Saudi Arabia rolled out the red carpet for US President Donald Trump on his inaugural overseas trip, but a moment involving a glowing orb had observers scratching their heads. Trump attended the opening of the Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology on Sunday alongside his host, Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, reported the state-run Saudi Press Agency. As the lights dimmed, the three leaders officially “activated” the new center by placing their hands on an illuminated globe as a four-minute introduction video displayed on large screens behind them, according to local media. At the center of the facility, massive screens monitor and display real-time online extremist activity while over 200 data analysts work on individual desktops nearby, the Saudi Gazette reported. The new counter-terrorism center, known as Etidal, tweeted from its official account that it is designed to bring “prime technology together with Saudi expertise and international partnership to eradicate extremism.” State photographers were on hand to capture the moment, which quickly spawned memes from social media users who likened the US President to everything from comic book characters to blockbuster movie villains. trump 100% made a wish when he touched the orb pic.twitter.com/S0TlxgxtBY Just some billionaires, gathered in the dark, holding a glowing orb.#trump #orb pic.twitter.com/Os5sgwmnPE Trump was in Saudi Arabia on the first leg of his first foreign tour, which also includes stops in Israel, the Vatican, Belgium and Italy over the coming days. After spending the weekend in the Kingdom, he flew to Tel Aviv on Monday morning where he hopes to revive the long-stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process, address regional security issues and reaffirm America’s commitment to its alliance with Israel. CNN’s Tamara Qiblawi contributed to this report from Riyadh.


Earlier this week, three black Airbnb guests checked out of their rental only to be met by seven police cars. Attorneys for the guests said a woman who called Rialto, California, authorities said she made the call because the departing guests didn’t wave to her or smile at her. “They have a right not to smile,” said attorney Jasmine Rand at a Thursday morning news conference in New York. “We don’t want to live in an America where black people are forced to smile at white people to preserve their lives.” Related article At Yale, Starbucks and everywhere else, being black in America really is this hard The three black guests – Kelly Fyffe-Marshall, Donisha Prendergast and Komi-Oluwa Olafimihan – were also traveling with a fourth guest, who is a white woman. But according to the their attorneys, the neighbor only told police about three suspicious black people. Police previously said the caller was an elderly white woman. Related article Yale officers admonished the white student who called police on a napping black student “And that should have been automatic evidence to them that this issue, this call was racially motivated by this woman,” Rand said. Now, the attorneys want the woman held accountable and are calling for the Rialto Police Department to conduct an investigation into officers’ actions, claiming their clients’ constitutional rights under the 4th and 14th Amendments were violated. The group checked out of their Airbnb on April 30, and were dragging their luggage to their car when police showed up and told them to put their hands in the air. They tried to explain to officers that they were renting an Airbnb, but officers didn’t believe them, and detained them for between 20 and 45 minutes, Rand said. Fyffe-Marshall said she’d seen the neighbor watching them, but didn’t see her wave or smile. She and Pendergrast joked the neighbor was going to call the police on them, she said. “Let us acknowledge this history, this heritage and this legacy that we all have inherited as black and white people of this world,” Prendergrast said. “How are we going to reimagine ourselves for our children, and for the children of our children?” The incident has been held up as just the latest in recent weeks in which people of color were racially profiled and have been arrested or detained by police for seemingly innocuous acts. Airbnb previously said in a statement to CNN that what happened was “unconscionable and a reminder of how far we still have to go as a society.” “Airbnb’s mission is to create a world where anyone can belong anywhere and we have aggressively worked to fight bias and discrimination in society,” the company’s statement said in part. Rialto Mayor Pro Tem Ed Scott said in a Tuesday news conference that officers acted in a “very professional manner.” Interim Police Chief Mark Kling said in a news conference Tuesday the officers acted appropriately during the incident, and pointed out that at no point did officers use force or handcuff anyone. Kling also said the neighbor reported four individuals – two black women, a black man and a white woman. It took 22 minutes, he added, for officers to determine that Fyffe-Marshall, Prendergast and Olafimihan were Airbnb guests and had not committed any crimes. Police also released bodycam footage of the incident on Tuesday. At first, the interactions between the officers and the guests don’t appear to be tense, according to the footage. They laugh together when they realize one officer is from Canada, like them, as they attempt to reach the homeowner of their Airbnb. Related article A mom on a college tour called the cops on two Native American teens because they made her 'nervous' Everyone’s patience appears to wear thin after they reach the homeowner but police continue to investigate. Prendergrast begins to argue that the neighbor wouldn’t have called police if they were white, but the officer dismisses her claim. Police then played audio of an officer’s interview with the neighbor after she had been told the group were renters. She says they scared her. “I see these strange people coming and going back and forth, you know, with luggage,” she tells the officer. He asks why she thought they were strange. “Because they had luggage in their hand and they weren’t really looking at me. You know, they just kind of avoided me, or they didn’t wave … And I know the couple that own the house, and I didn’t recognize them.” CNN’s Stella Chan, Doug Criss, Amir Vera, Eric Levenson and AnneClaire Stapleton contributed to this report.


ISIS got smacked with a trio of setbacks over the weekend, with the loss of a key city, the death of an influential figure and – oh yes – the invasion of its biggest stronghold in Iraq. Here’s quick look at the terror group’s recent losses: Dabiq isn’t just any town in Syria. It’s strategically located, just a few miles south of the Turkish border, and is highly symbolic to ISIS. Some Islamic prophecies portend Dabiq to be the site of an apocalyptic battle between Christians and Muslims. ISIS even named its English-language propaganda magazine “Dabiq.” So rebels from the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army dealt ISIS a major blow when they seized the town Sunday, Turkish state media and a monitoring group said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it received reports that groups of ISIS fighters had withdrawn from Dabiq. US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter congratulated the fighters involved. “This is more than just the latest military result against this barbaric group,” he said in a statement. “Dabiq held symbolic importance to ISIL (another acronym for ISIS). The group carried out unspeakable atrocities in Dabiq … and claimed it would be the site of a final victory for the so-called caliphate. Instead, its liberation gives the campaign to deliver ISIL a lasting defeat.” But the work in Dabiq isn’t over. Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency said Free Syrian Army fighters are trying to clear the town of mines, booby traps and IEDs. Mehmet Kadir Cabel was the regional leader for ISIS in Gaziantep, where an August bombing killed 54 people at a wedding. Cabel was killed Sunday when police raided his hideout there, Anadolu reported. Related video Turkish president blames ISIS for wedding attack He “ran the group’s terrorist activities” in Gaziantep by “managing the group’s cell and providing logistical support,” police told Anadolu. The operation to take out Cabel was costly. Three police officers were killed in the attempt, Anadolu said. But 19 other suspected ISIS members were captured during the operation, along with Cabel’s wife and two children. This could mark the beginning of the end of ISIS in Iraq. Before dawn Monday, Iraqi-led forces launched an offensive to reclaim the country’s second-largest city from ISIS’ grip. The Iraqi military said it had already inflicted “heavy losses of life and equipment” on ISIS in a district southeast of Mosul. The area saw two or three explosions each hour in the beginning of the assault, along with heavy bombardment from the air. CNN’s Nick Paton-Walsh, who is embedded with a Peshmerga convoy near Mosul, said he saw “staggering scenes” as forces pushed toward the city, with sporadic fighting erupting as they encountered pockets of ISIS fighters. “They obviously have overwhelming numbers here and are moving very quickly against ISIS,” he said. “But ISIS is showing that it’s very willing to put up a fight.” CNN’s Isil Sariyuce, Max Blau and Hande Atay Alam contributed to this report.


U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz visits New Hampshire, hits the White House on economy and Obamacare A little girl in the crowd thinks the rhetorically speaking senator is warning of a literal global conflagration Meanwhile, a goat that once bit Jon Huntsman doesn't get the same chance with the Texas senator U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz was delivering his normal rhetoric during a New Hampshire speech on Sunday, hitting the current administration on the economy, Obamacare and national security. “And the Obama-Clinton foreign policy of leading from behind – the whole world is on fire,” the senator from Texas declared. But he was stopped by a 3-year-old girl sitting in the front row. “The world is on fire?” she yelled out. Cruz took it and ran with it. “The world is on fire – yes! Your world is on fire,” he exclaimed, seizing the moment as the crowd burst out into laughter. “But you know what? Your mommy’s here and everyone’s here to make sure that the world you grow up in is even better.” The scene – while cute – captured Cruz’s determination to remain unwavering in his views and language, never backtracking. There was no “just kidding” or “that was only a metaphor” to assuage the little girl. Instead, the first-term senator continued with his speechifying and used the moment to illustrate his point that while things are bad now, they could get better – especially, cough cough, if he becomes president. A woman who identified herself as the child’s mother named Michelle later told the WRKO’s Kuhner Report that her child’s reaction came in a “high question kind of voice,” but that her daughter was “quite happy” in the aftermath. “She really, basically was like ‘oh, oh, this is a great man.’ He’s the firefighter in her mind as a three-year-old. And was quite happy and she wanted a cookie.” Cruz is bringing the resolute disruptor brand that he’s built in Congress out on the trail as he lays the groundwork for a White House bid. This weekend, he was on a two-day swing through New Hampshire, stopping Sunday afternoon at an event put on by the Strafford County GOP. In the same way Cruz challenges establishment Republicans in the Senate, he’s trying to build a campaign that breaks from the mold and showcases his firebrand conservatism. For example, his first question from the audience came from a woman who wanted to know how Cruz was going to make campaign finance reform a reality, a huge issue in the first-in-the-nation primary state. But Cruz argued that not only is money a form of speech, it emboldens speech. “The answer is not to muzzle citizens; it’s to empower citizens across the country,” he said. Throwing a bone to his questioner, however, he said he supports requiring that campaign donations be disclosed. Related gallery Potential 2016 presidential candidates He took the same steadfast approach last weekend in Iowa, when he and other contenders were asked about the ethanol mandate requiring that gasoline contain a certain amount of ethanol – a popular regulation in Iowa where corn is king. While nearly every other potential candidate expressed at least some measure of support for the mandate, Cruz flatly opposed it, saying in front of close to a thousand Iowa farmers that he doesn’t think the government should be involved in the private sector. Gov. Scott Walker, who’s vying with Jeb Bush for frontrunner status, said he supported the mandate in Iowa, despite previously opposing it in his home state of Wisconsin Asked by reporters Sunday about accusations that Walker is a flip-flopper, Cruz first praised his potential rival but made sure to mention that candidates need to be challenged on their actions. “It’s easy for candidates to give an answer,” he said, but added: “The proof is in the pudding. What I’ve urged Republicans to ask of every candidate is: Have you walked the walk? Show me your record.” Cruz got heavy applause when he said he wanted to “repeal every word of Common Core,” a set of testing standards that Jeb Bush staunchly defended when he appeared at a nearby event in Dover, New Hampshire just two days earlier. Common Core, however, was not legislation approved by Congress. Rather, it was created by a bipartisan group of governors and state leaders, and states received financial incentives by the government to adopt the standards. Still, Cruz played somewhat coy with his White House aspirations, aware of the tight federal regulations that would start holding contenders to different standards once they admit they’re running for president. When voters pressed him Sunday to make a White House bid, Cruz told them to “stay tuned.” “I’m looking at it very, very seriously,” he told the audience. “I would point out a week ago I was in Iowa, yesterday I was in South Carolina, and today I’m in New Hampshire.” But he truly charmed the crowd when he said that after he and his wife got their daughters a puppy recently, one of the girls gave her approval for Cruz’s presidential aspirations. “If you win, that means Snowflake will finally get a backyard to pee in,” his daughter said, according to Cruz. In terms of energy and turnout, Sunday’s event stood out from other events held by potential White House contenders who were in New Hampshire this weekend, in part because it was open to the public, unlike other events headlined by Walker and Bush. READ: Ted Cruz calls on next president to ‘repudiate’ Iran dealOrganizers were overwhelmed by the number of people who showed up to the Barrington office of Turbocam, a manufacturing company that’s open about its Christian values, to hear Cruz speak. Twenty minutes before it was scheduled to start, organizers had to move the chairs, reporters and speakers to a bigger room to accommodate the 130 to 140 people who showed up. His remarks were met with boisterous applause, and he was frequently urged to run for president by people who shook his hand before and after the event. Halfway through Cruz’s remarks, a small-business owner in the audience was called on to ask a question but instead stood up proudly next to the senator and went off into a two-minute rant about how other Republicans in Washington aren’t representing their conservative constituents. “It is D-Day in America folks,” he said, getting the crowd on their feet. “We can’t wait for another Republican. We need Ted Cruz.” The man said his wife wrote a blank check for Cruz and pulled out his wallet, only to throw it on the ground at Cruz’s feet. “For those who believe in miracles, this gentleman just threw his wallet at a politician,” Cruz said, getting a big laugh from the crowd. “And he actually got it back.” Cruz could not accept the money because he’s not yet a candidate. One man, Bill Higgins, stood outside in the snow for four hours hoping Cruz would meet his goat named Izak, an apparent fixture on the campaign trail which was wearing a hat that said “I voted” and who happened to bite Jon Huntsman in 2011. Cruz waved hello at Higgins as the senator exited the building Sunday afternoon but didn’t stop to greet the goat. “He’ll be back again,” Higgins said, trying to appear unfazed. “I’m sure he wants to get to his next stop.”


Meet Andrew Peacock – he’s an expedition doctor who travels to the Earth’s most remote locations to care for people in high-risk, high-altitude situations. But the Australian doctor doesn’t just save lives – Peacock is also a keen photographer who takes stunning snapshots of his travels. He showcases his photos on his Instagram and Facebook – depicting everything from the light hitting an Antarctic iceberg to the misty Tanzawa Mountain range in Japan. “It’s equally as important for me as the medical work I do,” Peacock tells CNN Travel. When he was a junior doctor, Peacock found the perfect way to relieve stress: rock climbing. “I really enjoyed this new kind of challenge that was much more about adventure, but still quite physical, and obviously also really mental,” Peacock tells CNN Travel. Little did Peacock realize that the thrills of climbing would change his life. “That took me away from what you might call a regular medical career,” he says. “I started exploring options for getting involved in expeditions and being able to do adventure activities at the same time as taking care of people in remote environments.” Peacock’s first experience caring for patients in extremity was in South Asia. “Initially what took me to the mountains was I volunteered to work as a doctor in India,” he explains. “I was working for the Tibetan government in exile in Dharamsala up in the north.” Shortly after, Peacock began working in Nepal for the Himalayan Rescue Association. “That gave me an entry to the world of altitude illness, looking after people in the mountains,” he says. Peacock loved this experience – it combined his passion for healing with his passion for adventure. He had the bug, and more adventures were to come. Related article The man who conquered the 'world's hardest climb' Aware that these were potentially once-in-a-lifetime opportunities, Peacock decided to document his experiences in Nepal and India by taking photographs. “I took 50 rolls of slide film with me. I’d always been interested in photography,” he says. Peacock submitted the resulting images to what was then the Lonely Planet Image Library, now owned by Getty Images. “Suddenly I had a few images that were published in their guide books, that gave me a real focus for an outlet for photography,” remembers Peacock. The doctor was delighted. “I’ve always – even when I was younger – looked up to photographers for inspiration, in terms of just the way they see the world,” he explains. “This idea that maybe I could be a part of that community was really appealing.” Related article Meet the daredevil photographer who hangs out of helicopters Now Peacock explores both photography and medical opportunities – his favorite jobs combine both. “The trips that I was taking and continue to take were very much with the idea of looking for good compositions and good light,” he says. “Trying to tell a story and producing hopefully some very interesting images for people to see.” Peacock’s Instagram and Facebook feeds are filled with beautiful photographs – peppered with interesting insights into his medical work. He’s grateful for the outlet social media has provided, but acknowledges platforms like Instagram have had both a positive and negative affect on the photography industry. “I think it has fundamentally changed the world of photography, I think most people probably agree with that. It’s made it more accessible which is awesome,” Peacock says. “But I think there are so many images out there, I think it’s just made people a bit numb to the world of photography.” To stand out, Peacock tries to innovate and stay true to his experiences. “I very much try and keep things real,” he says. “In the sense that I’m not manipulating images to produce something that didn’t really look that way to begin with. I’m also just trying to tell that story of what I experienced.” Related article 'The World in Faces': Portraits of people across the world And why would you edit or manipulate when that those stories are so spectacular? “I’ve certainly been lucky to have a number of interesting trips working as a doctor,” says Peacock. “For instance a few years ago I traveled with a group of ultra runners who were running from Istanbul in Turkey to Xi’an in China over five months.” Peacock’s sunset-tinged images of the silhouetted athletes are striking – and he says the experience was unforgettable. “They were running 70 kilometers a day and I was one of the medical people involved in that journey,” he says. “I was only there for three months but we traveled through Turkey and Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan – really, really fascinating areas of the world.” Peacock says the best thing about his job is that – because he’s working and not just touring – he can truly embrace the cultures he visits. “You have a real decent amount of time to interact with people in these interesting countries,” he says. More recently, Peacock has also branched into photography instruction. “I’ve recently been added to the staff as a photo instructor for Lindblad Expeditions, who are an adventure travel company that run a fleet of ships around the world and their expeditions often have a real photography angle to them for their guests,” he says. “I really enjoy the opportunity to expose people to photography and hopefully inspire them and do some teaching.” Related article Meet the photographer traveling the world for free Peacock’s multiple career path is becoming more popular – in large part due to social media, which allows creatives to showcase their work, even if they are working full-time in another industry. “If people have passions in other directions I’d certainly encourage ways to pursue those,” says Peacock. “Even when you’re a bit older […] It’s not impossible to do that later on in life as well.” Peacock is aware he’s lucky to have an accommodating lifestyle – his wife also loves to travel and she also has a flexible work schedule. She’s American and he’s Australian, so they split the time between the two continents. Plus, adds Peacock “in medicine – we’re lucky, mostly, to earn quite well – it means that perhaps you will have the opportunity to do lots of travel if that’s what you like.” When Peacock isn’t venturing up mountains in remote locations, he’s working a more “conventional” job in the emergency room in Australia. Ideally, he plans to continue his photography, globetrotting and healing. “It’s an awesome way to travel – and I also enjoy working in the emergency room when I work in Australia and so if I can continue to combine those two things then that’s great,” he says.


Tillerson said that Turkey had a right to protect its citizens Turkey has been battling Kurdish unrest in the southeast of the country for years US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has expressed “concern” about Turkey’s offensive against Kurdish militia in northern Syria, urging restraint but stopping short of demanding an end to the operation. On a visit to London, Tillerson said that Turkey had a right to protect its citizens but urged “restraint” on both sides. Turkey began airstrikes against the Kurdish YPG on Saturday, followed by a ground incursion into northern Syria involving Turkish special forces and factions of the rebel Free Syrian Army. The Turkish operation is targeting the Kurdish-held enclave of Afrin, to which tens of thousands of Syrians have fled from other parts of the country. The offensive has strained relations between Washington and Ankara, two NATO allies. On Monday, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan again blasted the United States for supporting what he called a “terrorist organization” on Monday. Turkey has been battling Kurdish unrest in the southeast of the country for three decades, and views the the YPG as indistinguishable. But the US and other Western powers see the Kurds in Syria as crucial allies in the battle to defeat ISIS. Pentagon spokesman Marine Maj. Adrian Rankine-Galloway told CNN on Monday that senior US defense officials are in Ankara to discuss security matters, including the situation in northern Syria. “I can confirm that senior leaders from the Department of Defense are fully engaged in working with their Turkish counterparts to de-escalate tensions along the Turkish-Syrian border and to ensure that operations to defeat ISIS continue without interruption,” said Rankine-Galloway. Gen. Joseph Votel, the commander of US Central Command, was in Syrian city of Raqqa on Monday, along with US Agency for International Development Administrator Mark Green, on a previously planned trip, according to defense and USAID spokespeople. The YPG was instrumental in evicting ISIS from Raqqa last year. The special presidential envoy to the anti-ISIS coalition, Ambassador Brett McGurk, was also in the region in recent days. His spokeswoman, Michelle Barton, told CNN that McGurk was there “as part of his regularly scheduled trips to the region to consult with senior leaders on the campaign to defeat ISIS,” and stopped in Iraq and Syria. The Turkish offensive appeared to have expanded Monday, with elements of the Free Syrian Army opening a second front from the north-east towards the city of Afrin. The FSA forces said they had captured ten Kurdish fighters. The Turkish military has reported the death of one soldier. Turkish officials say the YPG has fired rockets at several Turkish border towns, an accusation denied by Kurdish commander Siban Hamo and other YPG officials. The YPG control a large part of northern Syria – some 24% of all Syrian territory, including hundreds of kilometers along the Turkish border. Both the Obama and Trump administrations have provided the group with training and weapons as the chief US ally against ISIS in Syria. But Turkey regards the YPG as a terrorist organization closely allied to Kurdish separatists inside Turkey. Speaking in Ankara Monday, Erdogan asked the US: “Why are you fighting against ISIS with another terrorist organization? Why not carry it out with your strategic partner?” He also dismissed the appeal by the US State Department at the weekend that the offensive be limited in scope, saying: “The US in particular says it should be time limited…You went into Iraq, have you got out?” Erdogan added that the Turkish operation had been agreed with Russia, which along with Turkey and Iran is driving efforts to end the Syrian conflict. The YPG have bitterly complained about Russia withdrawing its modest presence in Afrin as Turkey prepared to attack. YPG commander Siban Hamo said Russia had shown it had “no principles” and it would one day “regret standing against the Kurdish people.” In London, Tillerson said he hoped casualties would be minimized. “We recognize and fully appreciate Turkey’s legitimate right to protect its own citizens from terrorist elements that may be launching attacks against Turkish citizens and Turkish soil from Syria,” Tillerson told journalists, alongside his UK counterpart Boris Johnson. “We’re engaged with Turkey, and we’re also engaged with the leadership of our coalition and asking both sides to show restraint.” Earlier in the day, as he traveled to London, Tillerson was asked if the conflict was amounting to a clash between two NATO allies. “I don’t think you’re going to find two NATO allies facing off at all,” Tillerson told reporters traveling with him. There is growing international concern that the Turkish offensive could ignite yet another humanitarian crisis in Syria. Afrin is already crowded with internally displaced Syrians –  up to 160,000 in November, local groups say. Tillerson expressed concern about that on the plane. “This is a tough situation where there are a lot of civilians mixed in,” the top US diplomat said. Because of those concerns, the US has asked Turkey “to just try to be precise, try to limit your operation, try to show some restraint, let us see if we can work with you to create the kind of security zone you might need,” he said. “So we’re in discussions with the Turks and some of the forces on the ground as well as to how we can stabilize this situation and meet Turkey’s legitimate concerns for their security,” Tillerson said. British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, speaking alongside Tillerson, recognized that the Kurds had been a key ally in the fight against ISIS but added: “Turkey does have a legitimate interest in protecting its own borders and own securities.” Erdogan has indicated the incursion could broaden, vowing on Saturday to “annihilate the terror corridor up to the Iraqi border.” Analysts say that could ignite a broader conflict across northern Syria, which could be exploited by jihadist groups including ISIS. ISIS fighters have recently appeared in the south of Idlib. Turkey’s NATO allies don’t want an open-ended Turkish offensive that could spur another refugee exodus or give ISIS the opportunity to regroup. But for now they are not calling on Turkey to end the operation. CNN’s Nicole Gaouette and Laura Koran contributed to this report from Washington

Turkey's offensive against Kurdish militia in northern Syria


Michael Cohen served loyally as Donald Trump’s right-hand man for more than a decade, taking care of anything and everything the New York real estate baron needed to get done. On November 8, 2016, Cohen’s stock suddenly soared: He was now the personal attorney to the President-elect of the United States, with unique understanding of a man that everyone was scrambling to get access to. Cohen quickly got to work. According to multiple people familiar with Cohen’s conduct following the election, he aggressively pitched himself to potential clients, reminding them of his proximity to the most powerful man in the world. Those efforts landed Cohen lucrative consulting deals. New reporting this week revealed that in the months following the 2016 election, Cohen received hundreds of thousands of dollars from powerful entities based in and outside of the United States. Related article Michael Cohen -- Trump's loyal fixer “I don’t know who’s been representing you, but you should fire them all. I’m the guy you should hire. I’m closest to the President. I’m his personal lawyer,” was how one GOP strategist described Cohen’s sales pitch. One company that Cohen immediately sought out was pharmaceutical giant Novartis. “He was shopping himself around,” a source familiar told CNN. Cohen would ultimately land a one-year contract with the firm by promising access to the White House on health care policy. But that deal quickly soured. According to the source, company officials had one meeting with Cohen in March 2017 and decided that he would not be able to provide the access they desired. There would be no other meetings with Cohen, but Novartis chose to pay out the entirety of Cohen’s contract anyway – $100,000 per month, for a total of $1.2 million. Money was flowing in from other companies, too. Telecommunications conglomerate AT&T publicly acknowledged this week that it hired Cohen for a simple reason: to gain “insights” into the new President and his administration. AT&T paid Cohen at least $200,000 in 2017, according to a source familiar with the matter. AT&T is seeking government approval for its acquisition of Time Warner, CNN’s parent company. Other payments to Cohen, according to a lawyer suing him, included approximately half-a-million dollars from a company linked to Viktor Vekselberg, a Russian oligarch with close ties to the Kremlin and $150,000 from Korea Aerospace Industries. Cohen and his lawyer didn’t respond to a request for comment on this story. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders wouldn’t address the Cohen payments during a briefing with reporters Wednesday. “As you know due to the complications of the different components of the investigation I would refer you to the outside counsel to address those questions,” she told reporters, later adding, “We are not engaging in matters in this process at all.” She said she hasn’t heard “specific concerns” from the President on this topic. While Cohen has not been accused of any wrongdoing, these new revelations raise serious questions about whether a man in Trump’s inner circle had engaged in influence peddling and could spell legal trouble for Cohen, who is already in hot water. He is currently under criminal investigation related to his business dealings, and federal officials raided his home, office and hotel room last month to seize thousands of pages of documents and records. Another ominous sign for Cohen: lawyers working with special counsel Robert Mueller on the investigation into possible Russian collusion in the presidential election have questioned at least one company about its contract with Cohen. “Novartis was contacted in November 2017 by lawyers from the special counsel’s office regarding the company’s agreement with Essential Consultants. Novartis cooperated fully with the special counsel’s office and provided all the information requested,” the company said. “Novartis considers this matter closed as to itself and is not aware of any outstanding questions regarding the agreement.” If the revelations about the payments to Cohen are only just coming to light, others in Trump world say they are hardly surprised. A former Trump campaign official who worked on the transition said “everybody knew” Cohen had taken on consulting work after the election. It was widespread practice among high-ranking Trump associates who did not go into the administration to provide consulting services after Trump won in November 2016, this person said, noting that Cohen was far from the only person to do so. “You don’t need access to (Trump). All you need is the perception of access to (Trump),” the former campaign official said. And Cohen wasn’t the only one who tried to capitalize on Trump’s victory. Post-election, corporate America was on the hunt for anyone who could help them make inroads with the incoming administration. “There was a lot of scrambling,” said one Republican strategist. “C suites everywhere were freaking out.” One person with ties to the campaign described being approached by a top tier tech company after the election with an offer: They would pay this person $50,000 a month to make introductions to members of Trump’s team. No lobbying necessary. Another individual with deep ties to the Washington lobbying world put it this way: “Everyone said Trump won’t win. Everyone had all of these Hillary (Clinton) consultants lined up and realized when Trump won, they had nobody.” Cohen happened to be one person who enjoyed genuine access to the President, one ex-campaign official said. During the transition, Cohen worked out of his office in Trump Tower in Manhattan, where his desk was a three-minute walk from the then-President-elect’s office on a nearby floor. Cohen and Trump spoke “multiple times a day” during the transition, this person estimated – it was during this period that the payments from major corporations first started to flow into Cohen’s Essential Consultants bank account. Trump told reporters last month that Cohen was his lawyer. Cohen has also been seen recently at the President’s private club, Mar-a-Lago. Trump has also said that he didn’t know about the $130,000 payment that Cohen made using Essential Consultants to porn star Stormy Daniels, who alleges to have had an affair with Trump years ago. The White House has said Trump denies the affairs. What’s less clear is how much Cohen discussed the nuts and bolts of policy-making with his longtime boss. One source familiar with Cohen’s relationship with Trump said the President “never talked to Cohen about substantive matters” that Cohen’s clients would be interested in. And the proximity that Cohen initially had to Trump during the transition greatly weakened after Inauguration Day, multiple people told CNN. Trump’s daughter and son-in-law, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, sought to keep Cohen away from the White House, and he was rarely seen there. One person described Cohen as having become “disenfranchised” in the early months of the Trump administration – but that he nevertheless continued to portray himself as Trump’s go-to guy. The fresh headlines this week about Cohen attempting to line his pockets after the election – and the perception that he was “harvesting money off of the President’s back” – could ultimately anger Trump, the source noted. Robert Weissman, president of public watchdog group Public Citizen, said the precise nature of the work Cohen performed for each client would determine whether he violated any ethics laws. Weissman cited the $200,000 in payments from AT&T to Cohen as an example of a transaction that would only violate laws if Cohen’s services went beyond what company representatives have said. AT&T has claimed the company only paid Cohen to gain “insights” into the President – and that there was no legal or lobbying work. “As a legal matter, if they can stick to that story – that it was just for strategic advice – that’s probably permissible,” Weissman told CNN. Meanwhile, the $400,000 that Cohen received from Novartis in installments from October 2017 to January 2018 preceded a dinner Trump reportedly had with a Novartis executive in Davos, Switzerland. Weissman suggested the timing of the dinner could raise red flags. “This agreement was also in no way related to the group dinner Dr. Narasimhan had at the World Economic Forum in Davos with President Trump and 15 Europe based industry leaders,” Novartis said in a statement. “Suggestions to the contrary clearly misrepresent the facts and can only be intended to further personal or political agendas as to which Novartis should not be a part.” Novartis has several prominent drugs pending approval from the Food and Drug Administration. Last year, the company secured some high-profile approvals from the FDA. While the drugmaker paid Cohen, it also spent millions of dollars to lobby lawmakers about more than a dozen pieces of legislation, including the Republican tax cut plan, according to federal disclosures. What’s more, Cohen would need to register as a foreign agent if he provided any public policy representation to overseas companies, Weissman added. Cohen accepted $150,000 from Korea Aerospace Industries, a South Korean company, in November 2017. In partnership with US defense giant Lockheed Martin, the company is currently vying for a lucrative contract with the United States Air Force, which plans to buy approximately 350 new training jets. The Air Force is considering buying the T-50 Golden Eagle, which is developed by Korean Aerospace Industries. A decision is reportedly expected this spring. The company told CNN that it retained Cohen to receive “short term legal advice.” “Korea Aerospace Industries, LTD. received legal advice on the Cost Accounting Standards regulation from Essential Consultants, LLC through a contracted deal,” a spokesperson said. “The payment was all legal based on the contract. KAI is doing its best to comply with accounting regulations that are up to global standards.” The spokesperson clarified that the company did not have direct contact with Cohen at the time, and that the “deal was done by someone else.” It was not immediately clear who this “someone else” was.


The Trump administration’s order banning passengers from major airports in the Middle East and North Africa from flying with electronic devices on board is not even a day old and its impact is already being felt. Through WhatsApp and iMessage, CNN asked travelers who would be coming in from the 10 airports covered by the ban how they’d be affected. This is what they said: Marissa and Adam Goldstein are from Boston but live in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. They’ll be flying with their twin daughters, Eyva and Noa. “We’ll be flying Emirates on Monday through Dubai with our twin 16-month-old daughters. This will be hard as I was going to have them use our iPad to keep them occupied. Also, we use our laptops for work on these long flights!” Others said the same thing: “I’m flying with TWO toddlers on a 7-hour flight through Morocco from Italy and now they can have no iPad? No Kindle to read? I mean this is ridiculous,” one wrote. Syed Hussain lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. He travels regularly to the United Arab Emirates and said he normally works 10 hours of the 16-hour flight. “[This] sends a very negative message to people like me who want to explore business opportunities between North America and Middle East,” he said. Another person wrote: “Will the US government pay for the day of work I will lose when I fly? Don’t think so!!!” People have entrusted Matthew Schweitzer with their lives; he takes that responsibility very seriously.  On his laptop, the American researcher for the Education for Peace in Iraq Center has days of interviews and testimony from Iraqis living under and fighting ISIS. Lives are in Matthew's hands. #electronicsban puts sensitive interviews with #ISIS survivors at risk for theft/leaking. pic.twitter.com/Xctdc78jr8 “These interviews, if leaked, could put those (people) in grave danger for reprisals and exploitation,” he said.  “I cannot risk these data being stolen or falling into the wrong hands.” It’s common policy for businesses to require employees with confidential or sensitive information on their electronics to keep the devices with them at all times. “My company’s policy requires that we take company laptops as carry-ons to prevent theft,” said Morgan, who works in the oil and gas industry.  CNN is not using her full name because she is not authorized by her employer to speak to the media. Morgan affected by #electronicsban works in oil and gas industry. She can't check work laptop on her flight--it has sensitive info. pic.twitter.com/ETra2XdXD2 Her company’s travel policy says employees must take the cheapest and most direct route; it’s unclear if the electronics ban will change that. In an industry in which success is tied to volatile oil prices, increased travel expenses could reverberate through a company’s bottom line. Tugbek Olek, a Turkish entrepreneur, attends the E3 Expo in Los Angeles every June and brings a lot of electronics. He said he doubts he’ll go this year if the ban remains in place. “We’re not going to check in 20K worth of electronics,” he said. Warren, an employee at a New York-based travel agency, said his high-end clients are very upset.  CNN is not using Warren’s full name because he was not authorized by his company to speak with the media. Warren says #electronicsban has his high end clients afraid--of theft.  They don't trust checked baggage to ensure their property is safe. pic.twitter.com/2T2206iAze “One concern is they are not going to be able to work,” he said by phone. The biggest concern Warren’s clients have – as do many others reaching out to CNN – is that their items may be lost, stolen or damaged in their checked baggage. James Buck, a professional photographer currently in Beirut, planned to board his flight home to Vermont with his camera equipment: He values it at half his year’s salary. I spoke with James Buck re: #electronicsban.  He scrambled today to find a "hard case" for his camera.  This is all he could find. pic.twitter.com/iTh1wqZ2LF Buck has only a soft case for the equipment. Checking it means he needs a hard case to try to protect it during baggage handling.  Despite his best efforts, Buck could not find a hard case and had to settle for a Tupperware box. In a couple of weeks, Nayef’s 8-year-old sister – who has autism – will now have to board a flight without her laptop, DVDs and video games. Nayef, who asked that his last name not be shared, said the electronics help “keep her emotional problems relatively at bay.” Nayef's autistic sister uses her laptop, DVDs, video games to calm herself. #electronicsban could mean she can't rely on them during flight. pic.twitter.com/b815nZgbJE The  ban includes exemptions for medical devices, but it’s unclear if Nayef’s sister’s electronics could be considered medical. Dozens of travelers have contacted us asking if they are going to be affected. “I have a connecting flight through Dubai, will I be affected?” “I’m a US citizen. Does this apply to me?” “I never check in luggage, am I going to have to check in a bag just for my laptop? For some answers, check out our story on what you need to know. WhatsApp/iMessage @CNN on how airlines electronics ban could affect you. Here are the Goldsteins from Boston.Message us +1-347-322-0415 pic.twitter.com/YmVPI8bLGC Share your story: WhatsApp or iMessage us at +1-347-322-0415

Trump administration’s electronics ban on flights from Middle East and North Africa airports


Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in 2013. Kai Wiedenhöfer photographed the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. He says he was deeply moved by the historic event, calling it the most positive political experience of his life. It left him, and many others, optimistic about the future. He thought he had seen the end of walls like the one that divided his hometown for 28 years. “This idea that we had – that we would have a free world – that proved to be wrong,” he said. “We had a big renaissance of walls.” From 2003 to 2006, Wiedenhöfer documented the construction of the controversial barrier between Israel and the West Bank. Then he expanded his focus to photograph other boundaries set up in response to global conflicts. Preferring to travel without a security escort, it was important for him to plan ahead and work quickly. He tried to spend less than 20 minutes taking pictures each time he went out. “You cannot stay long in places,” Wiedenhöfer said, noting that there wasn’t usually much activity along the walls. “Before people who can do me any harm get there, I’m gone.” When he visited Northern Ireland in 2008, he thought the so-called “peace lines” dividing Catholic and Protestant neighborhoods might start to come down. Instead new walls were constructed and old ones were reinforced. Social mediaFollow @CNNPhotos on Twitter to join the conversation about photography. Over the last seven years, Wiedenhöfer has also been to the fence along the U.S.-Mexico border, the demilitarized zone separating North and South Korea, and a wall in Baghdad built by the U.S. Army. In all, he made 21 trips to eight different walls. The resulting photographs will soon be published as a series of diptychs in his latest book, “Confrontier.” While acknowledging the unique circumstances of each wall, Wiedenhöfer said he paired images together to emphasize their similarities. Beyond the book, he had more ambitious plans. His long-term goal was realized last week when he launched an exhibit of his panoramic images on the longest surviving stretch of the Berlin Wall. Each picture is displayed at 3-meters tall by 9-meters wide, or roughly 10 by 30 feet. Wiedenhöfer negotiated with the city for five years to get the necessary permits and raised money on the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter to cover the expenses. “Walls are no solution for today’s major political problems, and I think the Berlin Wall is the best proof of that,” he said at the “Wall on Wall” opening. These days it’s hard for him to imagine a world without walls. But he wants to remind people what Berlin demonstrators chanted in 1989: “Die Mauer muss weg – the wall has to go.” Kai Wiedenhöfer is a German photographer based in Berlin.


Maj. Gen. Paween Pongsirin led a team of 80 investigators on the case After turning over his evidence, he says he was reassigned to a remote region of Thailand He quit and is now seeking asylum in Australia The investigator at the heart of Thailand’s probe into the human trafficking crisis that gripped several Southeast Asian nations earlier this year has claimed asylum in Australia, alleging that death threats had prompted him to flee. Maj. Gen. Paween Pongsirin told CNN by phone from Melbourne, Australia, that members of Thailand’s political and business elite – including one general in the country’s armed forces – had called him to ask that he stop the investigation. He said he wasn’t able to say how many death threats he had received. Paween was appointed to be chief investigator of a suspected Rohingya trafficking network after at least 30 graves, believed to contain the bodies of trafficked Rohingya, were discovered in May in the southern part of Thailand. The Rohingya, a long-oppressed linguistic and ethnic minority in Myanmar, began to flee the country after clashes with the Rakhine state’s Buddhist community in 2012. The United Nations estimates more than 100,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar since the ethnic and sectarian violence erupted. Some said they were forced to leave by men who threatened to beat them. Those who had the means to leave did so by perilous sea journey. They were taken out on small boats to cargo ships by smugglers, mostly bound for Malaysia. However, once on the open water, many neighboring countries refused to take them in. READ MORE: Lost at sea, unwanted: The plight of Myanmar’s Rohingya ‘boat people’ At the peak of the investigation into the suspected Rohingya trafficking network, Paween led about 80 police investigators on the case. However, after handing evidence to the public prosecutor, he was reassigned to a remote southern region of Thailand. Police maintain they thought his investigative skills could be put to better use in the region, but Paween quit the force soon after the reassignment, in November. The trial for 88 suspected human traffickers, including government figures, civilians, police and military officers – among them, Lt. Gen. Manas Kongpan, a special adviser to the Royal Thai Army – will begin next March. Manas, the highest-ranking official to be implicated, has denied the charges in media reports and vowed to fight them. Brad Adams, the executive director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia division, said earlier this year that Rohingya refugees described in interviews “how they flee persecution in (Myanmar) only to fall into the hands of traffickers and extortionists, in many cases witnessing deaths and suffering abuse and hunger. “Interviews with officials and others make clear that these brutal networks, with the complicity of government officials in Burma, Bangladesh, Thailand, and Malaysia, profit from the desperation and misery of some of the world’s most persecuted and neglected people,” Adams added. Paween said there were many institutional efforts to block his investigation. On one occasion, he said, he requested the financial transactions of suspects including Manas, but his superior, whose name he was unwilling to divulge to CNN, blocked his request. In an interview with CNN, police spokesman Gen. Sutticharnbancha said there was no effort to block Paween’s investigation. Paween arrived in Australia several days ago on a tourist visa via Singapore, and said he planned to seek asylum. Before that, he’d been preparing for the trial with prosecutors and defense lawyers when his supervisor told him to “resign and stay silent.” That triggered his flight to Australia. Sutticharnbancha denied Paween’s assertion that he was told to resign. “As far as I know, (Paween) has resigned from the Royal Thai Police, so he has the right to go anywhere or do anything. I have just learned about his application for asylum in Australia from news. So (I) don’t have comments on that.” Paween was known as “a no-nonsense straight shooter, really an honest and experienced investigator – so many people were pleased when he was appointed to head the investigation of the trafficking of the Rohingya boat people because it seemed to indicate that Thailand was determined to ensure accountability for these serious crimes,” Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia division, told CNN via email. “Successfully resolving this situation is a major test case for Thailand’s commitment to fulfill its promises to eradicate human trafficking. If Paween fears for his life, imagine how the Rohingya witnesses to these crimes are feeling today – so quite clearly their safety also needs to be a top priority.” Paween said he hadn’t planned his escape before leaving Bangkok and as a result finds himself in Australia with little money and facing a lengthy asylum application process. A spokesperson for Australia’s Department of Immigration and Border Protection declined to comment on individual cases due to privacy reasons. “All claims for protection are assessed on their individual merits in accordance with Australia’s domestic legislation and obligations under international treaties and the Refugees Convention,” the spokesperson said. READ MORE: Lost at sea, unwanted: The plight of Myanmar’s Rohingya ‘boat people’


Congressional investigators are examining whether Attorney General Jeff Sessions had an additional private meeting with Russia’s ambassador during the presidential campaign, according to Republican and Democratic Hill sources and intelligence officials briefed on the investigation. Investigators on the Hill are requesting additional information, including schedules from Sessions, a source with knowledge tells CNN. They are focusing on whether such a meeting took place April 27, 2016, at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC, where then-candidate Donald Trump was delivering his first major foreign policy address. Prior to the speech, then-Sen. Sessions and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak attended a small VIP reception with organizers, diplomats and others. Related article House Russia investigators subpoena Flynn, Cohen In addition to congressional investigators, the FBI is seeking to determine the extent of interactions the Trump campaign team may have had with Russia’s ambassador during the event as part of its broader counterintelligence investigation of Russian interference in the election. The FBI is looking into whether there was an additional private meeting at the Mayflower the same day, sources said. Neither Hill nor FBI investigators have yet concluded whether a private meeting took place – and acknowledge that it is possible any additional meeting was incidental. Sources: Congress investigating another Sessions meetingComey to testify on Trump confrontationsHouse Russia investigators issue subpoenasRussia investigation: What to know Sources: Congress investigating another Sessions meetingComey to testify on Trump confrontationsHouse Russia investigators issue subpoenasRussia investigation: What to know “The Department of Justice appointed special counsel to assume responsibility for this matter,” Department of Justice spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores said in a statement to CNN. “We will allow him to do his job. It is unfortunate that anonymous sources whose credibility will never face public scrutiny are continuously trying to hinder that process by peddling false stories to the mainstream media. The facts haven’t changed; the then-Senator did not have any private or side conversations with any Russian officials at the Mayflower Hotel.” Sessions has previously failed to disclose meetings with Russian officials. During his confirmation hearing on January 10, Sessions testified that he “did not have any communications with the Russians” during the campaign. He also said in a written statement submitted to the Senate judiciary committee that he was not in contact with anyone linked to the Russian government during the election. Those answers became problematic for Sessions when reports emerged in March that he did have two meetings with Kislyak during the campaign – one at the Republican National Convention in July and one in his Senate office in September. Sessions conceded that the meetings happened but insisted they were part of his Senate duties and had nothing to do with the campaign. Nonetheless, Sessions was forced to recuse himself from the Russia investigation. Related article The Russia investigation: Everything you need to know Asked at a news conference on March 2 whether there were any other meetings with Russians besides those two, Sessions told reporters, “I don’t believe so – you know, we meet a lot of people – I don’t believe so.” Later that week, when Sessions updated his sworn testimony to the Senate judiciary committee, he acknowledged the two meetings with Kislyak but did not mention any encounter at the Mayflower Hotel. “I do not recall any discussions with the Russian ambassador, or any other representative of the Russian government, regarding the political campaign on these occasions or any other occasion,” Sessions wrote. CNN reported last week that Sessions didn’t list the two Kislyak meetings that he disclosed in March on the security forms he submitted this year. Flores said the FBI employee who helped Sessions fill out the forms instructed him to exclude foreign meetings that he considered to be part of his official Senate duties. Related article First on CNN: AG Sessions did not disclose Russia meetings in security clearance form, DOJ says Russia was already trying to help Trump before the Mayflower Hotel speech, according to a US intelligence community assessment released in January. The report concluded that by March 2016, Kremlin-backed news outlets began supporting Trump and Russian military intelligence had kicked off its election-related cyber operations. One day before the speech, Trump won commanding primary victories in five Northeast states, cementing his front-runner status and putting him on a track to secure the bitterly contested Republican nomination. In the speech, Trump stressed his “America first” message and talked about the fight against terrorism. He offered an olive branch to the Kremlin in line with his comments throughout the campaign – but out of step with much of the US foreign policy establishment and all of his fellow presidential hopefuls. “We desire to live peacefully and in friendship with Russia and China,” Trump said in his remarks. “We have serious differences with these two nations, and must regard them with open eyes. But we are not bound to be adversaries. We should seek common ground based on shared interests. Russia, for instance, has also seen the horror of Islamic terrorism. I believe an easing of tensions and improved relations with Russia – from a position of strength – is possible.” Kislyak listened to the speech from the front row. CNN’s Dan Merica contributed to this story.


The Supreme Court on Wednesday took up a question it has struggled with but never resolved: Can corporations be sued in US courts for human rights abuses that occurred abroad? The case pits human rights groups and victims of terrorism against multinational corporations that argue they should not be sued in US courts, especially because the allegations lack the necessary nexus to the United States. Related article Supreme Court dismisses one of two travel ban cases In court, the justices seemed closely divided on the issue with the conservatives peppering a lawyer for victims of terrorism with questions suggesting the justices did not think such suits should be allowed to go forward. The court dodged the corporate liability question back in 2013, but are now taking  up a case brought by some 6,000 foreign citizens who were victims of terrorist attacks and seek to sue the Arab Bank, the largest bank in Jordan. Chief Justice John Roberts worried about the international implications or “foreign entanglements” of allowing such suits to go forward. “Where else in the world would this type of action be brought against a corporation or almost really against anyone?” he asked. Justice Samuel Alito had a similar concern about the impact on foreign policy. “Should we, in effect, balance the international repercussions of deciding this issue one way or the other?” he asked. Justice Anthony Kennedy was more difficult to read, but at one point he expressed concern that if the court were to rule in favor of the victims it would be imposing new norms on corporations when there may not be an international consensus on the issue. Lawyers for the victims alleged the bank “knowingly and willingly” used its New York branch to transfer millions of US dollars that were used to finance terrorist attacks. The attacks occurred between 1995 and 2005 in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza. The victims do not claim the bank was involved in the planning of the attacks, only the processing of financial transactions. At the center of the case is the scope of the Alien Tort Statute, a 1789 law passed during the First Congress. It says that “the district courts shall have original jurisdiction of any civil action by an alien for a tort only, committed in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the United States.” Related article No cameras, please: How the Supreme Court shuns the spotlight The law was passed to address certain violations, including piracy and the infringements on the rights of ambassadors. It lay mostly dormant for years until human rights groups turned to it in the 1980s and began work to broaden its scope. The victims seek to invoke the law and hold the Arab Bank accountable for providing “a range of financial services to terrorists and terrorist front groups posing as charities” and for allegedly funneling dollars through the New York branch to compensate the terrorists’ family for the attacks. “While some of these clients had not yet been placed on terrorist watch lists when they opened their accounts, the Bank has admitted that it processed 282 fund transfers – a total amount of $2,563,275 – for individuals that (the) United States had designated at the time of the transfers as terrorist(s),” Jeffrey Fisher, a lawyer for the victims, wrote in court papers. “When corporate activity violates the law of nations, imposing liability directly upon the corporation serves those objectives,” Fisher said. But lawyers for the bank argue that the plaintiffs in the case have “no direct connection” to the United States. “The defendant is a foreign bank, a cornerstone of the Jordanian economy that the United States government has labeled a constructive partner in fighting terrorist financing,” Paul Clement, a lawyer for the bank, argued in briefs. Related video Listen to SCOTUS take up gerrymandering Instead of suing in courts in Israel, Clement argued, the victims sued “only a single foreign corporation, seeking to recover 100% of their injuries plus punitive damages from respondents alone.” He says that the bank is “deeply committed to fighting to secure terrorism” and that the litigation has already “generated diplomatic friction” between the United States and Jordan. “The notion that a 1789 jurisdictional statute authorizes this extraordinary effort to recover from a foreign bank for foreign injuries allegedly traceable to foreign transactions that were heavily regulated by multiple countries – an effort that has caused substantial diplomatic tension – beggars all belief,” Clement wrote. “With just four exceptions involving computer or human error (out of approximately 500,000 transactions the branch processed annually) none of the identified transactions involved designated terrorists” he said. The Justice Department has filed a brief in the case in support of neither party. It argues that the Supreme Court should vacate the decision below that went in favor of the bank, because it rested on the “mistaken premise that a federal common-law claim” under the Alien Tort Statute can never be brought against a corporation. But government lawyers believe the lower court should take another look at the question of whether the claims in the case at hand present “a sufficient connection to the United States.” If the court follows the administration’s advice, it may decide it does not have the case to rule definitively on corporate liability. The DOJ argues that the “only domestic connection” in the case is the alleged routing of foreign transactions through the New York bank, and that circumstance alone is not sufficient to trigger scrutiny under the 1789 law. And the government notes that the “unwarranted continuation” of the case could be detrimental to foreign policy concerns and diplomatic relations. “Jordan regularly conducts air missions over Iraq and Syria, cooperates with measures to thwart the financing of terrorist activities, and plays a critical role in international efforts to stem the flow of foreign terrorist fighters,” the DOJ argued.


Srinivas Kuchibhotla, shot to death last month in a Kansas bar, shared a dream with many other Indians I know. His widow described it on Facebook a few days after his killing: “We built our dream home, which he painted, and installed the garage door,” wrote Sunayana Dumala. “Doing any kind of work on his home gave him immense joy. This was the home that he had built … for us and any kids we would have. (It was) our first step to starting our family. “It’s so unfortunate that this dream of ours is now shattered.” My heart broke when I read her words. That was the American dream she was talking about. The ideal that everyone in this country has an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity. Many Indians hail from humble beginnings in their homeland and live by one decree: Work hard because in America, you can be what you want to be. My own family shared the dream and when I graduated from college, my father told me to think big. He knew what I had not fully realized yet; that as an Indian woman, the doors to achievement were wider in this country than in my homeland – and  perhaps anywhere else. Related video Shooting survivor: Man came back with gun Related video Shooting of Indian tech worker stuns India But now, under attack because of their identity, Indians see the dream fading. Kuchibhotla was a young engineer from Hyderabad and came to the United States for a good job. He was having a beer with a friend near his home in Olathe when the shooter approached him, told him to “Get out of my country” and gunned him down. A few days later, another Indian man, Deep Rai, was shot outside his home in Kent, Washington. His attacker yelled: “Go back to your country.” Rai is expected to recover. The FBI is investigating both incidents as hate crimes. The South Asian or “desi” diaspora reacted with obvious horror. What’s been called a  “wave of anti-Indian sentiment” has dominated the news in India and added to fear that was already simmering after the 2016 election and rhetoric against immigrants. “I can tell you a majority of Indian parents … want their children back in India,” said Mithra Amaran, who also lives in Olathe. Amaran has spent 35 years in the United States. She told me she fears for the lives of her sons, both born and raised in this country. Her younger son works in Mexico, and Amaran feels he is safer in Guadalajara than in Kansas. “They are young brown people and I worry about them constantly,” she said. When I went home to Kolkata last December, I heard friends and family talk about how happy they were to have returned home. Or relieved that a son or daughter had chosen a college in Europe or the Middle East, instead of America. Author Sandip Roy, also a native Kolkatan, wrote recently in The New York Times that Indians no longer hold the aspiration of finding success in America. One reason is that India has experienced tremendous economic growth and opened up to the world. But another is a diminished image of the United States. Roy mentioned a friend’s cousin’s wedding that was called off because the bride did not want to move with the groom to America. A while ago, I might have read that with utter incredulity. In my youth, a man settled in America was a prized catch. Very little else mattered for my girlfriends. Life would be set if they could find a husband like that. I hadn’t before heard Indians voice these distressing concerns. Dumala, in the same Facebook post, said it this way: “Do we belong?” she asked. “Is this the same country we dreamed of and is it still secure to raise our families and children here?” Sikhs still victims of anti-Muslim hate crimes Dumala’s words gave me pause for thought. I hope her question serves as a much-needed wake-up call for a community that has not always been totally honest in looking inward. For too long, Indian-Americans have subscribed to the notion of the “model minority” immune from racism. As successful entrepreneurs, doctors, lawyers, professors and techies, they live in comfortable middle-class white neighborhoods and focus on getting their kids into Harvard and Yale. Even though the government used to categorize us as “other,” not all Indians saw themselves as such. This, despite the long history of racism and xenophobia in this country that sometimes targeted Indians. “It’s a huge problem,” said journalist and educator Rajul Punjabi, 32. “It’s something that’s not talked about at all. Now for the first time Indians are thinking about race and what black people went through in this country.” Socioeconomic status, Punjabi told me, can brainwash someone to thinking their skin color does not matter. Another journalist, Jennifer Chowdhury, 33, told me she has wondered her whole life why Indians identify with white people. Chowdhury was born to undocumented Bangladeshi parents who worked as waiters and housekeepers in New York and were not part of the “model minority” world. If South Asians spoke to each other across class lines, she believes, “none of this would be such a shock.” Marketing professor and blogger Gaurav Sabnis, 36, added that Indians may be guilty themselves of a bit of xenophobia. “We don’t like it when we are confused with Arabs or people from Muslim countries,” he told me. “We do consider ourselves quasi white.” A lost history of immigration This is certainly not the first wave of anti-Indian sentiment in America. Indians began arriving on these shores, primarily in California, in the 19th century, according to the Migration Policy Institute. Back then Indians were second-class citizens in their own British-occupied country. Most who set sail for America were uneducated and unskilled and found jobs working crops and farms. Vaishno Das Bagai was one of them, though he was different from his counterparts. He arrived in San Francisco in 1915 with his wife and three young sons, one of the first Indians to emigrate with his family. He came because he said he wanted to be free of slavery. He ran a general store, dressed dapperly in American suits and was naturalized in 1921. But in 1923, the Supreme Court ruled Indians were not white and therefore ineligible for citizenship under the law. Bagai had already renounced his British citizenship; reapplying would mean certain arrest because of his activism for independence. Bagai became a persona non grata and was subjected to alien laws that, among other things, barred him from owning property. He was forced to sell both his business and his home. The final insult came when, without a passport, he could not visit India. Disappointed and humiliated at age 37, Bagai gassed himself to death in a San Jose hotel room. By then, the Immigration Acts of 1917 and 1924 had effectively banned Asians from entering the United States and virtually ended Indian migration. It wasn’t until President Harry Truman signed the Luce-Celler bill as part of the Immigration Act of 1946 that Indians could again gain citizenship, own property and vote. The act also established a quota: 100 Indians would be allowed into America every year. Two decades later, the 1965 Immigration Act opened the way for Indians, including my parents, to settle in America. The act removed country-specific criteria on immigration and put all prospective newcomers on equal footing for access to the United States. In 1960, only 12,000 Indian immigrants lived in this country. Today, that number has grown to more than 2.4 million. And that’s not counting people who arrive with temporary work visas; it’s estimated that 70% of the 85,000 H1B visas handed out annually to highly skilled workers go to Indians. Nationality, identity and the Pledge of Allegiance The shootings in Kansas and Washington are dark clouds looming over the dream at the moment.  Kuchibhotla’s life was ended by a man who allegedly did not want him here. His widow said that as difficult as it would be for her, she would return to Kansas after the funeral to fulfill her husband’s dream. I hope her actions will help other Indians to be less fearful. This week, I thought a lot about the Indians who were pioneering immigrants. Vaishno Das Bagai ended his life because he felt he failed at realizing his American dream. He didn’t live to see a place where Indians had finally achieved a status other than “other.” I thought, too, about what we can do to protect the American dream. I sought an answer from Bagai’s granddaughter. Rani Cardona is 61 and identifies as a half-Indian girl (her father married a white woman) who was raised in a Jewish neighborhood in Los Angeles and who married a fourth-generation Latino from Watts but lived in Koreatown. “America stood for something once. And we should still stand for it,” she told me. “This is the one damn place in the world where we take a stand and say: We all count equally.” She laughed at the idea of the Supreme Court deciding only white people could be citizens, thinking how much America has progressed since the days when black people had no rights and brown people had few. “I thought how far we’ve come from being afraid of ‘Hindoos’ and putting Japanese in internment camps,” Cardona said. “Our different backgrounds and points of view are indeed our assets. Those who seek a life of exclusion, fear differences, or insist on seeing life through a conventional lens of frozen tradition are missing out.” Her words resonated. To me, she personifies the immigrant dream. I felt sure her grandfather would be proud.


Heavy rain and snow in southern Spain have destroyed vegetable crops Consumers across Europe are facing rising prices and rationing Cold, wet weather in southern Spain has devastated supplies of iceberg lettuces to consumers across Europe. Other vegetables, including broccoli, artichokes and aubergines, also known as eggplants, have been hit. Many European countries rely on the Spanish regions of Murcia, Almeria and Valencia for the supply of these and other vegetables during the winter months. A shortage of zucchini, also called courgettes, caused by the same spell of bad weather recently prompted consumers to take to social media using the hashtag #courgettecrisis. “Southern Spain is the bread basket for Europe in the winter,” Anthony Gardiner of G’s, a major supplier of fresh produce to supermarkets across Europe, told CNN. “It has its own micro-climate. It’s warm and dry, almost desert-like.” Related article Conditions worsen for Europe's refugees as temperatures plummet But this winter has been different. “We’ve seen horrific weather on our farms in the Murcia region,” Gardiner said. “Over four days just before Christmas, the region had the same amount of rainfall that London gets in six months. It was an absolute deluge, and a lot of crops were washed away.” A cold snap pushing across southern Europe over the New Year period compounded the problems. “We saw snow on the beaches in Murcia,” Gardiner said. “In those conditions, the produce effectively stops growing. We’re now seeing that starting to hit the shelves.” Fernando Gomez, general manager of Proexport, an association of more than 50 producers and exporters of fruits and vegetables in Murcia, told CNN that supply of lettuces from the region had fallen by 40% due to the bad weather. Supplies of artichokes and broccoli are down by 20% to 30%. Vegetables grown in greenhouses including tomatoes and cucumbers are also affected. Produce that has survived the heavy rains and freezing temperatures is now growing slower due to unusually high humidity levels, Gomez explained. “We are replanting now, but the produce will take longer than normal to mature – 70 to 80 days – if the weather doesn’t change.” According to Gomez, other European countries make up 90% of the market for the region’s vegetables. More than half of those exports go to the UK and Germany alone, while France and the Netherlands also rely heavily on Spanish vegetables. Some UK supermarkets are restricting the number of lettuces each customer can buy, and prices have also risen sharply. German consumers are now paying €2 (about $2.15) for a head of lettuce, according to Gardiner, up from 75 cents in mid-December. “We’re shipping over Californian lettuces to try to meet the demand,” Gardiner said. “But this means we’re creating extra demand in that market, which is also pushing prices up. It’s a very challenging situation.” Related article Why 1,000-year-old olive oil is Spain's freshest new flavor It is not only consumers who are feeling the effects. “People in Murcia have been badly affected by the weather,” Gardiner said. “Some farmers have been washed out of their houses by the floods.” And with lettuce as Spain’s biggest vegetable export, there could be broader economic consequences, too. Gardiner predicts that supply will only return to normal in April or May, when produce grown in Britain and other European countries becomes available. Gomez is more hopeful. “We’re already seeing the prices of some affected products falling, such as cucumbers,” he said. “I hope supply will be back to normal by the end of March.” “There are very good reasons to grow these crops here,” Gomez said. “We’ve got the sun, the expertise and a history of being able to produce the kind of crops that can’t be grown elsewhere in Europe at this time of year. That’s not going to change.”


The tweets were linked to a far-right, ultra-nationalist political group Trump sparked criticism from Britain's highest officials Wednesday President Donald Trump’s decision to retweet anti-Muslim content from a leader of a far-right British political group elevated the conversation, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Thursday, admitting that Trump likely didn’t know the content came from an ultra-nationalist political group. “What he’s done is elevate the conversation to talk about a real issue and a real threat,” she said. Trump had sparked criticism from Britain’s highest officials Wednesday when he retweeted three anti-Muslim messages from Jayda Fransen, the deputy leader of the group, Britain First. Trump’s support for the messages, which contained videos depicting purported Muslims assaulting people and smashing a statue of the Virgin Mary, drew condemnation from England, including from Prime Minister Theresa May. “I don’t believe so,” Sanders said when asked if Trump knew who Fransen was. Related article State Dept. warned White House about possible increased threats after anti-Muslim tweets But, as she had done on Wednesday, Sanders then defended the retweets, saying they were an attempt by Trump to get a conversation started on security and immigration. “I believe he knew what the issues are,” she said. “And that is that we have a real threat of extreme violence and terrorism, not just in this country but across the globe, particularly in Europe, and that was the point he was making.” Sanders had made a similar case on Wednesday, downplaying questions about whether the videos were authentic because “the threat is real.” “That is what the President is talking about, that is what the President is focused on, is dealing with those real threats, and those are real no matter how you look at it,” she had said. Fransen heralded Trump’s backing. “GOD BLESS YOU TRUMP!” she wrote in all caps on Wednesday after the President’s retweets.


Anti-Trump petition and protests in the UK leave the Queen in the midst of a political firestorm Only Theresa May can withdraw the invitation but she is resisting pressure to do so The anti-Trump protests outside Downing Street were lively and vocal. The chants ranged from the expletive-ridden to the direct: “No State Visit!” was a popular one. The demonstration was part of a fierce backlash in the UK to the announcement last week by Prime Minister Theresa May that US President Donald Trump had accepted an invitation conveyed from the Queen for a state visit later this year. The number of signatories on a petition calling for Trump’s state visit to be cancelled has soared past 1.7 million – and the issue will now be debated in Parliament. Among those to have signed it are Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the opposition Labour party,  and Ruth Davidson, the leader of May’s Conservative party in Scotland. Anger has intensified over Trump’s decision to impose a 90-day ban on travellers from seven Muslim-majority nations and to restrict refugee arrivals – enacted in an executive order signed hours after May left the White House. All this has left the Queen at the centre of a political firestorm – not a comfortable place for a constitutional monarch. In a letter to Tuesday’s Times newspaper, the respected former head of the Foreign Office, Peter Ricketts, said May had put The Queen in a “very difficult position” and should protect her by downgrading Trump’s invitation to an “official visit”. Such a trip would be shorn of the ceremonial hoop-la that The President is currently expecting, involving only talks with the Prime Minister and a low-profile courtesy call on the monarch. Related article Donald Trump UK state visit to be debated in Parliament May is in a precarious position. If she bows to pressure and downgrades the trip she risks more than losing face: it could cost her a crucial trade deal she’s been working on with President Trump. It could also test relations with Buckingham Palace: Ricketts noted in his letter to the Times that the government’s role in protecting the monarch from political controversy was being “put under strain because of the ill-urged advice to the Queen to rush out an invitation to President Trump”. As Ricketts’ letter made clear, the Queen doesn’t actually have a say on who is invited on a state visit to Britain. Instead, she acts on the advice of the Foreign Office in consultation with Downing Street. May has the ultimate sign-off and only she can alter or withdraw the invitation. So far the Prime Minister is resolute: the invitation stands, she said at a press conference with the Irish prime minister on Monday evening. State visits are a powerful diplomatic tool for British governments and they are used unashamedly. Who can resist a sleepover and state banquet at Buckingham Palace, hosted by the Queen, with the pomp and pageantry of a horse-drawn carriage procession thrown in? If anyone can out-bling Donald Trump, it’s Elizabeth Windsor – and we already know Trump’s mother was a fan. Related article Theresa May: Donald Trump to make state visit to UK Whether The Queen is a fan of the President is a different matter and, not to put too fine a point on it, irrelevant. Her role is to stay above politics and over the decades she has hosted all sorts of controversial figures from Nicolae Ceaucescu of Romania to Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe. Never have we heard a public utterance of her personal feelings about any of her official guests – she’s a stickler for protocol. The government has its own reasons for wanting to improve relations with the guests, and whether or not the Queen relishes the idea of hosting President Trump, she will oblige, as is her duty. We don’t know how Trump would react to a downgraded invitation but he’s unlikely to welcome it and at worst it could be taken as an insult and cause a diplomatic rift. The Queen no doubt eagerly awaits the guidance from her ministers.


Turkish President makes Nazi jab after Germany cancels rallies in support of him German Chancellor condemns his comments as "not justifiable" German Chancellor Angela Merkel has condemned “unjustifiable” comments by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan about Nazism in the midst of a growing diplomatic spat between the countries. Erdogan lashed out over the weekend after rallies in the German city of Cologne and the town of Gaggenau in support of his government were canceled due to concerns about overcrowding. In a video on the website of Anadolu, the Turkish state news agency, Erdogan said: “I thought that Nazism was over in Germany, but it turns out that it is still going on. It is still going on, it is clear.” The President added:  “My brothers; now they think that Tayyip Erdogan will come to Germany. I will come tomorrow if I want to. I will come and when they won’t let me enter or don’t let me talk, I will set the whole world in an uproar.” On Monday, Merkel hit back, accusing Erdogan of minimizing the atrocities committed by Hitler’s regime. “One cannot even comment on such utterances, they are not justifiable,” she said, speaking at a business forum in Berlin. “Comparisons with Nazis always just lead to one thing – to belittle those crimes.” Earlier, Steffen Seibert, Merkel’s spokesman, called for “cool heads to prevail,” describing the situation as “a deep-seated disagreement which makes us very concerned.” “We reject the policy identification of the democratic Germany with that of National Socialism. National Socialist comparisons are absurd and not acceptable,” he said at a press conference. “The Federal Republic of Germany and Turkey have a close economic relationship; they are also partners in the fight against terrorism.” Related article What happens if Turkey passes Erdogan's 'power bill'? The rallies, at which Turkish government ministers were due to speak, were being held to drum up support for the upcoming referendum vote on the Turkish constitution on April 16. The sweeping constitutional changes, introduced by Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), would grant new powers to the President and transform the way the country is governed. The world’s largest Turkish diaspora is found in Germany, where about 3 million people with Turkish ethnicity reside. The dispute over the rallies marks the widening of a diplomatic rift between the two countries. Last Monday, a Turkish court arrested Deniz Yucel, a correspondent with the German newspaper Die Welt, on charges of terror propaganda and inciting hatred and enmity. Yucel – a dual German-Turkish citizen – had reported on leaked emails from Energy Minister Berat Albayrak, which were hacked by leftist collective RedHack and made available on WikiLeaks. He remained in custody. Related video Turkey considers expanding presidential powers The spat comes at a time when political relations between Turkey and Germany are at a low ebb, according to Enes Bayrakli, an assistant professor of political science at the Turkish German University in Istanbul. “This is quite serious,” Bayrakli told CNN. “What we have seen in the last couple of years is a deterioration in political relations between Turkey and Germany. We have good economic relations but not on the political side, and it’s getting worse each year.” Bayrakli said Ankara feels Germany is too soft on Gulenists and members of the PKK – a Kurdish separatist group that Turkey has been battling for decades – living in Germany. And he said German-Turkish relations have worsened since the attempted coup against Erdogan last July. In the aftermath of the coup, German authorities banned Erdogan from addressing a rally of Turks in Cologne, via video link, who were demonstrating against the coup attempt. “All these developments are rather worrying,” Bayrakli told CNN. CNN’s Stephanie Halasz, Nadine Schmidt, Hande Atay Alam, Isil Sariyuce and Joel Williams contributed to this report.