walter Scott. But he too was an unarmed black man killed by a cop. Officer Peter Liang shot him dead in a housing project, saying his gun accidentally discharged. Not so, says the prosecution. The cop made too many poor judgment calls. “In fact, instead of calling for help, he just stood there and whined and moaned about how he would get fired,” the ADA said. A jury may decide today whether Liang should be convicted of manslaughter. Unearthing a ‘cover up’: The official line of the Mexican government was this: The 43 students who went missing 17 months ago were killed by a gang that burned their bodies in a landfill. But forensic experts from Argentina said yesterday there was no evidence of a fire big enough to incinerate that many bodies. That backs up what another group of experts concluded and what loved ones of the missing have said all along. They’ve accused Mexican officials of using the fire story as a distraction. Your move, Mexico. Nooooo!: Top intelligence officials briefed Capitol Hill on the ISIS threat yesterday. First the bad news: ISIS is sticking its members among innocent refugees to move across borders undetected. Now, the really bad news: ISIS will attempt a direct attack on the U.S. this year. Like hump days aren’t stressful enough already. People are talking about these. Read up. Join in. “Racist, Sexist, Xenophobic Demagogue Wins NH” - The Huffington Post huffing and puffing about The Donald’s win last night. We don’t know what’s worse - that or the New York Daily News headline: DAWN OF THE BRAIN DEAD: Clown comes back to life with N.H. win as mindless zombies turn out in droves.” So not cool! Tomorrow's front page:DAWN OF THE BRAIN DEAD - Trump comes back to life with N.H. win: https://t.co/rkj242rGEf pic.twitter.com/LRWPDIJJfL Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water … Shark attacks rose to an all-time record last year. One reason: El Nino. D’oh There are dumb criminals and then there’s the dude who stole from a photo booth with a CAMERA POINTED RIGHT AT HIM! The power of punctuation Oh, Kanye, you could have saved Twitter from melting down if only you’d used question marks instead of exclamation points: Here’s what’s happening later. Mo’ problems, mo’ money Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder will ask the state legislature today for an additional $195 million for the Flint water crisis. The city’s mayor says it’ll take $55 million just to replace the lead pipes. Happy birthday to you Happy birthday to you Happy birthday dear “Happy Birthday” song which can now be sung everywhere after a $14 million settlement in a copyright suit Happy birthday to you Who’s your daddy? Life’s confusing enough when you’re 16 months old without having to tell apart your dada from your uncle.


Israel has limited working ties with nations backing a UN resolution over West Bank settlements Though the move has limited, if any, practical effect Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered his nation’s Foreign Ministry to temporarily limit all working ties with the embassies of the 12 UN Security Council members who voted in favor of Friday’s resolution on West Bank settlements and who have diplomatic relations with Israel, two senior Israeli officials tell CNN. The officials said that business with the embassies of those countries – Britain, France, Russia, China, Japan, Ukraine, Angola, Egypt, Uruguay, Spain, Senegal and New Zealand – will be suspended, the officials said. Netanyahu will not meet with the foreign ministers of those countries and their ambassadors will not be received at Israel’s Foreign Ministry, the officials added. OPINION: Obama administration was hypocritical on UN’s Israeli settlements vote In addition, travel by Israeli ministers to those countries will also be limited, the officials said, noting that Israeli ambassadors in the countries will still be able to continue working with the governments of their host nations. The move came after ten ambassadors were summoned, under orders by Netanyahu, to the Foreign Ministry for a personal rebuke over the vote. Israel was furious at the passage of Security Council resolution 2334, which says its settlements in the West Bank “had no legal validity, constituting a flagrant violation under international law and a major obstacle to the vision of two States living side-by-side in peace and security.” The United States, a Security Council member, abstained on the resolution. More than anything else, the diplomatic move to suspend embassy ties is a statement meant to express Netanyahu’s anger at the countries that voted for the resolution. It is unlikely to have any practical effect on either Israel or the other countries, as it does not affect trade, security coordination, or other aspects of the relations. But as a statement, it is significant, and it is a continuation of Netanyahu’s diplomatic actions against countries that voted for the resolution. Notably, it does not affect diplomatic relations with the United States, which has been the focus of much of Netanyahu’s anger. Netanyahu summoned the US ambassador and launched a scathing attack Sunday on the Obama administration. RELATED: Israel says there’s ‘ironclad’ proof Obama pushed UN vote Late Monday afternoon Israel’s ambassador to the US, Ron Dermer, explained his country’s diplomatic moves to CNN’s Jake Tapper on “The Lead.” “Israel’s not going to be kicked in the teeth and not just respond to this,” Dermer said. “We can’t just meet with visiting dignitaries as if nothing has happened. This is a serious effort against Israel.” Dermer said Friday’s UN Security Council vote harmed long-term prospects for a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians. “The one negotiating chip that we have at the peace table is that territory. If the UN Security Council says that territory actually belongs to the Palestinians – which it does not and which we reject – that’s going to make achieving peace actually much harder.”


Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia said Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that he will vote against former CIA Director Mike Pompeo for secretary of state because of what Kaine called the nominee’s “anti-diplomacy disposition.” “We have a president who is anti-diplomacy,” Kaine said. “And I worry that Mike Pompeo has shown the same tendency to oppose diplomacy.” Kaine cited Pompeo’s opposition to the Iran nuclear deal when he was a member of the House of Representatives and said Pompeo “spoke about the relative ease of wiping out Iran’s nuclear capacity with a bombing run.” In a written statement released after his appearance on CBS, Kaine called such a move “an unrealistic scenario” and wrote that Pompeo also “stands out in advocating US action to change out the governments” of North Korea and Iran. Kaine said he voted for Pompeo to become CIA director because he thought his intelligence background made him well-suited for the position, but he is now voting against him for secretary of state because he does not want someone who is going to “exacerbate President Donald Trump’s weaknesses rather than uphold our diplomatic legacy.” “You’ve seen President Trump try to underfund the State Department in USAID, not appoint key ambassadors, tweet out insults about foreign leaders, back the United States out of international agreements and organizations,” Kaine said. “We need a secretary of state who is going to stand up for strong diplomacy,” he added, “and I don’t believe that is Director Pompeo’s inclination.” Several lawmakers expressed doubts about Pompeo after his confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday. “There are fundamental areas of disagreement that we have, and I think that was true in the questioning,” Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire said in an interview with CNN after the hearing. “So he answered some of those questions but from my perspective, he just gave the wrong answers.” Republican Rand Paul also told CNN the hearing “really solidified” his opposition to Pompeo. If Paul and Shaheen join Kaine in voting “no,” Pompeo won’t have enough votes to win a favorable recommendation from the committee. According to the Senate historian’s office, there are no instances of a secretary of state nominee receiving an unfavorable committee vote since 1925. But in an extraordinarily rare move, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell could still bring up the nomination on the floor of the Senate despite the negative vote in the committee. If that would occur, Pompeo would need the support of at least one Democratic senator, given Paul’s opposition and the continued absence of Sen. John McCain, who is recovering from brain cancer. And behind the scenes, Pompeo has been working to lock down support from moderate Democrats, including ones in tough races, to push him through on the floor. CNN’s Manu Raju contributed to this report.


Couple were celebrating New Year's eve 39 people killed in the nightclub attack Naef Zakaria Al Wazan and his wife were on a dinner date on New Year’s eve in Istanbul when their night turned into a struggle for survival. The couple – now being treated for gunshots at a hospital in Turkey – were among the survivors of a terrorist attack at Reina nightclub that killed at least 39 people. Wazan’s wife, originally from Jordan, still pale, her eyes swollen from crying, described to CNN how the festive evening turned into a bloodbath. “When the song (lyrics) said “Okay Let’s Go”… I heard (shooting) like, dat dat dat dat dat,” Wazan’s wife, who didn’t feel comfortable about being named, said. In a nearby hospital bed, her husband, exhausted, in a soft voice said: “Thank God we are okay we are safe.” A bullet had pierced the Saudi civil engineer’s shoulder and exited from his back. His wife was shot in the knees. The couple laid on the ground of the nightclub in pain unable to run for their lives. Thinking his life was going to end, Wazan gave his wife his ring as intense shooting continued over their heads. Why Turkey is such a target for terrorVictims from 14 countriesHorrifying scene inside massacre nightclubIstanbul club was a hot spot for celebrities Why Turkey is such a target for terrorVictims from 14 countriesHorrifying scene inside massacre nightclubIstanbul club was a hot spot for celebrities “He was like saying if I die just be with my son until he gets older and after that live your life. I love you. Know how much I love you,” Wazan’s wife recalled him saying. “His ring was filled with blood. He just give it to me and told me ‘keep it with you,” she told CNN as she held the now cleaned silver ring. The Wazans’ trip from Saudi Arabia was their first away from their son. Wazan had surprised his wife to celebrate the beginning of 2017. Of the people killed in the club, seven were from Saudi Arabia. Thirteen others were injured, the Saudi consulate told CNN. Turkey nightclub attack claims victims from 14 countries ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, but authorities are still searching for the killer. When Wazan’s father heard about the incident, he flew to Istanbul to see the couple. All of them broke down in tears when he arrived in the hospital room. “Thanks God him and his wife were lucky,” Zakaria Hamza Al Wazan told CNN. Naef Zakaria Al Wazan said his wife is still trying to recover from the shocking night. “I was seeing people’s bodies and thanking God [we are alive]. It was like a dream,” she said as she sobbed. In the taxi that took them from the nightclub, she asked her husband: “Can you just hold my hand and tell me if we were in a dream and are we going to open our eyes again? Are we alive?”


Pence told CNN the Obama administration's "strategic patience" is over Trump is looking to China for help on North Korea The United States has lost its strategic patience with North Korea. So what’s a had-it-up-to-here superpower to do to stop a pariah nation bent on putting its nuclear weapons on top of a missile that could reach America? Tough talk, for sure. Lean on China to turn off its life support to its neighbor, for another. But for all the warnings that Trump will fix the showdown with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, it’s so far unclear whether at its foundation, his strategy is all that different from previous administrations – which for the last quarter century have failed to stop his nuclear march. North Korea timeline: From Trump’s inauguration to now “The era of strategic patience is over,” Vice President Mike Pence told CNN’s Dana Bash during an exclusive interview on a trip to South Korea Monday. Related article North Korean envoy at UN warns of nuclear war possibility He was referring to the policy that prevailed for much of the Obama administration. The approach reflected a belief that the US, working closely with the UN and Japan, South Korea, China and Russia, could create enough international pressure to eventually push North Korea to denuclearize – and that this outcome was something everyone could afford to wait for. Pyongyang recently conducted its fifth nuclear test and is soon expected to conduct a sixth, part of its accelerated drive to develop missiles that can reach the continental US with nuclear weapons small enough to place in the nosecones. The Trump team has concluded that North Korea’s increasing strides towards producing a deliverable nuclear weapon mean that time has run out for patience and more urgency is required. “We have now understood that that policy is not one that is prudent to the United States and that’s why you’ve seen stepped up efforts, particularly with respect to China,” White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Monday. The administration’s shift in tone is notable – Pence also told CNN that Pyongyang “would do well not to test Trump’s resolve” – and it’s possible that Trump has pushed Beijing to pressure its unpredictable ally and trade partner. But the fundamental military and strategic equation in Northeast Asia has not changed. Related article On North Korean border, Pence tells CNN US will drop 'failed policy' The possible cost of North Korean retaliation for any military action against its nuclear and missile complex – an artillery barrage targeting civilians in Seoul and thousands of US troops south of the border – is just as painful as ever. And there are still doubts about China’s capacity and willingness to make North Korea bend to Washington’s will, for instance by cutting off fuel, food and investment supplies that sustain Kim’s regime. So, beyond a stiffening of tone on North Korea, administration officials have also sounded more cautious – and familiar – notes. They are ones that echo strategies of previous administrations in their efforts to rally China and international allies to increase financial pressure on North Korea. “We’re definitely not seeking conflict or regime change,” Susan Thornton, acting assistant secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, told reporters Monday. And she declined to weigh in on whether the White House rhetoric indicated the US was close to a unilateral strike on North Korea, saying that she “can’t telegraph any specific response.” In fact, she and others in the Trump administration have even referred to the need for patience. Related video On the North Korean border with VP Pence The US has “made a decision – and it’s a decision that’s been made with all of our allies and partners on this issue – to maximize pressure, economic pressure, on the North Korean regime to try to get it to make tangible steps to roll back their illegal programs,” Thornton said. “We just have to stick with it, be patient.” Another top Trump administration official, deputy national security adviser KT McFarland, also preached patience. “At this point, we have to wait and see,” McFarland said on Fox News Sunday. “You know, it’s like your kids in the back of a car when you’re on the long trip saying, ‘When are we going to get there?’” She continued, “In this case, I think we should give the Chinese president some opportunity, some time, as well as pursuing the economic and diplomatic pressures that we have and our allies have that we can bring to bear on North Korea.” The State Department’s Thornton also told reporters that the administration had to pause to assess whether China would come through as promised and pressure North Korea. “It’s still quite early,” Thornton said. “We’ve gotten a lot of positive signals for the Chinese, but it takes time.” The root of White House optimism about China’s evolving role in the North Korea crisis was the summit earlier this month between Trump and Xi in Florida. Administration officials have told CNN that Trump was struck by the fact that China accounts for some 80% of North Korea’s trade and as such, could have outsized influence on Pyongyang. “President Trump is very hopeful the Chinese will use the leverage they have,” Thornton said. But there is also the question of how far China will go. Trump is not the first US president to pin hopes on Beijing bringing Pyongyang to heel. Related video Perry: Don't rely on China to solve North Korea On the one hand, it’s possible that Trump’s pressure, his threats on Twitter and public warnings that he will do something about North Korea and his unpredictable nature – combined with carrots on the economic front – have got Beijing to budge. Trump, for instance, praised China last week for sending back a fleet of coal ships to North Korea, in line with international sanctions on the Stalinist state’s exports adopted during the Obama administration. Beijing is determined to avoid any action that could trigger the chaotic downfall of his regime and send refugees fleeing across the border into China. China also wants to avoid the eventual scenario of a unified Korea, which could produce a US-allied nation on its frontier and change the complexion of Northeast Asia’s security architecture in favor of the United States. And for all its hawkish rhetoric, the Trump administration is also constrained by the delicate military balance that has prevailed on the Korean peninsula for 60 years. That arrangement makes a US strike designed to disable the North’s missile programs seem unlikely. “There is no silver bullet,” former Obama administration Deputy Secretary of State Anthony Blinken told CNN Monday. “This talk about a military solution sounds good but is in reality very, very dangerous.” Related video North Korean ambassador has stern words for US Among Republicans, however, the Trump administration’s tough-talk approach has some defenders. “I think they understand the significance of how a miscue could take us in a very negative direction,” Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told CNN. “At the same time, I think they have appropriately raised the ante here because without doing so, very soon North Korea will be in a place where they can wreak havoc.” There is another familiar aspect about the Trump administration’s emerging policy toward North Korea, however. In an interview with Reuters last May, Trump, who casts himself as the ultimate dealmaker, said he would be willing to talk to Kim. “I would speak to him, I would have no problem speaking to him,” Trump said. But now, Trump’s team is drawing a hard line on the potential of talk with Pyongyang, a parallel to approaches taken by the George W. Bush and Obama administrations. “The conditions are not really ripe for any kind of talks until North Korea shows it is serious about what would be accomplished by undertaking such talks,” Thornton said. “We’re looking for some sort of signal that they’ve realized that the status quo is unsustainable.” CNN’s Ted Barrett contributed to this report.

United States administration's policy on North Korea


China's Premier Li Keqiang reaffirms commitment to 'One Country, Two Systems' He also had strong words for those who might seek independence for Taiwan China’s second highest-ranking politician criticized calls for Hong Kong independence in a speech to the nation’s parliament Sunday. Speaking at the opening of the annual National People’s Congress, Premier Li Keqiang said calls from within the city to go it alone would “lead nowhere.” This was the first time “Hong Kong independence” has ever been mentioned in any Chinese premier’s annual address. “We will continue to implement, both to the letter and in spirit, the principle of ‘One Country, Two Systems’,” Li said, referring to the doctrine by which Hong Kong maintained certain freedoms and rights after it passed from British rule to Chinese in 1997. “We pledge our full support to the chief executives and governments of (Hong Kong and Macau) in exercising law-based governance, growing their economies, improving people’s wellbeing, advancing democracy and promoting social harmony,” Li said. Macau, a small island near Hong Kong, is also a special administered region of China. He also had strong words for those who might seek independence for Taiwan. Officially the Republic of China, Taiwan has been self-governing since 1949, but Beijing claims it as an inalienable part of its territory. “(China) will resolutely oppose and contain separatist activities for Taiwan independence,” Li said. “We will never tolerate any activity, in any form or name, which attempts to separate Taiwan from the motherland.” Within Hong Kong, calls for independence from China have been growing since the 2014 Umbrella Movement protests ended in no reforms to the existing political system. For 79 days, thousands of protesters occupied Hong Kong’s financial district and elsewhere to demand true universal suffrage – one person, one vote, without the interference of Beijing. The crowd was eventually dispersed by police, and organizers vowed to push for change by other means. Related video Hong Kong voters elect pro-democracy activists In parliamentary elections last year, several pro-independence candidates were blocked from standing, but there was nevertheless a pronounced swing towards so-called localist parties, which support anything from greater autonomy to full self-rule. Two pro-independence lawmakers who were elected never managed to take their seats however, having been ejected by the courts for failing to take their oaths of office properly after they staged a curse word-filled protest during the swearing-in process. The intervention by Beijing into that case sparked more concerns by many Hong Kongers that the city’s autonomy – as guaranteed by “One Country, Two Systems” – is being eroded. Related video Anti-American views clear in new China propaganda video Beijing has always reacted angrily towards any promotion of independence for its special administered regions of Hong Kong and Macau, or suggestions from self-ruled Taiwan that the island should seek full legal independence. A bizarre propaganda video posted online by the Chinese Supreme People’s Procuratorate, the country’s top prosecutor’s office, in August contrasted apocalyptic images of Syria and Iraq with bucolic views of China today. “The haze of ‘domestic and international concerns’ has not dispersed from the Chinese sky,” the video said. “Tibet, Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Taiwan separatism, as well as dissident leaders, lawyers who would fight until death and other agents of Western forces are damaging China’s internal stability and harmony. Behind all these incidents, we can often catch a glimpse of the dark shadow of the Stars and Stripes.” Speaking to the South China Morning Post Sunday, political advisory body delegate Tam Yiu-chung said the mention of Hong Kong independence by Li shows that “Beijing is very concerned about the problem.” “The central government would not tolerate it … it’s a very serious problem,” Tam said. Some commentators have predicted that Hong Kong’s next leader, who will be chosen by a Beijing-dominated “election committee” later this month, will be told to crack down harder on pro-independence sentiment. “(They) might be asked by Beijing to enact Article 23,” Chinese University of Hong Kong professor Willy Lam told CNN last year, referring to a hugely controversial anti-subversion law that led to mass street protests in 2003 and the eventual resignation of then Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa. CNN’s Yuli Yang and Steven Jiang contributed to this report from Hong Kong and Beijing


Hallmarks of President Donald Trump’s free-wheeling, unconventional campaign style have long been expected to carry over to the White House, but what remained to be seen was whether his promises of acting “so presidential” would come to pass. Trump’s speech on Saturday at the Central Intelligence Agency left many wondering, since he used the bulk of his time standing in from the CIA Memorial Wall to inaccurately slam the media for their coverage of his inauguration and incorrectly denied ever having a rift with the intelligence community. Roughly 24 hours later, though, Trump’s speech before the swearing in of his senior staff was more measured and strikingly less combative. To be sure, there were plenty of Trump hallmarks in the Sunday speech: The President needled the media by holding up a letter Obama wrote him and pledging not to tell the press what was in it. But the remarks stood in stark contrast to what the President said at the CIA a day earlier. “As I said during my inaugural address, this is not about party, this is not about ideology, this is about country, our country,” Trump said, reading from notes. “And it is about serving the American people.” Trump added that he and his senior aides will “face many challenges but with the faith in each other and the faith in God we will get the job done.” Trump did not relitigate any of his campaign against Hillary Clinton – something he is wont to do – or complain about how the media covered his inauguration. Instead, Trump announced that he had talked to Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal about the deadly tornadoes that have killed nearly a dozen people. He also said he was scheduled to talk about the weather emergency with Florida Gov. Rick Scott. “They all got hit hard,” Trump said of the tornadoes. “Looks like Georgia’s lost at least 11 people as of this moment, a lot of people. So on behalf of all of us, Gov. Deal, condolences.” The President also announced that he was scheduled to meet with the leaders of Canada and Mexico soon, where he planned to begin the process for renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement, beginning concrete work on one of his key campaign promises. Trump’s unpredictability was, in itself, a trademark of his presidential campaign. “I don’t rule anything out,” Kellyanne Conway, his senior adviser, said last week about predicting something her boss would do. “This is Donald Trump.”


Donald Trump will be the next president, and Congress has to figure out what that means. Democratic leaders woke up Wednesday facing two years in the wilderness and a big dilemma: Play to the liberal wing of their caucus and battle Trump tooth-and-nail – or cater to the moderate Democratic faction eager to cut deals, even if it means some wins for the White House. Republican began struggling to answer a basic question: Will Trump push more traditional GOP legislation or stick with the populist and polarizing proposals – like his wall on the Mexican border – he championed on the campaign trail? No one quite knew the answer. “I think we all agree this was a stunning election,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters. The incoming administration’s approach could become clearer Thursday when Trump meets with House Speaker Paul Ryan, after a visit at the White House with President Barack Obama. Ryan on Thursday will also meet with Vice President-elect Mike Pence. The Indiana governor, a one-time member of the House Republican leadership, has a series of closed-door meetings on Capitol Hill Thursday. Pence will also meet with Vice President Joe Biden. Ryan has moved quickly to lock down support within his conference to be reelected speaker, with no threats yet emerging to his leadership spot. McConnell planned to soon hold talks with Trump about plans for the first 100 days of the Republican’s administration. But it put immediate pressure on the likely two next Democratic leaders in Congress: New York Sen. Chuck Schumer and California Rep. Nancy Pelosi. While both are progressive Democrats and are expected to be elected as leaders of their respective caucuses, they may find it difficult to stay on the same page tactically given the different political imperatives of their caucuses. For Schumer, the challenges will be formidable. He’ll have to listen to the vocal and outspoken progressive wing of his caucus, led by Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who have legions of supporters. But he also has five red-state Democrats in states Trump won convincingly – Indiana, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota and West Virginia – up for re-election in 2018. And if Schumer takes his caucus too far to the left, he’s bound to could put his moderates in a difficult political spot. Sen. Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat who plans to run for reelection in 2018, warned his party not too move too far to the left. “If the instinct of the party is to fight Donald Trump, then that’s the stupidest thing that could happen,” Manchin told CNN on Wednesday. “I will denounce my party and chastise them if they play that game.” Manchin added: “The bottom line is you can’t govern from (the left) wing of the party. And if Chuck Schumer or the national Democratic Party ever wants to be a majority, they have to go to the middle.” For his part, Schumer is handling the Trump presidency carefully, noting that Trump called him Wednesday and that he’d look for areas over which they could agree. “It’s time for the country to come together and heal the bitter wounds from this campaign,” Schumer said in a statement. “Senate Democrats will spend the coming days and weeks reflecting on these results.” Pelosi, representing a more liberal caucus, may be predisposed to battle the GOP agenda to the brink. House Democrats, shell-shocked by Trump’s win and much smaller than expected gains in their ranks, spent Wednesday mourning Clinton’s loss and struggling to pinpoint what went wrong. They huddled on a conference call with Pelosi Wednesday afternoon. Pelosi did not officially say she was running for re-election as the minority leader, but some Democrats on the call interpreted her posture – laying out her thoughts on party’s strategy moving forward – as a sign she may want to stay and fight. There is some concern among some House Democrats about Pelosi keeping the top spot because some in the caucus believe Tuesday’s blowout in House races should trigger some kind of leadership shakeup. Those Democrats elected in the last couple of election cycles have mulled over whether the leadership table needs a younger face to represent the future of party. But no Democrat has signaled a challenge to her, and Pelosi’s sharp political skills and relentless fundraising efforts are unmatched so it’s unclear who would be able to cobble up enough support to force a change. Pelosi took the pulse of members, but also gave a pep talk about what they could still accomplish in the minority with a new Republican in the White House, suggesting they could wield power and have a greater voice since in recent years their proposals were overshadowed by President Obama’s bully pulpit. The top House Democrat spoke by phone with Trump after she talked to her own members, and seized on one area where she saw an opening – his proposal to add millions of federal dollars to build roads and bridges. Both Clinton and Trump emphasized proposals on the trail, but many House conservatives were alarmed at the price tag of the Republican plan’s – something Pelosi recognized as a way to drive a wedge in the GOP over the issue and complicate Ryan’s job. New York Democratic Rep. Joe Crowley, told CNN he also viewed infrastructure as an area where there could be bipartisan agreement on Capitol Hill. But he also stressed that the party needed to make a better case for itself to reach out to those disaffected voters looking for change. “We the Democrats have been the party of working men and women, Crowley told CNN, adding, that going forward “I think we have to retool that message so that people understand that we are standing up for them.” Ryan moved to quickly put his splits with Trump in the rear view mirror, praising the President-elect at a press conference in Wisconsin, saying his win was “the most incredible political feat I have seen in my lifetime.” Some Republicans viewed Trump’s victory speech in the early morning hours on Wednesday as an olive branch to Ryan and other Republicans, saying he wanted to work with those within his own party who disagreed with him. “I think he has set the tone for a very collaborative process with Paul at the helm of the House and I think that is great,” Rep. Kevin Cramer, R-North Dakota, a strong supporter of Trump’s told CNN, suggesting that the businessman is already helping to smooth over any bad feelings those inside the party. He was optimistic that both Ryan and Trump could use each other’s strengths to get a lot of key agenda items enacted quickly. Ryan told House Republicans on a Wednesday conference call that he was running for another term. GOP sources on the call tell CNN that the speaker and other top leaders informed members leadership elections are moving ahead as planned next week. Multiple House Republicans tell CNN that no one has signaled a challenge to Ryan or any of the top House GOP leaders. For now, the team appears to be moving quickly to avoid intraparty tensions by focusing rank and file members on their work with a new Trump Administration. But a chunk of House conservatives who were completely unprepared for a Trump win admit that they expected to be hatching plans on how to deal with an expected Democratic takeover of the Senate. These members, many in the House Freedom Caucus, are still figuring out whether the Republican upset and strong hold on both chambers of Congress can be leveraged for more demands on Ryan to give them a greater voice in the House Republican conference. Wednesday’s call with members was in a “listen only” mode so members did not get the chance to press leaders on specific plans. Ryan’s spokeswoman AshLee Strong said Ryan “congratulated members who won re-election, and walked through the upcoming schedule. He used most of the time to discuss the huge potential ahead for House Republicans to work with president-elect Trump on behalf of the American people.” McConnell held a wide-ranging news conference in the Capitol where he discussed the election, his priorities for the post-election lame duck session and the new Congress. As upbeat as he was about the results, he couldn’t hide the reality that he has many differences with the surprise winner of the White House. Asked three times by CNN if he supports Trump’s signature plan to build a wall with Mexico, McConnell would only say, “I want to achieve border security the way that’s most effective.” On the issue of term limits for lawmakers, something Trump has embraced, McConnell said no. “I would say we have term limits now, they’re called elections. And it will not be on the agenda in the Senate,” he said. And McConnell pointedly disagreed with Trump’s criticism of NATO. “I think the NATO alliance is every bit important today as it ever was.  I think Article 5 means something.  You attack any member of NATO you have us to deal with. I want the Russians to understand that fully,” he said. Despite that, McConnell says he expects to largely agree with Trump on the key issues and where he disagrees he will do so privately. “I think most of the things that he’s likely to advocate, we’re going to be enthusiastically for,” McConnell said.  “Where we have differences of opinion, I expect to discuss them privately and not sort of hashing them out in public.” McConnell also said he would be careful not to misread the election as a mandate, something he said Democrats did in 2008 when Obama won the White House and with the help of a Democratic-controlled House and Senate pushed through Obamacare, banking reforms, and the economic stimulus package over the objections of Republicans. “We’ve been given a temporary lease on power, if you will,” McConnell said. “And I think we need to use it responsibly.”


Trump abruptly changed his mind His tweets undercut Cabinet members Donald Trump’s plan to work with Russia’s Vladimir Putin on cybersecurity died an unceremonious death, ending in under 140 characters roughly 12 hours after the US President last defended it. The abrupt move signaled once again that Trump has no qualms about changing his mind when a policy position brings the White House critical coverage, and in the process undermining some of his top staff and Cabinet members. Trump’s top aides – including Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin – touted an agreement to cooperate with Russia on cybersecurity as one of the key wins that came out of Trump’s meeting with Putin on the sidelines of the G20 in Hamburg, Germany. Speaking with reporters after the meeting, Tillerson, Mnuchin and others hyped the agreement as a step forward for US-Russia relations. Trump spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders downplayed the formerly touted plan by saying it was a discussion without “formal structure in place” for the cooperation. “This was part of a discussion in that meeting, and look, we recognize that Russia is a cyber threat but we also recognize the need to have conversations with our adversaries,” Sanders said, adding that she didn’t ask Trump whether he trusts Putin. But many, including Republicans, didn’t see it that way – South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham called it “pretty close” to the “dumbest idea I’ve ever heard.” “Partnering with Putin,” Florida Sen. Marco Rubio tweeted in response to Trump, “on a ‘Cyber Security Unit’ is akin to partnering with Assad on a “Chemical Weapons Unit.” Partnering with Putin on a "Cyber Security Unit" is akin to partnering with Assad on a "Chemical Weapons Unit".  2/3 The concerns were clear to these Republicans: Working with Russia to protect cybersecurity would likely mean having intelligence officers who blamed Russia for 2016 election meddling in an unclassified report work directly with the Russians to stop any future meddling. As pressure mounted, Trump responded. A mere 12 hours after the President himself touted the initiative on Twitter, Trump pulled the plug on the ill-fated agreement. The fact that President Putin and I discussed a Cyber Security unit  doesn't mean I think it can happen. It can't-but a ceasefire can,& did! “The fact that President Putin and I discussed a Cyber Security unit doesn’t mean I think it can happen,” Trump wrote on Twitter on Sunday night. “It can’t-but a ceasefire can,& did!” The tweet directly contradicted what Tillerson, Mnuchin – and even Trump himself – said earlier. “Putin & I discussed forming an impenetrable Cyber Security unit so that election hacking, & many other negative things, will be guarded and safe,” Trump wrote early on Sunday. Putin & I discussed forming an impenetrable Cyber Security unit    so that election hacking, & many other negative things, will be guarded.. ...and safe. Questions were asked about why the CIA & FBI had to ask the DNC 13 times for their SERVER, and were rejected, still don't.... Trump’s aides championed the proposal after the high-stakes Trump-Putin meeting. “The two leaders also acknowledged the challenges of cyberthreats and interference in the democratic processes of the United States and other countries, and agreed to explore creating a framework around which the two countries can work together to better understand how to deal with these cyber threats,” Tillerson said during a briefing with reporters after the confab, adding the group will look into “who to hold accountable” for cyberintrusion. And Mnuchin, during an interview with ABC on Sunday, said the group would focus on “having capabilities to make sure that we both fight cyber together.” “I think this is a very important step forward that what we want to make sure is that we coordinate with Russia, that we’re focused on cybersecurity together, that we make sure that they never interfere in any democratic elections or conduct any cybersecurity,” Mnuchin said. The short life of Trump’s cybersecurity partnership with Putin is the latest example of the President undercutting his top aides to stem negative press. After reports surfaced in May that Trump shared classified information with the Russian foreign minister and ambassador in the Oval Office, deputy national security adviser Dina Powell said the story was “false.” Hours later, though, Trump tweeted tacit confirmation of the report. “As President I wanted to share with Russia (at an openly scheduled W.H. meeting) which I have the absolute right to do, facts pertaining to terrorism and airline flight safety,” he wrote. “Humanitarian reasons, plus I want Russia to greatly step up their fight against ISIS & terrorism.” As President I wanted to share with Russia (at an openly scheduled W.H. meeting) which I have the absolute right to do, facts pertaining.... ...to terrorism and airline flight safety. Humanitarian reasons, plus I want Russia to greatly step up their fight against ISIS & terrorism. Earlier this year, too, Trump countered the explanation his aides offered for why he decided to fire FBI Director James Comey. After aides initially argued that Comey was fired for his handling of Hillary Clinton’s email issue during the 2016 election and a recommendation memo written by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, Trump told NBC News that he considered the FBI investigation into the Trump campaign’s connections to Russian meddling when he decided to fire the former FBI director. “I was going to fire regardless of recommendation,” Trump said in the interview, adding later, “When I decided to (dismiss Comey), I said to myself, I said you know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made up story.” CNN’s Emma Burrows in Moscow contributed to this report


Show included information on relief organizations Latest in Hollywood relief efforts “The Simpsons” took a break from the funny Sunday night for a serious appeal. At the end of the show’s Season 29 premiere, a photo appeared showing the animated cast holding the Puerto Rican flag. The mom character on the show, Marge Simpson, could be seen holding a sign that read “Unido” and middle daughter Lisa Simpson, with a tear running down her face, stood in front. The still directed viewers to UNICEF, Save the Children and One America Appeal. The official Twitter account for “The Simpsons” shared the image, writing “How you can help.” How you can help... #TheSimpsons pic.twitter.com/QE73mTbyLK It’s just the latest in several efforts from Hollywood to help the U.S. territory, which was devastated by Hurricane Maria. Related: Marc Anthony, Jennifer Lopez team up for Puerto Rico relief effort “The Simpsons,” known for its popular culture satire, is now the longest-running comedy or drama series in the history of American prime-time television. Related: ‘The Simpsons’ and the art of being in a class of your own Sunday’s moment on the popular series came during a weekend when President Donald Trump was bashed by many for his critical tweets about Puerto Rico.


Kremlin rejects US allegations of hacking Meeting between Putin and Trump "will take place" Russia says US allegations that it engaged in hacking during the American presidential election are “unfounded” and amount to nothing more than a “full-scale witch hunt.” The accusations, which were published in last week’s US intelligence report, claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an “influence campaign” aimed at hurting Hillary Clinton and helping Donald Trump in the 2016 election. The campaign – which consisted of hacking Democratic groups and individuals, including Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, and releasing that information via third-party websites, including WikiLeaks – amounted to what the intelligence report called “a significant escalation” in longtime Russian efforts to undermine “the US-led liberal democratic order.” But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the charges against Russia “were not backed by anything” and were “made on a very amateur, emotional level.” “What we see is … that all of this looks like is a full-scale witch hunt,” he said. “We understand that our US colleagues, during various stages of their history, have gone through such witch hunts, we remember these stages of history, we know that they are replaced with more sober experts, more sober approaches that are after all aimed at a dialogue, not at emotional fits,” Peskov added. “We still don’t know what data have been used by those who come up with these unfounded accusations,” Peskov told reporters  during a conference call. “We still categorically reject any involvement of Moscow, any involvement of official and unofficial persons in the Russian Federation in the hacker attacks,” he said. The report was the first official, full and public accounting by the US intelligence community of its assessment of Russian cyberhacking activities during the 2016 campaign and the motivations behind that hacking. “We assess Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the US presidential election. Russia’s goals were to undermine public faith in the US democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency. We further assess Putin and the Russian Government developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump,” the report said. Read: How Trump’s face-off with spy chiefs came to a head The report also stated that Moscow used a variety of tactics in a bid to sway the outcome. “Moscow’s influence campaign followed a Russian messaging strategy that blends covert intelligence operations – such as cyberactivity – with overt efforts by Russian government agencies, state-funded media, third-party intermediaries and paid social media users or ‘trolls,’” the report found. The US intelligence community released several new pieces of information to support its conclusions. It noted that in the final run-up to the election, when polls favored Clinton to win the election, Moscow shifted its campaign to influence the election to one aimed at undermining the validity of the electoral results. US intelligence officials also assessed “with high confidence” that the GRU Russian intelligence agency “used the Guccifer 2.0 persona, DCLeaks.com, and WikiLeaks to release US victim data obtained in cyberoperations publicly.” The intelligence community also assessed “with high confidence” that the GRU provided WikiLeaks with the material they obtained from hacking the Democratic National Committee and top Democratic officials. The report, which was commissioned by President Barack Obama, comes as Trump has continued to resist the US intelligence community’s conclusions that Russia was responsible for the hacking and that it aimed to help his campaign. The President-elect was briefed Friday on the report by top US intelligence and law enforcement officials, and while he said he had “a constructive meeting,” he declined to publicly agree with their conclusions. Instead, he stressed that “there was absolutely no effect on the outcome (of the election) whatsoever,” which the US intelligence community asserted in its report it was not in a position to assess. READ: Trump attacks Streep for speech at Golden Globes Trump did acknowledge in his statement the possibility that Russia could have been behind the hack, though he named China as well as a persistent cyberhacker. The US intelligence community also warned in its report Friday that Moscow would likely continue to pursue cyberhacking campaigns to influence future elections. “Moscow will apply lessons learned from its Putin-ordered campaign aimed at the US presidential election to future influence efforts worldwide, including against US allies and their election processes,” it assessed. On Monday, Peskov confirmed to reporters that a meeting between Trump and Putin “is going to take place” but did not give a timeframe for such an encounter. “If some contacts are planned, they will be planned very carefully,” he said. “We’re talking about contacts after a very tense phase in the evolution of our relations, in the degradation of our relations. “That’s why, of course, any contacts on the highest level will be very carefully arranged.” CNN’s Jill Dougherty and Mansur Mirovalev reported from Moscow, with James Masters writing and reporting from London. Jeremy Diamond contributed to this report.


“I wasn’t born a hero. I had to become one.” The year is 2025, the prosperous Lagoon City has been overrun by alarming skeletal drones and corrupt politicians. It bares little resemblance to the hometown Wale Williams left five years before. But the young Nigerian has bigger problems – his estranged but brilliant inventor father has disappeared. His pursuit of a parent will lead him to a nanosuit his father built, which provides him with superhuman abilities and a destiny to protect the city he loves. “E.X.O: The Legend of Wale Williams” is the fast-paced, afro-futuristic graphic novel from Roye Okupe. A software and web developer by day and graphic designer by night, the passionate Nigerian has spent the last several years trying to bring his dream of a homegrown hero to life. Okupe was born and raised in Nigeria but relocated to Washington D.C. at age 17 to study computer science at George Washington College. It was in the United States – the home of Marvel and DC Comics – that the young creative’s passion for cartoons and animations really developed. “I grew up on the popular (comics) back home, like Superman, Batman, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Transformers, and I just fell in love with the concept of a superhero,” Okupe tells CNN. “I’ve always been drawn to them and I think the main reason is that there is so much negativity in our world.” When Okupe finished college, he decided it was time to insert more diversity into the superhero world. By 2012 he founded Youneek Studios and Wale Williams and his alter-ego “E.X.O.” were born. Okupe says: “I wanted people from around the world to relate to Wale just the same way that I grew up relating to Peter Parker and Spiderman – because he had issues in high school, and he had issues getting girls while trying to balance superhero powers. “The reason we are drawn to superheroes isn’t necessary because of the color of their skin or where they are from but because of their backgrounds, their motivations and what they fight for. Creating a superhero from Nigeria, it was very important for me that I didn’t just make it where I would alienate anybody who wasn’t from the country.” The original concept was for an animated cartoon, so he developed a seven-minute trailer to showcase his work. But after a year of shopping it to distributors and producers, Okupe was out of luck. “A lot of people were afraid about taking a risk with a character that was from Africa because there was no fanbase to prove that this is going to work. I had people tell me, ‘you have a nice product. You might wanna change some of the characters around…’ “I would say ‘I respect your opinion but the reason why I do this is I grew up in Nigeria and I want to give the country a superhero. I don’t want to have to compromise what the vision was to make a quick buck.” Refusing to let this be a nail in the coffin for E.X.O., Okupe decided to change tack. He turned the animation into a trailer for a graphic novel and collaborate with artists back home to help him color the world of Lagoon City and bring the graphic novel to life. He enlisted Ayodele Elegba as editor along with artist Sunkanmi Akinboye, Godwin Akpan (who designed the cover art) and Raphael Kazeem on colors. “We have such a wealth of talent who are not getting the exposure they deserve. Most of the time when you hear news about Nigeria, it’s mostly negative things. I’m trying to show a different side of Africa that people are not regularly exposed to. “When I decided to make E.X.O, I wanted to make a character that was very intertwined with technology because that is a big thing in Africa. The tech industry is going through an economic moment – I really wanted to shine a light on that and say ‘we are doing great things in Africa. There are tons of people in Africa and it’s really time that people pay attention to Nigeria and Africa as a whole.’” Several months on and the book is now complete. The team made final tweaks to artwork, so Okupe had to find financing for publishing. Wanting to also show that there could be a huge fan community for a product like “E.X.O,” the resourceful designer decided to crowdfund the project. “I had already paid the money for the artwork. All that was left was to raise money for printing so the goal was to get $3,500 to print 500 books. “We hit that target in about two days and for the rest of the Kickstarter campaign we got $10,000. It was then that I knew this was the right path. Any failure I felt before – not getting the animation, getting rejected by so many distributors and producers, people telling me my idea is not going to work – it finally justified the fact I never quit on myself.” The graphic novel is set to be the first in a trilogy and is now available to buy. “I want that if I put my book beside a Spiderman or a Batman or Superman, I don’t want it to be like ‘oh yeah, that one is from Africa.’ We can also do something of great quality and put it out there for the world to see.” Read the first chapter of “E.X.O: The Legend of Wale Williams” below. Follow this link to read the rest of the first chapter of “E.X.O.: The Legend of Wale Williams”


Defector urges US President Donald Trump to stop what he calls "criminality" taking place in Syrian prisons He worked as a photographer for the Syrian military police in Damascus The Syrian defector who smuggled out tens of thousands of photos of people allegedly tortured to death in Assad regime jails has spoken out in his first TV interview. In an exclusive interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, the defector, code-named “Caesar,” urged US President Donald Trump to stop what he calls the “criminality” taking place in Syria’s government-run prisons. “We have shown the killing and torture of so many of the Syrian people,” he said, “and you cannot give back the lives to those that have lost it. But we ask you, out of your humanity, to stop the machinery of death.” “We are asking to all the officials, to all the policy makers, to President Trump’s White House, which we are hoping will do the right thing, we beg you to stop the machinery of death in Syria.” Caesar worked as a photographer for the Syrian military police in Damascus. CNN first broke the news of his defection and the trove of photos he smuggled out in a joint exclusive with the Guardian in 2014. Related article EXCLUSIVE: Gruesome Syria photos may prove torture by Assad regime At the time, a team of internationally renowned war crimes prosecutors and forensic experts who analyzed the photos found evidence of “systematic torture and killing” by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. Human Rights Watch has since investigated the photos and said they “are confident the Caesar photographs present authentic – and damning – evidence of crimes against humanity in Syria.” There are now criminal cases based on Caesar’s evidence filed in Spain, Germany, and France, according to Stephen Rapp, former US Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes. Caesar tried to get the Obama administration’s attention when he testified before Congress in 2014. He’s now in Washington again for meetings with members of Congress – and at the White House – as the Syrian war enters its seventh year and as the Trump administration conducts its Syria policy review. “I was horrified, I was terrified every day of the job that I was doing,” he said. “I would look at the different horrendous ways that these individuals were slaughtered and tortured to death.” “We saw a lot of things that were made so (that) people would die very slowly under torture or being starved for long periods of time, and these bodies and victims were coming from all of these different intelligence branches,” he added. Caesar says he found himself taking photographs of up to 50 bodies a day, and recounted how he would often picture himself as one of the dead. But he said he could not “stand by and let this happen” and ended up copying the photos onto flash drives, which he managed to smuggle out of the country. The Syrian regime has consistently denied allegations of human rights abuses and war crimes. In an interview with Foreign Affairs magazine in 2015, President Assad called into question the authenticity of the photos, saying: “You can bring photos from anyone and say this is torture. Who took the pictures? Who is he? Nobody knows. There is no verification of any of this evidence, so it’s all allegations without evidence.” Related video Assad war crimes proof 'better' than Nuremberg Rapp recently told Amanpour that the evidence against the Assad regime “is massive and overwhelming far better than they had, frankly, at Nuremberg or in The Hague at the Yugoslavia tribunal or that we had in Africa and in Sierra Leone with Charles Taylor or in Arusha with the genocide trials against the Rwandan leaders.” “This is very strong evidence that would make for a great trial, certainly, if we could organize them at the international level,” Rapp added.


Editor’s Note: Edward Lucas writes for The Economist. The views expressed are his own. Edward Lucas: President Trump likes bombast, lives in a state of permanent petulance, and is notable for his historical illiteracy That gives Vladimir Putin cover to continue with his own version of that noxious cocktail, Lucas argues Earlier this month, the Pew Research Center released the results of a survey asking the citizens of 38 countries to name a major threat to their nation. This is the third in a special series of op-eds that also appear in Fareed’s Global Briefing looking at the top perceived threats among Americans. You can sign up for the Global Briefing newsletter here. Were it not for Donald Trump, the latest Pew Research findings would make dismal reading for Vladimir Putin. The global median score of those saying they have no confidence in the Russian leader is 60%. The median score for those saying his country abuses civil liberties was 46%. In only three of the 37 countries surveyed did a majority of those polled have a favorable opinion of Russia – Vietnam (83%), Greece (64%) and the Philippines (55%). That is a dismal return on nearly 20 years of Kremlin efforts to increase its power and influence. Most of the world is not even scared of Russia – in most countries, it ranks roughly alongside China as a major threat. In a Pew survey earlier this month, Americans named it the fourth biggest threat, behind ISIS, cyber attacks and climate change. Only in Poland and Jordan do people put Russia in the top three threats facing their country. The good news for Russia, though, is that for many of those polled in Africa, Asia and Europe, the United States is seen as no better than Russia. In most countries, the man in the Kremlin is more trusted than the American President. In Germany, for example, Putin out-polls Trump by 25% to 11%. It is a mistake to read too much into opinion polls, but the Pew surveys highlight something important. The big achievement of the Trump presidency has not been to make America great again. It has been to diminish American greatness, to the extent that even Russia looks good in comparison. In practical terms, little has changed. The United States is vastly richer and stronger than Russia. It still has far more allies, far better institutions, and offers a far more attractive model of political and economic development. But that is obscured by Mr. Trump’s nihilistic and careless approach. His throwaway remark suggesting military intervention in Venezuela, for example, revives every Latin American memory of Yanqui imperialism and arrogance over the past 100-plus years. It instantly switched the agenda from repression and economic collapse under the brutal rule of Nicolás Maduro to the defense of national sovereignty against a meddling superpower. Loose talk removes the United States from the moral high ground elsewhere. Mr. Trump has praised the strongman leader of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, who publicly endorses vigilante killings. At home, his failure to unequivocally condemn the racists and Nazis demonstrating in Charlottesville, Virginia, succors political leaders in other countries who try to blur discussion of their own history with moral equivalence and equivocation. Mr. Putin is a particular beneficiary of this. 2017 should be a very difficult year for the Russian leader. The centenary of the Bolshevik Revolution poses deeply uncomfortable questions for a regime fueled by contradictory strands of nostalgia – one for the Tsarist era, the other for the Soviet system which uprooted it. Next year is the 80th anniversary of Stalin’s Great Terror, a frenzy of homicidal evil in which many millions of people perished. Sign up for CNN Opinion’s new newsletter.Join us on Twitter and Facebook Modern Russia has never properly digested or discussed 1917 or 1938. History certainly raises painful questions. If the Bolshevik Revolution was a putsch by fanatics, then what is Lenin’s unburied corpse doing in Red Square? If 1938 was a Soviet counterpart to Hitler’s Holocaust, then why has nobody been brought to justice for it? The NKVD secret police, which ran the murder machine, is the direct ancestor of the KGB, which the young Vladimir Putin begged to join – and of the modern FSB, which he ran before becoming Prime Minister. These painful discussions will come to Russia sooner or later. The outside world should be encouraging them. A country that has come to terms with its history of totalitarianism and imperialism will be a better place for its own citizens and an easier neighbor for everyone else. It would eschew military bombast and the politics of aggrieved grandstanding, in which everyone who disagrees with the Stalinist version of World War Two is a “Nazi.” Unfortunately, Mr. Trump likes bombast, lives in a state of permanent petulance, and is notable for his historical illiteracy. That gives Mr. Putin cover to continue with his own version of that noxious cocktail. It is hard to criticize Russia for ignoring Stalinism when the American President seems to struggle to find the time or words to unequivocally condemn the Ku Klux Klan.


In speeches to the largest Latino civil rights group in the United States, Democratic presidential hopefuls blasted Donald Trump for comments the businessman turned Republican presidential candidate made about Mexicans that have enraged Latinos across the country. “I don’t have to wait to become president to take a stand right here and right now against the divisive rhetoric that demonizes immigrants and their families,” Hillary Clinton said on Monday, calling Trump’s comments “appalling.” “He is talking about people you and I know isn’t he,” Clinton said to an applauding audience in Kansas City. “And when people and business everywhere rejected his hateful comments, did he apologize? No. He doubled down. It is shameful and no one should stand for it.” Trump has used his nascent presidential campaign to focus on illegal immigration, particularly from Mexico. During his campaign announcement, Trump said that undocumented immigrants from Mexico were “murders” and “rapists.” Many Republicans have tried to distance themselves around from Trumps’s comments, but Clinton and others Democrats contend that they didn’t do it fast enough. In response, Democrats have tried to make Trump the symbol for all 15 Republicans running for president. “Why did it take weeks for most of you to speak out,” Clinton added on Monday. “You are normally such a talkative bunch. Suddenly you have nothing to say.” Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, two of Clinton’s Democratic opponents, also used their speeches to the annual conference of the National Council of La Raza to knock Trump. “Not Donald Trump, not anyone else will be successful in dividing us based on race or our country of origin,” Sanders told an enthusiastic crowd of about 400 people gathered here Monday for the annual conference of the National Council of La Raza. “Racism has plagued the United States since its inception,” Sanders said while recalling his own family history including losing family members during the Holocaust. After the speech, Sanders told reporters that Trump’s comments were an “outrage.” “For a major candidate for president of the United States to be throwing slurs at one group of people because of the country of origin that they came from is totally unacceptable, period.” Sanders was asked twice whether Trump was a racist but both times he declined to answer. “I don’t want to psychoanalyze Donald Trump,” he said. This was the second major speech Sanders has given to a national Latino group since announcing his candidacy. Last month, Sanders addressed the National Association of Latino Elected Officials in Las Vegas where many in the audience were expecting him to deliver a stronger stance on immigration reform than he had in the past. O’Malley also slammed Trump as “a hate-spewing character running for president,” but said that problem for the Republican Party is “that it’s so hard to tell him apart from the other candidates.” In particular, O’Malley said it was outrageous that Republicans are only “divided” on his comments. “I know that all of us here today share my disgust with the comments Donald Trump recently made,” O’Malley said to sustained applause from 1,500 people at the NCLR luncheon. He latter added, “If Donald Trump wants to run on a platform of demonizing immigrants, then he should go back to the 1840s and run for the nomination of the Know Nothing Party.” Both Sanders and O’Malley focused on immigration reform during their speeches to the Kansas City crowd. The Vermont senator called the issue “one critical piece that must be talked about” when talking about the Latino community. “Without these folks it is likely that out agricultural system would collapse,” Sanders said. Immigration reform was one of the key points in his speech to the Kansas City crowd on Monday where he called the issue “one critical piece that must be talked about” when talking about the Latino community. “Without these folks it is likely  that out agricultural system would collapse,” Sanders said. Undocumented workers, he said, do the difficult work of “harvesting our crops, cooking our meals and caring for our children.” Sanders called for “a responsible path to citizenship,” for undocumented workers and reiterated his support for the DREAM Act and the children of undocumented immigrants who he described as “American kids who deserve the right to legally be in the country they know as home.” O’Malley pitched himself as someone who just doesn’t talk about immigration, but takes action on it. “Anyone can talk about it, but we actually did it,” O’Malley said about immigration reform and the DREAM Act. “Las palabras NO son hechos, del dicho al hecho hay mucho trecho,” he added, which loosely translates into action speaks louder than words. CNN’s Dan Merica contributed to this report.


The suggestion immediately raised eyebrows and suspicions Trump downplayed his suggestion of a joint US-Russia cybersecurity effort President Donald Trump appeared to back away Sunday night from an earlier tweet about “forming an impenetrable Cyber Security unit” with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Sunday morning, Trump, who met for over two hours Friday with Putin on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, unexpectedly raised the possibility of such a unit. “Putin & I discussed forming an impenetrable Cyber Security unit so that election hacking, & many other negative things, will be guarded … and safe,” Trump wrote. Putin & I discussed forming an impenetrable Cyber Security unit    so that election hacking, & many other negative things, will be guarded.. The suggestion immediately raised eyebrows and suspicions from both American and allied intelligence officials and lawmakers. US intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia, at Putin’s behest, was behind efforts to meddle in the 2016 presidential election, findings that Trump tepidly endorsed at a news conference in Warsaw, Poland, on Thursday. Sunday night, Trump downplayed his suggestion of a joint US-Russia cybersecurity effort. “The fact that President Putin and I discussed a Cyber Security unit doesn’t mean I think it can happen. It can’t-but a ceasefire can,& did!” Trump tweeted, referring to an agreement the two nations reached over Syria. US and Russian officials have disputed accounts of the discussion between Trump and Putin over the election meddling, which was discussed at their Friday meeting. Trump, hours after returning from his second foreign trip as president, declined to refute the Russian account of his meeting with Putin, leaving their assertion that he accepted the Russian president’s denial of 2016 election meddling unchallenged. Related article Trump won't refute Putin, says they are working on cybersecurity team Minutes after Trump’s meeting with Putin, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov went on camera and told reporters that Trump accepted Putin’s assurances there was no Russian involvement in the 2016 American election. “President Trump said he’s heard Putin’s very clear statements that this is not true and that the Russian government didn’t interfere in the elections and that he accepts these statements. That’s all,” Lavrov said, according to a CNN translation. A senior Trump administration official immediately denied that Trump accepted Putin’s claim of non-interference. But no top Trump aides immediately said – on the record – that Trump didn’t accept Putin’s explanation. Asked three times about how Trump responded to Putin on Saturday, chief economist Gary Cohn, national security adviser H.R. McMaster, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin all declined to knock down those remarks when pressed by reporters, deferring instead to Trump himself. “President Trump will be happy to make statements himself about that,” Mnuchin said. “But President Trump handled himself brilliantly. It was very clear that he made his position felt, and after a very substantive dialogue on this, they agreed to move on to other discussions.” Trump, according to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, pressed Putin on election meddling and then moved on. US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said Putin denied Moscow interfered in last year’s US election in order to “save face.” “This is Russia trying to save face, and they can’t, they can’t,” Haley told CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union” Sunday. “Everybody knows that Russia meddled in our elections. Everybody knows that they’re not just meddling in the United States’ election. They’re doing this across multiple continents, and they’re doing this in a way that they’re trying to cause chaos within the countries.” Later, speaking on “Fox News Sunday,” White House chief of staff Reince Priebus disputed Lavrov’s remarks, saying Trump “absolutely did not believe the denial of President Putin.” On Twitter Sunday morning, Trump wrote, “I strongly pressed President Putin twice about Russian meddling in our election. He vehemently denied it. I’ve already given my opinion.” He was apparently referring to his comments in Warsaw, when he said, “I think it was Russia but I think it was probably other people and or countries. I see nothing wrong with that statement.” He added: “Nobody really knows. Nobody really knows for sure.” CORRECTION: This story has been updated to reflect that Priebus disputed Lavrov’s comments about the Trump-Putin exchange on the subject of Russian interference in the US election. CNN’s Dan Merica contributed to this report.


Nine months after Kenya university attack, Garissa University College is reopening The attack killed 142 students, three security officers and two university security personnel Kenyans use hashtag #147notjustanumber to honor victims There have been small renovations. The walls have been painted with new colors. The dormitory where the attackers went room to room killing students has since been renamed. A police station has been set up at the school and security presence has upped from four officers to 30. Classes resume Monday at Garissa University College, nine months after the school experienced one of the bloodiest terrorist attacks Kenyan soil. Gunmen stormed in at dawn, separated Muslims and shot Christians to death. In some cases, the militants forced students to call relatives to listen in during the killings. By the time security forces arrived hours later, dead students lay in rows, others shot in the back of the head. Related video Garissa response delayed by personal use of plane Most survivors were transferred to other universities nationwide for the rest of the school year. But as the university opened its doors,  students are still haunted by the massacre and one wonders if it is not too soon for classes to restart. “Those rooms they’re in –there’s so many people’s blood there,” said Risper Nyang’au, who survived the attack. “How will you study? You will think, ‘this is where my fellow students died.’” In April, Nyang’au was attending early morning prayers when Al Shabaab militants threw a grenade into the room and sprayed the room with bullets. As she lay on the ground, multiple bullet wounds to her leg, the attackers went on to murder 148 people, the worst terrorist attack in Kenya since the 1998 embassy bombings. #GarissaAttack: Lives snuffed out too soon #147notjustanumber pic.twitter.com/acno3QzqP8 And today, reminders of the attack are always present for Nyang’au. She left her Christmas vacation early to travel to Nairobi to testify in the trial of five men accused of assisting in the Garissa plot. Nyang’au still walks with a limp, having only abandoned her crutches last month. And while she received money from the government and the college, she is still struggling to pay medical bills along with her school fees at her new university. “If they were concerned about us they would have taken time,” Nyang’au said. Picking at a scar on her wrist – a shrapnel wound. “Those of us who lived. We still have not healed,” she says. Many survivors of the Garissa massacre have been reassigned to other universities across Kenya, most of them to Moi University, but Nyang’au says she still fears other attacks. “You think it will happen again,” she said. “You hear even the bang of the door and you feel bad.” Across the country, there have been efforts to improve school security. The government has encouraged universities across the country to train students how to respond to terror attacks. Video surveillance systems and extra police officers have been set up in schools around the country. Related video Al-Shabaab to Christians: Worship and die However, there’s no escaping the atmosphere of fear the attacks have created. Several weeks after the massacre, students at the University of Nairobi mistook several explosions of an electric transformer for an attack by Al Shabaab. Students panicked. One student died after he jumped out of a window and as many as 108 students were treated in hospital for related injuries. In November, one employee died from head injures when Nairobi’s Strathmore University held a ‘mock terror drill’. The sound of gunfire terrified students, who thought it was a real attack. Photos on social media show students climbing out onto balconies. Thirty people were hospitalized for injuries. The Islamist extremist group is based in Somalia, but it hasn’t confined its terrorism to the nation that shares a border with Kenya. In 2013, it attacked Nairobi’s upscale Westgate Mall, killing nearly 70 people. The militants have vowed to continue with attacks until Kenya withdraws troops from neighboring Somalia, where they are helping fight the terror group. In 2014, Al Shabaab attacked a bus, killing 28, mostly non-Muslim teachers. Teachers left the region, citing insecurity. While many have been replaced, the region still has difficulty filling positions in that area. For the residents of Garissa and its surrounding areas– there was no question as to whether to reopen the university.  It is the only institution of higher learning in the region and opened in 2013. “If we closed the school then Al Shabaab would have won because they would have shut down a center of higher learning,” said Garissa University College Principal Ahmed Warfa. “They would have been happy.” Aden Duale, a parliament member for Garissa, said about 200 students have returned to attend classes. Among them is Donald Waigayi. “For quite a number of years the areas didn’t have higher learning to speak of,” said Waigayi, a resident of Garissa returning to his business management studies. “Through this first institution in the area, the entire region got an opportunity to help their region.” He added: “If some of the students say they can’t come back there it is as if they are giving into the terrorists,” Waigayi said.  “But if we return and join together, then at the end of the day we will have won the war.” Across the country, Risper Nyang’au too resumes her studies. Her ultimate goal, of all things –to be a university lecturer. Idris Muktar and Faith Karimi contributed to this report


Experts say Russian dealings risked drawing Trump and associates closer to a hostile government Trump's associates may have unwittingly wandered right into the lion's den Returning to Washington after a recess full of new Russia revelations, senators from both parties told CNN on Tuesday that as the Hill investigations ramp up this fall, they want to learn more about the Trump Organization’s efforts to do business in Russia during the presidential campaign. The newly detailed effort to license Donald Trump’s name to a proposed tower in Moscow began in fall 2015 and resulted in Trump signing a non-binding agreement to start formal negotiations, according to a statement Trump’s corporate attorney Michael Cohen gave to congressional investigators last week. For the deal, Cohen worked with Felix Sater, a mob-linked felon and former Trump business partner. Sen. Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Republican who isn’t shy about criticizing Trump, told CNN on Tuesday he “would assume” that Cohen will be asked to testify before Congress about the matter. Related article Intensifying Russia probes could pit Hill against Mueller “It seems to be inconsistent with the idea that the Trump Organization was having no business dealings with Russia,” Graham said. “That seems to be inconsistent with that statement.” Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the Democratic vice chair of the Senate intelligence committee, said his panel’s investigation into Russian meddling will likely drag into next year as it sifts through new leads. “It raises a whole host of questions that people associated with then candidate Trump were trying to do business with senior folks in Russia,” Warner told CNN on Tuesday. “Lots of individuals’ blanket denials of involvement and engagement with Russia months ago have all proven to be not true.” Experts with experience in intelligence operations and Russian tactics tell CNN that the Russian dealings risked drawing Trump and his associates closer to a hostile government already working covertly to sway the US election, and gave the Kremlin an opening to find leverage over his team. Related article Cohen lawyer rebuts Russia dossier allegations It wasn’t publicly known at the time, but the Russian government’s “active measures” campaign was already at full speed, and Russia soon started looking for pathways into the Trump orbit. By seeking a deal in Russia, Trump’s associates may have unwittingly wandered right into the lion’s den. In an attempt to move the project along, Cohen even sought help in mid-January 2016 from the Kremlin’s top spokesman, Dmitry Peskov. He emailed Peskov through a general address for press inquiries. Cohen said he never got a response from Peskov, which Peskov confirmed to reporters in Moscow last week. Soon after he sent that email, Cohen says he decided to terminate the deal. “Peskov is one of Putin’s senior lieutenants,” said Steve Hall, a CNN contributor and former top CIA official who served for 30 years. “He has access to Putin and is as influential as anybody.” While Cohen tried to advance the deal, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his senior staff were managing the campaign to interfere in the US election, according to the US intelligence community. Related article Peskov: Trump lawyer wrote to Kremlin, got no response Russian-backed hackers had already breached the Democratic National Committee’s servers in summer 2015, months before Cohen reached out to Peskov. And the US intelligence community assessment cited credible reports that some of Russia’s “professional trolls” on social media started advocating for Trump as early as December 2015, while the Trump Tower deal was in the works. The US intelligence community report also says Peskov helped create RT, the Kremlin-controlled TV network that pushes propaganda to American audiences and advocated for Trump as part of Russia’s meddling campaign. RT “consistently” denigrated Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and intensely focused on the WikiLeaks releases, all while praising Trump, the US intelligence assessment said. Experts in espionage say the Trump-approved effort to seek business in Russia during the campaign might have given the Kremlin an opening to collect intelligence and maybe even find some leverage during the campaign, a matter that will likely be of interest to special counsel investigators. Every interaction with Trump’s associates, even above-board efforts to pursue business deals, could give Russian operatives an opportunity to “find out who Trump is, how he operates, and how he thinks,” according to Jack Barsky, a former KGB spy who worked undercover in the US for a decade. Related article Trump Jr. agrees to transcribed interview with Senate panel “By doing this, Trump and his organization created multiple vulnerabilities for themselves,” Barsky said. “Doing business with big corporations over there doesn’t mean you become an agent of their government, but it does mean you have to be really careful. There’s always the [Russian] government looming in the background.” There isn’t any indication that the Russian firm Cohen was negotiating with, I.C. Expert Investment Company, has any ties to Russian intelligence. But four of the seven “banking partners” that it lists on its website are either completely or partially controlled by Russian government entities. And even private banks in Russia can only survive with tacit support from Putin’s government, Barsky said. “Then comes the leverage – this is what [foreign] intelligence services do,” said Joshua Geltzer, who has previously held senior positions in the National Security Council and the Justice Department. “They tuck away things that they might be able to use to their advantage down the road. Knowing something that the world doesn’t know, whether it is embarrassing or just unwanted, is a very powerful thing.” Cohen’s email to Peskov, even if its content was harmless, could fall under this category if the Kremlin knew about it and the Trump team insisted there were no contacts. Trump and his aides repeatedly denied any interactions between the campaign and Russia, only to be proven wrong later by the press. Related article Trump attorney reached out to Kremlin to pursue Moscow Trump Tower project Former acting attorney general Sally Yates told Congress earlier this year that a “compromise situation” can emerge when US officials make a statement to the public that the Russians already know to be untrue or misleading. In that case, Americans “could be blackmailed by the Russians,” she said. Trump himself insisted on numerous occasions that he had no business ties to Russia. “I have nothing to do with Russia, how many times do I have to say that?” Trump said at a press conference in July 2016. “What do I have to do with Russia? You know the closest I came to Russia, I bought a house a number of years ago, in Palm Beach. … I sold it to a Russian for $100 million.” Trump repeated his denial at an October 2016 rally, omitting mention of the failed Trump Tower deal: “I had Miss Universe there a couple of years ago. Other than that, no, I had nothing to do (with Russia).” Related article Exclusive: How a request about Russians made its way from West Virginia to Trump's team Peskov said last week he didn’t reply to the email. No evidence has emerged to suggest that Peskov or any other Russians used this situation for leverage, despite having the opportunity to do so. “My email to Mr. Peskov gave no ‘leverage’ to anyone,” Cohen told CNN in a statement Monday. “Its straightforward content is about a business proposal that I rejected within a few days of sending the email. It was about a building proposal, nothing more.” In defense of his client, Cohen’s attorney, Stephen Ryan, referred CNN to Gregory Copley, a foreign policy analyst who founded a think tank called the International Strategic Studies Association. In an appearance earlier this year on Kremlin-controlled RT, Copley said he does not believe Russia interfered in the 2016 election – contrary to the conclusions of the US intelligence community. “From what we know, there’s no legal or political embarrassment for President Trump or his team from the Cohen email to Peskov,” Copley told CNN on Monday. “It would be a stretch of the imagination to think that the fact or substance of the email could be used to obtain political or legal leverage over Trump or anyone in the campaign.” White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters last week that Trump – who Cohen said did not know of the email when it was sent – wasn’t worried about Cohen’s activities. “It’s pretty clear that there’s really nothing there to this story, nothing to move forward,” Sanders said. “The President at that time was very focused on his campaign, and that was the priority he had at the time, and so certainly not something I believe he’s at all concerned about.” Special Counsel Robert Mueller has expanded his Russian meddling investigation to examine some of Trump’s prior business activities, including past deals in Russia and with Russians. Mueller’s team is exploring whether any of these deals could put Trump or his associates in a compromising position. Related article Special counsel subpoenas Manafort's former attorney and spokesman In a statement given last week to congressional investigators and obtained by CNN, Cohen maintained that he was never a part of the Trump campaign. Trump, and other senior administration officials, have repeatedly insisted that his presidential campaign had no improper contacts with Russians. While Cohen was not an official part of the Trump campaign, he was never far from it. Sources who were part of the campaign tell CNN that Cohen advised Trump on personnel. And he granted dozens of TV interviews throughout the campaign to promote Trump and attack his opponents. Multiple sources tell CNN that Cohen was not paid by the Trump campaign, and Federal Election Commission records dating back to mid-2015 don’t show any direct payments to Cohen. Cohen will face questions from the House intelligence committee when he testifies likely this month. CNN’s Dana Bash, Jeremy Herb and Tom LoBianco contributed to this story.

Trump Organization's business dealings in Russia


The new mayor of London is criticizing Donald Trump’s stance on Islam, describing it as “ignorant” and warning it could make both the UK and the U.S. “less safe.” Sadiq Khan, whose win last week made him the first Muslim mayor of any Western capital, made the comments Tuesday after Trump suggested the Londoner would be exempt from his proposed ban on Muslims entering the United States. “Donald Trump’s ignorant view of Islam could make both our countries less safe – it risks alienating mainstream Muslims around the world and plays into the hands of the extremists,” Khan said. Related gallery The Donald Trump guide to the rest of world He rejected Trump’s suggestion that he could be an exception to the proposed Muslim travel ban, saying: “This isn’t just about me – it’s about my friends, my family and everyone who comes from a background similar to mine, anywhere in the world.” The statement continued: “Donald Trump and those around him think that western liberal values are incompatible with mainstream Islam – London has proved him wrong.” London's new mayor Sadiq Khan has rejected Donald J. Trump's suggestion that he would make an exception for the new... Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, told the New York Times Monday that he was “happy” that Khan had been elected mayor of London. Related video Cameron: 'Trump would unite us all against him' Asked by the newspaper how his proposed temporary ban on Muslims entering the country would affect Khan, Trump replied: “There will always be exceptions.” “I was happy to see that,” he said, referring to Khan’s win. “I think it’s a very good thing, and I hope he does a very good job because frankly that would be very, very good.” Trump sparked controversy when he called for “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on” in the wake of the Paris terror attacks in November. Clinton congratulates newly elected London mayor London’s new mayor had previously accused his rival, Zac Goldsmith, of drawing from the “Donald Trump playbook” by targeting his religion during the city’s bitterly contested mayoral campaign. “I think to try and look for differences, to try and turn communities against each other is not conducive to living successfully and amicably,” Khan told TIME magazine in an interview published Monday. Related video Trump faces backlash in Scotland over Muslim comments If Trump won the U.S. election, Khan said, “I’ll be stopped from going there by virtue of my faith, which means I can’t engage with American mayors and swap ideas. Conservative tacticians thought those sorts of tactics would win London and they were wrong. I’m confident that Donald Trump’s approach to politics won’t win in America.” Poll: 52% of British Muslims think homosexuality should not be legal Trump’s comments about Islam on the campaign trail – including proposing the creation of a database for Muslims, and claiming that Britain has a “massive Muslim problem” – provoked a heated response in the United States and abroad. The United Kingdom is trying hard to disguise their massive  Muslim problem. Everybody is wise to what is happening, very sad! Be honest. Related gallery Donald Trump's empire In the UK, a public petition to ban Trump from the country for hate speech attracted more than half a million signatures. The petition prompted British parliamentarians to hold a non-binding debate on the issue in January, with one MP opining: “I don’t think Donald Trump should be allowed within 1,000 miles of our shore.” Why Sadiq Khan’s win matters


Editor’s Note: His Highness Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan is Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation for the United Arab Emirates. The views expressed are solely those of the author. Pope Francis has reached out to faith leaders of all religions to reject extremism UAE: Ideology and actions of extremists do not represent the core ethos of Islam Ultimate goal is to restore the Middle East to a path of hope, progress and lasting prosperity When His Holiness Pope Francis received His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the armed forces of the United Arab Emirates, it was the highest-level official delegation from the Gulf state ever to visit the Vatican, and comes at a time when constructive dialogue between people of all faiths is of paramount importance. It is critical to take every opportunity to show a united front against all forms of intolerance. Pope Francis has reached out to faith leaders of all religions to reject extremism wherever it occurs. The UAE is proud to stand with him.  We believe that the ideology and actions of extremists do not represent the core ethos of Islam and must be loudly denounced on that basis. Above all this is a battle for hearts and minds. In their sophisticated use of digital and social media to glorify murder and destruction, groups such as Daesh – to use the Arabic term for ISIS – continue to lure young people from all over the world into their ranks. Twitter goes to war against ISIS Related video Muslims react to ISIS attacks on social media We must use every tool available to us to defeat their nihilist ideology of hatred. In this endeavor, the UAE has acted in collaboration with friends, who share our values. That’s why, in partnership with the United States, the UAE established the Sawab Center in Abu Dhabi, an organization specifically tasked with countering violence and extremism on digital platforms and through social media campaigns. The center has already made some significant inroads in targeting young people with messages that counter Daesh propaganda and reveal its true criminal nature and intent. One of its most recent campaigns – #deludedfollowers – effectively exposed the cynical tactics and psychological manipulations that Daesh employs, such as the portrayal of its campaign of terror as a holy cause. Escaping ISIS: How teen escaped terrorist recruiters While confronting extremists in the digital arena is an essential component of the broader fight, there are other methods that we must use to target at risk groups. Our experience in this goes back to 2011, when the UAE hosted the foundation of the first international center for countering extremism, known as Hedayah. Supported by the 30 member states that make up the Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF), Hedayah is devoted to researching the root causes of terrorism and formulating effective community-based programs focused on young and low-income groups. For instance, Hedayah has recently worked with Nigerian teachers to construct curricula emphasizing critical thinking that guides young people away from Boko Haram. ISIS women pose growing challenge to Europe Related video Why belgium is Europe's front line in war on terror Promoting enlightened religious discourse is also critical if we are to de-legitimize those trying to hijack religion with their distorted ideology. To this end the Muslim Council of Elders, an international organization based in Abu Dhabi, amplifies the true tolerant teachings of Islam and creates understanding between faiths. The Muslim Council comprises some of the Islamic world’s most venerated thinkers. It is led by Sheikh Dr. Ahmed Al Tayeb, the Grand Imam of Al Azhar, one of Islam’s oldest and most respected institutions, and His Excellency Professor Abdullah bin Bayyah, President of the Forum for Promoting Peace in Muslim Societies, a gathering convened in Abu Dhabi to foster inter and intra-faith dialogue. The Pope has expressed his hope for a stable Middle East that respects the rights of all faiths equally, a view we support in word and in deed. The UAE’s opposition to extremist groups that exemplify intolerance spans more than two decades, from our participation in international coalitions against the likes of the Taliban, al Qaeda and Daesh in Afghanistan, Somalia, Yemen, Syria and Iraq. Our belief in a future defined by human advancement characterizes our approach to development assistance around the world, but is best expressed in the society we have created inside the UAE. Within a region rife with sectarian fueled conflict, the UAE is a peaceful home to a multiplicity of diverse nationalities and ethnicity, living side by side in a culture of unity, religious tolerance, inclusivity and economic opportunity. Terror export fears as ISIS ‘caliphate’ shrinks Related video What makes ISIS so attractive to some youth? Pope Francis is correct when he says that socio-economic marginalization provides fertile ground for the growth of extremism. He argues that a comprehensive approach is needed to address the root causes, from the ideological to the economic. By building bridges to Islam, he is setting a powerful example that the UAE acknowledges with gratitude and is eager to match. Our region faces a critical challenge to protect the prospects of diversity and mutual coexistence from the forces that threaten them. The region’s immediate need is for peace and stability, but our ultimate goal, together with friends and allies, is to restore the Middle East to a path of hope, progress and lasting prosperity for all. The views expressed here are the author’s own.